I read different genres. I like fantasy, I like science fiction, crime not so much but sometimes it is tempting, romance I read rarely. I like non fiction as well and all the sciences. Then we come to fiction, just fiction. Some dude has a story to tell in something resembling our world and our time and so writes it down. Publishing houses are often tempted to add a bit of help here, humor or action will appear next to fiction. Sometimes, like this time, fiction will just sit there alone, defiant; a good story does not need a tag. Mr. Banks has a story to tell and hopes I will enjoy it. Oh good....
So I met Stewart up a bridge on a damp Friday night. Stewart has returned home after five years in order to attend a funeral. The book is divided into the four days this visit is supposed to last. I could describe the story but that is not the point. There was excitement, mystery, love, regret, death, redemption... just the kinds of things you hope to read in a good story. This is my point, Iain Banks can tell a good story. He captured my imagination and quickly made me care about the protagonist. A story teller without a gimmick... and how did he get past the gods of publishing?
These days everything is about marketing. The cover jacket; is it feminine or masculine; are the blurbs placed well? Is the book labeled to attract its target audience? I cannot imagine what goes on between the editor, publishing house, author, etc... to produce a marketable book. Which takes me back to the simple labels like Humor/Fiction or SciFi... I understand this may make it easier for me to find books similar to say, Isaac Asimov's, but a humor label may discourage me from reading someone just as good, only a lot funnier. I have no solutions here only questions.
The mechanized book shopping of today with e-readers and book searches that narrow my choices based on what I have purchased or browsed before would never have handed me this book. And this book is a jewel. A lot of books are never published because the companies cannot afford to publish them and so we come to self-publishing and coming to a lap top near you, professionally published books that will be printed only after a certain amount of success. I am sure many of them will be jewels as well. How sad that I will be pigeon holed into being a certain kind of reader. Google is already useless for me because the search results it gives me are so predictable and narrow (or trying to sell me something) that I cannot use the information provided. If I knew the answer I would not be doing a search, so I have moved on to other search engines. Amazon has already frustrated me as well. These days I look for books on the Waterstones website... But when I can walk into Hatchards or Mayersche then I manage to pick up jewels. Stonemouth is a wonderful story. It is the sort of story that I read for the love of reading. Thank you Mr. Banks, I am going to miss you...
Iain Banks
ISBN: 9780349000206
