Lovereading Latest: Biography / Autobiography

I Left My Tent in San Francisco - Emma Kennedy

I Left My Tent in San Francisco
Emma Kennedy

Format: Paperback - Released: 26/04/2012
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May 2012 Travel Book of the Month. Startlingly honest and ridiculously funny, I Left My Tent in San Francisco is the miraculous story of how the hapless pair made it back alive to tell the disastrous tale. Emma Kennedy has the wonderful gift of being able to write as if she is talking to you, in a chatty, half laughing way. The basis of her story is her post university trip across America with her well bred friend Dee which turns into an adventure they will never forget. They seem, on the face of it, an unlikely combination but in fact balance each other and combine well to give a contrast in each scene the author presents. She has an amazing memory for detail, for conversation and has a self deprecating air which highlights her liability to be involved in incidents where she is made to seem amusingly either inadequate or inefficient. I suspect she is neither, but instead has the art of turning the most trivial happening into an adventure which makes for laugh-out-loud reading. There is an element of “there but for the grace of God go I” about much of her recollections, as most of us can remember getting into scrapes when young which seemed hilarious at the time, so it is easy to relate to her style of writing. I suspect that looking back at the trip has highlighted the fun and the amusement rather than any hardship and this gives the book a sunny, happy go lucky air which recommends itself for light summer reading.

Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950 - Sonnet Stanfill and Oriole Cullen

Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950
Sonnet Stanfill and Oriole Cullen

Format: Hardback - Released: 07/05/2012
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May 2012 Non-Fiction Book of the Month. Published to tie in with an exhibition opening on 19th May and running throughout the year. A quite fascinating progress through recent women’s fashion for glamorous evening wear. A change that we follow from the highly structured and corseted New Look to the more recent trends of deconstruction and asymmetry with folded and pleated fabric showing new materials, radical new ways of wearing clothing. As ever with V & A costume books, the colours are rich and vibrant but I would just have loved a bigger book with more detail and I would have loved to see inside some of these costumes to look at their construction. Like for Like ReadingThe Golden Age of Couture: Paris & London 1947-57, Claire WilcoxFashion History: A History from the 18th to the 20th Century, Akiki Fukai

Stolen Childhoods : The Untold Story of the Children Interned by the Japanese in the Second World War - Nicola Tyrer

Stolen Childhoods : The Untold Story of the Children Interned by the Japanese in the Second World War
Nicola Tyrer

Format: Paperback - Released: 10/05/2012
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May 2012 Non-Fiction Book of the Month. With or without their parents, children were interned in great numbers in Japanese camps, some 4,000 UK children alone. This thoroughly researched and rounded account of their story relates their experiences of the camps and through the personal stories – often recounted for the first time - learn what impact these events had on their lives as children and as adults. Their experiences are very mixed, some suffered through terrible deprivations under despotic camp guards others were “luckier” to be interned under less strict rulers, a few luckier still were young enough and resilient enough to see it all as a terrific adventure. With so many disparate strands, it would be easy to lose focus but Nicola Tyrer has a strong hand on the narrative , honouring the people who told her their stories.Like for Like ReadingHow the Girl Guides Won the War, Janie HamptonEmpire of the Sun, J G Ballard

Dear Zari: Hidden Stories from Women of Afghanistan - Zarghuna Kargar

Dear Zari: Hidden Stories from Women of Afghanistan
Zarghuna Kargar

Format: Paperback - Released: 03/05/2012
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Starting life as part of the BBC World Service transmission, Afghan Woman’s Hour, women were encouraged to tell their stories, it became one of the most widely listened to programmes in the country. Zarghuna Kargar interweaves her own story around these biographical fragments, tragic stories of women broken and downtrodden by such a deeply traditional and conservative culture where women have value only as bearers of sons. The situation has worsened due to the wars adding widowhood and disablement to women’s woes. There are chinks of light among the stories, a loving relationship, a woman finding a way of supporting her family, another able to choose the man she loves but one is left angered and saddened at the treatment meted out to the Afghan women and deeply grateful to Zarghuna Kargar for revealing the plight of these women. Like for Like Reading: Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea, Barbara Demick

