This is one book that should definitely be "read" as an audiobook. Sandi Toksvig's narration of her own writing really brought it to life for me. I wonder if the print version would be as much fun?
It is a really eclectic collection of facts about different women in history, few of which I had heard before. All told with Sandi's unique wit and story-telling flair.

A wonderful idea brought brilliantly to life through Sandi's exuberant persona and narration. Anchored to each calendar month; a bit of history, trivia and a poem is included for each one. Plus lots of fascinating women and their incredible lives and contributions to society. I admired the sheer breadth of lives covered, spanning time, country and career/contribution. I defy anyone not to want to find out more. You realise pretty quickly how little you know about the achievements of women and how much of their stories have been suppressed throughout history. I would recommend reading this in chunks as it is jam packed with knowledge and can feel overwhelming if not. Though, this is perfect for dipping in and out of; such as listening to a chapter that corresponds to the year.

This is a rallying cry. Listen then do.

I’m not sure how to review this book, so I will just state the facts.

I listened to this book via Audible.
It’s narrated by Sandi Toksvig.
She’s bloody hysterical.
I have no recollection of what she actually said except it’s a witty, fascinating and interesting book about women throughout history.
I think I learnt quite a lot, but I can’t remember what.
I would happily listen to Sandi narrate the phone book.

Great collection of stories about women throughout history, on a month to month daily basis. I loved the fact that Sandi narrated it herself with her engaging voice full of passion and humour. The only part I would change would be having it as an actual book as I found myself going back and forth to relisten to details. Throughly enjoyed this and would recommend to others

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Who doesn't thoroughly enjoy Sandi Toksvig's voice?! It was the fact that she was the narrator that persuaded me to dip my toe once more into the world of Audiobooks.

The book and has clearly been well researched and reminded me a little of QI in terms of style. For each day, there is an entry about a woman throughout history, and brief information about them. This is perhaps the starting point for further investigation. I think it is important not to skip the preface to this book as this sets out the reasoning behind the Almanac and the search for "purple patches".

Sandi's narration is, to a fault, perfect. Her style delivers information brilliantly in an engaging manner. However, whilst I cannot fault the concept and the effort that has gone into this book for me it is a book that deserves to be read and not listened to. It is a book I would want to dip in and out of, revisiting from time to time. For me, it didn't sit that well after the preface when we were in full Almanac-swing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette UK Audio, Trapeze for a copy of this for review.

Such an interesting listen. I love Sandi toksvig and was so excited that she was narrating her book. I was not disappointed.

I love the month by month set up with facts about the month itself and then facts about influential women.

I am in two minds about the audio book, as I adored listening to Sandi read this but I also feel it would be good as a hard copy book to be able to dip in and out of and refer back to.

Either way a very interesting book and well worth a read/listen. As Sandi says, it is starting point and could have been so much longer.

I loved this!
From the description and introduction I had assumed this would be a collection of anecdotes about exceptional and under-appreciated women throughout history; it was, but it was also so much more. Using the connecting thread of the months of the year, Toksvig moves seamlessly between ancient eastern and western civilisations and contemporary Britain, and from medicine via Australian politics to Granny Smith apples.

Toksvig is clearly extremely erudite, but writes in an informative but conversational style, packing in a lot of facts in a very engaging manner. The audiobook with Toksvig herself narrating really brought the events vividly to life.

My only complaint - and it is not a true complaint, but rather my own inadequacy - is that I couldn't possibly retain the wealth of (to me) new information from one listen, but I am looking forward to listening to it again, or perhaps reading a print copy.

Here's hoping for a second Toksvig Almanac in a couple of years once I have had the chance fully to digest this one!

I have to confess that this kind of non-fiction, history-lesson book is not my kind of thing. I came to it for my love of Sandi and a desire to have her talk to me for hours on end. If you want to refer back to the information and research more for yourself, you may find the audio makes that difficult and eBook or print might be a better format for you. However, if you want to lie back and have Sandi take you on a journey through space and time, then I can definitely recommend her wonderful narration in the audio edition
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For every month of the year, Sandi gives us facts and events, sometimes poetry, and an etymological history of the month name - my favourite! For each day, she informs us of at least one inspirational woman. It doesn’t matter that we’re already well into 2021. I found that to be mostly a way of organising the many stories and nothing is lost by listening at a different time or even out of order
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Make sure you don’t skip the introduction. I fell in love a little with Sandi’s description of the mission for the book, which was to “go in search of patches of purple” - using the experience of a Japanese woman anonymised with a pseudonym meaning purple to represent the women who have been left, or deliberately written, out of history. I was so taken by that imagery that I’m quite disappointed there’s no purple on the cover, which uses only blues, white and grey. That is not to fault the incredible, intricate design (and I love that it was perfectly adapted to the 1:1 audiobook ratio), I just feel they neglected the chance to reflect that poignant moment
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The women Sandi covers are so varied, with different contributions to make and challenges to face. I enjoyed hearing their stories (even though the sexism within them was hard to bare) and I liked Sandi’s commitment to a broad range of people, including even those morally dubious but fascinating nonetheless. I hope you like learning about them all too

