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 ]
The best audiobooks of December 2019 include the latest John le Carré spy novel and a stirring memoir by a Philippine immigrant. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-12-20 20:54:02 UTC ]
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Court says state is entitled to any profits from Permanent Record because its publication breached non-disclosure agreementsEdward Snowden is not entitled to the profits from his memoir Permanent Record, and any money made must go to the US government, a judge has ruled.Permanent Record, in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-12-20 13:20:57 UTC ]
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The only actor to appear in every film of the Skywalker saga reflects on his experience in the book “I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story.” Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-12-20 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Audacious Brit Dolly Alderton explores a raucous decade of living and loving in her debut, 'Everything I Know About Love.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Tiffany Midge is the author of several books including the recent memoir Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s, a collection of prose that blends humor with social commentary and meditations on love and loss. Her poetry collection The Woman Who Married a Bear won Kenyon Review’s Earthworks Prize... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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From stories about commitment to faith to those about leaving the faith, learn more about the traditions in these religious memoirs for Read Harder 2020. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-12-19 11:33:46 UTC ]
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“I’m not that interested in movies,” says the dancer and choreographer, whose new memoir is “Out Loud.” “I like poetry.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-12-19 10:00:04 UTC ]
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Snowden's recently published memoir violated the terms of his employment contract. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2019-12-18 11:37:41 UTC ]
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When I read the reviews of Ali Wong’s memoir Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice For Living Your Best Life, I was at first thrilled—the responses were glowing—and then perplexed. I fundamentally agreed with what they said: that the book is a more intimate and poignant (yet... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-16 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Puffin will publish Brown Girl Dreaming, the multi-award winning memoir told in verse by author Jacqueline Woodson. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-15 18:04:41 UTC ]
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#Merky Books will publish the memoir of youth activist Jeremiah Emmanuel, “a guide to overcoming the obstacles young people should not have to face”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-15 13:08:54 UTC ]
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She was also a publisher and an author whose memoir affirmed that her father, the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, had popularized the Serenity Prayer. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-12-13 22:52:39 UTC ]
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This week, Josh Duboff reviews André Aciman’s “Find Me,” the sequel to his 2007 novel “Call Me by Your Name.” In 1995, Barry Unsworth wrote for the Book Review about “Out of Egypt,” Aciman’s memoir chronicling the family that shaped his life. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-12-13 10:00:09 UTC ]
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Weidenfeld & Nicolson has pre-empted a “breathtaking” memoir from Tanya Shadrick about waking from a coma. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-12 23:53:18 UTC ]
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In our series “Can Writing Be Taught?” we partner with Catapult to ask their course instructors all our burning questions about the process of teaching writing. This time we’re talking to Lilly Dancyger, editor at Narratively and author of the forthcoming memoir Negative Space. Lilly’s next... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-12 12:00:00 UTC ]
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A deliciously original study of the cheap editions of Pride and Prejudice and other novels – ignored by literary scholars – casts new light on her readershipJane Austen aficionados think that they know the story of their favourite author’s posthumous dis-appearance and then re-emergence. For... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-12-11 07:30:31 UTC ]
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Former political aide and author Alastair Campbell is publishing a "candid" and "empowering" memoir about his struggles with mental health Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-11 06:30:30 UTC ]
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Quiller has bought the memoir of former British banker Giles Darby, one of the NatWest Three who was jailed in the US for his involvement in a $7m fraud. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-10 16:17:14 UTC ]
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Alix O’Neill’s memoir of growing up in a Republican area of Belfast during the 1990s has gone to Fourth Estate Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-10 02:33:14 UTC ]
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Hodder & Stoughton has acquired a new book conceived by LBC presenter Iain Dale, The Prime Ministers, timed to publish in 2020 ahead of the 300th anniversary of the creation of the office of Prime Minister in April 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-08 12:07:38 UTC ]
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