Like listening to a friend

Loved listening to this especially having lived in Nottingham and Eastwood. Brought back happy memories.

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Brilliant storytelling

I have enjoyed all Tom Cox books I have read so far, however this and The Villager are my joint top. listening to Tom tell this story as I drove to work or between visits gave me wee moments of the day to look forward to. After listening to this, not only would I like to meet Tom , I want to meet his parents and cats.

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Quirky, varied, interesting

I loved the discussion of various English countryside and its quirky characters. Also Tom’s slightly alternative view on life adds an entertaining edge. The only downside I’d say is when Mick is talking - sometimes the shouting got a bit much (though I appreciate that’s his character).

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wonderful book perfectly suited to audio format.

wonderful, nostalgic book perfectly suited to audio book format. read by the author. highly recommended.

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7 people found this helpful

A love story to the British countryside

I really enjoyed this book, it’s different to any other. The way Tom talks about the countryside makes me desperate to get out on a good walk!

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1 person found this helpful

Lovely invocation of people & landscape

I'd read this in hardback, but have been struggling to follow long fiction narratives since lockdown started, so this collections of thoughts on landscape, people. and cats was ideal for to listen to, esp. with Tom reading,
There's occasional "strong language", which adds to the authenticity and humour.
At one point I drifted off and woke up to WOFFAL! with a bit of a start :)

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Black Shuck

I saw what I believe was Black Shuck near Swanton Morley. I'd been to see two friends in Dereham for The Millennium New Year's Eve and was driving home about 2am in a light blue Metro. I saw a huge dog standing in the road staring right at me and braked, stopping about 10 yards from the beast. For some reason I weirdly thought to get out of the car to help it???! I briefly looked to my side door to get out and when I faced forward it was gone. the flat fields either side were moonlit and empty and nothing in the car lights. there was nowhere for the dog to have run to. The way it stood on an empty road so fearlessly made it other worldly. Great book mate, enjoyed it.

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2 people found this helpful

Pure Bliss

I hadn't read any of Tom's work before & I'm not even sure how I ended up choosing this book, but I am so very glad I did. Tom's stories are thought provoking, dreamy and hilarious in equal measure. I feel as though his family are now friends of mine, and I'm sure I will never forget his father's voice, and feel sure I could pick him out of a line-up!
Do yourself a favour if you are a lover a walks, families, animals, giggles and folk-law, listen to Tom's words in Tom's voice.

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Master wordsmith moves to the country

Though the word “unique” is over-used, in the case of Tom Cox it is accurate, and this is a wonderful introduction to his more folklorist side, an approach that you might call ‘expressive autobiographical’, and it ranges from thoughtful reflection to wildly inventive to laugh-out-loud funny. Difficult to categorise, Tom ploughs his own literary furrow: his use of language is luscious and oozes with metaphor, a delicious tapestry of words, lovingly crafted to convey what it means not only to be an itinerant former music journalist who puts his life on pause every few years to move house, but also a man who immerses himself in the landscape and the flora and fauna that inhabit it, and invests it and them with personality that is described with poetic, pinpoint precision. But most of all, what I admire about Tom’s writing is that it is fearless, unfettered by fashion and in thrall to no one, a truly independent voice standing apart from the pressures of modern publishing and yet also a beacon for those of us who strive to do things outside the mainstream.

Plus, hey, he loves cats and, here’s the true secret: cats love him. And I can understand why – like them, he somehow moves through his writing life with a certain independence, with an eye for the slightest disturbance in the undergrowth of life and the startling ability to pounce and capture something fleeting that most of us might miss.

In summary, Tom describes his own writing best on Substack: “Not for everyone.” But if you love a writer who truly inhabits their work, it’s certainly for you.

Highly recommended.

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Hugely enjoyable

I loved reading the book, and hearing it in Tom Cox's voice somehow adds another layer of enjoyment to it.
Recommended if you like any or all of: walking, nature, the sort of conversations that start on one topic and manage to cover lots of seemingly unrelated issues, lynx-related hypothetical mild peril.

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4 people found this helpful