Saturday, 3 October 2026

Alrightreads: Gonzo

Jon Ronson, The Castle: Adventures in a World of Unraveling Men

2026 / Audiobook / 336 pages

****

The usual curated eccentrics keep this fringe exploration of our ongoing apocalypse from feeling as heavy as it really is, though the audio excerpts occasionally spoil the illusion of all these characters sounding like an insincere Jon Ronson.


Andrew Callaghan, All Gas, No Brakes: A Hitchhiker's Diary

2018 / Ebook / 60 pages

***

Like Jack Kerouac, if he was from a generation that claimed to be roughing it while still whipping out their permanently charged and online phones every chapter.


Louis Theroux, Theroux the Keyhole

2022 / Audiobook / 384 pages

**

A potentially fascinating Coronavirus lockdown commentary for future generations, published with pointless immediacy.


Alexandra Robbins, Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities

2004 / Audiobook / 370 pages

**

Dispatches from an alien world.


Danny Wallace, Somebody Told Me: One Man's Unexpected Journey Down the Rabbit Hole of Lies, Trolls and Conspiracies

2024 / Audiobook / 352 pages

***

The Alan Partridge-voiced journalist recaps things you've probably already heard, sweetened insufficiently with some personal paranoia. He used to be more fun, but that was in less interesting times.