#Iain banks

[the-walrus-squad]

I almost looked up something fucking UNHOLY

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Muriel is holding The Crow Road by Iain Banks book which has been spotted several times in the promos 👀

From wiki: The novel describes Prentice McHoan's preoccupation with death, sex, his relationship with his father, unrequited love, sibling rivalry, a missing uncle, cars, alcohol and other intoxicants, and God, against the background of the Scottish landscape.

The novel combines menace (it contains an account of a "perfect murder") and dark humour (note the opening sentence: "It was the day my grandmother exploded.") with an interesting treatment of love. Banks uses multiple voices and points of view, jumping freely in both time and character. Even minor characters like Prentice's grandmother, the fictional town of Gallanach, and his family's home in Lochgair receive careful description, giving Prentice's life depth and context.

The book follows Prentice's journey of discovery about himself, those he loves, and the ways of the world.

"The Crow Road" is the name of a street in the west of Glasgow, but serves as well as a metaphor for death, as in "He's away the Crow Road". The appropriateness of this title becomes apparent as the novel progresses.

[haileys-dreamland]

Sorry I can't be an HDG girlie; I was raised on a strict diet of Culture novels.

[figcatlists]

“Literary” speculative fiction reading list

A list of recommended sci-fi and fantasy books with high-quality prose and serious or complex themes, including works by Le Guin, Wolfe, Delany, Miéville, and Banks. This selection is drawn from a much longer list of well-written and ambitious SF that I published on my website.

[ceevee5]

[aduckwithears]

I'm literally 8 pages into reading The Crow Road and so far a major theme seems to be the having of sex in an old classic car. Just saying.

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[dwarvendiaries]

Just finished The Wasp Factory. Holy fuck that was just like being slowly being bitten into by a creature. I predicted the twist a couple chapters ahead because reasons, but still have so many thoughts

[stainlesssteellocust]

“I find myself looking at Blair and hating his self-righteous, Bush-whipped ass the way I only ever hated Thatcher before. I look at Dubya and just see a sad fuck with scared eyes; a grotesquely under-qualified-for-practically-anything daddy's boy who's had to be greased into every squalid position he's ever held in his miserable existence who might finally be starting to wake up to the idea that if the most powerful nation on Earth - like, ever, dude - can put somebody like him in power, all may not be well with the world. Dubya is that worst of all things, at least at this level of power and influence; a cast-iron, 100 per cent, complete and total loser who's somehow lucked out and made it to the very top.”

-Iain Banks

[stvrmaker]

The Good Omens gods above have blessed me, I finally found The Crow Road in my local used books store. Been looking for months but since it’s out of print it’s been a real treasure hunt.

Honorable mention to the used copy of Crush by Richard Siken that also came home with me today ✌🏻

[ticktockheartstop]

I’ve almost finished The Crow Road, and the way Prentice reads his uncle’s journals and notes over and over has me hoping that Crowley finds Aziraphale’s diaries and cries over Aziraphale’s fond accounts of their adventures.

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

(it's The Crow Road by Iain Banks, it's no longer published in czech but I found a second hand one, wahoo! :D❤)

[geoderocks]

Iain M. Banks was incredibly ahead of the times. The Player of Games was published in 1988, and introduces the Culture as a post-scarcity society, with no currency, or any hierarchal power structure of any kind, where everyone freely changes sex whenever they want - everyone is quite simply considered a person, regardless of gender/sex, race/species, status or physiology. This includes the human(oid)s as well as the (extremy advanced) machine intelligences.

When encountering totalitarian empires, Culture citizens find the lack of logic in these societies very confusing and are genuinely apalled by the concepts of conquering, oppressing, and (ecological and societal) destruction. But it never gets generalised/simplified or in any way ‘preachy’. Banks’ social commentary is razor-sharp and uncompromising, and his writing is of a literary level (while immensely readable). And at times, brutal. When there’s violence, he writes it as the truly horrific thing it is.

But there’s also brilliant wit and humour, incredible/insane levels of imagination, and Ship names such as ‘Youthful Indiscretion’ and ‘Just Read the Instructions’. The result is something unparalleled. Rereading this again in 2024, it all feels more relevant than ever. And I think I love these books more everytime I revisit them.

[searching4sarahtonin]

if any of you have stopped going feral over GOS2, just read The Crow Road by Iain Banks

Read it even if you're still going feral. . . Or if by some miracle you never got sucked into the brainrot.

Just Read It.

It's so fucking good!

[theseworldsareyours]

Early Culture Star Cruise Ship by James Fletcher