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my hero: beryl markham by paula mclain

my hero: beryl markham by paula mclain

An aviator,author and racehorse trainer, Markham was too bold, or ambitious and unwilling to be...


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brief candle in the dark: my life in science by...

brief candle in the dark: my life in science by...

He may have crushed creationists,but can ‘the Dirty Harry of science’ teach as well as preach in...


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the mothers and fathers of all memoir writers

the mothers and fathers of all memoir writers

In the moment of Rachel Cooke’s new column,she reflects on her favourite stories of fraught filial...


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stop the clocks by joan bakewell review - a wry...

stop the clocks by joan bakewell review - a wry...

The TV journalist’s latest memoir is peppered with musings on death and obituaries for things lost...


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politics by nick clegg review - a painful read

politics by nick clegg review - a painful read

The former deputy PM,humiliated by the Tories, is surprised the public didn’t appreciate the...


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asylum by moriz scheyer and but you did not come...

asylum by moriz scheyer and but you did not come...

Two Holocaust memoirs one written in hiding and one on return from Birkenau expose that survivors...


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amy liptrot:  i swam in the cold ocean and dyed my...

amy liptrot: i swam in the cold ocean and dyed my...

Growing up in remote Orkney Amy Liptrot couldn’t wait to get away. But after 10 years in...


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why i told my mother not to read my book  -...

why i told my mother not to read my book -...

Claire Dederer has written what is surely one of the most excruciatingly frank memoirs ever –...


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unfaithful music   disappearing ink by elvis...

unfaithful music disappearing ink by elvis...

This memoir takes us on a voyage through the vanished world of 1970s Britain,and from the urgency of...


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thatcher stole my trousers by alexei sayle review...

thatcher stole my trousers by alexei sayle review...

The moment instalment of Sayle’s impressive memoirs takes him from art school to the miners’...


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trans: a memoir by juliet jacques review - an...

trans: a memoir by juliet jacques review - an...

‘I felt trapped not by my body,’ Jacques writes, ‘but by a society that didnt want me to...


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a notable woman: the romantic journals of jean...

a notable woman: the romantic journals of jean...

The yearnings of one young woman show how extraordinary an ‘ordinary’ life can beOn 18 April...


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adults in the room: my battle with europe s deep...

adults in the room: my battle with europe s deep...

This account of Greece’s war of words with the IMF by its former finance minister is both riveting...


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the voyeur s motel by gay talese review - sordid...

the voyeur s motel by gay talese review - sordid...

Talese is an eminent,though now controversial, journalist, or but this study of a voyeur and his...


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jenny diski s cancer diary: i too shall cease

jenny diski s cancer diary: i too shall cease

In 2014 author Jenny Diski was diagnosed with terminal cancer and began her acclaimed farewell...


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we are not such things by justine van der leun...

we are not such things by justine van der leun...

Biehl,an American ANC supporter, was killed by a group of young men in a South African township in...


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a notable woman: the romantic journals of jean...

a notable woman: the romantic journals of jean...

The candid diaries of an unmarried woman reveal personal tribulation and immense social changeIn...


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cancer, clare and me: actor greg wise on the death...

cancer, clare and me: actor greg wise on the death...

A year after the death of his beloved sister,Wise talks approximately caring for Clare in her final...


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francis bacon in your blood: a memoir review - the...

francis bacon in your blood: a memoir review - the...

Michael Peppiatts account of his time as Francis Bacon’s confidant shows him to be acutely aware...


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john aubrey: my own life by ruth scurr review - a ...

john aubrey: my own life by ruth scurr review - a ...

This unconventional life of the 17th-century biographer puts us right inside his headThomas...


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the vanity fair diaries 1983 1992 by tina brown...

the vanity fair diaries 1983 1992 by tina brown...

These reflections by the celebrated editor aren’t really about a magazine but about her,and the...


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all at sea by decca aitkenhead review - an...

all at sea by decca aitkenhead review - an...

This agonising account of the death by drowning of Aitkenhead’s beloved partner Tony,and its...


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pour me: a life by aa gill review - from drunk to...

pour me: a life by aa gill review - from drunk to...

The critic’s improbable tale of redemption is frank,laughable and flamboyantAdrian Gill begins...


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my life, our times by gordon brown review -...

my life, our times by gordon brown review -...

Brown’s memoir is powerful on his years in the Treasury but suffers from his fixation with the...


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their promised land: my grandparents in love and...

their promised land: my grandparents in love and...

