My reading the last two days has been On Her Majesty's Secret Service, one of the original James Bond novels by Ian Fleming. Did you know he also wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the children's book? Who'd a thought?
It can be interesting to read the book on which a movie is based. In this case, although the movie was a typically fast paced and somewhat campy Bond romp (as many of them were) the book is more story driven. Even at that, the one great chase scene which Fleming weaves is better than almost any I've seen in the Bond films. That's great descriptive writing.
The Bond movies have always been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. The sophomoric double entendres can be childishly delightful. The Daniel Craig films are more serious; that's not bad, just different. I think I like the older ones better on the whole.
Anyway, I had seen the film version of Secret Service and always thought it a superior edition to the series, even though it's the odd Bond where he's played by George Lazenby. However that may be, the novel makes Bond quite a bit more human than I expected. I like that. I look forward to reading more of the Fleming originals now.
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