Spies

After I saw Casino Royale, I saw that Chapters had brought in the James Bond book series. All of them. I've never read an Ian Flemming book but I enjoy a good espionage novel. Always a sucker for comparing movies to books, I bought Casino Royale, an especially good place to start since it's the beginning.

For those who have a soft spot for James Bond, the books are quite different from the movies (as I read more, I'll keep you posted on some of the differences). Mainly, I was curious as to cultural influences on the book and the movies. Since Casino Royale was written in the 1960s and the movie in 2006, I was curious to see the difference in how women are percieved, use of technology, and how much cold war politics played in the book, if any. In the book, there's hardly a mention of the cold war. There are KGB and politics between east and west but the level of espionage is beyond that of the cold war. It's almost personal between agents and agencies. James Bond is a different sort of character. He isn't being formed in the book form of Casino Royale; he is already James Bond. Cool, calculating, viewing women as objects to be wooed or brutally ravaged but never pursued. And Vesper has a figure which Bond appreciates.

Ian Flemming, as I learned from the book cover, was an intelligence agent. It shows in the books. Strategy and planning down to the details are major components of the Casino Royale novel.

If you are a Bond fan or a fan of high espionage tales, I recommend Casino Royale. If you like comparing the movie to the book, again, I recommend Casino Royale. Both are good in their own unique way. I look forward to reading more of the series to see if Bond evolves or changes. However, if you don't like details, don't like strategies, if you don't like shauvanism, I don't recommend Casino Royale. Instead, try Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, also by Ian Flemming.