Someone said Iain (M) Banks was* two of the best novelists we ever had and I would go with that. I've been listening to some of the Culture novels beautifully read by Peter Kenny and loving being immersed in the Culture again. I've now moved on to listening to The Bridge (again wonderfully read by Peter Kenny) which is, well, maybe a bridging novel between the two genres that Banks wrote in, certainly a bit of a homage to Lanark (Alastair Gray) but entirely, robustly, on its own two literary feet.
So far I've listened to the Player of Games and The Use of Weapons (read by Peter Kenny) and one of the great joys is hearing the names pronounced correctly out loud, and then, of course, and this is down to the skill of the reader, a series of wonderful character voices for the ships and drones. That is one of the great joys of hearing something read aloud especially with humour is that it makes you *hear* properly and pay attention to the story and the humour. (There should be a mention here of Matter read by a different reader, but just as good as kenny - in fact I think I was so impressed I reviewed it here: Matter - Amazon review
I've also just joined the Iain [M] Banks fan forum, just to read and speak and interact with people, who love these novels, just so that I can get more out of my re-readings and listenings
*Iain Banks died on the 9th June 2013 - an inconceivably bitter blow - I still feel distraught even now.
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