An inside look at the life of Comedy's Lovable Queen of Mean, Lisa Lampanelli, as she dishes on everything from relationships to food, fat, and rehab.

In her jaw-droppingly hilarious, gloriously, and unabashedly politically incorrect memoir, Lisa reveals all--including her dysfunctional childhood and her struggles with addictions to food and hot guys. By telling her story in a very real, very candid way, Lisa shows her audience that it's okay to be yourself, even if it's just one rehab stint at a time.

'Utterly fascinating' Daisy Goodwin, Sunday Times Benjamin Franklin took daily naked air baths and Toulouse-Lautrec painted in brothels. Edith Sitwell worked in bed, and George Gershwin composed at the piano in pyjamas. Freud worked sixteen hours a day, but Gertrude Stein could never write for more than thirty minutes, and F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in gin-fuelled bursts - he believed alcohol was essential to his creative process. From Marx to Murakami and Beethoven to Bacon, Daily Rituals by Mason Currey presents the working routines of more than a hundred and sixty of the greatest philosophers, writers, composers and artists ever to have lived. Whether by amphetamines or alcohol, headstand or boxing, these people made time and got to work. Featuring photographs of writers and artists at work, and filled with fascinating insights on the mechanics of genius and entertaining stories of the personalities behind it, Daily Rituals is irresistibly addictive, and utterly inspiring.

Two-time Peabody Award-winning writer and producer Ira Rosen reveals the intimate, untold stories of his decades at America's most iconic news show. It's a 60 Minutesstory on 60 Minutes itself. When producer Ira Rosen walked into the 60 Minutes offices in June 1980, he knew he was about to enter television history. His career catapulted him to the heights of TV journalism, breaking some of the most important stories in TV news. But behind the scenes was a war room of clashing producers, anchors, and the most formidable 60 Minutes figure: legendary correspondent Mike Wallace. Based on decades of access and experience, Ira Rosen takes readers behind closed doors to offer an incisive look at the show that invented TV investigative journalism. With surprising humor, charm, and an eye for colorful detail, Rosen delivers an authoritative account of the unforgettable personalities that battled for prestige, credit, and the desire to scoop everyone else in the game. As one of Mike Wallace's top producers, Rosen reveals the interview secrets that made Wallace's work legendary, and the flaring temper that made him infamous. Later, as senior producer of ABC News Primetime Live and 20/20, Rosen exposes the competitive environment among famous colleagues like Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters, and the power plays between correspondents Chris Wallace, Anderson Cooper, and Chris Cuomo. A master class in how TV news is made, Rosen shows readers how 60 Minutes puts together a story when sources are explosive, unreliable, and even dangerous. From unearthing shocking revelations from inside the Trump White House, to an outrageous proposition from Ghislaine Maxwell, to interviewing gangsters Joe Bonanno and John Gotti, Jr., Ira Rosen was behind the scenes of some of 60 Minutes' most sensational stories. Highly entertaining, dishy, and unforgettable, Ticking Clock is a never-before-told account of the most successful news show in American history.

An illuminating study of the life and work of Gyoergy Ligeti, one of the best-loved and most original composers of our time. For 50 years Gyoergy Ligeti has pursued a boldly independent and uncompromising course, yet his music is widely loved and admired. Ever since Stanley Kubrick's (unsanctioned) use of his music on the soundtrack of 2001: A Space Odyssey, interest in Ligeti has extended far beyond the classical domain. He is the only living composer whose complete output, including juvenilia, is being systematically issued on CD. Published to coincide with the composer's eightieth birthday, Richard Steinitz's compelling new book is both an illuminating study of the music and its associative ideas - drawn from literature, theatre, the visual arts, fractal mathematics, ethnic cultures and other maverick composers - and of Ligeti the man. Ligeti has confided in Steinitz a mass of previously unknown biographical information. The result is an astonishing account of his early upbringing in Romania, of his terrifying yet surreal experiences in the war, and of his difficulties attempting to forge an identity as a young composer under repressive censorship in Communist Hungary, before his dramatic escape to the West in 1956. The story continues via Ligeti's association with the Western avant-garde and his increasingly masterful sequence of highly individual compositions, which Steinitz brings vividly to life through informative commentaries as well as through the composer's own words.

