Autobiography: writers Books

Book SynopsisNamed one of 12 of the Best Jewish Books of the Year by the Jewish Telegraph Agency, New York Jewish Week, & Jerusalem Post2023 International Book Awards Finalist in the Humor/Comedy/Satire CategoryFrom a bilingual master of the literary memoir comes this moving and humorous story of losing immigrant baggage and trying to reclaim it for his American future. In this poignant literary memoir, internationally acclaimed author and Boston College professor Maxim D. Shrayer (Waiting for America) explores both material and immaterial aspects of immigrant baggage. Through a combination of dispassionate reportage, gentle irony, and confessional remembrance, Shrayer writes about traversing the borders and boundaries of the three cultures that have nourished him—Russian, Jewish, and American. The spirit of nonconformism and the power of laughter come to the rescue of Shrayer’s autobiographical protagonist when he faces existential calamities and life’s misadventures. The aftermath of a dangerous ski accident in Italy reminds the memoirist of history’s black holes. A haunting, Soviet-era theatrical affair pushes the émigré protagonist to the brink of a disaster in a provincial Russian town. Attempting to collect overdue royalties from a Moscow publisher, the expatriate writer tips his hat to Kafka. The book’s six interconnected tales are held together by the memorist’s imperative to make the ordinary absurd and the absurd—ordinary. Shrayer parses a translingual literary life filled with travel, politics, and discovery—and sustained by family love and faith in art’s transcendence.Trade Review“Soviet émigré Maxim D. Shrayer knows who he is, and he is proud of it right from the start. … In Immigrant Baggage… six interconnected ordinary anecdotes of Shrayer’s travels narrate ‘adventures and misadventures’ from previous years and are given surprise endings. Each tale is a gem, filled with the author’s political, ideological and literary sensibility. … In an era when many are searching to understand how to overcome historical trauma, these stories argue for… choosing to connect with one’s roots, to follow one’s passion, to belong to a community and to discover a meaningful channel to integrate the past and present.”— Eva Fogelman, Moment Magazine“In Maxim D. Shrayer’s extraordinary Immigrant Baggage: Morticians, Purloined Diaries, and Other Theatrics of Exile, he claims place through movement, expression through translingualism, all while inscribing history onto our collective present consciousness. Incorporating photographs into the stories of his travels and adventures, Shrayer offers eyewitness evidence of the past, even as his writing invites readers to marvel at improbable connections, surreal coincidences, and occasional forays into imagined endings that bring together past and present. An elegant and compelling narrator, Shrayer invites readers to visualize, understand, hear, and experience the richness of multiple languages, cities, and characters. He does this by inviting us not only to experience specific moments in time and place, but also to reflect on the spaces in between—indeed, it is in these moments that Shrayer seems most at home.” — Jessica Lang, Dean, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, Baruch College, CUNY and author of Textual Silence: Unreadability and the Holocaust“Maxim D. Shrayer writes like Nabokov’s long lost cousin. Funny, poignant, elegant and light on his feet, Shrayer serves up a banquet of émigré pleasures and sorrows, in the new world as well as the old. Immigrant Baggage is a compact, pang-filled, hilarious marvel.”— David Mikics, Moores Professor of Honors and English, University of Houston, and author of Stanley Kubrick: American Filmmaker“The lively stories that comprise Maxim D. Shrayer’s Immigrant Baggage burst with a passionate devotion to literature—the Russian literature of Shrayer’s past, in particular, before he and his parents left Russia after eight persecuted years as Jewish refuseniks. Whether describing a literary discussion among friends from his Soviet youth, or among colleagues in America today, the conversations are of utmost importance; indeed, intellectual arguments can be loveable 'tirades' when the nature of literature is at stake. Poignantly, reading into this memoir familiarizes us with the texture of what it is to live exiled, as an immigrant, with one’s mind perpetually in more than one world, and speaking more than one language. Shrayer’s gift is to guide us, through his ‘adventures,’ to an understanding of the many meanings of the phrase Immigrant Baggage, including the inevitable weight of the past, the ever-present quality of being multicultural, and the literal need and desire to travel across the globe to stay connected to a world left behind. The son of a writer, Shrayer brings a certain wistfulness for the literary life of the past when he describes—to his daughters whom he lovingly shares his literary life—his father taking him to editorial offices in Moscow and then for a treat of ‘something delicious like a smoked tongue sandwich and pear soda.’ The past is present, and made alive again, in this most engaging memoir.”— Elizabeth Poliner, author of As Close to Us as Breathing and Mutual Life & Casualty“Maxim D. Shrayer is a faithful student of the great masters of Russian literature. And he is also top-of-the-class as a literary Russian émigré in his own right. This is a charming and breezy book, written by a wordsmith from two worlds—sparkling with the Soviet skepticism of a Jewish novelist who hasn’t quite unpacked all his baggage in America, darting back and forth like a Nabokovian butterfly between locales, languages and the Kafkaesque surprises and vexations of life.”— Thane Rosenbaum, author of How Sweet It Is! and The Golems of Gotham“Maxim D. Shrayer has the sharp humor of a Russian literary outsider, the longings of a Jewish émigré, and the artistic discipline to examine his experiences without sentiment or shtick. Nabokov would have read this book with pleasure.”—David Samuels, literary editor of Tablet Magazine and author of Only Love Can Break Your Heart“Maxim D Shrayer is a precious object: a kind of living Rosetta Stone who embodies multiple literary cultures. In this compelling literary memoir, he moves between the stagnant decades of the late Soviet Union to present-day America, illuminating his tales with dazzling aperçus from the treasure-house of Russian-language literature. Shrayer’s wry, witty, wise and nuanced writing weaves together strands of Soviet, Russian, Jewish and American culture in moments of translingual epiphany. Now more than ever, his work is a vital reminder of our common humanity.”— Marcel Theroux, author of The Sorcerer of Pyongyang and Far NorthTable of ContentsPreface: Translingual Adventures Ribs of EdenIn the Net of Composer N.Romance with a MorticianOnly One Day in VeniceYelets Women’s High SchoolA Return to Kafka Index of Names and PlacesAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisIn this funny, poignant and unflinchingly honest memoir, one of the world’s best-loved storytellers explains how he evolved from a conservative son of the Old South into a gay rights pioneer whose novels inspired millions to claim their own lives. It is a journey that leads him from the racism and misogyny of mid-century North Carolina to a homoerotic Navy initiation ceremony in the jungles of Vietnam to an awkward conversation about girls with President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office of the White House. After losing his virginity to another man 'on the very spot where the first shots of the Civil War were fired', Maupin packs his earthly belongings into his Opel GT (including a portrait of a Confederate ancestor) and heads west to that strangest of strange lands: San Francisco in the early 1970’s.Trade ReviewMaster storyteller Armistead Maupin — the man who defined the difference between ‘a biological family’ and ‘a logical family,’ who is both gifted with fearless art and the ability to speak for millions — finally tells his own story. Logical Family is a sweet, filthy peach of a memoir from a cultural explosion of a man -- Caitlin MoranA book for any of us, gay or straight, who have had to find our family. Maupin is one of America’s finest storytellers, and the story of his life is a story as fascinating, as delightful and as compulsive as any of the tales he has made up for us. -- Neil GaimanShould be read by anyone who has ever loved and lost . . . Maupin still has the knack of being able to make you laugh and cry on the same page * Evening Standard *I read Logical Family as slowly as I could, quite as I could never have read any of the Tales volumes all those years ago. The pleasure of its chapters, each a short story focussing on another member of Armistead's extended tribe, was such a heartwarming delight, I couldn't bear to have it pass me by. It was like having the great man visit and sit smoking and gossiping from an armchair at the foot of the bed. -- Patrick Gale[A] highly readable memoir.. .moving and with prize moments. * Observer *

