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tits_mcgee's reviews
182 reviews
Tuesday's Gone by Nicci French
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Great series for when you just need something plot heavy, gritty and British. Tuesday's Gone was thoroughly enjoyable, maybe even better than the first one, Blue Monday.
"Depression is a grim and blinding curse: you can’t see outside it. You can’t see hope, or love, or how spring will follow winter."
It can be quite easy for psychological crime thrillers to trip over too many tropes, but I think this is of the more tasteful persuasion. Nothing feels tacky or obvious, and for once I didn't guess the twist.
"You become like a ghost in your own life"
The character writing is excellent, I enjoyed the diverse cast ranging from smart and compassionate to twisted and creepy. Frieda Klein, Michelle Doyce, and our personal favourite Joseph, are all a joy to read.
We read along with the audiobook which was narrated by Beth Chalmers, who did a fantastic job. I loved her Frieda Klein voice in particular. We will be continuing to listen to her narration while also reading the physical books.
8.25/10
"Depression is a grim and blinding curse: you can’t see outside it. You can’t see hope, or love, or how spring will follow winter."
It can be quite easy for psychological crime thrillers to trip over too many tropes, but I think this is of the more tasteful persuasion. Nothing feels tacky or obvious, and for once I didn't guess the twist.
"You become like a ghost in your own life"
The character writing is excellent, I enjoyed the diverse cast ranging from smart and compassionate to twisted and creepy. Frieda Klein, Michelle Doyce, and our personal favourite Joseph, are all a joy to read.
We read along with the audiobook which was narrated by Beth Chalmers, who did a fantastic job. I loved her Frieda Klein voice in particular. We will be continuing to listen to her narration while also reading the physical books.
8.25/10
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I'm breaking the first two rules of Fight Club here, I hope you'll forgive me.
Reading Fight Club is like being punched in the face with the power of an idea. The idea that we are controlled by our possessions and our jobs. The idea that we have become lost in a maze of junk we don't need. Palahniuk has taken the fears and frustrations of the 90's, and spewed them black and white onto paper in a haze of twisted violence, the result of which is a timeless legacy that has transcended literature.
"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."
Fight Club is as much a spectacular feat of writing as it is a political statement. Under a thick layer of violence lies the scrutiny of modern culture and the resulting deterioration of morality and soul, and through Palahniuk's expertly controlled prose and dark sense of humour these ideas have tremendous weight. The plot and the philosophies gel together to create the perfect book.
“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate, so we can buy shit we don’t need. We are the middle children of history, raised by television to believe that someday we’ll be millionaires and movie stars and rock stars, but we won’t.”
The character writing was fantastic, The Narrator and his split personality Tyler Durden are a fantastic duo, a yin and yang of frustrated insomniac office worker, and brutal, lawless terrorist. Their relationship with eachother is the perfect metaphor for corporate slaves becoming unhinged, looking for escape and going mad in the process of becoming free. The shocking ending left me in a state of existential dread; bravo Chuck mate, you smashed it.
10/10
Reading Fight Club is like being punched in the face with the power of an idea. The idea that we are controlled by our possessions and our jobs. The idea that we have become lost in a maze of junk we don't need. Palahniuk has taken the fears and frustrations of the 90's, and spewed them black and white onto paper in a haze of twisted violence, the result of which is a timeless legacy that has transcended literature.
"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."
Fight Club is as much a spectacular feat of writing as it is a political statement. Under a thick layer of violence lies the scrutiny of modern culture and the resulting deterioration of morality and soul, and through Palahniuk's expertly controlled prose and dark sense of humour these ideas have tremendous weight. The plot and the philosophies gel together to create the perfect book.
“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate, so we can buy shit we don’t need. We are the middle children of history, raised by television to believe that someday we’ll be millionaires and movie stars and rock stars, but we won’t.”
