pickAnother stellar entry in the series. While I'm gleeful to continue on to see how various characters develop further in the next book, I'm also relieved to have certain answers and see certain arcs completed in this one.
As I've come to expect, there are bonkers happenings, heartbreakingly human moments, and some damn creepy shit. 1/?
Discworld cameo? 🦆
I‘m loving the second in the The Stranger Times series on audio. This time around the gang at the paper is dealing with vampires, which definitely DON‘T exist!
Brendan McDonald is delightful and hilarious as ever as the narrator. It‘s hard to believe that someone could come up with as many distinct voices for so many characters as he does.
Next non fiction read . . . Hopefully won't take me a year to finish this time.
pickI loved this book. It made me feel nostalgic and homesick for the place I actually live and work in, which is no mean feat!
Maconie is unashamedly prejudiced about his love for the North, but his humour and "warts and all" approach saves him from being bigoted or boorish.
I spent the middle third of my life as an economic migrant to The South, which has many attractions, but home is where the pies and gravy are ??? and coming home is a ⬇️
"The rivalry between Liverpool & Manchester is...a vendetta, a blood feud that's Sicilian in intensity, contemptuous at best, raw visceral hatred at worst, each always out for vengeance & reparation...The malice & ill-will borne by fans of Liverpool & Manchester United's football teams outweighs by far that felt by either team for their traditional rivals across the city."
Followed by examples of appalling impoliteness. I don't get football ?♂️
"Scousers are different. They are the Basques of Lancashire, a race apart with a language and culture that seems to bear no relation to any of the people around them."
"Jeremy Clarkson: How come if you're tragically obsessed with vile, globe-destroying, penis substitutes you get the nickname petrolhead but if you like trains you're an anorak? It says something about our world that if you are an enthusiast for anything, if you dare lose your ironic modern detachment and world-weariness, you become 'sad' or 'a loser'."
[Glances sheepishly at own extensive bookmark 'enthusiasm'??]
"Perhaps I have a chip on my shoulder, but at least it's a proper chip, properly fried and served with gravy and mushy peas." ?
No sooner did my mind begin drawing certain Thursday Murder Club vibes comparisons than the author made Osman the subject of a 'theory'. 😆
I think if you love both Terry Pratchett and Richard Osman, you should give this series a try. 4w
I was concerned the somewhat split narrative would take away from the group dynamic, but there's definitely still smaller group clusters of chaos running about the place, and the earlier segmentation of the team makes the end even better. 4w
⚠️internalized fatphobia 4w