tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-117416349695015821.post1747069861339785561..comments2023-09-28T10:47:50.691+01:00Comments on JAMES BOND MEMES: Are James Bond novels getting longer?Comtessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15045274806223412751noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-117416349695015821.post-43259626791747590792013-12-31T09:57:43.187+00:002013-12-31T09:57:43.187+00:00Sorry for the late reply. Hope you had a great Chr...Sorry for the late reply. Hope you had a great Christmas, and all the best for 2014.Edward Biddulphhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13958778222555710461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-117416349695015821.post-61427970402455364632013-12-25T12:02:31.016+00:002013-12-25T12:02:31.016+00:00Yes, John Gardner's Role of Honour 1980s paper...Yes, John Gardner's Role of Honour 1980s paperback is appallingly printed, too. Just like a children's book as you say. <br /><br />Merry Christmas and a Happy New 2014, Edward!David Dragonpolhttp://www.thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-117416349695015821.post-18154036684089773112013-12-17T20:53:11.634+00:002013-12-17T20:53:11.634+00:00Meant to say, thanks for the tip about The Blac Do...Meant to say, thanks for the tip about The Blac Dossier. I'll check it out.Edward Biddulphhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13958778222555710461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-117416349695015821.post-66981239178282493842013-12-17T20:52:04.459+00:002013-12-17T20:52:04.459+00:00Larger print and line spaces are definitely a fact...Larger print and line spaces are definitely a factor, it's true. It's especially noticeable with paperbacks. I thought the Devil May Care paperback was appalling. It was like reading a children's book. Compare that to the old Fleming paperbacks (I'm thinking of the 'Girl on gun' series, but I think it's true for the Pans as well): tight line spacing, small print size, and chapters that start immediately below the end of the preceding one - on the same page! Very economical, and somehow more satisfying to read.Edward Biddulphhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13958778222555710461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-117416349695015821.post-58125144463881856672013-12-17T11:58:54.602+00:002013-12-17T11:58:54.602+00:00Yes, even thrillers are longer these days, but sur...Yes, even thrillers are longer these days, but surely it's all a case of larger print disguised by/causing higher page numbers and I think that Solo is no exception to that rule. Give me a Fleming any day!The Bondologist Blog https://www.blogger.com/profile/03877901404588318838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-117416349695015821.post-20103647840480070562013-12-05T00:52:32.273+00:002013-12-05T00:52:32.273+00:00Yeah, I've read Pearson's Fleming biograph...Yeah, I've read Pearson's Fleming biography, but I keep meaning to read his "James Bond: An Authorized Biography of 007". It's interesting that Christopher Wood's novelizations are good, since the movies are so-so (Spy Who Loved Me) and terrible (Moonraker). Even though Moonraker was the first Bond film I ever saw, it's pretty hard to watch these days.<br /><br />I enjoyed the Lycett biography, as well, and thanks for steering me clear of Cabell's books.<br /><br />Have you read "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier", which features a thinly disguised Bond as a terrible human being?ScorpioSteelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02390806853538691736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-117416349695015821.post-67405545318296920962013-12-04T13:26:47.415+00:002013-12-04T13:26:47.415+00:00The continuation novels are quite variable in qual...The continuation novels are quite variable in quality. Icebreaker and Nobody Lives Forever are my favourite of the Gardner novels, and I like Jeffery Deaver's Carte Blanche, but actually I recommend Christopher Wood's novelisations of The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. He captures the essence of the original novels pretty well. <br /><br />Pearson's biography's very good, though I find Andrew Lycett's biography more useful in terms of reference. I enjoyed Rankin's book. Not a lot of Fleming in it, but it's vastly better than Craig Cabell's two accounts of Fleming's war. Edward Biddulphhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13958778222555710461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-117416349695015821.post-62514946828620499222013-12-04T08:33:41.907+00:002013-12-04T08:33:41.907+00:00I'm enjoying all the articles. Though the movi...I'm enjoying all the articles. Though the movies of course reeled me in as a kid, I'm more of a literary Bond fan these days, so I really appreciate the minutiae you discuss about the books. I even made a "Vesper" once but admit that I didn't really like it until I added sugar. (VERY un-Bondian.)<br /><br />The only non-Fleming Bond novel I've read is "Colonel Sun", so which would you suggest be my next? I've had most of the books at one point but traded them in because I never thought I'd actually get around to reading them. I end up just re-reading the originals or the Titan Books reprints of the comic strips.<br /><br />I've been thinking of reading Pearson's Bond biography soon (it's been on the shelf for years), and am wading through Rankin's "Ian Fleming's Commandos" trying to find the Fleming parts (which seem to be frustratingly few).ScorpioSteelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02390806853538691736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-117416349695015821.post-43484865944555333472013-12-01T21:46:46.810+00:002013-12-01T21:46:46.810+00:00Thanks for your comment. I really appreciate it. I...Thanks for your comment. I really appreciate it. I agree with you about the pulp-fiction feel to the Bond books. Fleming himself saw the books as things to read on the plane, so they were never intended to be War and Peace. But still, there has been a general trend towards longer and longer novels. No doubt the rise has been largely imperceptible, but these days readers would feel short-changed with a 180-250 page novel. Thrillers the size of a Jack Reacher novel, or a Tom Clancy, are the now norm, whereas Fleming and Chandler-sized novels were standard in the 1950s and 60s. Mind you, with many people now reading novels digitally, I wonder whether size will cease to be an issue.<br /><br />Thanks for reading my blog. Hope you enjoy the other posts.Edward Biddulphhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13958778222555710461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-117416349695015821.post-5631796587591321162013-11-30T20:09:59.903+00:002013-11-30T20:09:59.903+00:00I'm happy to see you blog about this. Part of ...I'm happy to see you blog about this. Part of what keeps me from reading the new Bonds are the length. I feel the "Fleming sweep" and the length of his books were perfect as they were. If I want to read a 300-plus-paged book I'll read something like Moby Dick or The Last Temptation of Christ. There's a lot of classic literature out there and I'd rather read something containing characters written by the original creator rather than a franchise book by someone unrelated to the original works. Not to denigrate the Bond books, but they are pulp fiction, and I feel pulp fiction works best when it's a lightning blast, like a punk rock song. Short books, short chapters, I want to keep reading. Big books, long chapters, I've got other things to do.<br /><br />Actually, it's quite ironic that in this short-attention-span society in which we live, that movies, books, and television story-arcs get longer and more complex. Even the Mack Bolan books are fat these days, and when the first "Executioner" novel was published 40-plus years ago it was only 188 pages, whereas a 1999 Bolan book was twice this length.<br /><br />I have to wonder if society just needs all that excessive detail in order to feel full.<br /><br /><br />But anyway, thanks for making this blog. It's my new favorite.ScorpioSteelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02390806853538691736noreply@blogger.com