Recommendations based on The Bridgeby Iain Banks

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Wasp Factory

    by Iain Banks
    A disturbed teenage boy discovers startling truths about his family and himself.

    The story is told from the perspective of 16-year-old Frank Cauldhame. Frank lives with his father on a small island in rural Scotland , and he has not seen his mother in many years. There is no ... (Wikipedia)

  2. The Crow Road

    by Iain Banks
    A young man's journey of self-discovery and family secrets, set in Scotland.

    This Bildungsroman is set in the fictional Argyll town of Gallanach (by its description, reminiscent of Oban but on the north east shore of Loch Crinan ), the real village of Lochgair , and in ... (Wikipedia)

  3. Excession

    by Iain M. Banks
    An interstellar culture encounters an enigmatic, ancient entity and must grapple with its implications.

    The Excession of the title is a perfect black-body sphere that appears mysteriously on the edge of Culture space, appearing to be older than the Universe itself and that resists the attempts of the ... (Wikipedia)

  4. The Player of Games

    by Iain M. Banks
    A game-player embarks on a journey to win a tournament in a distant world, uncovering secrets along the way.

    The Culture - a humanoid/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players. One of the best is Jernau Morat Gurgeh, Player of Games, master of every board, computer and strategy. ... (Goodreads)

  5. Use of Weapons

    by Iain M. Banks
    A space opera of revenge, espionage and loyalty, woven together in a complex web of intrigue.

    The book is made up of two narrative streams, interwoven in alternating chapters. The numbers of the chapters indicate which stream they belong to: one stream is numbered forward in words (One, Two ... (Wikipedia)

  6. Complicity

    by Iain Banks
    A man's investigation into a murder, exposing a web of government conspiracies.

    Colley is a " Gonzo journalist " with an amphetamine habit, living in Edinburgh. He also smokes cigarettes and cannabis , drinks copious amounts of alcohol , plays computer games, and has adventurous ... (Wikipedia)

  7. Hyperion

    by Dan Simmons
    Epic science-fiction story of a journey to the distant planet Hyperion.

    In the 29th century, the Hegemony of Man comprises hundreds of planets connected by farcaster portals. The Hegemony maintains an uneasy alliance with the TechnoCore , a civilisation of AIs . Modified ... (Wikipedia)

  8. London Fields

    by Martin Amis
    A female artist's exploration of life and death, told through the lens of an apocalyptic setting.

    London Fields is set in London in 1999 against a backdrop of environmental, social and moral degradation, and the looming threat of world instability and nuclear war (referred to as "The Crisis"). ... (Wikipedia)

  9. A Scanner Darkly

    by Philip K. Dick
    A dystopian tale of surveillance and paranoia in a world of drug addiction.

    The protagonist is Bob Arctor, member of a household of drug users, who is also living a double life as an undercover police agent assigned to spy on Arctor's household. Arctor shields his identity ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

    by Susanna Clarke
    A whimsical tale of two magicians mastering the mysteries of English magic.

    The novel opens in 1806 in northern England with The Learned Society of York Magicians, whose members are "theoretical magicians" who believe that magic died out several hundred years earlier. The ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Revelation Space

    by Alastair Reynolds
    A space opera that explores the dark side of humanity and the consequences of advanced technology.

    Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to ... (Goodreads)

  12. Oryx and Crake

    by Margaret Atwood
    An exploration of a post-apocalyptic world, and the power of human nature.

    The novel focuses on a post-apocalyptic character called "Snowman", living near a group of primitive human-like creatures whom he calls Crakers . Flashbacks reveal that Snowman was once a boy named ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Filth

    by Irvine Welsh
    A darkly humorous story of a degenerate cop's descent into drug-fueled chaos.

    Bruce Robertson is a detective sergeant serving in Edinburgh 's " Lothian Constabulary ". Robertson is a Machiavellian, intensely misanthropic man who spends his time indulging in cocaine and alcohol ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Chasm City

    by Alastair Reynolds
    A journey through a post-apocalyptic city, uncovering its lost secrets.

    The once-utopian Chasm City -a doomed human settlement on an otherwise inhospitable planet- has been overrun by a virus known as the Melding Plague, capable of infecting any body, organic or ... (Goodreads)

  15. The City & the City

    by China Miéville
    Two cities that exist in the same space, but with different laws, cultures and regulations.

    When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he investigates, the ... (Goodreads)

  16. The Fall of Hyperion

    by Dan Simmons
    Epic space opera, exploring the consequences of a universe-shattering event.

