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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
3.5 stars rounded up. I loved looking at google maps and tracing Banks’ journey as I read (someday I’ll see Scotland in person!) As a fan of whisky with also very little knowledge of it, I found this book fun, approachable, and accessible. Recommend for fans of whisky, Scotland, and/or Iain Banks.
Rounded up 3.5. Banks' Raw Spirit is 1/3 whiskey, 1/3 driving, 1/3 memoir. As one goes through the book, one starts looking forward to different parts of those thirds as they come up.
As far as a fiction writer getting a publishing deal of a memoir, getting one that funds a trip around Scotland to visit all of its distilleries and taste different years, blends, expressions (for research, of course), is a pretty sweet way to do it. Admittedly, I've never read any of Banks' previous works - I'd actually purchased this book on a whim about 3-4 years ago when I was getting into whiskeys, but he has a fun way of writing that is personable while occasionally interjecting beautiful imagery of the Scottish landscape. His anecdotes of his friends, childhood, rants are fun asides you can see yourself having with a friendly stranger, while enjoying a scotch.
When I first started the book, I was in agony over the descriptions of the roads and his cars. As someone who rarely drives, it was not a topic I was interested in and I wanted to get to the whiskey already! One very informative review of the whiskey making process later and after describing several visits and several tastings, in which he was generous in his descriptions of all of them, your mind starts to wander and I began to have an interest in Scottish roads. (Note for the editor: a map! A map! My kingdom for a map! You have a pronunciation guide in the back so this book is not only for Scots so having maps indicating where in the world is Iain Banks would have been very helpful).
Near the last third, one feels familiar with how distilleries work and the reviews of the distilleries and drinks, though well-written, start to fade, as do the descriptions of roads. One looks forward to the next anecdote of his life or updates on the then-current political situation. It's odd writing this review in 2020 when Trump has idiotically ran like a blind infant into Iran and reading Banks in 2003 decrying Bush and Blair for the Iraq War in its earlier stages. It's disheartening to see corrupt people in power making the same costly mistakes over and over again on the backs of the poor. Particularly moving is a scene near the end involving his father as a child and his grandfather, who'd served in the first World War, hoping that his young son wouldn't have to serve in another human catastrophe.
Over all, I enjoyed it and will return to it for a reminder of Springbank, Gran Reserva, and Grange (wine), all of which he so beautifully described that I must give them a try myself.
As far as a fiction writer getting a publishing deal of a memoir, getting one that funds a trip around Scotland to visit all of its distilleries and taste different years, blends, expressions (for research, of course), is a pretty sweet way to do it. Admittedly, I've never read any of Banks' previous works - I'd actually purchased this book on a whim about 3-4 years ago when I was getting into whiskeys, but he has a fun way of writing that is personable while occasionally interjecting beautiful imagery of the Scottish landscape. His anecdotes of his friends, childhood, rants are fun asides you can see yourself having with a friendly stranger, while enjoying a scotch.
When I first started the book, I was in agony over the descriptions of the roads and his cars. As someone who rarely drives, it was not a topic I was interested in and I wanted to get to the whiskey already! One very informative review of the whiskey making process later and after describing several visits and several tastings, in which he was generous in his descriptions of all of them, your mind starts to wander and I began to have an interest in Scottish roads. (Note for the editor: a map! A map! My kingdom for a map! You have a pronunciation guide in the back so this book is not only for Scots so having maps indicating where in the world is Iain Banks would have been very helpful).
Near the last third, one feels familiar with how distilleries work and the reviews of the distilleries and drinks, though well-written, start to fade, as do the descriptions of roads. One looks forward to the next anecdote of his life or updates on the then-current political situation. It's odd writing this review in 2020 when Trump has idiotically ran like a blind infant into Iran and reading Banks in 2003 decrying Bush and Blair for the Iraq War in its earlier stages. It's disheartening to see corrupt people in power making the same costly mistakes over and over again on the backs of the poor. Particularly moving is a scene near the end involving his father as a child and his grandfather, who'd served in the first World War, hoping that his young son wouldn't have to serve in another human catastrophe.
