RIP Iain (M) Banks

Picture of Iain M Banks taken from the
Banksophilia site

I didn't get on with Iain M Banks writing; it was the phonetic stuff in Feersum Endjinn that really did my nut (I find it so hard to read), but my husband, and a lot of my friends, are big fans.

I particularly admired the work he did on The Culture, and he had a lot of people who felt the same way, as you can see if you have a look at his Fan Page, Banksophilia.  Apparently he created the first draft of Use of Weapons in 1974, so he'd been working on The Culture for nearly 40 years.  He'd managed to work out the workings of a utopian culture we might all actually be interested in living in.  Would you want to live in The Culture?

I always liked the look of Iain Banks.  He looks like someone  who could be funny and charming, and maddening too.  He looks like someone you might want to share a beer with.  I really liked the way he announced his forthcoming death while he and his new wife were on holiday.  Why deal with the discussion?  I'm sure he had discussed it enough.  I also liked the fact that he concentrated on enjoying his last days.  I'm sorry there were so few of them.

Iain M Banks' death is a tragedy for his family and friends, but it is a great loss for all of us.  He brought optimism to British Science Fiction, and snuck Science Fiction into Literary Fiction.  He helped make Science Fiction more popular, and more normalised, and he had some great ideas.

So maybe I should try again.  What Banks book do you think I should read?