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The (Big) Year That Flew By: Twelve Months, Six Continents, and the Ultimate Birding Record
An epic tale of one passionate birder’s record-breaking adventure through 40 countries over 6 continents—in just one year—to see 6,852 bird species, rare and common, before many go extinct. When Arjan Dwarshuis first heard of the “Big Year”—the legendary record for birdwatching—he was twenty years old, it was midnight, and he was sitting on the roof of a truck in the Andean Mountains. In that moment he promised himself that, someday, somehow, he would become a world-record-holding birder. Ten years later, he embarked on an incredible, arduous, and perilous journey that took him around the globe; over uninhabited islands, through dense unforgiving rainforests, across snowy mountain peaks and unrelenting deserts—in just a single year. Would he survive? Would he be able to break the “Big Year” record, navigating through a world filled with shifting climate and geopolitical challenges? The (Big) Year that Flew By is an unforgettable, personal exploration of the limits of human potential when engaging with the natural world. It is a book about birds and birding and Arjan’s attempts to raise awareness for critically endangered species, but it is also a book about overcoming mental challenges, extreme physical danger, and human competition and fully realizing your passions through nature, adventure, and conservation.
Arjan Dwarshuis (Author), Madison Niederhauser (Narrator)
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La Vie: A year in rural France
Brought to you by Penguin. The Charente: roofs of red terracotta tiles, bleached-white walls, windows shuttered against the blaring sun. The baker does his rounds in his battered little white van with a hundred warm baguettes in the back, while a cat picks its way past a Romanesque church, the sound of bells skipping across miles of rolling, glorious countryside. For many years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned once again to live in a landscape where turtle doves purr and nightingales sing, as they did almost everywhere in his childhood. He wanted to be self-sufficient, to make his own wine and learn the secrets of truffle farming. And so, buying an old honey-coloured limestone house with bright blue shutters, the Lewis-Stempels began their new life as peasant farmers. Over that first year, Lewis-Stempel fell in love with the French countryside, from the wild boar that trot past the kitchen window to the glow-worms and citronella candles that flicker in the evening garden. Although it began as a practical enterprise, it quickly became an affair of the heart: of learning to bite the end off the morning baguette; taking two hours for lunch; in short, living the good life - or as the French say, La Vie. 'It reminded me all over again of why I threw up everything for the magic of La Belle France' Carol Drinkwater ©2023 John Lewis-Stempel (P)2023 Penguin Audio
John Lewis-Stempel (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)
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Amelia Dalton, fresh from touring the Scottish islands, takes on the world and sets up exclusive holidays in remote places for a new cruise ship. As she scopes out her itineraries, she explores inaccessible islands and survives a hotel fire, a bomb in a palace, being stung by a scorpion and thrown into jail. Meanwhile, she's being wooed from afar by a mysterious stranger who turns up in the most unexpected places.
Amelia Dalton (Author), Amelia Dalton (Narrator)
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Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs
Part travelogue, part culinary history, all capitalist critique—comedian Jamie Loftus's debut, Raw Dog, will take you on a cross-country road trip in the summer of 2021, and reveal what the creation, culture, and class influence of hot dogs says about America now. “Wise and funny” —ANDY RICHTER • “Gonzo yet vulnerable” —GABE DUNN • “Hot dog Moby-Dick” —BRANSON REESE • “Revealing, funny, sad, horny, and insatiably curious” —SARAH MARSHALL • “A wild ride” —ROBERT EVANS • “Deeply incisive and hilariously honest” —JACK O’BRIEN Hot dogs. Poor people created them. Rich people found a way to charge fifteen dollars for them. They’re high culture, they’re low culture, they’re sports food, they’re kids' food, they’re hangover food, and they’re deeply American, despite having no basis whatsoever in America's Indigenous traditions. You can love them, you can hate them, but you can’t avoid the great American hot dog. Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs is part investigation into the cultural and culinary significance of hot dogs and part travelog documenting a cross-country road trip researching them as they’re served today. From avocado and spice in the West to ass-shattering chili in the East to an entire salad on a slice of meat in Chicago, Loftus, her pets, and her ex eat their way across the country during the strange summer of 2021. It’s a brief window into the year between waves of a plague that the American government has the resources to temper, but not the interest. So grab a dog, lay out your picnic blanket, and dig into the delicious and inevitable product of centuries of violence, poverty, and ambition, now rolling around at your local 7-Eleven. “One of the freshest and most insightful new comedic voices of this decade.” —LINDSAY ELLIS A Macmillan Audio production from Forge Books.
