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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Book Review: “Mothercare,” by Lynne Tillman

Lynne Tillman’s taut memoir of caring for an aging parent runs an emotional gamut. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-08-08 19:30:06 UTC ]
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Augusten Burroughs wants to help you process your trauma through writing (for $50,000).

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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-08 14:41:32 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Weekly: August 1-5, 2022

Ella Risbridger muses on the pain-writing-money trifecta, Nora Ephron’s Heartburn, and memoir as fiction. | Lit Hub Criticism Lulu Miller in praise of “the uncrushable beetle.” | Lit Hub Nature How Kiki de Montparnasse, a muse with a mind of her own, “essentially invented the idea of making an... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-06 10:30:41 UTC ]
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'iCarly' alum Jennette McCurdy alleges Nickelodeon offered her hush money

'iCarly' and 'Sam & Cat' star Jennette McCurdy says in her new memoir that Nickelodeon offered her $300,000 not to talk about her experiences there. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-08-06 01:42:15 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of August 8, 2022

Little, Brown buys a memoir from MacArthur fellow Nicole Fleetwood, Spiegel & Grau takes on a debut novel, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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CJ Hauser on Wanting To Learn Everything From Katherine Hepburn

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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-04 08:52:39 UTC ]
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Pardis Mahdavi's Debut Memoir Quietly Canceled by Hachette

'This Goes Out to the Underground: A Mother, Her Daughter, and How We All Rise Together,' the debut memoir from Pardis Mahdavi, was canceled by Hachette Book Group shortly before its planned July 26 release. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: August 2, 2022

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Britney Spears: (oops) the supply chain did it again.

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Writing Intimate Truths and Why Memoir Is a Force That’s Changing the Culture

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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-01 08:51:12 UTC ]
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Escaping Gravity Takes a Brutally Honest Look at NASA

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[ Wired | 2022-07-29 16:00:00 UTC ]
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So, Prince Harry’s memoir is done – but what’s likely to be in it?

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[ The Guardian | 2022-07-29 11:04:37 UTC ]
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8 Surprising New Memoirs to Add To Your TBR ASAP

From a memoir about African-Jewish cooking, Koshersoul, to one about grieving our pets, Good Grief, these new memoirs take a different approach to the genre. Continue reading at Book Riot

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A Daughter’s Memoir of a Mom Who Passed Down Her Trauma

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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-27 08:51:24 UTC ]
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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-26 20:31:25 UTC ]
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Review: Emmanuel Carrère's new meditation memoir has an NDA-sized hole at its center

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-07-26 13:00:18 UTC ]
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L-O-V-E: A Reading List For Lovers, Love-Seekers and the Loved

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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-22 08:51:36 UTC ]
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Michelle Obama announces second book: ‘a toolbox to stay centred’

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[ The Guardian | 2022-07-21 14:08:29 UTC ]
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