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

Award-winning actor, rapper, and producer Ice-T unveils a compelling memoir of his early life robbing jewelry stores until he found fame and fortune—while a handful of bad choices sent his former crime partner down an incredibly different path. Ice-T rose to fame in the late 1980s, earning acclaim for his music before going on to enthrall television audiences as Odafin “Fin� Tutuola in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But it could have gone much differently. In this “poignant and powerful� (Library Journal, starred review) memoir, Ice-T and Spike, his former crime partner—collaborating with New York Times bestselling author Douglas Century—relate the shocking stories of their shared pasts, and how just a handful of decisions led to their incredibly different lives. Both grew up in violent, gang-controlled Los Angeles neighborhoods and worked together to orchestrate a series of jewelry heists. But while Ice-T was discovered rapping in a club and got his first record deal, Spike was caught for a jewelry robbery and did three years in prison. As his music career began to take off, Ice made the decision to abandon the criminal life; Spike continued to plan increasingly ingenious and risky jewel heists. And in 1992, after one of Spike’s robberies ended tragically, he was sentenced to thirty-five years to life. While he sat behind bars, he watched his former partner rise to fame in music, movies, and television. “Propulsive� (Publishers Weekly, starred review), timely, and thoughtful, two men with two very different lives reveal how their paths might have very well been reversed if they made different choices. All it took was a split decision.

The fact that picture dealing is in the author's genetic make-up becomes apparent very early in this delightful book. Peter Johnson records 50 years of the international art market and his part in some of the most interesting deals of his generation. Through the doors of Peter's London gallery walked (and subsequently onto the pages of Heart in Art) any number of royalty, dukes, prime ministers, auctioneers, international businessmen, sculptors, European nobility, academics, contemporary artists, and even the wife of a U.S. president--some were buyers, some sellers, and others just popped into his office. Each has a part in Peter's story and each enlivens this book. It is also about the author's life in general and his wide-ranging interests--including architecture, flying, gardens, horses, and music--with many entertaining anecdotes.

James Baldwin was born into the squalor of a Harlem tenement and transcended an early life of setbacks and racism. A storefront preacher at the age of fourteen, he supported his entire family - mother and eight siblings - before he began writing for prestigious journals such as The Partisan Review. Troubled by his fame, his sexuality and his colour, he was a great drinker and socialiser with wild periods of gregariousness and monastic retreats during which he wrote feverishly. By the time he died in 1987, his books such as The Fire Next Time, Go Tell It on the Mountain and Nobody Knows My Name had become modern classics. James Campbell knew Baldwin for ten years. For this book, he interviewed many of Baldwin's friends and examined several hundred pages of correspondence. He quotes from the vast, disturbing file that the FBI compiled on Baldwin and discusses the writer's turbulent relationships with Norman Mailer, Richard Wright and Marlon Brando, as well as his friendship with Martin Luther King. Elegantly written, candid and original, Talking at the Gates is a comprehensive account of the life and work of a writer who believed that 'the unexamined life is not worth living'.

The most exhilarating painter of the Renaissance and arguably of the whole of western art, Tintoretto was known as Il Furioso because of the attack and energy of his style. His vaunting ambition is recorded in the inscription he placed in his studio: l disegno di Michelangelo ed il colorito di Tiziano ("Michelangelo's drawing and Titian's colour"). The Florentines Vasari and Borghini, and the Venetians Ridolfi and Boschini wrote the earliest biographies of the artist. The four accounts are related to each other and form the backbone of the critical success of Tintoretto. Borghini is the first one to give some information about Marietta Tintoretto, also an artist, and Ridolfi is the richest in anecdotes about the artist's life and personality - including the one about the inscription which he may, however, have invented. Boschini, a witty Venetian nationalist, wrote his account in dialect verse. El Greco, whose marginal notes to Vasari are included for the first time in English, Calmo and Franco knew Tintoretto personally and their writings give a real flavour of this complicated man. Unavailable in any form for many years, these biographies have been newly edited for this edition. They are introduced by the scholar Carlo Corsato, who places each in its artistic and literary context. Approximately 50 pages of colour illustrations cover the full range of Tintoretto's astonishing output.

