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

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McGoohan Jun 2020 1:06pm, 20 Jun 2020 45,838 posts	0 McGoohan Oh, that's interesting. I have seen Lanark in bookshops but never picked it up (as it has a nuddy lady on the cover and I don't want to look like a perv in Waterstones. Ali Smith has been unfortunate for me as I started on a high and have been a teeny bit disappointed ever since.
Chrisull Jun 2020 1:06pm, 20 Jun 2020 16,247 posts	0 Chrisull The Bridge might be my favourite after all, now I remember it more.
Sharkie Jun 2020 1:25pm, 20 Jun 2020 16,159 posts	0 Sharkie Only read the the first five or so non-M ones. I'm pretty neutral. I found Espedair Street completely uncvonvincing about its subject matter. Quite liked The Wasp Factory at the time, enjoyed Crow Road. No compulsion to re-read any which for me often indicates just how highly I rate sometihng. Complicity annoying and predictable. For me.
Sharkie Jun 2020 1:27pm, 20 Jun 2020 16,160 posts	0 Sharkie may lose friends
mrs shanksi Jun 2020 1:41pm, 20 Jun 2020 10,839 posts	0 mrs shanksi I've read all his books (including the whisky one) and he's one of my favourite writers. I prefer the M books, I love the Culture, and the ships minds especially. I loved the early non M books but I felt Dead Air was the first not so good one (I read them all as soon as they came out). I think he lost it a bit later on. The Crow Road was my favourite and I wanted to call my youngest son Prentice but was blocked by shanksi. The whisky one was a bit "I've just been offered loads of money to drive around Scotland in flash cars drinking whisky then write about it". He came across as a bit yuck to me as he talks about his wife. He later left his wife for someone else. Yes I'm judgy. And nosy! Never really found out any more about that! I know he married the other woman after his terminal diagnosis.
Fitz Jun 2020 3:22pm, 20 Jun 2020 2,246 posts	0 Fitz My first Banks was Complicity, enjoyed it very much and sought out The Crow Road which was also very good. I thought I could get into reading all his work but then just fell out of the habit of reading novels for pleasure. I'm not into sci-fi so have never been tempted to read an M.
Chrisull Jun 2020 5:12pm, 20 Jun 2020 16,253 posts	0 Chrisull Lol at Sharkie - again I do ask the question, do people really read 5 books of an author they don't like? I'd be stapling my tongue to the desk before embarking on another Lionel Shriver. I like Sci-fi, but started reading Consider Phlebas and could not get into it at all. China Mieville is my idea of good sci-fi, not sure he's everybody else's though. I liked Banks last but one novel, Stonemouth, but then felt it ran out of steam. I got the same vibe from early Alan Warner, but he also started running out of steam too now!
mr d Jun 2020 5:25pm, 20 Jun 2020 3,667 posts	0 mr d Weird that this would appear. Reread Look to Windward last month, now started on The Algebraist.
Too Much Water Jun 2020 7:11pm, 20 Jun 2020 7,428 posts	0 Too Much Water I quite like Alan Warner, I almost mentioned him as another Scottish writer packing a similar punch. I think on balance I have liked more of Warner’a work but Banks has probably reached greater heights.
Groundhog Jun 2020 7:12pm, 20 Jun 2020 879 posts	0 Groundhog I have nearly everything he's written, but I've never thought to try and rank them. I'm more of an M fan, though.