Welcome to Litsy!

A divorced socialite finds herself working at a newspaper that reports on the paranormal, but real life turns out to be even weirder than her co-workers. Very fun story, with lovable, awful, and lovably awful characters.

This series won a “best audio award,“ and no argument here. The narration is fantastic, effortlessly distinguishing a very large cast of characters and adding to both the goofiness and sense of unease.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Stranger Times publishes stories about weird and impossible occurrences: a man believes he is possessed by the spirit of David Bowie, who wants to get back to the studio and record a new album, for example. But the newspaper isn‘t quite what it seems…
The narrator, Brendan McDonald, should win an award, his distinct and hilarious voices are that good. The audio version is a must, IMO.

So fun!

What a marvelous read. Straddles hilarious and macabre, the much craved funny fantasy! The back cover comparison is apt, I think if you like Terry Pratchett, you should try this. Cynical journalism, dry wit, supernatural mysteries and just a smattering of pathos and world building. 🤌🏻
I am overjoyed that this is a series I get to read more in, though I'll have to wait for interlibrary loans for each.
⚠️ Borderline offensive grumpy bastard.

Zing!

Yep, shaping up to be a ridiculous favourite. 😄

This book is exactly the level of silly I needed today.

Honestly, when I have horror flashbacks to my last period of job searching, the honesty of this advert is refreshing in comparison.

The only job Hannah Willis can find is with a small newspaper which specialises in reporting on the weird and wonderful things some people believe have happened. In the background some very weird stuff is going on in Manchester.

Very funny story about the paper's staff and the stories they report with a good urban fantasy story about a magician tracking down descendents of magical races mixed in with the humour.

#sunshinewellness #halloweenreading

I ended up getting myself a storage cart thing to store some of the books that won't fit on my fixed shelves. It's so perfect for my British Library Crime Classics collection that I'll probably reorganise other stuff and gradually move them all into it!

Started reading the tagged book yesterday, though, on a whim. Not sure where it is going exactly, even now I've read 30%, but I'm curious enough to keep going.

This book makes me giggle. (To put the quote in context, ‘The Stranger Times‘ is a newspaper which reports weird and wacky stories.)

Hannah found Reggie eating a breakfast roll by the canal while a trio of ducks gave him the evil eye. When Hannah appeared beside him, he pointed at a sign that showed a cartoon quacker thanking you for not feeding it bread. It went on to point out that bread made its tummy hurt...
'All of that may well be true,' said Reggie, 'but I can't help thinking that the massive flaw in this system is that nobody has explained it to the ruddy ducks.

There had been more employees when Grace had started, about a decade ago, but the numbers had been slowly going down. Banecroft's arrival six months previously had prompted a scramble for the lifeboats. Life under Barry, the previous editor of The Stranger Times, had been like snuggling up beside a fire with a warm cup of cocoa. With Banecroft it was like being in the fire.

Exactly what I needed.

Loved the cast of weird characters. Loved the humour.

Can't wait for book 2.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I want to quote every other scene. It's definitely a funny Urban Fantasy set in Manchester.

#20in4 #readathon @Andrew65

The Church of Old Souls in Manchester is very much like Mick Herron‘s Slough House; instead of housing a crew of spooks, the church houses the motley crew of editors and journalists of the Stranger Times, a weekly newspaper specializing in reports on strange happenings. If the news feed has you down, this is the perfect book to lighten the mood. Very funny Herron/ Pratchett mashup with a touch of Gaiman😎❣️