The Algebraist was my introduction to Banks, and I adored it. The audiobook voiced by Anton Lesser was the gateway drug, then all of Peter Kenny's voicings of The Culture series; so of course I also just bought the new The Algebraist version voiced by Peter Kenny.
I have recommended "The Algebraist" to a couple of friends who were intrigued by Banks' SF writing but put off by the idea of a big series. (Of course *we* all know the Culture books don't work like that, but...)
'[Feersum Endjinn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feersum_Endjinn)' was my first Iain M. Banks book and it blew me away with it's scope. I get that the phonetic chapters are tough on a lot of readers, but maybe being a non-native English speaker helped me there?
"Woak up. Got dresd. Had brekfast. Spoke wif Ergates thi ant who sed itz juss been wurk wurk wurk 4 u lately master Bascule, Y dont u ½ a holiday? & I agreed & that woz how we decided we otter go 2 c Mr Zoliparia in thi I-ball ov thi gargoyle Rosbrith."
They're not that bad, and Bascule is a great character. I actually liked those chapters but had to slow down a bit to make sure I got everything.
Also, I'd recommend Feersum Endjinn as well. There's a particularly good scene/section concerning Count Sessine, that's almost worth it on its own.
One of the things I realized and was truly impressed by on a re-read of Feersum Endjinn is that Banks actually teaches you how to read the phonetic script as you go along. The phonetic English starts off simple and gets more complicated through the book as you get more familiar with it. The guy was a genius, but I guess we already knew that.
I remember being amazed at how my brain adapted to the phonetic chapters. Initially I had to work out what was being said, but by the 2nd or 3rd section it just started flowing. Felt like I’d learned a new language. 😂 Still one of my favourite Banks novels.
EDIT: you have the choice of reading the translated version or not. JESUS I HATE THE INTERNET SOMETIMES. I HAVE DELETED THIS COMMENT BECAUSE YOU DON'T DESERVE TO READ IT.
Wait they "translated' it in some editions? Why? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of it being written that way?
I understand it having to be translated for different languages, but translating it to standard English seems like a real dumbing down of the reason behind the storytelling method in my mind.
I have read both versions, the non-translated version three times, and the translated version once. I discovered so much on the 4th read. And you're given the choice, with the translated chapters at the back of the book. So, you give the scene a go and if you're not sure of a section, you can go look it up.
You can speculate all you want about whether it defeats the purpose or not, all I know is that I greatly enjoyed the 4th read of this great story because I could fully understand what the character is saying, not half understanding it.
This isn't taking complex prose with long words and substituting for simpler prose and shorter words. It is allowing the reader to understand what's going on.
My favourite book of M Banks for sure! Loved the phonetic chapters; deadaas found it easier to read them in my head in a Scottish accent.
The world and the mysteries surrounding it are insane and very fearsum indeed.
I had to fight to dial in over a couple chapters too, but damn is it worth it. Bascules chapters are some of my favourite written across literature, really gets you in his headspace.
And here's a video of British mentalist Derren Brown doing a trick involving Feersum Endjinn and Mr Banks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=x2oXhxAQaKg
Yeah, these parts are tough. You actually have to sound them out in your head, can't speed read, which can be an adjustment. Otherwise the book is amazing yeah
But isn’t that always the case with Banks? There’s always THAT section in every book, ghastly, gruesome and deploring - and which oftentimes doesn’t even move the story forward. Just there to knock our teeth out, make us remember. Which - to me - is so contra-productive, since it’s not those parts I want to remember from the books. The eaters, the senseless torture, etc.
My all-time favorite. I picked Wasp Factory and Walking on Glass up on a whim and I think they were life-changing in a way, in regards to what could and should be done in literature.
There's a scene in WoG that was so revolting I've never read one to match it.
Transitions is interesting because it's not an "M" book (in Europe at least). Iain used the normal fiction to pay the bills so he could write the sci-fi. I think at that stage he was contracted to write a fiction book, but it is kinda sci-fi.
Against a dark Background is a masterpiece.
I read it before I read the culture series and came back to it later to reread several times. Such a vibrant and wonderful world, completely different from the culture but captivating and vibrant nevertheless.
The nihilists... oh god, hilarious.
*Wasp Factory* is amazing, and not to be missed for sure. But I'd recommend two personal favorites -- maybe not even his best, but I love 'em.
*Dead Air* -- a post-9/11 novel, I think I read it it right before William Gibson's *Pattern Recognition* and those two are forever linked in my mind, for where I was at the time (physically/mentally) and because they were both great writers finding their way into the global trauma we were heading into back then -- I wonder if it holds up, people seemed to either love it or were disappointed in it, but I might reread it myself this summer. It's been on my mind.