The Way I See It : Rants, Revelations And Rules For Life - Alan Sugar

The Way I See It : Rants, Revelations And Rules For Life
Alan Sugar

Format: Paperback - Released: 26/04/2012
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Given Sir Alan’s public face I was prepared to be annoyed and at odds with his views but found so much sense and refreshing lack of bullshit in The Way I See It that I’ve become rather a fan. His personal recollections of starting in business, failures as well as successes underline a lot of what has changed in modern Britain. The dead hand of Health and Safety, ambulance chasing lawyers, pap journalism and government bureaucracy stifling creativity. But hard work, conviction and determination can still win out. Highly motivating reading, highly enjoyable to read and a real insight into Alan Sugar himself. Like for Like Reading:Top Man: How Philip Green Built his High Street Empire, Stewart LansleyBusiness Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur, Richard Branson

A History of England in 100 Places : From Stonehenge to the Gherkin - John Julius Norwich

A History of England in 100 Places : From Stonehenge to the Gherkin
John Julius Norwich

Format: Paperback - Released: 10/05/2012
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Our nation's story told through 100 of its most important sites - from Stonehenge to the Gherkin. Part narrative history, part exploration of our national heritage, the historian's wide-ranging selection of sites will stimulate, entertain, inform - and certainly provoke - a debate about the most significant moments in English history.

Arab Spring Dreams: The Next Generation Speaks Out for Freedom and Justice from North Africa to Iran - Nasser Weddady and Sohrab Ahmari

Arab Spring Dreams: The Next Generation Speaks Out for Freedom and Justice from North Africa to Iran
Nasser Weddady and Sohrab Ahmari

Format: Paperback - Released: 08/05/2012
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Reading here of the Arab peoples and their struggles seems to echo uncomfortably with our own history, knowing how long it took to wrestle power from the religious and political elites, how long for women in particular to gain the rights that should be theirs. This book of wishes and dreams lays out the hopes – and prayers of those in the Arab world struggling for the most basic of human rights. It shows vividly that beneath the public face seethes discontent, fear and longing for a better world. There is optimism, sadness, hope and despair, a growing number of people unhappy with their lack of rights and freedoms. One is left feeling anger at the sclerotic regimes who hold down their population at any cost and with hope that there will be a better way. Like for Like ReadingKarama! Journeys through the Arab Spring, Johnny WestThe Arab Revolution: Ten Lessons from the Democratic Uprising, Paperback 256 pages C Hurst & Co Publishers 1st July 2011 9781849041591

The Diamond Queen : Elizabeth II and Her People - Andrew Marr

The Diamond Queen : Elizabeth II and Her People
Andrew Marr

Format: Paperback - Released: 24/05/2012
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With the flair for narrative and the meticulous research that readers have come to expect, Andrew Marr turns his attention to the monarch and to the monarchy, chronicling the Queen's pivotal role at the centre of the state, which is largely hidden from the public gaze, and making a strong case for the institution itself.

District Nurse - Patricia Jordan

District Nurse
Patricia Jordan

Format: Paperback - Released: 26/04/2012
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A reissue of an old favourite in this highly popular nostalgic genre, taking us back to a time when district nurses were a common sight and cycled the streets taking care of patients in their own homes. Patricia Jordan was born in Irealnd and came to England to train – a long, hard process in the 1940’s. She them became a district nurse, and now shares her experiences of patients and fellow professionals in her thoroughly likeable autobiography.Like for Like ReadingYes Sister, No Sister: My Life as a Trainee Nurse in 1950’s Yorkshire, Jennifer CraigNurse on Call: Tales of a Black Country District Nurse, Edith Cotterill

Sister Queens : Katherine of Aragon and Juana Queen of Castile - Julia Fox

Sister Queens : Katherine of Aragon and Juana Queen of Castile
Julia Fox

Format: Paperback - Released: 26/04/2012
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Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile were the daughters of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, pawns on the European political stage. Approaching their history from this family perspective gives a very different viewpoint on the two women. Juana, wife of Philip of Burgundy and Mother to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V had a life of trial and tribulation, known in history as Juana the Mad, her story is equally compelling and just as tragic as that of Katherine of Aragon, first wife to Henry VIII. With so many histories of the Tudor period rarely venturing off the beaten track, Julia Fox is to be commended for her research into the wider Tudor picture.Like for Like Reading:She-Wolves: The Women who Ruled England before Elizabeth, Helen CastorIsabella: She-Wolf of France, Queen of England, Alison Weir

