Memoirs Books
Hachette Books The Moth
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£18.69
University Press of the Pacific Makarenko His Life and Work Articles Talks and
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£16.50
Scribner Book Company The Dirty Life
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£15.30
Little, Brown & Company Mortality
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£18.70
Time Warner Trade Publishing Mortality
Book SynopsisOn June 8, 2010, while on a book tour for his bestselling memoir, Hitch-22, Christopher Hitchens was stricken in his New York hotel room with excruciating pain in his chest and thorax. As he would later write in the first of a series of award-winning columns for Vanity Fair, he suddenly found himself being deported from the country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off the land of malady. Over the next eighteen months, until his death in Houston on December 15, 2011, he wrote constantly and brilliantly on politics and culture, astonishing readers with his capacity for superior work even in extremis. Throughout the course of his ordeal battling esophageal cancer, Hitchens adamantly and bravely refused the solace of religion, preferring to confront death with both eyes open. In this riveting account of his affliction, Hitchens poignantly describes the torments of illness, discusses its taboos, and explores how disease transforms experience and changes
£15.19
Little, Brown & Company Between Breaths
Book SynopsisFrom the moment she uttered the brave and honest words, I am an alcoholic, to interview George Stephanopoulos, Elizabeth Vargas began writing her story, as her experiences were still raw. Now, in BETWEEN BREATHS, Vargas discusses her accounts of growing up with anxiety-which began suddenly at the age of six when her father served in Vietnam-and how she dealt with this anxiety as she came of age, to her eventually turning to alcohol for relief. She tells of how she found herself living in denial, about the extent of her addiction and keeping her dependency a secret for so long. She addresses her time in rehab, her first year of sobriety, and the guilt she felt as a working mother who had never found the right balance. Honest and hopeful, BETWEEN BREATHS is an inspiring read.
£13.29
Simon & Schuster Ltd My Path to Happy
Book SynopsisFrom 2008, Charlotte Reed suffered from crippling depression. She decided not to take antidepressants and to instead fight her depression by making lifestyle changes such as exercise, diet and acupuncture. In addition, she started an online ‘Thought for the Day’ – a positive thought she posted on Facebook each day. These daily thoughts became a massive hit among her friends and Charlotte credits them with playing a huge part in her recovery from depression two years later. She went on to publish them in a book, May The Thoughts be With You, which she has sold thousands of copies of at the world-famous Portbello Road Market in Notting Hill, London. My Path to Happy is the story of her illness and recovery. Equally moving as it is hopeful, this beautifully illustrated book will resonate with anyone who has experienced depression – either as a sufferer themselves or as a helpless bystander. Written simply and illustrated appe
£9.49
Simon & Schuster Barking to the Choir
Book SynopsisIn a moving example of unconditional love in difficult times, Gregory Boyle, the Jesuit priest and New York Times bestselling author of Tattoos on the Heart, shares what working with gang members in Los Angeles has taught him about faith, compassion, and the enduring power of kinship.In his first book, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, Gregory Boyle introduced us to Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the world. Critics hailed that book as an “astounding literary and spiritual feat” (Publishers Weekly) that is “destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality” (Los Angeles Times). Now, after the successful expansion of Homeboy Industries, Boyle returns with Barking to the Choir to reveal how compassion is transforming the lives of gang members. In a nation deeply divided and plagued by poverty
£16.19
Little, Brown & Company Walking with Peety
Book SynopsisThe heartwarming true story of how one man''s life was saved by adopting an overweight, middle-aged shelter dog named Peety.Eric O''Grey was 150 pounds overweight, depressed, and sick. After a lifetime of failed diet attempts, the onset of serious diabetes due to his weight prompted Eric to see a new doctor, who surprisingly prescribed adopting a shelter dog. And that''s when Eric met Peety: a middle-aged and forgotten shelter dog who, like Eric, had seen better days. The two adopted each other and began an incredible journey together. Over the next year, just by going on walks, playing together and eating plant-based food, Eric lost 150 pounds and Peety lost 25. The bond of unconditional love he and Peety formed forever changed their lives. As a result, Eric reversed his type 2 diabetes, got off all medication, became happy and healthy for the first time in his life, and even reconnected with and married his high school sweetheart. WALKING WITH PEETY is perf
£999.99
Simon & Schuster Enchanted Air
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£11.39
Tyndale House Publishers Live Like a Guide Dog
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£16.19
MP-MPP University Press of Mississippi The Mama Chronicles A Memoir
Book SynopsisA funny and poignant account of a mother-daughter relationship and, ultimately, a meditation on acceptance and what it means to call a place home.