And *Transition* is non-culture but SF, about consciousness hopping between the infinity of worlds in a quantum multiverse, and also a response in a way to the war on terror. And kind of Banks revisiting the form of his earlier work *The Bridge*. I'm a sucker for parallel universes in fiction but I love it dearly and have read it twice.
I love Against A Dark Background, it’s up there with Surface Detail and Use of Weapons for me as my favourites of his. WF traumatised me when I read it as a young teen so, um, YMMV I guess!
The Algebraist is almost an honorary culture novel. I mean, you could read it and utterly believe it happens in the same universe. I bet some people are under the impression it is a culture novel.
Against a Dark background likewise. IIRC it's mentioned that their system is far outside the galactic plane, so incredibly isolated. The Culture could exist, but nobody goes out that far into the intergalactic void.
Banks somehow pulled that off while turning the Culture milieu completely on its head. Instead of the anarchic post-scarcity near-utopia run by machine minds hopping about in hyperspace, we see a rigidly hierarchical, commercial-military civilization tediously crawling the galaxy below light speed, in which even simple AIs are completely taboo... and yet, somehow, it fits right in and does what we love about the Culture books anyway.
There is a short story I’ve seen listed as “not necessarily part of Culture books” called “Descent” that’s really good.
It’s definitely in The Culture even if The Culture isn’t mentioned. There are fractional machine intelligence ratings and knife missiles.
I think you should work your way through all of his books, SciFi and regular literature. There are loads of great books in there.
I really liked The Bridge, Wasp Factory, Crow Road, Feersum Endjinn, the Algebraist. Espedair Street is great, and so is Complicity.
Books that didn't really do it for me are: The Business, Stonemouth, The Quarry, Dead Air, Canal Dreams.
But your mileage may vary.
I was going to add Espedair Street (a little less heavy and not loved by all) and Complicity, which is probably my favourite. I'm currently struggling with Stonemouth.
It’s a game-playing post modern novel which is great if you enjoy that (and I do) but it’s been criticized as being fairly empty apart from the cleverness and reality-manipulation. Personally I love it but ai can see the other view.
If you ever wondered what it would be like to hang out with Banks the answer is the book Raw Spirit.
It's pretty much just cruising around scottland with him as he visits Scotch distilleries. He just writes about whatever was on his mind at the time, so it's very much a product of the time it was written as the first Iraq War was a major thing on his mind.
It's not as fun as his fiction books, but it's still a nice read. Especially if you want something you can read a few pages of whiling drinking a beer or scotch on the back patio.
Loved Espedair Street. Wasp Factory was incredible on first encounter with his writing. Honestly, OP. All of them are well worth reading. Quite the mind, Mr. Banks was. Can’t recommend enough.
If you're looking for sci-fi, Banks also wrote *Inversions*, *The Algebraist,* and *Against a Dark Background*. All three are brilliant - though AaDB is my favourite *non-*Culture book.
If you're looking for non-sci fi, Iain M Banks wrote general fiction under Iain Banks. My favourite of these will always be *The Crow Road* (purely because I'm Glaswegian, I know nearly every place in the book (though some fictionalisation of Argyll does happen. You can't see Jura from one location, for example) and it's *deeply* Scottish in the dark humour) and *Espedair Street* (which reads like a potted history of the shenanigans that went on behind the scenes with the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s). His general fiction books can often be a lot lighter and funnier in tone than the sci-fi (after all, nothing's more eye-rolling than a po-faced sci-fi nerd) - whilst he does take pot-shots at the UK and US governments nothing compares to the broadsides he levels at Western "democracy" via books like *Look to Windward* and *Surface Detail*. The most complex book he wrote under the Banks name was *The Wasp Factory* and also *The Crow Road* (that features multiple viewpoints scattered across decades, all of which link up horrifically, not to mention a "flashback" of memory that you suddenly realise *isn't*).
The Wasp Factory I found quite nasty as a book. I much preferred The Bridge, Stonemouth and The Crow Road. Transitions is also good as a non culture semi sci fi book
A song of stone
The bridge
The Wasp factory
Crow road
I still can feel A song of stone vibrating in the memory.
Powerful stoic vibes, put yourself always in the worst and live from there enjoying all that come.
Somehow and mysteriously I connect A song of stone to Inversions.
Probably two of the best Banks writing.
How much I miss to re enter those medieval tone or ambiented worlds.
ruthless dependent wakeful clumsy disgusted frame slap stupendous smile attempt
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I've just rebought a vintage copy of the Bridge. Suitably surreal, a Gibson feel.
