Ian Fleming's Bond books-- worth reading?

[curlyqlink]

I've seen the movies, never read the books, thought it was time. Any opinions as to which ones are good, bad?

I'm also considering recommending Ian Fleming to a book group... my main concern is, how misogynistic are these novels? Yeah I know it's James Bond, he loves 'em and leaves 'em (often dead...) but does this aspect of the book fall into the category of campy, dated fun or is it nasty and mean spirited?

[kiki1982]

Apparently all of the Ian Fleming books feature a ruthless secret agent as he should be. Other than the screen adaptations with Roger Moore, which were sometimes rather light-hearted...

I'm not sure about Sean Connery, never saw a lot of films with him...

Timothy Dalton, as James Bond, came the closest to the book character, according to experts and fans of the books.

Not sure about Pearce Brosnan (?) and the newest one (I forgot his name now)...

So, maybe, even or people who have seen the movies, it is not at all bad to read the books. Whether it is great literature and well written I don't know, though. It wurely must be very different from the films, so it is interesting anyway.