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[books 2014] Espedair Street
Jul. 27th, 2014 09:24 pm32. Espedair Street by Iain Banks
This month's Bibliogoths book.
I haven't read this since 1991, when one of my bandmates foisted The Wasp Factory on me and I subsequently went to his house and raided the complete set, which at the time only went up to Canal Dreams.
I remember finding it primarily sad rather than funny (like everybody else did), but still enjoyed it hugely. After we'd all read the book, my band used to sit around going "we're doing it wrong". On the other hand, it's where I learned the importance of songwriting credits and publishing royalties. It's never been one of my favourite Banks books (and yes, I've read them all, except for the Culture short stories) - I remembered it as being quite lightweight.
This time round, I laughed out loud a lot more, but mostly I noticed the writing. He captures all of the different Scottish accents of his characters perfectly. The pacing is magnificent, and the prose is incredible in parts.
It's still not The Crow Road, mind, which is funnier and sadder.
I can't think of another author I've been reading so consistently for so long, or over whose works I've bonded with so many people from so many different backgrounds. There was a few years there where the Culture novels especially were a bit off, but just when you were about to give up he'd put out something like The Steep Approach to Garbadale. When he died, a number of people were going on about giving the whole oeuvre a re-read; I'm beginning to think that might be a good idea. Except Canal Dreams. I will never know what the hell he was thinking there.
This month's Bibliogoths book.
I haven't read this since 1991, when one of my bandmates foisted The Wasp Factory on me and I subsequently went to his house and raided the complete set, which at the time only went up to Canal Dreams.
I remember finding it primarily sad rather than funny (like everybody else did), but still enjoyed it hugely. After we'd all read the book, my band used to sit around going "we're doing it wrong". On the other hand, it's where I learned the importance of songwriting credits and publishing royalties. It's never been one of my favourite Banks books (and yes, I've read them all, except for the Culture short stories) - I remembered it as being quite lightweight.
This time round, I laughed out loud a lot more, but mostly I noticed the writing. He captures all of the different Scottish accents of his characters perfectly. The pacing is magnificent, and the prose is incredible in parts.
It's still not The Crow Road, mind, which is funnier and sadder.
I can't think of another author I've been reading so consistently for so long, or over whose works I've bonded with so many people from so many different backgrounds. There was a few years there where the Culture novels especially were a bit off, but just when you were about to give up he'd put out something like The Steep Approach to Garbadale. When he died, a number of people were going on about giving the whole oeuvre a re-read; I'm beginning to think that might be a good idea. Except Canal Dreams. I will never know what the hell he was thinking there.
