An extract from a brand new recording of Roald Dahl's classic The Witches, read by actress Miranda Richardson. 

The Witches have a motto: One child a week is fifty-two a year. Squish them and squiggle them and make them disappear.

The Grand High Witch of All the World is the scariest of the lot, but one boy and the grandmother he adores have a plan to get rid of the witches for good.

Roald Dahl: The Witches (Audiobook Extract) read by Miranda Richardson

An extract from the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of the The Lost Hero, book one in the Heroes of Olympus spin-off series from Percy Jackson creator, Rick Riordan. Read by the actor Joshua Swanson.

OLD ENEMIES AWAKEN AS CAMP HALF-BLOOD'S NEW ARRIVALS PREPARE FOR WAR 
When Jason, Piper and Leo crash land at Camp Half-Blood, they have no idea what to expect. Apparently this is the only safe place for children of the Greek Gods - despite the monsters roaming the woods and demigods practising archery with flaming arrows and explosives. But rumours of a terrible curse - and a missing hero - are flying around camp. It seems Jason, Piper and Leo are the chosen ones to embark on a terrifying new quest, which they must complete by the winter solstice. In just four days time. Can the trio succeed on this deadly mission - and what must they sacrifice in order to survive?

Rick Riordan: The Lost Hero - Heroes of Olympus (Audiobook extract) Read by Joshua Swanson

Ballet, music and hard work

Add variety to your child's bedtime routine with the latest audiobook from the author of The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep, the global bestseller that parents have been raving about! Features all-new child-tested, parent-approved techniques to reclaim bedtime and provide a sweet and tender end to each day.

Your child joins Ellen the Elephant on a journey through a magical forest that leads to sleep. Along the way, children meet different fantastical characters and have calming experiences that will help your child to relax and slip into slumber quickly. The story works perfectly for either naptime or bedtime.

Children will love switching between stories about both Roger the Rabbit (The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep) and Ellen the Elephant (The Little Elephant Who Wants to Fall Asleep), and parents will appreciate the diverse ways each character will help their loved ones fall asleep quickly and easily.

This soothing audiobook edition contains a choice of male or female narrator.

http://amzn.to/2bKPKWx  

The Little Elephant Who Wants to Fall Asleep (audiobook extract) read by Rachel Bavidge

Listen to an excerpt of Andrea Marcum's CLOSE TO OM audiobook, read by the author.

Andrea Marcum's Close to Om is a practical and philosophical yoga audiobook that promotes and teaches mindfulness in both your yoga practice and your everyday life.

Before Marcum was a sought after celebrity yoga teacher, she was someone who thought she couldn’t do yoga because she couldn’t be still. Now after sixteen years of teaching yoga, she works with network executives, global brands, Hollywood actresses, and everyone in between.

Yoga is the yoke of body, mind, and spirit, and in Close to Om, Marcum offers a guide to teach all three aspects of yoga showcasing Marcum’s signature unique style, this program combines the teaching of poses with the exploration of yoga philosophy and insight into meditation and mindfulness.

By the end of Close to Om, listeners will not only know a lot about yoga and its poses, but they’ll also know more about themselves: who they are, what they want, and how to get there—on and off their mat. The progression in Close to Om is the architecture of every yoga practice—and will show listeners that how they do their yoga is how they do their life.

Buy the audiobook

Close to Om by Andrea Marcum | Meditation 1

This is an excerpt from the audiobook EDUCATED by Tara Westover, narrated by Julia Whelan.

Learn more about EDUCATED here: https://bit.ly/2H4QypA

An unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University &ldquo;Tara&rsquo;s story will find a place alongside modern classic memoirs like Wild and The Glass Castle. It&rsquo;s that special.&rdquo;&mdash;Susannah Cahalan, author of Brain on Fire Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her &ldquo;head-for-the-hills&rdquo; bag. In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged metal in her father&rsquo;s junkyard. Her father distrusted the medical establishment, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when an older brother became violent. When another brother got himself into college and came back with news of the world beyond the mountain, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. She taught herself enough mathematics, grammar, and science to take the ACT and was admitted to Brigham Young University. There, she studied psychology, politics, philosophy, and history, learning for the first time about pivotal world events like the Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she&rsquo;d traveled too far, if there was still a way home. Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty, and of the grief that comes from severing ties with those closest to you. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one&rsquo;s life through new eyes, and the will to change it. &ldquo;A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary Western landscape of her coming of age, and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt, growing up among fanatics.&rdquo;&mdash;Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble

Educated by Tara Westover, read by Julia Whelan

Hi followers Not my usual stuff but I'm enjoying a bit of Bruce Hornsby at the moment. The solo needs a lot more work but thought would post this for now and come back to it later.  Feedback (good/bad) appreciated! If you want to hear a bit more let me know. Ben

BRUCE HORNSBY AND THE RANGE - THE ROAD NOT TAKEN (piano instrumental cover)

The founder of a female-focused recovery program offers a radical new path to sobriety. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know how much you need this book, or maybe you do. Either way, it will save your life.&rdquo;&mdash;Melissa Hartwig Urban, Whole30 co-founder and CEO We live in a world obsessed with drinking. We drink at baby showers and work events, brunch and book club, graduations and funerals. Yet no one ever questions alcohol&rsquo;s ubiquity&mdash;in fact, the only thing ever questioned is why someone doesn&rsquo;t drink. It is a qualifier for belonging and if you don&rsquo;t imbibe, you are considered an anomaly. As a society, we are obsessed with health and wellness, yet we uphold alcohol as some kind of magic elixir, though it is anything but. When Holly Whitaker decided to seek help after one too many benders, she embarked on a journey that led not only to her own sobriety, but revealed the insidious role alcohol plays in our society and in the lives of women in particular. What&rsquo;s more, she could not ignore the ways that alcohol companies were targeting women, just as the tobacco industry had successfully done generations before. Fueled by her own emerging feminism, she also realized that the predominant systems of recovery are archaic, patriarchal, and ineffective for the unique needs of women and other historically oppressed people&mdash;who don&rsquo;t need to lose their egos and surrender to a male concept of God, as the tenets of Alcoholics Anonymous state, but who need to cultivate a deeper understanding of their own identities and take control of their lives. When Holly found an alternate way out of her own addiction, she felt a calling to create a sober community with resources for anyone questioning their relationship with drinking, so that they might find their way as well. Her resultant feminine-centric recovery program focuses on getting at the root causes that lead people to overindulge and provides the tools necessary to break the cycle of addiction, showing us what is possible when we remove alcohol and destroy our belief system around it. Written in a relatable voice that is honest and witty, Quit Like a Woman is at once a groundbreaking look at drinking culture and a road map to cutting out alcohol in order to live our best lives without the crutch of intoxication. You will never look at drinking the same way again.

Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker, read by Holly Whitaker

Featuring James McAvoy as Morpheus and Kat Dennings as Death

The Sandman | "Death Isn't Happy with Dream"

Harriet Walter and Beryl Reid star in this full-cast adaptation of the much-loved children's classic. When spoilt young orphan Mary Lennox is brought back from India to live in her uncle’s house on the Yorkshire Moors, she finds the blunt ways of the staff at Misselthwaite Manor an unpleasant shock. Bored and miserable, it seems as though life in England will be awful. But Misselthwaite has hidden delights and, when Mary begins to discover them, nothing is the same again. First, there is the secret garden – and with it comes a boy who knows all the wonders of the country. He can even talk to the birds! Then, as the old house gives up its biggest secret, Mary forms a magical friendship. Frances Hodgson Burnett's charming story is played out with all the freshness and warmth of the original novel in this BBC Radio full-cast dramatization.

The Secret Garden

Listen to an excerpt from THE YELLOW WIFE by Sadeqa Johnson and read by Robin Miles

THE YELLOW WIFE Audiobook Excerpt

Penguin Books publishes blockbusting, prize-winning, celebrated, controversial, heart-warming, thought-provoking and inspiring books by a range of authors from Ali Smith to Zadie Smith, Jeremy Clarkson to Jeremy Paxman and Jamie Oliver to Oliver Goldsmith.

Rick Riordan: The Lost Hero - Heroes of Olympus (Audiobook extract) Read by Joshua Swanson

Penguin Books UK