the much more attractive 007

Dr. No

His Majesty's Secret Service

You Can Only Live Twice



by Ian Fleming



What ignorance. I didn't even know that James Bond was books first and movies there after. After a couple of glowing reviews on WSJ commemorating the author's 100th birthday, I picked up these three to read. Quite enjoyable indeed. Of the three, I liked "Twice" most, which, with its setting in Japan, reminded me of Eighty Days Around the World.

Overall, the stories have slower pace than their modern day equivalents but are much more enriched with careful development of characters, vivid description of the cultural and historical background and, necessarily, enough turns of the events for 007 and his heroines. To me, they are both simple and complex, making satisfactory reading.

I never cared much about the movie-version 007s, while the bond in the book is younger, rougher and less polished. far more attractive, in my opinion.