Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 30 countries and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Joseph Delaney

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Justin Lee Collins

He street jams in spandex and wrestles in lycra. He's been a magician, a ventriloquist and a clown. He's hugged some of the biggest stars in the world, and pretty much anyone else who's crossed his path. He mucks about, wears silly costumes and manhandles his friend Alan Carr on national TV on a weekly basis. And people have literally paid him to do all this. Good times! 
 
But life wasn't always so kind to young Justin. He discovered he couldn't kiss very well at school camp in Plymouth. "An attractive sixth-form girl let me snog her. I was about 12. She pulled away, and said 'Aaah, you can't do it.' Then she then picked me up and carried me back to my room." The years stacking shelves at Bristol's Marks and Spencer weren't exactly a high point. Being told to 'walk faster' by his boss and being given a final warning: "it dawned on me they thought that putting out knickers and crisps was beyond me!" Bad times. 
 
But mere retail couldn't keep him down! This hilarious coming-of-age story follows his journey from collecting Star Wars toys as a small boy to schmoozing Carrie Fisher in her Hollywood home, and becoming one of the most loved and instantly recognised faces on British TV. For each new twist his life has taken, he hasn't changed a bit. He's as bouncy, funny, shambolic, huggable and of course Bristolian as he's ever been. This is the story of how it all happened. By accident. 
 
But this book is not just a routine celebrity autobiography/memoir - that would be boring. Especially for Justin himself, whose attention span is that of a small child at the best of times. Instead, this is JLC utilising his remarkable photographic memory to ponder the unfeasibly peculiar and funny moments that have defined his life, and desperately trying to make sense of it all. Rock on!

Good Times!

Leland Carlson

Neil collects bricks, Kevin is a roundabout enthusiast, John runs the Apostrophe Protection Society and Keith’s actual job is watching paint dry. They are members of the Dull Men’s Club and are passionate about the everyday, unglamorous things in life. They are dull and proud and urge the good ordinary men of the nation to join them now. Whether you have a thing for pylons or rhubarb, reclaim and celebrate the ordinary. Includes Free Honorary Membership. 
 
Predictable * Reliable * Safe

Dull Men of Great Britain

Celebrating the Ordinary (Dull Men's Club)

Dan Howell

Phil Lester

Dan Howell and Phil Lester, avoiders of human contact and direct sunlight, actually went outside. Travelling around the world on tour, they have collected hundreds of exclusive, intimate and funny photos, as well as revealing and captivating side notes, to show the behind-the-scenes story of their adventure.

Dan and Phil Go Outside

Lucinda Clare

Sparklingly original and hugely entertaining, An English Psychic in Hollywood is the magical tale of Lucinda Clare's personal experiences as an actress and psychic among the stars of Hollywood. A cross between Jackie Collins and Bridget Jones, there is glitz and glamour mixed with dating dilemas and wardrobe malfunctions. 
 
Originally coming to LA to land her dream acting job, Lucinda soon discovers that it is her psychic abilities that make her stand out amongst the wannabe actresses. As soon as she says the magic words, 'I'm psychic!' everyone wants to talk to her, from publicists to agents, A-list film stars to borderline psychotics. 
 
Accompanied by new best friend crazy Astrid, she gradually settles in. She talks Hindu with her hairdresser, does readings for everyone from screenwriters to sex slaves and finds herself falling for the archetypal tall, dark, handsome stranger. 
 
But is he the soulmate that is meant to be in her future? Only time, some crazy pool parties and successfully predicting everyone else's happy endings will tell...

An English Psychic in Hollywood

Richard Herring

Richard hits the big 4-0 and spends his birthday in the British Musuem, harassing waiters, and lamenting his demise into old age.

How Not to Grow Up: Birthdays

Hello reader! 
 
In this book is a world. A world created by two awkward guys who share their lives on the internet! 
 
We are Dan and Phil and we invite you on a journey inside our minds! From the stories of our actual births, to exploring Phil’s teenage diary and all the reasons why Dan’s a fail. Learn how to draw the perfect cat whiskers, get advice on how to make YouTube videos and discover which of our dining chairs represents you emotionally. With everything from what we text each other, to the time we met One Direction and what really happened in Vegas... 
 
