Sorry no picture available I'm on a cluttered mac.
I just read Sherlock and Watson's second adventure, The Sign of the Four. I personally liked it better than a Study in Scarlet. This book is where we are first introduced to Holmes' recreational cocaine use. According Homes he only shoots up when he's between cases to quiet his mind. It is also in this book that we meet Miss Mary Morstan, the character we are introduced to in the movie as Watson's recent fiance. In The Sign of the Four, Watson instantly falls in love with her but despairs because as soon as he and Holmes track down Miss Morstan's treasure she'll be rich and want nothing to do with him, or WORSE, suspect him of being a gold digger. Well precious gem digger as is the case. Fortunately the treasure is never recovered for which both lovers rejoice. I read the first page of the next book, A Scandal in Bohemia, and they are married. It was also there that Irene Adler is introduced, "the woman . . . In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex." But I haven't read on to discover anymore of this character.
I've been too busy zipping through the short stories of Britain's second man of mystery. Commander Bond, James Bond. I found this lovely little book at Sam Weller's new, used, and rare book store, it's not rare or used, falling under the new category. It's been a fun little read though I'm embarrassed to take it on the train because there's a topless woman dominating the front cover. The best story so far has been For Your Eyes Only, where an elderly couple is gunned down in Jamaica by Cuban thugs under the direction of a former Gestapo officer looking to take over their lovely estate. What these thugs didn't know was that old man Havelock had a powerful best man at his wedding. This best man was none other than the director of England's secret service, M. This murder chaffed M, who sent Bond as justice's hammer. But the thugs also didn't know that the Havelock's young daughter, whose pony and dog they'd killed as incentive for her to sell the desired property, was raised in Jamaica's jungle and had become quite sufficient with a bow. Jamaica's Catniss didn't hesitate to stalk her parent's killers in the mountains of Vermont with her shiny bow. Sweet fate it was that the two stalkers, Bond and Miss Havelock, should happen upon each other in the woods. After "taking out the trash" they hiked back to Canada to make sweet love in the kozy motel. But while this was the best short story so far it wasn't the most interesting fun Bond fact I've come across.
Fun side note is that Bond lost his virginity at the tender age of 16 to a Parisian hooker, because some well known bar tender had advised that when in Paris the adventuresome youth should tell his cabby, "Sank Roo Doe Noo" whatever that means, he lost his notebook in the process as well. Notebook being, I assume, limy for wallet.
But this still isn't what I've found most interesting, or, why I've bothered to post, what I want to put up for conversation. Perhaps like me you were disappointed with the latest Bond film installment Quantum of Solace. To me nothing new was learned and nothing resolved in the greater story line that Casino Royal had eluded to, Bond was simply put into a holding pattern. Well, in Ian Flemming's world (Flemming also wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) Quantum of Solace is one of his short stories that actually has very little to do with Bond. In Quantum of Solace James Bond is sitting with the governor of Bermuda who is relating a tragic love-less story. This tragic tale is about an introverted government worker who married a flight attendant because she was the first woman ever to pay attention to him. He was transfered to Bermuda where she had a very public affair with one the the local playboys. This so broke the man that the Governor developed a term for what happened. The term he coined was . . . the Law of the Quantum of Solace. Which "high-sounding" title describes, "the death of common humanity in one of the partners." Here the Governor commentating on his observations of every human relationship, and uses it in connection with, "That particular insult to the ego--worse, to the instinct of self-preservation". Bond interprets the Quantum of Solace as, "Human beings are very insecure. When the other person not only makes you feel insecure but actually seems to want to destroy you, it's obviously the end. The Quantum of Solace stands at zero. You've got to get away to save yourself."
Now to the Conversation I'm trying to generate. Hopefully after discussing what we've got here we will be able to pull deeper understanding from the film Quantum of Solace.
Questions: I haven't looked up the definition of Quantum or Solace to get an exact feel of the usage in general or here together. Also I've quoted so much because my mind in not fully wrapped around the Governor's term, so I'd like your takes on what you think is going on. Finally any insights on how the Quantum of Solace as a term can be used to interpret the movie. This final query is of course assuming that the screen writers read this short story and didn't just steal the name because it's a Bond story and sounded cool.
