With or without the M? All Iain Banks fans welcome here.

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Badger Jun 2020 12:25pm, 20 Jun 2020 12,428 posts	0 Badger I don’t think I finished Song of Stone - something came up which is a real turn off for me. I should give it another shot, I think.
Wriggling Snake Jun 2020 12:27pm, 20 Jun 2020 27,269 posts	0 Wriggling Snake no, if you put it down, like any book, leave it, you didn't want to finish it.
Badger Jun 2020 12:35pm, 20 Jun 2020 12,429 posts	0 Badger It is absolutely one of your business what I choose to do with my spare time. Every post you have made in this thread has been hostile. Give it a rest, please.
McGoohan Jun 2020 12:37pm, 20 Jun 2020 45,835 posts	0 McGoohan That's not how it works for me. I tried Colour of magic (Pratchett's first) two or three times, never getting past the first chapter and then on a further attempt... just loved it. It was the same with The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Iain M Banks-a-like author Claire North.
Nellers Jun 2020 12:37pm, 20 Jun 2020 36,536 posts	0 Nellers Transition is my only glancing encounter with Banks. A few years back it was released as a free Audiobook. I listened to it while on holiday. I remember running along the beach from Mundesley listening and I really enjoyed it. Very clever. Very thought-provoking. I've checked and it doesn't seem to be available free any more and I've lost my copy.
Little Nemo Jun 2020 12:40pm, 20 Jun 2020 10,700 posts	0 Little Nemo Sometimes trying a book again works as you just needed a different time/place/whatever. Sometimes though you're just never going to enjoy it so you should just release it into the wild!
Badger Jun 2020 12:52pm, 20 Jun 2020 12,430 posts	0 Badger McG’s comment about getting very different things the second time makes me think it’s worth a shot. I heard Transition the same way as you before reading it, Nellers, enjoyed it very much. It is stand alone, but if you liked it you’d probably enjoy at least some of the Culture novels. Try Player of Games for a kick off.
McGoohan Jun 2020 12:55pm, 20 Jun 2020 45,837 posts	0 McGoohan The thing with Song of Stone was the first time I read it, I read it as sympathetic to the narrator. Which is a bit odd as he's clearly unreliable. The second time, knowing where it was going I had a much better time with it and could see how the narrator was ...er... hoisting his own petard.
Chrisull Jun 2020 12:59pm, 20 Jun 2020 16,246 posts	0 Chrisull A typical fans thread (not in a bad way) going "I like him, but I hate x,y and z books by him and b, c and d weren't great either, but I did like e." I must admit if I don't like an auithor I don't read 4 or 5 books by them. Ali Smith got lucky with me that I only disliked the first one and the second one warmed up half way. Lionel Shriver was practicallly out of the window after 3/4 of one. I won't touch anything by her now. I suspect some of you are being a little harsh (in a nice, critical of your heroes way).
Badger Jun 2020 1:03pm, 20 Jun 2020 12,431 posts	0 Badger I think with someone as experimental as Banks often was, writing across quite a wide range, even if they were all perfectly done nobody is going to love them all! This en.wikipedia.org was an inspiration for him, and The Bridge in particular riffs off the format, I’ve read. It hasn’t quite got from the to buy list onto the to read list yet.