Iain Banks. Man. I just can't quit you. ( )

A novel of wish fulfillment, where the aspiring (but as yet niche) novelist writes down his dream of having been a rock star instead. But it's Banks, so the "rock star" lifestyle is the sort of prog rock that electronic engineering students end up listening to and then playing. And of course, it all goes horribly wrong.

Great writing, but I never loved this, in the way I loved most of his writing in the same era. ( )

In the 90s I was shagging left and right but after a while I wanted to spend some time on Christmas without girl distractions because of my exams in January. I knew that the TV would be dreadful for the Christmas period. So I decided to go to the library for some books. Looking through the shelves I tried to pick things that would not be more upsetting. Then I came across “Espedair Street”. Iain Banks! I thought, just the thing. At least there won't be some happy ending that would be quite unbearable. At least I can depend on Banks not to inflict that on me. So I read it, drank plenty of beer, was getting through Christmas pretty well all round. And then, at the end, he sets off on the train to Mallaig to try to find his long lost love...I said to myself: WTF? And then he gets to the little village she is living in she is not home. But someone tells him that she is in the village hall. So he goes there and she is putting up Christmas decorations. And it turns out that she had been hoping he would ask her to go away with him when the band took off... And they have a happy every after re-union... AT FUCKING CHRISTMAS!!!! I was laughing my ass off. But I had genuinely taken it out of the library because I thought it was a safe bet not to have a romantic happy ending. What are the chances, and all that?

I've always viewed it as being like a mirror to 'It's a Wonderful Life'. The one where George got out of Bedford Falls and made something of himself. But what he made wasn't what it could have been if he'd never left... Or something. It's a quite grey and downbeat in mood novel, as the narrator looks back over his life ... but that final image, of the small child riding around on a tricycle festooned with multi-coloured ribbons…



NB: I should have read the "M"-Banks, and not the without-"M"-Banks… ( )

quietly introspective look at a man who gets carried away on the tide of his own life, until it stops. and then he's got to decide what he wants, what he's responsible for, and how to get there. ( )

The best book about a fictional rock band ever written. Warm and funny it is probably the best thing Banks ever wrote and also my own favourite novel. Ever. ( )