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119th out of 196 books
—
45 voters
God Collar
'There's probably no God ... but I wish there was. I've got some things I need to ask him.'
Based on Marcus Brigstocke's award-winning Edinburgh and West End show, God Collar focuses on the 'God-shaped hole' that opens up in Marcus's life following the death of his best friend. Exploring his own issues surrounding faith - his lack of it, his need for it, some people's waste...more
Based on Marcus Brigstocke's award-winning Edinburgh and West End show, God Collar focuses on the 'God-shaped hole' that opens up in Marcus's life following the death of his best friend. Exploring his own issues surrounding faith - his lack of it, his need for it, some people's waste...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
June 23rd 2011
by Bantam Press
(first published June 1st 2011)
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Nothing against Brigstocke himself. I find his stuff funny.
Except this.
I bought this mainly after listening to him being interviewed, erudite as ever, on either Radio 4 or 5 Live. I thought it would be an amusing but educational book - one where Brigstocke reviews each religion during his 'search for a God', and comes up with good points about each one.
It isn't. Instead, it's a stand-up routine that lasts eight days. It's a book where each amusing thought is laboured out into a ten-page-long jok...more
Except this.
I bought this mainly after listening to him being interviewed, erudite as ever, on either Radio 4 or 5 Live. I thought it would be an amusing but educational book - one where Brigstocke reviews each religion during his 'search for a God', and comes up with good points about each one.
It isn't. Instead, it's a stand-up routine that lasts eight days. It's a book where each amusing thought is laboured out into a ten-page-long jok...more
I really enjoyed this book about Marcus Brigstocke and God. Yes it is the humorous autobiographical ramblings of a stand-up comedian and all-round BBC Radio 4 chappy, but it seemed a genuinely worthwhile contribution to the topic of religious belief or lack of it. He rightly highlights the smug humourlessness of the Dawkins-esque approach to atheism, which even when it tries to be funny just comes across as unkind. I couldn't help laughing when the latter said, on a serious news programme, of hi...more
As a well-off white fella in a well-developed Western country, with a successful career that involves no heavy-lifting or monotonous repetition, and family and friends who love and support him as he reads the dailies while thinking and writing things down, Marcus Brigstocke is a prime example of that lucky class of people (to which I also belong) that have been blessed by the gods to not need them. In this eloquent, sincere and very funny book, Marcus goes searching for them anyway: he might not...more
I really like Marcus Brigstocke. So many times, listening to The Now Show has been made bearable by Brigstocke's five minutes of comedic rantings.
However, this book was a chore to get through. It's unclear what Brigstocke was really aiming for with this meandering set of thoughts. There's no clearly discernible theme to each chapter, and the tone lurches from light whimsy to dry thoughts.
For example, one chapter, titled "Where to look for God...", discusses Brigstocke's efforts to hunt for God....more
However, this book was a chore to get through. It's unclear what Brigstocke was really aiming for with this meandering set of thoughts. There's no clearly discernible theme to each chapter, and the tone lurches from light whimsy to dry thoughts.
For example, one chapter, titled "Where to look for God...", discusses Brigstocke's efforts to hunt for God....more
God Collar is Marcus Brigstocks explanation of how he, as an atheist, wishes there was a God. At times it is blasphemous and not that funny. But overall this is an excellent book. It is well written and, as you would expect from one of Britains funniest comedians, humorous. However if you buy this book thinking it is just going to be another series of cheap shots at religion in general and Christianity in particular - you will be disappointed. This is a serious book with some insightful points a...more
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There is no doubt that Marcus Brigstocke is a funny man, and between rants a likable one too... but...
The subject of religion and atheism is a trendy one amongst British comedians at the moment, and the cynic in me says that the only reason this book was ever produced was to fill a gap in the market (a book shaped hole?).
He makes some great points, and it's nice to see a liberal agnostic view represented, a refreshing change from the militant atheism so often found written about.
The problem I ha...more
The subject of religion and atheism is a trendy one amongst British comedians at the moment, and the cynic in me says that the only reason this book was ever produced was to fill a gap in the market (a book shaped hole?).
He makes some great points, and it's nice to see a liberal agnostic view represented, a refreshing change from the militant atheism so often found written about.
The problem I ha...more
I was very much looking forward to reading this as I like Marcus Brigstocke and agree with a lot of what he says. It turns out that his views on atheism are also very similar to my own. We are both atheist but not in a crusading, zealous Richard Dawkins way. More a live and let live approach.
