Showing results by publisher "Quercus" in Comedy & Humour

Written to take advantage of the brief window between the end of lockdown and Jimmy getting cancelled for saying something unforgivable to Lorraine Kelly, this book is as timely as it is unnecessary. Because you might be interested in Jimmy's life but he's damn sure you're a lot more interested in your own, Before & Laughter is about both of you. But mainly him. 

Is there a knack to being happy? From paddle-boarding down the Thames in a Santa hat, to wild swimming in a glacial river and cooking sausages on a campfire, Bill revels in the exhilaration of the outdoors, as well as the quieter pleasures of letter-writing, or of simple reflection. In this beautiful and uplifting audiobook, Bill Bailey explores all this and more while delving into the nature of happiness, all in his own, remarkable, way. Packed with wisdom and humour, Bill Bailey aims for the heart of pure joy and contentment—and how we can all achieve it.

A brilliant, hilarious homage to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, showing how to shed your mental clutter for good. Aimed at overachieving but dissatisfied people everywhere. Sarah's inspirational two-step 'NotSorry' program shows how unleashing the power of not giving a f**k will help you shed unwanted guilt and obligations to redirect time, energy and enthusiasm to your true priorities.

With two million copies sold worldwide, Sarah Knight's best-selling No F--ks Given Guides prove that she's the Queen of No: no to a single extraneous f--k given, to unwanted obligations, overcommitting and overcomplicating her life. For Sarah, saying no is easy. For the rest of us, it's stress-inducing, blood pressure-raising, teeth-grinding hard. But it doesn't have to be. F--k No! is filled with tips, techniques and practical strategies that will arm you with not only permission to decline but plenty of ammunition for doing so.

Introducing Clarkson's Farm favourite Kaleb Cooper's worldly wisdom on life's big issues, from the difference between straw and hay to the importance of having a hair perm. In The World According to Kaleb, he shares his thoughts on topics such as capital cities, famous people, hairstyles and why farming is the best job in the world. He even tells us why the chicken crossed the road. 

Jack Dee is here to help. Too often today the emphasis in psychotherapy is on providing clients with a metaphorical hug when what they so clearly need is good slap, so Jack Dee took the matter into his own hands, and whilst everyone else was baking bread and clearing out their cupboards during lockdown, he retrained online as a psychotherapist. After an incredibly gruelling four hours of study, he got his certificate of completion from The Ruislip College of Advansed Learning (sic).

In his smash-hit debut The World According to Kaleb, we learnt how Kaleb feels about everything from existentialism to comb-overs, and why he doesn't want to visit the Mediterranean. In this follow-up, Kaleb casts his focus closer to home to examine what people like to get up to in the great outdoors. You'll go gravy wrestling in Lancashire, nettle eating in Somerset, and venture to Hereford for the significant occasion that is Best Dressed Stick.

As anyone who has ever had a pet knows, animals are a constant source of joy, but they also connect us to the world and to each other, touching on a deeper, older human need for companionship. Full of the leftfield humour, wit and wisdom that has made Bill Bailey such a beloved performer around the world, My Animals, and Other Animals is the story of Bill's life, but more than that, it's the story of how all of our lives are enriched by the animals who accompany us on that journey.

Best-selling author Sarah Knight returns with her latest collection of hard-hitting advice for the modern adult who doesn't quite know how they got here. Whether you're searching for your ideal adult form, or just beginning to bridge the gulf between being fully dependent and gloriously independent, Sarah Knight has the hard-earned wisdom to get you from total helplessness to reliable resourcefulness.

Berlin, Summer 2011. Adolf Hitler wakes up on a patch of open ground, alive and well. Things have changed – no Eva Braun, no Nazi party, no war. Hitler barely recognises his beloved Fatherland, filled with immigrants and run by a woman. People certainly recognise him, albeit as a flawless impersonator who refuses to break character. The unthinkable, the inevitable happens, and the ranting Hitler goes viral, becomes a YouTube star, gets his own T.V. show, and people begin to listen.