The character writing was fantastic, The Narrator and his split personality Tyler Durden are a fantastic duo, a yin and yang of frustrated insomniac office worker, and brutal, lawless terrorist. Their relationship with eachother is the perfect metaphor for corporate slaves becoming unhinged, looking for escape and going mad in the process of becoming free. The shocking ending left me in a state of existential dread; bravo Chuck mate, you smashed it.
10/10
Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"There is only one place to write and that is alone at a typewriter. The writer who has to go into the streets is a writer who does not know the streets. . . when you leave your typewriter you leave your machine gun and the rats come pouring through."
The existential ramblings of a tired man balancing on the edge of suicide, in the form of anecdotes, poetry and drunken gibberish. Fantastic.
Hidden within the sexism and the anger there is a harsh truth, like Bukowski is telling us how the real world is, and its not pleasant, and he isn't pleasant either, and that's just how it is.
I loved the unromantic, stripped back perspective he serves us, the rawness and honesty of it was refreshing, like a knife cutting through the bullshit, placing his flaws on a pedestal and shouting "here you go, you cocksuckers".
Bukowski is cynical and fed up. How relatable. His humour is dark, just the way I like it. The audiobook narrator, Will Patton, did a spectacular job, he sounded more like Bukowski than Bukowski himself. The cynicism and twisted humour shone through, as did the anger and tiredness. Will Patton mate... you smashed it.
"(by the way . . . I realize I switch from present to past tense, and if you don't like it . . . ram a nipple up your scrotum. -printer: leave this in.)" Yes that really is in the book.
8/10
The existential ramblings of a tired man balancing on the edge of suicide, in the form of anecdotes, poetry and drunken gibberish. Fantastic.
Hidden within the sexism and the anger there is a harsh truth, like Bukowski is telling us how the real world is, and its not pleasant, and he isn't pleasant either, and that's just how it is.
I loved the unromantic, stripped back perspective he serves us, the rawness and honesty of it was refreshing, like a knife cutting through the bullshit, placing his flaws on a pedestal and shouting "here you go, you cocksuckers".
Bukowski is cynical and fed up. How relatable. His humour is dark, just the way I like it. The audiobook narrator, Will Patton, did a spectacular job, he sounded more like Bukowski than Bukowski himself. The cynicism and twisted humour shone through, as did the anger and tiredness. Will Patton mate... you smashed it.
"(by the way . . . I realize I switch from present to past tense, and if you don't like it . . . ram a nipple up your scrotum. -printer: leave this in.)" Yes that really is in the book.
8/10
Factotum by Charles Bukowski
dark
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book is honest, brutal and real; it is the journal of a man whose successes are limited to brief bouts of winning on horse races and whose existence is as bleak as it is desperate; it is an autobiographical confession of shagging, drinking and shagging some more, but within the drollness and the deterioration and the madness, Charles Bukowski shows us little snippets, of aspiration, a hidden passion for writing pokes its hopeful head above the noise.
I loved the anecdotes and the life lessons and the observations, there were actually quite a lot of powerful observations on human behaviour both individually and societally. I laughed out loud many times, too.
"... the lives that people lead are driving them crazy and their insanity comes out in the way they drive."
As a man whose successes are few and far between, and whose working life is not reflective of his education and aspirations, I can relate to the dreariness of Bukowskis life, and also his need for solitude and the peace and quiet. That's perhaps what I like about the authors literary voice so much, his relatability (minus the shagging).
"I was a man who thrived on solitude; without it I was like another man without food or water. Each day without solitude weakened me. I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it."
Post Office was better, but this was damn good.
9/10
I loved the anecdotes and the life lessons and the observations, there were actually quite a lot of powerful observations on human behaviour both individually and societally. I laughed out loud many times, too.
"... the lives that people lead are driving them crazy and their insanity comes out in the way they drive."
As a man whose successes are few and far between, and whose working life is not reflective of his education and aspirations, I can relate to the dreariness of Bukowskis life, and also his need for solitude and the peace and quiet. That's perhaps what I like about the authors literary voice so much, his relatability (minus the shagging).
