In the early 80s, the estate of Ian Fleming reached out to author John Gardner to continue telling stories about James Bond, 007, and to perchance, bring him into the 80s. This involved a bit of a retcon moving the events of the previous novels from the 50s/60s to the 60s/70s. Gardner’s first effort, Licence…
Tag: bond
Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966) – Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming’s final James Bond book, the second published posthumously and the fourteenth 007 book overall is a collection of previously published quartet of short stories. And it’s a great collection to go out on, though of course Bond would continue to live on under other authors, and of course, as an ongoing film franchise….
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963) – Ian Fleming
The eleventh 007 book, and tenth novel, by Ian Fleming is this week’s entry on the Book Shelf, and you could see how the film series would begin to influence the continuing novels as we get a mention of Bond’s parentage, with his father being a Scot, and there is an increasing sense of Connery…
The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) – Ian Fleming
The tenth James Bond book, and the ninth novel, is this week’s 007 Book Shelf entry, and it’s a bit of a unique creation. It’s a small, almost non-event in the life of secret agent James Bond, and is told from the first person perspective of the heroine of the tale, French-Canadian Vivienne Michel. Recently…
Die Another Day (2002) – Lee Tamahori
Pierce Brosnan returns for his fourth and final outing in Die Another Day, the 20th canon James Bond film. Directed by Lee Tamahori, the milestone film is a bit of a fumble on the part of the writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade as they throw in tons of visual nods and references to previous…
Thunderball (1961) – Ian Fleming
The ninth book, and eighth full novel,in Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 series is up this week. And this one is a bit of a special case. It was originally concocted as a screenplay, and early editions gave sole credit to Fleming, whereas future editions, much like the film(s) that would later be developed from…
The World is Not Enough (1999) – Michael Apted
Pierce Brosnan’s third outing as Ian Fleming’s James Bond is the next 007 film for me to view following my reading of For Your Eyes Only, having previously reviewed all the preceding 007 films to that point. This one is a mixed bag as it has perhaps the worst female lead casting for a Bond…
Licence to Kill (1989) – John Glen
Timothy Dalton’s second and sadly final outing as James Bond is this week’s 007 feature to buddy up with the Bond Book Shelf. This one came along at an important point in my life. It was my last few weeks in Bermuda, I was in love for the first time with my first girlfriend (Tracey)…
Goldfinger (1959) – Ian Fleming
This week’s 007 is the seventh novel in the series, and while it bears some similarities to the film that would eventually spring from it, it is also very much it’s own thing. Secret Agent James Bond finishes up a mission in Mexico, like a pre-credits adventure, which does get alluded to in the film…
Catch Me If You Can (2002) – Steven Spielberg
Spielberg gives us a film inspired by true life events, and puts Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christopher Walken through their paces as I dig into another title mentioned in Ten Bad Dates With De Niro. DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale, Jr., the youngest counterfeiter and fraud in American history. Before his nineteenth birthday, he’s cashed…
Diamonds Are Forever (1956) – Ian Fleming
The fourth James Bond adventure by Ian Fleming is on my book shelf this week, and I dug into it eagerly. Despite some troubling moments of racism, 007’s literary adventure in this book is damned enjoyable, and you can see a number of themes and locales survived the jump to the big screen with Sean…
Moonraker (1979) – Lewis Gilbert
Oh Moonraker. Sigh. When I was first getting into Bond films, at the age of twelve, I thought Moonraker was great – I didn’t see it during its original release in ’79, but I remember seeing images, and some of the toys and cards – because space, and lasers, gadgets and James Bond! Coming to…