The Tao of Travel - Paul Theroux

The Tao of Travel
Paul Theroux

Format: Paperback - Released: 05/04/2012
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April 2012 Travel Book of the Month. A travel miscellany with Paul Theroux’s best pieces interspersed with his choice of the best travel writing. Travellers' tales new and old – from novice to expert.Like for Like ReadingOxTales: Meetings with Remarkable Travellers, Ruth PadelThe Smell of the Continent: The British Discover Europe, James Munson & Richard Mullen

Foundation : The History of England - Peter Ackroyd

Foundation : The History of England
Peter Ackroyd

Format: Paperback - Released: 06/04/2012
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First in a planned series of 6 volumes retelling the drama of English history. This first volume takes us from the time when human activity barely registered on the landscape down to the last days of Henry VII in 1509. On reading I was sad to find I’d already reached the Romans by Chapter Two. As the early history of the English is, for me, the most interesting, this was rather a blow but I recovered – and went on to thoroughly enjoy the engaging narrative. Underneath all the grand sweep of grand politics and royal machinations there is the subjugated English nation – and we get a great feel for these “small people” who see one foreign invader swopped for another, if it’s not the Angles it’s the Romans or the Normans, but they go stolidly on adapting and intermingling, playing their part in our Foundation. Like for Like Reading The Making of the British Landscape, Francis Pryor A History of Ancient Britain, Neil Oliver

The Life of Lee - Lee Evans

The Life of Lee
Lee Evans

Format: Paperback - Released: 10/05/2012
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The Life of Lee is an utterly hilarious and very moving autobiography charting his ups and downs on the way to the top. Lee takes us on a darkly humorous journey through his childhood spent running wild on a Bristol housing estate, his unconventional school days and through a grim teenage period of numerous dead-end jobs. The book also reveals how as a boy Lee got his first taste of showbiz, accompanying his entertainer father around the rowdy, unforgiving working-men's club and theatre circuit. Desperately struggling to be accepted, this quiet young loner always saw himself as an outsider. But he finally met the love of his life and accidentally discovered the one place where he felt at home: the stage.

Ian Fleming's Commandos The Story of 30 Assault Unit in WWII - Nicholas Rankin

Ian Fleming's Commandos The Story of 30 Assault Unit in WWII
Nicholas Rankin

Format: Paperback - Released: 03/05/2012
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In 1942, Lieutenant-Commander Ian Fleming was personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence - the dynamic figure behind James Bond's fictional chief, 'M'. Here, Fleming had a brilliant idea: why not set up a unit of authorised looters, men who would go in hard with the front-line troops and steal enemy intelligence? Known as '30 Assault Unit', they took part in the major campaigns of the Second World War, landing on the Normandy beaches and helping to liberate Paris. 30AU's final amazing coup was to seize the entire archives of the German Navy - thirty tons of documents. Ian Fleming flew out in person to get the loot back to Britain, where it was combed for evidence to use in the Nuremburg trials. In this gripping and highly enjoyable book, Nicholas Rankin, author of the best-selling Churchill's Wizards , puts 30 Assault Unit's fascinating story in a strategic and intelligence context. He also argues that Ian Fleming's Second World War service was one of the most significant periods of his life - without this, the most popular spy fiction of the twentieth century would not have been written.

Why be Happy When You Could be Normal? - Jeanette Winterson

Why be Happy When You Could be Normal?
Jeanette Winterson

Format: Paperback - Released: 12/04/2012
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In 1985 Jeanette Winterson's first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit , was published. It was Jeanette's version of the story of a terraced house in Accrington, an adopted child, and the thwarted giantess Mrs Winterson. It was a cover story, a painful past written over and repainted. It was a story of survival. This book is that story's the silent twin. It is full of hurt and humour and a fierce love of life. It is about the pursuit of happiness, about lessons in love, the search for a mother and a journey into madness and out again. It is generous, honest and true.