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Showing 1 - 20 of 13145 items
By Rupert Everett. 2012
'[An] instant classic' IndependentRupert Everett's first memoir - Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins - was an international bestseller and…
an instant classic on publication in 2006. Reviewers compared him to Evelyn Waugh, David Niven, Noel Coward and Lord Byron. But Rupert Everett is - of course - one of a kind.Mischievous, touching and nothing less than brilliant, this new memoir is filled with stories, from childhood to the present. Astonishing encounters; tragedy and comedy; vivid portraits of friends and rivals; razor-sharp observations of the celebrity circus from LA to London and beyond... there is something extraordinary on every page. A pilgrimage to Lourdes with his father is both hilarious and moving. A misguided step into reality TV goes horribly wrong. From New York to Moscow to Berlin to Phnom Penh, Vanished Years takes the reader on a wild and wonderful new journey with a charming (and rather disreputable) companion.By Laura Jackson. 2011
This fascinating biography of Freddie Mercury which received outstanding acclaim from Queen and rock fans worldwide, has now been updated…
for reissue to coincide with the release of the film about his life. Laura Jackson addresses topics including:* The reality behind Queen's flamboyant front man and lead singer* Mercury the star of mystery - amusing, loyal and generous, yet revealing a dark side to his personality* His frequent use of cocaine and how it heightened his tendency to excess - both on and off stage* The women in his life - his bizarrely enduring relationships with his first love, Mary Austin, and his long-time confidante, Barbara Valentin, who speaks for the first time in this bookThe book also includes new and intimate stories by those who knew him well, such as Tim Rice, Richard Branson, Cliff Richard, Bruce Dickinson, Mike Moran, Wayne Eagling, Zandra Rhodes and Susannah York.By Sharman Apt Russell. 1993
By Alex James. 2007
I was the Fool-king of Soho and the number-one slag in the Groucho Club, the second drunkest member of the…
world's drunkest band. This was no disaster, though. It was a dream coming true.'For Alex James, music had always been a door to a more eventful life. But as bass player of Blur - one of the most successful British bands of all time - his journey was more exciting and extreme than he could ever have predicted. In Bit of a Blur he chronicles his journey from a slug-infested flat in Camberwell to a world of screaming fans and private jets - and his eventual search to find meaning and happiness (and, perhaps most importantly, the perfect cheese), in an increasingly surreal world.By Christopher White. 2018
From the author of Skipjack The Melting World comes a mystery the curious boom in America …
s beloved lobster industry and its probable crashMaine lobstermen have happened upon a bonanza along their rugged picturesque coast For the past five years the lobster population along the coast of Maine has boomed resulting in a lobster harvest six times the size of the record catch from the 1980s an event unheard of in fisheries In a detective story scientists and fishermen explore various theories for the glut Leading contenders are a sudden lack of predators and a recent wedge of warming waters which may disrupt the reproductive cycle a consequence of climate change Christopher White s The Last Lobster follows three lobster captains Frank Jason and Julie one the few female skippers in Maine as they haul and set thousands of traps Unexpectedly boom may turn to bust as the captains must fight a warming ocean volatile prices and rough weather to keep their livelihood afloat The three captains work longer hours trying to make up in volume what they lack in price As a result there are 3 million lobster traps on the bottom of the Gulf of Maine while Frank Jason and others call for a reduction of traps This may in boost prices The Maine lobstering towns are among the first American communities to confront global warming and the survival of the Maine Coast depends upon their efforts It may be an uphill battle to create a sustainable catch as high temperatures are already displacing lobsters northward toward Canadian waters out of reach of American fishermen The last lobster may be just aheadBy Jewel. 2015
New York Times bestselling poet and multi-platinum singer-songwriter Jewel explores her unconventional upbringing and extraordinary life in an inspirational memoir…
