Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Engaging, eccentric, hilarious, incredibly good company. A wonderwall of moments and memories... one of our most entertaining authors' Independent 'Armitage is incapable of writing anything that is not wry, warm, witty and layered with meaning. Poignant and extraordinary' Metro 'Witty, terrific, stupendously funny' Daily Telegraph 'Profoundly affecting... probably the greatest joy I'll find on a page all year... reads like a transcript of the funniest stand-up you'll never hear' Herald 'I read this book in one sitting. It moved me to tears, to shouts of laughter, and made me look at even the most mundane things in a different way' Sunday Times
Metro
"Dry, deadpan and pant-wettingly funny...Armitage is not capable of writing anything that is not wry, warm, witty and layered with meaning"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This really shouldn't work. A series of ramblings connected only by the love of music theme, mentioning a large number of bands I have never heard of and being, at times so personal that it could be hard to connect with. Also there are strange decisions about how to deal with or write about people in his life- his wife, only referred to as speedy Sue and a range of other "characters". So- does it work? Triumphantly yes. Armitage has a wonderful droll tone as he describes his early musical influences and his kneejerk progression through punk, mod and new romantic as he fell in love with all aspects of the ever changing scene. There are Alan Bennettesque riffs on booksignings; poetry readings (gigs); writing projects and inevitably his family. The list of possible names for his own band is worth the price of the book alone, as are the short dialogues of remembered exchanges between him and the grouchy reading public. This is laugh out loud funny and brilliant writing deserving the cliche "heartwarming" and hilarious at the same time. His habit of going off on a tangent is not irritating but wonderfully unpredictable- just as you think you are reading an article on the Artic Monkeys it becomes one on the Comsat Angels and you are beguiled by his ability to riff and stream of consciousness to his hearts desire. Buy and smile and laugh and read again. He's a poet and he does know it- but by god his prose is magical as well.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent book. Simon Armitage is a natural writer. He does wander about a bit but only in good way and always with a purpose, even if it's only a roundabout route to a cracking punch line. I found myself nodding in agreement with several parts of the book, especially when he's describing the yell/shriek at the beginning of The Damned's "New Rose". It's a very funny book. I read it on a long coach journey while listening to my ipod and my fiancé kept prodding me and saying "You're laughing very loudly". To which I replied "I know". It also has its disturbing and quite frankly harrowing moments. None more so than when Armitage describes the murky goings on in a Travel Lodge near you. If you've never really understood the attraction of bands such as Simply Red or UB40 read this book and you'll laugh like a drain. If you think the aforementioned bands are some kind of musical colossus read this book, you might learn something. Five stars and no mistake.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As Simon Armitage's stock rises ever higher - surely he'll be the next Poet Laureate..? - it seems curmudgeonly to criticise him, however, as witty and droll as this 'autobiography' is - and it is - there is a whiff of smugness about it that grates, and for anyone who's read previous works such as the excellent All Points North there's a fair bit of crossover.
These grumbles aside, there is plenty of charm here, and descriptions of some of the gigs Armitage has attended are brilliant - the Morrissey one in particular.
These grumbles aside, there is plenty of charm here, and descriptions of some of the gigs Armitage has attended are brilliant - the Morrissey one in particular.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Highly Entertaining
The fact I read this in a day says volumes for how enjoyable it is. Simon Armitage is one of the country's top poets. Read more
Published on 16 Oct 2009 by Mr. Peter Steward
Gig
How to describe this book? Part history, part autobiography, many songs and some poetry - but all good. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2009 by TonyR
Second volume of witty, superbly written memoirs
Simon Armitage occupies a fairly unique cultural position. On one hand he is one of the nation's best-known poets; tipped for the Poet Laureate and known to students across the... Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2009 by A. McAuley
Tyre Rolling Down A Hill
This is not a bad read at all and often funny although I get the feeling that I have read a lot of it before. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2009 by K. Hannay
Less Is More
Strangely enough Simon Armitage and his band The Scaremongers, described within, have made one of the best 'records' of recent times 'Less Is More'. Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2008 by jackiewilsonsaid
Low-key genius...
I bought this book on the strength of a great fondness for Simon's work and the desire to hear the shared experience of someone, like me, who is a frustrated musician. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2008 by Neil
Patchy but the odd flash of comedy
Gig - The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist
Simon Armitage
My interest in poetry is fairly low level, but I had heard of Simon Armitage, mainly because... Read more
Simon Armitage
My interest in poetry is fairly low level, but I had heard of Simon Armitage, mainly because... Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2008 by Peter Wade
A Lot of Laughs ...
I am not a rock-star fantasist myself, knowing very little about the bands that Simon Armitage writes about in Gig. Read more
Published on 4 May 2008 by Wiltonian
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
