The simple answer, and the way recommended by Ian Fleming Publications' publication manager Simon Ward, is to start with Fleming's 12 novels and read them in the order they were published, starting with Casino Royale and ending with the posthumously published The Man with the Golden Gun.
Casino Royale is the first novel by the British author Ian Fleming. Published in 1953, it is the first James Bond book, and it paved the way for a further eleven novels and two short story collections by Fleming, followed by numerous continuation Bond novels by other authors.
George Lazenby's James Bond Came Close to Fleming's Vision
The tragic On Her Majesty's Secret Service wouldn't have worked without anyone else in the role, and journalist Ben McIntyre argued that the actor came closest to embodying Fleming's take on Bond in his 2008 book For Your Eyes Only.
The simple answer, and the way recommended by Ian Fleming Publications' publication manager Simon Ward, is to start with Fleming's 12 novels and read them in the order they were published, starting with Casino Royale and ending with the posthumously published The Man with the Golden Gun.
However, it is generally agreed that all Bond movies after License To Kill – except for Casino Royale – are not strictly based on Fleming's books. As a result, it is the later films in Eon's canon that come under the category of Bond movies not based on Fleming novels.
Have all the James Bond books been made into movies?
While all of the novels have been loosely adapted for the big screen in one way or another, many of the films actually have very little to do with the books they're supposed to be based on – with Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me being two of the most egregious examples.
There are currently 39 officially licensed James Bond books authored by six writers since 1953. The first and most famous 14 were written by Ian Fleming, spawning a wide world of Bond media including films, comic strips, comic books, and video games.
Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character and villain from the James Bond series of novels and films, created by Ian Fleming. A criminal mastermind with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of British MI6 agent James Bond.
For those not acquainted with the novels, the answers are: Casino Royale, Moonraker, From Russia with Love, Dr No and Goldfinger (probably my most favourite of all).
Holding the record for most Bond films starred in, Roger Moore steps in for an impressive 12-year, 7-film streak as James Bond. Though the quality of the films he starred in greatly varies, Moore became a pill much easier for audiences and fans to swallow.
As stated, the longest Bond book is Carte Blanche. The shortest is John Gardner's Nobody Lives Forever (1986), which is 192 pages long. In fairness to William Boyd, Solo is the second longest book (actually 322 pages). The longest Fleming novel is Goldfinger (1959) at 318 pages, only four fewer than Solo.
Twelve Bond novels and two short-story collections were published between 1953 and 1966, the last two (The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights) posthumously.
After the publication of Casino Royale, Fleming used his annual holiday at his house in Jamaica to write another Bond story; in total, between 1953 and 1966, two years after his death, twelve Bond novels and two short-story collections were published, with the last two books—The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy ...
While some James Bond movies have followed Fleming's stories precisely, many have not. In fact, several lifted only their titles, leaving much of Ian Fleming's James Bond behind.
GoldenEye is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the James Bond Series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Martin Campbell, it was the first in the series not to utilize any story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming.
The Ian Fleming books and the resulting movies are not 007 books and movies. They are books and movies about James Bond who is white, British and male as described by Ian Fleming.
Many have speculated that Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, likely drew inspiration from more than one secret agent he learned of from his experience working with British naval intelligence. Potential real-life inspirations for Bond included World War II secret agent F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas and Serbian double agent Dusko Popov.
To enjoy the entire James Bond film saga it is not necessary to follow an established order, although certain films starring the same actor can follow a certain storyline, as is the case of the most modern films starring Daniel Craig.
How many books did Ian Fleming write about James Bond?
All in all, Agent 007's exploits can be enjoyed in Fleming's 14 James Bond books, starting with Casino Royale (1953), and going forward through Live and Let Die (1954), Moonraker (1955), Diamonds Are Forever (1956), From Russia with Love (1957), Dr.
We are told that Bond had read John F. Kennedy's Profiles of Courage, some Raymond Chandler stories, some Eric Ambler thrillers, The Traveller's Tree: A Journey Through the Caribbean Islands by Patrick Leigh Fermor, plus some technical manuals on golf and card-playing.