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Book SynopsisAs an independent publisher, Jeremy Robson always punched above his weight with a roster of authors that have been the envy of many large publishers. As a poet, he has been at the centre of the poetry scene since the 1960s, with a number of highly praised volumes to his credit and the friendship of many leading poets and musicians. In this engrossing memoir, Robson looks back at both his publishing career and life as a poet. Stories abound; whether it be driving Muhammad Ali around Britain, coping with Michael Winner or working in the desert with David Ben-Gurion. Time spent joyously laughing with Maureen Lipman and Alan Coren while undertaking an exciting poetry reading tour with Ted Hughes, and packing the Royal Festival Hall for a historic poetry and jazz concert. Jeremy recounts treasured and life-long friendships with the poets and writers; Dannie Abse, Alan Sillitoe, Vernon Scannell, Laurie Lee, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Elie Wiesel and Frederic Raphael. Well known and celebrated as both publisher and poet, Jeremy Robson has produced a delicious memoir that will delight the reader.

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Book Synopsis'My favourite person on the politics of parenthood' Pandora Sykes'Exhilarating, infuriating, urgent and human' Daisy Buchanan'A blazing, brilliant read ... compassionate, convincing, funny!' Amy Liptrot'Honest, unflinching and necessary' Sara Pascoe'Funny and brisk ... urgent and incisive' Rob Delaney'A timely and important book' Clover StroudIt's time to share the motherload.A memoir culminating in a manifesto, Holding the Baby sets out to understand why we still treat early parenthood as an individual slog rather than a shared cultural responsibility. Tracing her own journey to the nadir of sleeplessness via social retreat and murderous rage, Frizzell draws on the latest research to explore:- What effect does parenting have on your career?- How can we make childcare affordable and fit for purpose?- If parenting is so hard, why does anyone ever do it more than once?Funny, reassuring and radically ambitious, Holding the Baby sheds light on the ways in which we fail new parents, and offers a rallying crying that we fight for a better alternative.Trade Review'Makes excellent, radical sense' * The Times *'My favourite person on the politics of parenthood. Read it and feel comforted, cheered and galvanized (even when your brain and body are melting).' -- Pandora Sykes'Exhilarating, infuriating, urgent and human ... an excellent journalistic investigation. I think this book is required reading for the child free, as it will help us to understand and support the choices of all parents.' -- Daisy Buchanan'A blazing, brilliant read, combining style and message to powerful effect ... compassionate, convincing and funny.' -- Amy Liptrot'Honest, unflinching and necessary - alleviates parental guilt and might even encourage you to forgive your own!' -- Sara Pascoe'Holding the Baby is the sanest, most gorgeous thing on capitalism's poisonous effect on parenthood I've ever read. I was hooting and hollering by the manifesto at the end. Because it's Nell Frizzell it's funny and brisk and also because it's Nell Frizzell it's urgent and incisive. It opens your eyes to a vastly healthier and utterly beautiful way to support babies (and people who used to be babies.) I'm grateful for this book.' -- Rob Delaney'I love Nell Frizzell's writing and I love her spirit. I devoured Holding the Baby, especially the way it combined the colour of a memoir with the intent of a manifesto. Nell has such an original, forceful and also, crucially, very funny take on parenthood in general and motherhood specifically. This is a timely and important book.' -- Clover Stroud