£21.21
Scribner Book Company Shoe Dog A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
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£17.00
Simon & Schuster Born to Run
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£27.62
Random House USA Inc Thank You for My Service
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£22.40
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Transitional: In One Way or Another, We All
Book SynopsisWATERSTONES' BEST BOOKS OF 2023: POLITICS ‘A riveting blend of memoir and manifesto ... I found myself dog-earing every page’ Elizabeth Day 'Profoundly articulate. Entirely wise. Beautifully real.' Attitude ‘Transitional is a clever, moving book that packs a lot into its 194 pages’ Guardian Transitioning is an alignment of the invisible and the physical. It is truth rising to the surface. It is one of the most fundamental aspects of the human condition – a part of our experience as a conscious being, no matter who we are. As time goes on, we all develop as people. We all transition. It’s what unites us, not what separates us. In this life-affirming, heartfelt and intimate book, activist and model Munroe Bergdorf shares reflections from her own life to illustrate how transitioning is an essential part of all our lives. Through the story of one woman’s extraordinary mission to live with authenticity, Transitional shows us how to heal, how to build a stronger community and how to evolve as a society out of shame and into pride. ------ PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR: ‘Bergdorf is proof that speaking up for what you believe in can provoke real change’ Vogue ‘A phenomenon’ Owen Jones, Guardian ‘A powerful and unstoppable new force . . . The world should take notice’ Teen Vogue ‘One of the UK’s most committed and outspoken transgender activists’ StylistTrade ReviewA powerful rallying cry from an influential voice * Cosmopolitan *This version of Bergdorf offers a glimpse into the human cost of being a Black trans activist in the unrelenting public sphere ... she puts herself on the firing line to make the world more tolerant for us all * TIME *The model and trans activist tells the story of her own search for authenticity and argues that we all transition, one way or another * Guardian *Her much-anticipated manifesto on gender also aims to explore the transitions we all go through in life * iNews *As Bergdorf beautifully points out: we all transition. Whether it’s growing up and coming of age, reacting to the things that happen to us, learning from our mistakes, dealing with trauma or finding love, we all evolve. This is the book that explores the things that bind us together * Stylist *A manifesto on gender and an exploration of transitioning * GQ *By shining a light on the inevitable reality of change, it aims to bring us together and build a more understanding and inclusive world * Dazed *A compelling non-fiction title from the model and activist that discusses fluidity of identity, sexuality and gender through the experience of transition every human faces at some point in their life * Huffington Post *An intimate and life affirming exploration * Luxury London *I am forever in awe of Munroe and all of the incredible things she does * Clara Amfo *The transgender and model is trailblazing a way for the trans community through her activism * Dailymail *A riveting blend of memoir and manifesto . . . so enlightening and quotable, I found myself dog-earing every page -- Elizabeth DayAs you start reading Transitional, it might come as little surprise that every word of this honest and enriching book feels very carefully chosen. Then, as she settles into her story, you come to realise the extraordinary intelligence, insight and power of this tenacious woman. She writes unflinchingly about growing up different; a childhood spent trying to conceal the innate femininity that would distress family members, and the ostracisation she experienced at school. Profoundly articulate. Entirely wise. Beautifully real. * Attitude *It's in this era of the complete dehumanisation of trans people that Munroe Bergdorf’s debut book, Transitional, is needed more than ever. Transitional is a memoir that offers hope. It stretches way beyond Bergdorf’s own gender transition story to explore the many transitions we all go through in our brief time on this earth. Crucially, it reframes the conversation away from the medicalisation of trans people – such a small part of the trans experience – and shifts focus onto the real story, sheer humanity. * Vice *The model and trans activist writes movingly on prejudice, navigating controversy and personal growth * Guardian *
£16.14
Grand Central Publishing Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing
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£16.99
Grand Central Publishing The Stable Boy of Auschwitz
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£13.29
Little, Brown & Company Take You Wherever You Go
Book SynopsisStarting from humble beginnings under his grandmother's care, Leon takes us to unexpected places in his ascent to the top from the house off the dirt road without electricity in rural Florida to being the first African American director to win a Tony Award. In TAKE YOU WHEREVER YOU GO, Kenny reflects on the lessons he learned every step of the way from the most important people in his life-from his grandmother's sagacious and encouraging motivations to the deep artistic influence of iconic American playwright August Wilson in his work. The pillars and wisdom he has learned through all the seminal people that have influenced him, paired with his tremendous storytelling, will show that you can find a classroom anywhere and it will inspire you to never change who you are, and as his grandmother instilled in him, "take you wherever you go".
