What’s a piece of SF that you just couldn’t get into, even though you feel like you should?
I tried to watch Babylon 5, for instance, and just couldn’t connect to it. I know it’s popular and people love it, but it never hooked me.
Another is The Three Body Problem. I tried reading it after a friend’s glowing recommendation, but I couldn’t get past the first chapter. I even tried reading it in another language in case it was the translation I couldn’t connect with, but the same thing happened.
Both are things I feel like I should like, but just don’t.
The Player of Games is a far easier book to start with - partly because so much of it takes place away from the Culture. I originally did the same as you and started with Consider Phlebas, failed, switched to Player of Games and loved it, then went back and read Consider Phlebas and enjoyed it too. Then I read Use of Weapons which is phenomenal.