Ian Buruma’s account of his Jewish grandparents’ experiences speaks volumes approximately...


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history of a suicide by jill bialosky review - a...

history of a suicide by jill bialosky review - a...

More than two decades after her sister Kim killed herself,Bialosky tries to discover why, and in the...


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the company of trees by thomas pakenham review -...

the company of trees by thomas pakenham review -...

From seed-hunting expeditions in the Andes to grim encounters with the timber trade,this memoir of...


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my old man by ted kessler review - why we should...

my old man by ted kessler review - why we should...

Leonard Cohen,Rod Stewart, Chris Martin and Shaun Ryder feature in this collection of tales of...


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reckless: my life by chrissie hynde review -...

reckless: my life by chrissie hynde review -...

It could have done with a tighter edit,but Chrissie Hynde’s memoir boasts astounding...


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michael palin: squeezing 10 years into a book is...

michael palin: squeezing 10 years into a book is...

Whittling away 80% of a decade’s events is cruel but holidays,meals and train journeys all had to...


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does it matter if authors make up their memoirs?

does it matter if authors make up their memoirs?

Joseph Conrad invented a boat,HG Wells omitted his affairs. But does it matter if this imaginative...


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party animals: my family and other communists by...

party animals: my family and other communists by...

This account of a tormented family helps to justify its author’s political journey from Young...


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my solution to depression was never medical. what...

my solution to depression was never medical. what...

Novelist Matt Haig on family,writing and his recovery from depression[br]• Reasons to Stay Alive...


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the princess diarist by carrie fisher review -...

the princess diarist by carrie fisher review -...

Fisher recently unearthed the diaries she wrote as a 19-year-old playing Princess Leia. They were...


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a mother s reckoning by sue klebold review - why...

a mother s reckoning by sue klebold review - why...

The troubling,bestselling memoir is a search for understanding and a confessional, as well as an...


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reckless: my life as a pretender by chrissie hynde...

reckless: my life as a pretender by chrissie hynde...

The rock memoir of this great songwriter has made the headlines,and is full of sex and copious...


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negroland by margo jefferson review - a brilliant...

negroland by margo jefferson review - a brilliant...

Margo Jefferson’s exploration of the African American experience runs the gamut from the personal...


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the pigeon tunnel by john le carre review - what...

the pigeon tunnel by john le carre review - what...

His own version differs slight from the biography. But it’s about him telling the stories,not...


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the spaces in between by caroline jones review -...

the spaces in between by caroline jones review -...

Beneath the composed surface of a tall-achieving and eventful life flowed strong and deadly currents...


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kind of blue: a political memoir by ken clarke -...

kind of blue: a political memoir by ken clarke -...

For a Tory maverick (an independent, nonconformist person) who’s had a ringside seat for years,Ken...


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born to run by bruce springsteen - review

born to run by bruce springsteen - review

The singer’s candid memoir sheds light on his long-standing battle with depression and his drive...


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speaking out by ed balls review - ready to use the...

speaking out by ed balls review - ready to use the...

The former shadow chancellor is courteous about Brown and Blair,less so about Ed Miliband. He writes...


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tama janowitz:  it s ridiculous to argue with...

tama janowitz: it s ridiculous to argue with...

As her memoir is published,the current York writer looks back on 35 years of literary life and feuds...


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negroland by margo jefferson review - life in the...

negroland by margo jefferson review - life in the...

A captivating memoir on the distinction between white and black privilege and how the black power...


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thatcher stole my trousers by alexei sayle review...

thatcher stole my trousers by alexei sayle review...

Alexei Sayle revisits art school and the 80s comedy circuit in this moment memoirThe poignant labour...


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the dead ladies project: exiles, expats, and ex...

the dead ladies project: exiles, expats, and ex...

How should we live? A writer delves into the lives and travels of great authors for an replyIt was...


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stop the clocks by joan bakewell review - a life...

stop the clocks by joan bakewell review - a life...

These reflections on getting older are poignant,and the broadcaster’s experience retains the power...


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the maisky diaries review - britain s high and...

the maisky diaries review - britain s high and...

Ivan Maisky was Soviet ambassador to the Court of St James. His recently unearthed diaries featuring...


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yeonmi park:  i hope my book will shine a light on...

yeonmi park: i hope my book will shine a light on...

The North Korean defector on her harrowing memoir,her deep-rooted awe of starvation and learning to...


