With the queen's jubilee celebrations in full swing, we've taken the opportunity to take a royal tour through our British history collection to see what we have on other kings and queens who've sat on the throne of England.

This month’s highlight is one of the brilliant, shortlisted books for this year’s Carnegie Award, now available for older members to enjoy!

This year, Dementia Action Week is 16-22 May. If dementia affects you and your family, or if you would like to learn more, we have gathered together the books in our collection that can help navigate our understanding through both personal experience and fictional depiction.

To celebrate the queen's 70th Jubliee, we've put together some of our best jubilee-related titles, both fiction and non-fiction, to keep you reading over the long bank holiday weekend. In between tea parties of course!

As part of mental health awareness week, we wanted to share some of our favourite books in our collection to help you take care of your own wellbeing.

We’ve added a great variety of fiction over the last month: crime, thrillers, westerns, family sagas, you name it - we have it!

In honour of being able to announce the results of the first Calibre book awards, we decided to turn our attention this month to all things arty... think opera, classic literature, theatre and film.

From spiders to elephants with heaps of dogs and cats in between, we have plenty of pet picks for our animal-loving members to listen to across the key stages as well as real-life experiences. These are stories of people’s love for their animal companions, exploring the deep love, joy and occasional heartbreak that having a pet can bring.

Want to swim in the sea with dolphins and penguins? Roam the forests with monkeys and wolves? Or even travel across the plains of Africa to spot lions and elephants? We've some great fiction and non-fiction titles where you can do just that and we've split them into handy Key Stage categories so you can find the perfect book for you.

We’ve got a bumper bundle of new Key Stage 2 books this month, including favourites from David Walliams, Derek Landy, David Baddiel, and more!

There's good news this month for fans of the Sci-fi author Frank Herbert with the arrival of the first in the Dune the Legend series co-written by his son Brian and Kevin J Anderson.

Our biographies category has had a surge in new additions over the last few months, with some great books from the likes of Will Young, Adele, Philip Schofield, Paul Hollywood and David Mitchell to name a few.

The latest list of new books for our younger members is full of big-name authors; we’ve got David Almond, Anthony Horowitz, Jeff Kinney, Alexander McCall Smith, Michael Morpurgo, and Philip Pullman for starters.

In February we saw another influx of memoirs and biographies into the collection, as well as some new crime and some prize-winning poetry.

The subject of love has been covered by writers for centuries and with February being the month of love we wanted to bring you some of our favourite reads from our collection of Love Stories. We hope you love them as much as we do...

Choosing your next book is often a tricky process; with so many books and so little time we want to make sure that our time commitment is soundly invested. With that in mind, we’ve curated a best-of-the-best list for our members to scour to select their next read. Read on for the books that were shortlisted for a literary award in 2021 and are available to listen to now in the Calibre collection.

To celebrate the addition of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman to the Calibre collection, we decided to find out if there were any other books themed around days of the week. And of course there are! So to keep you reading from Monday through to Sunday, here's what we recommend...

We have a lovely selection of books for Key Stage 2 and above this month as well as a book that has been enormously popular with both adults and children and a new offering for young adults from the amazing Angie Thomas.

Biographies feature greatly in the selection of books added to the library during January by Daisy May Cooper, Adam Hills and John O'Farrell...

In our recent article on fitness-related books, we gave you a healthy list of audiobooks that aim to inspire action and inform listeners of the best tips and strategies for healthy living. This week, the mind is the focus as it works with the body synergistically; each reinforcing the other. Here's our choice of books for your mental wellbeing.

This year, National Storytelling Week is running from Sunday 30th January to Saturday 5th February. It's the perfect way to start, or continue, the wonderful habit of sharing a bedtime story with young children, so we have explored the depths of our collection to find the best of the short children's stories that are perfect for snuggling up to when you've turned out the lights.

New for 2022 we have launched a new Book of the Month feature, an exciting and collaborative offering that members can join in with. Each month we will announce a new title that Calibre's fantastic Editorial team has selected and that we hope members will join us in reading. Our team will then record their thoughts and a discussion on the book which will be available as a podcast on our website.