Inspired by her hugely popular podcast, How To Fail is Elizabeth Day's brilliantly funny, painfully honest and insightful celebration of things going wrong. This is a book for anyone who has ever failed. Which means it's a book for everyone. If I have learned one thing from this shockingly beautiful venture called life, it is this: failure has taught me lessons I would never otherwise have understood. I have evolved more as a result of things going wrong than when everything seemed to be going right. Out of crisis has come clarity, and sometimes even catharsis. Part memoir, part manifesto, and including chapters on dating, work, sport, babies, families, anger and friendship, it is based on the simple premise that understanding why we fail ultimately makes us stronger. It's a book about learning from our mistakes and about not being afraid. Uplifting, inspiring and rich in stories from Elizabeth's own life, How to Fail reveals that failure is not what defines us; rather it is how we respond to it that shapes us as individuals. Because learning how to fail is actually learning how to succeed better. And everyone needs a bit of that.

Learn from Lady Gaga’s career experiences and discover how you too can be an ally, unafraid to be your truest self and let your creativity flourish.

Lady Gaga is a modern day Renaissance person, an icon who masters everything she does. Who else could break the Internet multiple times with her groundbreaking musical performances, acting roles and fashion choices, whilst also becoming a hugely respected philanthropist known for her compassion and advocacy? This A to Z collates some of Gaga’s most incredible moments and is overflowing with wisdom, quotes and facts from one of the most powerful cultural forces in a generation.

When you hear the words Hammer Films, you instantly conjure up mental images of monsters and vampires. Behind the scenes was one man working flat out to produce those wonderful creatures. That man was Roy Ashton, and it was he who created all of the make-up effects for mummies, werewolves and Gothic horrors. Greasepaint and Gore takes a look into the props wardrobe and make up unit where Ashton, long before computer technology existed, created his own high standards of magical illusions. With an introduction from the late Peter Cushing OBE, who had the opportunity to watch Roy Ashton at work countless times (after all make-up can also make you look glamorous as well as horrific), this is a demonstration of a true professional at work. Greasepaint and Gore catalogues the largest single collection of Hammer production artefacts in existence, and is a must have for any horror. or indeed any film fan

Steven Spielberg is responsible for some of the most successful films ever made: Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. and the 'Indiana Jones' series. Yet for many years most critics condescendingly regarded Spielberg as a child-man incapable of dealing maturely with the complexities of life. The deeper levels of meaning in his films were largely ignored. This changed with Schindler's List, his masterpiece about a gentile businessman who saves eleven hundred Jews from the Holocaust. For Spielberg, the film was the culmination of a long struggle with his Jewish identity - an identity of which he had long been ashamed, but now triumphantly embraced. Until the first edition of Steven Spielberg: A Biography was published in 1997, much about Spielberg's personality and the forces that shaped it had remained enigmatic, in large part because of his tendency to obscure and mythologize his own past. In his astute and perceptive biography, Joseph McBride reconciled Spielberg's seeming contradictions and produced a coherent portrait of the man who found a way to transmute the anxieties of his own childhood into some of the most emotionally powerful and viscerally exciting films ever made. In the second edition, McBride added four chapters to Spielberg's life story, chronicling his extraordinarily active and creative period from 1997 to 2010, a period in which he balanced his executive duties as one of the partners in the film studio DreamWorks SKG with a remarkable string of films as a director: Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, A. I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, The Terminal and Munich -- films which expanded his range both stylistically and in terms of adventurous, often controversial, subject matter. This third edition brings Spielberg's career up to date with material on two recent films he directed, The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse, analyzing what they represent in terms of Spielberg's overall career development as an artist making both lighter and darker works alternately involving fantasy or history. The new sections also deal with the recent upheavals in Spielberg's position as a minimogul, his uneven but prolific work as a producer, and his upcoming projects. The original edition of Steven Spielberg: A Biography was praised by the New York Times Book Review as 'an exemplary portrait' written with 'impressive detail and sensitivity'; Time called it 'easily the finest and fairest of the unauthorized biographies of the director.' Of the second edition, Nigel Morris - author of The Cinema of Steven Spielberg: Empire of Light - wrote: 'With this tour de force, McBride remains the godfather of Spielberg studies.'