£999.99
Basic Books Goodbye to All That (Revised Edition): Writers on
Book SynopsisIn the revised edition of this classic collection, thirty writers share their own stories of loving and leaving New York, capturing the mesmerizing allure the city has always had for writers, poets, and wandering spirits. Their essays often begin as love stories do, with the passion of something newly discovered-the crush of subway crowds, the streets filled with manic energy, and the sudden, unblinking certainty that this is the only place on Earth where one can become exactly who she is meant to be.They also share the grief that comes like a gut-punch, when the grand metropolis loses its magic and the pressures of New York's frenetic life wear thin for even the most dedicated dwellers. As friends move away, rents soar, and love -- still -- remains just out of reach, each writer's goodbye is singular and universal, just like New York itself.
£14.24
PublicAffairs,U.S. All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True
Book SynopsisMost travel memoirs involve a button-nosed protagonist nursing a broken heart who, rather than tearfully watching The Princess Bride while eating an entire 5-gallon vat of ice cream directly out of the container (like a normal person), instead decides to travel the world, inevitably falling for some chiseled stranger with bulging pectoral muscles and a disdain for wearing clothing above the waist.This is not that kind of book.Geraldine met the love of her life long before this story began, on a bus in Seattle surrounded by drunk college kids. She gets lost constantly, wherever she goes. And her nose would never, ever be considered "button-like."Hilarious, irreverent and heartfelt, All Over the Place chronicles the five-year period that kicked off when Geraldine got laid off from a job she loved and took off to travel the world. Those years taught her a great number of things, though the ability to read a map was not one of them. She has only a vague idea of where Russia is, but she understands her Russian father now better than ever before. She learned that at least half of what she thought was her mother's functional insanity was actually an equally incurable condition called "being Italian." She learned about unemployment and brain tumors and lost luggage and lost opportunities and just getting lost, in countless terminals and cabs and hotel lobbies across the globe. And she learned what it's like to travel the world with someone you already know and love. How that person can help you make sense of things, and can, by some sort of alchemy, make foreign cities and far-off places feel like home.In All Over the Place, Geraldine imparts the insight she gained while being far from home--wry, surprising, but always sincere, advice about marriage, family, health, and happiness that come from getting lost and finding the unexpected.
£999.99
PublicAffairs,U.S. The Groom Will Keep His Name: And Other Vows I've
Book SynopsisWhen Matt Ortile's family moved from Manila to Las Vegas, the locals couldn't pronounce his name. Bullied for his brown skin, accent, and femininity, he couldn't wait to move to New York, start over, and leave the past behind him - Filipino name included. In The Groom Will Keep His Name, Ortile traces his journey to an awakening of radical self-love.When we date and mate, we tell stories about ourselves, trying to put our 'best foot forward.' Dating apps and social media have encouraged us to further curate the face we show the world. Our personal myths, however true or false, reveal not just who we are, but who we want to be. The Groom Will Keep His Name explores the various fables Ortile has spun for himself: as a Vassar Girl, an American Boy, a card-carrying member of Gay Twitter, and a Filipino immigrant looking to build a home.With intelligence, wit, and his heart on his sleeve, Matt Ortile examines cruising and one-night stands, DMs and texts, relationships and whateverships that helped him interrogate his queer desire, race, complicity in white supremacy, and solidarity with other marginalized people.
£999.99
Little, Brown & Company Where the Waves Turn Back
Book SynopsisIn this powerful memoir, following the death of his mother, Tyson Motsenbocker retraces the journey an 18th century priest took in this harrowing story of one man’s pilgrimage of healing and finding beauty and hope in tragedy. After years on the road performing at sold-out venues, Tyson Motsenbocker returned home to the impending death of his 57-year-old hero and mother. He begged God to heal her, but she died anyway. When they buried her body, Tyson also buried the childhood version of his faith. Shortly before her death, however, Tyson became intrigued by the complicated legacy of Father Junipero Serra, the 18th-century Franciscan monk and canonized saint who dedicated his life to the idea that tragedy and suffering are portals to renewal. Father Serra built Missions up and down the California coast, spreading Christianity, as well as enabling and aiding in the oppression and colonization of the native Californians.
£999.99
Little, Brown & Company Get in the Game: Nothing Missing: You Have
Book SynopsisEven before entering the world, Kevin Laue was a fighter. He should have died in childbirth, as the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice, but he survived because his left arm was in the middle of it, allowing blood to flow to his brain. But since circulation was cut off in that arm, he was born with his left arm ending just below his elbow. GET IN THE GAME is Kevin's story of transformation: Moving from anger to joy. From embarrassment to confidence. From the sidelines and wishing his life was different to getting in the game and showing who he is. Kevin's arduous journey to becoming the first NCAA Division I basketball player missing a limb has given him keen insights to help anyone who feels trapped and defeated by less-than-perfect circumstances, whether physical, mental, or environmental. Kevin doesn't encourage readers to simply accept and live with their challenges, hurts, and losses. He spurs them on to believe any weakness can, in reality, become the one thing that propels them to achieve their greatest potential. As Kevin has learned throughout his life, you can't win if you don't get in the game!
£999.99
Little, Brown & Company Divine Collision: An African Boy, An American
Book SynopsisJim Gash, former Los Angeles lawyer and current president and CEO of Pepperdine University, tells the amazing story of how, after a series of God-orchestrated events, he finds himself in the heart of Africa defending a courageous Ugandan boy languishing in prison and wrongfully accused of two separate murders. Ultimately, their unlikely friendship and unrelenting persistence reforms Uganda's criminal justice system, leaving a lasting impact on hundreds of thousands of lives and revealing a relationship that supersedes circumstance, culture, and the walls we often hide behind. Jim and Henry's story, and the larger narrative of Ugandan criminal justice reform, was featured in a documentary by Revolution Pictures.
£999.99
Graywolf Press All Who Go Do Not Return A Memoir
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£12.34
Graywolf Press On Immunity: An Inoculation
Book Synopsis?On Immunity is a book I?ve recommended too many times to count?a searching, empathetic, ultimately unassailable argument, not just for vaccination but for thoroughly acknowledging our interdependence, and for all that becomes necessary and possible once we do. Written before COVID, it nonetheless speaks directly to the concerns of the pandemic era?to the fact that we are dangerous as well as vulnerable, to the way collective well-being and individual self-interest are configured at odds to one another when they are fundamentally intertwined.??Jia TolentinoIn this bold, fascinating book, Eula Biss addresses our fear of the government, the medical establishment, and what may be in our children''s air, food, mattresses, medicines, and vaccines. Reflecting on her own experience as a new mother, she suggests that we cannot immunize our children, or ourselves, against the world. As she explores the metaphors surrounding immunity, Biss extends her conversations with other mothers to meditations on the myth of Achilles, Voltaire''s Candide, Bram Stoker''s Dracula, Rachel Carson''s Silent Spring, Susan Sontag''s AIDS and Its Metaphors, and beyond. On Immunity is an inoculation against our fear and a moving account of how we are all interconnected-our bodies and our fates.
£14.40
Graywolf Press The Argonauts
Book SynopsisAn intrepid voyage out to the frontiers of the latest thinking about love, language, and family Maggie Nelson''s The Argonauts is a genre-bending memoir, a work of "autotheory" offering fresh, fierce, and timely thinking about desire, identity, and the limitations and possibilities of love and language. It binds an account of Nelson''s relationship with her partner and a journey to and through a pregnancy to a rigorous exploration of sexuality, gender, and "family." An insistence on radical individual freedom and the value of caretaking becomes the rallying cry for this thoughtful, unabashed, uncompromising book.
£14.45
Graywolf Press 300 Arguments
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£12.60
Graywolf Press Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe
Book SynopsisRemarkable: a book about borders that makes the reader feel sumptuously free. Peter PomerantsevIn this extraordinary work of narrative reportage, Kapka Kassabova returns to Bulgaria, from where she emigrated as a girl twenty-five years previously, to explore the border it shares with Turkey and Greece. When she was a child, the border zone was rumored to be an easier crossing point into the West than the Berlin Wall, and it swarmed with soldiers and spies. On holidays in the Red Riviera on the Black Sea, she remembers playing on the beach only miles from a bristling electrified fence whose barbs pointed inward toward the enemy: the citizens of the totalitarian regime.Kassabova discovers a place that has been shaped by successive forces of history: the Soviet and Ottoman empires, and, older still, myth and legend. Her exquisite portraits of fire walkers, smugglers, treasure hunters, botanists, and border guards populate the book. There are also the ragged men and women who have walked across Turkey from Syria and Iraq. But there seem to be nonhuman forces at work here too: This densely forested landscape is rich with curative springs and Thracian tombs, and the tug of the ancient world, of circular time and animism, is never far off.Border is a scintillating, immersive travel narrative that is also a shadow history of the Cold War, a sideways look at the migration crisis troubling Europe, and a deep, witchy descent into interior and exterior geographies.
