Jonathan's Favourites

Late Victorian Holocausts

El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World

By: Mike Davis
Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
Length: 15 hours 41 minutes

Examining a series of El Niño–induced droughts and the famines that they spawned around the globe in the last third of the nineteenth century, Mike Davis discloses the intimate, baleful relationship between imperial arrogance and natural incident that combined to produce some of the worst tragedies in human history. Late Victorian Holocausts... Read more

The Wind That Lays Waste

A Novel

By: Selva Almada
Narrated by: Almarie Guerra
Length: 3 hours 9 minutes

The Wind That Lays Waste begins in the great pause before a storm. Reverend Pearson is evangelizing across the Argentinian countryside with Leni, his teenage daughter, when their car breaks down. This act of God or fate leads them to the workshop and home of an aging mechanic called Gringo Brauer and a young boy named Tapioca.



As a long day... Read more

Muscle

By: Alan Trotter
Narrated by: Ben Arogundade
Length: 8 hours 15 minutes

In a hard-boiled city of crooks, grifts and rackets lurk a pair of toughs: Box and _____. They're the kind of men capable of extracting apologies and reparations, of teaching you a chilling lesson. They seldom think twice, and ask very few questions. Until one night over the poker table, they encounter a pulp writer with wild ideas and an... Read more

Ubik

By: Philip K. Dick
Narrated by: Luke Daniels
Length: 7 hours 56 minutes

A mind-bending, classic Philip K. Dick novel about the perception of reality. Named as one of Time's 100 best books.“From the stuff of space opera, Dick spins a deeply unsettling existential horror story, a nightmare you’ll never be sure you’ve woken up from.” —Lev Grossman, TimeGlen Runciter runs a lucrative business—deploying his teams of... Read more

It's Always Summer Somewhere

A Matter of Life and Cricket - A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK & SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLE

By: Felix White
Narrated by: Felix White
Length: 9 hours 26 minutes

*****

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK & SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

"Felix White's beautifully, elegantly and passionately written book reminds me why I love cricket so much. And reading, come to that." - Stephen Fry

"The love of cricket is both communal and individual. Felix has a wonderful knack of evoking both in a book full of life, joy and... Read more

Cricket: A Modern Anthology

By: Jonathan Agnew
Narrated by: Nick Taylor
Length: 19 hours 5 minutes

Jonathan “Aggers” Agnew, England’s voice of cricket, showcases some of the very best writings on the noble game, from the 1930s to the present day. In this wide-ranging and beautifully-produced anthology, Test Match Special’s Jonathan ‘Aggers’ Agnew, chooses a wide variety of writings on the sport that has consumed his life,... Read more

The Dispossessed

S.F. MASTERWORKS: Book #71

By: Ursula K. Le Guin
Narrated by: Roddy Doyle & Tim Treloar
Length: 12 hours 27 minutes

“When I say this novel radicalized me, I really do mean that, in a fashion. It is the most insightful piece of social philosophy I've ever read, and it challenges ever idealistic hope I have ever had while presenting new hopes, subsequently dashing them, and showing the reader what can be made of their ashes. There is no succinct way to describe... Read more

The Motel Life

By: Willy Vlautin
Narrated by: Willy Vlautin
Length: 5 hours 36 minutes

With "echoes of Of Mice and Men"(The Bookseller, UK), The Motel Life explores the frustrations and failed dreams of two Nevada brothers—on the run after a hit-and-run accident—who, forgotten by society, and short on luck and hope, desperately cling to the edge of modern life. Read more

Sabriel

The Old Kingdom: Book #1

By: Garth Nix
Narrated by: Tim Curry
Length: 10 hours 42 minutes

“First of all - this is narrated by Tim Curry. If I have to keep convincing you, that's fine - but that should be enough. :) YA Fantasy at its finest, I grew up re-reading this original trilogy every year and it honestly keeps getting better each time. Garth Nix is a master of his craft! Read more

Gideon the Ninth

Locked Tomb: Book #1

By: Tamsyn Muir
Narrated by: Moira Quirk
Length: 16 hours 49 minutes

“This is everything I wanted in a book and more. Gideon is likable but flawed, Harrow is horrible and unforgettable, and the prose occasionally turns hauntingly beautiful. The narration helps make a complex world become real and the characters friends you may or may not want to invite over to dinner. It depends on whether your folks are there. Read more

The Wood Life

A Not so Helpful How-To Guide on Surviving Cricket, Life and Everything in Between

By: Mark Wood
Narrated by: Mark Wood
Length: 5 hours 27 minutes

Hallo - I'm Mark Wood. As an England and Durham cricketer who was born, raised and refined in Ashington, Northumberland, my life has been quite unique.
Over the course of my career so far, I've won an Ashes and a World Cup in an international career that at the time of writing is going on seven years and counting. Being a fast bowler like myself... Read more