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Book SynopsisContinuing where Reimann's earlier book of diaries, I Have No Regrets, left off, in 1964, this volume is a compelling and frank account of one woman’s life and loves in 1960s East Germany.It All Tastes of Farewell is a frank account of one woman’s life and loves in 1960s East Germany. As a writer, Brigitte Reimann could not help but tell a compelling story, and that is born out here in her diaries, which are gripping as any novel. She recorded only what mattered: telling details, emotional truths, and political realities. Never written for publication and first published in full in German only after the fall of the Berlin Wall, these diaries offer a unique record of what it felt like to live in a country that no longer exists, was represented for years largely through Cold War propaganda, and is still portrayed in fairy-tale Stasi dramas. Here we get a sense of lived experience as if Doris Lessing or Edna O’Brien had been allowed in with their notebooks. This volume continues where her earlier book of diaries, I Have No Regrets, left off, in 1964. It sees Reimann grow wistful and at times bitter, as her love life, her professional life, and her health all suffer. Yet throughout she retains a lively appetite for new experiences and a dedication to writing. Finally, she finds security in a surprising new love, and although she died soon after this volume ends, the novel she was writing was to become a much-read cult hit after her death. A remarkable document from a time and place that we still struggle to see clearly, It All Tastes of Farewell is unforgettable, a last gift from an essential writer. Trade Review"Following last year’s I Have No Regrets (translated by Berlin’s Lucy Jones), these books bring to life a highly talented and unconventional author, a woman determined to live life to its fullest despite the constrictions of her time. Now is a fine moment to (re)discover Brigitte Reimann. . . . [She] is a brilliant observer of social milieus, a ruthless self-analyst and often strikingly humorous." * Exberliner *Table of ContentsN

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Book Synopsis20th Anniversary Edition with an introduction by Frances Wilson From a childhood of gothic proportions, through teenage pregnancy in the 1960s, Lorna Sage vividly and wittily brings to life a vanished time and place and illuminates the lives of three generations of women in one of the most critically acclaimed memoirs of all time. Lorna Sage’s outstanding memoir of childhood and adolescence brings to life her eccentric family and bizarre upbringing in rural Wales. The period is evoked through a wickedly funny and deeply intelligent account: from the 1940s, dominated for Lorna by her dissolute but charismatic vicar grandfather; through the 1950s, where the invention of fish fingers revolutionised the lives of housewives like Lorna’s mother; to the brink of the 1960s, where Lorna’s pregnancy at 16 outraged those around her, an event her grandmother blamed on the fiendish invention of sex. Bad Blood vividly and wittily explores a vanished time and place, and illuminates the lives of three generations of women.Trade Review‘In a class of its own … It is a measure of her achievement that she can turn the peculiarities of her own past – and they are peculiar – into a narrative that speaks for the whole of post-war Britian … This is not just an exquisite personal memoir, it is a vital piece of our collective past.’ Daily Telegraph ‘A wonderful book. Women need this kind of book but perhaps men need it more, to give the sort of understanding which we still lack of how girls actually grow up.’ Margaret Forster ‘This could have been the saddest book you have ever read, but because of Lorna Sage’s relish in the details, her exuberant celebration of the vitality of this clever, surviving girl, it is as enjoyable a book as I remember reading.’Doris Lessing '[a] rich, justly acclaimed autobiography … this almost perfect memoir is a tribute to imperfection' Independent 'An almost unbearably eloquent memoir … Bad Blood is also a tale of shared consciousness, and although the lives Sage describes clash with and limit her own, there is much that is redemptive here, and even elegiac' Frances Wilson, Guardian

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Book Synopsis“In the autumn month of September, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven… two idle apprentices, exhausted by the long, hot summer, and the long, hot work it had brought with it, ran away from their employer.” Under the pseudonyms of Francis Goodchild and Thomas Idle, Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins set off on a walking tour of the north-west of England, reporting back on their adventures for Dickens’s magazine Household Words. A unique insight into the friendship of two of the towering figures of Victorian literature, and featuring a pair of chilling ghost stories from the leading exponents of the genre, The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices is a charming evocation of the adventures they experienced on their trip and the gently mocking nature of their relationship.Trade ReviewMy dear Collins… I am open to any proposal to go anywhere any day or days this week. Fresh air and change in any amount I am ready for. If I could only find an idle man (this is a general observation), he would find the warmest recognition in this direction. -- Charles Dickens

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Book Synopsis"Few men know death: we do not usually undergo it deliberately, but unthinkingly and out of habit and most men die because men cannot help dying" -Francois de La Rochefoucauld "And we open our eyes and feel our way in the dark." -William Bronk "The changes that have occurred in places you return to, the demise of attitudes that once seemed `inevitable', show not so much how things change with time, but how transitory they always were. The fundamental truth is not that things change, but that they have hardly ever existed." "All my friends, dead for so many years - even their ghosts are dying." "The moon at last quarter sliding out of black cloud, giving body to darkness." -Clive Faust

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Book Synopsis'I have put this book together, not as a prose narrative is usually constructed, but as a poem might be. In turnings and returnings. In parts which find and repeat themselves and re-state the argument until it loses its reasonable edge and hopefully becomes a sort of cadence.' In "Object Lessons" Eavan Boland meditates on womanhood in the specific places and times of her life. She engages, in a scrupulous and evocative prose, the issues of nationhood as well, clearing a space within Ireland where to be a woman and a poet has seemed in the past a contradiction in terms. The book functions in her work as Wordsworth's "Prelude" does in his, though Boland does not allow herself the luxury of rapture: to say no more or less than she means, she focuses on particulars, on 'obstinate details' that contain and represent larger meaning, connection and force. The autobiography here is not of a confessional kind: the facts which connect with other voices, other lives, matter. What the London Review of Books called Boland's 'radical but undoctrinaire feminism' informs all the related meditations in "Object Lessons", an enabling document of our time.Unease with Modernism, a concern with the erotic in time, and at every point a sense of continuities, mark the book as a portrait of a critical imagination of deep integrity finding a way among history's obstacles, finding itself in and through the lessons of the objects - particularly artifacts and poems - that it encounters.Trade Review'This is essential reading for any woman interested in poetry.' - Robyn Marsack, Director of the Scottish Poetry Library. 'Object Lessons is a record of a learning process. In a time when poetry by women is coming out of the shadows in Irish literature, such records need to be written and read, in "turning and returnings" repeated and re-stated.' - Poetry Ireland Review.

