The Creative Life Adventure

Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure.

I’m slowly re-visiting Ian Fleming’s James Bond books, as I tend to do every few years. This time, I’m preparing informal reader’s guides to answer a few questions of context and background; the same questions I’ve had every time I’ve read these books but was too lazy to answer previously. My guides for the first three novels are here: Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker. I’ve now completed one for Fleming’s fourth Bond novel, Diamonds Are Forever (1956), and it can be found here: Diamonds Are Forever. I expect to update these guides from time to time but with no set schedule.

Maybe more than the previous books, Diamonds Are Forever was especially inspired by Fleming’s first-hand travels: Bond goes from London to multiple locations in the United States. The cruise ship RMS Queen Elizabeth even makes an appearance. Research for this novel was also incorporated into Fleming’s later non-fiction book The Diamond Smugglers.

I’ve focused on the books, not the movies, which any fan knows are quite different. The books (according to Fleming) were primarily intended as entertainment, so my intent in filling in some blanks regarding historic events, brand names, etc., is to enhance my own entertainment from the stories. If this reader guide gives you more entertainment from the book also, so much the better. I plan to post similar documents on the subsequent novels over time. Enjoy!