"I was a man who thrived on solitude; without it I was like another man without food or water. Each day without solitude weakened me. I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it."
Post Office was better, but this was damn good.
9/10
Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A tense fever dream drenched in madness and the harsh reality of lower class Scottish housing projects. Really dark, really bleak, and actually quite funny.
Irvine Welsh takes you right to the edge of your comfort zone and holds you there, threatening to push you over. His ability to retain so much control over the prose while the chaos is brewing is unprecedented, I really loved his writing style, including the playful use of ergodic literature (thats fancy pants for text that's unconventionally placed on the page), and after a while I even got used to the Scottish dialect, though I admit that at first it was a head scratcher and put me off.
I heard the whole book in a young Ewan McGregor's voice - how he sounded in Trainspotting. It probably took me twice as long to finish as it should because I wanted to savour that Scottish flavour instead of speeding through in my normal internal reading voice.
The premise is really weird, our "protagonist" is a bastard in a coma: Roy Strang; a real scum bag kind of character. The book follows three plots, we fluctuate between memories of childhood trauma followed by his chaotic behaviour; visitors talking to him at the hospital, and a comatose dream about hunting Marabou Storks. The latter is the one he's trying desperately to live in, to avoid all the brutality of reality and the consequences of his actions. I loved this idea, and couldn't help but draw similarities with the reason books are so great, they take us away from our own lives for a brief moment, and just like Roy we are escaping.
Fantastic book. I'm an instant Welsh fan.
10/10
Irvine Welsh takes you right to the edge of your comfort zone and holds you there, threatening to push you over. His ability to retain so much control over the prose while the chaos is brewing is unprecedented, I really loved his writing style, including the playful use of ergodic literature (thats fancy pants for text that's unconventionally placed on the page), and after a while I even got used to the Scottish dialect, though I admit that at first it was a head scratcher and put me off.
I heard the whole book in a young Ewan McGregor's voice - how he sounded in Trainspotting. It probably took me twice as long to finish as it should because I wanted to savour that Scottish flavour instead of speeding through in my normal internal reading voice.
The premise is really weird, our "protagonist" is a bastard in a coma: Roy Strang; a real scum bag kind of character. The book follows three plots, we fluctuate between memories of childhood trauma followed by his chaotic behaviour; visitors talking to him at the hospital, and a comatose dream about hunting Marabou Storks. The latter is the one he's trying desperately to live in, to avoid all the brutality of reality and the consequences of his actions. I loved this idea, and couldn't help but draw similarities with the reason books are so great, they take us away from our own lives for a brief moment, and just like Roy we are escaping.
Fantastic book. I'm an instant Welsh fan.
10/10
Pronto by Elmore Leonard
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Quick and comforting, like old gangster movies, with a whimsical twist and just a smidgen of black humour. Sometimes it's nice to pick up a book that's neither emotional nor challenging.
Pronto is a mid-fast paced romp. We follow Raylan Givens, a Deputy U.S. Marshall, quick with his gun and as old school as Clint Eastwood. He's trying desperately to protect a man who already gave him the slip once before, Harry Arno - a 66 year old illegal book keeper with a fashion sense and a way with women; he's on the run from his gangster boss after being stitched up for skimming (more than he usually does).
If all of this sounds cheesey... well that's because it is, but in the best of ways. Fat mafia boss, dim but hench henchman, tough as grit cop with an impenetrable sense of justice, this books got all the tropes and its bloody delicious.
The action is kept to a minimum while still keeping pace, Leonard is a character writer and so a lot of the prose is character thoughts and dialogues. That's probably the main reason I got on with this book, when I usually don't go for tropey crime.
Anyway, back to weird trippy shit that's going to give me anxiety, but I'll be back soon Mr. Leonard, as I've just ordered the Folio Society edition of Get Shorty.
