It’s been a long time since I’ve read any of Fleming’s Bond and, I’ll be honest, I’d forgotten how much I really enjoyed his writing style, and why I’ve enjoyed the Daniel Craig Bond films like I have.

Fleming’s Bond is human. He’s gritty, has issues, doubts himself, and is far from perfect. But he’s human. And he’s involved in, shall we say, ‘adventures’ that let that shine.

This collection of short stories (around 7 in total, I think) includes some titles we’d all recognize; Quantum of Solace (obviously…), The Living Daylights, Octopussy, and From a View to a Kill for example. Hardly any of them relate to the films except in terms of borrowed titles.
But that’s not to detract from them, either as films or books. They’re just titles.

Instead, the short stories by and large seem to help ‘pad out’ Bond as a character. There are the odd one or two that deal with the action, the excitement and the ruthlessness we’ve come to know and love through the big screen, but at the same time many of the stories do more to flesh out the man than his actions.

Take Quantum of Solace, for example. It’s a very short story (around 40 pages, from memory) detailing a conversation Bond has with some Governor of sorts somewhere. There’s no typical ‘Bond action’, no fancy Bond-esque innuendos, in fact, not much Bond talking, but what he does say shows a depth of character that all so often is lacking from the big screen translations.

Since I’ve spoken about this but been unable to remember the exact translation, here’s an excerpt that explains the Quantum of Solace – this may only make sense to those I’ve spoke to about it, as the rest of the story does a better job of the detail:

… it’s the same with all relationships between a man and a woman. They can survive anything so long as some kind of basic humanity exists between the two people. When all kindness has gone, when one person obviously and sincerely doesn’t care if the other is alive or dead, then it’s just no good. That particular insult to the ego – worse, to the instinct of self-preservation – can never be forgiven… I’ve seen flagrant infidelities patched up… crimes and even murder forgiven by the other party… bankruptcy and every other form of social crime… Incurable disease, blindness, disaster – all of these can be overcome. But never the death of common humanity in one of the partners… I’ve invented a rather high-sounding title for this basic factor in human relations… the Law of the Quantum of Solace…

So, yeh, there it is. As you have hopefully guessed, the short story surrounding that excerpt elaborates on a particular example, and does a damn good job, but the fact is it doesn’t revolve around Bond. It doesn’t even revolve around anyone he knows. But seeing his reactions, reading his thoughts as this entire process takes place, provides that little extra piece of understanding into the character as a whole. And the other short stories do the same.

As with previous Bond books I’ve read (albeit many years ago), these short stories were a joy to read, and I seemed to fly through it (especially when compared to my reading pace of late). As such, I’d recommend it to anyone who has an interest in something that’s light and easy to read, but also has enough in it to make you think every now and then.
You by no means have to strain to read it. You can read bits, put it down and come back to it later quite easily. But it’s very good at what it does.