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Iain Banks

kskyhappy

kskyhappy

New Member
martin asked me about iain banks crow road so i thought it might be worth starting a new thread here.

Crow road was the first Iain banks book i read and it still one of my favourites (i've not read any of his sci fi stuff) of the ones i've read this is what i thought:

Wasp factory - great book, great ending
Walking on glass - another great book, i love the way he ties some amazing stories together
The Bridge - unmemorable
Espedair street - good book taught me the meaning of champagne hedgehog
Canal dreams - nope, dismissable
Crow road - great book, best opening line ever and develops into something.
Complicity - ok book, rude and crude but liked his computer civilisation
Whit - unmemorable, think i tried to like this one
The Business - instantly dismissable airport trash, i enjoyed it. Met iain when he came to the shop for this event - very professional, didn't come for a drink with us (minus two points)

I think comparable authors would be Douglas coupland, Chuck Palanhuik

ksky
 
I can add Dead Air to that list. I was completely surprised by it, because I actually had to force myself to pick it up, but in the end I immensely enjoyed it. Fantastic read, on par with The Wasp Factory (story-wise, not twist-wise).

Cheers, Martin :D
 
I'll add a Song of Stone. It was pants. Just don't even bother.

But do go read some of his Sci Fi books. Please. They're too good to be ignored. Oh go on. You know you want to.

And I liked Whit. It wasn't his best book, but it was certainly enjoyable. But I found Espedair Street a bit on the dull side. For the rest, I'll agree though.
 
illustrations

i noticed that they have replaced the excellent black and white covers with less inpiring book shop wall paper, i hope they have kept the internal illustrations - such as they were.

big mistake.

ksky
 
I've read Wasp Factory and Complicity, both were excellent.

As for sci-fi, I just finished The Player of Games. It was great. Again with the different styles. Consider Phlebas was just an all out action fest, whereas this was a quite subtle story about another culture with some great charcters. Never have a seen such a personality on a drone.

Iain (M.) Banks has really shot up my favourite authors list simply for his diversity and consistant good. No two books I've read by him so far have been alike. I really think he could write in any genre and still produce something great.
 
The Wasp Factory was my first introduction to Mr. Banks. Not for the squeamish and one of the most unforgettable books I've read. I loved it.

Player of Games I enjoyed a lot more than Consider Phlebas...the Culture is a very fascinating concept.

Complicity I found was just an OK story but still, great writing.

Feersum Endjinn has been on my to-read list for years but haven't gotten to it yet. Many feel it's his best.
 
I'm one of the odd ones out when it comes to Feersum Endjinn. I just didn't like it. For a Banks book I found it very weak and hugely disappointing. Everyone goes on about how great it is though, so I guess something in it must have just passed me by without me noticing. Player of Games was excellent, as was Excession, but my favourite will always be Against a Dark Background. I view the spork as the lazy gun of our time. Apart from Feersum Endjinn though, I adore all the Culture novels, although some of the short stories are a little lacking. The one involving Earth left me a little on the glum side. To be so close to having wings, daily sex changes and free drugs, and yet so far.
 
Has anyone read The State of the Art?? Its a collection of short stories, and i was just wondering if its a good place to start with Banks (as it happens to be the only Banks in my collection :))

Phil
 
Well, a little queezy actually, but that can usually be explained by the fact that i ate in the canteen at work!! :D

Phil
 
No no no .. you think it's because you ate in the canteen at work. It actually is because you haven't read anything by Banks.

's True!

Cheers, Martin :D
 
Martin said:
Can someone explain to me what exactly the 'Culture' novel are?

Cheers, Martin :D
Click to expand...

I think you will find this helpful :) The Culture - By Ian M Banks

The short anwser is: It's about what the human race becomes. Certain of his SF books are "Culture" novels. They all inhabit the same universe but can be read as stand alone books.

hope that helps.

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
SillyWabbit said:
The short anwser is: It's about what the human race becomes. Certain of his SF books are "Culture" novels.
Click to expand...
Oh no it isn't. Not quite. Not if you've read State of the Art at least. I know his notes say human and humanoid, but from what I've read, I don't think it's us. :(

And for Phil, State of the Art is okay, but I'm not sure if it's the best place to start with reading about the culture. I can't remember how much actually gets explained about what the culture is/does. I think the stories are probably of more interest to someone who already has an interest in the Culture. Particularly the story of when the Culture studied Earth.
 
I've only read two Culture novels, and one of them had The Culture as the bad guys, but The Culture is basically like the dominant empire throughout the universe. There are other, smaller empires, but The Culture is the big one. I forget the ideas behind it, but it's things like no laws, geneology to allow you to change sex, etc... Please correct me if I'm wrong.

And I figure that they can all be read as stand alone, but that won't stop me reading them in the order they came out.
 
Litany said:
Oh no it isn't. Not quite. Not if you've read State of the Art at least. I know his notes say human and humanoid, but from what I've read, I don't think it's us. :(

And for Phil, State of the Art is okay, but I'm not sure if it's the best place to start with reading about the culture. I can't remember how much actually gets explained about what the culture is/does. I think the stories are probably of more interest to someone who already has an interest in the Culture. Particularly the story of when the Culture studied Earth.
Click to expand...

Are you correcting me punk!? Well... are ya??? See this? It's a Magnum! The mos... Wait... I'm not dirty Harry. I'm getting confused again.

*takes medication*

Oh yeah!

AHEM!

I always just assumed they were us. Don't assume kids! lol I have read State of the Art but I must have missed where it says it's not us? I have read most of the culture novels. They are ace! :)

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
SillyWabbit said:
I always just assumed they were us. Don't assume kids! lol I have read State of the Art but I must have missed where it says it's not us? I have read most of the culture novels. They are ace! :)
Click to expand...

There's a story where they come and study Earth,
and decide not to ask us to join the Culture,
:( so I always figured that they were humanoid rather than us in the future.
 
Since I am the ignorant one here and never even heard of Banks until a few weeks ago, would someone please break his books down into the different genres for me?

Thanks!

RaVeN
 
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