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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I really did try to get through this since it was recommended to me, and at times I found the author to be quite funny, but it isn't at all what I'd hoped. This was written in a way that droned on about the man and people he knew and less about the dram itself. This is something I'm sure some people like, but as someone who is in agricultural and food business, this was not at all what I wanted.
This turned out to be a very expensive book to read, as it made me want to buy bottles of scotch. So even though the book was only £2 from a charity shop - sorry Mr Banks, no royalties from me this time - it's cost me nearly £100 so far, and likely to be much more.
This is an easy and charming read, if you identify with Iain Banks' warm and ebullient style. He reminds me of Bill Bryson in his relaxed, friendly, erudite writing. It's a loving tour of Scotland and many of its distilleries, with plenty of personal anecdotes. Recommended for petrolhead, rock-music-loving, whisky-drinking, left-leaning caledoniphiles everywhere.
This is an easy and charming read, if you identify with Iain Banks' warm and ebullient style. He reminds me of Bill Bryson in his relaxed, friendly, erudite writing. It's a loving tour of Scotland and many of its distilleries, with plenty of personal anecdotes. Recommended for petrolhead, rock-music-loving, whisky-drinking, left-leaning caledoniphiles everywhere.
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
It's strange but over the years I have only read three Banks books and two of them I would class as brilliant namely 'The Wasp Factory' which was wonderfully blackly comic and The Crow Road which I loved and I also enjoyed the BBC adaptation. Last year I read Stonemouth and really enjoyed it so I wonder why over the last twenty years haven't I read more especially as i have had this book sat on my shelf unread for ages. What leads me to this digression is that I read this self indulgent road trip of Iain Banks around the distilleries of Scotland and just thought what a great bloke he was, just the sort of person I would like to share a few drams of single malt with.He wrote it as the 1993 invasion of Iraq begins and he and his wife have torn up very publically their passports and the book is peppered with his views on politicians and the missing WMD's and the laying down of British political morality to 'Dubya's' ambitions, but overall this is a book that is about friendships both now and past, food and drink and the pleasure of the same, family, and the wonder of Scotland its scenery, culture ,its roads and most of all its national drink. It is a bit heavy with technicalities re whisky making and it is not a linear journey ,and also it is a bit petrol heady (I'm not really a car person) although the idea of driving the highland roads in his porsche, bmw, or landrover does appeal but it is worth reading if you can enjoy 360 pages of someone extolling whisky and life wghich I did. My only slight criticism is the lack of map or photos and perhaps the risk that I am sorely tempted to max my credit card buying various single malts. Most of all I guess is the thought that this is an author who has now died that I probably didn't properly enjoy when he was alive but seemed such a nice normal man. Anyway another trip to plan for when I retire!!
reflective
medium-paced
Part travelogue, party whiskylogue, and part diatribe against Blair and Bush. Interesting and romantic without ever being too heavy.
This is a very fun memoir. If you're coming for a book about whiskey turn back, but if you're okay with a book about cars, Scotland, drunken hijinks, distilleries, british politics, the Iraq war, motorcycles, camping, and writing then this will be right up your alley.
This is a strange book, no doubt about it. It talks about whiskey, sure, but it also talks extensively and meanderingly about the following topics:
A Roads of Scotland
B Roads of Scotland
Cars
Driving
Random times had with friends
The Iraq war
And on and on and on.
It does not go deeply into the history of whiskey in Scotland, or the political aspects of whiskey, although Ian Banks does not shy away from talking endlessly about his political views.
We listened to the audio book, the narrator was perfect. We enjoyed it, but I can see why many people might not.
A Roads of Scotland
B Roads of Scotland
Cars
Driving
Random times had with friends
The Iraq war
And on and on and on.
It does not go deeply into the history of whiskey in Scotland, or the political aspects of whiskey, although Ian Banks does not shy away from talking endlessly about his political views.
We listened to the audio book, the narrator was perfect. We enjoyed it, but I can see why many people might not.
File this one under "wish I liked it more." The petrolhead/political diversions just didn't hit for me. Any and all of the whisky-related stuff was great. Perhaps I just need my travelogues to have a little more...intrigue? Danger? Barriers to success? I don't know. Felt like a long, long magazine article, which sometimes works but not in this case, necessarily.
This one took me a while.
I should preface this by saying that I adore Iain M Banks. I love his writing, his imagination and even his politics.
I love Whisky, and I love Scotland.
But... This book is DULL. It's literally an account of a rich guy driving around in expensive cars, staying in expensive places, and drinking expensive drinks. All well and good, but it doesn't have much of a through-line - and there's not a lot there which tallies with my life experiences.
Meh, oh well. It's nicely written at least.
I should preface this by saying that I adore Iain M Banks. I love his writing, his imagination and even his politics.
I love Whisky, and I love Scotland.
But... This book is DULL. It's literally an account of a rich guy driving around in expensive cars, staying in expensive places, and drinking expensive drinks. All well and good, but it doesn't have much of a through-line - and there's not a lot there which tallies with my life experiences.
Meh, oh well. It's nicely written at least.
A good whisky-based travelogue, with a dash of foreign policy (i.e. war-mongering) thrown in. A bit too much about driving for my taste and the book would have been greatly enhanced by the addition of some maps. An appendix of distillery info wouldn't have gone amiss either. Still these are just minor quibbles; overall, an excellently entertaining and informative read.