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Book SynopsisA memoir on love, lust and attachment: one woman's remarkable and candid account of transforming a difficult and uncomfortable love triangle into an honest polyamorous relationship.

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Book SynopsisA unique autobiography by a young author that leads us on a revealing, personal journey. Malachy Edwards faces his mixed-race, multi-cultural and religious identity while tracing his family history in Ireland and Barbados. With the background of our recent history, including Brexit and Covid-19, he writes honestly about life's great experiences such as the birth of his children.Table of ContentsYn enedigol o Lundain ac wedi ei fagu yn Ffynnon Taf, ger Caerdydd, mae Malachy yn swyddog Undeb Llafur sydd bellach yn byw ar Ynys Môn gyda'i wraig a'i deulu ifanc, mab a dwy o ferched.

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Book SynopsisAll In Your Head is about what happens when your doctor doesn't believe that you're ill. When they think you are imagining a serious ailment, or worse, faking it.

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Book SynopsisFor the past four years Jane Miller, author of Crazy Age: Thoughts on Being Old, has been writing a column for an American magazine called In These Times. Her beautifully observed pieces about life, politics and Britain open a window to her American readers of a world very different from their own.''Her erudition is both dazzling and lightly borne, the personal often illuminating the political . . . Miller''s is a welcome, necessary voice - readable, informative and entertaining'' Times Literary SupplementJane Miller, author of the acclaimed Crazy Age, has for the past few years been writing a column for an American magazine based in Chicago called In These Times. Now, these beautifully observed pieces about life, politics and Britain, which opened a window for Americans on a world rather different from their own, are collected and published for the first time for her British readers.''Miller is a fantastic companion'' VTrade ReviewThis is a remarkable collection, a reflection not just of a later life well lived, but a distinct political and personalsensibility. Far from being "over the hill", Miller is one of a growing tribe of female elders who stand right on the peak, taking a wry, wise and witty view of all they survey * Guardian *Jane Miller's collected journalism is a treasure trove of literary, personal and political marvels. The writing is a joy, as is the observation, wit and humanity that underpin it: like Montaigne, only funnier -- Matthew d’Ancona, Guardian and Evening Standard columnistBreadth in no way comes at the expense of readability or of Miller's mastery of her subject matter. Her erudition is both dazzling and lightly borne . . . Miller's is a welcome, necessary voice - readable, informative and entertaining * Times Literary Supplement *[An] entertaining and insightful collection . . . her writing has a fascinating effect: she is forced to look in on herself from the outside. She isn't confined to age, menopause or retirement as themes . . . Miller's writing is filled with a wisdom, cheery world-weariness and kindness . . . She is wonderful on age and authority . . .Miller is a fantastic companion -- Viv Groskop * Telegraph *A humanity and quiet humour that makes them feel like conversations with an intelligent friend -- Jane Shilling * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisNawal El Saadawi was born in a village outside Cairo, Egypt, in 1931. A trained medical doctor, she wrote landmark works on the oppression of Arab women including Woman at Point Zero (1973), God Dies by the Nile (1976) and The Hidden Face of Eve (1977). After being imprisoned by Anwar Sadat's government for criticising the regime, she founded the Arab Women's Solidarity Association in 1982, before being forced into exile in later life due to death threats by religious extremists. She returned to Egypt in 1996, running for president in 2005 until government persecution forced her to withdraw. Saadawi died in Egypt in 2021.

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Book SynopsisThe complete, uncensored journals of Sylvia Plath—essential reading for anyone who has been moved and fascinated by the poet's life and work.A genuine literary event.... Plath's journals contain marvels of discovery. —The New York Times Book Review Sylvia Plath's journals were originally published in 1982 in a heavily abridged version authorized by Plath's husband, Ted Hughes. This new edition is an exact and complete transcription of the diaries Plath kept during the last twelve years of her life. Sixty percent of the book is material that has never before been made public, more fully revealing the intensity of the poet's personal and literary struggles, and providing fresh insight into both her frequent desperation and the bravery with which she faced down her demons.

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Book SynopsisNOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING SAOIRSE RONANWITH A NEW AFTERWORD FROM THE AUTHORTHE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE PEN ACKERLEY PRIZE AND THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZEAfter spending her twenties in London, Amy Liptrot returns to her home in Orkney where she comes to terms with the addiction that has consumed the past decade of her life. On the remote island, Amy spends her mornings swimming in the cold sea, her days observing wildlife, and her nights searching the sky for any signs of the Northern Lights. She soon discovers how the natural world can restore life, heal old wounds and renew hope.

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Book SynopsisChronicles Twain's inner and outer life through a series of daily dictations that go wherever his fancy leads. This book deals with his life and work.Trade Review"Covering just the last couple of years in Twain's long life, this is the concluding volume of the masterful University of California edition of his autobiography: unexpurgated, cross-referenced, and richly annotated... The swan song reinforces things well established by its predecessors." - STARRED REVIEW Kirkus "Sharp and witty here as he is in his fiction... Closes the book on the remarkable life of one of America's most outstanding literary talents." Publishers Weekly "The abundant morsels here give us a glimpse into the big human heart of our great American author." Buffalo News "His deep love for the language, for expression, for telling what is on his mind and in his heart, keeps him talking to us, right up to the very end of the autobiography, when the death of his daughter Jean leads him to close it forever." Hartford Courant "Rambling; charming; vitriolic; confessional ("I am fond of pomp and display"); shot through with wit, lyricism and regret... Captivating and invaluable." The Washington Post "Rambling, cantankerous, funny-and sad." The Christian Science Monitor "Chock-full of his trademark outbursts and his sly sense of humor." The Boston Globe "[Twain] lives on through his works, including this landmark publication." San Francisco Chronicle "There was a private Sam Clemens and a public Mark Twain, and both of them can be found in Autobiography of Mark Twain." National Post "The verdict: admirable, opulent, incredibly thorough, surely a treasure trove beyond price for Twain scholars, endlessly pleasant to paw through for those of us who find Twain hilarious and moving and blunt and inimitable." Christian Century