An uncensored Hollywood tell-all filled with explicit tales of love, sex, and revenge from the video vixen made famous by Warrant's rock anthem "Cherry Pie."
Who could forget the sexy "Cherry Pie" girl from hair metal band Warrant's infamous music video? Bobbie Brown became a bona fide vixen for her playful role as the object of lead singer Jani Lane's desires. But the wide-eyed Louisiana beauty queen's own dreams of making it big in Los Angeles were about to be derailed by her rock-and-roll lifestyle. After her tumultuous marriage to Jani imploded, and her engagement to fast-living Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee ended in a drug haze--followed by his marriage later to Pamela Anderson--Bobbie decided it was time Hollywood's hottest bachelors got a taste of their own medicine. Step one: get high. Step two: get even.
In a captivating, completely uncensored confessional, Bobbie explicitly recounts a life among some of the most famous men in Hollywood: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Costner, Mark McGrath, Dave Navarro, Sebastian Bach, Ashley Hamilton, Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli, Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, Orgy's Jay Gordon, and many more. No man was off limits as the fun-loving bombshell spiraled into excess, anger, and addiction.
Bobbie survived the party--barely--and her riveting, cautionary comeback tale is filled with the wildest stories of sex, drugs, and rock and roll ever told.

The first authorised biography of eternal legend Elizabeth Taylor. Known for her glamorous beauty, soap-opera personal life and magnetic screen presence, Elizabeth Taylor was the twentieth century's most famous film star. Including unseen photographs and unread private reflections, this authorised biography is a fascinating and complete portrait worthy of the legend and her legacy. Elizabeth Taylor captures this intelligent, empathetic, tenacious, volatile and complex woman as never before, from her rise to massive fame at the age of twelve in National Velvet to becoming the first actor to negotiate a million-dollar salary for a film, from her eight marriages and enduring love affair with Richard Burton to her lifelong battle with addiction and her courageous efforts as an AIDS activist. Using Elizabeth's unpublished letters, diary entries and off-the-record interview transcripts as well as interviews with 250 of her closest friends and family, Kate Andersen Brower tells the full, unvarnished story of the classic Hollywood star who continues to captivate audiences the world over.

The instant New York Times bestseller from the author of Furiously Happy and Let's Pretend This Never Happened. Now with a new bonus chapter. 'Broken is the party of the year . . . I loved it' - Sarah Knight, bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k As her fans already know, Jenny Lawson suffers from depression. In Broken, Jenny humanizes what we all face in an all-too-real way, reassuring us that we're not alone and making us laugh while doing it. Of course, Jenny's long-suffering husband Victor is along for the ride. Hilarious, heart-warming and honest, Broken is about living, surviving, and thriving. A beacon of hope and a wellspring of laughter when we all need it most. A New York Times, Washington Post and LA Times bestseller.

The authoritative Beethoven biography, endorsed by and produced in close collaboration with the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, is timed for the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. With unprecedented access to the archives at the Beethoven House in Bonn, renowned Beethoven conductor and scholar Jan Caeyers expertly weaves together a deeply human and complex image of Beethoven-his troubled youth, his unpredictable mood swings, his desires, relationships, and conflicts with family and friends, the mysteries surrounding his affair with the "immortal beloved," and the dramatic tale of his deafness. Caeyers also offers new insights into Beethoven's music and its gradual transformation from the work of a skilled craftsman into that of a consummate artist. Demonstrating an impressive command of the vast scholarship on this iconic composer, Caeyers brings Beethoven's world alive with elegant prose, memorable musical descriptions, and vivid depictions of Bonn and Vienna-the cities where Beethoven produced and performed his works. Caeyers explores how Beethoven's career was impacted by the historical and philosophical shifts taking place in the music world, and conversely, how his own trajectory changed the course of the music industry. Equal parts absorbing cultural history and lively biography, Beethoven, A Life paints a complex portrait of the musical genius who redefined the musical style of his day and went on to become one of the great pillars of Western art music.