£15.20
Health Communications A Child Called it : An Abused Child's Journey
Book SynopsisTells the story of a child's abuse at the hands of his alcoholic mother.
£11.54
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers Inc Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper
Book SynopsisNow in paperback, Marina Marchese's inspirational and practical story of learning to raise honeybees and creating a life she loves '[An] engaging, delightfully informative work?' ?Publishers Weekly 'Marchese has given us a lovely gift. Honeybee is an entertaining and useful primer for the novice and honeybee devotee alike.' ?Washington Times 'Surpassing the predictable 'how I changed careers' memoir of finding the good life, Marchese's informative guide is packed with facts about everything from pollination to harvesting, life cycles to historical lore, nutritional benefits to gourmet flavor combinations, medical applications to unusual varieties.' ?BooklistIn 1999, Marina Marchese fell in love with bees during a tour of a neighbor's honeybee hives. She quit her job, acquired her own bees, built her own hives, harvested honey, earned a certificate in apitherapy, studied wine tasting in order to transfer those skills to honey tasting, and eventually opened her own honey business. Today, Red Bee? Honey sells artisanal honey and honey-related products to shops and restaurants all over the country. More than an inspiring story of one woman's transformative relationship with honeybees (some of nature's most fascinating creatures), Honeybee is also bursting with information about all aspects of bees, beekeeping, and honey?including life inside the hive; the role of the queen, workers, and drones; pollination and its importance to sustaining all life; the culinary pleasures of honey; hiving and keeping honeybees; the ancient practice of apitherapy, or healing with honey, pollen, and bee venom; and much more. Recipes for food and personal care products appear throughout. Also included is an excellent, one-of-a-kind appendix that lists 75 different honey varietals, with information on provenance, tasting notes, and food-and-wine pairings.
£12.99
Penguin Putnam Inc The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His
Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird: The modern classic that spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list and that Oprah.com calls one of the best memoirs of a generation. Who is Ruth McBride Jordan? A self-declared light-skinned woman evasive about her ethnicity, yet steadfast in her love for her twelve black children. James McBride, journalist, musician, and son, explores his mother's past, as well as his own upbringing and heritage, in a poignant and powerful debut, The Color Of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother. The son of a black minister and a woman who would not admit she was white, James McBride grew up in orchestrated chaos with his eleven siblings in the poor, all-black projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn. Mommy, a fiercely protective woman with dark eyes full of pep and fire, herded her brood to Manhattan's free cultural events, sent them off on buses to the best (and mainly Jewish) schools, demanded good grades, and commanded respect. As a young man, McBride saw his mother as a source of embarrassment, worry, and confusion—and reached thirty before he began to discover the truth about her early life and long-buried pain. In The Color of Water, McBride retraces his mother's footsteps and, through her searing and spirited voice, recreates her remarkable story. The daughter of a failed itinerant Orthodox rabbi, she was born Rachel Shilsky (actually Ruchel Dwara Zylska) in Poland on April 1, 1921. Fleeing pogroms, her family emigrated to America and ultimately settled in Suffolk, Virginia, a small town where anti-Semitism and racial tensions ran high. With candor and immediacy, Ruth describes her parents' loveless marriage; her fragile, handicapped mother; her cruel, sexually-abusive father; and the rest of the family and life she abandoned. At seventeen, after fleeing Virginia and settling in New York City, Ruth married a black minister and founded the all- black New Brown Memorial Baptist Church in her Red Hook living room. God is the color of water, Ruth McBride taught her children, firmly convinced that life's blessings and life's values transcend race. Twice widowed, and continually confronting overwhelming adversity and racism, Ruth's determination, drive and discipline saw her dozen children through college—and most through graduate school. At age 65, she herself received a degree in social work from Temple University. Interspersed throughout his mother's compelling narrative, McBride shares candid recollections of his own experiences as a mixed-race child of poverty, his flirtations with drugs and violence, and his eventual self- realization and professional success. The Color of Water touches readers of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son.
