A Day Like Today by John Humphrys review – 'I like arguing'

The combative broadcaster’s memoir mixes engaging snapshots of his early career with some score-settling and a robust defence of his interviewing styleJohn Humphrys is the first to admit he doesn’t deal well with authority. He inherited it from his father, who refused to use the service entrance at the grand houses where he worked as a French polisher and, as a child, once watched his aunt get a humiliating dressing-down from the vicar for missing church. Humphrys had his own brush with condescending authority figures when he was in hospital with a cyst on his spine at 13, and an “arrogant posh bastard consultant” told his retinue of trainees it was because he didn’t wash regularly. “I don’t like being defined or told what to do, whoever is in charge,” he notes, a stance that has proved useful for grilling politicians (he has interviewed eight prime ministers), though it has also landed him in hot water.His memoir mixes engaging snapshots of his early career and analysis of the evolution of broadcasting with diatribes and petty score-settling. The early chapters tell of his passage from teen lackey on the Penarth Times in Wales, where his main task was standing outside the local church taking the names of those attending weddings and funerals, to being the first journalist on the scene at the Aberfan disaster, near Merthyr Tydfil, in which 116 children and 28 adults died after a colliery tip collapsed. Later he became a BBC foreign correspondent, reporting on the 1971 war... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-10-10 06:30:10 UTC ]

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Lilly Dancyger Is Rethinking the Ethics of Memoir

"I do think that we, as writers, owe things to the people in our lives that we care about." The post Lilly Dancyger Is Rethinking the Ethics of Memoir appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2024-05-09 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Gov. Gavin Newsom is working on a memoir as he builds his image beyond California

Ambitious politicians often publish an autobiographical book as they explore whether to launch a presidential campaign. Will California's governor be next? Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-05-09 10:00:06 UTC ]
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He Sang ‘What a Fool Believes.’ But Michael McDonald Is in on the Joke.

The singer and songwriter with a silky-smooth voice has written a memoir with Paul Reiser that recounts his story of pain and redemption with dashes of humor. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-05-09 09:04:03 UTC ]
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Luis Miranda Jr. reflects on giving, the arts and his son Lin-Manuel in the new memoir 'Relentless'

Long before his son Lin-Manuel's Tony Award-winning musical “Hamilton” brought his family international recognition and unexpected fortune, Luis A Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2024-05-07 13:34:34 UTC ]
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On Memoir, Permission, and the Thorny Terrain of Writing About Family

Oftentimes, a reader asks what it’s like to publish a memoir with family members in it. How do you seek permission? What do you do when someone in your family protests your storytelling? Do you write it anyway? In this transmission, the radio delivers the questions as something else: Where is... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-06 08:53:35 UTC ]
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Brittney Griner Didn’t Owe Us Anything. Her New Memoir Is Devastating.

The WNBA star does not hold back in her account of her Russian detainment and its aftermath. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2024-05-04 09:55:00 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of May 6, 2024

Hachette lands a blockbuster new memoir by Priscilla Presley, Ballantine signs a new book from bestselling British author Eve Chase, and more Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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8 Memoirs by Poets that Flex the Untapped Potential of the Genre

The poet’s journey from writing verse to lyric essays to memoir is now a veritable pipeline, with more and more poets turning away from lines and stanzas to incorporate poetic techniques into prose. Poetry can often be rooted in memory already, using imagery and figurative language to explore... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-05-02 11:05:00 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: May 2, 2024

Caroline Carlson recommends new children’s books by Matt Hunt, Julie Flett, Vera Brosgol, and more. | Lit Hub Reading Lists “True intimacy means striving for complete knowing.” Khadijah Queen on intimacy, self-care, and the asexual spectrum. | Lit Hub Memoir Are you the literary asshole if you... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-02 10:30:33 UTC ]
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'All My Knotted-Up Life' by Beth Moore Named Christian Book of the Year

The selection of Moore's memoir as Book of the Year was one of a dozen award winners at the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's 50th anniversary celebration, which took place in Chicago this week. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Liz Truss book enters bestseller list in 70th place with 2,228 copies sold

Former PM’s first-week sales compare with 21,000 for David Cameron’s memoir and 92,000 for Tony Blair bookLiz Truss’s book about her 49-day stint as prime minister sold 2,228 copies in the UK during its first week on sale, after a wall-to-wall promotional media blitz.Ten Years to Save the West:... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-04-26 15:49:38 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: April 26, 2024

“I yearned for a bigger life and was sure it would come for me.” Aaron Hicklin on how the novels of Lynne Reid Banks helped him see himself. | Lit Hub Memoir “The more pertinent question than what we can write is what we who are Black authors can write about that a publisher will […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-26 10:30:59 UTC ]
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This Week’s Bestsellers: April 29, 2024

Chloe Walsh’s ‘Taming 7,’ a new entry in her BookTok-popular Boys of Tommen YA series, debuts at #3 on our children’s fiction list. Plus novelists Salman Rushdie and Caleb Carr publish memoirs, and a memoir in Spanish by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is a stateside hit. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of April 29, 2024

Putnam lands Jill Santopolo’s long anticipated sequel to The Light We Lost, Gallery signs a memoir by late fashion designer Kate Spade’s best friend, and more Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Interview: Steve Gleason, the author of the A.L.S. memoir ‘A Life Impossible’

The former N.F.L. player has been living with A.L.S. for more than a decade. Sharing “the most lacerating and vulnerable times” in “A Life Impossible” was worth the physical and emotional toll, he says. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-04-25 09:00:47 UTC ]
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Rebel Wilson memoir to be published in UK with Sacha Baron Cohen passages redacted

Australian actor’s book Rebel Rising will have allegations of incident on set of Grimsby that left her ‘feeling bullied, humiliated, and compromised’ struck outThe UK edition of Australian actor Rebel Wilson’s memoir will be published with redacted passages relating to her experience on set with... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-04-24 12:50:23 UTC ]
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Doris Kearns Goodwin and husband Dick Goodwin lived, observed, created and chronicled the 1960s

A mix of history, memoir and biography, this book reflects on how time, perspective and stories left unwritten can shape our view of the past. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-04-24 10:00:41 UTC ]
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Book Review: Joseph Epstein’s New Memoir and Book of Essays

The editor and essayist Joseph Epstein looks back on his life and career in two new books. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-04-22 09:03:39 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: April 19, 2024

When is enough enough? Ryan Chapman on wants, needs, money, and time. | Lit Hub Memoir “Resets are necessary throughout a writing life.” Julia Alvarez on falling in love with writing again. | Lit Hub Craft What does Lord Byron have in common with Che Guevara? “A revolutionary who loves poetry... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-19 10:30:28 UTC ]
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The Monitor’s 10 best new books of April

The 10 best books of April offer adventurous readers everything from a futuristic novel to Doris Kearns Goodwin’s history-laced memoir about the 1960s. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2024-04-18 11:34:55 UTC ]
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