Oddly enough, although not reading, I got in the other night and “All The President’s Men” was just starting on one of my movie channels. Yeah…Watched it all the way through.
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On off the few films I never turn off when I happen to stumble upon it on TV. 
Coincidentally, I’m currently reading some of Hunter S. Thompson’s old work. Loads of Nixon stuff in it. Very educating and entertaining. It’s just that, sometimes, one gets the uncomfortable feeling that you only need to change a few names, places and minor details to think that he writes about something that happened just a few years ago - instead of 50… (One of the great missed opportunities of DT’s presidency: Thompson wasn’t here anymore to comment on it. The other one: Frank Zappa wasn’t there anymore to comment on it.)
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I’m halfway through Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, the novel of his film. It’s mostly enjoyable. Much of it seems stream-of-conscience in its style, like he was outlining his characters and their experiences for context before developing his script.
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Just completed Gardner’s Licence to Kill novelization. It’s the fourth of his Bond novels that I’ve read and it is by far the best one. Maybe it’s because it isn’t his story, per se, but the film transitions really well to the page. Some of the dialogue comes across clunkier than in the film, but that is really the only gripe. I enjoyed it far more than Licence Renewed, For Special Services, and Icebreaker. I also made sure to play If You Asked Me To upon finishing, can’t have LTK without it.
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I‘m back into DAF after a hiatus, induced by being bored by the long passage about the horse-racing. But man, after the mudbath (had forgotten that this was kind of repurposed in the film) and the car chase I am pretty psyched to read on.
DAF is one of my least read Flemings so I am surprised how well many passages read.
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Currently reading Not in Front of the Servants by Derek Nimmo (Hadley in CR67, ‘Fly’ in The Liquidator).
Anecdotes about the upper crust (“crumbs held together by dough”) and what makes them tick.
Although published in 1987, it contains one passage that could have been coined any time in the last six years:
“Overbearing pomposity has often been mistaken by the ill-bred for natural supremacy.” (p 59)
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DAF is difficult to get through. It’s hard to be invested when even the main character is bored with what is going on.
Currently, I’m slogging my way through Scorpius. Ugh, there is literally nothing interesting about this book. I still can’t believe Gardner lasted for 14 novels.
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And yet, amazingly, the Gardner books have plenty of room to continue going downhill after Scorpius. The Man from Barbarossa, Never Send Flowers, Seafire, and Coldfall all had me shaking my head at how he was allowed to keep writing the series when he had so obviously lost any and all interest. Benson’s contributions, while not high art, at least were clearly written by a fan.
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I’ve not read any of those. In fact, Scorpius is only the 5th Gardner I’ve read (License Renewed, For Special Services gag, Icebreaker, Licence to Kill). I’ve heard that The Man from Barbarossa is generally considered to be his worst.
I seem to be in the minority at loves Diamonds are Forever. Maybe it’s because I am enamored with upstate NY and love the Saratoga scenes. And since Spectreville has yet to be used in a film, that whole sequence feels fresh and exciting to me.
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It’s just so unbelievably boring. Nothing happens. Ever. It’s stupefying! The other three I listed are equally bad in my opinion, though I will admit that I am difficult to please when it comes to my continuation novels.
I have enjoyed a handful of Gardner’s in spite of (or maybe due to) their attempt to blend the literary and cinematic Bond into a single entity.
I enjoyed a handful of Benson’s as well, but not all and felt he lacked some basic literary panache as a writer. His Bond is most pointedly an attempt to meld the movie Bond into the literary canon. This is similar to Christopher Woods’ approach in his two movie adaptations, but his were much more successful and much more fun.
Horowitz has a pretty good track record with me. Though I didn’t absolutely love either of his at least his prose is solid and he seems to understand the literary Bond better than most.
Colonel Sun still holds the high water mark for me in terms of feeling the most like an extension of Fleming.
I own but have never read a Higson young Bond book. Everyone tells me I need to rectify that.
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So why didn’t you do that already?
Recommended…
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Diamonds Are Forever is very weak in plot and its main villains are fatally under-developed, but Tiffany Case is Fleming’s first successfully-drawn female character and her dialogue with Bond is a lingering pleasure. The book’s minor/walk-on characters are also sharply drawn, along with the locations. As a crime thriller the book doesn’t work, but it succeeds in a lot of other places.
As for Gardner, I would frankly recommend skipping his books altogether and re-allocating time to other spy novels. I read all of his Bond books years ago and still regret doing so.
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Things that aren’t exactly Fleming but treat Bond as an active, contemporary character get a tick from me now. Which is the entire concept of Licence Renewed.
Fleming made Bond a father and took away his 007 moniker for a time, so it’s not unreasonable to think other changes would’ve occurred if he lived longer to write more.
I quite like some of the Gardner concepts:
Promoted to Captain in Win, Lose or Die and focusing on his naval career.
Leaving MI6 and presumably joining SPECTRE in Role of Honor.
Being hunted in Nobody Lives For Ever.
SPECTRE being resurrected in For Special Services.
The focus on cold climates in Icebreaker.
But indeed, Gardner’s tenure extended longer than necessary.
I would list High Time To Kill as Benson’s best novel.
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That seems to be the general consensus with Benson. It’s been a very long time, but I remember liking Zero Minus Ten as well. The only thing I didn’t like about High Time To Kill was the incredibly stupid macguffin, Skin 17. The book would’ve been better without it.
Appropriately enough for the day I’ve currently reading Batman: Long Halloween.
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That’s a good one, Vanya.
For some odd reason I have a renewed interest in Dune…so it’s:
The Dune Encyclopedia, Berkley Books, my original 1984 edition
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King‘s latest: „Billy Summers“. So far one of his best.
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Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall
Terrific stuff
Silverview
The latest (and last) novel by John le carre