    The Hegemony is an interstellar governmental entity formed by many planets, most of which are connected by instantaneous farcaster portals. Some worlds, like Hyperion, have no farcaster portals and ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Snow Crash

    by Neal Stephenson
    A hacker's quest in a futuristic America dealing with a mysterious computer virus.

    Hiro Protagonist is a hacker and pizza delivery driver for the Mafia. He meets Y.T. (short for Yours Truly), a young skateboard Kourier ( courier ) who refers to herself in the third person , during ... (Wikipedia)

  18. The Confusion

    by Neal Stephenson
    An epic tale of navigating a political and economic crisis in an alternate version of 18th century Europe.

    Though the first publication of the Series in three volumes combined the two novels Bonanza and The Juncto , here the plots will be dealt with as separate entities, true to the author's original ... (Wikipedia)

  19. We Need to Talk About Kevin

    by Lionel Shriver
    A mother's struggle to come to terms with the monstrous acts of her disturbed son.

    In the wake of a school massacre conducted by Kevin Khatchadourian, the 15-year-old son of Franklin Plaskett and Eva Khatchadourian, Eva begins writing letters to Franklin in November 2000. She ... (Wikipedia)

  20. Money

    by Martin Amis
    A satirical look at the power of money and the cut-throat world of 1980s high finance.

    Money tells the story of, and is narrated by, John Self, a successful director of adverts who is invited to New York City by Fielding Goodney, a film producer, to shoot his first film. Self is an ... (Wikipedia)

  21. White Teeth

    by Zadie Smith
    A multi-generational saga exploring identity, race, and culture in modern-day London.

    On New Year's Day 1975, Archie Jones, a 47-year-old Englishman whose disturbed Italian wife has just walked out on him, is attempting to take his own life by gassing himself in his car when a chance ... (Wikipedia)

  22. Neuromancer

    by William Gibson
    A hacker's journey through a dystopian cyberpunk world, searching for a way to survive.

    Henry Dorsett Case is a low-level hustler in the dystopian underworld of Chiba City , Japan. Once a talented computer hacker , Case was caught stealing from his employer. As punishment for his theft, ... (Wikipedia)

  23. The Windup Girl

    by Paolo Bacigalupi
    A dystopian future where energy scarcity and biotechnology have caused massive upheaval in society.

    Anderson Lake is an economic hitman for the AgriGen Corporation, working in Thailand. He owns a factory trying to mass-produce a revolutionary new model of kink-spring (the successor, in the absence ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Let the Right One In

    by John Ajvide Lindqvist
    A vampire and preteen boy form an unlikely bond while struggling against loneliness and persecution.

    It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. ... (Goodreads)

  25. Hey Nostradamus!

    by Douglas Coupland
    Four narrators recount the aftermath of a high school shooting and how it affects their lives and faith.

    Pregnant and secretly married, Cheryl Anway scribbles what becomes her last will and testament on a school binder shortly before a rampaging trio of misfit classmates gun her down in a high school ... (Goodreads)

  26. Arm of the Sphinx

    by Josiah Bancroft
    The crew of the Stone Cloud airship is hired to retrieve a mysterious artifact from the Sphinx's arm, leading to unexpected adventures.

    Senlin continues his ascent up the tower in the word-of-mouth phenomenon fantasy series about one man's dangerous journey through a labyrinthine world. "One of my favorite books of all time" — Mark ... (Barnes & Noble)

  27. The Child in Time

    by Ian McEwan
    A father's struggle to come to terms with the sudden disappearance of his daughter.

    Stephen Lewis is, by his own admission, an accidental author of children's books. One Saturday, on a routine visit to the supermarket, during a momentary distraction, he loses his only daughter, ... (Wikipedia)

  28. The Acid House

    by Irvine Welsh
    A collection of stories exploring the dark side of Edinburgh's working-class culture.

    Description from the inside sleeve:, This scintillating, disturbing, and altogether outrageous collection of stories introduces to these shores a young writer already being called "the Scottish ... (Goodreads)

  29. The Satanic Verses

    by Salman Rushdie
    An exploration into the clash between faith and reason, with a controversial narrative of religious satire.

    Just before dawn one winter's morning, a hijacked jetliner explodes above the English Channel. Through the falling debris, two figures, Gibreel Farishta, the biggest star in India, and Saladin ... (Goodreads)

  30. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

    by Douglas Adams
    An offbeat detective story set in a surreal, supernatural world.

    Dirk Gently, who calls himself a " holistic detective", has happened upon what he thinks is a rather comfortable situation. A wealthy man in the record industry has retained him, spinning a story ... (Wikipedia)