Divergence, I mourn Iain Banks as I would a dear friend. I never met the man either, but I feel I know him as well as anybody through his work. I reckon he and I would have solved every problem facing the world if we'd had a few nights on the grog or something stronger.

A genuine mad Scotsman of the best sort.

Lexi, do it. He'll make you look at things differently. I'm going to go through chronologically. The only writer I can really compare him to is Neil Gaiman, but Iain was so much more expansive and had a natural ear for language and eye for human relations rarely encountered.

His range of imagination and ability to put it on paper with clarity and a light touch put him outside the box. I hope you feel the same way after you read some of his books.

Dear Anti,

You've sold me.

He sounds intriguing and I shall keep you posted
on the progress I make. You may not hear from me
for a while though. ;-);-);-).

Lexi,
You're in for a treat, The Wasp Factory is a wild read, I borrowed that and Peter Carey's "The Fat Man In History" from the Goths who lived over the road from me when I was at Uni, blew my tiny mind. Fortunately it only gets better from there, The Bridge and The Crow Road are outstanding as well, I read a couple of his science fiction books plus a compendium of his short stories in that genre, they're also excellent.

Oh yeah, Espedair St and Whit are also a must, I haven't read much of his later work though,

Dear Jay,

Wow. What a list. Thank You.
It will keep me busy for sometime.
I shall try to get hold of them all.
I'm always on the look-out for book
recommendations.
Many Thanks!

I only just noticed there is another Banks afficionado. Jayb, I'm not terribly surprised after reading your contributions here. He was not limited by social convention.

It's sad that there are so few, because the body of work is really quite extraordinary and the imagination it sprang from so free, while the man was just an ordinary bloke who loved ordinary blokey things, like driving fast, drinking too much and other risky behaviours.

While I obviously love to write, given the amount of time I've spent on doing so over the past years just on this site, which is perhaps 20% of the total amount I've contributed to various such sites, I'm pedestrian, unable to rise above my own nature, education, style but able to watch open-mouthed as others do so with apparent ease.

I hope that this thread inspires others to read Iain's work. He deserves your effort.