Wake Me Up When It's All Over...: Unpublished Letters to The Daily Telegraph

Unpublished Letters to The Daily Telegraph #13

by Kate Moore

In a surreal and unprecedented year in which even the most seasoned commentators have struggled to keep pace with the news cycle, letter writers to  The Daily Telegraph  have once again provided their refreshing and witty take on events.  

Now in its thirteenth year, this new edition of the best-selling series  is a review of the year made up of the wry and astute observations of the unpublished  Telegraph  letter writers.
 
Readers of the  Telegraph  Letters Page will be fondly aware of the eclectic combination of learned wisdom , wistful nostalgia and robust good sense of humour that characterise its correspondence – whether it’s suggesting the sci-fi Vulcan salute as an alternative to the now-discouraged handshake, or a parable of political dysfunction drawn from shopping in Ikea. 
 
From Brexit to Covid , Trump to Biden , lockdown to vaccination, parish council Jackie Weaver to Texas Cat lawyer Rod Ponton, no one escapes their hilariously whimsical and sometimes risqué musings. With an agenda as enticing as ever, the thirteenth book in the bestselling Unpublished Letters series will prove, once again, that the  Telegraph’s  readers still have a shrewd sense of what really matters.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

Published December 14, 2021

Reviews

[Anjana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read and enjoyed the previous such collection and thought I could give this a shot as well. Unlike Letters to the editor in any other year, the last couple has made it easier for them to be relatable despite the country to which you belong and/or reside. Everyone has been in the same boat since 2020, and only now, I would presume, things are starting to vary across the world in terms of 'normalcy'.
The previous collection spoke of people coming to terms with the pandemic, the medical situations and other related things. This collection was about people voicing their frustrations about lockdowns and fluctuating rules. Given the more recent scandals, I would assume there would have been more discussions surrounding that topic!
These people in the UK have written in with some things they found funny, frustrating or a strange combination of the two. There were more political notes here than in the previous work, and since I do not follow UK politics, a part of which I did not understand at all. The rest was generic and entertaining. Given the nature of the remarks, it is not something you can read at one go, but I dipped in and out and chucked at a few. I felt like people must have stored certain quips they come up with over time to send to the newspaper!
I think people in the country may enjoy it more than I did, for others, I would recommend the previous set if they find the idea entertaining.
I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

[Teresa Gardner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this.
I took the punt and thought why not, these are suppose to be funny and due to lock down I thought alot of the situations would be relatable. However I didn't find any of it funny, I found it boring and lackluster.
These are letters they felt should be published but honestly I wish they hadn't bothered.

It really dragged that I couldn't read the whole thing, it's very right-wing and eventually I got abit annoyed with some of the comments. I 100% agree everyone has the right to their own opinion and if you read this and enjoy it then that's fine.
But it definitely wasn't my cup of tea and won't be reading anymore of this collection

[Laura Duffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun and satirical reflection on the last year through the unpublished letters sent into the Daily Telegraph. There were many times reading this that I audibly laughed at loud at some of the hot takes contained within this volume. I thoroughly enjoyed dipping into this intermittently for a dose of comedy. I already cannot wait for the next volume,

[Joni Owens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Witty unpublished letters/emails. I’m so glad the author compiled these because some of them are pure gold!

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

Elderly racists complaining about footballers haircuts, interspersed with lame dad jokes.

[Anjana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read and enjoyed the previous such collection and thought I could give this a shot as well. Unlike Letters to the editor in any other year, the last couple has made it easier for them to be relatable despite the country to which you belong and/or reside. Everyone has been in the same boat since 2020, and only now, I would presume, things are starting to vary across the world in terms of 'normalcy'.
The previous collection spoke of people coming to terms with the pandemic, the medical situations and other related things. This collection was about people voicing their frustrations about lockdowns and fluctuating rules. Given the more recent scandals, I would assume there would have been more discussions surrounding that topic!
These people in the UK have written in with some things they found funny, frustrating or a strange combination of the two. There were more political notes here than in the previous work, and since I do not follow UK politics, a part of which I did not understand at all. The rest was generic and entertaining. Given the nature of the remarks, it is not something you can read at one go, but I dipped in and out and chucked at a few. I felt like people must have stored certain quips they come up with over time to send to the newspaper!
I think people in the country may enjoy it more than I did, for others, I would recommend the previous set if they find the idea entertaining.
I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

[Kexx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unpublished Letters and now we know why.

[Joni Owens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Witty unpublished letters/emails. I’m so glad the author compiled these because some of them are pure gold!

[Poptart19 (the name’s ren) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

A selection of letters to the editor of the Daily Telegraph in 2021 that didn’t make it into print. Most are puns, witty observations, or funny anecdotes.

[What I liked:]

•This book made me laugh! Pretty much every page had at least one funny quip or story. I particularly enjoyed the letter about using precariously stacked piles of books as a burglar alarm 😂

•Each letter includes the name of the writer, & their town & county of residence. I also enjoyed reading the place names.

•The letters are arranged into chapters by theme, & then under sub-headings by sub-theme, so you can skip around to topics you find interesting.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•The only downside was that I didn’t get 100% of the political jokes, but that’s my own fault for not following UK politics as closely as I could.

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

[Theediscerning · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't see the fully locked-down 2020 edition of these wonderful books, but this has more than enough of the 'didn't know whether to laugh or cry' memories of Covid Year 2. Politicians being thick, or shit, or indeed thick as shit, Tony Blair's lockdown mullet, and Mucky Meg"h"an dragging the rugby player's son on to Oprah to attest to a want of privacy ("This is beginning to resemble a rather posh episode of the Jeremy Kyle show" indeed) - all the vomitous, yawn-inducing and/or plain loathsome is here. If you don't know what kind of letters make up these books of submissions to the Telegraph newspapers, you should know they're succinct, routinely witty – and even when they're clearly despatching the best line heard down the pub and prove to be a plain, pure and simple quip, they're well worth the time spent on them. Even the fact this could be expected to be a book of people complaining they can't even go down the bloody pub does not prevent this from being a success. As usual.

[joyce w. laudon · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the introduction to this title, notes Telegraph readers “are made of stern stuff. During uncertain times, they have been an unfailing source of wit, wisdom and resolve.” This book is a collection of their letters.

Chapters include Family trials and tribulations, A year in politics; That’s entertainment; Travel in lockdown Britain; Home thoughts on abroad, Sporting triumph and disaster; and Royal Blushes. I smiled or chuckled many times as I dipped into this book which may be read in any order. Those who are fans of British humor, both intended and un, should enjoy this title.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short collection of previously-unpublished reader's letters to the British national newspaper The Daily Telegraph, primarily focusing on comments related to the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.

Plenty of witty anecdotes around lockdown life and jabs (no pun intended) at the government response to the pandemic, not much else to say about it.

[David Smillie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brainless, but fun and often cutting.