I enjoyed the book as a whole but it does have 2 major flaws. Firstly he writes as he rants which is funny and clever in short bursts but soon becomes repetitive. Very repetitive. Secondly, as the book progr...more
I enjoyed the book as a whole but it does have 2 major flaws. Firstly he writes as he rants which is funny and clever in short bursts but soon becomes repetitive. Very repetitive. Secondly, as the book progr...more
Marcus Brigstocke can be funny, at times - this isn't one of them. The book is way too long and drawn out and there's no real point to it. Any anecdotes feel false as does a lot of the angst and Brigstocke simply doesn't have the humour or the intelligence to carry this off, sadly what he clearly thinks he does. There are of course attacks on Jeremy Clarkson - it wouldn't be Marcus if there weren't and he looks at a variety of faiths plus atheism with a lengthy shallow style that makes no real o...more
This book deals with Marcus Brigstocke’s ‘crisis of facts’ that he went through after the death of a friend. He explores his dissatisfaction with atheism, and his distaste for the major religions. I really enjoyed the book that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I agree with most of his views, and like his comedy. He meanders through rants, gags, anecdotes, frank confessions and thoughtful assessment.
I was listening to the audio book (read well by Brigstocke) on a bus when a guy starte...more
I was listening to the audio book (read well by Brigstocke) on a bus when a guy starte...more
The first chapter was bad. It needed an hour or two of editing. And the rest of it was okay. If you read this book as an autobiographical musing rather than a thorough exploration of faith, you'll likely not be (too) disappointed. Except for chapter one and his buses.
And the repeated mentions of Cheesestrings and Berocca made me wonder if anyone had proofread the book, or whether he was being sponsored by Bayer and Kerry Foods.
But these shortcomings aside, I did find it funny and enlightening....more
And the repeated mentions of Cheesestrings and Berocca made me wonder if anyone had proofread the book, or whether he was being sponsored by Bayer and Kerry Foods.
But these shortcomings aside, I did find it funny and enlightening....more
Before starting this book I was expecting to be a bit like The God Delusion but with a few nob gags thrown in. While the pages did contain some gags (nob, fart and other) it was much more than that. Following the death of his best mate, Marcus embarks on a quest to find faith, but finds that he can't subscribe to any of the belief systems pedalled by the major religions. He likes the idea of believing in a God, despite the logical problems this poses to a scientific mind, it's just that he doesn...more
Marcus Brigstocke is a fine stand-up and witty radio presenter. And he can write, articulately and intelligently. The problem, though, is that he doesn't have a lot to say, hence endless riffs (probably adapted from his act) that amuse but don't inform, allied to an almost pathological penchant for repetition. If he tells us he doesn't believe in God but would really, really like to once, he tells us a thousand times. Yes, Marcus, we get it. Even the better riffs start to pale. It's as if he's s...more
I'm a fan of Marcus Brigstocke. I identify with his politics and love his rants on the radio where he says things no one else dares to. So I like this book. It arose out of a tour he did on the subject, and I don't doubt for a moment his sincerity in the questions he asks and the stances he takes. It's very funny. And that, perhaps, is a difficulty. Does the need to be funny trump the need to be thoughtful? There are points in the book where you feel he's run out of anything to say and just want...more
I absolutely loved this book! It had me in stitches several times which earned me some pretty odd looks when I was in public.
Marcus Brigstocke shows off his comedic brilliance in every paragraph and makes some very valid points which made me, a firm atheist, rethink religion and look at it in a different light.
He uses personal and real life examples to make his points and shows just how ridiculous the argument of religion can truly become.
I've read this book twice now and I'd read it again and a...more
Marcus Brigstocke shows off his comedic brilliance in every paragraph and makes some very valid points which made me, a firm atheist, rethink religion and look at it in a different light.
He uses personal and real life examples to make his points and shows just how ridiculous the argument of religion can truly become.
I've read this book twice now and I'd read it again and a...more
Es war ziemlich schwierig durch dieses Buch durch zu kommen. So amüsant das erste Kapitel war, so eintönig wurde es zum Schluß.
Hier schreibt der Author wirklich nur über seine Gedanken, so wie sie ihm vermutlich gerade in den Sinn kamen, gewürzt mit der einen oder anderen Pointe. Er erläutert seine Ansichten über Gott und dessen Beziehung zur Welt aus seinem Standpunkt ohne zu einem Abschluss zu kommen. Dies ist nicht sonderlich zufriedenstellend, da ich einige seiner Gedanken durchaus nachvollz...more
Hier schreibt der Author wirklich nur über seine Gedanken, so wie sie ihm vermutlich gerade in den Sinn kamen, gewürzt mit der einen oder anderen Pointe. Er erläutert seine Ansichten über Gott und dessen Beziehung zur Welt aus seinem Standpunkt ohne zu einem Abschluss zu kommen. Dies ist nicht sonderlich zufriedenstellend, da ich einige seiner Gedanken durchaus nachvollz...more
Reasonably good. It stretched an idea a little too far but a thought provoking read at times. He could have done with researching a few of his claims a little more thoroughly. He mentions what appears to be a medieval myth about how the gender of the pope is checked as undisputed fact
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Joan
Still his heart is obviously in the right place and he has quite a few quotable lines such as an atheist having "a crisis of facts" rather than a crisis of faith.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Joan
Still his heart is obviously in the right place and he has quite a few quotable lines such as an atheist having "a crisis of facts" rather than a crisis of faith.
