Tampa, by Alissa Nutting (Audiobook)
Celeste Price became a teacher with the sole purpose of seducing teenage students. I usually roll my eyes when I hear people complaining that a book is controversial just for the sake of controversy, but found myself thinking something similar with this. It was just a bit too shallow and frivolous. Had it’s moments, but at times, it reminded me of a story you might come across in a bad waiting-room magazine. I still love the cover though. And I was amused by the ever present subtext that if this book was about a male teacher, there would probably be book burnings across the States.
3/5
The Guts, by Roddy Doyle (Audiobook)
The most apt thing I can say about this is “Brilliant, fucking brilliant”. Nice sequel to The Commitments. The Audiobook is pitch perfecto, with a great job by Laurence Quinlan (Elmo).
5/5
The Troop, by Nick Cutter (Audiobook)
I haven’t read a horror in years. This was a pretty good read though. Lord of the Flies meets World War Z tells you all you need to know. The narration was a tad over-baked in places though. He read every single line as if something terrifying was happening. Steady on, he’s just opening a tin of beans!
4/5
The Gargoyle, Andrew Davidson (Audiobook)
Although a few slip through the net, it’s hard not to hear about a good movie. But I’m often amazed at the volume of amazing books that you never hear about and are so easy to miss. The premise of The Gargoyle is based around an old trope; is a character insane or has she actually {insert-impossible-fantastical-truth}. But that doesn’t take away from how great this book is. I was hooked from the start: a porn-star crashes his car while off his head and hallucinating then get’s horribly burned alive in the car, which is described in great detail, and that’s just the first page, awesome stuff!
5/5
Tenth of December, by George Sanders (Kindle)
I don’t read as many short stories as I would like but I heard a lot about this one. It’s good but just slightly overhyped. What I found interesting is that I didn’t find it much different than a novel; there were so many common elements throughout the stories that it was like a novel with many characters tidied away into neat chapters.
4/5
The Rosie Project, Graeme Simpson (Kindle)
Don Tillman is a teacher on the autistic spectrum trying to find a wife via a inanely strict questionnaire. Hilarity ensues. This was really good fun. I genuinely laughed out loud a few times. I just stumbled across one day and bought it on a whim, I had no idea it was one of those books that was everywhere until I saw it in a spinner at my local garage.
5/5
