|
|
Books > Fiction > True stories > General
Football supporters, over the years, have garnered a pretty poor
reputation, often regarded as anti-social yobs, or foul-mouthed
hoodlums - and at times that reputation has been well deserved.
Some supporters though, fare worse than others, and fans of Rangers
Football Club seem to be particularly vilified, very often
castigated en masse as nothing more than Neanderthal,
knuckle-dragging, bigoted thugs. Well, I'm a Rangers fan and I'm
none of the above! And neither, for that matter, are any of my
friends or associates. Rangers' supporters are in fact just normal
hard working folk who love their football team. This is my story,
from a schoolboy in Clydebank, to a married man in East Calder.
Growing up, maturing as I watch my football team. I experience
sporting joy and triumph, just as I suffer pain and tragedy, my
personal life intertwining with the fortunes of my favourites, the
Rangers. It's off to the match I go - My journey with the 'Gers
This is an autobiographical account of life in Covent Garden
Market. It is illustrated throughout with drawings of both the
traders who work there and also the amazing mix of people passing
through. The story is told with humour and compassion.
IN 12 YEARS, MICHELLE LYONS WITNESSED NEARLY 300 EXECUTIONS. As a
reporter and then spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice, Michelle was a frequent visitor to Huntsville's Walls
Unit, where she recorded the final moments of death row inmates'
lives before they were put to death by the state. Michelle
witnessed some of the most notorious criminals, including serial
killers, child murderers and rapists, speak their last words on
earth, while a cocktail of lethal drugs surged through their veins.
Misgivings began to set in as the execution numbers mounted. She
came to know and like some of the condemned people she saw die, and
began to query the seemingly arbitrary nature of the death penalty.
Do executions actually make victims of us all? 'Haunting, dark and
hard to put down' Houston Chronicle 'A portrait of what it's like
to be surrounded by death... a memoir of perseverance in the face
of routine tragedy' The Daily Beast
The music world has seen some of the most iconic partnerships of
all time the reader feels almost on a first-name acquaintance with
many of them: Sonny and Cher, Mick and Marianne, Elvis and
Priscilla, Ike and Tina...Rock n Roll Love Stories looks at 14 of
the best, taking us from the 1950s all the way up to the early
2000s. Along the way we see behind the public face of a whole range
of relationships, from the straightforwardly romantic to the
messily divided, and from the famous (and infamous) to the
relatively unknown. All are engaging, full of contemporary detail,
and come imbued with the energy and the spirit of the music world
over the last half century.
22 high-profile contributors, from a wide range of backgrounds,
describe how they have all achieved extraordinary success in their
lives. Each then share, through their brilliantly inspirational
advice, precisely what we should do, to find success in ours
-------------- A FEW WISE WORDS is the perfect guide for young
people, young adults (and older adults too) on how to prepare for
our personal journey towards success, purpose, and fulfilment in
life. -------------- This book is for parents too - helping with
the vital role that we must play, to inspire our children to get
completely ready for the challenges and opportunities ahead
-------------- Compelling, down-to-earth, and beautifully
presented, A FEW WISE WORDS can help anyone to discover the best
version of themselves, while learning how to navigate their journey
ahead, with confidence and direction. -------------- WITH
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM: Sir Ben Ainslie -- Frank Arnesen -- Zak Brown
-- Ursula Burns -- Sir Roger Carr -- Sherry Coutu -- Pablo Ettinger
-- Mikhail Fridman -- Stephen Fry -- Dame Katherine Grainger --
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson -- Anya Hindmarch -- Declan Kelly --
Baroness Martha Lane-Fox -- Joanna Lumley -- Dame Carolyn McCall --
Sir Keith Mills -- Vin Murria -- Danielle de Niese -- Rabbi Lord
Jonathan Sacks -- Shriti Vadera -- Sir Clive Woodward
In Fragile Images: Jews and Art in Yugoslavia, 1918-1945, Mirjam
Rajner traces the lives and creativity of seven artists of Jewish
origin. The artists - Mosa Pijade, Daniel Kabiljo, Adolf Weiller,
Bora Baruh, Daniel Ozmo, Ivan Rein and Johanna Lutzer - were
characterized by multiple and changeable identities: nationalist
and universalist, Zionist and Sephardic, communist and
cosmopolitan. These fluctuating identities found expression in
their art, as did their wartime fate as refugees, camp inmates,
partisans and survivors. A wealth of newly-discovered images,
diaries and letters highlight this little-known aspect of Jewish
life and art in Yugoslavia, illuminating a turbulent era that
included integration into a newly-founded country, the catastrophe
of the Holocaust, and renewal in its aftermath.
