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| Presented in order of publication. I actually first read them the other way around |
As I've said before, I now say again - memory is a funny thing. In a couple of recent posts, I told the story behind my first experience of the above two books, which I've now re-read for the first time since reading them back in 1973 and '75. I was surprised by how much of Rog's book I remembered, not only before I started my second journey through its pages, but as I was actually reading it. In quite a few instances, I would begin a paragraph and know how it concluded before I got to the end of it. I certainly enjoyed the book, but it held no real surprises for me, serving merely to refresh my memory.
Colonel Sun, however, was an entirely different affair - I could recall hardly anything about it. Apart from some details surrounding the torture scene (but not so much the torture itself) near the end of the story, it was as if I was reading it for the very first time in my life. When I'd first read it, back around 1975, I found it pretty underwhelming, and perhaps that's why I never gave it a second thought and consigned it to the far recesses of my mind. I suppose if one never exercises a memory from time to time, it atrophies and dies. That's not to say that, given the right conditions, the memory cannot be resuscitated at a later date, but sometimes the 'right conditions' may never present themselves.
Strange thing is, I actually enjoyed the book this time around, and found it fairly engrossing. I'd certainly recommend it as a worthy addition to the literary collection of any James Bond fan. However, I'm amazed at just how selective memory can sometimes be - even for someone like me who prides themselves on their powers of recollection. The fact that I could remember the act of reading the book, but not much about the book itself (apart from the cover) makes me wonder just how much else I may have forgotten down through the years - and how much of what I do recall is reliable.
Anyone had any similar 'memorable' experiences?
13 comments:
I like Amis but I've never read Colonel Sun or the James Bond Dossier, I might give 'em a go.
I'm sure I've got Dossier - must dig it out and take another look.
For me, most of the fun of finding old comics from my childhood was comparing my memory of them to the comics themselves. It's always weird what you forget and what you remember. M.P.
Very true, MP. Although I can remember certain comics exactly, with others I recall only some stories, but not them all. Weird.
Kid,
Like so many young teenagers, reading James Bond novels was an introduction into the adult literay world of sex and violence. It even had a sort of parental approval in my case as now I was reading a 'good book' after years of rejecting those nice Enid Blyton books. I do Iremember however at this time my mother looking a bit perplexed when she saw me branching out into a James Hadely Chase novel whiose cover had an eyeball and a bloody razor on it.
Do teenagers even read books now in this cyber screwed up world we live in?
Ken.
It appears unlikely, Ken. They don't even seem to read comics anymore.
I'd echo Ken's sentiments about Fleming and the Bond books, they represented a right of passage into a broader world. One free from the constraints represented in things like Television and to a lesser extent Cinema. Unfortunately, from what I see, I think that's no quite so true today, literature is much tamer by comparison. There are few authors who still exercise a certain latitude but they aint represented well on the shelves of Tesco or Sainsbury's.
Although the stuff you see on telly and in the flicks these days is now much more graphic than it used to be, so books no longer seem to serve the purpose of which you speak anyway.
Yeah, I agree about the graphic nature of entertainment but that's not really what I was trying to express. There's more room for an alternative view in literature or one that is not so constrained by conformity. My view is that although modern TV/Cinema has shed most of the older taboos, the new ones are much more intransigent and worse, they now pervade literature. Look what happens to authors who's level of conformity is deemed insufficient. I cite Frank Miller, not the controversy surrounding Holy Terror but the concerted effort of a few commentators over a few lines in The 300 that they deemed offensive, that's a pretty good indicator of the level of intolerance for non-conformity.
Re Ken's Remark "...Do teenagers even read books now in this cyber screwed up world we live in?"
A woman I work with has a teenage daughter who rwads books. I'm sure she's far from being the only one. I'm equally sure that just as many teenagers read books now as ever did.
David Simpson
I'm guessing he meant 'actual' books, DS, and not just on Kindle or whatever. I hope you're right, but I'm not sure about 'as ever did'. Let's hope so.
Kid, I can only judge the reading habits of today's yooofs by what I see at my local library which is quite a large grand affair. The childrens section ie under 18s iseems to be mother & toddler groups singing nursery rhymes, young children with their parents at weekends who are obviously encouraging the reading and borrowing of books and young teens using the PCs. My own son seemed to stop taking books from the library around the 14 year od mark. I still encourage him to go but with the Internet at home it's a lost cause. Likewise as with comics, my local Forbidden Planet seems to be the domain of guys who have said goodbye to their teens some time ago.
Sorry for such a long winded post, Ken.
Always good to hear from the 'real' Ken, no need to apologise.
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