![]() |
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
||
|
Books > Biography > Film, television, music, theatre
When Michael K. Williams died on 6 September 2021, he left behind a career as one of the most electrifying actors of his generation. From his star turn as Omar Little in The Wire to Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire to Emmy-nominated roles in HBO's The Night Of and Lovecraft Country, Williams inhabited a slew of indelible roles that he portrayed with a rawness and vulnerability that leapt off the screen. Beyond the nominations and acclaim, Williams played characters who connected, whose humanity couldn't be denied, whose stories were too often left out of the main narrative. At the time of his death, Williams had nearly finished a memoir that tells the story of his past while looking to the future, a book that merges his life and his life's work. Mike, as his friends knew him, was so much more than an actor. In Scenes from My Life, he traces his life in whole, from his childhood in East Flatbush and his early years as a dancer to his battles with addiction and the bar fight that left his face with his distinguishing scar. He was a committed Brooklyn resident and activist who dedicated his life to working with social justice organisations and his community, especially in helping at-risk youth find their voice and carve out their future. Williams worked to keep the spotlight on those he fought for and with, whom he believed in with his whole heart. Imbued with poignance and raw honesty, Scenes from My Life is the story of a performer who gave his all to everything he did-in his own voice, in his own words, as only he could.
Love her or hate her, Gwyneth Paltrow has managed to stay on the
A-list, her influence spanning entertainment, fashion, and the modern
wellness industry. Gwyneth was born to parents viewed as Hollywood
royalty, and that immense privilege turned her into a target of
backlash when, at just twenty-six, she won an Oscar. Rather than cave
in to criticism, she leveraged the attention for valuable endorsement
deals and film roles, eventually founding her controversial wellness
and lifestyle company, Goop.
A peak inside the life and career of Selena Gomez. This unofficial and unauthorized pocket book to Selena Gomez is a must-have for all hardcore Selenators. For more than two decades, Selena Gomez has charmed the world as one of the most influential celebrities. Given the impossible task of trying to squeeze all of Selena’s successes into one small selection, The Pocket Selena Gomez reveals as much of this girl wonder’s greatest hits as possible, from major milestones to important dates, professional highs to personal lows, wisest quotes to funniest quips, and everything else in-between. From her time as a Disney child star to her current status as an activist and makeup mogul, this pocket-sized guide celebrates the global icon’s triumphs as well as providing fans with an intimate portrait of her life. Gemini Pockets
The iconic, multiplatinum, Grammy Award®–winning performer Brandy
brings us a raw, intimate portrait of her life, charting her growth to
stardom from Mississippi churches to Hollywood spotlights
The international Number One bestseller. Over a million copies sold in the English language. Published in 23 foreign languages. ‘A heartfelt memoir . . . there is a fearlessness to his prose, a willingness to engage with his past, that chimes with his songwriter’s desire to give voice to the people around him’ Sunday Times “Writing about yourself is a funny business…But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I’ve tried to do this.” —Bruce Springsteen, from the pages of Born to Run In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl’s halftime show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it. That’s how this extraordinary autobiography began. Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to these pages the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs. He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination, leading up to the moment he refers to as “The Big Bang”: seeing Elvis Presley’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song “Born to Run” reveals more than we previously realized. Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen, but this book is much more than a legendary rock star’s memoir. This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll. Rarely has a performer told his own story with such force and sweep. Like many of his songs (“Thunder Road,” “Badlands,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “The River,” “Born in the U.S.A.,” “The Rising,” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” to name just a few), Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography is written with the lyricism of a singular songwriter and the wisdom of a man who has thought deeply about his experiences.
Leonard Cohen has aimed high: to be all Jewish heroes at once. Like Jacob, he struggled with angels. Like David, he sang psalms and seduced women. But he never ceased doing what he did best: going from city to city and reviving our hearts. Leonard Cohen: The Man Who Saw the Angels Fall follows the singer’s cosmopolitan life from Montreal and New York to the Greek island of Hydra and examines his perpetual dialogues with himself, God, and avalanches. We see how six decades of radiant pessimism and a few thousand nights in hotel rooms transformed a young Jewish poet who longed to be a saint into an existentialist troubadour in love with women and a gravelly-voiced crooner who taught a thousand ways of dissolving into love. After more than two decades of research and travels, Christophe Lebold, who befriended the poet and spent time with him in Los Angeles, delivers a stimulating analysis of Cohen’s life and art. Gracefully blending biography and essay, he interrogates the mission Cohen set out for himself: to show us that darkness is just the flip side of light.