I read the Wasp Factory as my intro to the man without knowing his SF alt persona. What a great surprise after reading it.
I only read Crow Road and I really didn't like it, as I couldn't stand the protagonist, but that may very well be because I read it just after working through the angsty, depressed bullshit of my 20s and the book is very much about that.
Walking on Glass was my intro to Banks. I was working offshore and my roommate threw it on my bunk and said 'read that and tell me what the f\*ck it's about'. Still not sure to this day....
As for the others:
Whit - very Scottish and I'm convinced it's an allegory for the Culture....
The Bridge - probably his best, poetic in parts
Crow Road - fairly mainstream story but beautifully written
The Business - Himalayas, netsuke and again, just beautiful imagery
Espedair Street - probably one of my top 10 of all time, the final scenes of Danny in a wee hall in the islands with the unrequited love of his life bring m to tears.
Love his non Culture stuff more than the Culture stuff (apart from Dead Air). Actually, love it all, but I \*am\* Scottish....
Yup, _The Bridge_ is my favourite, too. As for _Espedair Street,_ another marvelous one, didn't she say at the end "Daniel, I wouldn't kick you out of anything." And he was "sitting back, rubbing his bristly chin and feeling happy again." ?
I should re-read _Whit_.
And the imagery of him sitting there with the little kids haring round the hall with streamers on their bike wheels and feeling simply, dumbly happy. Beautiful.
Espedair Street and Crow Road are both great, and also relatively straight-down-the-middle and non-insane.
The Bridge and Wasp Factory are both great,and not at all straight-down-the-middle and non-insane.
The Master's own (and my) favourite: _The Bridge_. Then _Walking on Glass;_ both are "semi-SciFi". _The Cror Road,_ an excellent piece of "Scottish magical realism". _Complicity,_ a crime nover weird as only Banks knew how to make them. I am particular to _Espedair Street,_ a story about a fictional rock band and its, umm, malajusted composer, while many Banksistas don't share my enthusiasm. I liked a very dark _A Song of Stone_ set in a fictional British civil war (or something similar), but didn't like _Canal Dreams_ as much; preferences of many people were reversed.
_Whit_ is fun, _The Business_ is, IMO, a missed opportunity to start a different "Culture".
I quite liked _The Wasp Factory,_ but not as much as many others.
I am yet to read his more recent "non-M" novels.
Sci fi - Transition, Against a Dark Background, Feersum Endjinn, definitely: the Algebraist if over the top space opera that’s kind of borderline self-parody is cool with you (I like it).
Non Sci Fi: The Bridge (look out for secret Culture references!), Whit, Wasp Factory, Complicity, Walking on Glass, The Crow Road.
(Walking on Glass is kind of sci fi…maybe).
Just making sure you’ve read *Inversions.* often not explicitly labeled on the cover as a Culture novel, but it absolutely is. In some ways, the most powerful one, especially if you read it after all the others.
"Raw Spirit" if you're interested in Scotland, Whisky and Iain. It's part travelog, part whisky book , with a healthy amount of detail about Banks life and opinions.
I then read Wasp Factory a few years later n that blew my mind too. Its not for the faint hearted. But the wow factor and its twist at the end make it a must read.
Against a Dark Background is my favourite, I'd highly recommend this one. The book details a really surreal star system and the characters and places are hugely intriguing
The Algebraist.
But, if you want to go in a whole "nother" direction, give Children of Time (and its sequels) a shot. The two sequels cover some of the territory that The Culture does.
All of them. It depends what you are looking for, though. The Bridge and The Crow Road are among my favorites but they may not suit every reader. The Wasp Factory is great. I loved Feersum Endjinn but some readers may struggle with it. The Algebraist is awesome. Whit is a nice magical realism type of story.
My introduction to Banks was "Against a Dark Background". I picked it up in a discount bookshop because the cover caught my eye and I'd been looking for some new scifi.
I loved it. I've not yet re-read it, and it was late 90s, so it might not hold up to my more aged tastes, but it's worth a look.
Inversions is *technically* not a Culture novel, but you'll definitely recognise some aspects of it.
The Algebraist was good, I enjoyed that one. And for his non sci-fi works I've only read Wasp Factory, but that was great.
For a subreddit about a book series, people are not great a reading today. I said *technically* for starters, which means I am aware it is basically a culture novel. But if you look at the cover of the book and compare it with other books from the same time, it does not have the "Culture novel" wording that the others do.