7/10
Pronto is a mid-fast paced romp. We follow Raylan Givens, a Deputy U.S. Marshall, quick with his gun and as old school as Clint Eastwood. He's trying desperately to protect a man who already gave him the slip once before, Harry Arno - a 66 year old illegal book keeper with a fashion sense and a way with women; he's on the run from his gangster boss after being stitched up for skimming (more than he usually does).
If all of this sounds cheesey... well that's because it is, but in the best of ways. Fat mafia boss, dim but hench henchman, tough as grit cop with an impenetrable sense of justice, this books got all the tropes and its bloody delicious.
The action is kept to a minimum while still keeping pace, Leonard is a character writer and so a lot of the prose is character thoughts and dialogues. That's probably the main reason I got on with this book, when I usually don't go for tropey crime.
Anyway, back to weird trippy shit that's going to give me anxiety, but I'll be back soon Mr. Leonard, as I've just ordered the Folio Society edition of Get Shorty.
7/10
Railsea by China Miéville
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Oh man, probably should have DNF'd that. Cutesy bat, silly motivations, loot addicted pirates and too much action.
Once I accepted that it was a YA book, I started to roll with it, even enjoy it to an extent, but it was painfully obvious that I wasn't the intended audience.
The actual structure of the story is too basic, and the characters are very cliché and two-dimensional, everyone was a bit cringe and unrelatable.
The world building is charming, I like trains and the dystopian flavour was tasty, I would love to see a more mature book set in this world. You could tell that Miéville was watering down his prose for a younger audience, and that harmed the potential for this world he's created.
I bloody loved Perdido Street Station, so I felt let down with this one; that being said, my faith in Miéville's talent is unshaken and I will read The Scar soon.
3/10 but I'm sure I would have liked this if I was a teenager. If you like YA you'll probably like it.
Once I accepted that it was a YA book, I started to roll with it, even enjoy it to an extent, but it was painfully obvious that I wasn't the intended audience.
The actual structure of the story is too basic, and the characters are very cliché and two-dimensional, everyone was a bit cringe and unrelatable.
The world building is charming, I like trains and the dystopian flavour was tasty, I would love to see a more mature book set in this world. You could tell that Miéville was watering down his prose for a younger audience, and that harmed the potential for this world he's created.
I bloody loved Perdido Street Station, so I felt let down with this one; that being said, my faith in Miéville's talent is unshaken and I will read The Scar soon.
3/10 but I'm sure I would have liked this if I was a teenager. If you like YA you'll probably like it.
The Body Artist by Don DeLillo
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Very strange, and very sad. A small, flowery ghost story about grief and mental health.
"What did it mean, the first time, a thinking creature looked deeply into another's eyes? Did it take a hundred thousand years before this happened or it was the first thing they did, transcendingly, the thing that made them higher, made them modern, the gaze that demonstrates we are lonely in our souls?"
DeLillo's prose is beautiful, it flows poetically to conjure an emotional, eerie atmosphere, throwing you into the deep end of melancholic loss and depression with a ghost story twist; a wonderful short read for us masochists, who are addicted to sad books.
"What did it mean, the first time, a thinking creature looked deeply into another's eyes? Did it take a hundred thousand years before this happened or it was the first thing they did, transcendingly, the thing that made them higher, made them modern, the gaze that demonstrates we are lonely in our souls?"
DeLillo's prose is beautiful, it flows poetically to conjure an emotional, eerie atmosphere, throwing you into the deep end of melancholic loss and depression with a ghost story twist; a wonderful short read for us masochists, who are addicted to sad books.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book is bleak as hell, full of hopelessness and desperation, but it is also heartwarming and at times quite tender.
This was my first Cormac McCarthy and I'm instantly obsessed. I'm hooked on his straight shooting prose, which gave the book a kind of tired, scared, reality struck voice. The dialogues between the nameless man and his boy were some of the best I've ever read.
"What is it?
Nothing. I had a bad dream.
