Call Me Indestructible...

Sorry I'm late! I finished listening to 'Moonraker' by Ian Fleming, read by Bill Nighy, last weekend and completely forgot to blog about it. Suspect I've been thinking too much about my Christmas shopping. Well, there are so many fabulous books out there it takes a lot of brainpower to decide which to give to people!

'Moonraker' by Ian Fleming
Read by Bill Nighy
(AudioGo, 2012)

At the beginning of 'Moonraker', James Bond seems a bit bored.  He's back at his desk in London, teasing his secretary, worrying about his colleagues and desperate for a diversion. It isn't much, but when M asks for his help with a possible cards cheat at his exclusive club, Bond jumps at the chance.  After all, why would Sir Hugo Drax, multi-millionaire, commodities tycoon and national hero need to cheat at cards? Drax's bad habit must be stopped before a scandal breaks, something which would threaten his latest project, the superatomic Moonraker rocket, jewel in the British defence crown.  Suitably beaten, it looks like the end of it, until events take an unexpected turn and Bond finds himself at the Moonraker construction site. Working with undercover Special Branch officer Garla Brand, he soon realises something isn't quite right. But can he work out what it is in time to save the world once more?

Who'd have thought that a Bond set in Britain rather than some exotic location would be this good? Seriously, if you'd said the next movie was going to be filmed in Kent, I would have laughed.  But, like so many of the other 007 Reloaded audiobooks I've listened to this year, this is deceptively brilliant.

The plot is well paced and the story filled with so much mystery that I couldn't wait to hear what happened next. Bond and Brand puzzle over clues that are like odd shaped jigsaw pieces and the tension increases with the arrival of each new tidbit.

And the peril! It looks like it's far more dangerous for Bond at home than it ever could be abroad! The one unsolved mystery is how he manages to make it through the book without breaking anything. But then, he wouldn't be much of a hero if he wasn't indestructible.

'Moonraker' by Ian Fleming
(Penguin Modern Classics,2004)

By contrast, Drax is a man destroyed then reassembled, reborn from a murky past but scarred mentally and physically.  The physical descriptions of him are raw and often repulsive, but they bring the character to life in all his skin crawling glory.

I often worry about the way women are portrayed in Fleming's books, but I rather liked Carla Brand. Although not my favourite Bond girl, she was tough and clever and added a twist to the book's ending which I rather liked.

I must also mention Bill Nighy, who read this particular audiobook. He was absolutely fantastic and I hope to hear more by him in the future.

Overall, if you enjoy action, adventure and thrills, then you'll enjoy 'Moonraker'. I'm getting used to this Bond now and am enjoying finding out more about his world.  I can't wait to start 'From Russia with Love'.

Related Posts

'Casino Royale'
'Live and Let Die'
'Dr No'
'For Your Eyes Only'
'Thunderball'
'Octopussy, the Living Daylights and Other Stories'

Thunderstruck

I recently finished listening to AudioGo's 007 Reloaded version of 'Thunderball' by Ian Fleming, read by Jason Isaacs. Talk about thunderstruck!

'Thunderball' by Ian Fleming
Read by Jason Isaacs
(AudioGO, 2012)

Arch-conspirator and head of SPECTRE Ernst Stavro Blofeld has engineered the capture of two atomic weapons and has his sights set on extortion.  The UK and US governments must pay up £100 million, otherwise two unidentified locations will be destroyed and chaos will ensue.  With just one week to find the bombs and prevent worldwide disaster, M sends his top secret agent, James Bond, into battle once more...

I absolutely loved this audiobook.  It amazes me, but Fleming seems to do something different with every Bond story, as though he's constantly trying different styles and structures.  Here, for example, he juggles a lot of seemingly unconnected plotlines that are, of course, very much entwined, skillfully drip feeding their relevance to the reader at just the right moment.  So pay attention, 007!

This book is also interesting from a Bond mythos perspective.  It has a lot of background information about 007's arch-nemesis Blofeld and we get some glimpses into the more everyday life led by the jobbing secret agent.

'Thunderball' by Ian Fleming
(Penguin Modern Classics, 2004)

There is, of course, also all the standard items you'd expect in any Bond book worthy of the name; exotic location (Bahamas), feisty female lead (Domino), a villain to defeat (Emilio Largo), rich living (the super-yacht the Disco Volante).  There's also the usual sex and violence and, perhaps surprisingly, humour.  There were parts of the first few chapters that actually made me laugh aloud, not something I would've predicted!

Jason Isaacs did a fantastic job of reading 'Thunderball' and I think his contribution to how much I enjoyed this audiobook shouldn't be ignored.  I shall definitely be looking out for other work read by him in the future.

As you might be able to tell, I thoroughly enjoyed 'Thunderball' and can't wait to read/hear it again.  That will have to wait, though, as I still have a few (ahem!) more books to read first.  However, I've no doubt that this James Bond will return.

Related Posts

'Casino Royale'
'Live and Let Die'
'Dr No'
'For Your Eyes Only'
'Octopussy, the Living Daylights and Other Stories'

Double Oh Zzzzzzz...

As a mini-project within a project, I'm still working my way through all of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and I have now finished 'Octopussy, the Living Daylights and Other Stories'.  It was another AudioGo audiobook, this time read by Loki himself, Tom Hiddleston.

