Biographies & Memoirs - Books

Spring

Biographies & Memoirs

THE NO 4 SUNDAY TIMES AND NO 1 SATURDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A GUARDIAN AND TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2025MICHAEL MORPURGO'S FIRST BOOK OF ADULT NON-FICTION IN FORTY YEARS'A joyous meditation on the season of new beginnings' THE TIMES'Uplifting and enchanting. A celebration of life by our master story-teller.' JOANNA LUMLEY'Spring is a delight. His love and knowledge of the countryside are profound. We are all the richer for what he sees.' PHILIP PULLMANMichael Morpurgo has lived on a farm deep in rural Devon for more than forty years. In Spring, he observes the season unfold around him, as fragile new shoots emerge, buds turn to blossom and grey skies give way to blue. As the natural world shakes off a long winter, Michael watches lambs being born on the farm, delights in a fanfare of bluebells in the woods, and sings to the birds, dressed in his wellies and dressing gown. He shares small moments of joy found in the back garden, as well as more dramatic encounters with sparrowhawks, hares and otters. With new poems and reminiscences about childhood and springs gone by, this is an enchanting memoir of a season from one of the world's best-loved authors.'Full of vibrant colour and most of all, heart and soul.' CLARE BALDING'A book full of love for, and gentle humour about, the rural lifestyle amid the most cherished of seasons.' COUNTRYLIFE'A reflective read - a gentle nostalgic step back in time to his life and his observations about how some things change and others don't.' DAILY MIRROR

La classe de rhéto

Biographies & Memoirs

Tout s’est joué durant la classe de première, quand je débarquai de la riante Amérique, au milieu des années soixante, et découvris l'un des établissements sévères où la vieille France instruisait ses futurs chefs. Je grandirais encore, mais je ne changerais plus. Du moins je vis sur cette illusion, comme si j’étais resté le même par la suite. Mon idée de ce pays était faite, mon sens de l’autorité et de l’indiscipline, de l’honneur et de la honte, de la fierté et de la servitude, de l’amitié et du mépris. Cette année-là, je l’entamai comme un bleu, l’éternel bizut tombé des nues, abîmé sur terre, et quelle terre! Je la terminai en pensant savoir qui j’étais et quel était le monde où j’allais vivre, un grand, un immense bahut, avec son ordre serré et son anarchie profonde, sa règle apparente et ses arbitraires incessants, ses peines et ses allégresses, ses mensonges, ses hypocrisies, ses passions. Chacun se raconte une histoire à laquelle il s’attache. Dans mon roman, la rhéto a été le nœud fatidique.

OLAUDAH EQUIANO'S INCREDIBLE LIFE NARRATIVE - Autobiography of the Former Slave, Seaman & Freedom Fighter

Biographies & Memoirs

This carefully crafted ebook: "OLAUDAH EQUIANO'S INCREDIBLE LIFE NARRATIVE - Autobiography of the Former Slave, Seaman & Freedom Fighter" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Excerpt: "I believe it is difficult for those who publish their own memoirs to escape the imputation of vanity; nor is this the only disadvantage under which they labour: it is also their misfortune, that what is uncommon is rarely, if ever, believed, and what is obvious we are apt to turn from with disgust, and to charge the writer with impertinence. People generally think those memoirs only worthy to be read or remembered which abound in great or striking events, those, in short, which in a high degree excite either admiration or pity: all others they consign to contempt and oblivion." The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano describes Equiano's time spent in enslavement and documents his attempts at becoming an independent man through his study of the Bible along with his eventual success in gaining his own freedom and in business thereafter. Published in 1789 and attracting attention, was considered highly influential in gaining passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807, which ended the African trade for Britain and its colonies. Olaudah Equiano (1745–1797) known in his lifetime as Gustavus Vassa was a prominent African in London, a freed slave who supported the British movement to end the slave trade.

