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Recommendations based on The Crow Roadby Iain Banks
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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)
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)
The Bridge
by Iain Banks
A sci-fi exploration of an alien world and the human experience, with a shocking twist ending.
The three main characters represent different elements of the protagonist. Alex (full name hinted to be Alexander Lennox, but never explicitly named), John Orr and The Barbarian are one. Alex is a ... (Wikipedia)
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)
High Fidelity
by Nick Hornby
A man reflects on his past relationships while trying to understand the nature of love.
Rob Fleming is a 35-year-old man who owns a record shop in London called Championship Vinyl. His lawyer girlfriend, Laura, has just left him and now he's going through a crisis. At his record shop, ... (Wikipedia)
Against a Dark Background
by Iain M. Banks
A journey of self-discovery as a female mercenary embarks on a quest to find an ancient weapon.
The main protagonist is Lady Sharrow, a former military pilot and antiquities thief. She lives on Golter, a planet orbiting a star in an isolated planetary system with no nearby galaxies . A cult ... (Wikipedia)
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
A small group of misfit college students uncover a sinister secret and their lives become entangled with dangerous consequences.
Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the ... (Goodreads)
Matter
by Iain M. Banks
Epic space opera featuring powerful, warring civilizations and a mysterious energy source.
In a world renowned within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his ... (Goodreads)
The Beach
by Alex Garland
A young backpacker discovers a hidden beach paradise in Thailand, but the utopia is not as perfect as it seems.
In a cheap hotel on Khao San Road in Bangkok , Richard, a young British backpacker, meets a mentally disturbed Scot going by the alias of Daffy Duck , who gives him a hand-drawn map with directions ... (Wikipedia)
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)
Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War
by Sebastian Faulks
A poignant love story set during World War I, exploring the impact of war on human relationships and the human psyche.
Birdsong has an episodic structure, and is split into seven sections which move between three different periods of time before, during and after the war in the Stephen Wraysford plot, and three ... (Wikipedia)
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)
Life After Life
by Kate Atkinson
A woman lives multiple lives, reflecting on choices and consequences and the power of love.
The novel has an unusual structure, repeatedly looping back in time to describe alternative possible lives for its central character, Ursula Todd, who is born on 11 February 1910 to an ... (Wikipedia)
The Essex Serpent
by Sarah Perry
A woman's spiritual journey of faith and doubt, set against the backdrop of a mysterious sea-serpent.
After being widowed when her wealthy, abusive husband dies of throat cancer, Cora Seaborne decides to ignore the trappings of her London society life and take up amateur palaeontology. Vacationing in ... (Wikipedia)
Saturday
by Ian McEwan
A doctor's life is changed forever after witnessing a terrorist attack that takes place on a Saturday in London.
Saturday is a masterful novel set within a single day in February 2003. Henry Perowne is a contented man — a successful neurosurgeon, happily married to a newspaper lawyer, and enjoying good ... (Goodreads)
The Chrysalids
by John Wyndham
A post-apocalyptic tale of survival and the struggle against oppressive forces.
The inhabitants of post-apocalypse Labrador have vague knowledge of the "Old People", a technologically advanced civilization they believe was destroyed when God sent " Tribulation " to the world to ... (Wikipedia)
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)
Midnight's Children
by Salman Rushdie
A magical tale of India's history told through the story of a boy born at the stroke of midnight.
Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem ... (Goodreads)
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)
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)
The House of Sleep
by Jonathan Coe
Exploring the lives of interconnected individuals as dreams and reality intertwine.
Like a surreal and highly caffeinated version of The Big Chill , Jonathan Coe's new novel follows four students who knew each other in college in the eighties. Sarah is a narcoleptic who has dreams ... (Goodreads)
The Midwich Cuckoos
by John Wyndham
A mysterious event in a small English village leads to the birth of telepathic children.
Ambulances arrive at two traffic accidents blocking the only roads into the (fictional) British village of Midwich, Winshire. Attempting to approach the village, one ambulanceman becomes unconscious. ... (Wikipedia)
The Ghost Road
by Pat Barker
A soldier’s journey to face the horrors of World War I, and his attempt to come to terms with his past.
Prior, despite his new-found peace of mind and engagement to munitions worker Sarah, has been affected by the war and therefore does not have a lot of concern for his safety. Prior has been cured of ... (Wikipedia)
Glue
by Irvine Welsh
A gritty portrait of characters struggling with poverty, addiction, and violent crime in Edinburgh.
Glue is the story of four boys growing up in the Edinburgh schemes, and about the loyalties, the experiences - and the secrets - that hold them together into their thirties. Four boys becoming men: ... (Goodreads)
Carter Beats the Devil
by Glen David Gold
A thrilling story of secrets & magic, set against the backdrop of 20th century America.
This novel is a fictionalised biography of Charles Joseph Carter. The main character, Carter, is followed through his career, from his first encounter with magic to his last performance. Along the ... (Wikipedia)
The Sisters Brothers
by Patrick deWitt
A unique western, following two brothers on a quest to find and murder a prospector.
In 1851, Eli and Charlie Sisters, a pair of assassins of minor repute, are hired by a wealthy businessman known only as "the Commodore" to travel from Oregon City to California in order to murder a ... (Wikipedia)
Vernon God Little
by D.B.C. Pierre
A teenage boy's struggle to survive after being wrongfully accused of a school shooting.
Named as one of the 100 Best Things in the World by GQ magazine in 2003, the riotous adventures of Vernon Gregory Little in small town Texas and beachfront Mexico mark one of the most spectacular, ... (Goodreads)
What a Carve Up!
by Jonathan Coe
A satirical novel that explores the lives of the Winshaw family, a wealthy and corrupt British clan. Darkly humorous and politically charged.
Godfrey, son of the wealthy Matthew and Frances Winshaw of Yorkshire, is shot down by German anti-aircraft fire during a secret wartime mission over Berlin, on 30 November 1942. His sister Tabitha ... (Wikipedia)
The Color of Magic
by Terry Pratchett
A comedic fantasy adventure full of humor, absurdities, and unexpected turns.
The story takes place on the Discworld, a planet-sized flat disc carried through space on the backs of four gargantuan elephants – Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon and Jerakeen – who themselves stand on ... (Wikipedia)
Time's Arrow
by Martin Amis
A story told in reverse as a Holocaust doctor confronts his past and his role in the atrocities.
The novel recounts the life of a German Holocaust doctor in reverse chronology. The narrator, together with the reader, experiences time passing in reverse. The narrator is not exactly the ... (Wikipedia)