'Octopussy and The Living Daylights'
by Ian Fleming
(Vintage, 2012)

This short collection includes four stories.  In 'Octopussy', a psychopathic Major finally gets his just rewards courtesy of the local wildlife, while 'The Property of a Lady' appealed to my love of shiny things as the plot revolves around the auction of a rare jewelled Fabergé sphere.  Bond takes on an unlikely Russian sniper in 'The Living Daylights'.  Finally, the collection concludes with '007 in New York', about... erm... James Bond in New York. This is read by the author's niece, Lucy Fleming,

Unfortunately, things didn't go well between me and this book from the start.  I fell asleep while listening to 'Octopussy' and had to replay it again from the beginning to catch up.  In retrospect, I'm not surprised, because it's not really a James Bond story (it just happens to have James Bond in it) nor is it a great short story.  It's plodding and predictable and I've come to expect more now I've encountered so much great work from Mr Fleming.

'The Property of a Lady' left me surprised and disappointed as the complex set up didn't deliver the plot twist I expected, while '007 in New York' felt a bit like a fan-focussed Easter Egg, a secret extra for the eyes of real obsessives only.

The best of the four was definitely 'The Living Daylights', a story which draws the reader into the working life of a jobbing double-0.  It opens up the the events leading up to the assassin's gunshot, the tedium of waiting, the meticulous planning, the risk of getting caught.  It had tension and provided insight into a character that we all think we know.

'Octopussy and the Living Daylights
and Other Stories'
by Ian Fleming.
(AudioGo, 2012)

I felt a bit sorry for Tom Hiddleston really.  He didn't have as much to work with as some of the other actors who have narrated CDs in the 007 Reloaded series, but that didn't stop him trying.  He clearly had a lot of fun voicing Major Dexter Smythe in 'Octopussy', although it did make me smile a couple of times.  I couldn't help being reminded of Kulvinder Ghir in the 'Goodness Gracious Me' Coopers/Kapoors and Robinsons/Rabindranaths sketches.  Both probably had the same inspiration.

Overall, I would recommend this as a curiosity, something to read so you can say 'I've read all the James Bond books'.  It's not got the energy of the other stories I've listened to so far, so in a way, here, Mr Fleming is a victim of his own success.  I'm hoping it's just a blip and that Bond will be back on form for 'Thunderball'.  After all, James Bond will return...

Related Posts

'Casino Royale'
'Live and Let Die'
'Dr No'
'For Your Eyes Only'

Bond, but Not as we Know Him

Cue the theme music!  I've just finished an audiobook of 'For Your Eyes Only' by Ian Fleming, part of AudioGo's 007 Reloaded series and read by Samuel West.

'For Your Eyes Only' by Ian Fleming
Read by Samuel West (AudioGo, 2013)

'For Your Eyes Only' is a collection of five short stories featuring nigh legendary British Secret Service agent James Bond.  The book includes familiar and unfamiliar titles 'From a View to a Kill', 'Quantum of Solace', 'Risico', 'The Hildebrand Rarity' and, of course 'For Your Eyes Only'. Telling tales of mysterious murders and personal vendettas, double-crossers and drug barons, exotic locations and discrete offices, these stories take you into a world you thought you knew, then shows you there is so much to Bond, James Bond.

I love short stories and this collection is one of my favourites so far.  The stand out piece is definitely 'Quantum of Solace'.  Forget the awful film, if you read no other work by Ian Fleming, read this.  It's subtle, it's heartbreaking and has a twist in the tail that tied the whole thing up beautifully.  As a result, I'm really looking forward to reading more by Mr Fleming and have high hopes for his other books.

I'm a great fan of Bond films and was a bit worried that the character of the novels would be so hard and impenetrable that I would be put off completely.  I knew that the film plots bear little, if any, resemblance to the books that share their titles, so that difference didn't come as a surprise.  To be honest, in some instances it was a relief, but if you wanted reviews of Bond films, you'd be reading a different blog!

The stories and the films will always draw comparisons, but I'm glad to say that the things that define a Bond film are all present and correct; exotic locations, beautiful women, rich living, vile villains and, of course, our savoir faire secret agent.

Far from a character assassination that put me off Bond, this book has made me more interested in him.  The great strength of these stories (and, I hope, the books I have yet to read) is that they let you get inside the head of the character.  We hear his thought processes and get a glimpse of the cold and analytical outlook he has on the world.  It's fascinating.  Suddenly Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is more than just a bored, vain, playboy assassin.

'For Your Eyes Only'
by Ian Fleming
(Vintage, 2012)

I enjoyed listening to 'For Your Eyes Only' as an audiobook and the interview given by the reader, Samuel West, at the end was quite interesting, although it would perhaps be more useful to trainee actors than readers.  Some may dislike the lack of music and sound effects, but this appealed to me as really all I wanted was the book read to me.  That's what I got and it meant I could use my own imagination, just as though I was reading it for myself.

So, if you're a reader and a fan of escapist action-adventure stories like the James Bond series, I think you'll enjoy this book in either format.  Like many a Bond girl, 'For Your Eyes Only' has certainly left me wanting more and I can't wait to read/listen to more by Ian Fleming.

Now, what next?