If you loved
Books like Glue
A chaotic, darkly hilarious, and surprisingly tender plunge into the decades-long loyalty of four working-class Scottish boys. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Glue.
- chaotic
- nostalgic
- grimy
- frenetic
- 01
Trainspotting
Irvine Welsh
A frantic, dialect-heavy plunge into the euphoric highs and devastating lows of addiction and urban decay.
- 02
Porno
Irvine Welsh
A grimy, high-octane reunion of aging degenerates scheming their way through the sleazy underbelly of Edinburgh.
- 03
Lanark
Alasdair Gray · 1981
A sprawling, hallucinatory epic that fractures reality to explore the heartbreaking struggle for love and art in a decaying world.
- 04
White Teeth
Zadie Smith
A sprawling, riotous tragicomedy that captures the messy, vibrant collision of cultures and generations in modern London.
- 05
Strip Jack
Ian Rankin
A gritty, atmospheric descent into the hidden sins and toxic loyalties of the Scottish elite.
- 06
The Wasp Factory
Iain Banks
A chilling, darkly comic descent into the meticulously ordered mind of an isolated teenage psychopath.
- 07
Whit
Iain Banks
A wry, culture-clash journey of a sheltered cult member navigating the bewildering landscape of Nineties Britain while her worldview slowly unravels.
- 08
Mortal Causes
Ian Rankin
A dread-soaked descent into the subterranean shadows of a bustling city, where ancient grudges threaten to ignite modern mayhem.
- 09
Under the skin
Michel Faber
A masterclass in creeping dread that slowly peels back the mundane to reveal something profoundly alien and devastating.
- 10
Shuggie Bain
Douglas Stuart
A devastatingly tender portrait of a boy's fierce, unrequited love for his deeply flawed mother amidst a grim, unforgiving world.
- 11
Junk
Melvin Burgess
A polyphonic, unflinching descent into the intoxicating highs and devastating lows of teenage rebellion and addiction.
- 12
The Fortress of Solitude
Jonathan Lethem
A sprawling, music-soaked love letter to a vanished Brooklyn, capturing the fraught magic and inevitable heartbreak of a childhood defined by race and pop culture.
