World’s Worst Adults… Out Soon – Get Booked

Hello, you lot. I'm Hazel and this is Get Booked for Women's Radio Station. I hope you enjoyed last week's first ever episode. And if you missed it, you can listen again through our website. Go and have a look all over there. Really introduce yourself to the website. So much on there. Just a reminder for first-time listeners today about what my show is about. Throughout my shows, we will talk about what I've read, what I'm reading, new releases, chat to authors, publishers, and book enthusiasts. Most of my book reviews go on my website too at hazelbutterfield.com, and you can follow me @nuttybutty on Twitter. You can also use either the ones, the women's radio station Twitter, And you can get in touch with me on my website. Send me book recommendations, ask to come on the show, or maybe you just want to chat. Maybe you're releasing your own book and you just want to say hi. Yeah? That'd be nice, that'd be nice. I'm just stuck in a room chatting to you about my books, my favourite books and what I love. I was going to tell you a book joke, but I just think you possibly don't know me enough yet, and I don't want to put you through that. So, in the coming weeks, brace yourself, there are going to be book jokes. Um, and also I want to invite you to send in your own 1-minute book review clips. Record it really clearly on your smartphone and you can send it to us at presenters@womensradiostation.com. Now, today's show is going to be World's Worst Adults, out soon. You'll see why very, very shortly. Uh, my latest roller coaster ride of reviews come from a selection of bum-faced children to sadistic governmental research, self-help that captures the ethos perfectly of how not to give a, we're gonna call it flip because we are on the airwaves, to 30-year-old dead bodies found in back gardens. So are you ready? It's gonna be a rocky ride. Uh, first up, today's first book to review is World's Worst Children 3. As many of you will know, is by David Walliams. Uh, yes, number 3. Who'd have thought that there were even more bonkers kids out there to write about? And yet there was. Honestly, I was not as excited about this one. I do prefer the novels that Walliams produces, but the World's Old World series do entertain all the same, you know, and I like it that they're in small bits as well because you can, you know, dip in and out, which is sometimes a little bit nice. It's a little different style of reading. And I do like it that he always has meaning behind them while always putting it across in a truly ridiculous way, as is David Walliams' style. I thought he was clutching at straws with some of the grossness. He was reining in again. But then again, I'm supposed to be an adult, huge emphasis on supposed. And I think these books are actually meant for children. Imagine that. Funnily enough, I did actually let my own children read them for obvious reasons, like they are children. They both took a day each only to read it and they were delighted with his latest instalment. You know, kids actually know their stuff. I'm still working, Waiting for World's Worst Adults. He's not done this yet and I would like it. Obviously this will have to be aimed at adults. If he doesn't write it by this time next year, do you know what? I'm gonna do it myself. So instead of the likes of Belchy Bertie and Tina and Her Tantrums, there'll be, I don't know, Psychotic Steve and Narcissistic Naomi, Two-Face Tony and Neurotic Nick, see? It's just, there's so much mileage we can go for on this one. Hey, do you know what? This could be a good game. Help me write the next book. Tweet me @NuttyButty or @WandsworthRadioStation, #WorldsWorstAdults. This could be fun. I cannot wait. And talking of children's books, coming up at half term, which I think depending on which school your children are at, it's either From the 22nd of October or the following week. My kids' holidays is from the 22nd. I am going to get them in and they are going to be reviewing books for us. And do you know what? There are so many good kids' books out there that are good for adults as well. But it's also, maybe you wanna know what to get your niece or nephew, or maybe you wanna find a book that's right for your kid and get them a nice little surprise. Or maybe they don't like reading and you want to hear what some kids have to say. And they can tell you about a book which is possibly a really good way to get them into reading. My kids are a little bit on the gobby side as well, so we might have to extend the show by maybe 300% just to squeeze in what, what they have to say. Right, now, the second book that I would like to tell you about here today is The Child. This has been reviewed everywhere. It's one of these ones that kept on coming up on my recommended books list on Amazon, and eventually I got it. Oh, it was interesting. It— do you know what? I had no idea about it. And sometimes I like to do this where a book's recommended to you and you don't find out what it's about. You