Jamie Loftus (Author), Jamie Loftus (Narrator)
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Look for Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself
In Look for Me There, Luke Russert traverses terrain both physical and deeply personal. On his journey to some of the world's most stunning destinations, he visits the internal places of grief, family, faith, ambition, and purpose-with intense self-reflection, honesty, and courage.'-Savannah Guthrie, coanchor of Today Read by the author. "Look for me there," news legend Tim Russert would tell his son, Luke, when confirming a pickup spot at an airport, sporting event, or rock concert. After Tim died unexpectedly, Luke kept looking for his father, following in Tim's footsteps and carving out a highly successful career at NBC News. After eight years covering politics on television, Luke realized he had no good answer as to why he was chasing his father's legacy. As the son of two accomplished parents-his mother is journalist Maureen Orth of Vanity Fair-Luke felt the pressure of high expectations but suddenly decided to leave the familiar path behind. Instead, Luke set out on his own to find answers. What began as several open-ended months of travel to decompress and reassess morphed into a three-plus-year odyssey across six continents to discover the world and, ultimately, to find himself. Chronicling the important lessons and historical understandings Luke discovered from his travels, Look for Me There is both the vivid narrative of that journey and the emotional story of a young man taking charge of his life, reexamining his relationship with his parents, and finally grieving his larger-than-life father, who died too young. For anyone uncertain about the direction of their life or unsure of how to move forward after a loss, Look for Me There is a poignant reflection that offers encouragement to examine our choices, take risks, and discover our truest selves.
Luke Russert (Author), Luke Russert (Narrator)
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Where the Waves Turn Back: A Forty-Day Pilgrimage Along the California Coast
In this powerful memoir, following the death of his mother, Tyson Motsenbocker retraces the journey an 18th century priest took in this harrowing story of one man's pilgrimage of healing and finding beauty and hope in tragedy. After years on the road performing at sold-out venues, Tyson Motsenbocker returned home to the impending death of his 57-year-old hero and mother. He begged God to heal her, but she died anyway. When they buried her body, Tyson also buried the childhood version of his faith. Shortly before her death, however, Tyson became intrigued by the complicated legacy of Father Junipero Serra, the 18th-century Franciscan monk and canonized saint who dedicated his life to the idea that tragedy and suffering are portals to renewal. Father Serra built Missions up and down the California coast, spreading Christianity, as well as enabling and aiding in the oppression and colonization of the native Californians. Tyson discovered Serra's "El Camino Real," a 600-mile pilgrimage route up the California coast that had been largely forgotten for more than 200 years. Two days after they buried his mother, Tyson set out on a pilgrimage of sorts, intending to walk from San Diego to San Francisco along the El Camino, following in the footsteps of the saint. Tyson's journey takes him down smog-choked highways, across fog-laden beaches, past multi-million-dollar coastal estates, and along the towering cliffs of Big Sur. And as he walks, Tyson also wrestles with his faith, questioning the pat answers and easy prayers he once readily accepted, trying to understand how hope and tragedy can all be wrapped up in the same God. The people he meets along the way challenge his understanding of the meaning of security, of what it means to live a meaningful life, and of the legacies we all leave behind. Where the Waves Turn Back is both part journal and part spiritual memoir, and ultimately, a thrilling and deeply satisfying read that asks questions that will resonate with readers seeking meaning in an utterly disorienting age.
