takecoverbooks's reviews
211 reviews

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Prophet Song might be the most intense reading experience I’ve endured this year. As a dystopian all-too-near future told from the perspective of a middle class Irish family who doesn’t heed the warning signs of creeping fascism until it’s too late to flee.

What follows is a harrowing onslaught of disappearances, civil strife, threatening uncertainty, and state terrorism, all witnessed at ground level. Sad, unrelenting, and stylistically dense, the novel is not always easy to get through, but it is an overall rewarding read.
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High and Rising: a.k.a. The De La Soul Book by Marcus J. Moore

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hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

More a eulogy for Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur and a heartfelt tribute to his bandmates in De La Soul than an in-depth exploration of the historical context surrounding the group’s seminal discography, Marcus Moore’s High and Rising still manages to pack a lot into its <250 length.

While the book discusses De La’s albums from their 90s heyday to their troubles in the 2010s and 2020s, Moore writes from a personal perspective. Functionally a memoir that evolves through De La’s body of work. It’s insightful and messy in equal measure, and it doesn’t quite add up to more than the sum of its parts, but it still packs an emotional wallop. 
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American Rapture by CJ Leede

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

American Rapture is a LOT. It’s well-written and packs a punch when it needs to, but at times its repetitiveness (which is warranted given the religious questions at the book’s heart) muddles its message and stops the plot in its tracks. It’s a taxing read, but if you’re willing to follow it, check it out.
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Sonic Life: A Memoir by Thurston Moore

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informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

Despite that this is obviously not an oral history, you’d be forgiven for calling this the Meet Me in the Bathroom of the 1980s. Moore does a great job describing his adventures through New York’s punk and no wave scenes that would become such fertile ground for Sonic Youth’s development. He eschews personal drama and tabloid gush in favour of talking about a bygone time when noise music not only flourished, but also reached near-mainstream appeal. While your mileage may vary for the namedropping and occasionally superficial details given to his own life and craft, the book is true to its name. If you’re interested in Post Punk and No Wave and want a nice primer, look no further!
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We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

While well-written and  certainly engrossing as the story progresses, I couldn't shake the feeling that Kliewer thought his story was more clever than it actually was. It's heavily indebted to House of Leaves, A Head Full of Ghosts, Hell House, and the list goes on. I did enjoy it, but I kept hoping it would go deeper than the cool thrill it turned out to be.
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Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Thoroughly disturbing to the point of inspiring dread more than fear, Fever Dream is a powerful work about unchecked agricultural development in rural Argentina, rendered as a ghost story. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it does. The only issue is: it’s a tough read.
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Red X by David Demchuk

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challenging dark 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? No

5.0

Daring, tragic, horrifying, and inventive in equal measure, Red X is one of the most powerful books I’ve read this year.
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The Thief of Always: A Fable by Clive Barker

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dark hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Not particularly scary, and certainly a change of tone from the overwritten, prurient, and gruesome tales I would previously have used to describe Barker’s body of work. Who knew he could write a charming little YA chiller?
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When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm by Michael Forsythe, Walt Bogdanich

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informative medium-paced

3.0

A great case study for readers curious what Capital does behind closed doors: a litany of conflicts of interest, corruption, anti-labour ratfucking, and anti-human demonia. 

The book is written by two business journalists who engage in a lot of anti-China and anti-socialist rhetoric which tested my patience a lot. However, this is a very good autopsy of the actions of a company who has metastasized throughout the world.
Final Cut by Charles Burns

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A self-reflexive odyssey through a bipolar mind. Alternately emotional and gnomic, but always with an underlying anxiety, this is a very interesting work I’ll need to read again.
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