Ian Fleming

In a review of the new James Bond book written by Sebastian Faulks, Charles Cumming writes: "The snobbery which has hampered Fleming's literary reputation was exemplified by Faulks when he said 'It was like asking someone who writes complex symphonic music if they would like to write a three minute pop song'." He tells of "London's literati" performing readings of the Bond novels and "collapsing in fits of giggles."
Cheek.
Most of these London literati are long forgotten, Ian Fleming lives on.
Cumming goes on to say that Faulks's rendition of Fleming's Bond,"Devil May Care" "marks an improvement on the original Bonds..."
I don't believe it.
There are people out there who believe Fleming was just another hack writer of crime thrillers. Actually he was a great stylist.
Listen to what another "hack writer of crime thrillers" had to say about Fleming:
"... he escaped from Mandarin English, the forced pretentiousness, the pre-occupation with the precise and beautiful phrase, which to me is seldom precise or beautiful, since our language contains an interior magic which belongs only to those who, in a sense, care nothing about themselves."
Raymond Chandler wrote that, and you can't get more stylish than Chandler.