Originally Posted by Benedict 
[The Player of Games is] easily my favourite of all his books, an incredible read.
Indeed. I followed up with
Use of Weapons. Good as well, but not my cup of tea as far as the plot structure is concerned. Having read the first 3 books set in the Culture universe so far, I'd rate them:
The Player of Games >
Consider Phlebas >
Use of Weapons. Looking forward to reading more about the Minds in
Excession, although that will have to wait.
Remembering my fondness of the Dune series (yes, all books), I wanted to try out some more from Frank Herbert. Ergo:
Whipping Star. Fun and strange read. It's more along the lines of pulp Sci-Fi instead of the more philosophical Dune, but reading about the main alien and its truly alien language was awesome. Going to pick up
The Dosadi Experiment next, the second book set in the ConSentient universe.
Mike: Kindle Paperwhite ordered.
Expected day of delivery: early February. Yikes!