I keep thinking I should maybe read one of the original books and then I think, no, I don't believe I can be bothered.
The films aren't nearly as good as we're supposed to think they are. Early Bond is to the thriller what the Carry On films are to comedy. Middle period Bond is vaudeville. In the recent films he becomes a superhero.
I find his continued popularity faintly depressing.
Rush Limbaugh says it's inconceivable the character should be played by a black man. Oh, for fuck's sake, Bond is fiction. And he keeps being rebooted and updated. If it were incumbent on the film-makers to stay entirely true to Fleming's original conception Bond, who first appeared in 1953, would have to be played by a man in his nineties.
Besides, Idris Elba is just about the sexiest, most charismatic male actor around. He'd be perfect for the role.
If you like that kind of thing...