Here are 100 books that What's That Lady Doing? fans have personally recommended if you like
What's That Lady Doing?.
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The bottom has fallen out of my world several times now, but it’s much worse watching disaster strike someone you love. When my husband suffered a near-fatal stroke, it was inevitable I’d end up writing about his road to rehab. Grit and humour were what they said he’d need, and Scousers like me laugh at anything. We also cry and argue a lot. I’m on a mission to cheer people on and hand them arms as they battle through hard times. A life, or a state of mind, can change in a moment, and that’s what I read and write about.
I love the delightful daftness, the sheer infantile silliness of this autobiography; it’s proof you can preserve your inner child well into maturity. Words are like Play-Doh to our Bob.
The comedian’s early years were marked by sadness, but he celebrates the power of having a laugh and hanging out with your mates. It made perfect sense to me to learn that the book came about because of a brush with heart failure.
It’s one of those books I dip into for a quick fix.
After 37 years of being undiagnosed with ADHD, I was so grateful to get my diagnosis! Once I had an inkling that I had ADHD, I began devouring books about it :-) The books in this list are five of many that have helped me understand myself and my brain, and I want to help others have access to them and to the inspiring, affirming, and empowering self-knowledge they provide! These books will help you figure out if you might have an ADHD brain and then, from there, help you work with and celebrate that brain.
This book provides a super engaging memoir about a famous comedian who learned she had ADHD! This woman’s story is so relatable and authentic that I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to better understand their ADHD and how someone else experiences it, too!
'Intensely personal, highly educational and very funny' - Adam Kay
'Some brains, through no fault of their own, pack a bag, turn the lights off and run away to the seaside the moment they are meant to be doing homework, paying bills or not putting the cat in the fridge. These are ADHD brains. I have one and believe they are as common as being left-handed, flat footed or genuinely enjoying anchovies on a pizza.
Undiagnosed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder made my life a frustrating, maddening rollercoaster. I had very little focus except when…
I love comedy, showbusiness, mystery and fantasy stories, and sport—and these varied interests have resulted in me writing in various genres as both a journalist and author. My books have all been thoroughly researched and that has helped my crime thrillers receive glowing endorsements from best-selling writer Peter James in the case of Triple Tease and national newspaper journalist Stuart Pink in the case of Stitch Up! - Killer or Victim? My other books have also received excellent endorsements and reviews—fantasy adventure Secret Potion and Laughs and Tears Galore – Short Stories and Poems With Twists, written jointly with my wife Heather Flood, best known for her children's books.
Comedian Michael McIntyre's autobiography reveals how difficult life was for him and his family before he got his big break at the 2006 Royal Variety Performance.
I was shocked to learn that some of his silly decisions had contributed to his lack of success while he lived in a tiny rented flat with his wife Kitty and their one-year-old son.
A naive, clueless Michael tells us about how he almost messed up a vital meeting that could finally end his years in the showbiz wilderness and his disastrous panel show appearances.
Laugh along with Michael McIntyre as he lifts the curtain on his life in his long-awaited autobiography.
Michael's first book ended with his big break at the 2006 Royal Variety Performance. Waking up the next morning in the tiny rented flat he shared with his wife Kitty and their one-year-old son, he was beyond excited about the new glamorous world of show business. Unfortunately, he was also clueless . . .
In A Funny Life, Michael honestly and hilariously shares the highs and the lows of his rise to the top and desperate attempts…
I am a writer, actor, and comedian. I began on the Second City mainstage in Toronto. I was a writer and an actor on the Canadian television series, Call Me Fitz and I won the Gemini Award and the Canadian Screen Award for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for my work opposite Jason Priestley on that show. Let Me Be Frank is my first book and it brings together so much of what I love to write and read: feminism, women, history, underdogs, and humor.
Katy Wix, the brilliant actress and comedian, has written a memoir about “cake and death” in which she delves into womanhood, body image, disordered eating, grief and addiction. Because Wix is a genius comedian, she is able to paint the deeply human, painfully honest stuff here while also making us laugh. Again, this is the type of work that I gravitate to! Honest, human, darkly humorous…I simply adore truth-tellers. Ones, like Wix, that make us laugh, make us uncomfortable, make us look at our own “shit”, but also help us to heal.
