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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > General
From Victoria Island, Lagos to Brooklyn, USA to Accra, Ghana to Paris, France; from across the Diaspora to the heart of the African continent, in this memoir Nigerian journalist Chike Frankie Edozien offers a highly personal series of contemporary snapshots of same gender loving Africans, unsung Great Men living their lives and finding joy in the face of great adversity.
'Brilliantly written and incisive' Colm Toibin 'An absolute tour de force' Maggie Nelson Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize 2022 Propulsive music and euphoric crowds; drag queens and go-go dancers; strobe lights, dark rooms and glory holes. Gay bars have long been sites of joy and solidarity, sexual expression and activism. But around the world, they are closing. Atherton Lin draws from his experiences of clubs, pubs and dives in London, San Francisco and Los Angeles - and a transatlantic romance that began late one restless night - to trace queer histories. An expansive and vivacious celebration of an institution, Gay Bar is also a stylish, intimate exploration of what these spaces mean, how they are changing and what we stand to lose when they close their doors. 'Essential' Vogue 'This is exceptional writing' Financial Times
"Bitch Is the New Black" follows Andrews--sexy, single, and a self-described smart-ass--on her trip from kidnapped daughter of a lesbian to Washington, D.C., political reporter who can't remember a single senator's name. Told in Andrews's singular voice, this addictive memoir explores the roller coaster of being educated and single while trying to become an "actual adult" and find love. In these unafraid and often brutally frank essays, she comes to realize that being a bitch is sometimes the best way to be...except, of course, when it's not.
""I wish to be the thinnest girl at school, or maybe even the
thinnest eleven-year-old on the entire planet,"" confides Lori
Gottlieb to her diary. "I mean, what are girls supposed to wish
for, other than being thin?"
Named a Favorite Book for Southerners in 2020 by Garden & Gun "Donovan is such a vivid writer-smart, raunchy, vulnerable and funny- that if her vaunted caramel cakes and sugar pies are half as good as her prose, well, I'd be open to even giving that signature buttermilk whipped cream she tops her desserts with a try."-Maureen Corrigan, NPR Noted chef and James Beard Award-winning essayist Lisa Donovan helped establish some of the South's most important kitchens, and her pastry work is at the forefront of a resurgence in traditional desserts. Yet Donovan struggled to make a living in an industry where male chefs built successful careers on the stories, recipes, and culinary heritage passed down from generations of female cooks and cooks of color. At one of her career peaks, she made the perfect dessert at a celebration for food-world goddess Diana Kennedy. When Kennedy asked why she had not heard of her, Donovan said she did not know. "I do," Kennedy said, "Stop letting men tell your story." OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HUNGER is Donovan's searing, beautiful, and searching chronicle of reclaiming her own story and the narrative of the women who came before her. Her family's matriarchs found strength and passion through food, and they inspired Donovan's accomplished career. Donovan's love language is hospitality, and she wants to welcome everyone to the table of good food and fairness. Donovan herself had been told at every juncture that she wasn't enough: she came from a struggling southern family that felt ashamed of its own mixed race heritage and whose elders diminished their women. She survived abuse and assault as a young mother. But Donovan's salvations were food, self-reliance, and the network of women in food who stood by her. In the school of the late John Egerton, OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HUNGER is an unforgettable Southern journey of class, gender, and race as told at table.
Now in paperback, the powerful memoir that The New York Times described as "filled with adrenalized scenes...Ciezadlo is the kind of thinker who listens as well as she writes....Her sentences make a smart, wired-up sound on the page. Readers will be lucky to find her."American Book Award WinnerWinner of Books for a Better Life Award (First Book)James Beard Foundation Award NomineeBNN Discover Awards, second place nonfiction IN THE FALL OF 2003, AS IRAQ DESCENDED INTO CIVIL WAR, Annia Ciezadlo spent her honeymoon in Baghdad. For the next six years, she lived in Baghdad and Beirut, where she dodged bullets during sectarian street battles, chronicled the Arab world's first peaceful revolution, and watched Hezbollah commandos invade her Beirut neighborhood. Throughout all of it, she broke bread with Sunnis and Shiites, warlords and refugees, matriarchs and mullahs. Day of Honey is her story of the hunger for food and friendship during wartime--a communion that feeds the soul as much as the body. In lush, fiercely intelligent prose, Ciezadlo uses food and the rituals of eating to uncover a vibrant Middle East most Americans never see. We get to know people like Roaa, a young Kurdish woman whose world shrinks under occupation to her own kitchen walls; Abu Rifaat, a Baghdad book lover who spends his days eavesdropping in the ancient city's legendary cafes; and the unforgettable Umm Hassane, Ciezadlo's sardonic Lebanese mother-in-law, who teaches her to cook rare family recipes (included in a mouthwatering appendix of Middle Eastern comfort food). From dinner in downtown Beirut to underground book clubs in Baghdad, Day of Honey is a profound exploration of everyday survival--a moving testament to the power of love and generosity to transcend the misery of war.
