_Use of Weapons_ is a masterpiece of artistic merit, but is in no way comforting. It's about a mercenary for the Culture's Special Circumstances group, which is the part of Contact that gets to have fun.
_The Player of Games_ is about a master game player -- any game, he'll learn the rules and beat you at it -- who is recruited by SC to investigate the Empire of Azad, which is ruled by Azad-players in an analog of Confucian China. The Empire is exceedingly nasty.
_Excession_ is more military space opera, and takes a deeper look at the internal life of the Minds that run the Culture. Has some excellent sense-of-wonder bits. Please note that there is a lot of message traffic, and some of them are lies.
_Inversions_ is only a Culture novel if you pay attention to the clues; otherwise it's a low-tech intrigue.
_Look to Windward_ is a philosophical sequel to _Consider Phlebas_; it concerns people who can't get over the Idiran War.
_Against A Dark Background_ is not a Culture book, because it takes place in a solar system in the middle of a dust cloud. They've had millenia of technology, but no out-of-system travel because they don't know that any other stars exist. Then there's a quest, so the protagonist pulls her old team of mercenaries together and races the evil cultists for the prize. Try this one.
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_The Player of Games_ is about a master game player -- any game, he'll learn the rules and beat you at it -- who is recruited by SC to investigate the Empire of Azad, which is ruled by Azad-players in an analog of Confucian China. The Empire is exceedingly nasty.
_Excession_ is more military space opera, and takes a deeper look at the internal life of the Minds that run the Culture. Has some excellent sense-of-wonder bits. Please note that there is a lot of message traffic, and some of them are lies.
_Inversions_ is only a Culture novel if you pay attention to the clues; otherwise it's a low-tech intrigue.
_Look to Windward_ is a philosophical sequel to _Consider Phlebas_; it concerns people who can't get over the Idiran War.
_Against A Dark Background_ is not a Culture book, because it takes place in a solar system in the middle of a dust cloud. They've had millenia of technology, but no out-of-system travel because they don't know that any other stars exist. Then there's a quest, so the protagonist pulls her old team of mercenaries together and races the evil cultists for the prize. Try this one.