Welcome back to Book Break! In this video I'm gonna be recommending 15 amazing audiobooks. I
know a lot of you are already huge audiobook fans, but especially now as a lot of people are going
back to work, starting to commute again, or some people now the sun's coming out are taking longer
walks and wants something to listen to, there are so many reasons why a lot of people are looking
for new audiobooks at the moment. So in this video I've got 15 really amazing recommendations for
you. These all go above and beyond and really show off what makes audiobooks so amazing. And I've got
a real mix of genres in here so hang in there to find something for everyone. The Lamplighters
by Emma Stonex has got two narrators: Indira Varma who you might recognize from shows like
Luther and Game of Thrones and Tom Burke you might know from shows like The Crown or War and Peace or
the movie Mank, and they both give such incredible performances. The Lamplighters is a really poetic,
enchanting, mystery book. It's about three men who went missing from a lighthouse,
and the women left behind to wonder what happened. And the narrators do such an amazing
job of really sucking you into the story. You feel very tense, very claustrophobic,
it's this really dreamlike atmosphere. So that's one that does that incredible audiobook trick of
really making you feel like you transported to another world. And another book I want to
recommend which is just as good is Kololo Hill by Neema Shah and that one is narrated by Aysha Kala.
You might recognize her voice, she's done loads of audiobooks, and she's got
incredible talent for really bringing books to life. This book is about a Ugandan Asian family
who are exiled from Uganda and forced to build a new home for themselves in England, but they don't
know anyone and don't know if they'll belong. So it's a very moving story, an audiobook that
might just move you to tears. But once you finish crying over that one, for something to make you
laugh you could listen to Confessions of a 40-Something F-up by Alexandra Potter
which is narrated by the wonderful Sally Phillips. I just love her voice so much. I always think of
her being Shazza in Bridget Jones, such a great role for her, but she's been in so many hilarious
TV shows and movies, so she will make you laugh until you cry listening to this book. But she
also delivers it with a lot of emotion and there are some really moving parts in the book too.
It's about a 40-something year old woman who feels like her life is falling apart
and then she strikes up an unlikely friendship with a woman in her 80s who feels in her own way
like a bit of an f up as well. Next for something completely different, She Who Became the Sun by
Shelley Parker-Chan is an epic historical retelling. The book is already a bestseller
and the audiobook is narrated by Natalie Naudis who is another prolific audiobook narrator. If you
loved for example One Last Stop by Casey Mcquiston that was also narrated by her. And so many more.
So She Who Became the Sun is this dazzling amazing story of fate and glory and destiny,
it's got queer characters, it's got action, you will just be hooked from beginning to end. Circus
of Wonders by Elizabeth Mcneal is narrated by the gorgeous Tuppence Middleton from Downton Abbey,
Sense8, War and Peace, she has such a lovely voice to listen to. I'll actually link below to a Q&A
video that Tuppence did for us in the recording studio when she was there recording the audiobook
of The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley which is another great recommendation, but for this video
I picked Circus of Wonders because I know you all pretty well and this one strikes me as just so
up your alley. It's about a girl who is sold into the circus and it's about her fight to reclaim her
body and her own story. And then another celebrity audiobook narrator, the book His and Hers by Alice
Feeney is narrated by Richard Armitage. I know so many people who are in love with his voice,
it's okay, there's no shame in it, you're allowed to be in love with a voice! He narrates this one
along with Stephanie Racine who is an incredible voice actor. This one is a really twisty turny
thriller about an ex-couple who accuse each other of murder. It will genuinely make you
hope to get stuck in traffic so you can keep listening for a bit longer, and it is coming to
TV soon, so get in on that hype now. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman is narrated by another
audiobook fan favourite Kristin Atherton. She is just beloved by so many audiobook mega-fans,
so if you're just starting with audiobooks maybe and you're looking for your perfect narrator
she's a really great bet. This whole series has actually been recently re-recorded by her,
so if you're looking for a whole series to get obsessed with, start at the beginning and get
fully stuck in. It's a fantasy set across parallel universes, it's got dragons, fae, and spies who
specialize in finding rare books. Okay let's look at some nonfiction. The iconic John Cooper Clark
narrates his own memoir I Wanna Be Yours in his very distinctive voice. And no surprises,
he's got so many good stories. John Cooper Clark is a rockstar, a punk poet, a TV presenter,
a very reluctant national treasure, so of course he's got a lot of stories to tell and it's so
amazing hearing them in his own voice as well. And you don't even have to take my word for it.