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the girl who beat isis: my story by farida khalaf...

the girl who beat isis: my story by farida khalaf...

A first-person account of what happened after two Yazidi women were captured by Islamic State is as...


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when breath becomes air by paul kalanithi review -...

when breath becomes air by paul kalanithi review -...

This like a flash-selling memoir by an idealist neurosurgeon facing an early death from cancer gains...


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adam kay:  if i had kids i would put them off...

adam kay: if i had kids i would put them off...

The comedian’s memoir approximately his gruelling years as a junior doctor has fired up public...


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barbara hosking:  i couldn t write my memoir...

barbara hosking: i couldn t write my memoir...

The former aide to Harold Wilson and Edward Heath on a rollicking career,coming out at 91 and a...


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no way but gentlenesse by richard hines review -...

no way but gentlenesse by richard hines review -...

Barry Hines wrote the book that became Ken Loach’s film,but it was Richard, his brother, and who...


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the best celebrity memoirs of 2015

the best celebrity memoirs of 2015

From Tom Jones to the green grass of Old Trafford,via Sue Perkins’s diaristic mash-up and Steve...


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epilogue by will boast review - the end isn t...

epilogue by will boast review - the end isn t...

After his parents and brother died,Boast thought the tale of his family was over but, as this memoir...


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viv albertine:  i set out to write about an...

viv albertine: i set out to write about an...

Writing honestly approximately her mother’s death and her dysfunctional family has helped her to...


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first time ever by peggy seeger review - evocative...

first time ever by peggy seeger review - evocative...

She was from the American music establishment,he was born of Scottish socialism, and their...


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hinterland by chris mullin review - understated,...

hinterland by chris mullin review - understated,...

The former Labour MP and acclaimed diarist returns to his school days and formative experiences as a...


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born to run by bruce springsteen review - inside...

born to run by bruce springsteen review - inside...

This highly anticipated memoir is as wealthy in anecdote as it is in anguish. From shameful...


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the girl with the lower back tattoo by amy schumer...

the girl with the lower back tattoo by amy schumer...

The comedian’s trademark honesty shines through in these hilarious,moving vignettes about life,...


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all at sea by decca aitkenhead review - the power...

all at sea by decca aitkenhead review - the power...

Nothing is off-limits in Decca Aitkenhead’s unforgettable account of her partner’s drowning on a...


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the argonauts by maggie nelson review - a radical...

the argonauts by maggie nelson review - a radical...

Dazzling language,queer theory and domestic bliss meet in a triumphant love sage, now making a...


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gilliamesque by terry gilliam review - lacking in...

gilliamesque by terry gilliam review - lacking in...

The former Python and film director’s memoir looks the allotment,but offers scant insight into...


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second hand stories by josh spero review - a great...

second hand stories by josh spero review - a great...

The classics buff tracks down the previous owners of his books,but fails to accomplish justice to...


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david hare v the establishment: a memoir

david hare v the establishment: a memoir

David Hare made his name in the 1960s as a young,provocative playwright – on the left with a sense...


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an abbreviated life by ariel leve review - memoir...

an abbreviated life by ariel leve review - memoir...

‘I thought that little girl’s only chances were suicide or murder.’ This is a...


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skinning out - to sea by mick hugo review: life...

skinning out - to sea by mick hugo review: life...

A teenager’s sense of wonder at the world opening up to him is honestly and artlessly portrayed in...


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the outrun by amy liptrot review - a raw account...

the outrun by amy liptrot review - a raw account...

In an uncompromising and lyrical memoir Liptrot describes how she exiled herself to the remote...


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over and out by henry blofeld - digested read

over and out by henry blofeld - digested read

‘In the commentary box were several cases of vintage claret – we were squiffy for the entire...


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you don t have to say you love me by sherman...

you don t have to say you love me by sherman...

Humour and arouse combine in this story of the Native American experienceSherman Alexie has emerged...


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the 100 best nonfiction books: no 9 - dispatches...

the 100 best nonfiction books: no 9 - dispatches...

A compelling sense of urgency and a unique voice originate Michael Herr’s Vietnam memoir the...


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cowboy song: the authorised biography of philip...

cowboy song: the authorised biography of philip...

Graeme Thomson’s excellent book details the singer’s difficult childhood,the glory years of The...


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love like salt: a memoir by helen stevenson review...

love like salt: a memoir by helen stevenson review...