God's Joyful Surprise

Biographies & Memoirs

The New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Life of Bees shares an inspiring account of her spiritual journey to discovering the love of God.In this insightful and inspiring memoir, Sue Monk Kidd remembers the beginnings of her spiritual journey, and explores what it means to be called on an adventure of faith—one in which we finally experience how deeply and wholly loved we are by God. God’s Joyful Surprise offers powerful insights about why devotion to God is more important than good works. Steeped in wisdom and written with poise and grace, Kidd’s words will encourage others along their own spiritual paths. Strands of humor and warmth woven throughout make it a joy to read from beginning to end.“Beautifully written . . . the message and challenge of the book is profound. . . . This book will awaken your longing and set you off on your own spiritual journey.” —Today’s Christian Woman“A joy to read from beginning to end.” —Virtue Magazine

David: Shepherd, Psalmist, King

Biographies & Memoirs

F. B. Meyer (1847 – 1929) was a famous pastor and evangelist in England. He was a frequent speaker at Keswick and a friend of Hudson Taylor, D. L. Moody and Spurgeon. He was loved for his many writings, devotionals and Scriptural biographies which helped countless thousands grow in their love for the Lord and his Word. It is our prayer that Meyer's writings will similarly challenge and encourage you in your Christian walk. DAVID: SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING is one of his classic Biblical Biographies. With great skill and insight, Meyer looks at the life lessons from this man of God and gives practical application for our lives today!

Sur la Chine

Biographies & Memoirs

En 1952, la Chine n'est encore ni connue, ni reconnue, lorsque Claude Roy publie Clefs pour la Chine. En 1966, dès les premières heures de la Révolution culturelle, Claude Roy pressent le désastre qui va accabler la Chine, désastre dont peuple et dirigeants reconnaissent aujourd'hui l'ampleur. Livre d'amitié lucide et informée pour une culture et un peuple que l'auteur aime beaucoup et connaît bien, Sur la Chine s'ouvre par un vaste panorama de la terre et des hommes et s'achève par le journal d'un retour en Chine. À l'heure où l'«Empire du Milieu» a cessé enfin d'être l'Empire des Illusions et l'Empire du Pire, Claude Roy nous donne à vivre la Chine des vivants.

भारत रत्न नानाजी देशमुख

Biographies & Memoirs

भारतीय जनसंघ के एक महान नेता, राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ के एक सक्रिय सदस्य, ‘राष्ट्रधर्म’ और ‘पांचजन्य’ ‘साप्ताहिक समाचार पत्र’ के मार्गदर्शक तथा शिक्षा, स्वास्थ्य व ग्रामीण स्वावलम्बन के क्षेत्र में अपने अनुकरणीय योगदान के लिए प्रख्यात भारत रत्न से सम्मानित श्री नानाजी देशमुख के बारे में लिखने का अमूल्य अवसर प्राप्त हुआ। एक ऐसे महान व्यक्ति, जिन्होंने लोकसेवा हेतु अपना समस्त जीवन तो समर्पित करा ही, मृत्योपरांत अपने मृत शरीर को भी मेडिकल छात्रों के शोध हेतु दान करने का वसीयतनामा, अपनी मृत्यु से काफी समय पहले ही 1997 में लिखकर दे दिया था, यह भी उनके महान व्यक्तित्व के विशालता की एक बानगी थी। भारतीय अस्मिता से जुड़े प्रमुख व्यक्तियों पर कई पुस्तकों पर काम कर रहे हैं। शीघ्र ही इनकी पुस्तकें लगातार प्रकाशित होती रहेंगी। महापुरुषों के जीवन चरित्र का अध्ययन और उनके विचारों को जनमानस तक पहुंचाना इनके जीवन का उद्देश्य बन चुका है। ‘भारत रत्न नानाजी देशमुख’ उनकी तीसरी पुस्तक है। इसे पढ़कर आपको लेखक के गहन अध्ययन का पता चलेगा।