Christian Dior: The Illustrated World of a Fashion Master is a stunning illustrated biography of legendary designer Christian Dior from internationally renowned fashion illustrator Megan Hess. Discover the key moments of Dior's fascinating life and iconic items from the fashion world that he created. Dior's love of flowers, creativity, femininity and good-luck charms were woven into everything he designed, and his New Look remains iconic to this day. Elegantly enclosed by a hardback cover and ribbon, Megan's beautiful illustrations follow Dior through three distinct chapters: the highs and lows of his early life, set against a backdrop of bohemian and wartime Paris; the couture house that he built into an empire in just ten years; and the incredible legacy he left behind for one of fashion's most influential brands. Christian Dior is a celebration of a man whose life was as remarkable as the clothes that he created, brought to life on the page by the expert hand of Megan Hess.
When Doris Harvey's English grandfather, William Harvey, discovers a clearing at the end of a path cut by the feet of those running from slavery, he gives his name to what will become his family's home for generations. For Doris, Harvey River is the place she always called home, the place where she was one of the "fabulous Harvey girls," and where the rich local bounty of Lucea yams, pimentos, and mangoes went hand in hand with the Victorian niceties of her parents' house. It is a place she will return to in dreams when her fortunes change, years later, and she and her husband, Marcus Goodison, relocate to "hard life" Kingston and encounter the harsh realities of urban living in close quarters. In Lorna Goodison's luminous memoir of her forebears, we meet a cast of wonderfully drawn characters, including George O'Brian Wilson, the Irish patriarch of the family who marries a Guinea woman after coming to Jamaica in the mid-1800s; Doris's parents, Margaret and David, childhood sweethearts who become the first family of Harvey River; and Margaret and David's eight children. In lush, vivid prose, textured with the cadences of Creole speech, Lorna Goodison weaves together memory and mythology to create a vivid tapestry. She takes us deep into the heart of a complete world to tell a universal story of family and the ties that bind us to the place we call home.
Lawrence Anthony's South African game reserve is home to many animals he has saved, from a remarkable herd of elephants to a badly behaved bushbaby called George. Described as 'the Indiana Jones of conservation', when one of his rhinos was brutally slaughtered for her horn, he didn't hesitate to lead an armed response against the poachers. Then he learned that there were only a handful of northern white rhinos left in the wild, living in an area of the Congo controlled by the infamous Lord's Resistance Army and soon to be hunted into extinction. Lawrence knew he had to take action. What followed was an extraordinary adventure, as he headed into the jungle to negotiate with the rebels, while battling to save his own animals from terrible drought and to save the eyesight of his beloved elephant matriarch Nana. The Last Rhinos is peopled with unforgettable characters, both human and animal, and is a sometimes funny, sometimes moving, always exciting read.
'I thought that no man liveth and dieth to himself, so I put behind what I thought and what I did the panorama of the world I lived in - the things that made me.' Sean O'Casey, 1948 Sean O'Casey's six-part "Autobiographies," originally published between 1939 and 1955, is an eloquently comprehensive self-portrait of an artist's life and times, unsurpassed in literature. This volume contains the first two parts: "I Knock at the Door" (1939) and "Pictures in the Hallway" (1942). The former charts the childhood of young 'John Cassidy' (as O'Casey was christened), powerfully marked by the death of his father and his affliction by the eye infection trachoma. "Pictures in the Hallway" carries the story into John's adolescence, and tentative steps into the adult world of work, the opposite sex and political awakening.
'Vanessa Nakate continues to teach a most critical lesson. She reminds us that while we may all be in the same storm, we are not all in the same boat.' - Greta Thunberg No matter your age, location or skin colour, you can be an effective activist. Devastating flooding, deforestation, extinction and starvation. These are the issues that not only threaten in the future, they are a reality. After witnessing some of these issues first-hand, Vanessa Nakate saw how the world's biggest polluters are asleep at the wheel, ignoring the Global South where the effects of climate injustice are most fiercely felt. Inspired by a shared vision of hope, Vanessa's commanding political voice demands attention for the biggest issue of our time and, in this rousing manifesto for change, shows how you can join her to protect our planet now and for the future. Vanessa realized the importance of her place in the climate movement after she, the only Black activist in an image with four white Europeans, was cropped out of a press photograph at Davos in 2020. This example illustrates how those who will see the biggest impacts of the climate crisis are repeatedly omitted from the conversation. As she explains, 'We are on the front line, but we are not on the front page.' Without A Bigger Picture, you're missing the full story on climate change. 'An indispensable voice for our future.' - Malala Yousafzai 'A powerful global voice.' - Angelina Jolie
From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen. For Stanley and foodie fans, this is the perfect, irresistible gift. Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and the perfect Negroni, he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the recipes and into the stories behind them. Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about growing up in Westchester, New York, preparing for and filming the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia, falling in love over dinner, and teaming up with his wife to create conversation-starting meals for their children. Each morsel of this gastronomic journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burnt dishes, is as heartfelt and delicious as the last. Written with Stanley's signature wry humour and nostalgia, Taste is a heartwarming read that will be irresistible for anyone who knows the power of a home-cooked meal.