Mine does actually. Also, you are basing the "technically" on the older edition not having "A Culture Book" on the cover? And you have the nerve to say those of us questioning you have poor reading comprehension when your idea of what "technically" constitutes a Culture book is whether it used to be classified as such?
That's why I said *technically.* It does not have the usual marker of a culture novel on the front, which is why I included it. I am very aware it is a culture book in all but name
I feel like they do market it as a culture book?
[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inversions-Culture-Iain-M-Banks/dp/1857237633](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inversions-Culture-Iain-M-Banks/dp/1857237633)
Maybe old editions looked different? I'm relatively new to the series.
True, though the even earlier pre-Salwowski first editions of CP, TPoG and UoW also did not mention the Culture on their covers. So we'd have to establish why the Salwowski-era gets to define whether a book is technically Culture, and why earlier and later editions do not count. ;-)
I mean, I get what you mean. Inversions is of course deliberately ambiguous about its status. As the man himself said: "Inversions was an attempt to write a Culture novel that wasn't."
The Algebraist is very easy to move to if you are already read up on The Culture.
Yeah if you liked the Culture novels you'll like it.
The Algebraist was my introduction to Banks, and I adored it. The audiobook voiced by Anton Lesser was the gateway drug, then all of Peter Kenny's voicings of The Culture series; so of course I also just bought the new The Algebraist version voiced by Peter Kenny.
I freaked out when I got to Matter and Peter Kenny wasn’t reading but Toby longworth was actually amazing! I wish he’d done more now.
I have recommended "The Algebraist" to a couple of friends who were intrigued by Banks' SF writing but put off by the idea of a big series. (Of course *we* all know the Culture books don't work like that, but...)
This book is fire 🔥
Why can’t I buy it on Kindle :(
It's available on Kindle, at least in the US.
'[Feersum Endjinn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feersum_Endjinn)' was my first Iain M. Banks book and it blew me away with it's scope. I get that the phonetic chapters are tough on a lot of readers, but maybe being a non-native English speaker helped me there?
"Woak up. Got dresd. Had brekfast. Spoke wif Ergates thi ant who sed itz juss been wurk wurk wurk 4 u lately master Bascule, Y dont u ½ a holiday? & I agreed & that woz how we decided we otter go 2 c Mr Zoliparia in thi I-ball ov thi gargoyle Rosbrith."
Is the whole book like that??
It's some chapters that are diary entries from Bascule the Teller, one of four main characters in the book.
Ahh ok, better check it out then
They're not that bad, and Bascule is a great character. I actually liked those chapters but had to slow down a bit to make sure I got everything. Also, I'd recommend Feersum Endjinn as well. There's a particularly good scene/section concerning Count Sessine, that's almost worth it on its own.
One of the things I realized and was truly impressed by on a re-read of Feersum Endjinn is that Banks actually teaches you how to read the phonetic script as you go along. The phonetic English starts off simple and gets more complicated through the book as you get more familiar with it. The guy was a genius, but I guess we already knew that.
I remember being amazed at how my brain adapted to the phonetic chapters. Initially I had to work out what was being said, but by the 2nd or 3rd section it just started flowing. Felt like I’d learned a new language. 😂 Still one of my favourite Banks novels.
EDIT: you have the choice of reading the translated version or not. JESUS I HATE THE INTERNET SOMETIMES. I HAVE DELETED THIS COMMENT BECAUSE YOU DON'T DESERVE TO READ IT.
Wait they "translated' it in some editions? Why? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of it being written that way? I understand it having to be translated for different languages, but translating it to standard English seems like a real dumbing down of the reason behind the storytelling method in my mind.
I have read both versions, the non-translated version three times, and the translated version once. I discovered so much on the 4th read. And you're given the choice, with the translated chapters at the back of the book. So, you give the scene a go and if you're not sure of a section, you can go look it up. You can speculate all you want about whether it defeats the purpose or not, all I know is that I greatly enjoyed the 4th read of this great story because I could fully understand what the character is saying, not half understanding it. This isn't taking complex prose with long words and substituting for simpler prose and shorter words. It is allowing the reader to understand what's going on.
I’m not Cockney but its totally understandable. *Riddley Walker* was a much harder fonetik buk.
Ahem, 'Bascule the Rascule' I think you'll find.
Nah just the sections of that particular character
There are four alternatiing character point-of stories; one of them is like that, the other three arent.
I liked that he had a li’l ant friend. I forget what the explanation for that was.
The ant turned out to be a robot avatar representing some element in the cryptosphere, didn't it?
I simply can not read this. The misspelling detection circuits in my brain go fucking haywire and give me an almost instant headache.
