Rock Stars Stole My Life by Mark Ellen review – misty-eyed, touchingly nerdy memoir

From the mud and thunder of early festivals to Live Aid and Rihanna, music journalist Mark Ellen was usually in the right place at the right timeMark Ellen surveys the happy youngsters comfortably cavorting at Glastonbury, marvelling at Primal Scream beneath a harvest moon. “You bastards,” moans the music journalist and editor, recalling his nascent festival experiences in the early 1970s, of trench foot, scurvy and Van der Graaf Generator. “You don’t know how lucky you are.”Still, there’s a misty-eyed reverence for the past in Ellen’s entertaining memoir of five decades surrounded by music – which is to be expected. This, after all, is the man who launched Mojo magazine after realising there was a potential readership who liked music that was “magical and built to last”. For Ellen, the magic began with the discovery of the Beatles and the Kinks, Small Faces and Chicken Shack. Like a character from Jonathan Coe’s novel The Rotters’ Club, his comfortable 60s and 70s adolescence discussing the meaning of prog is ditched for a squat in Battersea, where he begins to pen florid gig reviews for Record Mirror and NME.  Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Surfing memoir Barbarian Days wins William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award

Surfing memoir Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by New Yorker journalist William Finnegan (Corsair) has scooped the 28th William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hygge and Bake Off mark second Civilised Saturday

Independent bookshops are gearing up for a second year of events to mark “Civilised Saturday” – billed as the antidote to the mayhem of deep discounting day Black Friday. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Life begins at thirty for Honno

One of the oldest women’s publishing ventures in the UK has big plans for its fourth decade in the trade, its founders tell Natasha Onwuemezi. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Flying Eye wins at Shanghai's Chen Bochui Awards

Nobrow children's imprint Flying Eye was named a winner in the 2016 Chen Bochui International Children's Literature awards, presented in Shanghai, China, earlier today (Thursday 17th November). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reviewers praise Fantastic Beasts after London premiere

Author J K Rowling revealed the Fantastic Beasts franchise was a happy "accident" at the first film’s premiere in London yesterday (15th November) after she "couldn't let" the Harry Potter world "go". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Megyn Kelly Hits the Road to Support Memoir

The anchor of Fox News's top-rated cable news program 'The Kelly File' will take her show on the road for the first time, beginning November 28, in support of her memoir, 'Settle for More.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Dazzling star' Carole Blake remembered at funeral

The funeral service for Carole Blake, held yesterday at Golder’s Green Crematorium, was as eclectic as the woman in whose loving memory everyone had gathered. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Echo Dot (2nd generation) review: This is the Echo most people should buy

When I reviewed the Amazon Echo 13 months ago, I predicted that people would want one in every room. The Echo can control your home’s lighting, play music, estimate your commute time, operate a timer, answer trivia questions, read books and news bulletins to you, tell you which movies are at... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2016-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Behind the German Bestseller, 'A Whole Life'

'A Whole Life' has been a top 10 German paperback bestseller for 42 weeks, and it has sold over 600,000 copies in Germany in all formats. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'New York Times Book Review' Announces Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2016

The 'New York Times Book Review' has revealed the 10 titles on its 64th annual list of Best Illustrated Children's Books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Psychotherapist's memoir The Incurable Romantic to L,B

Richard Beswick, publishing director at Little, Brown, has bought a memoir called The Incurable Romantic in which a psychotherapist, Frank Tallis, investigates tales of jealousy, longing and desire. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Carcanet to mark Remembrance Day with first English translation of Alain-Fournier's poetry

Carcanet Press will shortly release the first-ever English translation of French author Alain-Fournier’s poetry. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jailed Palestinian Poet's Work Gets New Life

As Ashraf Fayadh is in prison for heresy in Saudi Arabia, western readers can now read his poems in a new translated edition of his 2008 poetry collection. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Caught between a rock and a hard place’: Publishers confess their biggest concerns

Top publishers from across Europe gathered in Nice, France this week to thrash out what their biggest challenges are, and how to address them. Publishing to platforms remains a clear concern, and publishing execs spoke to us anonymously about what they fear most. Some confessed shock that the... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Boss Baby Gets a Starring Role – and Second Billing

Marla Frazee did not immediately start planning what she'd wear to the premiere when Dreamworks Animation optioned the rights to her 2010 picture book, 'The Boss Baby.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Transworld to publish jockey Declan Murphy's memoir

Transworld is publishing Centaur, a memoir and collaboration between the former jockey Declan Murphy and debut author Ami Rao. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book by 'Fixer Upper' Stars Has Blockbuster First Week

'The Magnolia Story' by Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV's 'Fixer Upper,' sold more than 121,000 print copies in its first week on sale, according to Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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William Collins buys David Cameron memoir

HarperCollins imprint William Collins has acquired world rights to the autobiography of former prime minister David Cameron in a "hotly contested and significant deal" negotiated with literary agent Ed Victor.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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YouTube stars the Sidemen are frontrunners in race for Christmas books No 1

Figures show that game-playing vloggers’ print debut sold more than 26,000 copies in its first three days on sale last weekA week after the starting gun was fired on the race to the top of the Christmas book charts, YouTube superstars the Sidemen have emerged in front of the likes of Jamie... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fourth Estate wins auction for black British women's life guide

Fourth Estate is to publish Slay in Your Lane, a guide to life for a generation of black British women by Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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