A lot of folks consider Goldfinger to be the best of the James Bond novels. I disagree — it is undeniably iconic, but to my mind, that status is achieved largely as a result of conflating the book with the film (which is hands-down the best of the Bond films), but I find it lacking when compared to gems like Casino Royale. “Iconic” doesn’t always translate into “excellent,” and while I find Goldfinger to be a great entry in the best run of books in the series, there are flaws which keep it from true excellence.
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Tour de Bond: Dr. No (1958)
A slight change in schedule for this week — I was away on a business trip to the NYCC. I’ve realized that missing the usual upload day results in a week’s delay, and that sort of delay is contributing to my “blogfade” — I’m not writing on this thing as much as I want to be. So, I’ve decided that I’m going to make a shift to posting daily content– and what better way to begin than with the latest installment of the Tour de Bond, whether it’s Monday or not.
I love this week’s novel. Not only is it part of what I consider the best stretch of quality in the series (for those wondering, that would be the run from 1957 through 1961– From Russia With Love through Thunderball), but it’s Fleming’s tribute to Sax Rhomer’s Fu Manchu novels (my love of which I mentioned in the entry on Live and Let Die). Above and beyond that, though, it represents Fleming’s embrace of the series– in many ways marking the turning point from the occasional novel that he’d write during his stays in Jamaica, into a full-fledged series that became his focus.
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Tour de Bond: From Russia With Love (1957)
After a week’s hiatus, we’re back, and just in time for one of the best books in the series. From Russia With Love was the book that skyrocketed Bond into pop-culture stardom, thanks largely to a LIFE magazine interview where President John F. Kennedy listed it as one of his favorite books in 1961. Aside from finally achieving world-wide popularity, though, this book is one of the best-plotted in the canon, with a tense, cold-war premise and Fleming stepping outside of the formula he established with the previous novels.
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