Over all, I enjoyed it and will return to it for a reminder of Springbank, Gran Reserva, and Grange (wine), all of which he so beautifully described that I must give them a try myself.
I love Banks' science fiction. However, the rabble-rousing and ranting in this book just got old. I fast-forwarded to the final chapter to confirm nothing had changed. Technically a DNF.
Oh well. Moving on to the next book.
Oh well. Moving on to the next book.
Finding a book you've never read by an author some years after they've died is a pleasure I've rarely experienced before (excluding the classics). This book has always been on my radar but I found it in a secondhand bookshop around the corner from my sons' flat.
It professes to be a commissioned book about the scotch whisky industry in Scotland but only a smallish part of the book deals with that, which would be a disappointment if I was deeply interested in it. There's enough to intrigue me but these sections mostly serve as opportunities for Mr Banks to segue into tangents about cars, politics, Scottish landmarks, scenery, history and roads as well as large autobiographical chunks about his own life.
As a big fan of his work I loved it: it was a wonderful glimpse into the life and mind of an author who was taken from us too soon.
It professes to be a commissioned book about the scotch whisky industry in Scotland but only a smallish part of the book deals with that, which would be a disappointment if I was deeply interested in it. There's enough to intrigue me but these sections mostly serve as opportunities for Mr Banks to segue into tangents about cars, politics, Scottish landmarks, scenery, history and roads as well as large autobiographical chunks about his own life.
As a big fan of his work I loved it: it was a wonderful glimpse into the life and mind of an author who was taken from us too soon.
I read this with a map of Scotland in one hand and a dram of whisky in the other, which definitely enhanced my experience, but you could certainly take this book neat and enjoy it just as well.
A good read, especially for someone like me who loves whisky. Just a shame that Iain (and presumably his editor) don't know the name of the village that the Fettercairn distilliary is in. He seems to think it is in Fochabers...it's in Fettercairn (the clue was in the distillery name really). Fochabers is some 90 miles away from Fettercairn!
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
Originally published on my blog here in May 2004.
Iain Banks' first book length non-fiction writing is on a subject which has little interest to me, and is certainly a book I would not have picked up had it not been for the author's name. The subject is whisky, and I have been a teetotaller for over fifteen years. So a book about scotch is not really one calculated to appeal to me, and indeed I did find the parts of Raw Spirit which are in fact about the drink rather dull (there is clearly a limit to the number of ways that even such an inventive writer as Iain Banks can find to describe the tastes of the different malts - "peaty" is a word rather lacking in synonyms). The book really only takes whisky as one theme among several, as it describes a series of journeys motivated by the idea of visiting every Scottish distillery; it is basically a travel book. So quite a large proportion of Raw Spirit - more than half - is about other things: Scottish scenery, Scottish roads, Iain Banks and his friends, his cars, and how he feels about the Iraq war. This is all much more interesting, if repetitive in places.
So what's in Raw Spirit for the reader? That depends very much on what the reader wants to get from it even more than is the case for most books. A whisky connoisseur would probably have more detailed and systematic information about single malts available from reference books they already own, even though here they have the information recorded in a more individual manner. As a travel book, it could do with illustration - Banks often mentions photos being taken, but only two are used, and a map showing the distilleries and itinerary would make the logic of the journeys easier to see. The trips themselves lack the epic of unusual quality one expects from a travel book. The main interest in the travel sections comes from the various friends and relatives who accompany Banks on his trips, modern car journeys not that interesting to read about. (Scotland is not to me a particularly unfamiliar country; to others, this may be more interesting.) This leads to what is probably what most readers will get from Raw Spirit - autobiographical anecdotes from a favourite writer. In the end, this is a book for fans of Banks' fiction, for those who want to know more about the man behind the novels. Like many writers, the creator is less interesting than his creations. (This is exemplified when Banks compares his own happy childhood with the abuse and neglect many readers expect to have been necessary to produce [b:The Wasp Factory|567678|The Wasp Factory|Iain Banks|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1303915010s/567678.jpg|3205295], as though, as Banks points out, people can only write from their personal experience.) This really is a book strictly for the fans.