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Book SynopsisFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library.Destined to become a modern classic. —Entertainment WeeklyWHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FEEL TRULY ALIVE?Don’t miss Matt Haig’s new novel The Life Impossible, coming September 2024At the age of 24, Matt Haig's world caved in. He could see no way to go on living. This is the true story of how he came through crisis, triumphed over an illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live again.A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how to live better, love better and feel more alive, Reasons to Stay Alive is more than a memoir. It is a book about making the most of your time on earth.I wrote this book because the oldest clichés remain the truest. Time heals. The bottom of the valley never provides the clearest view. The tunnel does have light at the end of it, even if we haven't been able to see

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Book SynopsisA book length collaboration between two underground legends, Charles Bukowski and Robert Crumb. Bukowski's last journals candidly and humorously reveal the events in the writer's life as death draws inexorably nearer, thereby illuminating our own lives and natures, and to give new meaning to what was once only familiar. Crumb has illustrated the text with 12 full-page drawings and a portrait of Bukowski.

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Book SynopsisJohn McGahern''s astounding memoir of his childhood:''A glowing masterpiece.'' Hilary Mantel''The one Irish writer everyone should read.'' Colm TóibínAs wise and compelling a book as any of his elegiac and graceful novels.'' David Mitchell''I have admired, even loved, McGahern''s work since his first novel ... Memoir strips the skin off his fiction as he faces a desperate early life with great force and tenderness.'' Melvyn BraggThis is the story of John McGahern''s childhood, his mother''s death, his father''s anger and violence, and how, through his discovery of books, his dream of becoming a writer began. At the heart of Memoir is a son''s unembarrassed tribute to his mother. His memory of walks with her through the narrow lanes to the country schools where she taught and his happiness as she named for him the wild flowers on the bank remained conscious and unconscious presences for the rest of his life. A classic family story, told with exceptional restraint and tenderness, Memoir cannot fail to move all those who read it.''Magnificent ... Stand[s] supreme in the Irish canon.'' Irish Times''Profoundly beautiful.'' Daily Telegraph''Extraordinary, spellbinding, spiritual.'' Irish Independent''''In a tremendously distinguished career, he has never written more movingly, or with a sharper eye.'' Andrew Motion, GuardianTrade Review"'Ireland's greatest living novelist.' Observer"

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Book SynopsisThe passionate but doomed epistolary love affair between a Czech translator and one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, the author of The Metamorphosis and The Trial. Extraordinary…touching, horrifying, brilliant, sickly, [and] heartbreaking…. The most significant key we have for a reading of the author's novels and short stories. —The New York TimesIn no other work does Franz Kafka reveal himself as in Letters to Milena, which begins as a business correspondence but soon develops into an epistolary love affair. Kafka's Czech translator, Milena Jesenská, was a gifted and charismatic twenty-three-year-old who was uniquely able to recognize Kafka's complex genius and his even more complex character. For thirty-six-year-old Kafka, she was a living fire, such as I have never seen. It was to Milena that he revealed his most intimate self and, eventually, entrusted his diaries for safekeeping.

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Book SynopsisAn illustrated edition of Gertrude Stein''s most well-known work, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, bursting with the bright, sophisticated, and fanciful images of artist Maira KalmanConsidered one of the richest and most irreverent biographies in history, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was written by Gertrude Stein in the style and voice of her life partner, Alice B. Toklas. Published in 1933 and narrated by Alice, this autobiography begins with her initial move to France in 1907, the day after which she meets Gertrude, sparking a relationship that lasts for nearly four decades. Recounting the vibrant and literary life the two make for themselves among the Parisian avant-garde, Alice opens the doors to the prominent salons they held in their home at rue de Fleurus, hosting fellow expatriate American writers such as Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot, and Ezra Pound as well as artists Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Man Ray, and speaks of the twilight of the Paris belle epoque. In this edition, the wildly talented Maira Kalman brings this glittering Parisian world to life, and celebrates Stein and Toklas in vivid color. Her whimsical and inimitable illustrations complement the wit and humor of Stein’s narrative, and elevate the exciting intrigues of these famous women and their friends. Inviting readers to experience this book in a completely new way, the illustrated edition of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas will prompt a contemporary reading of this cherished and singular classic.

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Book SynopsisAgatha Christie's widower's recollections of his archaeological triumphs and life with Agatha.In these informal, often witty and always interesting memoirs, Sir Max Mallowan tells the story of his life, from his boyhood at Lancing where he was a contemporary of Evelyn Waugh, to the days when he was elected a Fellow of All Souls and succeeded another eminent archaeologist, his friend Sir Mortimer Wheeler, as a Trustee of the British Museum.The author was initiated into field archaeology at Ur by Leonard Woolley in 1925, and it was Woolley who first introduced him to a visiting novelist, Agatha Christie. After further excavations, Sir Max began working independently in Assyria, to which he returned each year until the outbreak of war. In 1939 he joined the Royal Air Force and was involved in several eccentric exploits before volunteering to go the Middle East where he filled various outlandish posts with skill and aplomb.Throughout the pre-war years, the author was accompanied on all his