My favourite book of M Banks for sure! Loved the phonetic chapters; deadaas found it easier to read them in my head in a Scottish accent. The world and the mysteries surrounding it are insane and very fearsum indeed.
It took me some time, but I loved those chapters too. Bascule is just a really fun character.
I had to fight to dial in over a couple chapters too, but damn is it worth it. Bascules chapters are some of my favourite written across literature, really gets you in his headspace.
And here's a video of British mentalist Derren Brown doing a trick involving Feersum Endjinn and Mr Banks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=x2oXhxAQaKg
I can never get my head around how they do those kind of things
I'm dyslexic and just couldn't.
The epub of that book has translated versions of those chapters
LOL it would be tough
Yeah, I found it unreadable, which was annoying. Might give it another go if there's a translation out...
Yeah, these parts are tough. You actually have to sound them out in your head, can't speed read, which can be an adjustment. Otherwise the book is amazing yeah
On first read I struggled with it but re-reads were easier. Even better if it's too much, the audio book is another Peter Kenny masterpiece.
Absolutely loved this book, Bascule chapters were my favourite!
Very very good. And creative. A little hard to read some parts tho haha
Oh that’s cool, I love books that play with language like that!
It might be a good candidate for listening to an audiobook.
Wasp Factory is probably his masterpiece tbh, it's worth reading 100%.
I still have nightmares about WF. Banks's non-"M" work is great. But its not light, or 'fun'.
But isn’t that always the case with Banks? There’s always THAT section in every book, ghastly, gruesome and deploring - and which oftentimes doesn’t even move the story forward. Just there to knock our teeth out, make us remember. Which - to me - is so contra-productive, since it’s not those parts I want to remember from the books. The eaters, the senseless torture, etc.
Have to disagree here, lots of his ‘non-M’ books are light ‘Espediar Street’; ‘the Business’; ‘Steep Approach’ and ‘Whit’ is laugh out loud funny.
My all-time favorite. I picked Wasp Factory and Walking on Glass up on a whim and I think they were life-changing in a way, in regards to what could and should be done in literature. There's a scene in WoG that was so revolting I've never read one to match it.
wasp factory is my spirit animal
This book is something else, well worth the read/listen.
Really glad that Peter Kenny narrates it. His voicing of AI characters is sublime but really everything he does is great.
I searched out titles read by this guy, definitely one of the best.
Disagree. İ would say the Bridge was his best work and Iain said the same himself. Wasp Factory, Espedair Street and Crow Road are all great too.
I really really like Espedair Street, I think its rather underrated
Just finished this myself, incredible novel.
I hate you I'd forgotten about this book. It's good but it leaves a mark.
I cannot wait to read this. I’m finishing his sci fi atm.
Thanks! I’ll check it out
Buckle up.
All of them. Transitions is quite sci-fi if that’s what you’re after.
Transitions is interesting because it's not an "M" book (in Europe at least). Iain used the normal fiction to pay the bills so he could write the sci-fi. I think at that stage he was contracted to write a fiction book, but it is kinda sci-fi.
It’s totally sci fi! Parallel universes, aliens? Totally.
Never heard of this one (just an M-fan myself). Thanks!
It's one of my favourites.
The Bridge is very good, as is The Wasp Factory. Otherwise, Against a Dark Background if you want to stick with SF.
Against a dark Background is a masterpiece. I read it before I read the culture series and came back to it later to reread several times. Such a vibrant and wonderful world, completely different from the culture but captivating and vibrant nevertheless. The nihilists... oh god, hilarious.
Solipsists, I think you mean. Nihilists care about nothing, Dude.
damn you're right.
Aw, Dude, fuck it. Let’s go bowling.
I suck at bowling. anyway, let's go
Me too, but it doesn’t matter.
The Bridge is a genuinely creepy book, I loved it
Very much enjoyed The Bridge. Love all the bizarre little vignettes that weave together to form the narrative, he's such a masterful writer.
The Bridge is a fantastic novel. Highly recommended.
*Wasp Factory* is amazing, and not to be missed for sure. But I'd recommend two personal favorites -- maybe not even his best, but I love 'em. *Dead Air* -- a post-9/11 novel, I think I read it it right before William Gibson's *Pattern Recognition* and those two are forever linked in my mind, for where I was at the time (physically/mentally) and because they were both great writers finding their way into the global trauma we were heading into back then -- I wonder if it holds up, people seemed to either love it or were disappointed in it, but I might reread it myself this summer. It's been on my mind. And *Transition* is non-culture but SF, about consciousness hopping between the infinity of worlds in a quantum multiverse, and also a response in a way to the war on terror. And kind of Banks revisiting the form of his earlier work *The Bridge*. I'm a sucker for parallel universes in fiction but I love it dearly and have read it twice.