just know, you know, that it's getting good reviews, or maybe you know roughly what era it's set in, but other than that, it's all a complete surprise. Um, so This one, it was quite interesting. Basically, a dead body is found on a building site, um, and an old-school reporter has a hunch that there's something that needs to be explored further than what was assumed worthy by her editor and the police. Keeping in mind that editors these days, they have different things that they're interested in, like, um, who was caught falling out of some restaurant in London or whatnot. But this reporter was you know, she'd been doing it for 30, 40 years. She had actually quite a lot of respect in the industry and did things in an old-school kind of way rather than the more dubious methods. No offense to any reporters listening, unless you are dubious, in which case, just take it. But basically, she uncovers something that even she didn't expect to uncover. It was— there's so many different routes that kind of fed in together. How Fiona Barton gets all these random elements to fuse together brilliantly. The dynamics of the characters were interesting, and more importantly, they were believable, they were relatable. I loved— I just loved reading every single element of this book. It was an enthralling and beautifully written thriller. It left you guessing even when you thought you had a good idea of what was happening. And then that idea was taken away from us just as if the author knew what you were thinking, just to kind of keep you hooked. It's like, come on, you think you know what's happening? Boosh! I'm taking it away from you. It was a delight to read, you know, the tone, the knowledge, the various perspectives. And do you know what? The social relevance was depicted so well. Please give this one a go. You will not regret it. It comes to mind the phrase, "Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive." It's brilliant, absolutely perfect. And do you know what? Remember, if you are unsure of what you want to read, or if somebody recommends a book and you're not quite sure it's your thing, you can actually go onto Amazon, and if you've got a Kindle, in fact, you don't even need a Kindle, you just need the app on your iPad or whatever tablet device you have, you can get a free free sample, and you normally get like a chapter and a half, two, and by that point, you know whether you're gonna like the book or not. And that is what is so good about these Kindles. I know, I know there are certain people who do not like Kindles, but this, the samples are obviously free. Find out if you like it first. And do you know what? Even if you don't like Kindles and you do like the sample, then you know to go and buy the hardback, paperback, borrow it from the library, put it up on your social media. Do any of your friends have it to lend to you if you're a little bit skint, remember there is a way for everybody to get into books. One of the really lovely little pictures that I've got on this particular set of book reviews, I love this, it is just excellent. It says, "All the reading she had done had given her a view of a life she'd never seen." This is a Roald Dahl quote from Matilda. I love that. Reading is about delving into other people's lives and taking a little bit from it, which is why I love reading so much. I was actually coming into the studio today and I actually thought I'd been on the tube for like 5 minutes. I'd been on for 40 minutes and I'd got through about 40 pages of my book. It's all very well, we know that our transport system isn't good. If you take a book with you, you don't care, you're doing something else. You are reading, you are being productive, you are entertaining yourself. And when you're reading, It is never wasted time. Now, we have a lot more reviews to get on with today and to tell you a little bit about what's happening over the coming weeks on my new show, Get Booked. So stick with us, I'll be back very shortly. WRS, Women's Radio Station, voice of women worldwide. Sarah's Universal Soul Show. What does your soul or spirituality mean to you? Welcome to Future Classical Woman Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Woman's Radio Station. Welcome back, I'm Russ Kane. You're listening to In Conversation With on Woman's Radio Station. I'm Angie and I'm Patsy, and we're open. To see what other programs we have on Woman's Radio Station, head to our website womansradiostation.com. Mireille Bill Limited. We are a virtual PA consultancy. We provide remote administrative services. Our offering is diverse. 