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Book SynopsisMaryse Conde is one of the best-known and most beloved French Caribbean literary voices. The author of more than twenty novels, she was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2015 and has long been recognized as a giant of black feminist literature. While Conde has previously published an autobiography of her childhood, What Is Africa to Me? tells for the first time the story of her early adult years in Africa years formative not only for her, but also for African colonies appealing for their own independence.What Is Africa to Me? traces the late 1950s to 1968, chronicling Conde's life in Sekou Toure's Guinea to her time in Kwame N'Krumah's Ghana, where she rubbed shoulders with Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Julius Nyerere, and Maya Angelou. Accusations of subversive activity resulted in Conde's deportation from Ghana. Settling down in Senegal, Conde ended her African years with close friends in Dakar including, filmmakers, activists, and Haitian exiles, before putting down more permanent roots in Paris. Conde's story is more than one of political upheaval, however; it is also the story of a mother raising four children as she battles steep obstacles, of a Guadeloupean seeking her identity in Africa, and of a young woman searching for her freedom and vocation as a writer. What Is Africa to Me? is a searing portrait of a literary genius it should not be missed.

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Book SynopsisThe must-read memoir about the dazzling days and dark nights of a Chelsea childhood . . .''Brilliant and moving'' The Times''Dazzling'' Evening Standard''Beautifully written'' Marian Keyes''Unflinchingly honest Sunday Times''Superbly written'' Guardian''A triumph'' i_______Her father was a hairdresser to the rich and famous - he was also their drug dealer.Her mother was an alcoholic fashion model. Her days and nights were non-stop parties - she spent them taking care of her little sister and putting out naked flames.And when her sister dies aged nine, Gavanndra is left alone with her grief. Growing up in the dazzling days and dark nights of her parents'' social lives, surviving means fitting into their dysfunctional world, while stopping the family from falling apart . . ._________''A redemptive tale of an emotionalTrade ReviewUnflinchingly honestly. A beautiful book . . . everyone should read it * The Sunday Times *There are scenes that will reduce you to tears, but there's also humour, forgiveness and uplifting optimism [...] by the end of this dazzling debut you just want to give her a huge cheer for coming through * Evening Standard *Wise and moving . . . this memoir is an acknowledgment that love demands a price * Guardian *By turns painful and joyful, this beautiful book has plenty of poignant lessons to teach us about grief and love * Cosmopolitan *Gavanndra writes beautifully, her words are unsentimental but very lyrical [...] I loved this book and my tears fell into the bath as I read it -- Clover Stroud * author of The Sunday Times Bestselling memoir My Wild and Sleepless Nights *A devastating, heart-breaking and magnificent meditation on the function of memory. It will stay with me forever, so beautifully written * Daisy Buchanan, author of The Sisterhood *A completely unforgettable and unique family memoir. A total cliché but I honestly couldn't put it down * Hadley Freeman *A real tear-jerker * i *'Beautifully-written, calm-but-utterly-compelling life-story of trauma and healing... the author seems lovely and I want to be her pal!' * Marian Keyes *At a time when so many families are losing loved ones, and are denied even the scant comfort funerals provide, there is no more poignant moment for this book to appear -- Emily Hill * The Spectator *This is one of the best books I've read about grief - and the catastrophic consequences of addiction. Exquisitely written. Profoundly moving -- Robert PestonGavanndra Hodge's moving memoir recounts the consequences of an early life framed by beauty, glamour and tragedy * The Observer *A heartbreaking and compelling memoir * Red *Looks at the power of love and loss in shaping one's life. Moving and beautifully written * Grazia *The must-read of the summer * The Times *So brilliantly written . . . ultimately joyful and uplifting * Daily Mirror *Brave and beautifully written * Elle *There are books - and then there are books that you'll never forget reading. A quite extraordinary memoir -- Becky Barrow * News Editor of The Sunday Times *I read it in one sitting without pause. It is an astonishing book. I haven't stopped thinking about it -- Charlotte Edwardes * columnist for Sunday Times Style Magazine *A wonderful and transformative memoir about the impact of loss and the power of love; and one that illustrates how it is never too late to tackle suppressed grief -- Julia Samuel * author of the Sunday Times Bestseller This Too Shall Pass *I read this in one sitting, tears splashing onto its pages. A beautiful book about grief, losing a sibling, trauma, drugs, parenting & memory in the most exquisite way. Please everyone read it -- Emma Gannon * podcaster, author of Olive and founder of The Hyphen Book Club *This book is genuinely extraordinary -- Eleanor WoodLife affirming [...] an enrapturing journey through darkness, destructive behaviour and an urgency for light and happiness now * Magic Radio Book Club, May's Book of the Month *A powerful memoir -- Laura Whitmore * BBC Radio 5 *Timely and highly original * Evening Standard *Brilliant and moving * The Times *The Consequences of Love is undoubtedly one of this year's most hotly-anticipated books, and with good reason * The Sunday Salon podcast with Alice-Azania Jarvis *Brilliantly written and heartbreaking but also joyful and uplifting * Psychologies *Extraordinary . . . profoundly moving * Sunday Mirror *A brave, lyrical, painful tale of bereavement, addiction, and the building of a new life -- Joanna Briscoe * Evening Standard *Superbly written. Beautifully written and utterly heartbreaking. Courageous, inspired, bleakly comic, extreme candour * Guardian *Searing * Daily Mail *Hodge's beautiful memoir is both a devastating, grief-fuelled account of her sister's death and a redemptive tale of an emotional reckoning * i *It's a vivid and oddly entertaining memoir, a hand plunged into the dark hole of grief . . . uncovers surprising treasures - most importantly, strength, resilience and love * Mail on Sunday *Searing. A masterful writer with a gift for storytelling. Her prose is rich with detail, combining a sharp sense of place with escalating drama. A triumph * i *The most moving, most exquisitely written book about addiction, grief, loss and coming to terms with trauma even decades on. One that you will be thinking about, and remember long after finishing * Quintessentially *One of the most beautiful memoirs I've ever read. This story will say with you long after you put the book down * Emma Gannon *I just turned the last page (reluctantly!). A bold, often brutal exploration of memory, grief and love. Full of hope and heart. I can't recommend it enough * Terri White, author of Coming Undone *A brave, brilliant book that is both beautiful and important. Read it then buy it for all your friends * Hello! *Gavanndra's memoir The Consequences of Love is absolutely beautiful. It's compelling, heartbreaking, sweet, honest, fascination. I recommend it HIGHLY. I absolutely LOVED it. * Marian Keyes *This stunning exploration of grief is so well written and profoundly moving * Good Housekeeping *An elegant study of grief and memory * Guardian *Hodge pours heartbreak and love into the pages of a book that never pretends to know the answers, and is all the better for it * Sunday Times *An elegant study of grief and memory * Guardian Weekly *An eye-opening snapshot of the fashion world in '90s London * Vogue UK *

