When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter review – all the fun of the Fair

In his memoir the former Vanity Fair editor and man-about-town recalls the golden age of glossy magazines, when sales were in the millions and ‘the budget had no ceiling’I can’t pretend to be impartial. When I look at the artworks in my house I say “thank you, Graydon” from the bottom of my heart. He hired me as a writer when he first became editor of Vanity Fair in 1992 and paid me a salary beyond my wildest dreams, which I mainly spent on art. Alas, the largesse only lasted two years. I was meant to interview Hollywood stars but none of them would agree to be interviewed by me – I was blackballed by the formidable publicist Pat Kingsley. So after only writing about eight articles in two years we reluctantly agreed to part. But still – thank you, Graydon.He is an odd character – ebullient, apparently confident, he confesses in this memoir that he is always anxious. But he believes that an anxious editor is a good editor, and he really loves being an editor. Born in 1949, and growing up in Canada, where life revolved around skiing and hockey, he dreamed of living in New York, editing a big magazine, marrying and having a happy family. He achieved it all eventually, but it took a while. Although he never enrolled as a student, he got a job editing a magazine at the University of Ottawa called the Canadian Review, which attained a circulation of 50,000 but no profits. So then he landed a job as a floating writer at Time magazine in New York. As he says, Time is “now a... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2025-04-06 06:00:42 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter review – all the fun of the Fair"

Lit Hub Daily: August 27, 2021

“By the time I was born, the city had been conquered thrice, by the British, the Japanese, and the military junta. Three enemies to symbolize the three torments of the mind.” Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint on war, reincarnation, and the changing names of Myanmar. | Lit Hub Memoir Jeffrey Webb revisits... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-08-27 10:30:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Review: Masterful memoirist Deborah Levy finds an empty nest of her own

Levy's memoir trilogy concludes with "Real Estate," pondering happiness and a new kind of home. Unlike Rachel Cusk, she keeps herself in the picture. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-08-24 15:00:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Kat Chow on How Mourning Is Like Taxidermy

In her memoir “Seeing Ghosts,” the author recounts her mother’s death and her immigrant family’s numerous migrations, separations and losses, evoking the way grief entails a particular, perpetual sorrow. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-08-24 09:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this

HarperCollins Ireland scoops memoir by warden of Skellig Michael

HarperCollins Ireland has scooped a "unique" memoir by the warden of Skellig Michael, a remote Irish island. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-22 23:51:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this

‘Swan Dive’ gives voice to every suspicion you may harbor about professional ballet

Georgina Pazcoguin’s biting memoir is full of melodrama. It also has an important message. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

James Whiteside isn’t a typical ballet star, and his memoir isn’t a typical ballet story

The American Ballet Theatre star has written a thoughtful collection of essays that gives readers insight into what it means to defy categorization. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Bodley Head acquires Werner Herzog memoir in two-book deal

The Bodley Head has acquired two titles from German filmmaker and storyteller Werner Herzog, including a memoir. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-18 19:49:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Werner Herzog to tell story of Japanese soldier who refused to surrender

The German film director has announced two new books: a memoir and The Twilight World, about a remarkable second world war officerWerner Herzog is writing a book about Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who took three decades to surrender after the end of the second world war.The esteemed German... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-08-18 12:56:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this

A Memoir’s Painful Question: Where Are You From?

“Names for Light,” by Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint, is a memoir recounted through the stories of family members. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-08-18 12:41:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Mirror Books to publish memoir from Christine McGuinness

Mirror Books has acquired worldwide rights from The Can Group to Christine McGuinness' first book A Beautiful Nightmare. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-18 11:33:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Column: Why Billie Jean King finally took control of her own story

As she releases her memoir "All In," tennis icon Billie Jean King discusses her career, her causes and "living truthfully." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-08-17 13:00:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was ahead of her time. ‘Two-Way Mirror’ does justice to her riveting life.

Fiona Sampson’s biography reads like a thriller, a memoir and a provocative piece of literary fiction. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-17 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

He Spent 14 Years at Guantánamo. This Is His Story.

“Don’t Forget Us Here,” by Mansoor Adayfi with Antonio Aiello, is the memoir of a Yemeni man who claims he was kidnapped in Afghanistan, sold to the C.I.A. and sent to the detention camp in a case of mistaken identity. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-08-17 09:00:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this

How I Tracked Down the Hidden Lives of the Radical, Wealthy Morris Sisters

In 2008, I published my first book, Please Excuse My Daughter, a memoir about my mother and me and how I grew up, and it dipped a little into my mother’s family’s history, which was rich and interesting. Her mother’s uncle, Sam Golding, developed the neighborhood of Rego Park in Queens during... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-08-16 08:49:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Yellow Kite signs Blyth's 'extraordinarily powerful' memoir

Yellow Kite has signed Hope is Coming, Louise Blyth’s “extraordinarily powerful” memoir of grief, gratitude and enlightenment. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-16 07:57:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Michael J. Fox Reviews a Thoughtful Memoir on the Challenges of Living With Disability

In “I Live a Life Like Yours,” Jan Grue, a Norwegian professor, writes of living with a rare form of spinal muscular atrophy. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-08-15 09:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Hitting the Books: How a radio telescope cost this West Virginia town its modernity

Deep in the heart of Appalachia, modern science and America's bucolic past meet at a unique crossroad of scientific discovery and luddite lifestyles. The Quiet Zone, by journalist Stephen Kurczy, is the story of a sleepy small town that hosts the Green Bank radio telescope. But the presence of... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2021-08-14 15:30:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Pointing out racism in books is not an ‘attack’ – it’s a call for industry reform | Monisha Rajesh

I was called aggressive for criticising passages in Kate Clanchy’s memoir. But the real problem lies deep in the overwhelmingly white world of publishingIt started with a tweet. Kate Clanchy, author of Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me posted on her Twitter account that a reviewer on... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-08-13 13:51:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Icon bags Eloise's 'refreshing' debut on life with OCD and autism

Icon has landed journalist and debut author Marianne Eloise's memoir of life with obsessive compulsive disorder and autism. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-11 20:18:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this