'Mesmerising . . . an extraordinary piece of writing.' - The i paper
'A book that has the rare quality of being both poetic and accessible . . . missing Delicacy would be a huge mistake.' - Guardian
'A book that gets wiser, darker, and more brutally truthful every time you turn the page. Word of mouth is slowly turning it into a passionately recommended cult hit. A book you give a friend in trouble.' - Caitlin Moran
'Hilarious . . . heartbreaking.' - The Observer
'A layer cake of truth, pain and wisdom iced with charm. I loved it.'…
I love comedy, showbusiness, mystery and fantasy stories, and sport—and these varied interests have resulted in me writing in various genres as both a journalist and author. My books have all been thoroughly researched and that has helped my crime thrillers receive glowing endorsements from best-selling writer Peter James in the case of Triple Tease and national newspaper journalist Stuart Pink in the case of Stitch Up! - Killer or Victim? My other books have also received excellent endorsements and reviews—fantasy adventure Secret Potion and Laughs and Tears Galore – Short Stories and Poems With Twists, written jointly with my wife Heather Flood, best known for her children's books.
I loved comedian Bob
Monkhouse's frankness as his autobiography revealed not only his often
hilarious life story, but also the very painful personal tragedies he
experienced.
When he was nine years old he
fell in his garden and broke his leg, causing him to scream in agony. His
mother ran out to him, but smacked him round the head and told him: “Quiet,
Robert! What will the neighbours think?”
Fortunately, Bob showed
kindness and love to his own son Gary who suffered from cerebral palsy, which meant
part of his brain was permanently damaged and he was unable to control his
limbs or speak.
Yet Bob made me—and the
nation—laugh with his stand-up comedy routines, film roles, and amusing
anecdotes.
This is Bob Monkhouse's classic autobiography. One of Britain's most enduring and famous comedians tells us in his own inimitable style the fascinating and often hilarious story of his life. From disclosures of very painful personal tragedies to extraordinary and outrageously funny anecdotes about the stars he knew, his confessions are blisteringly honest, touching - and often shocking. Crying With Laughter combines heartache with hilarity, sexy showbiz revelations with genuinely moving tales of the hard times, and typically funny jokes with sobering personal reflections, to create a passionate, witty and sparkling account of an extraordinary man's extraordinary life.
Helping others and getting help has been an integral part of my life and career. Over 30 years in the mental health world allowed me to explore many books, individuals and the simple ones are the best. They get to the core of change quickly which is vital sometimes to keep people alive. Supporting others is my passion and the truth is reading has allowed me to continue without burnout and some of my reading list are my go to books when this feels like it maybe coming.
I laughed and cried whilst reading this book which was recommended by my youngest son.
Jimmy explored the management of the day-to-day life of someone who is seen as a successful person apart from trying to dodge his taxes. I would say it is cynical, but funny with it. Don’t not read because you don’t like the author, read to take the knowledge which I did that I have been able to share with others.
I'm a death professional who lives in a world where nobody wants to talk about my specialist subject, so I hoover up any books that discuss mortality and our relationship to it. To do my job well, I need to face death on a daily basis in a matter-of-fact way, without losing that reverence, but equally not getting lost in the reverence because there is plenty to smile at, laugh at and be brutally honest about. These things make me the rounded human that is needed to perform the task well and the kind of people who write these books typically embody those qualities and inspire me. I hope they can inspire you too.
This will look like nepotism because Richard is a dear friend who provided a quote for my book cover, however I am mainly friends with him because we are of the same mind about most things, including death.
We both deal with it using a good dose of sarcasm and humour whilst also being big old existential softies who have our moments.
His book about his cancer diagnosis sees his coping mechanism of humour balanced with the honest sadnesses of potentially leaving behind young children who might forget him, before returning to humourous disapproval at his wife's imagined new man.
My own firmly held belief that you can't live well without the shadow of death also comes through as he starts to live better and healthier in recovery, thanks to his brush with the reaper.