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Book SynopsisAn intimate journey across America, as told by one of its most beloved writers   To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years. With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. Along the way he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, the particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and  the unexpected kindness of strangers.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book Synopsis'I seem to have banged on this year rather more than usual. I make no apology for that, nor am I nervous that it will it make a jot of difference. I shall still be thought to be kindly, cosy and essentially harmless. I am in the pigeon-hole marked 'no threat' and did I stab Judi Dench with a pitchfork I should still be a teddy bear.' Alan Bennett's third collection of prose Keeping On Keeping On follows in the footsteps of the phenomenally successful Writing Home and Untold Stories, each published ten years apart. This latest collection contains Bennett's peerless diaries 2005 to 2015, reflecting on a decade that saw four premieres at the National Theatre (The Habit of Art, People, Hymn and Cocktail Sticks), a West End double-bill transfer, and the films of The History Boys and The Lady in the Van. There's a provocative sermon on private education given before the University at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and 'Baffled at a Bookcase' offers a passionate defence of the public library. The book includes Denmark Hill, a darkly comic radio play set in suburban south London, as well as Bennett's reflections on a quarter of a century's collaboration with Nicholas Hytner. This is an engaging, humane, sharp, funny and unforgettable record of life according to the inimitable Alan Bennett.Trade ReviewCleverer and funnier than any one person has a right to be ... inexhaustibly fascinating; Bennett has an eager, enquiring mind and a sharp way with words that can break your ideas open. * Sunday Times *Is able to make the world dance with a single word ... On every page there is a phrase to make you smile, poetry disguised as comedy. -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *Few diarists could offer such a consistently funny and touching authorial voice as Bennett. Long may he keep on keeping on. -- Ben Lawrence * Daily Telegraph *Wry and eloquent ... screamingly funny... his sentences are always beautiful. -- Miranda Sawyer * Observer *There is no other writer, certainly none from any other era or nation, quite like Alan Bennett, and having this much more of his work is an uncovenanted blessing. -- David Sexton * Evening Standard *It is not only Bennett's claws that are sharp. So are his eyes ... confirms his reputation as one of the sharpest and funniest writers in the English language. -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * Spectator *There is not a dull or uninteresting page here ... teddy bear he may be but he has a tiger's teeth. * The Herald *An endlessly rewarding read by a man for all seasons and one who occupies a unique place in our culture and affections. -- Liz Thomson * The Arts Desk *A fascinating exercise in modern history ... a superb collection, written from the unique perspective of an octogenarian at the top of his stylistic game, with a keen eye towards the past we have lost and the future we may yet inhabit. * Daily Express *This latest anthology of diaries and essays is a beautiful, humane and honest collection of reflections. * Rachel Reeves *Every piece here conveys the sense of an idiosyncratic and cussed mind, alive and open to the world -- Joe Moran * Guardian *The literary equivalent of a warm cup of Horlicks spiked lavishly with whisky. * Metro, Books of the Year *Fire lit. Hot, thick toast. Coffee. Reading the inimitable Mr Bennett. Happiness. -- Nigel Slater[A] lavish miscellany ... appreciative, nostalgic and also hugely funny. * Prospect *PRAISE FOR ALAN BENNETT: 'Alan Bennett, with his combination of pitiless observation and gentle understatement, is perhaps the best-loved of English writers alive today * Sunday Telegraph *Intelligent, educated, engaging, humane, self-aware, cantankerous and irresistibly funny -- John Carey * Sunday Times *Not only my book of the year, it is my book of the decade -- Nigel Slater on UNTOLD STORIESAlan Bennett's work, which stands as one of the major achievements across several genres in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, demands the very best of us: not our praise but our attention. -- Ian Samson * TLS *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewBrings to life the landscapes and traditions of Lee's home in Gloucestershire, from centuries-old May Day rituals and carol-singing on Christmas Eve, to his battle in old age to save his beloved Slad valley from developers * Guardian *Reminded me what a superlative nature writer Lee was ... I finished it with an ache in my heart and a tear in my eye * Spectator *Simply written, observant and shot through with Lee's characteristic humility ... Against his whitewashed prose are touches of beauty * The Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisBrimming with humor, ideas, and opinions, this title delves into Mark Twain's life, uncovering the many roles he played in his private and public worlds.Trade Review"The great American author, aided by his scholarly editors, continues to spin out a great yarn covering his long life... Twain admirers will find this volume indispensable and wil eagerly await the third volume." STARRED REVIEW Kirkus Reviews "Meticulously edited... A treasure deserving shelf space next to Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer." STARRED REVIEW -- Bryce Christensen Booklist "Twain is incapable of going more than a few paragraphs without making you laugh or think hard... Don't loan this book out: you'll never see it again." Bloomberg Pursuits "Another delightful round of humor and candor, reminiscence and insider sketches of the people and politics of Twain's day." The Sacramento Bee "Contains more of Twain's ranging, astute, and unfailingly candid portrayals of his private and public lives. Excoriations of politicians appear next to affectionate family stories and bemused observations on the absurdities of life, helping to fill out our understanding of America's greatest humorist." The New Yorker, Page-Turner "Set aside all ideas of starting at the beginning and reading through to the end. This is a book to keep on your bedside table, or in the kitchen, or the garage, or anyplace else you might want to pick it up. Follow Clemens' own advice in reading it, as he did in writing it: Start reading at no particular point; wander at your free will all over it; read only about the thing that interests you for the moment; drop it the moment its interest threatens to pale; and turn your eye upon the new and more interesting thing that has intruded itself into your gaze meantime. Believe me, there are plenty of these in this wonderful volume." The Hartford Courant "One sees a mind bubbling and hears a uniquely American voice." Literary Review "Twain traveled extensively and befriended many luminaries, and his colorful experiences give the book the same Dickensian scope as the first volume, and presents a vivid picture of America in the 19th century and Twain's indelible mark on it." Publishers Weekly "This is vintage Twain-timeless, and still germane." BookPage "Twain is frequently sad and cynical in these late-in-life writings (just a few years before his death) but his devastating wit and sharp-eyed commentary are on full display as well." Christian Science Monitor "The publishing sensation of the year." -- Jonah Raskin San Francisco Chronicle "What we've inherited is no ordinary book. You may begin at the beginning and read to its end; you may reach into it like a grab bag and enjoy whatever you pull out. It doesn't matter." Dallas Morning News "Twain ambles through eternal truths and trivia, telling of world events and personal piques. Witticisms appear at random intervals, and the ensuing laughter can be dangerous to the lower extremities if one doesn't have a vicelike grip on this weighty tome." The Christian Science Monitor "In case you had any doubt about it, the new book demonstrates that Twain dictated as well as he wrote." The Washington Post "One of the more marvelous literary projects of our time." The Buffalo News "As much a sensitive and articulate historical work as an autobiography, the book is almost inexhaustible in its content... What seems like a mountain of anecdotal scraps and opinions results in a clear picture of Clemens as Twain." Library Journal "If you surrender yourself to the sound of his voice, the pleasure of Twain's company proves pretty hard to resist. His narrative may be loose, but at least it never loses sight of its subject." The New Yorker, Page-TurnerTable of ContentsList of Dictations Acknowledgments AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MARK TWAIN Explanatory Notes Appendixes Samuel L. Clemens: A Brief Chronology Family Biographies Previous Publication Note on the Text Word Division in This Volume References Index Photographs