Iain Banks' first book length non-fiction writing is on a subject which has little interest to me, and is certainly a book I would not have picked up had it not been for the author's name. The subject is whisky, and I have been a teetotaller for over fifteen years. So a book about scotch is not really one calculated to appeal to me, and indeed I did find the parts of Raw Spirit which are in fact about the drink rather dull (there is clearly a limit to the number of ways that even such an inventive writer as Iain Banks can find to describe the tastes of the different malts - "peaty" is a word rather lacking in synonyms). The book really only takes whisky as one theme among several, as it describes a series of journeys motivated by the idea of visiting every Scottish distillery; it is basically a travel book. So quite a large proportion of Raw Spirit - more than half - is about other things: Scottish scenery, Scottish roads, Iain Banks and his friends, his cars, and how he feels about the Iraq war. This is all much more interesting, if repetitive in places.
So what's in Raw Spirit for the reader? That depends very much on what the reader wants to get from it even more than is the case for most books. A whisky connoisseur would probably have more detailed and systematic information about single malts available from reference books they already own, even though here they have the information recorded in a more individual manner. As a travel book, it could do with illustration - Banks often mentions photos being taken, but only two are used, and a map showing the distilleries and itinerary would make the logic of the journeys easier to see. The trips themselves lack the epic of unusual quality one expects from a travel book. The main interest in the travel sections comes from the various friends and relatives who accompany Banks on his trips, modern car journeys not that interesting to read about. (Scotland is not to me a particularly unfamiliar country; to others, this may be more interesting.) This leads to what is probably what most readers will get from Raw Spirit - autobiographical anecdotes from a favourite writer. In the end, this is a book for fans of Banks' fiction, for those who want to know more about the man behind the novels. Like many writers, the creator is less interesting than his creations. (This is exemplified when Banks compares his own happy childhood with the abuse and neglect many readers expect to have been necessary to produce [b:The Wasp Factory|567678|The Wasp Factory|Iain Banks|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1303915010s/567678.jpg|3205295], as though, as Banks points out, people can only write from their personal experience.) This really is a book strictly for the fans.
I used to enjoy whisky. I also enjoy Iain Banks's novels. So it made sense to read a book about whisky by Iain Banks. Ironically, I picked this book up from the boxes of books stored in the church hall where we have our Wednesday AA meetings. I put 50p in the honesty box.
The book is very readable. Iain travels around Scotland visiting distilleries and buying up hunners of bottles. One might say that it's a self-indulgent book by a writer with too much money and who likes nothing more than to talk about his cars and motorcycles and throws money away on expensive wine and restaurants. And that isn't entirely wrong either, but for all that it is still strangely compelling and enjoyable. He shares a lot of anecdotes about his life, many of which are rather amusing, such as his enjoyment of urban climbing. And although he talks a lot about his expensive cars, it's clearly more than just self-indulgent prattle; this is a man who knows and loves the automobile and his enthusiasm is infectious. He also knows Scotland very well and it's fun to read his descriptions of the various roads across the country.
Overall this is a great book. I enjoyed it a lot more than i thought I would. I'd give it a four.
The book is very readable. Iain travels around Scotland visiting distilleries and buying up hunners of bottles. One might say that it's a self-indulgent book by a writer with too much money and who likes nothing more than to talk about his cars and motorcycles and throws money away on expensive wine and restaurants. And that isn't entirely wrong either, but for all that it is still strangely compelling and enjoyable. He shares a lot of anecdotes about his life, many of which are rather amusing, such as his enjoyment of urban climbing. And although he talks a lot about his expensive cars, it's clearly more than just self-indulgent prattle; this is a man who knows and loves the automobile and his enthusiasm is infectious. He also knows Scotland very well and it's fun to read his descriptions of the various roads across the country.
Overall this is a great book. I enjoyed it a lot more than i thought I would. I'd give it a four.
my favorite contemporary author reviews my favorite beverage. what could be better?