that covers her childhood to fame, marriage, and motherhood.When Jewel's first album, Pieces of You, topped the charts in 1995, her emotional voice and vulnerable performance were groundbreaking. Drawing comparisons to Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell, a singer-songwriter of her kind had not emerged in decades. Now, with more than thirty million albums sold worldwide, Jewel tells the story of her life, and the lessons learned from her experience and her music. Living on a homestead in Alaska, Jewel learned to yodel at age five, and joined her parents' entertainment act, working in hotels, honky-tonks, and biker bars. Behind a strong-willed family life with an emphasis on music and artistic talent, however, there was also instability, abuse, and trauma. At age fifteen, she moved out and tasked herself with a mission: to see if she could avoid being the kind of statistic that her past indicated for her future. Soon after, she was accepted to the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, and there she began writing her own songs as a means of expressing herself and documenting her journey to find happiness. Jewel was eighteen and homeless in San Diego when a radio DJ aired a bootleg version of one of her songs and it was requested into the top-ten countdown, something unheard-of for an unsigned artist. By the time she was twenty-one, her debut had gone multiplatinum. There is much more to Jewel's story, though, one complicated by family legacies, by crippling fear and insecurity, and by the extraordinary circumstances in which she managed to flourish and find happiness despite these obstacles. Along her road of self-discovery, learning to redirect her fate, Jewel has become an iconic singer and songwriter. In Never Broken she reflects on how she survived, and how writing songs, poetry, and prose has saved her life many times over. She writes lyrically about the natural wonders of Alaska, about pain and loss, about the healing power of motherhood, and about discovering her own identity years after the entire world had discovered the beauty of her songs.From the Hardcover edition.By Jon Clift, Amanda Cuthbert. 2007
By Elijah Wald, Dave Van Ronk. 2005
Dave Van Ronk (1936-2002) was one of the founding figures of the 1960s folk revival, but he was far more…
than that. A pioneer of modern acoustic blues, a fine songwriter and arranger, a powerful singer, and one of the most influential guitarists of the '60s, he was also a marvelous storyteller, a peerless musical historian, and one of the most quotable figures on the Village scene. Holding court in legendary venues like Gerde's Folk City and the Gaslight Cafe, Van Ronk wielded an influence so great that a stretch of Sheridan Square--the heart of the Village--was later renamed Dave Van Ronk Street.By Ricky Tomlinson. 2003
I know that I'm going to get stick over this book, but there you go - it can't be helped.…
And some readers might think I'm a terrible liar when they read what follows, but everything in this book is true. Enough lies have been told about me, without me adding to them.' Famous as the lovable couch potato Jim Royle of The Royle Family, Ricky Tomlinson has entertained millions without ever leaving his armchair. Now, in his long-awaited autobiography, he surprises yet again with a remarkable story of love, hardship, humour, injustice and triumph. His mother used to tell him that he had lived three lives, but even she miscounted. He has been a plasterer, banjo player, stand-up comic, union agitator, political activist, film extra, award-winning actor and unwilling guest of Her Majesty's prison service. Renowned and respected for his honesty, wit and integrity, Ricky brings all of these qualities to his extraordinary, moving and inspiring story.By W. R. Wilkerson. 2018
This is the definitive biography of the most powerful man in Hollywood during the 1930s, '40s and '50s, the man…
who founded the Hollywood Reporter and the most storied nightspots of the Sunset Strip, introduced Clark Gable and Lana Turner to the world, invented Las Vegas, brought the Mafia to Hollywood, engineered the shakedown of Hollywood studios by Willie Bioff and his mob-run unions, was possibly involved in the murder of Bugsy Siegel, started the Hollywood blacklist, and helped destroy the studio system. Perhaps nobody in Hollywood history has ever ruined so many careers and done so much damage to the industry as Billy Wilkerson. Yet there has never been a solid biography of the man. Billy's son, William R. Wilkerson III, has done tremendous research on his father, interviewing over decades everyone who knew him best, and portrays him beautifully (and damningly) in this book.From the wickedly famous and feminist creator and host of the "Throwing Shade" podcast, a collection of hilarious personal essays…
and political commentary perfect for fans of Lindy West and Roxane Gay. Since women earned the right to vote a little under one hundred years ago, our progress hasn't been the Olympic sprint toward gender equality first wave feminists hoped for, but more of a slow, elderly mall walk (with frequent stops to Cinnabon) over the four hundred million hurdles we still face. Some of these obstacles are obvious-unequal pay, under-representation in government, reproductive restrictions, lack of floor-length mirrors in hotel rooms. But a lot of them are harder to identify. They're the white noise of oppression that we've accepted as lady business as usual, and the patriarchy wants to keep it that way.Erin Gibson has a singular goal-to create a utopian future where women are recognized as humans. In FEMINASTY-titled after her nickname on the hit podcast "Throwing Shade"-she has written a collection of make-you-laugh-until-you-cry essays that expose the hidden rules that make life as a woman unnecessarily hard and deconstructs them in a way that's bold, provocative and hilarious. Whether it's shaming women for having their periods, allowing them into STEM fields but never treating them like they truly belong, or dictating strict rules for how they should dress in every situation, Erin breaks down the organized chaos of old fashioned sexism, intentional and otherwise, that systemically keeps women down.By Jann Wenner, Jerry Garcia, Charles Reich. 1972