La Dernière lettre du matelot

Biographies & Memoirs

La Dernière lettre du matelot Georges Eekhoud, Ecrivain flamand d'expression française (1854-1927) Ce livre numérique présente «La Dernière lettre du matelot», de Georges Eekhoud, édité en texte intégral. Une table des matières dynamique permet d'accéder directement aux différentes sections. Table des matières - Présentation - A Eugène Demolder

There Goes Gravity

Biographies & Memoirs

From a legendary music journalist with four decades of unprecedented access, an insider's behind-the-scenes look at the major personalities of rock and roll.Lisa Robinson has interviewed the biggest names in music--including Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Patti Smith, U2, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Jay Z and Kanye West. She visited the teenage Michael Jackson many times at his Encino home. She spent hours talking to John Lennon at his Dakota apartment--and in recording studios just weeks before his murder. She introduced David Bowie to Lou Reed at a private dinner in a Manhattan restaurant, helped the Clash and Elvis Costello get their record deals, was with the Rolling Stones on their jet during a frightening storm, and was mid-flight with Led Zeppelin when their tour manager pulled out a gun. A pioneering female journalist in an exclusive boys' club, Lisa Robinson is a preeminent authority on the personalities and influences that have shaped the music world; she has been recognized as rock jounralism's ultimate insider.A keenly observed and lovingly recounted look back on years spent with countless musicians backstage, after hours and on the road, There Goes Gravity documents a lifetime of riveting stories, told together here for the first time.

Too Much, Too Soon

Biographies & Memoirs

This book is about my life as a child and in adulthood. The book focuses on verbal, mental, and physical abuses that my siblings and I had to endure over the years. The book also focuses on how I overcame the abuses and made a life for myself. It also focuses on how most of my siblings did not take the same path even though we all lived in the same household.

Le radici dell'odio

Biographies & Memoirs

"Abbiamo paura di non essere sufficientemente allineati, obbedienti, servili, e venire scomunicati attraverso l'esilio morale con cui le democrazie deboli e pigre ricattano il cittadino. Paura di essere liberi, insomma. Di prendere rischi, di avere coraggio." Oriana Fallaci ha pronunciato queste parole nel 2005 quando decise di raccontare il suo "diritto all'odio". Sono riflessioni che ancora oggi, a distanza di dieci anni, risultano drammaticamente attuali, così come molti suoi brani finora inediti in cui affronta il conflitto con l'Islam senza mezzi termini né concessioni. "Ho visto le mussulmane la cui vita vale meno di una vacca o un cammello" scrive una giovanissima Oriana nel suo primo reportage sulla condizione delle donne nei paesi islamici. "Vi sono donne nel mondo che ancora oggi vivono dietro la nebbia fitta di un velo come attraverso le sbarre di una prigione." Una prigione che si estende dall'oceano Atlantico all'oceano Indiano percorrendo il Marocco, l'Algeria, la Nigeria, la Libia, l'Egitto, la Siria, il Libano, l'Iraq, l'Iran, la Giordania, l'Arabia Saudita, l'Afghanistan, il Pakistan, l'Indonesia: è il mondo dell'Islam, dove nonostante i "fermenti di ribellione" le regole riservate alle donne sono immote da secoli. Prefazione di Lucia Annunziata.

