Iain Banks' novels

While I have found non-fiction frustratingly soporific in recent years, it seems that I retain the ability to read fiction. Recently Iain Banks' Transition and Dead Air came to hand so I reread them. I find Dead Air unusual among his novels: the conversations feel very plausible and the story actually makes me laugh a couple of times, very rare for me with a novel; I don't see what Celia sees in Ken but probably he doesn't either.

I was recently asked which of his novels is my favorite; that's a difficult one. He wrote both science fiction and regular fiction though Transition sits more comfortably with the regular, despite the multiverse premise. I would probably have to go with favoring The Wasp Factory, his first novel, though a close second would be Whit which features another Scottish teenager in unusual circumstances. Among the science fiction, I do enjoy the variety in Use of Weapons but, even though set in the same universe, I would add The Player of Games as a contrast: opinions may differ but I rather liked it.