"You're being ridiculous!" contains true stories of my experiences
at the mercy of my foster children. I have written about the trials
and tribulations of being a foster carer and the love and laughter
that this has brought to me over the last six years. The first to
arrive were Owen, aged seven and Neil, aged six. I write of the
events of their arrival, their likeness to a couple of lion cubs
and their irrational inability to agree on who went first or last
at anything. A shopping trip that resulted in unattended children
being returned to me like lost property. A freezer incident in a
supermarket that was nothing short of horrific with a child having
to be pulled from a chest freezer. A trip to a soft play centre
that can only make you recoil in embarrassment for me. Should I
mention the pee wars debacle, a six year olds explanation of mating
Turtles and an excruciating tea time conversations? Out of the
mouths of babes and you can join with me in my feelings of despair
of these moments while also hearing the ringing of the choral
tutters in my ears; my description of bystanders who tut their
disapproval as if their children would never behave in this way. I
continue with the antics of Josh (nine), William (eight), Max
(five), Tom (three), Brian (seven) and Kevin (seven). There are
stories of Josh's ability to fix my Wi-Fi, Williams comedic skills,
Max's desires to be a pirate and Tom's way of saying excuse me that
nearly drove me to distraction - Coomee! A painfully long weekend
with Brian who spoke as if he was fifty and thought I was obtuse.
Then there was Kevin who literally said Kevin-says-no to every
question whether his final answer was no or not. Finally, Jamie was
five when he came to me and his questions, often anatomical, always
posed in the most earnest of fashions but in the most awkward of
places and ones that I was always ill prepared for answering. His
torturous counting incorrectly to 100 on a car journey. His lack of
knowledge and shock at realising that girls don't have a penis and
the conversation that then ensued. His swimming pool changing room
observation of a furry lady and his earnest description announced
to everyone as to how he thought the daddy's seeds get into mummy's
tummy; they eat them apparently! Boys will be boys and I loved
everyone of them. Combined with these true tales, I have also
included the odd bit of slightly more serious text to remind the
reader that these children are vulnerable but were also fiercely
protected by me under any circumstances and regardless of the
volume of choral tutting! No one is left in any doubt about the
love, laughter and joy that being a foster carer has brought to me.
My joy at having been a part of their lives and my hope that one
day they may come back into my life with their own memories.
'Since I was a child, I've been interested in dead bodies. When I
was eight years old, I dug up the remains of my pet budgie Zazbut.
He had been buried for about eight weeks in a patch of grass
outside our house in Dasmarinas, a fortified village in Manila, in
the Philippines. 'The first exhumation was the beginning of my
intrigue with death, which has persisted. As a journalist, I've
written about graveyards, funerals and death doulas. I always visit
the local cemetery wherever I am in the world. But one thing that
has largely been hidden from me in this death trip is the dead
body.' Dissection might not be a normal topic to contemplate but
when both your paternal grandparents donate their bodies to science
it does intermittently cross your mind. This is the story of how
Jackie Dent's grandparents-Ruby and Julie-gave their bodies to
science when they died. No one in her family seems to know why, or
what really happened with their bodies afterwards. Were they avid
science buffs? Was it to save on cremation costs? How do scientists
tackle the practicalities and ethics of cutting up the dead for
research? And who are body donors generally? Weaving the personal
with the history of anatomy and the dissected, Jackie Dent explores
the world of whole-body donation - all the while looking for
answers as to what happened to her grandparents.
The unsung hero of the equestrian world is the riding school horse
or pony. Whether you are an Olympic showjumper, a long-distance
riding competitor, a horse racing jockey or a mum who plods out on
a Sunday, you most likely began your career on a riding school
horse. Tippy joined my riding school in 2005. This is her true
story.
Killing at its Very Extreme takes the reader to the heart of Dublin
from October 1917 to November 1920, effectively the first phase of
Dublin's War of Independence. It details pivotal aspects at the
outset, then the ramping up of the intelligence war, the upsurge in
raids and assassinations. Vividly depicting mass hunger-strikes,
general strikes, prison escapes, and ruthless executions by the
full-time IRA 'Squad', amid curfews and the functioning of an
audacious alternative government. Intensity builds as the reader is
embedded into Commandant Dick McKee's Dublin Brigade to witness
relentless actions and ambushes. The authors' unprecedented access
lays bare many myths about key players from both sides. The tempo
escalates with deployment of the notorious Black and Tans and
Auxiliaries, as well as a host of cunning political and propaganda
ploys. Desperate plights and horrific reprisals are portrayed, the
effects of mass sectarian pogroms and killings. Tthe sacking of
Balbriggan, the killing of Sean Treacy, the death of Terence
MacSwiney, and the capture and execution of teenager Kevin Barry.
As in the authors' previous works the pulsating tension, elation,
fear, desperation, hunger, the mercy and the enmity leap from the
pages. The harrowing circumstances suffered by those whose
sacrifices laid the bedrock for modern Ireland, and whose own words
form the book's primary sources, are recounted in unflinching
detail.
|
You may like...
Heartstone
Rose Sartin
Hardcover
R827
R731
Discovery Miles 7 310
|