Doves of War

Biographies & Memoirs

Love, war, duty, faith, betrayal and belief – a revolutionary new view of the Spanish Civil War through the eyes and experiences of the women who endured it, by the greatest historian of Spain: ‘Passionate and deeply moving… when Preston writes about these women, you feel as if you are in their company.’ Scotland on Sunday‘Four extraordinary women whose personal histories should dispel any illusions that the Spanish Civil War was an all-male war…Written with a shrewd eye and a sure touch, the book is full of wonderful stories and acute observations. Above all, these are compellingly human dramas in which moral issues, right and wrong, Fascism and Communism, melt away.’ Sunday TelegraphThe Aristocrat: PIP SCOTT-ELLIS fell in love with a Spanish prince and set off for Madrid in a chauffeur-driven limousine. She ended up nursing in front-line Francoist hospitals.The Communist: NAN GREEN, by contrast, travelled to war third class. Leaving her children behind in England, she went to fight for the International Brigade.The Intellectual: MARGARITA NELKEN was an art critic and novelist, who had translated Kafka into Spanish. Denounced as a whore by the Catholic Right, she became a radical politician.The Fascist: After her husband was killed in the fighting and miscarrying her baby on hearing the news, MERCEDES SANZ-BACHILLER set up a welfare organisation that was to change the face of Spain.‘Preston has harnessed biography to serve history by vividly telling the stories of four very different women whose lives were starkly altered by the conflict… significant, tragic and remarkable’ Irish TimesReviews‘A magnificent achievement. Preston combines the skills of the professional historian with a profound understanding of women. Eminently readable, this is narrative history at its best.’ Literary Review‘Newcomers to the Spanish conflict could hardly find a better place to start.’ Sunday TimesAbout the authorSIR PAUL PRESTON CBE is Professor of Contemporary Spanish History at the London School of Economics and was previously a lecturer at the University of Reading and Professor of Modern History at Queen Mary University London. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and holds the Marcel Proust Chair of the European Academy of Yuste. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by universities in Spain and the UK. In 2006, he was awarded the International Ramon Llull Prize by the Catalan Government and, in 2018, the Guernica Peace Prize. Among his many works are Franco: A Biography, Comrades, Doves of War: Four Women of Spain, Juan Carlos, The Spanish Civil War, The Spanish Holocaust, The Last Stalinist, The Last Days of the Spanish Republic and A People Betrayed. In Spain, he was appointed a Comendador de la Orden del Mérito Civil in 1986 and awarded, in 2007, the Gran Cruz de la Orden de Isabel la Católica. He lives in London.

The Liars' Club

Biographies & Memoirs

#4 on The New York Times’ list of The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 YearsThe New York Times bestselling, hilarious tale of a hardscrabble Texas childhood that Oprah.com calls the best memoir of a generation“Wickedly funny and always movingly illuminating, thanks to kick-ass storytelling and a poet’s ear.” —Oprah.comThe Liars’ Club took the world by storm and raised the art of the memoir to an entirely new level, bringing about a dramatic revival of the form. Karr’s comic childhood in an east Texas oil town brings us characters as darkly hilarious as any of J. D. Salinger’s—a hard-drinking daddy, a sister who can talk down the sheriff at age twelve, and an oft-married mother whose accumulated secrets threaten to destroy them all. This unsentimental and profoundly moving account of an apocalyptic childhood is as “funny, lively, and un-put-downable” (USA Today) today as it ever was.