This year we will be focussing each month on one of the many different genres of books you can listen to through the Calibre collection. For January we've selected humourous fiction...

As 2022 begins there’s no better time to get working on achieving your ambitions. Our audiobook collection contains a wealth of information and useful strategies to help you bring order to your life, calm negativity and navigate the year ahead in pursuit of the goals you find meaningful.

Crime and mystery books constantly top the polls here at Calibre, but the genre isn’t just for grown-ups. If you like thrilling plot twists, suspense-packed action and more than a smattering of mystery to keep you hooked, then you will not be disappointed by these criminally good reads.

If you haven’t had enough quizzes to last you a lifetime then have a go at this winter-themed one where all the answers can be found on the Calibre website

The release of the new Spiderman film started us thinking about unconventional superheroes that exist both in fiction and in real life. Discover some of them here...

Time travelling features heavily in this month’s books for younger members with some great books by Janis MacKay and Femi Fadugba ...

The most recent audiobooks to hit our virtual shelves have got something for even the most discerning book lover...

To end our wonderful ‘Meet the Narrator’ set of podcasts this year, we’re finishing with the delightful Pamela Todd.

We’ve lots of lovely books for all ages in this month’s collection, from Beatrix Potter, Scientist to As Good as Dead, the latest in The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series by Holly Jackson.

Thursday 16th December marks the 246th birthday of Jane Austen, one of our most well-loved English writers.

As we hurtle towards the end of the year, there seems no better way to feel warm and festive than with some books centred around the theme of Winter. Think snow, ice and freezing cold landscapes.

The selection of new books added to the library during November is especially rich in a wonderful range of non-fiction and also classic fiction. It seems to be the season of storms so cosy up and get those headphones on, but don’t forget the cuppa!

Our November Meet the Narrator is the lovely Tim Redman, who has been a Calibre narrator for 4 years.

Yes, it's still November (just), but we thought that now was the best time to bring you some great Christmas titles that you can borrow and read throughout the month of December, starting the festivities off with a literary bang.

The latest collection of books added to the library over the last month has something for everyone but is particularly strong on books for key stages 3 and 4.

October saw over sixty new adult titles added to the library – a bountiful harvest of juicy offerings covering many genres.

Loyal viewers of Death In Paradise will agree the timing of the show is exquisite. The post-Christmas slump has set in but we’re ready to start shaking it off as the promise of Spring inches closer. It’s cold, damp and grey outside in the UK and we’ve seen enough of it.

Just in time for Halloween, we're scoured our collection to bring you some enchantingly witchy reads. In these books we meet the witch in all her literary forms so there'll be something to suit you whatever your preferred genre.

A selection of the newest Key Stage 1-4 books added to our collection for younger members, along with a link to all the recently added titles...

Following on from our earlier look at the latest books on black history added to the library, here are six very different works of fiction by black authors, along with a collection of essays and musings by one of the most celebrated writers in the world...

The popularity of crime books is huge and this genre constantly tops the polls as the nation’s favourite. We bring you some of the best...

The natural world provides the inspiration and backdrop for fantastic stories, whether dealing us facts or spinning a wonderous work of fiction. These books can cover everything from the weather to warthogs, how to start a zoo to how to save the planet. So, if you have a passion for the world around you and a taste for adventure, we have just the books for you to explore.

It can be a challenge to find science fiction and fantasy books for adults, not least because they are often soooo long. But, this month, we have a handful to share with the die hard fans who can’t get enough of the genre.

More and more books written by and about the black experience are becoming available, so it’s great to see that many of them have made their way into Calibre's collection. In this first of two articles, we celebrate this year’s Black History Month with a look at our newest non-fiction works on the subject.

We love this time of year with the trees decked out in their orange and red autumn leaves and bonfire night following hot on the heels of halloween. Here's some great autumn reads for our younger members...

Here at Calibre we are celebrating National Poetry Day 2021 with a look at a form of poetry that has spanned not only the centuries, but also a couple of millennia

Banned Books Week is with us again, the annual reminder to celebrate the freedom to read. Originating from the USA, it remains to be relevant as books continue be restricted in schools and libraries across the States.

This month's big batch of books is brimming with fantasy, including the companion novel to Stephenie Meyers' Twilight series Midnight Sun.