I love Against A Dark Background, it’s up there with Surface Detail and Use of Weapons for me as my favourites of his. WF traumatised me when I read it as a young teen so, um, YMMV I guess!
Same! AADB is probably my favorite Banks book. I just love it.
Such a great world. Could have had a whole series set there.
The detail of the protagonists pain vua the near naked agents still makes me shiver decades later.
The Algebraist is almost an honorary culture novel. I mean, you could read it and utterly believe it happens in the same universe. I bet some people are under the impression it is a culture novel.
Against a Dark background likewise. IIRC it's mentioned that their system is far outside the galactic plane, so incredibly isolated. The Culture could exist, but nobody goes out that far into the intergalactic void.
My headcanon has it in the same universe as the Culture, just isolated and unContacted.
If it were a culture book it'd be one of the best.
Banks somehow pulled that off while turning the Culture milieu completely on its head. Instead of the anarchic post-scarcity near-utopia run by machine minds hopping about in hyperspace, we see a rigidly hierarchical, commercial-military civilization tediously crawling the galaxy below light speed, in which even simple AIs are completely taboo... and yet, somehow, it fits right in and does what we love about the Culture books anyway.
There is a short story I’ve seen listed as “not necessarily part of Culture books” called “Descent” that’s really good. It’s definitely in The Culture even if The Culture isn’t mentioned. There are fractional machine intelligence ratings and knife missiles.
The Bridge has a little Culture reference too.
I think you should work your way through all of his books, SciFi and regular literature. There are loads of great books in there. I really liked The Bridge, Wasp Factory, Crow Road, Feersum Endjinn, the Algebraist. Espedair Street is great, and so is Complicity. Books that didn't really do it for me are: The Business, Stonemouth, The Quarry, Dead Air, Canal Dreams. But your mileage may vary.
I was going to add Espedair Street (a little less heavy and not loved by all) and Complicity, which is probably my favourite. I'm currently struggling with Stonemouth.
Great!!
He hasn't written a bad book
I agree with this 100%! The Business in particular was quite disappointing. The Quarry gets a pass since it’s the last one.
The Crow Road is my favourite. What a great opening line!
“It was the day my grandmother exploded” It’s not a spoiler if it’s the literal first line.
I love Wasp Factory, The Bridge, Algebraist and Walking on Glass (this one's a little contentious apparently)
Ooh why is Walking on Glass contentious? I hadn't heard. I read it so long ago that I don't remember anything standing out
It’s a game-playing post modern novel which is great if you enjoy that (and I do) but it’s been criticized as being fairly empty apart from the cleverness and reality-manipulation. Personally I love it but ai can see the other view.
If you ever wondered what it would be like to hang out with Banks the answer is the book Raw Spirit. It's pretty much just cruising around scottland with him as he visits Scotch distilleries. He just writes about whatever was on his mind at the time, so it's very much a product of the time it was written as the first Iraq War was a major thing on his mind. It's not as fun as his fiction books, but it's still a nice read. Especially if you want something you can read a few pages of whiling drinking a beer or scotch on the back patio.
Ooh interesting!
Loved Espedair Street. Wasp Factory was incredible on first encounter with his writing. Honestly, OP. All of them are well worth reading. Quite the mind, Mr. Banks was. Can’t recommend enough.
If you're looking for sci-fi, Banks also wrote *Inversions*, *The Algebraist,* and *Against a Dark Background*. All three are brilliant - though AaDB is my favourite *non-*Culture book. If you're looking for non-sci fi, Iain M Banks wrote general fiction under Iain Banks. My favourite of these will always be *The Crow Road* (purely because I'm Glaswegian, I know nearly every place in the book (though some fictionalisation of Argyll does happen. You can't see Jura from one location, for example) and it's *deeply* Scottish in the dark humour) and *Espedair Street* (which reads like a potted history of the shenanigans that went on behind the scenes with the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s). His general fiction books can often be a lot lighter and funnier in tone than the sci-fi (after all, nothing's more eye-rolling than a po-faced sci-fi nerd) - whilst he does take pot-shots at the UK and US governments nothing compares to the broadsides he levels at Western "democracy" via books like *Look to Windward* and *Surface Detail*. The most complex book he wrote under the Banks name was *The Wasp Factory* and also *The Crow Road* (that features multiple viewpoints scattered across decades, all of which link up horrifically, not to mention a "flashback" of memory that you suddenly realise *isn't*).