Tyson Motsenbocker (Author), Tyson Motsenbocker (Narrator)
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‘The finest book ever written about England and the English’ Stuart Maconie ‘J. B. Priestley is one of our literary icons of the 20th Century and it is time that we all became re-acquainted with his genius.’ Dame Judi Dench Three years before George Orwell made his expedition to the far and frozen North in The Road to Wigan Pier, celebrated writer and broadcaster JB Priestley cast his net wider, in a book subtitled ‘a Rambling but Truthful Account of What One Man Saw and Heard and Felt and Thought During a Journey Through England During the Autumn of the Year 1933.’ Appearing first in 1934, it was a huge and immediate success. Today, it still stands as a timeless classic: warm-hearted, intensely patriotic and profound. An account of his journey through England – from Southampton to the Black Country, to the North East and Newcastle, to Norwich and home – English Journey is funny and tender. But it is also a forensic reading of a changing England and a call to arms as passionate as anything in Orwell’s bleak masterpiece. Moreover, it both captured and catalysed the public mood of its time. In capturing and describing an English landscape and people hitherto unseen, writing scathingly about vested interests and underlining the dignity of working people, Priestley influenced the thinking and attitudes of an entire generation and helped formulate a public consensus for change that led to the birth of the welfare state. Prophetic and as relevant today as it was nearly ninety years ago, English Journey is an elegant and readable love letter to a country Priestley finds unfathomable.
J. B. Priestley (Author), Sean Baker (Narrator)
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The Full English: A Journey in Search of a Country and its People
From the author of 250,000-copy bestseller Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North A New Statesman nonfiction pick for 2023 A Bookseller One to Watch What kind of country is England today? What does it mean to be English? Are we hungry for change or seeking old certainties? Join Stuart Maconie on an enlightening, entertaining journey through England, from Bristol's Banksy to Durham's beaches, from Cotswolds corduroy to Stoke's oatcakes. As his guide, Maconie walks in the footsteps of J.B. Priestley's classic travelogue, English Journey, to explore our national identity and how it has evolved over the last century. On his way, Stuart takes inspiration from the people he meets at bus stops and train stations, cafes and corner shops. Travelling the length of the land, Maconie explores the differences between city and town, north and south, and examines our past and present with affection and insight. Whether he’s passing the boutique hotels of Manchester, the moors of Ilkley or the grand houses of Tynemouth, looking out over misty fens or urban skylines, he shines a light on the people who make these places and asks what the future holds for them. Along the way, he uncovers local heroes and secret histories over early breakfasts and last orders. Through his journey, he lets us see our homes and habits, hopes and eccentricities with fresh eyes. THE FULL ENGLISH challenges us to embrace the messy, shifting and diverse nature of England, and to ask ourselves what kind of country we want to be.
