Haven't read them since I was a teen, 50 some years ago.
Recently came across a Torrent with the entire collection and using Calibre have got them nicely formatted for the Aldiko reader I use on my Nexus 7 Android tablet.
Finished "Casino Royale", the first one from 1953, and just started "Live and let Die", book 2 from 1954. Brings back memories.
I read this passage and thought my how times have changed though. I don't think Fleming's publisher would pass this today.
‘Quite a case,’ said M, looking keenly at him. ‘And quite a man, this Mr. Big.’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a great Negro criminal before,’ said Bond, ‘Chinamen, of course, the men behind the opium trade. There’ve been some big-time Japs, mostly in pearls and drugs. Plenty of Negroes mixed up in diamonds and gold in Africa, but always in a small way. They don’t seem to take to big business. Pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought except when they’ve drunk too much.’
‘Our man’s a bit of an exception,’ said M. ‘He’s not pure negro. Born in Haiti. Good dose of French blood. Trained in Moscow, too, as you’ll see from the file. And the Negro races are just beginning to throw up geniuses in all the professions — scientists, doctors, writers. It’s about time they turned out a great criminal. After all, there are 250,000,000 of them in the world. Nearly a third of the white population. They’ve got plenty of brains and ability and guts. And now Moscow’s taught one of them the technique.’
Although the American publishers did have some sensibilities even back then.
Live and Let Die was published in the US in January 1955 by Macmillan; there was only one major change in the book, with the title of Chapter five being changed from "Nigger Heaven" to "Seventh Avenue".
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