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Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From one of our most iconic and influential writers, the award-winning author of The Year of Magical Thinking: a timeless collection that reveals what would become Joan Didion''s subjects, including the press, politics, California robber barons, women, and her own self-doubt. Didion’s remarkable, five decades-long career as a journalist, essayist, novelist, and screen writer has earned her a prominent place in the American literary canon, and the twelve early pieces collected here underscore her singularity.—O Magazine With a forward by Hilton Als, these pieces from 1968 to 2000, never before gathered together, offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary figure. They showcase Joan Didion''s incisive reporting, her empathetic gaze, and her role as an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time (The New York Ti

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Book SynopsisUS Poet Laureate Joy Harjo offers a vivid, lyrical and inspiring call for love and justice in this contemplation of her trailblazing life.Trade Review"A member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Harjo is the first Native Poet Laureate of the United States. Her second memoir (after “Crazy Brave”) blends personal journey with cultural meaning, weaving in stories from her ancestors that shaped her growth as an artist and teacher. The result is as strong and lyric as her poetry." -- 10 Books To Read in September - The Washington Post"Blending poetry and prose, Harjo examines her childhood, her ancestors and her path to becoming the country’s first Native American poet laureate." -- What To Read - The New York Times"In this triumphant memoir, our three-term Poet Laureate lyrically fuses poetry and prose to capture her Creek Nation family... “I walk in and out of several worlds each day,” Harjo once wrote—and in Poet Warrior, she threads them all together masterfully." -- Adrienne Westenfeld, The Best Books of Fall 2021 - Esquire"Alternating between poetry and prose, Harjo meditates on the stories and songs she grew up with, her artistic and ancestral influences and how poetry informs and reflects her connection to her community and home. The result is a memoir that is soulful and celebratory." -- 34 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2021 - TIME Magazine

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Book Synopsis''Like all good diarists Paling''s musings are funny, tender and uncensored'' Sunday Times6 April 2007Writing income for the year so far: minus 300''I feel that this might just be the year in which something happens. Then again it might not. But hope drives all writers on.''It''s unlikely that you''ll know Chris Paling''s face or have heard his name. This is his diary of trying to make a living as a writer, through the typical career trajectory of what is deemed a ''mid-list novelist''. Publishing rule 6: there is no such thing as a ''low-list'' novelist.In renumeration terms, writing is a career that often ends in disappointment and despair, and occasionally disgrace. Paling artfully explores what compels him and so many others to write - the battling joys and agonies of when that compulsion beds itself in one''s psyche, and a day without writing is a day wasted. A fascinating insight Trade ReviewLike all good diarists Paling's musings are funny, tender and uncensored -- Jackie Annesley * Sunday Times *Funny and revealing . . . everyone who is convinced they have a book in them should read [this book] -- Neil Armstrong * Mail on Sunday *A Very Nice Rejection Letter is a completely authentic account of what it's like to be merely reasonably good -- Thomas W Hodgkinson * Literary Review *Splendidly entertaining * The Chap *

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