I've read eight of the Culture novels now, and "The Player of Games" was in the bottom two for me. I'm mystified that most others seem to rank this book so high. "Use of Weapons" and "Surface Detail" are my favorites so far, but they're rarely mentioned here.

I adore the Culture novels, but I read them for the first time last year.

So far I have only re-read Inversions and Excession, the two that were the most fun the first time through.