Jerry Garcia (1942-1995) is an American icon. The guitarist and de facto leader of the Grateful Dead was a gregarious…
talker, keenly engaged with the new world exploding around him. In 1972, Garcia was visited by Charles Reich, a Yale law professor, and Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone. Garcia was just thirty-one years old but already viewed--to his lasting dismay--as a social avatar for the new sensibility sweeping the land, an anarchist streak with a populist undercurrent that had roots in Ken Kesey's pranksters, the writers of the Beat Generation, and the libertine tradition of the American transcendentalists. In this interview, Garcia reveals how he is a combination of these and other influences, a high-school dropout and autodidact blessed with a gift for eloquent turns of phrase and a refreshing directness. He speaks of the saga of the Grateful Dead and his hoodlum youth growing up in San Francisco's Mission district. He delves into fascinating discourses on the music that shaped his own playing and writing, and freely discusses his use of drugs and explains why he felt it was important to stay high. Like the Grateful Dead's best music, Garcia: A Signpost to New Space is familiar, friendly, and inviting.By Arnold Rampersad. 1997
The extraordinary life of Jackie Robinson is illuminated as never before in this full-scale biography by Arnold Rampersad, who was…
chosen by Jack's widow, Rachel, to tell her husband's story, and was given unprecedented access to his private papers.By William F. Buckley. 1976
By Emil DeAndreis. 2017
Hard to Grip, a memoir by native San Franciscan Emil DeAndreis is a love story to baseball that is also…
a frank, and humorous account of the author’s struggles with rheumatoid arthritis, the chronic illness that threw a curve into his life and dashed the hopes of becoming a professional pitcher in the major leagues that he had harbored since he was old enough to throw a ball. Scarcely out of Lowell high school where he was an up-and-coming star pitcher for his two-time championship team, Emil discovered the early signs of the disease were hampering his ability to compete, and it became increasingly evident to him as he played throughout his freshman and sophomore years in the D1 Leagues for University of Hawaii/Hilo that his lifelong dream to go pro was to be only that—a dream. Even as he was being courted by the big leagues and about to sign on to play pro ball in Europe. Hard to Grip is a personable, humor-filled and inspirational story of a robust, athletic young man who, barely into his twenties, must confront the reality of living with a physical illness, and the crushing disappointment of not being able to fulfill his lifelong wish, but, who at the same time learns to embrace that one thing he loves in order to forge a new life with a different perspective: as a high school coach for his alma mater, Lowell. Moreover, it is also a story of love for a girl, for his friends, for his family, hometown of San Francisco and the game itself.By Carolyn Jabs. 1982
By Marian Anderson. 2001
My Lord, What A Morning is a tender and engrossing memoir, abounding with the tender and inspiring memories of Marian…
Anderson's life in her modest words. From her humble but proud beginnings in South Philadelphia to international vocal renown, the legendary contralto writes of triumph and adversity.By Lawrence J. Epstein. 2001
By Thomas Wilson. 1897
Stepping Off is a book for locals and travellers alike. It is the story of the south-western corner of Western…
Australia: an environmental history, a social history, an invitation to reconnect with the land – and in doing so, to reconnect with ourselves.By Margaret Rose Stringer. 2013
A celebration of the career of one of the most respected still photographers in the film industry of the 1970s…
and 1980s, this is the story of Charles “Chic” Stringer, written by his widow Margaret Rose. Written with a blend of humor and acuity, this work shares the career of the acclaimed photographer who worked on such films as Mad Max and Gone to Ground. It is intended for not only film buffs, but for those who, like Margaret Rose, are bereaved and alone. This work is not only a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at the film and television industry, but it also provides insight into recovery after the loss of a life partner. An intimate and touching work about the power of the human spirit and our will to persevere, this work is, above all, the story of two people who were made for each other and of life after absolute loss.