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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Jackie Robinson’s daughter wants to talk about race: ‘We still have hate’

Sharon Robinson, whose new memoir looks at her family’s activism, has some advice for kids — and parents. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-08-27 11:00:00 UTC ]
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A Witch's Invitation to Initiation

In ‘Initiated: Memoir of a Witch,’ Amanda Yates Garcia describes the empowerment she found through witchcraft and encourages others to do the same. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-08-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Cooking can be therapeutic. For Ella Risbridger, it saved her life.

Risbridger’s “Midnight Chicken” is a cookbook, a memoir and a bittersweet love story. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-08-26 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Rick Moody’s New Book Takes on Marriage, for Better and for Worse

The author's second memoir is a raw and candid account of the power of committed love to combat life’s sorrows. The post Rick Moody’s New Book Takes on Marriage, for Better and for Worse appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2019-08-26 10:00:08 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: August 23, 2019

FALL 2019 NONFICTION PREVIEW: All this week we’ve been highlighting our most anticipated books on a variety of subjects, from history and biography to memoir and essay collections to politics and social science. The final installments: tech and science. | Lit Hub “Everything about Jo repulsed... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-23 10:30:27 UTC ]
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Susan Straight’s memoir is a letter to her daughters — and a reckoning with America’s past

“In the Country of Women” looks back at the slaves and immigrants who made Straight’s family possible. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-08-22 16:26:46 UTC ]
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Lit Hub’s Fall 2019 Nonfiction Preview: Essay Collections

This week we’ll be previewing the most anticipated nonfiction titles coming out this fall, covering politics, history, biography, science, tech, social science, and more. We begin today with essays, and you can find memoir over here. Lydia Davis, Essays One: Reading and Writing FSG, Nov. 12 With... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-20 08:49:53 UTC ]
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Lit Hub’s Fall 2019 Nonfiction Preview: Memoir

This week we’ll be previewing the most anticipated nonfiction titles coming out this fall, covering politics, history, biography, science, tech, social science, and more. We begin today with memoir, and you can find essay collections over here. Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House: A Memoir... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-20 08:49:13 UTC ]
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Cofounder and CEO of Food52 Amanda Hesser shares the books that inspired her to pursue a career in food

From food pioneer MFK Fisher’s timeless memoir to Zappos founder Tony Hsieh’s customer-centric mission statement, these are Hesser’s favorite books. 1. The Gastronomical Me, MFK FisherRead Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2019-08-20 07:00:18 UTC ]
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JT LeRoy review – a less surprising hoax the second time around

The fake author who fooled the publishing world is brought back to life in a diverting tale that treads familiar ground“Sometimes, a lie’s more truth than the truth,” drawls author JT Leroy, speaking down a crackling telephone line. This straightforward dramatisation of Savannah Knoop’s 2008... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-08-18 07:00:10 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Weekly: August 12 – 16, 2019

“I annoy everyone around me by observing out loud what everyone already knows.” Sarah M. Broom on coming of age—and learning to see—in New Orleans. | Lit Hub Memoir Maggie Paxson on the French village that saved hundreds fleeing Nazi persecution. | Lit Hub History From Alexander Jessup to Anna... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-17 10:30:06 UTC ]
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Urbane signs memoir from Bafta-winner Geoff Thompson

Urbane has signed a memoir from Bafta-winning screenwriter and martial arts teacher Geoff Thompson. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-15 17:37:14 UTC ]
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Celebrating Women in Translation Month: New Translations by Women from around the Globe, by Kayla E. Ciardi

Lit Lists Kayla E. Ciardi For WLT’s November 2016 issue, author and translator Alison Anderson explores and explains in her essay “Of Gatekeepers and Bedtime Stories: The Ongoing Struggle to Make Women’s Voices Heard”—in an issue devoted exclusively to... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-08-15 14:12:27 UTC ]
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A Unique and Affecting Memoir Combines Grief and Mushrooms

In “The Way Through the Woods,” Long Litt Woon writes about diving into an obsession with learning about the fungi, and how it helped her mourn for her husband and embrace life again. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-08-14 16:59:06 UTC ]
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Juliet Escoria on Writing a Memoir With No Redemptive Lesson at the End

Juliet Escoria is the guest. Her debut novel, Juliet the Maniac, is available from Melville House. It was the official May pick of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. This is Juliet’s second time on the program. She first appeared in Episode 273 on April 30, 2014. She also wrote the short story... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-14 08:47:08 UTC ]
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Make summer last longer with the 10 best books of August

The latest mystery from Louise Penny, a probing novel by Richard Russo, and Sarah M. Broom’s memoir of living in New Orleans, all made our list this month. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-08-12 18:22:23 UTC ]
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