Quantum of Solace: The Complete Short Stories

Penguin Classics published Quantum of Solace: The Complete Short Stories by Ian Fleming. Does the book have any connection with the movie? And how did Fleming come by this odd title? The most intriguing thing about the last James Bond 007 movie Quantum of Solace was its title. What does it really mean? The answer to that question lies within a short story Ian Fleming wrote in 1960. It is contained in the Penguin Classics Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories by Ian Fleming. 

Tony’s Ten Years: Memoirs of the Blair Administration

Adam Boulton, Sky’s former political editor, tried to write a book on the Blair (blah) years at 10 Downing Street: Tony’s Ten Years: Memoirs of the Blair Administration published by Simon & Schuster. Boulton is married to Anji Hunter, the longstanding personal assistant to the Prime Minister; with so much inside information available one would have expected more than what resulted. On the other hand, one is not surprised that the book is one sided and boring while missing out on all major points of interest. 

Etiquette Handbook

Sometimes, writers (and not exclusively second class serial writers like Dame Barbara Cartland) just go off at a tangent from what they normally write and thereby produce what can best be titled as literary fraud. Obviously, there may be extremely funny frauds. One of my favorites is Barbara Cartland’s Etiquette Handbook published by Random House.