Stevenson rises above adversity in this remarkable account of her eldest daughter’s struggles with...


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what goes around emily chappell review -...

what goes around emily chappell review -...

A memoir of years as a London bike messenger evoke a fancy affair with the city from the frontline...


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the cow book by john connell review - powerful...

the cow book by john connell review - powerful...

Connell’s moving memoir tracks his life on the family farm,his fights with his father, and charts...


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the lonely city by olivia laing review - warhol,...

the lonely city by olivia laing review - warhol,...

Memoir and scholarship combine in an original exploration of modern York artists ‘troubled by...


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hungry heart by jennifer weiner review - memoirs...

hungry heart by jennifer weiner review - memoirs...

In this sometimes revealing,sometimes frustrating memoir, Jennifer Weiner catalogues her strengths...


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lab girl: a story of trees, science and love by...

lab girl: a story of trees, science and love by...

Hope Jahren’s remarkable memoir is both personal odyssey and the story of her profound affinity...


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stars, cars and crystal meth by jack sutherland...

stars, cars and crystal meth by jack sutherland...

Jack Sutherland worked for Michael Stipe and Mickey Rourke,and has plenty of stories of sex, drugs...


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darling days by io tillett wright review - the...

darling days by io tillett wright review - the...

An intuitive memoir explores growing up with an addict mother and a pivotal moment that made the...


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scream by tama janowitz review - memoirs of the...

scream by tama janowitz review - memoirs of the...

Her debut novel put her in the Brat Pack of the 80s with Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis. Then...


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i m not with the band: a writer s life lost in...

i m not with the band: a writer s life lost in...

The music journalist’s account of her life and encounters with the stars is both angry and...


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familiar stranger by stuart hall review - self...

familiar stranger by stuart hall review - self...

Stuart corridor’s autobiographical essays trace the undiminishing tugs of Britain and Jamaica on...


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a woman on the edge of time by jeremy gavron -...

a woman on the edge of time by jeremy gavron -...

Jeremy Gavron meets John Hayes,the man over whom his mother killed herself Read Rachel Cooke’s...


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i was intoxicated by her combination of beauty and...

i was intoxicated by her combination of beauty and...

Jeremy Gavron meets John Hayes,the man over whom his mother killed herself• Read Rachel Cooke’s...


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a chill in the air by iris origo review - trauma...

a chill in the air by iris origo review - trauma...

One of 20th century’s great diarists provides an unflinching chronicle of life in Mussolini’s...


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ekow eshun:  i dreaded going to sleep for fear of...

ekow eshun: i dreaded going to sleep for fear of...

Success allowed the writer to escape the past,but at a cost: nightmares haunted him. Here, he...


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sas spys memoir claims he probably saved...

sas spys memoir claims he probably saved...

Pilgrim Spy – published under pseudonym Tom Shore – also claims a ‘third generation’...


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clifford irving obituary

clifford irving obituary

Author who forged Howard Hughes’s autobiographyThe author Clifford Irving,who has died aged 87,...


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the vanity fair diaries review - tina brown s...

the vanity fair diaries review - tina brown s...

Brown’s record of her years as editor of the magazine in the 80s is both enthralling and...


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who thought this was a good idea? by alyssa...

who thought this was a good idea? by alyssa...

Barack Obama’s right-hand woman overshares details of her own life but holds back on everything...


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the girl with the lower back tattoo by amy schumer...

the girl with the lower back tattoo by amy schumer...

Schumer recently said she is not trying to be likable,but you wouldn’t guess it from this book....


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the life and the adventures of a haunted convict...

the life and the adventures of a haunted convict...

Reed was just nine years old when,in the 1830s, he was imprisoned for the first time. His account,...


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history of a suicide by jill bialosky review -...

history of a suicide by jill bialosky review -...

Jill Bialosky’s touching memoir explores her sisters death from every angle in pursuit of...


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the blue touch paper by david hare review - his...

the blue touch paper by david hare review - his...

The playwright’s invigorating memoir takes aim at reviewers,contemporary parents and Cambridge,...


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no nonsense by joey barton review - a serial...

no nonsense by joey barton review - a serial...

The controversial footballer’s autobiography teems with the rhetoric of self-development,but...


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all about eve: one womans journey from original...

all about eve: one womans journey from original...

Raised in a Seventh Day Adventist family in Perth,film journalist Rochelle Siemienowicz discovered...


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100 best nonfiction books: no 36 - black boy: a...

100 best nonfiction books: no 36 - black boy: a...

This influential memoir of a rebellious southern boyhood vividly evokes the struggle for African...


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don t you leave me here: my life by wilko johnson...

don t you leave me here: my life by wilko johnson...

The wild-eyed Dr Feelgood musician reveals how it felt to live under a death sentence in this...


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moby to follow ancestor herman melville into print...

moby to follow ancestor herman melville into print...

The bohemian turned pop star’s book has already won pre-publication praise from Salman Rushdie and...


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will self: memories of the artist as a young...

will self: memories of the artist as a young...

‘To purge our dirty brains,we had to write out our sins on ruled paper, in Biro’ … 30 years...


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when in french: love in a second language by...

when in french: love in a second language by...

This account of marrying a French speaker and learning the language from scratch brims with...


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anxiety for beginners by eleanor morgan and mad...

anxiety for beginners by eleanor morgan and mad...

Acute anxiety can open suddenly,affect anyone, and ruin lives. These memoirs, and by two...


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in negroland we thought of ourselves as the third...

in negroland we thought of ourselves as the third...

An extract from Negroland,Margo Jefferson’s memoir of growing up in postwar America’s emerging...


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david lynch to hit back at media bullshit with his...

david lynch to hit back at media bullshit with his...

Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks director to join forces with journalist Kristine McKenna for an...


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juliet jacques:  i spent years pretending to be...

juliet jacques: i spent years pretending to be...

She has made a long and courageous journey from suicidal teenage years in Surrey to sex reassignment...


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a life in questions review - jeremy paxman keeps...

a life in questions review - jeremy paxman keeps...

The former Newsnight presenter gives shrimp away in a frustrating look back at his careerSeveral...


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new edition of mein kampf set to land on german...

new edition of mein kampf set to land on german...

Annotated version of Adolf Hitler’s opus,which ‘unmasks his false allegations, whitewashing and...


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kate holden: there are drugs out there now i don t...

kate holden: there are drugs out there now i don t...

Her drugs and prostitution memoir,In My Skin, has sold 80000 copies in a decade, or but Kate Holden...


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but you did not come back review - a holocaust...

but you did not come back review - a holocaust...

Marceline Loridan-Ivens’s memoir of being sent with her father to Auschwitz-Birkenau is...


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the diary of a bookseller by shaun bythell review...

the diary of a bookseller by shaun bythell review...

The owner of Scotland’s largest secondhand bookshop has an entertainingly low opinion of...


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too much information? the writers who feel the...

too much information? the writers who feel the...

Marriage break-ups,a son’s drug addiction, sexual transgression … what makes some writers...


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a house in st john s wood by matthew spender...

a house in st john s wood by matthew spender...

Matthew Spender,son of poet Stephen Spender, shows how we are all shaped by the strangeness of our...


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nora krug:  i would have thought, what s left to...

nora krug: i would have thought, what s left to...

In her extraordinary graphic memoir Heimat,Krug dissects antisemitism in her own family’s history...


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stars, cars and crystal meth by jack sutherland...

stars, cars and crystal meth by jack sutherland...

Jack Sutherland’s account of his descent into addiction working for the A-listers of Hollywood is...


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diane rehm, npr host: too many of us are afraid to...

diane rehm, npr host: too many of us are afraid to...

After her husband fell ill with Parkinson’s,Rehm was criticized for attending right-to-die...


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my moth story: how howie changed my life (i was...

my moth story: how howie changed my life (i was...

As the Moth hits Australian shores (and bookshelves),we publish an extract from its eponymous tale...


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margo jefferson:  i was anxious about using the...

margo jefferson: i was anxious about using the...

The author,critic and academic, discusses Negroland, and her acclaimed memoir of growing up in an...


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lucy kalanithi:  paul s view was that life wasn t...

lucy kalanithi: paul s view was that life wasn t...

The doctor on completing the memoir of her late husband,neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi, after he died...


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simona castricum: a letter to everything ive lost...

simona castricum: a letter to everything ive lost...

Women of Letters challenged its contributors to write a letter to something they’d lost....


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the blue touch paper by david hare review - the...

the blue touch paper by david hare review - the...

An endearingly gossipy memoir from a playwright who holds the world to such serious accountEarly in...


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strictly ballroom: tales from the dancefloor...

strictly ballroom: tales from the dancefloor...

Diana Melly’s account of a lifetime of dancing reveals how music helped her mourn her late husband...


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