Culture Novels

[Nigel]

On the same wavelength as you there, Sweder.

I'm an Iain Banks fan, too. I enjoyed 'Dead Air', but my favourite is

'The Crow Road'. In my all-time top five.


In a similar vein (well, by a Scottish author at least) have you read any William Boyd ?

'Brazzaville Beach' is marvellous, as is 'An Ice Cream War' (both about Africa, although different parts). He's written a couple of excellent pseudo-memoirs, too - 'The New Confessions', and 'Any Human Heart' - each of them providing thought-provoking romps through the 20th Century.

But my favourite is actually Armadillo, about a Serbian migrant in London with the undoubted misfortune of being called Slobodan. The BBC made it into drama a year or so back which got mixed reviews, but the book is just an absolute cracker.