Incoherent Memoirs

The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming Penguin Modern Classics, 2006 I knew this was an atypical Bond novel going into it - I wasn't prepared for how much!  The first half isn't even a spy or adventure story but is in a totally separate genre, something like a mid-century society novel. It is the story of a young woman who, cast aside by uncaring men, seeks a new life in her native Canada with nothing but the Vespa she's driving on and a pair of overalls. I suspect many copies of the book were thrown across a great many rooms in disgust without the crucial mid-point of the novel being reached. It's reasonable to want to ask - why? Why did Fleming change course for just this one novel? Why pick a female character to narrate the thing? Women are the focus of some of the Bond short stories, but even they are still told to us by the omniscient narrator (at his gold typewriter, cigarette holder clenched in teeth). So wherefore this experiment? I suspect it started life as a whi...

Although no longer active in Sherlock Holmes fan circles, as a holdover from those days I find I instinctively use the four-letter abbreviations (as devised by Jay Finley Christ) when writing about them (so DANC for ' The Dancing Men ' and so on). I suppose this makes sense as I find I write about them a lot. But why then do I not apply the same naming convention to, say, HP Lovecraft or Fleming, even when I write (or will be writing) about them more or less as frequently? Is it just a 'Sherlockian' (ughh!) affectation? Would this work with the Bond novels? There are perils and pitfalls: CASI LIVE MOON DIAM FROM DRNO GOLD FORY THUN So far so good (though 'FORY' for ' For Your Eyes Only ' reads a little ungainly). But now we hit problems: THES (for 'The Spy Who Loved Me' ) seems odd; yet SPYW seems odder and LOVE, skipping ahead a few words in the title, feels like cheating) Then we have OHMS Again, this just doesn't feel right - the wordplay ...

Thunderball By Ian Fleming Penguin Modern Classics, 2006 I should really have moved onto Dr. No but I read that a few years ago. This sadly means skipping the nice bit of continuity where we see Bond having recovered from his bout of Rosa Klebb-induced poison and the ending of his relationship with Tatiana (incredibly, they seem to have actually tried to make a go of it). So Thunderball it is. One of the supposed disadvantages of having seen (and become familiar with) the Bond movies before reading the books - that the stories are wildly different - can actually be an advantage . This book's plot is similar to the eventual movie but with some crucial differences, so I was never a hundred percent sure as to how the ending, or some of the relationships between characters, would play out. This meant for lots of superb tension as it races towards its climax after the typically Fleming bit of slightly anxious (for Bond) 'waiting around' time - like torture, it softens up the r...

From Russia With Love By Ian Fleming Penguin Modern Classics, 2006 I'm picking up in the Bond series more or less where I left off (some years ago). Fleming's pacing is singular. The early chapters build up what would nowadays be called 'the backstory' - and are pretty languid about it. We don't even meet Bond until nearly halfway through the novel, so perversely the 'backstory' here is more or less 'frontstory'. But Fleming doesn't need to pace conventionally when his ingredients are as memorable and interesting as the ones he's cooked up here. By the time Bond does arrive the reader is armed with facts and background that he himself is ignorant of - making for some tense plot movement (especially as he boards the Orient Express and happens upon someone we know to be the villain!). Characterisation is good - the chess-playing KJB mastermind Kronsteen is fascinatingly cold-blooded, weighing up his vanity (nearly losing his chess game) and his...