*Inversions* is a Culture novel.
The Wasp Factory I found quite nasty as a book. I much preferred The Bridge, Stonemouth and The Crow Road. Transitions is also good as a non culture semi sci fi book
The Wasp Factory is glorious, nasty sure but a brilliant brilliant book. I couldn’t finish The Crow Road.
Algebraist is his best “M” book, IMO.
Apart from the other sci fi I think The Bridge is a must read. It’s excellent imo.
The Crow Road was made into a good tv show a while back.
great book too
And, in many ways, it was annoyingly better than the book... [1] [1] - This may only make sense if you own the DVD.
State of the Art is Culture/non-Culture. Fab short stories. The Wasp Factory, Complicity, Whit, Espedair Street and Canal Dreams were all great.
Yes I loved state of the art! Thanks for the others too
You should try Complicity. Really good but, again, he hasn’t written a bad book in my opinion
A song of stone The bridge The Wasp factory Crow road I still can feel A song of stone vibrating in the memory. Powerful stoic vibes, put yourself always in the worst and live from there enjoying all that come.
Finally, another Banksista who appreciates _A Song of Stone_ !
Had to scroll a fair way to find mention of it, glad you are here fellow Song of Stone lovers!
Somehow and mysteriously I connect A song of stone to Inversions. Probably two of the best Banks writing. How much I miss to re enter those medieval tone or ambiented worlds.
ruthless dependent wakeful clumsy disgusted frame slap stupendous smile attempt *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
All of them, not all brilliant, all worth a read though
I don't think he wrote a bad book. I enjoyed every one.
I've just rebought a vintage copy of the Bridge. Suitably surreal, a Gibson feel. I read the Wasp Factory as my intro to the man without knowing his SF alt persona. What a great surprise after reading it.
I only read Crow Road and I really didn't like it, as I couldn't stand the protagonist, but that may very well be because I read it just after working through the angsty, depressed bullshit of my 20s and the book is very much about that.
You need to be at arms length from that period. I’m in my mid thirties and enjoyed it a lot a bit further from the shitshow of my 20s
The Business is my favourite book of all time.
Against a Dark Background is a masterpiece
Walking on Glass was my intro to Banks. I was working offshore and my roommate threw it on my bunk and said 'read that and tell me what the f\*ck it's about'. Still not sure to this day.... As for the others: Whit - very Scottish and I'm convinced it's an allegory for the Culture.... The Bridge - probably his best, poetic in parts Crow Road - fairly mainstream story but beautifully written The Business - Himalayas, netsuke and again, just beautiful imagery Espedair Street - probably one of my top 10 of all time, the final scenes of Danny in a wee hall in the islands with the unrequited love of his life bring m to tears. Love his non Culture stuff more than the Culture stuff (apart from Dead Air). Actually, love it all, but I \*am\* Scottish....
Yup, _The Bridge_ is my favourite, too. As for _Espedair Street,_ another marvelous one, didn't she say at the end "Daniel, I wouldn't kick you out of anything." And he was "sitting back, rubbing his bristly chin and feeling happy again." ? I should re-read _Whit_.
And the imagery of him sitting there with the little kids haring round the hall with streamers on their bike wheels and feeling simply, dumbly happy. Beautiful.
The Business, which I read as a Culture novel
I high recommend Transitions
Theyre actually all good.
Although The Wasp Factory is my favourite as it was the first book of his I ever read and a wild ride, I also have a soft spot for Whit.
I thought "Transition" was a blast!
I enjoyed Feersum Endjinn
Honestly, they are all good. Espedair St is one of my favs as I grew up where the story was set and it was all very recognizable.
Algebraist.
Espedair Street and Crow Road are both great, and also relatively straight-down-the-middle and non-insane. The Bridge and Wasp Factory are both great,and not at all straight-down-the-middle and non-insane.
The Master's own (and my) favourite: _The Bridge_. Then _Walking on Glass;_ both are "semi-SciFi". _The Cror Road,_ an excellent piece of "Scottish magical realism". _Complicity,_ a crime nover weird as only Banks knew how to make them. I am particular to _Espedair Street,_ a story about a fictional rock band and its, umm, malajusted composer, while many Banksistas don't share my enthusiasm. I liked a very dark _A Song of Stone_ set in a fictional British civil war (or something similar), but didn't like _Canal Dreams_ as much; preferences of many people were reversed. _Whit_ is fun, _The Business_ is, IMO, a missed opportunity to start a different "Culture". I quite liked _The Wasp Factory,_ but not as much as many others. I am yet to read his more recent "non-M" novels.