Now available as an ebook for the first time
No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the bestselling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and into his own professional experiences and creative thought processes in the crafting of screenplays. You get a firsthand look at why and how films get made and what elements make a good screenplay. Says columnist Liz Smith, "You'll be fascinated.

Titian (c. 1488-1576) was recognised very early on as the leading painter of his generation in Venice. Starting in the studio of the aged Giovanni Bellini, Titian, with his contemporary Giorgione, almost immediately started to expand the range of what was possible in painting, converting Bellini's statuesque style into something far more impressionistic and romantic. This restless spirit of innovation and improvisation never left him, and during his long life he experimented with a number of different styles, the brushwork of his last great paintings showing a mysterious poetry that has never been equalled. This volume in the series Lives of the Artists collects the major writings about Titian by his contemporaries and near contemporaries. The centrepiece is the biography by Vasari, who as a Florentine found Titian's very Venetian sense of colour and transient forms a challenge to his concept of art as design. The poet Ariosto and sparkling letter writer Aretino had a more nuanced view of their friend's work, and Priscianese's account of a dinner party with Titian, and the contributions by Speroni and Dolce, and the slightly later Tuscan critic Borghini, round out the picture of this hugely thoughtful, intellectual artist, whose paintings remain some of the most sensual and affecting in all of Western art. Mostly unavailable in any form for many years, these writings have been newly edited for this edition. They are introduced by the scholar Carlo Corsato, who places each in its artistic and literary context. Approximately 50 pages of colour illustrations cover the full range of Titian's great oeuvre.

A celebration of Harry Styles - we Adore You! Harry Styles is a global superstar and fashion icon who has broken records, won awards and was the first solo man to grace the cover of Vogue, but he is also grounded, humble and down to earth. He doesn't care what other people think, isn't afraid to be vulnerable and truly loves his fans. We could all do with being a bit more like Harry. With chapters on finding your style, building confidence and supporting charities, The Book of Harry explores Harry's incredible journey to stardom and the lessons we can take from his music, career and wider approach to life. Learning from his example, it will arm readers with tips, tricks and wisdom to empower them to be fearless, be themselves and above all, Treat People With Kindness.

Heir to the Astor legacy, Alexandra Aldrich tells the astonishing story of her eccentric, fractured family and her decision to flee its storied legacy

Scotland's greatest export. The world's first super spy. Voted the sexiest man on the planet. Sir Sean Connery was a titanic figure on screen and off for over half a century. Behind the son of a factory worker, growing up in near-poverty on the harsh streets of pre-war Edinburgh, lay a timeless array of motion pictures that spanned multiple decades and saw Connery work across the globe with directors as diverse as Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay. And amongst them his greatest role, whether he liked it or not - Bond, James Bond. Author A. J. Black delves into Connery's life for more than mere biography, exploring not just the enormously varied pictures he made including crowd pleasing blockbusters such as The Untouchables or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, serious-minded fare in The Hill or The Offence, and his strange sojourns into eclectic fantasy with Zardoz or Time Bandits, but also the sweep of a career that crossed movie eras as well as decades. From skirmishes with the angry young men of the British New Wave, via becoming the cinematic icon of the 1960s as 007, through to a challenging reinvention as a unique older actor of stature in the 1980s, this exploration of the Cinematic Connery shows just how much his work reflected the changing movie-going tastes, political realities and cultural trends of the 20th century, and beyond . . .

