SURFACE DETAIL: roll call and initial impressions (*NO SPOILERS*)

[Candiss]

Please let us know if you're reading, planning to read, or have read Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks.

No spoilers in this topic please!

Nick has volunteered to lead this discussion. Thanks, Nick!

[Nick]

Candiss said it -- let us know if you've read it or are planning to read, or are in the middle of it. Please keep spoilers to the other thread.

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

I'm not planning to read this book at this time. I've only read the first 2Culture books and am so far behind in a couple other series reads that I don't want to jump ahead in this series. And yes, I know that the Culture books are not a typical sequential series, but that's my story/excuse and I'm sticking to it.

[Nikita]

I'm not planning on reading this one. I took part in the last Culture Novel discussion and although not a bad book, it didn't suit my tastes and I didn't really enjoy it. I don't really want to get into another novel similar to it.

[Suzanne]

I got a sample of this one and liked the first two chapters, so I'm planning on reading the rest. I haven't read a Culture novel before.

[Banner]

I've read the first two or three in the series and enjoyed them enough, but I hate to jump ahead so far in the series. Haven't decided yet.

[Paul]

I strated reading it yesterday and I've really been looking forward to reading this one. It's been waiting on my bookshelf for almost a year now. I wanted to read the earlier culture books before it and finally finished "Matter" a month ago.

[Jim]

Read it a couple of months ago. Will comment on the spoiler thread.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

I read another Culture book which I really enjoyed, so I'm reading this one.

[Stuart]

Will read at some point

[Frank]

Currently re-reading.

[Nick]

Nikita wrote: "I'm not planning on reading this one. I took part in the last Culture Novel discussion and although not a bad book, it didn't suit my tastes and I didn't really enjoy it. I don't really want to g..."

The last culture novel we read, I believe, was The Player of Games. It was not my favorite, either. Before that we read Consider Phlebas which is much more typical of the "Culture" universe (I think) in the type of story it is. CP does have some particularly gross sections, though. It's hard to know where to pick up the "Culture" universe. Anywhere you do, you are thrust into the middle of something really complex and mind-bending.

[Maggie]

I have Use of Weapons all ready to go when I have the chance, so I will wait this one out too.

[Frank]

If you haven't decided or are unsure, in my opinion, this is one of the best Culture books I've read.

You do not need to read any of the previous books but you might want to take a look at the wikipedia entry for The Culture. I don't think it has any major spoilers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture

[Steve]

Glad I read this. I had read Player of Games a year ago, and appreciated having some background before diving into this even more complex Banks realm.

See my review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Banks gets a lot of credit from me for the range of ideas he has. Still, the content is so far afield, not sure I'll try another Culture novel for a while. I'd like to see something by Banks not in the Culture series.

Thanks for organizing this!

[Nick]

Steve wrote: "Glad I read this. I had read Player of Games a year ago, and appreciated having some background before diving into this even more complex Banks realm.

See my review here: http://www.goodreads.com..."

Banks has written quite a few horror/thrillers (most without the "M" initial in his name) as well as a few stand-alone sf's.

[Mawgojzeta]

So far I am loving it. It is the only Culture book I had not read before.

[Nick]

As the month draws to a close, I hope there are some who will finish Surface Detail soon, or at least keep it on their tbr for finishing. If you do, please take a look at the discussion threads, as the readers who have finished have brought up some really interesting points. It's made my reading of the book much more enjoyable.

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Nick wrote: "As the month draws to a close, I hope there are some who will finish Surface Detail soon, or at least keep it on their tbr for finishing. If you do, please take a look at the discussion threads, as..."

I often don't read the BOTM when the group is reading it, for a variety of reasons. Which is why I have assorted discussions here marked "unread" for when I get to those books in the future.

I read the first 2 Culture books and, while I understand completely that they don't need to be read in publication order, that's probably how I will read them. But I know this discussion will be there for me when I get to this book. And, since my memory is not always very good, sometimes I read the topics, knowing I will forget the details by the time I get to the books, but also knowing that I will be reading the book differently because of the discussion, if that makes sense.

[Nick]

Kathi wrote: "Nick wrote: "As the month draws to a close, I hope there are some who will finish Surface Detail soon, or at least keep it on their tbr for finishing. If you do, please take a look at the discussio..."

To make it doubly confusing, the publication order is not even the order in which the stories occur. But since there are centuries between stories and they happen in different parts of the galaxy, reading them in event-chronological order is not necessary.

Since Banks is sorta makin-it-up as he goes along, publication order might make more sense. I didn't read them in publication nor event-chronological order.

[Banner]

I'm doing the audio on this one? I'm enjoying Peter Kenny as narrator.

It took a bit to get into the plot, I'm getting into it now.