London Hughes has come a long way from secretly writing Frasier fan fiction alone in her bedroom. Between her breakout Netflix comedy special, To Catch a D*ck, her dating podcast 'London, Actually' and her award-winning TV performances, London the South Londoner has taken the entertainment world by storm. And now, in this fearless, uplifting and raucously funny memoir, London is ready to inspire you all with her story - because she is absolutely the best person in the whole wide world to take you on a wild journey of self-discovery.

An awful lot has happened in the last 100 years or so. In fact, when you look at how much went on in the 20th century, it's amazing it didn't take longer than that. And what have we learnt? A few obvious lessons include: megalomaniac men with moustaches in charge of countries tend to turn out to be bad; anyone who thinks they can explain let alone sort out the Middle East is wrong; France simply cannot be relied upon; America may or may not be the cause of everything good and bad in the world (depending on who you ask). 

Oenone didn't set out to become an influencer. The word barely existed when she started posting on Instagram at university to document her 'fitness journey' after a toxic relationship came to a messy end. In this humorous meditation on her digitized life, Oenone chronicles the pits and peaks of coming of age online. Grappling with modern-day issues on a public stage - from body image and personal boundaries to the limitations of online activism, Bad Influence examines what happens when your day-to-day reality becomes #content - and that #content pays your bills.

Marie is turning 69 this year, but there are no signs of her slowing down - she has a new lodger (very into conspiracy theories), an intractable iPhone to wrestle with, and a trip to India to plan! As usual the year brings plenty of challenges as well as opportunities. Marie is burgled, which sends the street into uproar. Ex-husband David is still around and getting rather too close for comfort.

Fake spirit medium Gretchen Acorn is happy to help when her wealthiest client hires her to look into the unexplained phenomena preventing the sale of her bridge partner's struggling goat farm. Gretchen may be a complete fraud, but she's a beneficent one. So if 'cleansing' the historic property will help a nice old man get on with his retirement and put some much-needed cash in her pockets at the same time, who's she to say no? Of course, it turns out said bridge partner isn't quite who Gretchen imagined - Charlie Waybill is young, hot as hell, and extremely unconvinced by Gretchen.

Meet the Reading Group: forever friends you can count on in good times and bad. No topic is off-limits: books, family, love and loss...and don't forget the glass of red! Grace, Anne-Marie, Kate, Jojo and Serena couldn't be more different, but each month they meet in Serena's cliff-top cottage to discuss a good book - oh, and their lives, which are stranger than fiction. Or are they? Between new loves and old flames, cheating husbands and wayward children, there's always a surprise around the corner....

The Bonneville Hotel is the best-kept secret in Mayfair: its art deco suites and glittering ballrooms a former home-away-from-home for royalty and movie stars alike. Recent years haven’t been kind, but thanks to events manager Rosie, the Bonneville is reclaiming some of its old cachet as a chic retro-glam wedding venue. While Rosie’s weddings are the ultimate in romance, Rosie herself isn’t; she’s focused on the details, not the dramas.

It is the night of the referendum and the Five have retired to Kirrin Island to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, fed up with the rancour of public debate. George is firmly a 'remainer', whilst Julian, who is in the 'Brexit' camp, is tolerated on the grounds that Anne cannot bear to go camping without him. (Timmy, largely apolitical but not keen on cats or rabbits, joins them too.) The night is tempestuous in more ways than one.

Bringing up a baby would surely be kid's play for The Five. How hard could it possibly be?! When the doorbell rings one Saturday afternoon, the last thing the Five were expecting to find on their doorstep was a baby... But the Five are next of kin to Cousin Rupert and his wife, so when they find themselves in a spot of bother and are destined for a short spell behind bars, Anne, Dick, George and Anne are the first port of call. First, it's the fear and the tiredness that kicks in.

Kaleb Cooper - star of hit TV show Clarkson's Farm and Sunday Times bestselling author - has been catapulted into the limelight and his new book, Life According to Kaleb, he shares the highs, lows and unexpected adventures of life at Diddly Squat from wrestling with temperamental tractors to dodging the wrath of cantankerous cows and after all that why he still believes he has the best job in the world.