Consider Phlebas, Iain M Banks (1987)

[major_clanger]

Following Iain Banks's untimely death I resolved to push my unread book pile to one side and re-read (or in some cases read), in order of publication, his Culture books. For reference, these are:

Consider Phlebas (1987)
The Player of Games (1988)
Use of Weapons (1990)
The State of the Art (1991) - short stories, three Culture-related.
Excession (

Comments

[philmophlegm]

Consider Phlebas is on the to-read shelf* in my library. I've never read any Banks, so that would seem as good a place to start as anywhere

[autopope]

Science fiction has lost a true great in the last couple of weeks. And while I appreciate that lots of people think Iain (M) Banks is a great SF novelist, I'm afraid he isn't that 'true great'. The true great I refer to is Jack Vance.

Disagree.

Vance was an interesting stylist ... but Banks was one of the five most important Scottish novelists of the past century, and one of the Greats of British literature.

Who happened to write (and enjoy writing) SF as well.

[philmophlegm]

How much of the mainstream press coverage given to Banks was because he was "one of the five most important Scottish novelists of the past century and one of the Greats of British Literature" (which I don't doubt), and how much was because he also wrote SF

[autopope]

The Brit Lit establishment still has a rather condescending attitude to SF in some quarters. However, he was also the UK's pre-eminent SF writer as well. Go read "Use of Weapons" if you're not sure why. Or "The Bridge" (sold as mainstream, arguably SF/magical realism).

[fjm]

I found tht Banks's work only worked for me when I realised it was the drones and AIs who were the real protagonists.

[alex_holden]

The Hydrogen Sonata? Ooh, a new one I haven't read yet. That's a nice surprise.

[woolymonkey]

Exactly what I was thinking!

I'm so glad I had a Culture novels reread a couple of years ago--and enjoyed it so much I then reread the other Iain M's. Like major_clanger, I find the plots surprisingly hard to remember but the books just get better every time I read them. Feersum Endjinn, which I hated first time around, is now one of my very favourites.

I was planning to stay away from reading Banks for a while as I don't trust myself yet to read the books for themselves and not as a kind of funeral reading, but a Culture book I haven't read yet may just be too tempting..

[davidwake]

It would be great to have a Live Journal book club and work down the list together. I suspect my reading speed means I'd irritate those who want to get on.

[randy_byers]

I'm not sure how Inversions doesn't count as a Culture novel, because [SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER] the two protagonists are Culture agents. The fact that we see this from the eyes of someone who doesn't know that (and that the novel can be read without understanding it) doesn't change the fact and is actually one of the brilliant accomplishments of the book. It is only a non-Culture novel if you don't know that the Culture exists. That said, I know that some people are put off by its medievalesque setting, which isn't anything like the other Culture novels.