Ian Banks Recommendations

Fr Clint Power

Inspired by the 'Popular Books' thread I read The Wasp Factory at the weekend. I really enjoyed it. Could anyone recommend some more of his books to me? I believe that he writes both mainstream and SF stuff. If possible I would like recommendations for both. Are all the SF books set in the same Universe? and if so do they have to be read in order?

TheNibbler

I really enjoyed his book 'Complicity'. 'The Business' isn't as good but still worth a read. With regards to his SF stuff, not a big fan of the genre but 'The Algebraist' got some good reviews (got it for Christmas a few years ago but haven't got further than page 50!).

the_syco

I thought "Look to Windward" by Iain Banks was pretty good. The only bad thing is that in some of his books, he goes into very high detail about a pure fiction craft. Cool if you're into that, but my brain once went numb reading 2 pages of detail about how something. Anyhoo's, its all about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture and the mystery behind them.

crackity_jones

I've read all of his fiction and most of his science fiction books. To many he is seen as an author who has hit something of a sticky patch in that some of his recent titles are not really of the standard set in his earlier efforts.

Some of his most highly rated general fiction books include Walking on Glass, The Bridge, Espedair Street and The Crow Road. Complicity, Whit and The Business are very enjoyable reads without really possessing any of the depth of the aforementioned books. The remainder are a mixed bag for me ranging from experitments in lyrical prose (Song of Stone) to left-wing rants (Dead Air). Banks is a highly vocal critic of the War in Iraq and famously chopped his passport up and posted it to Blair.

As regards his science fiction I think they are all worth a look. The highlights are Player of Games and Use of Weapons. Highly original and as good as anything you are going to find in the genre. Actually, that book store around the corner from Eason's on O'Connell St. (I can't remember the name of it) had all his sci-fi novels on sale for 5 euro each the last time I was in there. A good chance to pick them all up on the cheap.

r3nu4l

Okay, my first introduction to Iain Banks was a work sponsored by the Scotch Distilleries, "Raw Spirit - In search of the perfect Dram" and it was well written, informative and funny too so I would recommend that as non-ficiton.

I bought "A Song of Stone" and so far haven't managed to read very much of it. I find it incredibly boring but as has been said it appears not to be the best example of his work. I should have guessed as I've seen tons of copies of it on the shelves of second-hand bookstores and not much of anything else he has written

TheNibbler

Forgot about Espedair Street-that is probably my favourite of his books.

BossArky

What is "Against a Dark Background" like? I have it here waiting to be read.

Previously I read "The Wasp Factory" and "Player of Games", both enjoyable.

crackity_jones

>What is "Against a Dark Background" like? I have it here waiting to be read.

It's one of his non Culture novels. Very dark. But then Banks only does 'light' when he's writing about his favourite thing in the world; whiskey. It's a slow starter but really picks up. The core characters are great but like I said, it's no barrel of laughs and can be rather saddening.

But then I like everything Banks turns out (apart from that bad of trash Dead Air) so I would recommend it, wouldn't I?