'Very funny, moving and heartwarming' BOB MORTIMER
'A bollockbuster!' ADAM BUXTON
If we are cowardly, we are told to grow some If we're brave, we're said to have huge ones If it's cold, they are liable to fall off - even if you're a brass monkey If we're in trouble, someone will threaten to break them If we have to work hard, we might very well bust them If we're in somebody's thrall, then they've got us by them
About fifteen years ago, Richard Herring first took part in a campaign to encourage men to have a little (non-sexual) feel…
I’m an historian who writes novels, and an avid reader of historical murder mysteries—especially ones whose characters are affected by social, religious, and political change. Lately, I’ve been fascinated by the breakup of rural British estates between 1880 and 1925, when, in a single generation, the amount of British land owned by the aristocracy fell from 66% to perhaps 15%. I thought it might be interesting to set a “country house” mystery on one of the failing estates, with a narrator influenced by the other great change of the period: from horses to automobiles. “Interesting” was an understatement; writing it was eye-opening.
Blind Justice, set in 1768, is the first of Bruce Alexander’s 11 Sir John Fielding mysteries. Its hero is the famous blind magistrate of London’s Bow Street Court; its narrator is thirteen-year-old Jeremy Proctor, whom Fielding’s wisdom has saved from an unjust accusation of theft. The pair investigate the death of Sir Richard Goodhope, who has been discovered shot in his library, locked from the inside. Sir John assumes suicide, but Jeremy’s observation of a detail that the magistrate could not see suggests murder. Proof of murder involves following Goodhope’s history through London’s streets, gambling houses, coffee houses, and great houses—to Drury Lane theater and Newgate—in a compelling portrait of eighteenth-century London.
The first of a series of novels set in 18th-century London and featuring Sir John Fielding - magistrate, detective, founder of the Bow Street Runners, half-brother of Henry, and confidant of such notables as Johnson and Boswell. Sir John is blind, and uses a young orphan as his "eyes".
As a lifelong journalist, I’ve covered and have been drawn to tales of intrigue, con men, massive financial scams, domestic terrorists and international plots, and the investigators and authorities who pursue them.
John Le Carré, the undisputed master of espionage, shifts gears in The Night Manager as the Cold War ends and an unsteady detente emerges in Europe, creating a power vacuum quickly filled by mercenaries, arms dealers, and drug smugglers who accumulate vast fortunes in the black markets that spring forth.
This book rekindles the flame for Le Carré readers who thought his best storytelling days were behind him.
In The Night Manager, an ex-soldier helps British Intelligence penetrate the secret world of ruthless arms dealers.
At the start of it all, Jonathan Pine is merely the night manager at a luxury hotel. But when a single attempt to pass on information to the British authorities - about an international businessman at the hotel with suspicious dealings - backfires terribly, and people close to Pine begin to die, he commits himself to a battle against powerful forces he cannot begin to imagine.
In a chilling tale of corrupt intelligence agencies, billion-dollar price tags and the truth of the brutal…
Having grown up on the south coast of Hampshire, I love both the countryside and the sea. After studying ancient history, archaeology, and Latin at the University of Bristol, I worked for many years as a field archaeologist and met my husband Roy on an excavation of a Roman villa at Milton Keynes. We have worked together ever since, as archaeologists and as authors of books on archaeology, ancient history, naval history, and social history. Our wide-ranging interests proved invaluable when writing our book When There Were Birds.
This is a glorious bird-by-bird book, filled with photographs and lots of information and first-hand accounts, including folklore and history, with copious endnotes and references. It was first published in 2005 and reissued in 2020. The book is divided into different bird families, starting with the Diver family, the Grebe family, and the Albatross family, so it can be read systematically or by dipping in and out. Birds Britannica perhaps deserves the name ‘coffee-table book’ – being so heavy, it is almost impossible to read unless seated (with a coffee) at a table.
The British love their birds, which are inextricably entwined with every aspect of their island life. British customs, more than 1,000 years of English literature, the very fabric of society, even the landscape itself, have all been enhanced by the presence of birds. Highly acclaimed on first publication, this superb book pays tribute to the remarkable relationship forged between a nation and its most treasured national heritage.
Birds Britannica is a unique publication of immense importance. Neither an identification guide nor a behavioural study (although both these subjects enter its field), it concentrates on our social history and on the…