This is The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire!

The Amazing Book is Not on Fire

The World of Dan and Phil

Aleksandr Orlov

Aleksandr Orlov has become one of the most loved figures in British culture and his catchphrase - Simples! - can be heard from the playground to the office. Written in his inimitable voice (as dictated to his sidekick Sergei), his autobiography will offer the same humour as his TV ads, giving us the full story of his ancestor's Journey of Courageousness from the Kalahari to Russia, the low-down on his life as entrepreneur and founder of comparethemeerkat.com and his love of grubs and cravats. 
 
'My name is Aleksandr Orlov. I live and make work in Moscow. I have a success business. I have a mansion decorate with many fine things. I have a naturally majestic posture. But I would have none of these things if it were not for my family. This book is dedicated to them. I also wish to inspire next generation of young businesskats. I am hope that this book will show what can come of courage, hard work and a good fur-care regime. I am also hope that with royalties I will be able to re-marble roof on Orlov family mansion'

A Simples Life

The Life and Times of Aleksandr Orlov

Caitlin Moran

It's a good time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven't been burnt as witches since 1727. But a few nagging questions remain... 
 
Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should we use Botox? Do men secretly hate us? And why does everyone ask you when you're going to have a baby? 
 
Part memoir, part protest, Caitlin answers the questions that every modern woman is asking.

How To Be a Woman Quick Reads 2021

Mark Rowlands

Everything I Know I Learned From TV uses characters we all know and love and their TV worlds to explain the great questions of philosophy. The only qualifications you need to join in are ownership of a sofa, a remote control, a sense of humour and an enquiring mind. The philosophy discussed is very much 'life' philosophy, answering the questions we all want to know: How do you define what is a good life to lead? The Simpsons disagree over the right way to live with Nietzsche and Diogenes on hand to take sides. What is real happiness? Aristotle fights Descartes for the heart and mind of Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw. Can a good person do a bad thing? Kant and Socrates pay a call on Tony Soprano and his latter-day Mob to talk moral philosophy. Where does love end and friendship begin? Rachel and Ross ask Plato about the philosophy of emotions and wonder if they're just good friends. Is the pursuit of self-knowledge a good thing? Socrates helps Niles and Frasier Crane and their dad deal with the relative merit of the examined and the unexamined life. And much more.

Everything I Know I Learned From TV

Philosophy For the Unrepentant Couch Potato

Jane Austen

Mr Darcy *heart eyes emoji* Lizzie Bennet. But will she swipe right?  Delight in Austen’s  intelligent wit and piercing social commentary,  distillled and translated into the beautiful, modern  language of emoji.  Because there is no enjoyment like reading. Except maybe texting.

Pride and Prejudice & Emojis

Ebury Press

‘Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m European champion and I think I’m a special one.’ 
 
 Widely known for his strong personality, sharp dress sense, and eccentric comments at press conferences, there is only one José Mourinho. Regarded as many by the world’s best manager and one of the greatest of all time, he achieved huge success whilst at Benfica, Uniao de Leiria, Porto, Chelsea, Internazionale and Real Madrid. Never one to doubt his own abilities, the charismatic and controversial manager has dominated headlines with his many clashes with the press and run-ins with the football authorities. 
 
 Silver-tongued and passionate, this compendium of quotes from the ‘special one’ includes the very best of Mourinho on football: his erudite comments, bizarre philosophies, confident expressions of unwavering self-belief and his love of the beautiful game. 
 
 ‘Look, I'm a coach, I'm not Harry Potter. He is magical, but in reality there is no magic. Magic is fiction and football is real.’ 
 A warning to Real Madrid fans, 2010 
 
 ‘Look at my haircut. I am ready for the war.’ 
 At the launch of a new shirt deal between Chelsea and Adidas. The event also became a chance to unveil his new, short-trimmed haircut. 
 
