Casino Royale

I'm a big Bond movie fan and much to my shame, I've never even cracked the spine of any of Fleming's original novels. I decided to rectify that and starting at the beginning seemed like a very good place to start.

The 2006 adaptation is one of my favourite Bond films and you can see from where the movie took many of its cues. However, the book was certainly ‘of its time' and a large amount of acceptance was required to put the often awkward racism, sexism, misogyny and older language use into a historical context. Poor old 1953 Vesper Lynd is certainly a long way from Eva Green's brilliant modern portrayal.

An interesting and enjoyable read, I'm definitely going to carry on with the other 007 books.