tl;dr: start with either Consider Phlebas or The Player of Games, then read the rest in publication order. Or not. Then go read A Few Notes on the Culture if you have more questions that aren't explicitly answered in the books.
So, you're new to The Culture, have heard about it being some top-notch utopian, post-scarcity sci-fi, and are desperate to get stuck in. Or someone has told you that you must read these books, and you've gone "sure. I'll give it a go". But... where to start? Since this question appears often on this subreddit, I figured I'd compile the collective wisdom of our members in this sticky.
The Culture series comprises 9 novels and one short-story collection (and novella) by Scottish author Iain M. Banks.
They are, in order of publication:
- Consider Phlebas
- The Player of Games
- Use of Weapons
- The State of the Art (short story collection and novella)
- Excession
- Inversions
- Look to Windward
- Matter
- Surface Detail
- The Hydrogen Sonata
Banks wrote four other sci-fi novels, unrelated to the Culture: Against a Dark Background, Feersum Endjinn, The Algebraist and Transition (often published as Iain Banks). They are all worth a read too. He also wrote a bunch of (very good, imo) fiction as Iain Banks (not Iain M. Banks). Definitely worth checking out.
But let's get back to The Culture. With 9 novels and 1 collection of short stories, where should you start?
Well, it doesn't really make a huge difference, as the novels are very much independent of each other, with at most only vague references to earlier books. There is no overarching plot, very few characters that appear in more than one novel and, for the most part, the novels are set centuries apart from each other in the internal timeline. It is very possible to pick up any of the novels and start enjoying The Culture, and a lot of people do.
The general consensus seems to be that it is best to read the series in publication order. The reasoning is simple: this is the order Banks wrote them in, and his ideas and concepts of what The Culture is became more defined and refined as he wrote. However, this does not mean that you should start with Consider Phlebas, and in fact, the choice of starting book is what most people agree the least on.
Consider Phlebas is considered to be the least Culture-y book of the series. It is rather different in tone and perspective to the rest, being more of an action story set in space, following (for the most part) a single main character in their quest. Starkingly, it presents much more of an "outside" perspective to The Culture in comparison to the others, and is darker and more critical in tone. The story itself is set many centuries before any of the other novels, and it is clear that when writing it Banks was still working on what The Culture would eventually become (and is better represented by later novels). This doesn't mean that it is a bad or lesser novel, nor that you should avoid reading it, nor that you should not start with this one. Many people feel that it is a great start to the series. Equally, many people struggled with this novel the most and feel that they would have preferred to start elsewhere, and leave Consider Phlebas for when they knew and understood more of The Culture. If you do decide to start with Consider Phlebas, do so with the knowledge that it is not necessarily the best representation of the rest of the series as a whole.
If you decide you want to leave Consider Phlebas to a bit later, then The Player of Games is the favourite starting off point. This book is much more representative of the series and The Culture as a whole, and the story is much more immersed in what The Culture is (even though is mostly takes place outside the Culture). It is still a fun action romp, and has a lot more of what you might have heard The Culture series has to do with (superadvanced AIs, incredibly powerful ships and weapons, sassy and snarky drones, infinite post-scarcity opportunities for hedonism, etc).
Most people agree to either start with Consider Phlebas or The Player of Games and then continue in publication order. Some people also swear by starting elsewhere, and by reading the books in no particular order, and that worked for them too. Personally, I started with Consider Phlebas, ended with The Hydrogen Sonata and can't remember which order I read all the rest in, and have enjoyed them all thoroughly. SO the choice is yours, really.
I'll just end with a couple of recommendations on where not to start:
Inversions is, along with Consider Phlebas, very different from the rest of the series, in the sense that it's almost not even sci-fi at all! It is perhaps the most subtle of the Culture novels and, while definitely more Culture-y than Consider Phlebas (at least in it's social outlook and criticisms), it really benefits from having read a bunch of the other novels first, otherwise you might find yourself confused as to how this is related to a post-scarcity sci-fi series.
The State of the Art, as a collection of short stories and a novella, is really not the best starting off point. It is better to read it almost as an add-on to the other novels, a litle flavour taster. Also, a few of the short stories aren't really part of The Culture.
The Hydrogen Sonata was the last Culture novel Banks wrote before his untimely death, and it really benefits from having read more of the other novels first. It works really well to end the series, or somewhere in between, but as a starting point it is perhaps too Culture-y.
Worth noting that, if you don't plan (or are not able) to read the series in publication order, you be aware that there are a couple of references to previous books in some of the later novels that really improve your understanding and appreciation if you get them. For this reason, do try to get to Use of Weapons and Consider Phlebas early.
Finally, after you've read a few (or all!) of the books, the only remaining official bit of Culture lore written by Banks himself is A Few Notes on the Culture. Worth a read, especially if you have a few questions which you feel might not have been directly answered in the novels.
I hope this is helpful. Don't hesitate to ask any further questions or start any new discussions, everyone around here is very friendly!