đź“– What are people reading?

Back to mysteries for me. Finished villainy as a second career and the crazed local body horror sci fi. Back to Elizabeth George for a bit with Well Schooled in Murder. I need to find some new space opera. Maybe it's time to pick up more Ian Banks.
 
symphonicpoet said:
Back to mysteries for me. Finished villainy as a second career and the crazed local body horror sci fi. Back to Elizabeth George for a bit with Well Schooled in Murder. I need to find some new space opera. Maybe it's time to pick up more Ian Banks.
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Iain Banks? The Scottish author who did Sci-fi (as Iain M Banks) as well as mainstream... If so, have you ever read The Crow Road? If not, please do so, it is excellent. And has a mystery to boot! They made it into TV series over here in the UK 30yrs ago...
 
^Yeah, the Scottish author. I can't spell and haven't read very much of his work yet, and apparently I failed to either walk down the stairs to my library or do a quick internet search, so . . . whoops. My brother gave me Consider Phlebas for Christmas a couple of years ago. It was a great read and I need to pick the series back up, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I will file The Crow Road away for a watch soonish. At present my wife and I are working through a relatively current BBC mystery called Grantchester, which has been fun since my brother was in Cambridge for a while. (Wish he still were, as it would improve my chances of getting the expense of the BOYL trip past the Chief Purser.) Anyway, I shall move Banks up the schedule.
 
symphonicpoet said:
^Yeah, the Scottish author. I can't spell and haven't read very much of his work yet, and apparently I failed to either walk down the stairs to my library or do a quick internet search, so . . . whoops. My brother gave me Consider Phlebas for Christmas a couple of years ago. It was a great read and I need to pick the series back up, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I will file The Crow Road away for a watch soonish. At present my wife and I are working through a relatively current BBC mystery called Grantchester, which has been fun since my brother was in Cambridge for a while. (Wish he still were, as it would improve my chances of getting the expense of the BOYL trip past the Chief Purser.) Anyway, I shall move Banks up the schedule.
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Excellent. The TV series is close to the book, and also stars the excellent Peter Capaldi (also the twelfth Doctor Who!). And hope you get to BOYL this year hook or crook :)
 
Iain Banks is great, Iain M Banks is greaterer.
The Culture novels are amazing but be careful where you start (not that it particularly matters cos they aren't like in order or anything).
I recommend starting with The Player of Games

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^It also has the distinct advantage of being the second book he wrote in the series, after Consider Phlebas, which I've already read. Maybe it'll be all right. I made it through War and Peace, so . . . it should be okay? (Never you mind that I've twice started Anna Karenina and failed both times to finish it. Or that Dune Messiah put me off Dune thoroughly enough that I never did read Children of Dune.)
 
never fan of what I read of Banks..
for some reason, I read that cover review as a major insult..
"There is now no British SF Writer to whose work I look forward with greater keeness" cause if this is the best, we have no hope.
 
don't think so. I might give him a try again some point but Like I said, I tried something of his, didn't think much of it, so didn't try any more. I have a nasty habit of often being more interested in stuff which is a bugger to find.
 
Iain Banks is kind've dark thriller (real worldy) - Iain M Banks is high SF (same author) - so may be the reason?
 
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maybe. Despite some (more so his earlier works) not being my fav, I've a big fan of Michael Crichton and most of that is kinda Sci-if thriller but more one of these 'just a little ahead of time' tech wise. so that's mostly using the real world with science fiction based highly on the real world. And I quite enjoyed Joe Haldermann's Forever War, a quite realestic take on intergalactic war. Oh and Carl Sagan's Contact.. Unlike that.. "film", is a very slow going and realistic take on if we had contact from Aliens. And Asimov tried for more realistic takes on his tech. With his science background, it helped (which is one reason he kinda disliked writing the novel version of Fantastic Journey, and why the second one is SOO much better. Though both good
 
Wraight is fairly well respected amongst the Black Library authors. Vaults of Terra series was evocative take on the corruption and machinations in 40k Terra.
 
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