Spectacles

· Penguin UK
4.7
50 reviews
Ebook
464
Pages
Eligible
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About this ebook

Discover the woman behind the spectacles in the hilarious, incredibly moving memoir from much loved comedian, writer and presenter Sue Perkins, star of Mel & Sue and The Great British Bake Off

'Very funny. Reading her memoir is very like meeting her'
Sunday Times

'Tight & bright & full of inspiration' Chris Evans, Radio 2

When I began writing this book, I went home to see if my mum had kept some of my stuff. What I found was that she hadn't kept some of it. She had kept all of it - every bus ticket, postcard, school report - from the moment I was born to the moment I finally had the confidence to turn round and say 'Why is our house full of this shit?'

Sadly, a recycling 'incident' destroyed the bulk of this archive.

This has meant two things: firstly, Dear Reader, you will never get to see countless drawings of wizards, read a poem about corn on the cob, or marvel at the kilos of brown flowers I so lovingly pressed as a child. Secondly, it's left me with no choice but to actually write this thing myself.

This, my first ever book, will answer questions such as 'Is Mary Berry real?', 'Is it true you wear a surgical truss?' and 'Is a non-spherically symmetric gravitational pull from outside the observable universe responsible for some of the observed motion of large objects such as galactic clusters in the universe?'

Most of this book is true. I have, of course, amplified my more positive characteristics in an effort to make you like me.

Thank you for reading.

Praise for Spectacles

'Drama, tears and laughs - Spectacles has got it all. A brilliant, touching memoir suffused with love, it reminds you that life is best lived at wonky angles. I ADORED it'
Jessie Burton, bestselling author of The Miniaturist

'It's a proper book . . . so well written. Tight & bright & full of inspiration'
Chris Evans, Radio 2

'Very funny . . . It seems there are two Sue Perkins: the TV one, who gabbles and pratfalls, and the sensitive one who aches. The first of course, exists to protect the second. They can both write. The first writes comedy, the second tragedy; in this sense, reading her memoir is very like meeting her'
Sunday Times

Ratings and reviews

4.7
50 reviews
John Read
October 9, 2016
I picked this book up in my local branch of WH Smith while looking for something else, and after flicking through a few pages, was hooked. Its important to say that I have no real interest in Sue, via Mel and Sue or Bake Off or any other project, and hence no real reason for buying or reading this book. I merely stumbled upon this by chance. I'm so, so glad I did. One of the funniest, heart warming, and wry memoirs\autobiographys I have had the pleasure of reading. Buy it! Read it! Laugh at it! Love it!
3 people found this review helpful
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Michael Capel-Davies
November 15, 2019
My first attempt at Sue Perkins, I"d seen her on TV a couple of times but was surprised to hear of her adventures while making that baking thing. Her description of her her trips to Alaska, Laos and Vietnam where eye-watering. Brilliant.
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emma elliott
April 10, 2016
Disapointed as not sure if there are photos at the end of the book because if so cannot view .
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About the author

Sue Perkins is perhaps best known for being one half of double act Mel and Sue, where she plays the part of Mel. Together, the pair have bounced, shouted and gurned their way through countless hours of television, most memorably Light Lunch and its later counterpart, the imaginatively titled Late Lunch.

Over the years, Sue has worked on a wide range of solo projects, including documentaries on art, popular fiction and history. In 2008 she appeared on the BBC show Maestro, culminating in her conducting at the Last Night of the Proms. She has also collaborated with food-critic Giles Coren on the Supersizers series, where the duo power-ate their way through five centuries of lungs, livers and testicles whilst half-cut on sherry.

Sue hosts the panel show, Insert Name Here, as well as being a regular contributor to Just A Minute, QI and The Last Leg. She is also the presenter of the Game of Thrones companion show, Thronecast.

East of Croydon is Sue's second book. Her first, Spectacles, was a Sunday Times bestseller.

Oh, and she used to do a cake show on BBC1

@sueperkins

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