Stuart Maconie (Author), Stuart Maconie (Narrator)
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Run Britain: My World Record-Breaking Adventure to Run Every Mile of the British Coastline
Brought to you by Penguin. In the spring of 2021, as the UK's latest pandemic lockdowns were lifted, Nick Butter set out from the Eden Project to become the fastest person to cover ever mile of Britain's mainland coastline on foot. Battling the most extreme winds Britain had seen in 100 years, days of torrential rain and the unrelenting hills of Western Scotland and Cornwall, Nick suffered two broken bones and countless injuries, whilst taking on two marathons a day, every day, for 100 days. Covering an extraordinary 5,250 miles, running for over 12 hours a day, struggling to take in the 8,000 daily calories required to fuel his body, Nick battled sleep deprivation and extreme weight loss as he pushed his body and mind to their limit. Supported by close friends and family, Nick experienced spiralling lows and euphoric highs. As he traversed footpaths, country lanes and busy A roads, he passed through over two thousand coastal communities, buoyed along by supporters cheering from windows, balconies, passing cars and pavements, by school children and fellow runners, and by the stunning sights and sounds of the British coast. Run Britain is Nick's account of his extraordinary adventure. ©2023 Nick Butter (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Nick Butter (Author), Nick Butter (Narrator)
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A Stranger in Your Own City: Travels in the Middle East’s Long War
Brought to you by Penguin. This is not a book about Iraq's history, nor an inventory of the many Middle Eastern wars that have spun out over the past twenty years, though both wars and history are part of its narrative, from the American invasion to the Arab Spring, ISIS and beyond. This is the story of a people who once lived under the rule of a megalomaniac leader who shaped the state in his own image. Then one day, after yet another war, a foreign army invaded, toppled the leader, destroyed the state, and proceeded to invent a new country. This is the story of a people who watched with horror as their world fragmented into a hundred different cities, as walls rose between them and bodies piled in the streets. It offers a remarkable de-centring of the West in the history and contemporary situation of the region - the motivation, needs and ideologies of Western powers are all dealt with sparingly, dismissively, even. What comes to the fore is the effect on the ground: the human cost, the shifting allegiances, and the generational change. The result is a rare work of great beauty and tragedy, whose power and relevance lies in the return of twenty years of war to those whose land it really is. ©2023 Ghaith Abdul-Ahad (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad (Author), Ghaith Abdul-Ahad (Narrator)
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The All the Wide Border: Wales, England and the Places Between
A funny, warm and timely meditation on identity and belonging, following the scenic route along the England–Wales border: Britain’s deepest faultline. There is a line on the map: to one side Wales, small, rugged and stubborn; the other England, crucible of the most expansionist culture the world has ever seen. It is a line that has been dug, debated, defined and defended for twenty centuries. All the Wide Border is a personal journey through the places, amongst the people, and across the divides of the border between England and Wales. Taking in some of our loveliest landscapes, and our darkest secrets, this is a region of immeasurable wonder and interest. It is there that the deepest roots and thorniest paradoxes of Britishness lie. The border between the countries, even as a concept, is ragged, jagged and many-layered. Garlanded author Mike Parker has adored and explored these places his entire life. Born in England but settled in Wales, he finds himself typical of many in being pulled in both directions. His journey is divided into three legs, corresponding with the watersheds of the three great border rivers: the Dee in the north, the Severn in the centre, the Wye in the south. Neither quite England nor Wales, the furzy borderland he uncovers — the March — is another country. A hefty schlep from everywhere, these are A. E. Housman’s ‘blue remembered hills’ — his ‘land of lost content’ — and ours too. Picking apart the many notions and clichés of Englishness, Welshness and indeed Britishness, Mike Parker plays with the very idea of borders, our fascination with them, our need for them, and our response to their power. In his hands, England–Wales border is revealed to be a border within us all, and it is fraying, fast.
Mike Parker (Author), Mike Parker (Narrator)
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Home Is the Road: Wandering the Land, Shaping the Spirit
From the award-winning Native American literary writer Diane Glancy comes a book about travel, belonging, and home. Travel is not merely a means to bring us from one location to another. 'My sense of place is in the moving,' Glancy writes. For her the road is home-its own satisfying destination. But the road also makes demands on us: asking us to be willing to explore the incomprehensible parts of the landscapes we inhabit and pass through-as well as to, ultimately, let them blur as they go by. This, Glancy says, is home. Glancy teases out the lessons of the road that are never easy to define, grappling with her own: childhood's puzzle pieces of her Cherokee heritage and a fraught but still compelling vision of Christianity. As she clocks an inordinate amount of driving, as she experiments with literary forms, she looks to what the land has held for centuries, before the roads were ever there. This, ultimately, is a book about land, tradition, religion, questions, and the puzzle pieces none of us can put together quite right. It's a book about peripheral vision, conflicting narratives, and a longing for travel.
Diane Glancy (Author), Kyla García (Narrator)
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