Finished Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories by Ian Fleming. Why? Because I’m a fangirl of all things Bond-related and the new movie comes out Nov. 14 (I can’t wait!). 😎

As the title suggests, this book features James Bond short stories, including For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights, and Quantum of Solace. One of the things I found most interesting while reading was comparing the stories to the various Bond movies — and there are many similarities.

For example, the story The Living Daylights is exactly like the opening of the movie of the same name — with Bond helping a spy defect and deciding not to shoot a beautiful cello player. The story For Your Eyes Only shares a key plot point with the movie — a woman out to avenge the death of her parents (and using a bow and arrow to do it).

I’m not sure how much the story Quantum of Solace will have in common with the movie, though. The story is about a woman who destroys her marriage by cheating who’s devastated when her husband then sets out to destroy her. Not exactly the stuff Bond movies are made of.

But other than comparing the stories to the movies, I’d also forgotten just how good a writer Fleming was. Most people only know Bond from the movies, but the stories/books are really good too. Fleming’s got a great eye for description, especially the stories that are set in tropical locales (Bond goes diving/snorkeling quite a bit). Fleming also balances Bond’s duty to queen and country with his conflicted feelings about being a cold-blooded killer (especially in The Living Daylights). And there are some nice twists in several of the stories, like in The Hildebrand Rarity, where Bond tries to figure out whether or not a woman murdered her abusive husband.

Of course, the stories are a little dated now, and Bond comes off as sexist at times (like when he says killing is man’s work). Also, Bond and everyone else in the stories smokes like a chimney, since these were written before folks knew cigarettes caused lung cancer.

My love of all things Bond aside, if you’ve never read Ian Fleming or are just looking for some good spy stories to read, pick up Quantum of Solace. It’s a great introduction to Fleming and the world of James Bond. Thumbs up.

Up next: A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole.

Books in my TBR pile: About 18.