h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I tend to think that Banks' main problem is that having developed such a distinctive voice in his early work (Wasp Factory, The Bridge), much of his later work has entirely unnecessary echoes of too many other authors.

Walking on Glass is fine, for example, but Murakami does that sort of existential angst much, much better. I like Canal Dreams, but would readily admit it's a pointless read if you've got a good J. G. Ballard to read.

His SF just bores me rigid. And essentially it's just Asimov's Foundation re-written with big words to boot. I still think Jon Courtenay Grimwood's excellent 'Stamping Butterflies' was, in part at least, a swipe at Banks.

come to think of it, the player of games did, somewhat cringingly, remind me of star wars. ive not read canal dreams, and i am a bit of a j.g balard fan, so im not sure how thats going to work out, but hey, what the hell, ill give it a go. tdor

Nah...Whit was S**t. Even though the descriptions of Luskentyre were spot on. The idea of interstices was amusing - especially interstitial hitchhiking - but one idea's not enough to sustain a novel. The last couple of chapters had definite sense of being dashed off to meet a deadline - which most of his books are.

The Bridge owes a lot to Alistair Grey's Lanark, of course. Similar surreal fantasy coupled with a plausible real-life story. And it has a great soundtrack, too. (I'm trying to remember what the guy was playing when he drove his car off the bridge. Was it The Pixies?)

Well, the fact hat I had a soft spot for it doesn't mean it wasn't sh*t. To be honest, when I next come to prune the bookshelves, I doubt most of Banks' work will make the cut. I don't ever see me re-reading it.

Ah! A fellow book pruner! I used to be an obsessive not-throw-awayer, but I've moved onto a higher spiritual plane. Plus the bookshelves are full and my house is tiny. I don't agree with this Book Crossing business, though, as recently featured on the Front Page: A9193269. Send them to Oxfam where they can do some good!

Some of mine have gone on e-bay (got any Murakami 1st editions? You'd be *amazed* at what they sell for), but the majority have gone to the local hospice shop.

I've only really just got into the habit, and pruned them savagely before moving. Having just moved I'm going to prune again - I'm not moving all those b*st*rds again! Banks will almost certainly go (though I may keep a couple). Jonathon Carroll nearly went last time so I can't see him making the cut either.

I can't bring myself to throw out my battered old Kerouacs, though - even though I'm *very* unlikely ever to read them again.

As Capote said of them, 'That's not writing - it's typing!'

Hmm. I am also a follower of "The Bankster"*, and think that Canal Dreams was always underrated. The Bridge and Espedair Street are my favourites. The Business always seemed to be a film treatment in novel form - characterisation and motivation nowhere near as good as the standard.

A truly appalling film was made of Complicity, and a mediocre TV mini-series of The Crow Road. I always thought some (but not all) of his "skiffy" was amenable to film treatment - you could probably make a half-decent movie out of Excession and The Player Of Games...Against A Dark Background would need a longer format, and the sub-plots and spin-offs could help flesh it out.

As has been mentioned before, I think, Banks now writes to fund his lifestyle...as evidenced by his first non-fiction work, Raw Spirit. A good book, written in typical Banks style. I particularly like the Awemsys Of Azshashoshz.


RF

* As he's never, to my knowledge, been known.

I'm dying to read "Stamping Butterflies", but it hasn't been released in the US as of yet- I'll have to wait till August.

I'm currently reading "Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail", by Christopher Dawes. I suppose the title explains it all? It's really quite entertaining, so far.

I think Banks' 'skiffy' is really pretty fantastic, although his latest stuff hasn't been as good as his earlier novels. While they're far from literature, they are tremendously exciting, funny, totally horrific at times, and the ideas in them can be really breathtaking. I thought Use of Weapons was absolutely superb.
The Business and Dead Air were crap, though. As was feersum endjinn.

Er, is non-fiction allowed here?

I'm reading The Tyranny of Numbers. The title was a phrase I'd come up with myself in one of my writings, so I had to have a look at it. It illustrates how figures and statistics are almost always misleading and don't tell the whole story because the most important things can't actually be counted.

I remember, back in the late 80's, some schoolfriends of mine saying 85% of the population supported the death penalty. It seemed like an incredible statistic at the time, and no wonder. Last year I discovered that the 85% referred to Sun readers who had filled in and returned a typically biased form. Not exactly a fair sample...

If non-fiction isn't allowed, most of my contributions would be invalid. (Ancestors Tale is on hold while I read 'Trigger Happy' by Steven Poole).

The People's Act of Love by James Meek has turned out to be really brilliant - especially the bit where Samarin has realised that he's the packed lunch. But I won't spoil it for you.

It's an entertaining read, though it does go a bit tangential in places, and the writing is occasionally rather fluffy. But anything that makes people more suspicious of bare, unqualified stats has to be a good thing. I try to keep that suspicion in mind as much as I can.

The power of stats just keeps increasing, and their impact, whether they are generated well or dubiously, is hard to underestimate. Boyle recalls a suspect survey of the poor in London in late Victorian London: "...a survey which showed that 25% of Londoners were living in extreme poverty. It was inflammatory. Riots followed." But I guess the 'great unwashed' would use any old excuse for a punch-up...

can't remember if I mentioned I'm now reading The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.

Very interesting - I haven't a clue what's going on!

Snapped up The Planets by Dava Sobel today on sale, so I'll be starting that tomorrow. I eventually got round to reading the Da Vinci Code, which I thought was immensely overrated. Then I read Demons and Angels, which made me think the Da Vinci Code was fantastic!

So Danny's off my reading list now.

Just started Cat's Eye by yer woman Atwood today.

i bought the horse and his boy and prince caspian from the narnia series the other day. kinda started them. read the horse and his boy and now half way through prince caspian

The Horse and His Boy...that one's going to be completely unfilmable, isn't it?

i dont know you just need 2 talking horses...