In Rural Hours, Harriet Baker tells the story of three very different
women, each of whom moved to the countryside and was forever changed by
it. We encounter them at quiet moments – pausing to look at an insect
on the windowsill; jotting down a recipe; or digging for potatoes, dirt
beneath their nails. Slowly, we start to see transformations unfold:
Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and Rosamond Lehmann emerge
before us as the passionate, visionary writers we know them to be.
From the scene-stealing star of Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids comes a
refreshingly candid, hilarious and inspiring book about an
unconventional journey to Hollywood success and self-celebration.
Bob Marley is the unchallenged king of reggae and one of music's great iconic figures. Rita Marley was not just his wife and the mother of four of his children but his backing singer and friend, life-long companion and soul mate. They met in Trenchtown when he was 19 and she was 18, and she was very much part of his musical career, selling his early recordings from their house in the days before Island Records signed up the Wailers. She shared the hard times and the dangers - when Bob was wounded in a gunfight before the Peace Concert, Rita was shot in the head and left for dead. Their marriage was not always easy but Rita was the woman Bob returned to no matter where music and other women might take him, the woman who held him when he died at the age of 35. Today she sees herself as the guardian of his legacy. Full of new insights, No Woman No Cry is a unique biography of Marley by someone who understands what it meant to grow up in poverty in Jamaica, to battle racism and prejudice. It is also a moving and inspiring story of a marriage that survived both poverty and then the strains of global celebrity.
Liverpool in the 1980s. With prospects for the city's youth bleak, a scheme for unemployed musicians commenced, inadvertently shaping the future for members of Cast, Space, the Lightning Seeds and giving fresh impetus to the idea of song as a saviour for the city. Foremost of the bands to emerge from this ill-fated scheme was The La's. Inspired by a chance meeting with Captain Beefheart, Mike Badger formed the band with the enigmatic Lee Mavers. First they conquered the city, and then on the brink of hitting the big time, and eventually inspiring what would become Britpop, Badger quit to form Americana pioneers The Onset, find international recognition as a sculptor, produce album art and videos for some of the country's biggest bands, before finally co-founding Liverpool's Viper record label (which has recently released its 100th album). Featuring everyone from Arthur Lee to Frank Sidebottom, Jonathan Richman to Half Man Half Biscuit, and above all with new insights into the early years of the great lost Liverpool band The La's, The Rhythm and the Tide is both the personal story of a restlessly creative individual, and a reflection on the ebb and flow of the music scene in the city that he loves.
Celebrate Jungkook, the once-in-a-generation talent at the center of BTS, in this illuminating look into the forces that have made him a global icon. Jungkook is one of the world’s biggest stars, period. His first album, Golden, sold more than 2 million copies on the day of its release and stayed on the Billboard 200 for twenty-four consecutive weeks. How did a young prodigy from South Korea make music history? The Meaning of Jungkook is an unofficial kaleidoscopic exploration of the forces that made Jungkook into the triumph he is today. The book does more than chronicle his humble beginnings in Busan and meteoric rise to fame. A lively narrative, it places Jungkook in a larger cultural and historical context, shedding light on the inner workings of the K-pop industry, internet culture, ARMY, and more. We learn that Jungkook’s ruthless work ethic is a symptom of Korean culture and its singular pursuit for excellence; his style of dance places him in the lineage of Michael Jackson; and “the soldout king” has a unique visual appeal that meets high Korean beauty standards but also subverts it with his irreverent piercings and tattoos. Jungkook’s success is not an accident. Talent and training, the livestreams and good looks, globalization and timing all contributed to the making of Jungkook, “the Golden Maknae,” the South Korean pop superstar who overcame the odds, and through his success, changed the status quo. This is an unauthorized elevated tribute to the singer, for both his fans and others interested in the genre. Monica Kim has delivered a tour-de-force, filled with vivid detail, that makes sense of the world of a music icon who has captured the devotion of millions of fans worldwide.
The explosive new book from Britain’s leading investigative biographer,
Tom Bower
|
You may like...
Disciple - Walking With God
Rorisang Thandekiso, Nkhensani Manabe
Paperback
(1)
Broken To Heal - Deceit, Destruction…
Alistair Izobell
Paperback
(3)
Hykie Berg: My Storie van Hoop
Hykie Berg, Marissa Coetzee
Paperback
|