There’s so much non-fiction in amongst this bumper crop of books for September that I can only give a taste of what’s available...

With the return of the ITV drama series Grantchester this month, we're delighted to feature an interview with the author of the Grantchester mysteries, James Runcie.

Here at Calibre we love it when some of our favourite books make it to the small or big screen and 2021 has been a great year for that...

For our next Meet The Narrator we have the lovely Hilary Spiers, who has been a narrator for Calibre for 6 years. 43 books later (and counting) she still loves her work as much as she did when she started...

There may not be as many new books as usual this month but the ones we do have are brilliant and well worth spending your last few weeks of the summer holidays reading...

We are adding nearly a hundred new books to our collection this month, so no excuses that you have nothing to read. Come rain or shine, and currently it is mostly rain, you are sure to find something to keep you happy for the month of August.

The school holidays are just about to begin; time to stock up on lots of lovely books to read and we have some great suggestions for you!

This Summer why not settle back and immerse yourself into what we are calling 'Cosy Summer Crime'. Think Agatha Raisin, Marple and Poirot.

After the strict regulations on social distancing in 2020 which prevented most major sporting events going ahead, 2021 is proving to be a real sporting summer...

On our podcast this month we are so excited to have an interview with Elly Griffiths, author of some of our favourite crime novels.

We have it! The much-requested Troubled Blood, the latest in the Robert Galbraith series featuring Cormoran Strike and his now business partner Robin Ellacott, is here at last. If you thought the previous installment Lethal White was long at 22 hours, you’ll be delighted, or appalled, to hear that Troubled Blood comes in at a whopping 32 hours.

Sometimes you finish a book and just don’t want the story to end. You want to keep reading, needing to know what happens to the characters next. We’ve found some brilliant series where you can start from the beginning, happily content in the knowledge that it’s so good the author decided to write more.

With a great summer of sport to look forward to, we've searched our collection for the best sports-related stories to inspire, amuse and enthrall you throughout the summer.

There are several books by prize-winning authors this month including one by the youngest ever winner of the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing...

Here at Calibre we are always so excited when Harry Potter Book Night comes around as it gives us an excuse to dig out our favourite Harry Potter title to read all over again (because let's face it, most of us have read them more than once!)

So many books, so little space to talk about them! The crime and thriller selection added to the shelves this month is exceptional, but if that's not your genre we have plenty of others too!

In our interview with the lovely Kate Griffin, the author of The Kitty Peck Mysteries, she talks all things Kitty and how she came to create the series.

Hi VIS fortnight is in full swing and seeks each year to highlight the wonderful world of accessible reading. Reading is something that brings us together, regardless of what or how we read. Hi VIS fortnight provides an opportunity to raise the profile of accessible library services, collections, and activities, and to connect people with a vision or print impairment to reading.

Our youngest members are in for a real treat this month with a great story from the wonderful Julia Donaldson...

David Walliams has fast become one of our best-loved children's authors. We are delighted that we have been able to get so many of his books into our collection so that our members can gasp, giggle, snort and laugh out loud at the adventures of aunts who are awful, grannies who are ganstas, dentists who are demons and beasts who are lurking around Buckingham Palace.

This month’s collection of new books is especially strong on non-fiction titles, with an emphasis on biographies.

In celebration of World Book Night 2021, we have gone back through all 10 years of World Book Night's featured books and brought you 10 of the best that are available from our collection.

We are delighted to have six titles by Cressida Cowell currently in our audiobook collection. Currently the Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Cressida is one of our best-loved children's authors, bringing fantasy and mythical creatures alive for a generation of youngsters.

New books for April include an exciting collection of tales of vampires, time-travel, magic, myths and legends!

This month’s wonderful range of new books will hopefully provide some entertainment while we wait for the weather to get better!

Three key ingredients for any Easter-themed reads are chicks, bunnies and, of course, chocolate! We have checked our nests, scoured the hedgerows and pilfered the treat cupboard and have come up with some cracking Easter break audiobooks to keep you entertained whilst we’re all waiting for the sunshine to come back.

