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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Part travelogue, part memoir, part meditation on whiskey, all delightful.
This book chronicles Ian's publisher-funded search for the perfect dram of Scotch. In the course of visiting many of Scotland's distilleries, he writes about all the roads he travels, the cars he drives, the friends he visits, the stories that reminds him of, the war he despises--with great wit and verve. I don't think I could keep up with him on a weekend road trip, unless I could convince him to try tequila, but after reading this book, I think I'd like to try.
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
A disappointing case of "don't meet your heroes".
Iain Banks's only foray into non-fiction is a meandering memoir-style book that chronicles his journey across Scotland to find the best single malt whiskey. Now admittedly I'm not a big whiskey drinker, so wasn't expecting to get much out of it in those regards. But it's Iain Banks! Surely I'll be given a lot to think about, or enjoy his descriptions of the truly beautiful country of Scotland, or enjoy his witty anecdotes, or just his prose?
Unfortunately all of these I found wanting. I was just constantly wishing for more detail about either the whiskeys or the countryside, but we don't really get either- I imagine if you were in fact a whiskey fan you'd find this book not at all helpful, or even massively interesting. I very rarely found myself with a good picture of the landscape- a true disserve to the magnificence that I know it possesses. And I know that Banks can create these visions too, in all of his fiction there are incredible vistas presented of strange castles, grubby bedsits, bizarre spaceships and other planets. So why was he unable to do it here? The whole book has a real sense of being 'phoned-in'.
But what's more disappointing is the look we get at Banks's thoughts and life. I honestly don't know what I was expecting, but this is someone who has written some of my all-time favourite books, and just seems to have a head full of incomparable ideas. So when faced with some of the anecdotes in this book, such as "me and a mate went down the pub, got drunk, then thought it would be hilarious to go climbing walls", it's just... a bit of a let down. And maybe that's my problem, having weird expectations; obviously he was just a person like anyone else. But still.
And worst of all is the petrol-headedness of the book. Far too many pages are dedicated to describing one car or another, how it drives, how great it feels to speed along the mountain roads etc. And just as frequently there are off-hand comments about how warm it is for the season in Scotland. Hmmmmmmm. Pre-apocalyptic writing at it's unironic finest. But yeah, as much as I'm ambivalent about whiskey, I hate cars, so those whole sections were unpleasant to read.
So; disappointing, feels low effort, doesn't go into enough detail about the supposed point of the book, full of boring anecdotes. Avoid this one, and stick to Banks's fiction.
Iain Banks's only foray into non-fiction is a meandering memoir-style book that chronicles his journey across Scotland to find the best single malt whiskey. Now admittedly I'm not a big whiskey drinker, so wasn't expecting to get much out of it in those regards. But it's Iain Banks! Surely I'll be given a lot to think about, or enjoy his descriptions of the truly beautiful country of Scotland, or enjoy his witty anecdotes, or just his prose?
Unfortunately all of these I found wanting. I was just constantly wishing for more detail about either the whiskeys or the countryside, but we don't really get either- I imagine if you were in fact a whiskey fan you'd find this book not at all helpful, or even massively interesting. I very rarely found myself with a good picture of the landscape- a true disserve to the magnificence that I know it possesses. And I know that Banks can create these visions too, in all of his fiction there are incredible vistas presented of strange castles, grubby bedsits, bizarre spaceships and other planets. So why was he unable to do it here? The whole book has a real sense of being 'phoned-in'.
But what's more disappointing is the look we get at Banks's thoughts and life. I honestly don't know what I was expecting, but this is someone who has written some of my all-time favourite books, and just seems to have a head full of incomparable ideas. So when faced with some of the anecdotes in this book, such as "me and a mate went down the pub, got drunk, then thought it would be hilarious to go climbing walls", it's just... a bit of a let down. And maybe that's my problem, having weird expectations; obviously he was just a person like anyone else. But still.
And worst of all is the petrol-headedness of the book. Far too many pages are dedicated to describing one car or another, how it drives, how great it feels to speed along the mountain roads etc. And just as frequently there are off-hand comments about how warm it is for the season in Scotland. Hmmmmmmm. Pre-apocalyptic writing at it's unironic finest. But yeah, as much as I'm ambivalent about whiskey, I hate cars, so those whole sections were unpleasant to read.
So; disappointing, feels low effort, doesn't go into enough detail about the supposed point of the book, full of boring anecdotes. Avoid this one, and stick to Banks's fiction.
This book is a curious thing in that the percentage spent specifically discussing whisky, history, the process, the specific distilleries is actually a LOT less than you'd think. Instead you get a lot of Iain Banks' own observations on his friends, sailing, cars, what makes a great road, more cars, a ton of old anecdotes, digressions on politics (the book was written as the Iraq war was getting into full swing) and a LOT of insight into various bits of Banks' previous writing and his own history.
So: if you're expecting a straight up book about Whisky and know nothing about Banks himself, this would probably be pretty disappointing. If you're a fan of Banks, his style of writing and humor, whisky AND are willing to bear with him through a billion fun digressions, then this is absolutely a great read (and coincidentally informative regarding single malt whisky). With Banks now tragically gone, this was actually as close as we might have gotten to an unintentional memoir or a look into the author himself behind the fiction so for that I really enjoyed it.
So: if you're expecting a straight up book about Whisky and know nothing about Banks himself, this would probably be pretty disappointing. If you're a fan of Banks, his style of writing and humor, whisky AND are willing to bear with him through a billion fun digressions, then this is absolutely a great read (and coincidentally informative regarding single malt whisky). With Banks now tragically gone, this was actually as close as we might have gotten to an unintentional memoir or a look into the author himself behind the fiction so for that I really enjoyed it.
It's a book about whisky as much as it is about Scotland. The author literally drives you along roads of all kinds, all the while talking about the places he's going through, their history, their whisky and distilleries. And since he's the one doing the traveling, usually with friends or family, you'll find plenty of personal anecdotes, which add background to his character and a pleasant accompaniment to the trip.
All in all, a good read, though maybe a bit slow. Just take your time, and then maybe bring the book with you if you happen to visit Scotland in the future.
All in all, a good read, though maybe a bit slow. Just take your time, and then maybe bring the book with you if you happen to visit Scotland in the future.
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced