The number one bestseller and Sunday Times Humour Book of the Year by national treasure Bob Mortimer.'The most life-affirming, joyful read of the year' - Sunday Times 'Winningly heartfelt' - The Guardian 'A triumph' - Daily Mail Bob Mortimer's life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming tour. The episode unnerved him, but forced him to reflect on his life so far. This is the framework for his hilarious and moving memoir, And Away... Although his childhood in Middlesbrough was normal on the surface, it was tinged by the loss of his dad, and his own various misadventures (now infamous from his appearances on Would I Lie to You?), from burning down the family home to starting a short-lived punk band called Dog Dirt. As an adult, he trained as a solicitor and moved to London. Though he was doing pretty well (the South London Press once crowned him 'The Cockroach King' after a successful verdict), a chance encounter in a pub in the 1980s with a young comedian going by the name Vic Reeves set his life on a different track. And now, six years on, the heart condition that once threatened his career has instead led to new success on BBC2's Gone Fishing. Warm, profound, and irrepressibly funny, And Away... is Bob's full life story (with a few lies thrown in for good measure.)

A uniquely illuminating memoir of the making of a musician, in which renowned pianist Jeremy Denk explores what he learned from his teachers about classical music: its forms, its power, its meaning - and what it can teach us about ourselves.

In this searching and funny memoir, based on his popular New Yorker article, renowned pianist Jeremy Denk traces an implausible journey. Life is difficult enough as a precocious, temperamental, and insufferable six-year-old piano prodigy in New Jersey. But then a family meltdown forces a move to New Mexico, far from classical music’s nerve centers, and he has to please a new taskmaster while navigating cacti, and the perils of junior high school. Escaping from New Mexico at last, he meets a bewildering cast of college music teachers, ranging from boring to profound, and experiences a series of humiliations and triumphs, to find his way as one of the world’s greatest living pianists, a MacArthur 'Genius,' and a frequent performer at Carnegie Hall.

There are few writers working today who are willing to eloquently explore both the joys and miseries of artistic practice. Hours of daily repetition, mystifying early advice, pressure from parents and teachers who drove him on – an ongoing battle of talent against two enemies: boredom and insecurity. As we meet various teachers, with cruel and kind streaks, Denk composes a fraught love letter to the act of teaching. He brings you behind the scenes, to look at what motivates both student and teacher, locked in a complicated and psychologically perilous relationship.

In Every Good Boy Does Fine, Denk explores how classical music is relevant to 'real life,' despite its distance in time. He dives into pieces and composers that have shaped him – Bach, Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms, among others – and gives unusual lessons on melody, harmony, and rhythm. Why and how do these fundamental elements have such a visceral effect on us? He tries to sum up many of the lessons he has received, to repay the debt of all his amazing teachers; to remind us that music is our creation, and that we need to keep asking questions about its purpose.

Wild and Crazy Guys is the larger-than-life story of the much-loved Hollywood comedy stars that ruled the 1980s.

As well as delving behind the scenes of classic movies such as Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places and dozens more, it chronicles the off-screen, larger-than-life antics of Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Candy et al. It’s got drugs, sex, punch-ups, webbed toes and Bill Murray being pushed into a swimming pool by Hunter S Thompson, while tied to a lawn chair.

It’s akin to Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, following the key players through their highs and lows, and their often turbulent relationships with each other. Nick de Semlyen has already interviewed pretty much all the big names for Empire, as well as directors such as Walter Hill, John Landis and Carl Reiner, and is sitting on lots of unseen material.

Taking you on a trip through the tumultuous ’80s, Wild And Crazy Guys explores the friendships, feuds, triumphs and disasters experienced by these iconic funnymen. Based on candid interviews from the stars themselves, as well as those who entered their orbit, it reveals the hidden history behind the most fertile period ever for screen comedy.

