Diaries & Memoirs

Nominated for the National Book Critics Circle AwardThe acid, hilarious, confessional, provocative bestselling memoirs of our greatest contrarian, and the author of god Is Not Great. 'If Hitchens didn't exist, we wouldn't be able to invent him.' Ian McEwan

A travel writing classic, available for the first time in 20 years. The inspiration behind the Sunday Times bestseller A Theatre for Dreamers. Introduction by Polly Samson. 'These are blissful reissues that will bring Grecian heat and light to your life, and much more besides'Editor's Travel Choice. The Bookseller

From the publisher of Pipette Magazine, discover a natural wine-soaked memoir about finding your passion-and falling in love.

My name is Joel Mawhinney, though I go by the name Joel M. You might know me from TikTok as @joelmagician.

She explores both the comically absurd and the profound, from attempting to remove bestsellers by hollow self-help gurus from the hospital gift shop while still attached to a drip, to crawling into bed with a four-year-old dragon after his birthday party, as mere minutes transform into a transcendent moment, hovering outside of time.

Nacho NovoWhen I left Spain for my Scottish adventure back in 2001, I could not have dreamt just how my career would take off. Six great years I spent at Rangers, making friends for life on and off the pitch. Yes, I won a league medal, scored the winning goal in a cup final, scored against Celtic and the winning penalty to take us to Manchester. However, what now gives me the greatest pleasure, is not only the memories, but knowing I am now a fan myself. I will be celebrating 55 like the rest of the Bears. Once a Ranger, always a Ranger.Robie Ferguson, GlasgowMy first away trip abroad was to Bilbao in 1969, in the Fairs Cup. Since then, my love for Rangers has taken me on over 200 trips all over Europe, South Africa, USA, Canada & Australia. From cup games to pre-season friendlies and tours, I have made good friends all over the world. Every trip has been an adventure following The Rangers.Ross McGill, Union BearsOur club and support really are second to none, and this experience at the time (in Leipzig) was a taster for the younger generation of trips to come and a bit of hope for our entire support, that natural order would one day be restored, and we would be back in Europe, following our club and at the top of Scottish football once again. Thankfully we are now there and 55 has been achieved. We are back....

A self-help book about self-love combined with boundaries - the practical side of self-love. How to reclaim selfishness as a force for good.

How to live a better life. One of the most important books on Western philosophy - a powerful and inspirational guide for the complicated world of today

The renowned Tibetan Buddhist teacher recounts the adventure story of his life and brush with death during his four-year wandering retreat, combined with innovative meditation techniques for a more enlightened and happier life.

One woman¿s journey to overcome grief by delving into nature.After losing her husband of 32 years, Long Litt Woon is utterly bereft. For a time, she is disoriented, aimless, lost. It is only when she wanders deep into the woods and attunes herself to Nature¿s chorus that she learns how the wild might restore us to hope, and to life after death.

The Good Life meets My Family and Other Animals; A timeless, funny and heartwarming memoir of life on a Cornish farm.

From a god-fearing Muslim boy enraptured with their mother, to a vocal, queer drag queen estranged from their family, this is a heart-breaking and hilarious memoir about the author's fight to be true to themself

Feeling anxious? Who isn't! Your most irrational (and sometimes rational) fears are hilarious fodder for this sharp and relatable activity book.

This is a place where the previously unspeakable becomes the commendable - a unique portrayal of the queer experience. (c) 2019, Crystal Rasmussen (P) 2019 Penguin Audio

The Hare with Amber Eyes meets The History of the World in 100 Objects: an eloquent history of the language of sewing over centuries and across continents.

An anonymous barrister writes a darkly comic, provocative and moving first-hand account of life in the legal system and how it's failing us all

A memoir by a young woman with a terminal illness, who contends with the terrifying fact that, even for her beloved husband and son, she is not the lynchpin of existence and life will go on.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY PRIZE THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.2 BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE BMA PRESIDENT'S AWARD 2017 An incredible memoir from one of the world's most eminent heart surgeons, recalling some of the most remarkable and poignant cases he's worked on.

"Songwriter [and television personality] Linda Thompson breaks her silence, sharing the ... story of her life, career, and epic romances with two of the most celebrated, yet enigmatic, modern American superstars--Elvis Presley and Bruce Jenner"--Dust jacket flap.

The path to success is rarely easy or direct, and good mentors are hard to find. In Getting There, thirty leaders in diverse fields share their secrets to navigating the rocky road to the top. In an honest, direct, and engaging way, these role models describe the obstacles they faced, the setbacks they endured, and the vital lessons they learned. They dispense not only essential and practical career advice, but also priceless wisdom applicable to life in general. Getting There is for everyonefrom students contemplating their futures to the vast majority of us facing challenges or seeking to reach our potential.

By the time she was 14, Chrissie Hynde knew she had to get out of Akron, Ohio. Her perfect 50s American childhood upturned by a newly acquired taste for rock n roll, motorbikes and the get down boys seen at gigs in and around Cleveland Mitch Ryder, the Jeff Beck Group, the Velvet Underground and David Bowie among the many.Wrapped up in the Kent State University riots and getting dangerously involved in the local biker and drug scenes, she escaped - to Mexico, Canada, Paris and finally London where she caught the embryonic punk scene just in time not only to witness it first-hand, but more importantly to seize the opportunity to form her own band, the Pretenders.Iggy Pop, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Vivienne & Malcolm, Ray Davies on every page household names mingle with small town heroes as we shift from bedroom to biker HQ; from squat to practice room; from pub gig to Top Of The Pops the long and crooked path to stardom, and for the Pretenders, ultimately, tragedy.That Chrissie Hynde is alive to tell the tale is, by her own admission, something of a miracle. Throughout she is brutally honest, wryly humorous and always highly entertaining. She has written one of the most evocative and colourful music memoirs to be published in recent years.

ANNE LISTER IS THE INSPIRATION FOR GENTLEMAN JACK, A NEW BBC/HBO SERIES BY SALLY WAINWRIGHT, STARRING SURANNE JONES.'Engaging, revealing, at times simply astonishing: Anne Lister's diaries are an indispensable read for anyone interested in the history of gender, sexuality, and the intimate lives of women' SARAH WATERS'The Lister diaries are the Dead Sea Scrolls of lesbian history; they changed everything. By resurrecting them and editing them with such loving attention and intelligence, Helena Whitbread has earned the gratitude of a whole generation' EMMA DONOGHUEWhen this volume of Anne Lister's diaries was first published in 1988, it was hailed as a vital piece of lost lesbian history. The editor, Helena Whitbread, had spent years painstakingly researching and transcribing Lister's extensive journals, much of which were written in an elaborate code - what Lister called her 'crypthand', which allowed her to record her life in intimate, and at times, explicit, detail. Until then, Anne Lister's lesbianism had been supressed or hinted at; this was the first time her story had been told. Anne Lister defied the role of nineteenth-century womanhood: she was bold, fiercely independent, a landowner, industrialist, traveller and lesbian - a woman who lived her life on her own terms.'[Anne Lister's] sense of self, and self-awareness, is what makes her modern to us. She was a woman exercising conscious choice. She controlled her cash and her body. At a time when women had to marry, or be looked after by a male relative, and when all their property on marriage passed to their husband, Anne Lister not only dodged the traps of being female, she set up a liaison with another woman that enhanced her own wealth and left both of them free to live as they wished . . . The diaries gave me courage' JEANETTE WINTERSONThese diaries include the years 1816-1824. The second volume, NO PRIEST BUT LOVE, is available in ebook.

Tom Jones' Over the Top and Back is at this special price NOW . . . 'For a lot of years, I've answered a lot of questions, but have never told my story before.'Across six decades, Sir Tom Jones has maintained a vital career in a risky, unstable business notorious for the short lives of its artists. With a drive that comes from nothing but the love for what he does, he breaks through and then wrestles with the vagaries of the music industry, the nature of success and its inevitable consequences. Having recorded an expansive body of work and performed with fellow artists from across the spectrum and across every popular music genre, from rock, pop and dance to country, blues and soul, the one constant throughout has been his unique musical gifts and unmistakable voice.But how did a boy from a Welsh coal-mining family attain success across the globe? And how has he survived the twists and turns of fame and fortune to not only stay exciting, but actually become more credible and interesting with age? In this, his first ever autobiography, Tom revisits his past and tells the tale of his journey from wartime Pontypridd to LA and beyond. He reveals the stories behind the ups and downs of his fascinating and remarkable life, from the early heydays to the subsequent fallow years to his later period of artistic renaissance.It's the story nobody else knows or understands, told by the man who lived it, and written the only way he knows how: simply and from the heart.Raw, honest, funny and powerful, this is a memoir like no other from one of the world's greatest ever singing talents.This is Tom Jones and Over the Top and Back is his story.

A Sunday Times Bestseller Have you ever had a strange urge to jump from a tall building, or steer your car into oncoming traffic? You are not alone. In this captivating fusion of science, history and personal memoir, writer David Adam explores the weird thoughts that exist within every mind, and how they drive millions of us towards obsessions and compulsions. David has suffered from OCD for twenty years, and The Man Who Couldn't Stop is his unflinchingly honest attempt to understand the condition and his experiences. What might lead an Ethiopian schoolgirl to eat a wall of her house, piece by piece; or a pair of brothers to die beneath an avalanche of household junk that they had compulsively hoarded? At what point does a harmless idea, a snowflake in a clear summer sky, become a blinding blizzard of unwanted thoughts? Drawing on the latest research on the brain, as well as historical accounts of patients and their treatments, this is a book that will challenge the way you think about what is normal, and what is mental illness. Told with fierce clarity, humour and urgent lyricism, this extraordinary book is both the haunting story of a personal nightmare, and a fascinating doorway into the darkest corners of our minds.

Listen to the brand new dramatisation of How To Be a Woman, narrated by Caitlin herself, as part of BBC Radio 4's Riot Girls season Selected by Emma Watson for her feminist book club Our Shared Shelf It's a good time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven't been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain... Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should we use Botox? Do men secretly hate us? And why does everyone ask you when you're going to have a baby? Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin answers the questions that every modern woman is asking.