 ‘I think they should get George Clooney to play me. He's a fantastic actor and my wife thinks he would be ideal.’ 
 Contemplating a film of his life

The José Mourinho Quote Book

Danny Wallace

The Lives Less Ordinary series brings you the most exciting, adventurous and entertaining true-life writing that is out there, for men who are time-poor but want the best. Lives Less Ordinary drops you into extreme first-hand accounts of human experience, whether that's the adrenaline-pumping heights of professional sport, the brutality of the modern battlefield, the casual violence of the criminal world, the mind-blowing frontiers of science, or the excesses of rock 'n' roll, high finance and Hollywood. Lives Less Ordinary also brings you some of the finest comic voices around, on every subject from toilet etiquette to Paul Gascoigne. 
 
Danny Wallace is a modern man. And that can be a very tricky thing to be these days. By rather cleverly doing the opposite of what should actually be done, let Danny show you how to catch your own fish for dinner, be a social maverick, and rise up against everyone who lets you down. And find out what 'I had a Nando's' really means. 
 
This digital bite has been extracted from Danny Wallace's brilliant book Awkward Situations for Men.

How to Be a Modern Man

Lives Less Ordinary

Huw Davies

In time-honoured fashion, Another Weird Year 4 brings you the stories that no lover of bizarre, inexplicable and downright hilarious news items can afford to miss, all handily grouped by theme (Love and Marriage, Law and Order, Animals etc). Read about: the blind man banned from saying 'phlegm'; the woman who bored a burglar to sleep with her family snaps; the woman who seduces men in her sleep; the man who thought he was a cat and got stuck up a tree; another man who got out of his car and took a shower... in a car wash... with his car left outside; the shepherd that had to drive his drunk sheep home; and not forgetting the pigs given a sauna and massage before being taken for slaughter - proof again from Another Weird Year that there is humanity in even the weirdest human behaviour. All the stories are true - you couldn't make them up!

Another Weird Year 4

Derek Lambert

Tired of his life as a globe-trotting journalist, and desperate to finish his latest novel, writer Derek Lambert decides to settle with his new wife and young son in a mouldering casita nestled among citrus groves inland of the Costa Blanca. 
 
As he sets about restoring his house and learning to live the ordinary life of a Spanish villager, Lambert introduces us to a Spain far removed from the tourist traps and thumping discos of the Costas, and soon discovers that adapting to this new life is not as easy as he imagined. He employs a roofer who's afraid of heights, a plumber confounded by a blocked pipe and bumbles through Spanish lessons with a mocking classmate who challenges him to a public arm-wresting contest. Then just when it seems that nothing more could go wrong, the Lamberts face Spain's first snowstorm in many years. 
 
Written in the jaunty, anecdotal style of Peter Mayle and Bill Bryson, this is a warm, affectionate and often hilarious portrait of life as a foreigner in rural Spain.

Spanish Lessons

How one family found their place in the sun

I.P. Freely

Welcome to London’s best bogs. Get behind closed doors all over the city, from the fancy facilities at The Shard, to the oldest pub toilets in Covent Garden, enter the most secret room in the Cabinet War Rooms, or spend a penny onboard HMS Belfast. Capital toilet humour.

Loos of London

Capital Toilets Worth Giving a Crap About

This brand new collection of strange news stories covers a year of hilarious-but-true gems from around the world. In this new volume of stories from the inexplicable to the downright ridiculous, the snippets are again grouped by theme (Sex, Animals, Sports, Politics etc.) and cover such tales as: a man who faked being deaf and dumb for seven years because his wife was a nag; zookeepers who were sacked for eating the animals; a clairvoyant telling the future by feeling his clients' bottoms; a Turkish woman who kept a herd of cows in her apartment; a footballer transferred for his weight in prawns; and a Canadian man arrested for not eating an iced bun. This is real life - but not as you'd expect. Prepare to be baffled.

Another Weird Year II

Bizarre news stories from around the world

Danny Wallace wanted to write about a place so special and so crucial to our existence that it had never before been tackled: the Centre of the Universe. But then he realised that getting there might be a problem, and when he did, there'd probably be nothing much to write about. Until he heard about a manhole cover, on a small street, in a small town, tucked away in a remote part of Idaho. 
 
The manhole cover had been declared the Centre of the Universe. The mayor had the science to back it up. The town rejoiced. 
 
And the name of the town? 
 
Wallace. 
 
It was a cosmic coincidence Danny couldn't resist...

Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe

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