This one has got so many five star reviews. The audiobook of Brown Baby by Nikesh Shukla is read
by Himesh Patel, who you may know from Eastenders or as the lead character in the movie Yesterday,
which imagined a world where the Beatles never existed. I loved that movie, it was very weird,
so he does a great job narrating Nikesh Shukla's memoir which is about his experience of raising
his daughters into a world which he knows is racist, is sexist, is increasingly heading into
climate crisis, and how to prepare them for all of that while still filling their childhood with all
of the hope and joy and optimism that it should contain. And the audiobook also features extracts
from Nikesh Shukla's Brown Baby podcast which is on the same theme and features guests like
Nadya Hussein for example, so that's a really fun bonus you get with the audiobook. Gabriel
Byrne reads his own autobiography Walking With Ghosts. So Gabriel Byrne is an actor from movies
like The Usual Suspects, TV shows like War of the Worlds and honestly so many more. He is very very
recognizable, so this memoir takes us back to his childhood growing up in the outskirts of Dublin,
dreaming at that time of becoming a priest, until he was expelled and discovered a love for
the cinema and how it let him escape into other worlds. And his narration is honestly amazing.
He is such a good storyteller and he's got this really lovely lyrical voice and a gorgeous Irish
accent. Another one read by the author, What White People Can Do Next by Emma Dabiri. This one is a
very quick read, it's just over three hours long, and it's a really passionate practical essay about
what white people can do next to transform their theoretical support for racial justice
into real meaningful change. It's a really powerful essay and the narration from the author
is very heartfelt. It really inspires you to get up and do something and to feel hope that change
can be made. Then there's Broken by Jenny Lawson, again read by the author. So Broken is a very
personal memoir of Jenny Lawson's experience with depression, it's very very brutally honest, but
it's also very funny. It manages to be uplifting even while talking about some very heavy topics,
and honestly listening to Jenny Lawson narrate it you will want to be friends with her by the end.
It's also important to note that the audiobook is really set apart by featuring not just an
exclusive bonus chapter, but also a cameo from Jenny's cats. Wild Child is written and read
by Dara McAnulty who is this amazing teenage naturalist. And what makes this audiobook so
special is it's got a full soundscape. You will hear birds singing, wind in the trees,
water babbling, it's a really immersive experience as McAnulty takes you on this journey
through various habitats that you can go and find yourself, and he'll tell you what to look out for.
If you've been loving the TV show All Creatures Great and Small, you will love the audiobook. So
the TV show is based on James Herriot's memoirs All Creatures Great and Small and the audiobook
is read by Nicholas Ralph who is the star of the TV show. I will link below to a video we've got
of Nicholas Ralph behind the scenes in the recording studio talking about this book.
It's a really delightful classic story. So James Herriot was a vet in the 1930s who just so truly
loved animals, and writes so wonderfully about rural life. And finally I'm kind of cheating on
number 15 here by giving you two recommendations in one, but continuing my theme of animal lovers,
you might want to listen to the audiobook of Classic Dog Stories or Classic Cat Stories.
These are anthologies, they're collections of classic stories about dogs and cats, and read
by an amazing range of readers: Lorelei King, Gordon Kennedy, Imogen Church for example, the
list goes on. So you might want to listen to these together with your pets maybe. If you're just
getting started with audiobooks, I will link here to a video we made before on tips for getting into
audiobooks, how to listen to them, when to listen to them, and if you are a seasoned audiobook fan
and you want a particular theme, do put a comment below and let us know which recommendations you
would most like to hear from us, as well as recommending your own favourite audiobooks! We
are always looking for more recommendations to share around. See you next time.