Recommend an Ian Banks novel.

Are you talking about the Culture novels? If so, my recommendation is to stick to the publication order:

Consider Phlebas (1987)
The Player of Games (1988)
The State of the Art (1989)
Use of Weapons (1990)
Excession (1996)
Inversions (1998)
Look to Windward (2000)
Matter (2008)
Surface Detail (2010)
The Hydrogen Sonata (2012)

Two points: this is not the chronological order of the events in the books: however, they were written as stand-alone novels, so there's nothing in any of them that you really must know before reading another: and the style of writing gets thicker and more textured as the series goes on. In my opinion, Consider Phlebas and (especially) Player of Games are much simpler books than, say, Surface Detail and so serve as a better introduction than the later novels.

Out of interest, the chronological order (using inside references) would appear to be:

Consider Phlebas
Excession
Matter
The State of the Art
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
Look to Windward
The Hydrogen Sonata
Surface Detail
(Inversions doesn't seem to have any references that would enable it to be fitted in the list)

Hope this helps.
If you ask for yourself, can I just say I really, really envy you - I'd give my eye-teeth to be able to read the Culture books for the first time, again...
 
Dave said:
The Culture novels are written under Iain M Banks. The best Iain Banks novel is Whit, hands down!
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Ah, yes - I did assume that if he was posting here with that question, it would be the IMB books, not the IB ones. We shall see!
 
I don’t think it matters what order you read them in. Although set within the Culture, they’re a loose series. The first IMB book I read was Use of Weapons, closely followed by The Player Of Games, which has been my favourite for some time.
 
AE35Unit said:
Consider Phlebas is the only Culture novel I've read. It was very good. I tried to read a later book and hated it (Player of Games I think)
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What on earth did you find to hate about PoG? It's always struck me as one of the more accessible Culture novels, especially if you prefer a linear 3-act story.
 
Another vote for Whit - great book.

And his debut, The Wasp Factory is exceptional.
 
If I was to recommend an Iain M. Banks novel I think it would have to be Excession. I love the interplay of the Minds.

For Iain Banks I would recommend Raw Spirits. It's not a novel but it is a terrific book. Even if you don't drink whiskey.
 
I haven't read much of Banks's non-fiction stuff, only Whit, which I don't remember too much of.
 
I recently read Transition which was pretty fun if you want to try a non-culture but sci fi book. I love a lot of his non sci fi books, although quite a few of them end up blurring together in my memory as there are quite a few recurring themes. If you fancy the culture books, which I adore, I agree best to read them in publication order.
 
I struggled with his non-Culture SF. Feersum Engine is a tough read, mostly due to the phonetics, but didn't finish Against A Dark Background either.

We should have a re-read of his SF books in some sort of book club.
 
The Bridge is my personal favourite.

However, I would start with The Wasp Factory because Iain Banks writing and stories improved as he went on, but it's a pretty fantastic wtf style of story. Because of his evolution, I would read his books in order of publication. There's a pretty good audio recording on YouTube if you want to try it out first.
 
I'm currently reading Surface Detail and it is very good and rapidly turning into one of my favourites.
 
Dave said:
The Culture novels are written under Iain M Banks. The best Iain Banks novel is Whit, hands down!
Click to expand...
I love Whit, partly due to the Luskentyrian commune being set close to my childhood home, as well as it being a brilliant book. I also adore The Crow Road (possibly the best opening line ever), and The Business, for its open idealism. Probably my three favourites, apart from Raw Spirit (non-fiction, detailing his travels around Scotland, tasting the produce of many whisky distilleries).
pyan said:
Are you talking about the Culture novels? If so, my recommendation is to stick to the publication order:
Click to expand...
For the Culture books, this, although my first venture into the universe was Use of Weapons, which definitely has a hook.
 
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