Episode Notes

The first in our specials reviewing the books on The Week Junior Book Awards shortlist for Audiobook of the Year 2023.

First up is The Ice Children by M.G. Leonard, as narrated by Helen Keeley and a full cast.

At the stroke of midnight on the dawn of December, five-year-old Finn Albedo is found frozen in the city park on a pedestal of ice. The doctor says his heart is beating, but no one can wake him. Finn’s big sister, Bianca, suspects the beautiful sparkling book Finn got from the library has something to do with it all but the mysterious book has vanished and no one will listen. As more children are frozen, Bianca realises she’s running out of time. Is there a connection between the peculiar stranger wearing a top hat and the disappearing books? The search for truth hurls Bianca into a fantastical winter wonderland where all is not as it seems… Can Bianca remember her mission and find a way to save her brother and the other Ice Children before all their hearts are lost forever?

Secondly, we have The Book That No One Wanted to Read by Richard Ayoade as narrated by Richard Ayoade, Jarvis Cocker, and Lydia Fox.

What is it that makes YOU want to read a book? Richard Ayoade’s children’s debut gives you all the answers in a way that’s silly, funny, and thoroughly beguiling. Have you ever thought about how it feels to be a book? To be left under a whiffy pant pile or shelved, forever collecting dust? To have your pages bent backwards or your spine BROKEN? What if you don’t have a sparkly unicorn or dragon adorning your cover–who will pick you out of the bookshop then? This is the story of the sadly neglected Book That No One Wanted To Read–can its destiny change when it finally meets the right reader? Spoiler alert: yes.

Thank you to The Week Junior for sending us the reviewing copies. You can find out more about the awards by visiting their website: https://www.theweekjuniorbookawards.co.uk/

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Episode Notes

Here's a minisode with the winner's speech from the British Book Awards a few weeks ago.

One of my local bookshops All Good Books in Turnpike Lane, has set up a Patreon. Please support them if you can (we know times are hard).

https://www.patreon.com/TheAllGoodBookshop

We'll be back in a few weeks!

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Episode Notes

British Book Awards Special 3!

The last in our special series discussing the titles on the British Book Awards shortlist for Book of the Year - Audiobook: Non-Fiction.

We discuss A Pocketful of Happiness by Richard E Grant and Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry.

This episode was brought to you by Alexandra Park BJJ. To book a free trial class, visit: https://www.alexandraparkbjj.co.uk/

Support Audiobookish by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/audiobookish

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This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-8a93af for 40% off for 4 months, and support Audiobookish.

Episode Notes

British Book Awards Special 2!

The second in our special series discussing the titles on the British Book Awards shortlist for Book of the Year - Audiobook: Non-Fiction.

We discuss A Visible Man by Edward Enninful and Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby.

This episode was brought to you by Alexandra Park BJJ. To book a free trial class, visit: https://www.alexandraparkbjj.co.uk/

Support Audiobookish by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/audiobookish

Find out more at https://audiobookish.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-8a93af for 40% off for 4 months, and support Audiobookish.

Episode Notes

British Book Awards Special 1!

The first in our special series discussing the titles on the British Book Awards shortlist for Book of the Year - Audiobook: Non-Fiction.

We discuss Parenting Hell by Rob Beckett & Josh Widdicombe and Menopausing Davina McCall with Dr. Naomi Potter.

This episode was brought to you by Alexandra Park BJJ. To book a free trial class visit: https://www.alexandraparkbjj.co.uk/

Support Audiobookish by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/audiobookish

Find out more at https://audiobookish.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-8a93af for 40% off for 4 months, and support Audiobookish.

Episode Notes

We discuss Do Not Resuscitate: The Life and Afterlife of Maurice Saatchi (DNR) by Maurice Saatchi.

Thanks to the publishers for the ARC.

Our next episodes will be a series of reviews of the titles on the British Book Awards shortlist for Book of the Year - Audiobook: Non-Fiction!

This episode was brought to you by Alexandra Park BJJ: Alexandraparkbjj.co.uk

Support Audiobookish by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/audiobookish

Find out more at https://audiobookish.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-8a93af for 40% off for 4 months, and support Audiobookish.

Episode Notes

We review our first rom-com. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

About the book:

Gemma Jacobs has life figured out. She’s upbeat, positive to a fault, and the master of her own destiny. She has a wonderful career in social media marketing, lives in a trendy apartment with her fiancé Josh Lewenthal, and is pregnant with their much-loved baby. Her life is wonderful. Absolutely perfect. Except... What really comes after the happily ever after? Josh Lewenthal is laid-back, fun-loving, and always finds the humor in life. He writes a wildly successful web-comic series and can’t wait to marry Gemma—the woman of his dreams. His life is amazing. Terrific. Except... What happens when everything changes? Suddenly Josh and Gemma’s lives are turned upside down, and their love and their future together are at risk. They realize their happily ever after isn’t the end; it’s just the beginning—and now they have to fight for it. They confront a devastating separation, the return of world-infamous Ian Fortune, and the question of whether or not their love can truly survive when everyone says it’s already gone.