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "This extraordinary book is not only a chronicle of Ron's and Clint's early careers and their wild adventures, but also a primer on so many topics-how an actor prepares, how to survive as a kid working in Hollywood, and how to be the best parents in the world! The Boys will surprise every reader with its humanity." - Tom Hanks "I have read dozens of Hollywood memoirs. But The Boys stands alone. A delightful, warm and fascinating story of a good life in show business." - Malcolm Gladwell Happy Days, The Andy Griffith Show, Gentle Ben-these shows captivated millions of TV viewers in the '60s and '70s. Join award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard and audience-favorite actor Clint Howard as they frankly and fondly share their unusual family story of navigating and surviving life as sibling child actors. "What was it like to grow up on TV?" Ron Howard has been asked this question throughout his adult life. in The Boys, he and his younger brother, Clint, examine their childhoods in detail for the first time. For Ron, playing Opie on The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham on Happy Days offered fame, joy, and opportunity-but also invited stress and bullying. For Clint, a fast start on such programs as Gentle Ben and Star Trek petered out in adolescence, with some tough consequences and lessons. With the perspective of time and success-Ron as a filmmaker, producer, and Hollywood A-lister, Clint as a busy character actor-the Howard brothers delve deep into an upbringing that seemed normal to them yet was anything but. Their Midwestern parents, Rance and Jean, moved to California to pursue their own showbiz dreams. But it was their young sons who found steady employment as actors. Rance put aside his ego and ambition to become Ron and Clint's teacher, sage, and moral compass. Jean became their loving protector-sometimes over-protector-from the snares and traps of Hollywood. By turns confessional, nostalgic, heartwarming, and harrowing, THE BOYS is a dual narrative that lifts the lid on the Howard brothers' closely held lives. It's the journey of a tight four-person family unit that held fast in an unforgiving business and of two brothers who survived "child-actor syndrome" to become fulfilled adults.

Hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the greatest rock memoirs of all time, Be My Baby is the true story of how Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Ronnie Spector carved out a space for herself against tremendous odds amid the chaos of the 1960s music scene and beyond. With an introduction by Keith Richards and a new epilogue from Ronnie. Ronnie Spector's first collaboration with producer Phil Spector, 'Be My Baby', stunned the world and shot girl group The Ronettes to stardom. No one could sing as clearly, as emotively as Ronnie. But her voice was soon drowned out in Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, and lost in Ronnie and Phil's ensuing romance and marriage. Ronnie had to fight tooth and nail to wrest back control of her life, her music and her legacy. And while she regained her footing, Ronnie found herself recording with Stevie Van Zandt, partying with David Bowie and touring with Bruce Springsteen. Smart, humorous and self-possessed, Be My Baby is a whirlwind account of the twists and turns in the life of an artist. More than anything, Be My Baby is a testament to the fact that it is possible to stand up to a powerful abuser and start on a second - or third, or fifth - act.

Say 'Eh-oh!' to Nikky Smedley and Laa-Laa Over the Hills and Far Away follows Nikky through the Teletubbies years, from her role as a bistro table during her audition to the show's international success and the accompanying hounding by the press. In this warm, funny, affectionate look back at life on the Teletubbies set, Nikky reveals all, including tales about dogs and asthma, raging arguments about fruit, and the games the cast and crew played to amuse themselves during long shoots in their massive costumes. Join Nikky and Laa-Laa on their extraordinary journey from the very beginning to handing the torch to another performer for the next generation.

You won't see no sad and teary eyes when I get my wings, and it's my time to flyJust call my friends and tell them there's a party, come on bySo just roll me up and smoke me when I die

In Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die, Willie Nelson muses about his greatest influences and celebrates the family, friends, and colleagues who have blesses his remarkable journey. Willie riffs on music, wives, Texas, politics, horses, religion, marijuana, children, the environment, poker, hogs, Nashville, karma, and more. He shares the outlaw wisdom he has acquired over eight decades, along with favorite jokes and insights. Rare family pictures, beautiful artwork created by his son Micah Nelson, and lyrics to classic songs punctuate these charming and poignant memories.

At once a road journal and a fitting tribute to America's greatest traveling bard, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die--introduced by Kinky Friedman, another favorite son of Texas--is a deeply personal look into the heart and soul of one of the greatest artists of our time.