World Book Night 2012

Amongst the usual flyers in my e-mail in-tray was an advert from Waterstones regarding World Book Night. I don't usually pay too much attention to these as, like the Booker prize and it's ilk, it's not what everyone reads. I scanned down the list and noted that Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, was on it, as well as my brother-in-law's favourite author, Martina Cole, with her novel The Take. Also included are A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and Sense and Insensibility by Jane Austen. All very well, I thought, until I spotted my all time favourite book in the list: The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks.

I suppose most gamers will like it for the title alone, but it's certainly Banks's best (Use of Weapons comes close, and The Bridge is his other masterpiece, but he's not done anything that great in a long while: Surface Detail was dire!).

Anyway, the deal is that you get 24 copies and give them away. I'm not giving away my first copy (1st edition paperback) nor my signed copy, but if you want one, I'm more than happy to send you one on the day, which is 23rd April.

Saturday: Surface Detail

Surface Detail

I finished the latest Iain M. Banks Culture novel, Surface Detail, last night. I'm afraid that it was a big disappointment and, for the first time with a Culture novel, I was looking forward to the end of the book.

The main problem is that the story is told from way, way too many perspectives. There is, essentially, a very thin story, or rather two intertwined stories, stretched to breaking point by telling it from several different perspectives in order to pad out the book to just over 600 pages. The main perspectives are:

• A virtual person, a disembodied consciousness, fighting a never ending war;
• Another virtual person suffering in a simulated Hell;
• A reborn person seeking revenge for her own murder;
• The person she's seeking revenge against;
• A Culture agent sent to stop her.

In addition there were other perspectives, but these were simply walk-on parts, not even essential to the story, but adding to the confusion and tedium. I felt like shouting "For Christ's sake, GET ON WITH IT!" at regular intervals.

Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men

I thought I'd have a bash at this next, as it's considered to be a classic. Written in 1930, it's the history of Mankind written five million years in the future by the last man.

Thursday: Pharmacopedia Domestica and Surface Detail

Pharmacopedia Domestica

In a long and otherwise uneventful day at the Oxfam Shop, I came across an old book that Andrew was valuing. It's called Pharmacopedia Domestica by Thomas Fuller M.D. written in 1739! In it there's all kinds of bizzare recipes, including "Salts of Steel" and:

Oil of Earth-worms

Take of Earth-worms, well washed and cut into Pieces, six Ounces; Oil-Olive, a Pint and half; boil them together till the Wine is exhaled, and lastly, strain off the Oil through a Piece of Canvas.

It's Virtues

This Oil is Penetrating, strengthens weak Nerves, corrects scorbutic Acrimony, eases wandering gouty Pains, and particularly designed for the Joins.

For Oil of Adder's Tongue (maybe a kind of plant, not real adder's tongues) this is "To be made in the common way".

Surface Detail

The latest Culture book by Iain M. Banks is out today. It's called Surface Detail and has got some good write ups, some saying that it's his best Culture book since Player of Games. I bought a copy and started reading it this afternoon. I'll let you know.