A smaller, cheaper edition of this acclaimed illustrated biography of Beatrix Potter. Respected biographer Sarah Gristwood discovers a life crisscrossed with contradictions and marked by tragedy, yet one that left a remarkable literary - and environmental - legacy. This illustrated biography of the beloved writer has been a strong seller and critical success. It is now available in a smaller, more affordable format. Interest in Beatrix Potter and her characters is undimmed, with the second Peter Rabbit film being released in summer 2021 and an exhibition at the V&A from February 2022, 'Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature'. Few people realise how extraordinary Beatrix Potter's own story is. She was a woman of contradictions. A sheltered Victorian daughter who grew into an astute modern businesswoman. A talented artist who became a scientific expert. A famous author who gave it all up to become a farmer, then a pioneering conservationist. Bestselling biographer Sarah Gristwood follows the twists and turns of Beatrix Potter's life and its key turning points - including her tragically brief first engagement and happy second marriage late in life. She traces the creation of Beatrix's most famous characters - including the naughty Peter Rabbit, confused Jemima Puddleduck and cheeky Squirrel Nutkin - revealing how she drew on her unusual childhood pets and locations in her beloved Lake District. A fitting legacy for a pioneering conservationist who helped save thousands of acres of the Lake District.' - The Mail on Sunday 'Excellent, anecdotal text...' - The Times Literary Supplement 'Beautifully illustrated.' - The Sunday Express

'A sickly child not expected to survive, a chubby teenager and a binge-eating bride? The unlikely beginnings of a health and fitness legend.' Daily Express 'A story of glamour, success and achievement, mixed with vulnerability, near-despair and searing honesty.' Rob Parsons OBE The doctor's voice is sad but firm: 'I'm very sorry, but I have to tell you that your little girl is unlikely to reach her 10th birthday.' Years later, having defied the odds and become a teenager, the same girl discovers a medical report that tells her, to her horror, she is overweight. That was the moment the young Rosemary Conley decided to change her life. After leaving school at 15, training as a secretary and working as a Tupperware dealer, Rosemary started her own slimming classes in 1972 with an investment of just GBP8. In 1983 she published the first of 36 books that were to sell in their millions around the world, alongside millions more of her fitness videos, while also starring in her own TV shows on BBC and ITV. She became, in short, one of the most popular and successful diet and fitness experts the world has seen. But Rosemary's life was not to be one of unbounded achievement and success. As well as the good times there were dark and distressing times, and here she tells of the sorrows and setbacks that were to come - as well as the joy she found, and still finds, in helping people live longer, healthier and happier lives.

Bob Dylan: Outlaw Blues by Spencer Leigh is a fresh take on this famous yet elusive personality, a one-man hall of mirrors who continues to intrigue his followers worldwide. It is an in-depth account with new information and fascinating opinions, both from the author and his interviewees. Whether you are a Dylan fan or not, you will be gripped by this remarkable tale. Most performers create their work for public approval, but at the centre of this book is a mercurial man who doesn't trust his own audience. If he feels he is getting too much acclaim, he tends to veer off in another direction. Despite his age, Bob Dylan still tours extensively. Famously known for not looking happy, the author looks at what motivates him. `Journalists are very fond of saying Bob Dylan is an enigma,' says Spencer Leigh, `but that word is flawed. It's as good as saying you don't know... I have not called Bob Dylan an enigma at any point in the book as I have tried to find answers.' Spencer Leigh has spoken to over 300 musicians, friends and acquaintances of Bob Dylan in his research for this book.