For his 13th pick, he's gone with "The Player of Games" by the late Iain M. Banks. It's a sci-fi novel that's part of Banks' "Culture" series, which takes place in a futuristic utopian society ...

Banks’ Culture novels. Here’s the book’s official synopsis: The Culture — a human/machine symbiotic society — has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh.

Just Read the Instructions' and 'Of Course I Still Love You' are two of the sentient, planet-sized Culture starships which first appear in Banks' 'The Player of Games,'" Tor.com noted last month.