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 ]
News tagged with: #jonathan coe

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Rock Stars Stole My Life by Mark Ellen review – misty-eyed, touchingly nerdy memoir'


Michelle Zauner will score the film adaptation of her own memoir, Crying in H Mart.

It’s been a big year for Michelle Zauner. This spring, her much-lauded memoir Crying in H Mart was published, and last week her band Japanese Breakfast released Jubilee, another critically acclaimed album. And the excitement continues: yesterday, the Hollywood Reporter announced that Crying in H... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-06-08 14:46:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #film adaptation #big year #feature film #memoir


Book Review: ‘Dear Senthuran,’ by Akwaeke Emezi

“Dear Senthuran” is an epistolary memoir of gender identity, diaspora and the solitude of success. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-06-08 11:08:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #dear senthuran #akwaeke emezi #gender identity #memoir


Review: Spellbinding novelist Rivka Galchen's new book is a hysterical witch hunt

'Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch,' historical fiction about Kepler's mother, is Galchen's first novel since 2008's 'Atmospheric Disturbances.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-06-03 14:00:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #first novel #historical fiction


Sinéad O’Connor was a star, then a pariah. She says she wouldn’t change a thing.

“Rememberings,” the musician’s memoir, is an attempt to piece together her fragmented history. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-06-02 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


I Thought This Memoir Wasn’t “Taiwanese Enough”—Because That Was My Fear About Myself

In March of 2004, my family and I were at home in Taiwan for the national election, and I got into my first-ever screaming match with a perfect stranger. The election choice, as always, was between the Kuo Ming Tang, which favors reunification with China; and the Democratic People’s Party, which... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-06-01 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #electric literature #memoir


A Day in the Life of an Indie Bookseller

Experience a day in the life of an indie bookseller, working at Bosch&deJong boekverkopers, a small bookstore in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-06-01 10:35:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #indie bookseller #bookstore


St. Mark's Comics to Reopen in Brooklyn’s Industry City

St. Mark's Comics, the venerable East Village comics, graphic novel and pop culture retailer that closed in 2019 after 36 years, announced plans to reopen with a new store in Industry City in Brooklyn on July 30. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-06-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #announced plans #graphic novel


Sweet Cherry Publishing: Life for Leicester children’s indie after Nibbies Small Press triumph

"We want to be recognised as one of the leading children’s book publishers in the industry: we want not only to be recognised, we want to be respected.” Sanjee de Silva (pictured), the new publisher at Sweet Cherry, recently named Small Press of the Year at the British Book Awards, has big... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-28 22:25:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #leading children #book publishers #sweet cherry #big ambitions #british book #children’s book #small press


A History of the Book Review Through Its Fonts

On the 125th anniversary of the Book Review, we look back at some of our earliest flourishes, curlicues, flowers and scrolls. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-05-28 16:20:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #125th anniversary #book review


Amber Share turned negative reviews of national parks into an art form

The creator of the Subpar Parks Instagram account offers tips on how to make the most of a park visit. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-27 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #national parks #art form


Eric Carle, writer and illustrator who gave life to ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar,’ dies at 91

Simply told and radiantly illustrated, his books have been story-time staples for decades. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-26 10:54:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #eric carle #gave life #hungry caterpillar


They all think they’re Indiana Jones in ‘Chasing the Thrill,’ a tale of a real-life treasure hunt

Daniel Barbarisi’s book tracks a wild quest for loot buried by an eccentric millionaire in the mountains near Santa Fe. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-21 08:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #indiana jones #santa fe


‘The Double Life of Bob Dylan’ is the definitive account of a shape-shifting genius’s early years

Even as a youngster, Dylan seemed to be aware of the importance of crafting his persona. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-20 10:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bob dylan #double life #definitive account #early years


Say It Loud: A Poet and Proud: The Life and Books of Al Young

Poet Al Young, who was also a novelist, memoirist, educator, and a former poet laureate of California, died April 17 from the complications of a stroke. He was 81. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-05-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #poet laureate


Flipped Eye launches new non-fiction imprint

Flipped eye is launching a new flagship non-fiction imprint, phipl, with a collection of essays by International Dublin Literary Award-winning author José Eduardo Agualusa. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-15 01:14:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #non-fiction imprint #flipped eye #award-winning author


Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Peynado, Feng, Blau, and More

Here’s a quick look at books publishing this week from Brenda Peynado, Linda Rui Feng, and Jessica Anya Blau. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Peynado, Feng, Blau, and More appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2021-05-11 09:59:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post tuesday #release day #brenda peynado #books publishing


Bonnier snaps up Josh Widdicombe's '90s memoir in 'major deal'

Bonnier Books UK has bought comedian Josh Widdicombe’s first book, billed as part-childhood memoir, part-comic history of 1990s television and culture. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-07 23:03:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bonnier snaps #major deal #bonnier #memoir


Verso lands human rights lawyer's 'revelatory' memoir

Verso has acquired Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests and the Pursuit of Freedom, a memoir by Derecka Purnell.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-05 20:05:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #memoir #verso


William Collins pre-empts Finkelstein's family memoir of war-time persecution

Williams Collins has pre-empted a memoir by political columnist and commentator Daniel Finkelstein uncovering his family’s devastating experiences of persecution during the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-05 16:01:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #family memoir #world war #memoir