£14.45
Hachette Book Group A Speck in the Sea: A Story of Survival and
Book SynopsisNew in Paperback: The harrowing adventure-at-sea memoir ("Terrific."-Daniel James Brown) recounting the 2013 search-and-rescue mission for lost Montauk fisherman John Aldridge."A Speck in the Sea is a terrific read-harrowing and inspiring at the same time. In the end it's a moving testament both to our individual will to survive and to our collective will to come to the aid of others in distress. I couldn't put it down." -Daniel James Brown, author of The Boys in the BoatIn the dead of night on July 24, 2013, John Aldridge was thrown off the back of the Anna Mary while his fishing partner, Anthony Sosinski, slept below. As desperate hours ticked by, Sosinski, the families, the local fishing community, and the U.S. Coast Guard in three states mobilized in an unprecedented search effort that culminated in a rare and exhilarating success.A tale of survival, perseverance, and community, A Speck in the Sea tells of one man's struggle to survive as friends and strangers work to bring him home. Aldridge's wrenching first-person account intertwines with the narrative of the massive, constantly evolving rescue operation designed to save him.Trade ReviewA Speck in the Sea is a terrific read-harrowing and inspiring at the same time. In the end it's a moving testament both to our individual will to survive and to our collective will to come to the aid of others in distress. I couldn't put it down. * Daniel James Brown, author of The Boys in the Boat *Sometimes being a hero means just hanging on and having faith--which is exactly what John Aldridge and Anthony Sosinski did on July 24, 2013. This is an amazing tale of survival, family, community, and friendship from two true American originals. * Paul Tough, New York Magazine *A robust portrait of working-class Montauk, the Long Island community... richly detailed. * Kirkus Review *A rich backstory-including complicated personal lives and deep family histories-adds depth to this page turner. * Publishers Weekly *This absolutely riveting book follows the increasingly desperate (and, at times, disorganized) rescue efforts as well as Aldridge's own odyssey (How does a man facing near-certain death keep himself believing he might survive?)... the book is... captivating. * Booklist *
£999.99
Workman Publishing Things I Learned From Knitting: (Whether I Wanted
Book SynopsisIn Thing I Learned From Knitting (Whether I Wanted to or Not), Pearl Mc-Phee examines age-old aphorisms in light of knitting. From "Hope Springs Eternal" to "A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed" and "Birds of a Feather Flock Together", Pearl=McPhee casts a fresh, off-beat light on these sayings. Presented in quick, punchy takes, each entry in this book calls out to be read aloud and shared with anyone who enjoys playing with yarn and needles. Pearl-McPhee's observations are hilarious; the situations she describes strike a familiar "not you, too?" feeling in the heart of anyone who knits. Interspersed throughout the book are her notes on the things that "Knitting is still trying to teach me..." That no matter how well you knit, looking at your work too closely isn't helpful. It's like kissing with your eyes open. Nobody looks good that close up.
£8.99
Bloomsbury USA Lost Connections: Why You're Depressed and How to
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£23.80
Bloomsbury Publishing The Cost of Living: A Working Autobiography
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£14.44
Bloomsbury Publishing Real Estate: A Living Autobiography
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£14.45
Workman Publishing Ordinary Girls: A Memoir
Book SynopsisOne of the Must-Read Books of 2019 According to O: The Oprah Magazine * Time * Bustle * Electric Literature * Publishers Weekly * The Millions * The Week * Good Housekeeping “There is more life packed on each page of Ordinary Girls than some lives hold in a lifetime.” —Julia Alvarez In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age. While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be. Reminiscent of Tara Westover’s Educated, Kiese Laymon’s Heavy, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club, and Terese Marie Mailhot’s Heart Berries, Jaquira Díaz’s memoir provides a vivid portrait of a life lived in (and beyond) the borders of Puerto Rico and its complicated history—and reads as electrically as a novel.Trade ReviewWinner of a Whiting Award for Nonfiction "[Ordinary Girls] belongs on your must-read lists. Diaz is a masterful writer . . . Writing with refreshing honesty, she talks about despair, depression, love, and hope with such vibrancy that her vivid portrayal will stay with you long after the final page." --O: The Oprah Magazine "Every once in a while, a truly electric debut memoir comes along, and this fall, Ordinary Girls is it. It's the story of an ordinary girl; it's the story of all of the extraordinary girls. Diaz is a skilled writer; the depth of layering is strong, from the details to the larger structures of identity, white supremacy, colonialism, and brown, queer, and femme resilience and resistance." --BuzzFeed "A skilled writer, Diaz is meticulous in her craft, and on page after page her writing truly sings . . . This brutally honest coming-of-age story is a painful yet illuminating memoir, a testament to