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Consider Phlebas Published by the Folio Society

foliosociety.com

11–20 of 103 posts

Re: Consider Phlebas Published by the Folio Society

#11
post #10
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly my favourite. My dog-eared copy is signed... twice... too. He used to come and read in Windsor, UK on occasion...

my least favorite. The Player of Games, Excession and the Hydrogen Sonata for me.

I'd agree with that - the out of order story line always put me off in Use of Weapons. Seemed unnecessary. As for his best, I'd add Look to Windward to your list. That's a beautiful, moving book.

Re: Consider Phlebas Published by the Folio Society

#12
post #4

I can't think of an author I miss more but 155CAD for a book with 6 illustrations seems crazy, especially when Banks isn't exactly making profit from this.

I like reading and I own probably too many books, but I don't understand the Folio society. If you want art then go by art, if you want a book then get a paperback. These aren't coffee table books. It's just words.

There's something to be said for presentation. Preaching's preaching, but a stone cathedral sure feels different than a strip-mall church.

Re: Consider Phlebas Published by the Folio Society

#13
I love a properly made book, though I don't buy Folio Society books due to the illustrations. Don't get my wrong, they're beautiful, but any time a book has illustrations it feels like I don't get to use my imagination (as much) for world building. The drawings seem to overwrite my own image-making process for characters, environments, etc. I don't like it.

Another example: I was re-reading the Lord of the Rings recently and I couldn't get Peter Jackson's big screen images out of my head while reading. Same thing with Gaiman's Norse Mythology—for the first few stories all I could see was Chris Hemsworth's Thor, running around in my head as I read Gaiman's interpretation.

In time, my mind seems to come up with its own imagery that's a mash-up of all the worlds and art and images I've seen. But I still want to "do the work" while reading. It feels like illustrations alongside text rob my mind of that opportunity, and give me a ready-made world with details and characteristics and visuals that are not my own.

Re: Consider Phlebas Published by the Folio Society

#14

I'm still disappointed that Subterranean Press only published Use of Weapons. It's a fantastic publication, fwiw. https://subterraneanpress.com/use-of-weapons/

What was special / good about that publication? It's signed by somebody I can best understand as "Not Ian M. Banks", and the description doesn't really tell me anything about "hardware", nor do they have a photo of the product :-/

SubPress make very good, high quality books. Sometimes it's just quite nice to own a nicely made physical object for something you deeply enjoy.

Re: Consider Phlebas Published by the Folio Society

#15
post #4

I can't think of an author I miss more but 155CAD for a book with 6 illustrations seems crazy, especially when Banks isn't exactly making profit from this.

I like reading and I own probably too many books, but I don't understand the Folio society. If you want art then go by art, if you want a book then get a paperback. These aren't coffee table books. It's just words.

I "collect" books in that I sometimes buy physical copies of books when I only read e-books, but when I purchase something it's usually because I've found an paperback in a used bookstore and can't resist the fantastic cover art and old book smell.

Whatever one may think looking at my overflowing bookshelves, a new pretty print edition doesn't do much for me.

Re: Consider Phlebas Published by the Folio Society

#16
post #5

I'm still disappointed that Subterranean Press only published Use of Weapons. It's a fantastic publication, fwiw. https://subterraneanpress.com/use-of-weapons/

Possibly my favourite. My dog-eared copy is signed... twice... too. He used to come and read in Windsor, UK on occasion...

Have a chair. No, sit. We must talk about the Player of Games and your lack of gravitas.

Re: Consider Phlebas Published by the Folio Society

#17
post #4

I can't think of an author I miss more but 155CAD for a book with 6 illustrations seems crazy, especially when Banks isn't exactly making profit from this.

I like reading and I own probably too many books, but I don't understand the Folio society. If you want art then go by art, if you want a book then get a paperback. These aren't coffee table books. It's just words.

They make nice gifts, like an even more expensive version of the penguin cloth bound classics:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/series/CLOTBO/penguin-clothbound-c...

Re: Consider Phlebas Published by the Folio Society

#18
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my least favorite. The Player of Games, Excession and the Hydrogen Sonata for me.

I'd agree with that - the out of order story line always put me off in Use of Weapons. Seemed unnecessary. As for his best, I'd add Look to Windward to your list. That's a beautiful, moving book.

Yes, it is. The couple going into the sunsets.

Re: Consider Phlebas Published by the Folio Society

#19
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my least favorite. The Player of Games, Excession and the Hydrogen Sonata for me.

I'd agree with that - the out of order story line always put me off in Use of Weapons. Seemed unnecessary. As for his best, I'd add Look to Windward to your list. That's a beautiful, moving book.

a remarkable number of books I've read recently are basically: a present day chapter, then a flashback chapter, eventually leading up to a tense moment in the present day that only makes sense once you have the flashback context.

Gets boring quickly!

Re: Consider Phlebas Published by the Folio Society

#20

I'm still disappointed that Subterranean Press only published Use of Weapons. It's a fantastic publication, fwiw. https://subterraneanpress.com/use-of-weapons/

What was special / good about that publication? It's signed by somebody I can best understand as "Not Ian M. Banks", and the description doesn't really tell me anything about "hardware", nor do they have a photo of the product :-/

Ken is a lifelong friend of Iain's, and wrote many prefaces and seems to be his kind of literary executor, publishing e.g. early poems as well as sketches related to The Culture:

https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/14019050.friend-kee...

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