Books like Whit

I'm a sucker for fictional religions, and Banks is brilliant at inventing them. Luskentyrianism is his best effort yet. If the thing you liked most in Cat's Cradle was Bokononism, you may well enjoy this book too. The charming young heroine, Isis, is the Elect of God, and terribly matter-of-fact about it; it's remarkable how quickly you get used to almost anything at all, and find it normal. (Someone's got to be the Elect of God. Why not me?) I particularly enjoyed the scene where she got all indignant about the perfunctory way in which they washed her feet. Another memorable bit is the incredibly complex and bizarre method they have developed to circumvent the ban on using telephones. You let it ring, and count the rings, but don't actually pick it up. Then you agree on a code which maps numbers of rings onto words. (Whatever could he be satirizing there?) The running joke is the food. The founder of the cult is Scottish, and his wives are from India, so they eat things like Haggis Pakora and Neeps Bhaji. Banks was clearly having fun when he wrote the book, and it's hard not to be amused by all his delightfully silly ideas.