Nu Metal: Resurgence documents the groundbreaking movement from its original inception, right up to the present day. Featuring fully detailed band biographies that includes major players such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Papa Roach, Rammstein and Slipknot, a guide to 'The Nu Breed' of bands coming up like Cane Hill, DED, Frontstreet and Lethal Injektion, and exclusive interviews with members of classic Nu Metal bands that includes Alien Ant Farm, Coal Chamber, Kittie, Nonpoint, Orgy, Spineshank and Taproot; as well as record producer extraordinaire Ross Robinson- Nu Metal: Resurgence confirms once and for all that Nu Metal is indeed here to stay.

A classically trained countertenor who sang with his high school choir, Dee remembers the day he decided he was "not gonna take it" and stopped caring what people thought about him. Following in the footsteps of his idols Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath, Dee jumped from band to band until he met Jay Jay French and Twisted Sister. But it wasn't until he met his costume-designing soul-mate Suzette that they developed his unique style. Dee's hard work finally paid off with an impressive resume that includes: a monster hit record; smash MTV videos; a long-running radio show, "The House of Hair"; appearances in film (Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Howard Stern's Private Parts, StrangeLand) and television (Growing Up Twisted, Celebrity Apprentice); and a starring role in Broadway's Rock of Ages. He even authored a teenage survival guide that was required reading in Russia! Filled with entertaining anecdotes and candid confessions, Shut Up and Give Me the Miketakes you through the good times and bad with a heavy metal star who worked as hard as he played, and who did it all for his wife, four kids, and millions of "SMF " (Sick Mother F******) fans.

The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.

Someone once asked me how I’d want to be remembered.
I said, ‘As the boy who grew.’

Diagnosed with ADHD as a child, Jordan Stephens found his teens and twenties to be a whirl of career success and nurturing friendships but also a brutal pattern of self-harm, hedonism, destructive coping mechanisms and heartbreak. When he tried to live up to his own damaged expectations and his world exploded, he allowed himself to explore the pain he’d repressed his entire life.

Unsparingly digging into the fear, tenderness and trauma, Jordan Stephens discovers what it means to be a modern man and how the price we pay for love, in all its forms, is worth it.

A moving account of one man's race to save a herd of elephants - with unforgettable characters and exotic wildlife, The Elephant Whisperer is an enthralling book that will appeal to animal lovers and adventurous souls everywhere. When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of 'rogue' elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse. But he was the herd's last chance of survival - dangerous and unpredictable, they would be killed if Anthony wouldn't take them in. As Anthony risked his life to create a bond with the troubled elephants and persuade them to stay on his reserve, he came to realize what a special family they were, from the wise matriarch Nana, who guided the herd, to her warrior sister Frankie, always ready to see off any threat, and their children who fought so hard to survive.

This stunning book showcases the bold and original work of Royal Designer Tony Meeuwissen. The artist also writes about his life at the drawing board and the inspiration and ideas behind his imagery. From the foreword by Peter Marren: Welcome to this gallery of the work of a most individual and lovable artist. Many will have seen Tony Meeuwissen's work without knowing the artist, for it has appeared in so many decorative forms from books to playing cards, from magazine and sheet music covers to postage stamps. His work was described by the designer Mike Dempsey as 'inventive, intensely detailed and full of wit and beauty'. Penguin Books art director David Pelham praised him as an artist with the eye of an illustrator and the mind of a designer, one able to solve visual problems with 'remarkable originality, skill and panache.' To my eye Tony's work is always affi rmative even in its darker moments. It is playful but not saccharine, clever but not conceited. It always wears a wry smile. Tony learned his craft in the market place of commercial art. He learned how to handle a wide range of media to develop graphic ideas while also discovering the beauty of typefaces. In the process he evolved his very distinctive artistic language, his own way of seeing the world: colourful, eye-catching, beautifully executed, his work is a product of his unique vision. He loves drawing animals, birds, insects and natural phenomena, but usually with a characteristic twist: shape-changing fantastical animals, a nuthatch hatching from a nut, a praying mantis in bishop's vestments saying grace over a butterfly. On the memorable Christmas stamps he designed for the Royal Mail in 1983, the Three Kings are represented by chimney pots and the continents of the world by melting snow slipping from an umbrella. His is a universe where nothing is quite what it seems, where proverbs morph into pictures and names turn out to have diff erent meanings. Words and rhymes increase this pleasurable sense of an alternate world with its own logic and rules. Tony Meeuwissen eschews computer-aided methods preferring his drawing board, his pencils and his paintbox. He has managed to inhabit the world of commercial art for more than half a century without ever becoming commercial himself. His work is always uncompromisingly his own: the product of a unique imagination coupled with the skills and standards of a perfectionist. Here for the fi rst time the full range of his work is presented. Like the door to the magical garden in Alice, turn the golden key and enter.