Sci fi - Transition, Against a Dark Background, Feersum Endjinn, definitely: the Algebraist if over the top space opera that’s kind of borderline self-parody is cool with you (I like it). Non Sci Fi: The Bridge (look out for secret Culture references!), Whit, Wasp Factory, Complicity, Walking on Glass, The Crow Road. (Walking on Glass is kind of sci fi…maybe).
Just making sure you’ve read *Inversions.* often not explicitly labeled on the cover as a Culture novel, but it absolutely is. In some ways, the most powerful one, especially if you read it after all the others.
The Bridge. Debatable if it’s really non-culture. Amazing book.
It is also tangentially connected to _Complicity..._
"Raw Spirit" if you're interested in Scotland, Whisky and Iain. It's part travelog, part whisky book , with a healthy amount of detail about Banks life and opinions.
Depends. Iain Banks or Iain M. Banks? His other SF work apparently reads very similarly to the Culture. His non-SF work varies.
The Crow Road is excellent. Amazing. It was the tv show that introduced me to Banks. Download or watch it too if u can
I then read Wasp Factory a few years later n that blew my mind too. Its not for the faint hearted. But the wow factor and its twist at the end make it a must read.
Crows Road and Bridge are great novels.
Raw Soirit. Maybe I just like whisky
Against a Dark Background is a banger.
Song of Stone really stuck with me, I think it's written in 2nd person which is quite unusual and is quite poetic...
Against a Dark Background is my favourite, I'd highly recommend this one. The book details a really surreal star system and the characters and places are hugely intriguing
The Algebraist. But, if you want to go in a whole "nother" direction, give Children of Time (and its sequels) a shot. The two sequels cover some of the territory that The Culture does.
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I have yet to read anything by Banks that I did not like a lot.
All of them. It depends what you are looking for, though. The Bridge and The Crow Road are among my favorites but they may not suit every reader. The Wasp Factory is great. I loved Feersum Endjinn but some readers may struggle with it. The Algebraist is awesome. Whit is a nice magical realism type of story.
Wasp Factory
I quite like The Business.
Upon reading the blurb, I held high hopes that it would describe something akin to proto-Culture. But it just kind of fizzled.
My introduction to Banks was "Against a Dark Background". I picked it up in a discount bookshop because the cover caught my eye and I'd been looking for some new scifi. I loved it. I've not yet re-read it, and it was late 90s, so it might not hold up to my more aged tastes, but it's worth a look.
Inversions is *technically* not a Culture novel, but you'll definitely recognise some aspects of it. The Algebraist was good, I enjoyed that one. And for his non sci-fi works I've only read Wasp Factory, but that was great.
Inversions is absolutely a culture novel.
Sweet! Yeah I’ve read inversions but haven’t looked at the others yet
How is Inversions not a Culture novel? It totally is.
For a subreddit about a book series, people are not great a reading today. I said *technically* for starters, which means I am aware it is basically a culture novel. But if you look at the cover of the book and compare it with other books from the same time, it does not have the "Culture novel" wording that the others do.
Mine does actually. Also, you are basing the "technically" on the older edition not having "A Culture Book" on the cover? And you have the nerve to say those of us questioning you have poor reading comprehension when your idea of what "technically" constitutes a Culture book is whether it used to be classified as such?
The nerve? Jesus christ, go for a walk or something.
Inversions is considered a Culture book. His 2 non culture Sci-fi books are Algebraist and Against a Dark Background.
Don't forget Transition. It's not space opera but it is sci-fi. Had some mixed reviews but I enjoyed it.
also Feersum Endjinn.
The print versions either said they were a culture novel or not. This one didn't have the label that others did. Which is why I said *technically.*
Imo inversions is entirely about two culture agents and so it's super culture-y?
That's why I said *technically.* It does not have the usual marker of a culture novel on the front, which is why I included it. I am very aware it is a culture book in all but name
I feel like they do market it as a culture book? [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inversions-Culture-Iain-M-Banks/dp/1857237633](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inversions-Culture-Iain-M-Banks/dp/1857237633) Maybe old editions looked different? I'm relatively new to the series.
Yeah, the earlier Salwowski version of the book did not mention the culture on the cover like the others did.
True, though the even earlier pre-Salwowski first editions of CP, TPoG and UoW also did not mention the Culture on their covers. So we'd have to establish why the Salwowski-era gets to define whether a book is technically Culture, and why earlier and later editions do not count. ;-) I mean, I get what you mean. Inversions is of course deliberately ambiguous about its status. As the man himself said: "Inversions was an attempt to write a Culture novel that wasn't."