The concept that laughter can be an aid to better physical and mental health has been well-known for centuries. As part of our Reading for Wellbeing month, we have scoured our collection for the funniest titles we could find to provide you with some laughter. Stories that will make you unfurrow your brow and smile from ear to ear.

We have plenty of new books this month for our young members and our youngest members, from the Castle of LLyr to Superdad's Day Off. Whatever your age, we have some great reading suggestions!

It is only fitting that in the month in which we celebrate International Women’s day, and Women’s History Month, we start with the literary giant that was Jane Austen...

As part of our introductions to some of our lovely narrators who work mainly behind the scenes, we will be bringing you podcasts and interviews from the people you have often met only by voice. Next, the amazing Mark Campbell.‍

World Book Day is here again! When book tokens are distributed to children across the country so they can choose which of the brilliant selection books on offer they will purchase. So our members don’t miss out, we were able to add several of last year’s contributions to our library

It’s January, it’s lockdown, and it’s cold, thank goodness for David Walliams and Jeff Kinney to tickle our funny bones!

Four great new titles that have been added to our collection this month, available to members on USB memory stick only.

It's February, and with a blanket of snow across much of the country, it's the perfect time to stay in and read. The highlight of this month’s new books has to be Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day by Captain Tom Moore.

National Storytelling Week is an iniative by the Society for Storytelling and this year runs from 30th January to 6th February. We are hugely grateful to one of our lovely narrators, Grace Dives, for allowing us to tell her story 'The Dragon Who Came in from the Cold' across this week.

As the recent snowfall and continued cold weather have reminded us, there is still plenty of time to start that audiobook you’ve been meaning to. Or if you’ve managed to listen your way through your whole playlist: firstly, well done! Secondly, read on! There has never been a better opportunity to escape the boredom during lockdown than by delving into one of our lockdown listens.

Now that many children are homeschooling, we thought it only fair that the grown-ups joined in and refreshed some of their skills in the core lessons that our youngsters are working so hard at. So once again, we took the subjects and gave them a subtle twist to make them more interesting. See if you can go to the top of the class by reading as many as you can…

Now we're back to homeschooling, we've taken the core subjects and glittered them up a bit to produce the alternative lockdown school timetable. Lessons have never been so interesting!

At Calibre we’re fighting back against the January blues by listening to some of the most inspirational stories from incredible people, so if you’re in need of a spark of inspiration or want to learn how to regain motivation for workouts or the year ahead, limber up, take your pick from this selection and prepare for a grueling adventure.

Following Calibre Audio being recently added to the Dolphin EasyReader app, we are delighted to invite our members to an exclusive free webinar. Join Dave Salisbury and Colin Shales from Dolphin and Emma Scott from Calibre Audio to discover how to use the EasyReader app to find, download and read titles from Calibre Audio.

An unexpected Christmas gift to Calibre that has resulted in some new and exciting books being added to our collection. 

This month’s new books list has something for every age group, and even some that can be enjoyed by adults too. We are especially excited about a particular offering for our youngest members - The Big Mog Collection by Judith Kerr, about Mog, the much loved cat.

This month’s new books list is choc full of crowd pleasers, including a handful of love stories and family sagas.

Not an exhortation to reinvent yourself in the style of a New Year, New You magazine article, but simply a chance to gather together an interesting collection of Calibre books related to making a new start, or being forced to move on to a new country, or a new way of life.

For those of you bursting to know the answer to the one question you couldn't get, we're happy to oblige! Here's the answers to our Christmas Family Quiz 2020.

12 festive and captivating books to read over the Christmas season. With best wishes for Christmas from us to you!

Winter is here, and don’t we know it, and what could be nicer than sitting in the warm whilst reading a book where a cold, wintry environment plays as much a part of the story as any of the characters.

We may not have many new books for young people going into the library this month, but to make up for it every single one is an absolute cracker! Although primarily aimed at Key Stage 2, I defy anyone not to enjoy them, even the grown-ups.

This month our list of new books is especially rich in contemporary fiction, 20th century classics and crime.

Two new books by Alex Wheatle, some fantasy fiction with a Celtic twist and a book containing four short stories about a family of mice living in Brambly Hedge. Our November books really have provided for all!