This was extremely entertaining to listen to.
Funny and factual, Sandy Toksvig was so engaging. The subjects were interesting and the delivery was full of Sandy's wit.

A highly entertaining and informative book, listening to the audio version narrated by the author was an absolute delight.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It was both written and read by Sandi Toksvig which I think is special/ It is very much a feminist book with a walk through the calendar naming women ignored throughout history. I learned so much about a range of different women I didn't even know existed! Well worth a listen / read.

Toksvig's Almanac 2021 consists of many stories from history - mostly about women. A lot of these women are not well-known, but they should be.

Written humorously, Sandi Toksvig presents us with the achievements and destinies of many important women throughout history. A lot of women have found a place within this work, first woman scientists, doctors, activists, entertainers, and many more. Many of these stories are not well-known. At least, I didn't know most of them.

This audiobook is a very well-researched work. I was impressed by how much time and effort must be in this book.

I think the book might be a slightly better choice for some, as you can research all these names on your own for further information. But on the other hand, the audiobook version is also a great choice because it was fun to listen to the author's narration.

I listened to the audiobook of this, which is narrated by Sandi. Her narration is wonderful and so engaging.

I enjoyed the book and it has clearly been well researched. For each day, there is an entry about a woman throughout history, and brief information about them. The idea is you then find further information about them as many of them I had never heard of.

Overall, this was a really informative and engaging book. As much as I loved Sandi’s narration, I think this is an instance where I would prefer a physical copy of the book. It’s the sort of book you would dip in and out of.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette UK Audio, Trapeze for a copy of this for review.

I love listening to Sandi Toksvig, she has a brilliant radio voice and she commands an audience; I always stop in my tracks when I hear her voice. She is also a great storyteller. So, I was excited at the prospect of listening to this fascinating trivia audiobook.
I was captured by the stories of words, women, customs etc, that she talked about but I feel, for me, even though I love Toksvig’s dulcet tones, a printed version would have suited me better or at least as a back-up, so that I could take my time over all of the stories of amazing facts that she talked about; the details, the names, the dates etc, so I can make notes of names/words/customs etc and research them myself in more detail and at my own pace. It is good that she crammed many in as there are so many to be inspired and interested in, but I had to keep going back over the audiobook to pick up the details. Apart from that (which is no reflection on the audiobook but more my personal preference), this is a brilliant audiobook to lose yourself in and feel inspired, or simply to shut your eyes for an afternoon or three, but still feel like you are using your time wisely. Perfect for a lockdown listen.

A fascinating collection of stories about fascinating women throughout history, mostly unknown to me, and interspersed with Sandi's sharp wit. I made a few notes as I listened and will be doing a bit of research to find out more about some of the women.

Sandi's obvious passion for history shines through in her writing and narration, and made this a great listen.

Absolutely fantastic, flipping amazing and a million other versions of squealing hyperbole ! I love Sandi so much so I was so excited when this book came out, I was even more happy to get this ARC of the audiobook. To be able to hear Sandi and her her passion in her book was even better, perfectly addictive listening, so interesting and full of Sandi’s humour, a simply wonderful audio experience. Definitely go buy or borrow this or the physical book. You will be glad you did.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Arc kindly received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book that takes us through the year by looking at critical dates in (almost exclusively) women’s history. It celebrates powerful women, many of whom I was unaware of.

However ...

I feel like this just didn’t work as an audiobook. The book itself was fantastic and fascinating. But my enjoyment was reduced by several factors:

*We get a very small glimpse into each woman, which is perfect, as it means so many could be included. However it was reasonably difficult to retain all the names I wanted to research more. I feel like having them down in print would allow and encourage me to delve deeper into those that really gripped me.