Isabella Bird was a woman of remarkable gifts. In 1872, at the age of forty, this rather earnest daughter of a country parson abandoned the rectory nest and began her pioneering journeys to some of the most inhospitable corners of the world. Undismayed by discomfort or danger she was to spend almost thirty years travelling - to the Rocky Mountains, the Sandwich Isles, to Japan, Malaya, Kashmir and Tibet, to Persia, Korea and China - where an indomitable spirit, an unassuming cordiality and, above all, a limitless capacity for being interested won her universal welcome. Her accounts of her experiences became best-selling books and established for Isabella Bird a reputation as one of the great travel writers of her day. 'Miss Barr has her measure. She and Miss Bird are well suited. The style of both is fresh, energetic, visual, making an enchanting book.' Evening Standard 'Rich and riotous as her intrepid heroine moves at the speed of a silent movie through landscapes lusher than any technicolour.' Times Literary Supplement 'A rare book.' Sunday Telegraph
UPDATED & EXPANDED EDITION of the NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, including A full-color, sixteen-page insert with photos that capture Syd & Shea's journey An epilogue about life and business post-pandemic and the success of the hit Netflix show Dream Home Makeover Make Life Beautiful is the autobiography from Syd and Shea McGee, which offers fans a new and intimate look into how they built their business. Want to live the best version of your life? Read this book and learn how Syd and Shea prioritized their values, defined their goals, and put their dreams into action--going from flat broke to design superstars--all while following their motto to "make life beautiful." Most importantly, discover how you can do the same! For the one million-plus followers who turn to Syd and Shea McGee for advice on building a beautiful home and life, Make Life Beautiful is a behind-the-scenes look into how the couple transformed Shea's small room of fabric samples and big dream of becoming a designer into one of the most successful and fastest-growing interior design businesses in the country. Both longtime and new fans will not only gain insight into how the McGees built such a successful company but also be inspired to build an authentic life by applying design principles such as Embrace the process Get to the next level Find balance Elevate the everyday This is an essential book for Entrepreneurs Interior designers Working parents Couples building family and career Self-starters Anyone chasing their dreams
How would any of us feel if we could meet our teenage selves, a ghost on the road? Everything Passes, Everything Remains is a confluence of journeys, made by Chris Dolan, his friends, and writers before him. It's a bit about cycling, a bit about walking, and a bit about buses. It's a kind of travelogue, over time, and through some lesser-known parts of Spain. It's an obsession with Spain's writers and its history, from the Inquisition to the Civil War to the questions it faces as a country today. What makes a nation, or a family for that matter, or a group of friends? In many ways it's as much about Dolan's native Scotland as Spain. But mostly, it's about the highs and lows of growing up and growing older - how the past plays merry hell with the present. About friendship, loss, music, memory, and the demons that follow us as we try to make sense of our history and our place in the world.
Poet, painter and film-maker, Barry Feinberg won acclaim for his work abroad, which helped to galvanize international opposition to the apartheid government. He was one of the founding members of Mayibye, an extremely successful ANC music and poetry performance ensemble. He also headed up the information division of the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF), which under his leadership became an invaluable resource for the liberation movement. Time to Tell is a highly readable - often dramatically revealing - memoir of Feinberg's 45 years of activism, travel, relationships and creative expression. While the twin narratives of personal and political context are equally absorbing on their own, it is the relationship between the two, and the story of this relationship's expression through Feinberg's pen, brush and lens, that provide a unique and compelling perspective on these most significant and volatile decades in South Africa's history. With a foreword by Pallo Jordan, Minister of Arts & Culture.
When Lisa Niemi first exchanged vows with Patrick Swayze, she
promised to be with her husband "till death do us part." But how
many couples stop and think about what that truly means?
A huge figure in the history of British espionage and one of the models for James Bond, Sidney Reilly was born in Russia in 1873. To his employers, the British Secret Service, his background was a mystery yet his immense charisma took him into the epicentre of British establishment. Reilly lived for danger, he spoke seven languages and was rumoured to possess eleven passports and a wife to go with each. Among his exploits in the early twentieth century were the infiltration of the German General Staff in 1917 and the near overthrow of the Bolsheviks in 1918. His reputation with women was a legendary as his genius for espionage. Reilly: Ace of Spies was adapted into a BAFTA-winning television series in 1983, starring Sam Neill as Reilly and Ian Charleson as RH Bruce Lockhart. Originally published in 1967, this edition has a foreword by Dugald Bruce Lockhart, the author's great-nephew. Dugald is a successful actor and author of The Lizard, published to acclaim in 2020. |
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