I've been reading The Culture series by Iain M Banks. I gave up on the first book a while back, which I've heard is quite common, but I plan to go back and finish it.
I've just read The Player Of Games and Excession and both are exceptional.
I finished Consider Phlebas on my commute - I still don't rank it quite as highly as the others but it came to life more at the end. My favourite bit was when Horza was trapped on the cannibal cult island. Completely irrelevant to the plot but some excellent wtf storytelling!