It is narrated by Erin Mallon

This episode was brought to you by Alexandra Park BJJ - visit their website to book your free trial class. https://www.alexandraparkbjj.co.uk

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Episode Notes

No new episode this week. We're re-uploading an episode from the archives. Unfortunate Stars: A Wartime Confession by Susan Lanigan.

This episode was brought to you by Alexandra Park BJJ - visit their website to book your free trial class. https://www.alexandraparkbjj.co.uk/

About the book:

Thanks to Susan for the ARC. You can learn more about her books here: https://susanlanigan.com/ About the book: Czechoslovakia, 1938 - Friedrich Pflommer, a married man with two children, has fallen hopelessly in love with the most unsuitable person possible - the young, volatile Kai, an exchange student living under his own roof. As Nazi forces gather on the border, Friedrich is playing a high-stakes game and risks losing everything. France, 1915 - as a young lieutenant in wartime, Friedrich is badly injured during a failed counterattack, but a meeting with an Englishman during battle changes everything. Unfortunate Stars is a short story of romantic love and deep friendship between men, of what it is to surrender to our own truth, and to live it even in the hardest of circumstances. It is narrated by Greg Patmore Support Audiobookish by contributing to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/audiobookish Find out more at https://audiobookish.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-8a93af for 40% off for 4 months, and support Audiobookish.

Support Audiobookish by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/audiobookish

Find out more at https://audiobookish.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-8a93af for 40% off for 4 months, and support Audiobookish.

Episode Notes

We discuss Nubia: The Awakening By Omar Epps and Clarence A. Haynes as read by Amir Abdullah, Emana Rachelle, and Jeorge Bennett Watson.

A powerful saga of three teens, the children of refugees from a fallen African utopia, who must navigate their newfound powers in a climate-ravaged New York City. For Zuberi, Uzochi, and Lencho, Nubia is a mystery. Before they were born, a massive storm destroyed their ancestral homeland, forcing their families to flee across the ocean to New York City. Nubia, a utopic island nation off the coast of West Africa, was no more, and their parents’ sorrow was too deep for them to share much of their history beyond the folklore.

But New York, ravaged by climate change and class division, is far from a safe haven for refugees, and Nubians live as outcasts, struggling to survive in the constantly flooding lower half of Manhattan, while the rich thrive in the tech-driven sky city known as the Up High.

To many, being Nubian means you’re fated for a life plagued by difficulties and disrespect. But Zuberi, Uzochi, and Lencho are beginning to feel there might be more. Something within them is changing, giving each of them extraordinary powers. Extraordinary and terrifying powers that seem to be tied to the secrets their parents have kept from them.

And there are people Up High watching, eager to do anything they can to become even more powerful than they already are. Now Zuberi, Uzochi, and Lencho will be faced with the choice—do they use their inheritance to lift their people, or to leave them behind? The fate of their city, and their people, hangs in the balance.

This episode was brought to you by Alexandra Park BJJ - visit their website to book your free trial class. https://www.alexandraparkbjj.co.uk/

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Episode Notes

We discuss The Timewaster Letters Compendium by Robin Cooper (aka Robert Popper) as read by Robert Popper, Dawn French, Peter Serafinowicz, and Jonathan Keeble.

The massive best-selling Timewaster Letters books featured the wonderfully silly letters of Robin Cooper (a.k.a. Friday Night Dinner creator Robert Popper) in which he shared his madcap ideas - and even madcapper inventions - with everyone from the British Halibut Association to the Peanut Council. The resulting replies, as well as Cooper’s replies-to-these-replies, had a nation in hysterics.  

Letter-writing was never the same again.... 

And now, exactly 15 years, 5 months and 26 days after the first Timewaster Letters book hit our shelves, you can listen to these hilarious letters, as they’re brought to life in this Audible exclusive by comedy giants Dawn French, Peter Serafinowicz and Robert Popper.

The Timewaster Letters Compendium brings together The Timewaster Letters and Return of the Timewaster Letters along with exclusive audio content. There’s a new Introduction by Popper, a chat with Serafinowicz reflecting on the 20 years since Popper sent off his first fateful letter. Plus, a world exclusive - The Cement Murder Mystery, the first thriller story penned by Robin Cooper himself and read by Jonathan Keeble. We don’t want to make promises, but it might also be the worst-written story of all time.

You’ll also get to hear a selection of Popper’s world-famous prank phone calls, in which he poses as the hapless and hopeless Robin Cooper. 

Robert Popper is a writer, producer and performer, best known for creating the Channel 4 smash hit comedy_ Friday Night Dinner_, as well as the award-winning spoof BBC2 science show Look Around You. He has also worked on many of Britain’s top comedy shows including Peep Show, The Inbetweeners, The IT Crowd and Stath Lets Flats, as well as writing on South Park. 

This episode was brought to you by Alexandra Park BJJ - visit their website to book your free trial class. https://www.alexandraparkbjj.co.uk/

Support Audiobookish by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/audiobookish

Find out more at https://audiobookish.pinecast.co

This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-8a93af for 40% off for 4 months, and support Audiobookish.