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Are the James Bond books worth reading? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Entropy@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/books@lemmy.ml

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I'm a big fan of the movies and I've know for a while that the character is based off a series of books, but I've never gotten around to actually picking any of them up.

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[–] jordanlund@lemmy.one 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Bond books are a BLAST.

I'm waiting on the Folio Society to finish their illustrated harcover set (one more book to go!)

https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/authors/ian-fleming-s-james-bond

Yes, casual racism and sexism, but not necessarily in a way you might expect.

For example, in the first book, Casino Royale, there's the typical setup... here's your mission in an exotic location, here's your gear, here's your beautiful assistant...

"Bond was not amused. 'What the hell do they want to send me a woman for?' he said bitterly. 'Do they think this is a bloody picnic?'"

Full text free on Project Gutenberg Canada:

https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/flemingi-casinoroyale/flemingi-casinoroyale-00-h.html

[–] Entropy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Bond being a womanizer is no surprise really. I obviously don't support that kind of behavior, but characters are often more interesting when they are flawed. Even if the flaws were unintentional on the part of the author. (Thanks for the resources btw)

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago

The womanizer part is to be expected, it's the whole "What am I supposed to do with a beautiful woman in a luxury casino?" aspect that I found funny.