Poor man. Was this a work of truth or fiction? We may never know as dear Marcus is unable to tell us. After 320 blistering pages of personal angst he is totally undecided, as he wallows his way through self-indulgent half truths that manage to take a side swipe at all the major faiths as he blunders about in the dark. Little insight into any understanding, just cheap comedic shots that do not do his intellect justice. Not funny. Not clever. Not smart. Why?
I thought it was a frank and honest journey of the self. I was encouraged to read every faith being discussed including non-faiths. I thought it was very refreshing to consider a critical analysis of the all important question of existential nature being views from an individual point of view. The author was very subjective in his views which presents a unique picture, which most of us can relate to. 'I'd rather be happy than be right', claims Marcus and I guess I support him.
The journey contin...more
The journey contin...more
Enjoyed this book. MB is a funny, thought-provoking chap, wickedly cynical at times, touching at others. His investigation of his own feelings about God are entirely serious, revealing an agnostic, rather than an atheist, view. He wants the comfort blanket of there being a God, without the discomforts of organized religion, holy books, sin-obsessed priests or manipulative mullahs and prelates. A good read and very funny.
Another one recommended by my bookseller friend. Brigstocke has never been a comedian that I enjoyed, but this book made me laugh out loud, possibly because he discusses what Middle Britain, and a Middle Britain like the one I have lived in, believes about religion, faith, politics, etc. Apparently I was wrong - Brigstocke is my fraternal twin! It's just nice to know that I'm not the only one thinking these things!
This book is kind of odd, in that it reads like a stand-up gig. It's a nebulous collection of thoughts permeated with jokes and tangents, but I didn't really mind that. The problem is, being (presumably) a serialisation of Brigstocke's 'God Collar' tour, the material is much better suited to oral media. But hey, it's funny, and it's an excellent exercise in keeping an open mind, so I'm happy to have read it.
As one who spends more time reading than watching TV or listening to the radio, I was not aware of Marcus Brigstocke until a friend recommended the book. He is a stand-up comedian, who normally calls himself an atheist, but wrote this book while going through a crisis of non-faith, a "crisis of fact" as he calls it. It is very funny and irreverent, but with an under-current of seriousness. He says he is lookiong for something but doesn't know quite what it is he is looking for.
Extremely funny, especially when he's in rant mode, and will satisfy most people who like comedy to have a point but there are enough factual errors and enough tired lines (Richard Dawkins is an atheist fundamentalist ha ha ha) that it got my back up a bit. If you haven't read the bible and don't mind trite remarks about pop-scientists then you might enjoy it even more than I did. Christopher Hitchens gets a mention, poignantly (I am writing this the day after his death), along with the other us...more
Thought-provoking and amusing - if self-indulgent. Worth reading if you're confused about God and feelings of spirituality. He's critical of established religion but also of smug atheists like Dawkins, whose rabid fundamentalism makes him no more reasonable than Al Qaeda. The ending becomes a confessional and intimate therapy for Brigstocke. It's laugh-out-loud funny at times too - in an intelligently crude way.
I had high hopes for this book, I find Marcus Brigstocke extremely funny but also clever and insightful. I hoped this book would be a good balance of the two but it just ended up falling a bit flat. I read it and enjoyed it to some degree, but some of it is just over the top complaining about things that don't need complaining about. I have found this to be a problem with comedians who rely on the grumpy/complaining angle with their stand-up - it doesn't translate especially well into literature...more
Marcus wavers back and forth between needing and wanting there to be a God. He cites a number of other texts but ultimately does not really convince. There are a smattering of funny sections but not nearly enough to make this a comedy. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Marcus as a comedian especially, for example, on Radio 4's The Now Show, but here he failed to amuse beyond the occasional titter.
Well, talk about spreading the joke thin... It made me so angry. Not his opinions, with which I was 50% offended and 50% in agreement. No, what irked me was that I was reading this as a break from trying to cram my 6000 painstakingly researched words into a 2000-word essay, and Brigstocke's acceptably amusing hour's worth of stand-up had been unacceptably stretched out over 300-odd pages. I couldn't finish it and, as it was a library book, didn't.
Some great one liners and a couple of hilarious stories. However the book overall isn't very entertaining and doesn't really go anywhere. Seems a bit confused but not in a funny way!
I love Marcus Brigstocke. I really hated this book. By turns preachy, politically tendentious and absolutely not funny.
We saw him do the live performance of this. The book is poignant, funny and sad in parts. Well worth a read.
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Marcus Alexander Brigstocke (born 8 May 1973) is an English comedian, actor and satirist who has worked extensively in stand-up comedy, television, radio and in 2010-2011 musical theatre. He is particularly associated with the 6.30pm comedy slot on BBC Radio 4, having frequently appeared on several of its shows. Brigstocke also played a cameo role in Richard Curtis's romantic comedy Love Actually...more
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