Initial Conditions

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been reading books as part of my “finish my unread book collection” challenge (which really needs a catchier name. Suggestions?) and I thought I’d share my thoughts on them.

The first book in my arduous journey was Albert Camus’ Exile and the Kingdom, a disparate collection of short stories laden with Camus’ own brand of Existensialism and Absurdism. Highlights, for me, of the collection were The Guest, which can also be translated The Host, a story of a man who has a civic duty to do, but which will mean he will have to take sides in the Algerian question (which was prevalent at the time), and Jonas, which describes a painter who becomes obsessed with his work.

I’ve been interested in Camus’ works ever since I picked up L’Etranger. Many of the themes there are present here, but none of the stories is really as captivating, especially The Renegade, which I found extremely confusing. One thing the Camus excels at is the sensory description of scenes, especially at the climax of The Adulterous Woman, and this helps you immerse yourself in the story somewhat. However, I would recommend this only if you wanted to complete your collection of Camus.

Then I read a James Bond triple bill: Casino Royale/ Live & Let Die /Moonraker, which, I will confess, I bought when there was a lot of Quantum of Solace hype.

These books, however, are vastly superior to that film, and I wish I’d read them before seeing the various film versions, which pale in comparison.

Ian Fleming was an extremely talented writer, and his dscription of Bond and his adventures is an absolute joy to read. Of the three books, the best was probably Casino Royale, where the tension of the Baccarat game shines through as though you were there. The sexual tension between Bond and Vesper is almost tangible and the ending is as tragic as it is brilliant. The torture scene seems even more painful than in the film version, too.

Live & Let Die is also a pretty good adventure, which sees Bond track down “Mr Big” a very influential figure in the African-American community. There’s a bit of racism, but if you don’t mind that, you can enjoy a surprise on a train and Bond getting bored in a traditional American diner in Florida. Again there’s a rather gory and descriptive torture element, but that’s not really a problem, for me anyway.

Moonraker is probably the weakest of the three and is nothing like the film (except that the baddie has the same name). Indeed, Bond doesn’t even leave the home counties! Unfortunately, there’s a lengthy description of a game of Bridge (which I don’t understand) and it plods a bit before the climax (which would never make it into a film version because it isn’t happy enough), but it’s still a bit of good old fashioned escapism.

Overall, it’s a good trilogy, and there’s a running gag about Bond’s resemblance to an actor from the era to look out for. Failing that, you can enjoy the amount of time Bond smokes, and his observations on the female secretaries and the Bond girls are quite amusing, and if you like cars, he likes to talk about them in a lot of detail too. You’ll enjoy these books if you like the films, but if you don’t like the films, you might enjoy them, as I can’t help but feel the films were somewhat underdone in comparison.