Rock stars to royalty, society to sobriety, get to know the real Susannah Constantine in the hottest memoir of the year 'Sensational, juicy, gossipy, filthy and bravely honest in equal measure, Susannah Constantine's memoir is a rollicking romp through the upper middle classes' SUNDAY TIMES, 'BEST BIOGRAPHY AND MEMOIR BOOKS OF 2022' 'Hilarious and honest. A book for anyone who's after laughter, tears and one hell of a rollercoaster ride' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, 'BOOKS OF THE YEAR' 'Absolutely brilliant' ELTON JOHN 'Wildly fun' DAILY TELEGRAPH, 'BEST BOOKS OF 2022' 'Sensational, juicy, honest, terrific - it reminded me of reading Lady Anne Glenconner' GRAHAM NORTON, Virgin Radio 'Hilarious and unsparing. An extraordinary story' REV. RICHARD COLES, Saturday Live 'Bonkers and brilliant. With comedy and candour, she bares her soul . . . Magnificent' SUNDAY MAIL 'There is a lot we can't mention on this show - you have to buy the book to find out what we mean' STEVE WRIGHT, BBC RADIO 2 __________ If you think you know Susannah Constantine you may be surprised to learn the truth. That she made her name as a 'style guru' from What Not to Wear is actually the least interesting thing about her. Hers is a tale full to the brim with extraordinary anecdotes. From lavatory dramas with Princess Margaret, to behind-the-scenes power struggles between Thatcher and the Queen at Balmoral and eye-opening sex-club etiquette with pop royalty - her social landscape has been nothing, if not varied. But appearances are deceptive and beneath it all, life had a darker side: her mother's bipolar disorder, her father's inability to cope and her own subsequent alcoholism. Somehow she had to forge her own life, away from the expectations of others. Told with gobsmacking honesty and great dollops of humour, Ready For Absolutely Nothing is essential reading for anyone who loves a good memoir but secretly just wants to read the naughty bits. __________ 'Wonderfully written, very funny, but more than anything completely genuine' LADY ANNE GLENCONNER, author of Lady in Waiting 'A romp . . . Constantine comes across as a trooper with a filthy sense of humour' THE TIMES 'A rollicking ride . . . What a life' SUNDAY TIMES 'Fascinating, an incredible life' Christine Lampard on LORRAINE 'Shrewd, funny, ideally candid and written with great confidence, brio and aplomb. A feisty, thought-provoking delight' WILLIAM BOYD 'A treasure trove of previously untold stories . . . A riveting read' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'Gives readers a fascinating insight into [her] extraordinary life' WOMAN & HOME 'Entertaining and funny' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Sparkling' DAILY MAIL 'Fascinating' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Funny . . . Never dull' GUARDIAN 'Revealing' PRIMA 'We lunched better than we danced' ANTON DU BEKE 'Exuberant' i

'Have I succeeded, in my own life? I don't know. I don't think so. I'm in my eighties now and I just don't know. But then, maybe "success" is the wrong way of framing it. You just try, and when you fail, you keep trying.'

Over the course of eight years, Martin Scorsese and Jesuit theologian Antonio Spadaro discussed filmmaking and faith.

From his Catholic upbringing amidst the brutality of 1950s New York to the heights of Hollywood, Scorsese sketches a unique self-portrait. And from Mean Streets to Killers of the Flower Moon - and especially the spiritual reckonings of The Last Temptation of Christ and Silence - he grants readers a new understanding of his films.

Reflecting on grace and violence, fear and hope, passion and belief, these rich and intimate conversations offer a remarkable insight into the director's life and work.