resilience in the face of scarcity, a broken family, substance abuse, sexual assault, mental illness, suicide and violence." --New York Times Book Review "Incredible . . . Beautiful . . . Gorgeous and propulsive prose." --NBC / Today (Isaac Fitzgerald) "Diaz does not flinch with the hard-hitting details of growing up in communities that deserve our wholehearted attention. She complicates how we imagine girlhood and offers a beautiful memoir written with so much love, compassion and intelligence. This book is a necessary read at a time where the system and the media is so often working against the survival of women of color. This book burns in the memory and makes one feel all the feelings. A triumph!" --Bustle (Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana) "A dynamic examination of the power of persistence." --Time (Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2019) "Outstanding. A powerful and lyrical coming-of-age story, Ordinary Girls is a candid illustration of shame, despair and violence as well as joy and triumph. Against a Puerto Rican backdrop, this debut is compassionate, brave and forgiving." --Ms. Magazine "At once heartbreaking and throbbing with life in a rich portrait that's anything but ordinary." --Good Housekeeping (The 50 Best Books of 2019 to Add to Your Reading List) "There's a certain ferocity throughout the entirety of Ordinary Girls. For some of the book, it's humming like a hardworking engine--concealed under the hood, always present--but then there are moments when it combusts, bursting from the page in such a way that you, as a reader, have to pause and take a breath. Ordinary Girls is an electrifying, deftly-paced debut." --Salon "Diaz's resilience and writing abilities are far from ordinary; she's an emissary from an experience that many young women have. Listen." --Refinery29 "A whirlwind memoir. Like Maya Angalou's seminal 1969 memoir I know Why the Caged Bird Sings before it, Ordinary Girls, is brutally honest in a way that few books dare to be." --Bitch "Striking. Diaz's story is absolutely breathtaking." --NBC Latino "A fierce, unflinching account of ordinary girls leading extraordinary lives." --Poets & Writers "Every so often you discover a voice that just floors you--or rather, feels like it can bulldoze something in your very soul. This fall, that voice belongs to Jaquira Diaz." --The Week (25 Books to Read in the Second Half of 2019) "In her debut memoir, Jaquira Diaz mines her experiences growing up in Puerto Rico and Miami, grappling with traumas both personal and international, and over time converts them into something approaching hope and self-assurance. For years, Diaz has dazzled in shorter formats--stories, essays, etc.--and her entree into longer lengths is very welcome." --The Millions (Most Anticipated: The Great Second-Half 2019 Book Preview) "A powerful memoir, heart-wrenching, inspiring, thoroughly engrossing, reminiscent of Mary Karr's The Liar's Club, Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and more recently Tara Westover's Educated. Through one family's story, we learn about challenges of poverty, migration, uprootedness, addiction, sexism, racism--but also about the triumphant, spirited storyteller who survives to tell the tale. Jaquira Diaz is our contemporary Scheherazade, telling stories to keep herself alive and whole, and us her readers mesmerized and wanting more. And we get it: there is more life packed on each page of Ordinary Girls than some lives hold in a lifetime." --Julia Alvarez, author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies
£999.99
Workman Publishing Nowhere Girl: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood
Book SynopsisBy the age of nine, I will have lived in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, under six assumed identities. I’ll know how a document is forged, how to withstand an interrogation, and most important, how to disappear . . . To the young Cheryl Diamond, life felt like one big adventure, whether she was hurtling down the Himalayas in a rickety car or mingling with underworld fixers. Her family appeared to be an unbreakable gang of five. One day they were in Australia, the next in South Africa, the pattern repeating as they crossed continents, changed identities, and erased their pasts. What Diamond didn’t yet know was that she was born into a family of outlaws fleeing from the highest international law enforcement agencies, a family with secrets that would eventually catch up to all of them. By the time she was in her teens, Diamond had lived dozens of lives and lies, but as she grew older, love and trust turned to fear and violence, and her family—the only people she had in the world—began to unravel. She started to realize that her life itself might be a big con, and the people she loved, the most dangerous of all. With no way out and her identity burned so often that she had no proof she even existed, all that was left was a girl from nowhere. Surviving would require her to escape, and to do so Diamond would have to unlearn all the rules she grew up with. Wild, heartbreaking, and often unexpectedly funny, Nowhere Girl is an impossible-to-believe true story of self-discovery and triumph.Trade Review'An absolutely breathless read. Nowhere Girl is a courageous, heart-breaking, and beautifully written story of a girl doing everything in her power to protect the ones she loves.' — Paul Haggis, Academy Award-winning writer/director of Crash, Million Dollar Baby, and Casino Royale"A riveting tale of trauma and resilience." —People “Like Tara Westover’s Educated, Cheryl Diamond’s memoir tells the harrowing story of how crippling a childhood can be under the despotic narcissistic rule of a controlling father . . . Diamond has a powerful story to tell, and she tells it well, creating strong characters and settings, describing the complicated motivations of her parents and older siblings, all while conveying her yearning for ‘normalcy,’ whatever that is.” —New York Journal of Books “A shocking rollercoaster ride of a story that shares secrets of life on the run but also asks big questions about what family means and who we truly are, no matter what the name on a passport might say.” —Town Country “This memoir is proof that truth really is stranger than fiction.” —CrimeReads, “The Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2021: Summer Reading Edition” “[A] remarkable true story of growing up in a family of outlaws.”—Asheville Citizen-Times “A transfixing chronicle . . . Propulsive . . . Eloquent and bracing, Diamond’s story will haunt readers long after the last page.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “A beyond-harrowing memoir . . . Diamond's tale might just be the most mind-blowing of them all.” —Booklist, starred review “Former teen model Diamond reveals a childhood both wacky and cliff-hanging in Nowhere Girl; on the run with an outlaw family, she lived in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, under six assumed identities, by age nine.”—Library Journal “Nowhere Girl beautifully captures the intensity, darkness, and fierce love within an uncompromising outlaw family. Diamond's odyssey would leave the most adventurous among us panting to keep up.”—Alia Volz, author of Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco “An absolutely breathless read. Nowhere Girl is a courageous, heart-breaking, and beautifully written story of a girl doing everything in her power to protect the ones she loves.” —Paul Haggis, Academy Award-winning writer/director of Crash, Million Dollar Baby, and Casino Royale"A riveting tale of trauma and resilience." —People “Like Tara Westover’s Educated, Cheryl Diamond’s memoir tells the harrowing story of how crippling a childhood can be under the despotic narcissistic rule of a controlling father . . . Diamond has a powerful story to tell, and she tells it well, creating strong characters and settings, describing the complicated motivations of her parents and older siblings, all while conveying her yearning for ‘normalcy,’ whatever that is.” —New York Journal of Books “A shocking rollercoaster ride of a story that shares secrets of life on the run but also asks big questions about what family means and who we truly are, no matter what the name on a passport might say.” —Town Country “This memoir is proof that truth really is stranger than fiction.” —CrimeReads, “The Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2021: Summer Reading Edition” “[A] remarkable true story of growing up in a family of outlaws.”—Asheville Citizen-Times “A transfixing chronicle . . . Propulsive . . . Eloquent and bracing, Diamond’s story will haunt readers long after the last page.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “A beyond-harrowing memoir . . . Diamond's tale might just be the most mind-blowing of them all.” —Booklist, starred review “Former teen model Diamond reveals a childhood both wacky and cliff-hanging in Nowhere Girl; on the run with an outlaw family, she lived in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, under six assumed identities, by age nine.”—Library Journal “Nowhere Girl beautifully captures the intensity, darkness, and fierce love within an uncompromising outlaw family. Diamond's odyssey would leave the most adventurous among us panting to keep up.”—Alia Volz, author of Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco
£999.99
Workman Publishing Forager
Book Synopsis A moving, heartbreaking, and lyrical true story of the author’s escape from an apocalyptic cult—and the survival skills that led to her freedom. As a child, Michelle Dowd grew up on a mountain in the Angeles National Forest. She was born into an ultra-religious cult, the Field, started in the 1930s by her grandfather, who convinced generations of young male followers that he would live five hundred years and ascend to the heavens when doomsday came. Comfort and care are sins, Michelle is told. As a result, she was forced to learn the skills necessary to battle hunger, thirst, and cold; she learns to trust animals more than humans; and most importantly, she learns how to survive in the natural world. At the Field, a young Michelle lives a life of abuse, poverty, and isolation as she obeys her family’s rigorous religious and patriarchal rules. But as Michelle gets older,
£999.99
Seven Stories Press The Use of Photography
Book Synopsis
£15.03
She Writes Press Bright Eyes
Book Synopsis
£999.99
She Writes Press Countermelodies
Book Synopsis
£15.29
She Writes Press The Pink Dress
Book Synopsis
£15.29
She Writes Press Cakewalk
Book Synopsis
£999.99
She Writes Press The Shamans Wife
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Simon & Schuster While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's
Book Synopsis
£16.14
