cover201732-mediumFrom Goodreads: “A handful of years ago I moved with my wife to a house on a quiet street in a quiet town and lay quietly in a room for a long time.
I used to love an adventure, and I had jobs on magazines (remember magazines?) which provided the opportunity for plenty of them, but when I hit my thirties I started to become increasingly afraid of the world, until I was too frightened to even go outside at all. And I had no need to go outside: I’d somehow wangled it so my job was mostly tweeting, which meant no colleagues, no bosses, no office, no alarm clock, no deadlines . . . just me, my phone and my social media feeds. Doesn’t sound too healthy, does it? It wasn’t.
Everything went bad.
Rob Temple runs a social-media empire from the comfort of his sofa. Living the dream! But what happens when a lack of colleagues, bosses and alarm clocks means that your sofa, and the four walls of your very quiet living room, become your whole world?
In this tender and life-affirming memoir, Rob explores what it will take for him to become a little less Bear (Pooh) and a little bit more Bear (Grylls), and how mild-mannered, anxious rule-followers can get their own share of (gentle) adventure from time to time. “

My Review

This was fab audiobook about how you don’t have to go far to have an adventure, in fact you can stay very close to home and still have fun.

Rob Temple has voiced what I think a lot of people struggle with, feeling like they have to keep up with all the social media posts of friends doing extreme sports or going on adventurous holidays to feel alive. Suffering from anxiety from a young age he’s tried to do the adventurous thing but he realised it really didn’t suit him. So he stopped torturing himself and visited places near to his home in Godmanchester instead.

My favourite of his experiences were the crocodile farm, especially that conversation with his Mum about whether the crocodiles might escape in a flood! Being among the bees, haggling at the antique shop, the head massage, Blackpool Tower, the chilli festival, the apple fair and visiting Costco for the first time! I also loved the whole interaction with the duolingo owl, hilarious!

Mathew Baynton was superb narrating this audiobook with the perfect emotions and inflections as he was telling the author’s story. He really did become the author for me, making this such a enjoyable listen. I’ve not listened to an audiobook read by him before, but I do know him from the children’s TV show Horrible Histories, remember the King of Bling and the Adam Ant style Dick Turpin? 😉

If you enjoy gentle amusing memoirs you’ll  love this on audio.

Thanks so much NetGalley and Hachette Audio UK for my digital copy via the NetGalley app.

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