An Introvert's World of Books discussion

IAN FLEMING IS ON THE FRONT PAGE ...of this section. OK, I am not a reader or watcher of "Bond, James Bond". I live under a rock. BUT, I watched the movie "Operation: Mincemeat" and that's when I learned a tad about Ian Fleming. He was a spy and wrote the James Bond series. Then I started to have an interest.

"Some years ago, I gave a talk to the graduating seniors at a local high school. Whatever I said that night- probably something about the importance of books and reading- has utterly vanished from my memory except for three words. During the question period, a young woman stood up and asked, "Mr. Dirda, what fictional character would you most like to be?" A number of possibilities flashed through my mind, and I almost said Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy, because then I'd be married to Elizabeth Bennet. But instead, I put on my most sardonic smile and silkily whispered into the microphone, "Bond, James Bond." It is hard to imagine that I might have answered "Secretan, James Secretan." That was what Ian Fleming initially called his hero in the typescript of Casino Royale, first published in April 1953. Fortunately, just as Arthur Conan Doyle realized that Sherrinford Holmes wasn't quite the right name for the greatest of all detectives, Fleming recognized that he needed something punchier than "Secretan" for the greatest of all secret agents." written by Michael Dirda

This was the introduction to Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare

WHO KNEW??

Washington Post Hardcover Bestsellers- Fiction

James by Percival Everett

Table for Two by Amor Towles

The Women by Kristin Hannah

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

The Hunter by Tana French

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

North Woods by Daniel Mason

Washington Post Hardcover Bestsellers- Non-Fiction

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present by Fareed Zakaria

Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks

Grief Is for People by Sloane Crosley

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy