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  • Reasons to be Cheerful

  • By: Nina Stibbe
  • Narrated by: Gemma Whelan
  • Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (182 ratings)
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Reasons to be Cheerful

By: Nina Stibbe
Narrated by: Gemma Whelan
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Summary

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Reasons to Be Cheerful, by Nina Stibbe. 

Eighteen-year-old Lizzie Vogel finds herself a new job in a dentist's surgery after answering a classified advert in the Leicester Mercury for a 'mature lady with a strong interest in dental issues'. Working for an eccentric dental surgeon who's obsessed with becoming a Freemason, Lizzie's life is uneventful until Andy Nicolello turns up one day to deliver a crown. Lizzie seizes her chance to find love and soon begins calling him her boyfriend even though they have never so much as kissed or even sat next to each other on the sofa. But Andy doesn't turn out to be quite what he seems.... 

Reasons to be Cheerful is a painfully funny account of life as a hapless teenager in 1970s Leicestershire from the best-selling author of Love, Nina; Man at the Helm; and Paradise Lodge.

©2019 Nina Stibbe (P)2019 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about Reasons to be Cheerful

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

3rd book in the Lizzie Vogel series

I didn’t realise that I had begun this series with book 2, so I now have Man at the Helm to look forward to as a prequel! If, like me, you enjoyed Paradise lodge, you will enjoy catching up with Lizzie and the cast of very colourful secondary characters. A gentle and nostalgic read, bitter sweet with some really funny moments that genuinely had me chuckling aloud. A slightly lack lustre ending but over all a very entertaining listen, I hope there is more to come from Lizzie and Co in the future. I must mention the wonderfully talented narrator Gemma Whelan, she’s an absolute pleasure to listen to.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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loved loved loved this book

From start to finish, I totally enjoyed this book. loved the humour and description of life it sparked my teenage memories from the 70s. Even my husband enjoyed the story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Funny, sweet and honest

Loved it. Thank you for writing it. The voice was strong and the narrative a beautifully crafted blend of upbeat and quirky.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

lovely, interesting and emotional

lovely book, as always from Nina Stibbe. interesting characters and storyline that seem gentle and slow but which are both incredibly engaging and sometimes quite thrilling. emotional and warm. such lovely exploration of human relationships. thoroughly enjoyed this and would recommend.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Funny, thoughtful and enjoyable.

Really well written,- funny, charming, real and brilliant book with the performance being perfect

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful story

Wonderful, moving, thoughtful, extremely funny and not like anything else I've read. I've listened to it about five times now!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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absolute brilliance as usual

I love Nina Stibbe's writing. Each book better than the last. This was my first audiobook of her's and I was delighted with it. All of the hilarious tones and subtleties of the writing was carried across in Gemma Whelan's excellent performance. Superb narration of a wonderfully charming book. I wish it could have lasted twice as long!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A pleasant book that goes nowhere

Very well narrated by Gemma Whelan, listening is a nice way of passing the time. The story of an adolescent in Leicester in the late 1970s transitioning from childhood has echoes to which most of us can relate. However the book has a rather limp and somewhat improbable finale. For me a woke sub-plot of a white male dentist refusing to treat an Asian teenage woman on the NHS because of her colour was a continued drag throughout because it only partially reflects life back then. My recollection of working with a young Asian woman in the late 1970s is that her family denied her the ability to socialise with white colleagues by rigidly collecting her from work at 5.00pm every day. However the author's wokery fits the current fashionable narrative and in consequence some will find it quite acceptable.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

wonderful escapism both insightful and hilarious,

loved loved loved this - laugh out loud funny, clever observations about human behaviour. brilliant.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Going out with a bang

This is the final book in the trilogy. It does not disappoint and it does not lose momentum and charts Lizzie‘s further adventures in life, this time as an assistant to a horrible dentist. It is a book full of hope, good humour and Leicestershire. It is superbly read by Gemma Whelan.

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