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Hello and welcome back to the second half of today's edition of Get booked with me, Hazel Butterfield. And a quick reminder that you can find all my book reviews on hazelbutterfield.com. So in the first half of today's show, we were reviewing World's Worst Children 3 by David Walliams and Fiona Barton's The Child. Um, next up we have— now I'm gonna have to be a little bit creative in the title of this. It is Mark Manson's "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Flip." Flip, we're gonna go with flip. It should be law to read or listen to this book. Everybody should do it. The less flips you give, the better things work out. Trust me. Every time I've wanted something badly, I have tried my best to attribute negatives to balance out the urgency. And do you know what? It works. It works. The more you worry about something, it's like you're making it go wrong. So, you've got to find a way to just, you know, chill a little bit, attribute something negative to what could positively happen, and it just, you know, it makes you relax a little bit more. We are, ever struggling with the constraints of comparability. It's hard to be happy with our own goals as we are constantly comparing ourselves to complete strangers that we don't even know. And you know what I mean about this. It's Facebook, it's people on telly, in magazines, Twitter, Instagram. Half of these times, you know, people do not put real life on these places. They put the best of themselves on these places. And we're comparing ourselves to, you know, even somebody at their best, or just complete and utter nonsense. Um, we've got it, and it's, it's, it's very hard to kind of compare yourself to somebody when you are not even that person. And you know what, what this book tells you about— The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Flip by Mark Manson— it helps you to embrace negativity, um, and and don't obsess about being right or happy or fulfilled. Be prepared to admit defeat and understand the problems you're having. Accept feelings of negativity and embrace what you can do to achieve change. Give yourself a flipping break, basically, is the ethos of the book. And I actually listened to this one on Audible. I tend to have one book out of the four books I review in a particular set being audible. Life's quite busy, you know, and if you can listen to something while you're getting up to whatever else you need to get up to, it's great. It's multitasking and it kind of helps you out anyway. Just, you know, that whole mindfulness of feeling like you're doing something but getting everything done. And I love reading, but, you know, it's hours to read a book. So, you know, it's always nice to have a nice selection. Anyway, and back to The Subtle Art. Mark Manson. Explains how we should consider our values coherently and regularly assess your instinct and projections of what life should be for us. Sometimes we don't even know why we do what we do. Maybe it was something that we thought we wanted 10 years ago, and life changes. Life can change week to week, day to day, month to month, year to year. Something happens, and we need to remember to regularly reassess, um, what is happening in our lives and what is really important to us. An obligation to do something is often self-serving and counterproductive, resulting in undecipherable confusion due to emotional responses based on superficial benefits. We need to sit back every now and again and think about why we are doing what we're doing and figure out whether we really do care about what we think we care about or whether we really do care about what Joe Bloggs thinks, no offense Joe Bloggs if you're listening, you had a really unfortunate name. But there's more meaningful eras in our life that are rarely the easy ones, and they mean more. However, conflict shows us who is robust and a stayer in our lives. Conforming and subservience, not so much. That's incredibly boring. It's all about putting our lives and what happened and is happening into perspective and focus. Seriously, You need to read it, you need to listen to it. It's brilliant. It's a great self-help book. I am actually, I do like my self-help books, but I don't like to go over the top with them 'cause otherwise your brain can have a little bit of overload and you've gotta give it chance to kind of sink in a little bit. And I'm doing a blog on just self-help books. So maybe if you're thinking about delving into one of them, follow me on Twitter @NuttyButty and you will see when I release that latest book blog post. Uh, keep in touch, my lovelies, keep in touch. Uh, next, and our final book in today's set of book reviews is The Girl Who Took an Eye for an Eye. This is David Lagerkrantz. It is the latest in the series, and this one is wholly written by David Lagerkrantz. Um, obviously the previous ones were written by Stieg Larsson, and the third one was half Stieg, half David Lagerkrantz. And the way he captures the same tone, style, and creativity of Stieg Larsson is absolutely remarkable. Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, is a dysfunctional, emotionally deranged, antisocial loner with the endurance and fiery strength of, well, pretty much a delusional politician. And she is incredibly gifted and has an unfaltering determination to fight for the underdog, driven by an immense sense of injustice, which is just what I love about her. She is scary as hell, but you'd want her on your side, which is why she's just so endearing, even though you feel like you can't, in theory, connect to her, but you can. And that is why this book is so beautifully written. I've seen all the movies too, obviously after reading the book, I'm not an animal. But in this rare case, I do find watching the films only adds to the thrill of these books when it's, it just kind of helps you involve yourself in all the different characters and it's just incredible. However, "The Girl Who Took an Eye for an Eye," basically it's about how she uncovers a sadistic, underworld of grossly unethical governmental research, religious extremists, and abuse. And it was all very topical and socially relevant. But while she's trying to sort all this out, it helps to have, you know, the dark web and lawyers and journalists on your side. And the detail in which the writer goes into on the dark web, even I was typing into, um, well-known search engines, how do I get onto the dark web? But please don't do that, you'll get in trouble. It just sounds like an incredible world to be a part of. But the, she's not, what just completely enthralls me about Lisbeth Salander is that she has a good heart, she's trying to do good, and also she's not bothered about a smidge of violence. In all of these books, especially this one as well, The Girl Who Took an Eye for an Eye, There is loads, loads of violence. And sometimes, do you know a book when it's written so well that you don't actually remember whether you've seen the movie or not because the book took you there? This is one of those. And when I finished the book, bizarrely, I couldn't help thinking of Les Misérables at the end in terms of, you know, "You better run for cover when the pup grows up. We'll fight like 20 armies." and we won't give up. That is basically Lisbeth Salander. You could basically just keep on punching her and she just stands there like Superwoman because she's just so determined. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. So those are my 4 books for today's show, Get Booked. Remember to please get in touch with any book reviews that you want to let us know about. Just send in a minute book review, and we will try and squeeze them in on our show. Make sure that you put your name on there as well so we give you a little bit of a mention. And there you have it, my latest instalment. Also, also, you can email us at presenters@womensradiostation.com. Coming up in the next few weeks, we have Amanda Robson. For those of you that listened last week, you might remember that I reviewed one of her books, which was an excellent thriller about a sister who killed her twin sister. She is gonna come in and talk about two of her books, both of which are bestsellers, Obsession and Guilty. She's gonna be here on the 30th, towards the end of October, somewhere around then. We are just sorting out the final details, but seriously, she has won so many awards. You have gotta keep on listening. Follow me on Twitter @NuttyButty to make sure that you keep up to date with what is going on. And something else that actually occurred to me today, which is quite interesting, for those people who like to people watch a bit, I read on the tube, I like to pass time, I'd mentioned that slightly earlier in today's show, but what I also quite find interesting is sometimes putting your book down and having a look at what everybody else is reading. It's like having a little bit of an insight into people's lives. It's nosiness, I love a bit of nosiness. This is why, yes, I do love my Kindle, But it means you can't see what they're reading. How dare they? But I was, and do you know what? Sometimes you don't know, we've got so many different nationalities in London. When you look at what they're reading, you can see, you know, where they're from, what they're into, what kind of people they are, and delve into their lives just a little bit more. Why don't you try it? Even if you're not reading, on your commute home, why don't you just have a look at what other people are reading? And also, it tells you a little bit about that person as well. Those of them who are playing on their phones or working on their laptops or just getting completely enthralled by a book. And sometimes a book kind of introduces the kind of person somebody is. You have been listening to me, Hazel Butterfield. This is Get Booked. Join me next week for another set of reviews and interviews. Have a fabulous rest of your week. Welcome to Women's Radio Station, the voice of women worldwide. Hungry? An average woman eats about 2 to 3 kilos of lipstick in her lifetime. Women's Radio Station, we want to hear from you. This is Women's Radio You're listening to Avril Price with Kitchen Sink Spirituality. It's Anna Kennedy talking all things autism, and my guest today is Karen Nunn. I listen to Women's Radio Station. Women, the possibilities are endless. That's what makes us different. 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