"Just about any one of them. I would say take along OHMSS and You Only Live Twice. Its like a story but broken into two parts."

"I would get ALL of them.

"

"Exactly. Nor do I feel like hauling a dozen or so paperbacks along on the trip. Just looking for 2, maybe 3. I'm sure I'll get to them all sooner or later, just looking for some prioritization here (reading them in chronological order is already out the window, since I've jumped around a lot on the first four)."

"Thanks all for the recs. I actually plowed through half a dozen Bond novels over the week: DAF, Dr. No, OHMSS, Thunderball (which I'd read before), and the two short-story collections (FYEO and Octopussy/TLD).

I was totally blown away by Dr. No. Powerful novel, and gripping. A masterpiece that makes me want to revisit the movie immediately. Brilliant.

DAF was a bit flat, I thought (is it just me, or are Fleming's weakest novels the ones in which Bond ends up in America? So much time is spent commenting with knowing disdain on American culture -- sometimes whole chapters take the plot nowhere while Fleming -- speaking through Bond or Leiter -- explains in great detail that Americans don't know how to cook salmon).

OHMSS was quite good, I thought, and Thunderball remains a particular favorite of mine. Of the short stories, I really enjoyed "Risico" (probably because I'm such a big fan of FYEO)."