What did you dream about?
Nothing.
Are you okay?
No.
He put his arms around him and held him. It's okay, he said.
I was crying. But you didnt wake up.
I'm sorry. I was just so tired.
I meant in the dream."
That's what this book is about really, the relationship between father and son, and what that means when everything else has failed. It's about what that bond means when confronted by starvation, by "bad guys", and the bitter cold of a dead planet.
"He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it."
The Folio Society edition is wonderful, Gérard DuBois's illustrations are perfect. It won't be long before I read this again...
10/10 - one of the best things I've ever read.
This was my first Cormac McCarthy and I'm instantly obsessed. I'm hooked on his straight shooting prose, which gave the book a kind of tired, scared, reality struck voice. The dialogues between the nameless man and his boy were some of the best I've ever read.
"What is it?
Nothing. I had a bad dream.
What did you dream about?
Nothing.
Are you okay?
No.
He put his arms around him and held him. It's okay, he said.
I was crying. But you didnt wake up.
I'm sorry. I was just so tired.
I meant in the dream."
That's what this book is about really, the relationship between father and son, and what that means when everything else has failed. It's about what that bond means when confronted by starvation, by "bad guys", and the bitter cold of a dead planet.
"He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it."
The Folio Society edition is wonderful, Gérard DuBois's illustrations are perfect. It won't be long before I read this again...
10/10 - one of the best things I've ever read.
Vurt by Jeff Noon
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A trippy punk fever dream drenched in trauma, with a quick rhythmic pace and some mad ideas. Totally weird, and totally original.
Welcome to an alternate version of Manchester, a seedy dystopian city with grim housing estate flavoured world building and some batshit crazy inhabitants. If you start to feel like you want to escape the nightmare, don't worry, everyone else does too! Now try Vurt, a mysterious bird feather with the ability to send you to Vurtual realities, it's a bit like playing a video game while taking experimental hallucinogenics.
The plot is a give-me-my-sister/lover-back-you-twat kind of deal. Scribble is our protagonist and he lost his sister/lover to the Vurt, where she was swapped for a freaky lovecraftian octopus. Yeah you read that right. I liked the plot; just like taking Vurt, it grabs you by the throat and throws you into a series of strange situations, you never know what to expect and it was a delight being kept in the dark.
The world building was a unique one, Noon gives us shadow people, mental abilities, robot dogs, and of course Vurt landscapes, but all the while it feels familiar and real. As a British bloke I felt fully at home among the chaos and the council estates. Nothing was over explained either, which complemented the druggy atmosphere. I think under-explaining was the smart choice.
Overall a solid, unique reading experience. A bit on the fast paced side which is fine but not my usual preference. But I did really like the book, and I can't wait to read more Noon.
8/10
Welcome to an alternate version of Manchester, a seedy dystopian city with grim housing estate flavoured world building and some batshit crazy inhabitants. If you start to feel like you want to escape the nightmare, don't worry, everyone else does too! Now try Vurt, a mysterious bird feather with the ability to send you to Vurtual realities, it's a bit like playing a video game while taking experimental hallucinogenics.
The plot is a give-me-my-sister/lover-back-you-twat kind of deal. Scribble is our protagonist and he lost his sister/lover to the Vurt, where she was swapped for a freaky lovecraftian octopus. Yeah you read that right. I liked the plot; just like taking Vurt, it grabs you by the throat and throws you into a series of strange situations, you never know what to expect and it was a delight being kept in the dark.
The world building was a unique one, Noon gives us shadow people, mental abilities, robot dogs, and of course Vurt landscapes, but all the while it feels familiar and real. As a British bloke I felt fully at home among the chaos and the council estates. Nothing was over explained either, which complemented the druggy atmosphere. I think under-explaining was the smart choice.
Overall a solid, unique reading experience. A bit on the fast paced side which is fine but not my usual preference. But I did really like the book, and I can't wait to read more Noon.
8/10