January book log

I tidied my desk yesterday, and one of the things I found under the pile of printouts waiting to be filed was the stack of books read in January, also waiting to be filed. All two of them [sigh]. What makes it even worse is that I only read those because I was sitting on a long-haul flight with nothing to distract me. I've got to do something about this. It is not good for a writer to not read.

Anyway, the books, with comments. Both Iain-without-the-M-Banks, one an old friend, the other new to me.


Iain Banks -- The Crow Road

I think this was the first mainstream Banks I ever read. I was hooked instantly, though I haven't re-read it for several years. Coming back to it after a break of several years, I noticed that with its references to early 90s politics and technology it's already starting to feel like a period piece, but it's still a cracking good read.

Prentice McHoan is a young Scotsman trying to work out who he is, how he came to be that way, and what he wants to be. And how to relate to the variously eccentric members of his extended and extensive family. Being a young man, sex and death seems to be involved with all of the above. The novel moves back and forth, showing the past that led to the present, and previous generations of McHoans dealing with the same questions. The family has its secrets, and one of them begins to absorb all of Prentice's attention.

It's nominally a coming of age novel, but it's also a mystery, and several other things besides. It's also very, very funny, and full of language and imagery that will take your breath away. The switching between characters and times takes some getting used to, but the various plotlines do all go somewhere, weaving together as the book builds to the final climax. Along the way there are some fascinating characters and situations. This is the one I'd recommend to someone wanting to try Banks for the first time -- it's dark and subtle, but without the truly nightmarish imagery of some of his other work.

The 1996 BBC adaptation is available on DVD, currently seven quid, and I'm tempted to get it...

Paperback:
The Crow Road at Amazon US
The Crow Road at Amazon UK

DVD:
The Crow Road at Amazon UK



Iain Banks -- Canal Dreams

It seems to be a love it or hate it, and having read it I now see why. I liked it a lot, but I'm not sure that I'll re-read it.

The surface story is simple enough -- a famous cellist goes on a world tour by ship, because she is so phobic about flying she can't bear to step on a plane. Her ship is caught up in a civil war as it passes through the Panama Canal. Initially there is nothing but tedium, as three stranded ships huddle together for safety -- tedium, and for Hisako the chance of a love affair with an officer from one of the other ships. But then the boats are seized by a group intent on using them in an escalation of the war that has until now not directly touched them. There follows a slow study of the psychology of a hostage situation where the hostages are initially well-treated, and then the explosion into violence when the hostages' usefulness comes to an end.

But more than that, it is a study of how someone who suffers from a severe phobia need not be a coward in other things. Hisako remains passive while there are other lives at stake; but the hostage takers fatally underestimate a woman who has more than music in her troubled past.

It's short, dark, and a quite frank revenge fantasy. It's not the best of Banks' work, but if you like his books it's worth trying.

Canal Dreams at Amazon US
Canal Dreams at Amazon UK