*Because of the nature of the book, and the heavy use of dates, as an audio book it felt a little repetitive. I feel like the layout would work so much better in print.

*There was a weird tinny thing going on with the narration, it almost sounded aug-tuned.

However I love Sandi’s voice and honestly could listen to her all day. Plus you can hear how passionate she was as she was reading.

Overall, a great book, but the format of audiobook does not do it justice.

4/5

This is yet another delightful audiobook that has accompanied me on my walks during lockdown 2020/21. I am delighted I chose this format for this particular book because it lends itself SO well to dipping in and out. Sandi Toksvig is, of course, a gifted storyteller, her dulcet tones are entertaining and amusing, and the humour is never far from the surface. She also has a very wise and thoughtful head on her shoulders.

She starts in January and moves right through the year, and with each passing day she features a woman (mainly, and often who has had to dress up as a man to be able to achieve her goals). Each woman has had something significant happen to her on that particular day: she was perhaps born, died, achieved something that has never been really celebrated or acknowledged, discovered something worthwhile to the human race; perhaps, even, she was notorious for all the wrong reasons. This really, in many ways, is a celebration of the achievements of women but also an exploration of the rather dismal story of how womanhood through the centuries has been recorded for posterity, indeed, much of it hasn't; very often a man has been given credit where in fact the woman has done the groundwork.

The amount of research that has gone into this collection is utterly staggering and she features people across the centuries and from around the globe. There are short poems, facts, musings and so much more in this wonderful and esoteric compilation.

You will discover who the only woman was who had her head spiked (after she had been beheaded, of course) on London Bridge; that Eleanor G Holm was disqualified from the Berlin Olympics in 1936 for drinking too much champagne; and why the British tax year ends on the 5th April rather than starting at the dawn of a new year. You may even be delighted to discover that on 19 September there is "Talk Like a Pirate Day" (who knew!) and OF COURSE she discovers that women pirates were very much doing their own thing, in fact inevitably far surpassing the feats of male counterparts. She admires the determination of Bessie Coleman, the first African American/Native American woman to hold a pilot's licence and the lengths to which she had to go to obtain said licence!

She loves a good festival too. She tells the story of the woman behind Walpurgisnacht (check that out!); she shares the details of The Hunting of the Earl of Rone in Combe Martin (she optimistically offers the dates for May 2021) and ponders the origins of the Honiton Hot Penny Festival . She describes the festivals in the States that are held in Battle Creek, Michigan (Kelloggs are based there) and the delights of the Gerber National Baby Food Festival in Fremont (also Michigan, what is it with this State?). In Klagenfurt there is body painting fest, where people paint anything and everyone and thus there is an awful lot of nudity on display over one hot weekend.

She moves over to France and the storming of the Bastille; she recored the story of the forgotten woman of the Eiffel Tower; she looks at the fascinating life of George Sand (who was, of course, a woman), who at one point was more famous than Balzac, and who flouted permission to wear trousers (women across the world have had to seek permission to wear trousers, and lamentably in some parts of the world it is still illegal for them to wear them); and she checks out the story of the woman who murdered Marat in the bath - any idea who she was? No I didn't either! But Marat was immortalised in a very famous painting, and she was, well, consigned to history.

It is truly mind boggling how many women have been left out of the history books, simply because of their sex; their contribution has been sidelined and the men, quite simply, bigged up. As she states, history depends very much on who is writing it and that has largely been men.

You will of course cherrypick your own favourite stories and anecdotes, and my only regret is that I simply couldn't assimilate all the wonderful information that she has brought together. Goodness, I would be a popular team member in a pub quiz!

I was very pleased that I listened to this on audiobook. It is a perfect format to tune in and out, and listen to in shorter and longer bursts, just as one chooses.

Toksvig's eclectic collection of stories and history related to each day of the year provides an engaging listen that can be enjoyed in one go or daily throughout a year, With a growing familiarity throughout the dates of the year, I found myself eagerly awaiting certain sections, listening out for names and stories that I wanted to research further. ending up with a second listen through with a notebook simply to record the plethora of individuals that had sparked a special place in me. A book/audio that all women should dip into.

This is a really lovely, dip in dip out audiobook. Sandi Toksvig reads as brilliantly as she writes. There are interesting facts alongside humour and warmth.

Although we won't buy the audiobook we will buy the book itself. we do not stock audiobooks sadly.