En sommer med Baudelaire

Biographies & Memoirs

«Baudelaire var litt av en original. Han var myteomspunnet. Da noen av hans ungdomsvenner skrev sine minner fra bohemtiden, var alle opptatt av hvor grov han var i kjeften, hans utsøkte eleganse i klesveien, hans provoserende oppførsel. Baudelaire gjorde seg altså bemerket. «Han hadde en bisarr fremtoning», skrev Champfleury, som blant annet husket at han farget håret grønt.» Hadde det ikke vært for at Charles Baudelaire selv var en mann av paradokser, ville det kanskje virke merkelig å skulle invitere noen til å tilbringe sommeren sammen med en personlighet mange heller vil forbinde med grålysning, skygge og høst, fremfor sol og varme. Men uansett tid på året er denne boken en ypperlig anledning til å stifte bekjentskap med en av den moderne tids aller største diktere og en av modernitetens skarpeste kritikere. Gjennom 33 korte kapitler gir Antoine Compagnon leseren mulighet til å bli kjent med den mangesidige forfatteren av Det vondes blomar. Baudelaires syn på kvinner, melankoli og kjærlighet, på selvmord og interessen for det onde, er blant temaene som berøres. Akkurat som bestselgeren En sommer med Montaigne, viser Compagnon seg her som en formidabel formidler av det som i utgangspunktet kan synes tungt – helt uten at lettheten han skriver med kompromitterer Baudelaires dybde. En sommer med Baudelaire er oppfølgeren til En sommer med Montaigne, som både ble en kritiker- og publikumsfavoritt da den kom ut på norsk sommeren 2015. Begge var opprinnelig oppført som radioføljetonger på den franske radiokanalen France Inter, sendt i beste sendetid gjennom hele sommeren. Skrevet om En sommer med Montaigne: «Fransk livsvisdom uten jåleri.» Knut Hoem, nrk «Jeg vil påstå at man ikke kan unngå å bli aldri så lite klokere av å lese denne boka. Den får deg til å tenke. Og det gjør ikke en gang vondt.» Fredrik Wandrup, dagbladet «En intravenøs dose av Montaignes erfaringer om livet og tilstøtende områder. En slags Montaigne for deg og meg.» Olav Egil Aune, vårt land Om En sommer med Baudelaire: «Sommerlige glimt om mørk poet.» - Knut Hoem, NRK «Det er interessant å lese om en så kontroversiell forfatter, motsetningene og konfliktene i hans eget liv og samtidig se at han skriver vakre dikt som er som solstreif i et heller mørkt sinn.» - Bente Bing Kleiva, bentebings weblog.

Lit

Biographies & Memoirs

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR New York Times Book Review • The New Yorker • Entertainment Weekly • Time • Washington Post • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • Christian Science Monitor • Slate • St. Louise Post-Dispatch • Cleveland Plain Dealer • Seattle Times • NBCC Award FinalistMary Karr’s unforgettable sequel to her beloved and bestselling memoirs The Liars’ Club and Cherry “lassos you, hogties your emotions and won’t let you go” (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times).Lit is about getting drunk and getting sober; becoming a mother by letting go of a mother; learning to write by learning to live. Written with Karr's relentless honesty, unflinching self-scrutiny, and irreverent, lacerating humor, it is a truly electrifying story of how to grow up—as only Mary Karr can tell it.The Boston Globe calls Lit a book that “reminds us not only how compelling personal stories can be, but how, in the hands of a master, they can transmute into the highest art." The New York Times Book Review calls it “a master class on the art of the memoir” and Susan Cheever states, simply, that Lit is “the best book about being a woman in America I have read in years."

Some Reminiscences

Biographies & Memoirs

It is nonetheless the principal contemporary source for information about the author's life. It tells about his schooling in Russian Poland, his sailing in Marseille, the influence of his Uncle Tadeusz, and the writing of Almayer's Folly. It provides a glimpse of how Conrad wished to be seen by his British public, as well as being an atmospheric work of art.

Irre Typen: Von Menschen, die sehr weit gehen (GEO eBook)

Biographies & Memoirs

Ein Russe will die Welt mit trampelnden Tieren retten - und testet die Idee in einer Forschungsstation, die gar nicht existiert. In Kasachstan trinkt ein US-Amerikaner Wodka im Atomkraftwerk - und schickt dann einen Zug mit Atommüll an ein unbekanntes Ziel. In Madagaskar schleicht ein Deutscher sich mit Lügen in die Mafia ein. Und in Venezuela hält sich ein 71-Jähriger für den genialsten aller Glücksritter Amazoniens - und ist mindestens der wahnsinnigste. Es gibt Menschen, die sind einfach anders als andere. Verrückter, leidenschaftlicher, beherzter. Einige ihrer Geschichten finden Sie hier: die besten Porträts aus GEO (als pure Lesestücke). Kapitel Venezuela: Charles Brewer Carias Irre, wer - ich? Deutschland: Thomas Grau Beruf: Meteoritenjäger Jakutien: Sergej Zimov Die Mammut-Vision Japan: Nangaku Kawamata Ein Leben für die Linie Hawaii: Richard Pyle Forscher in der Zwielicht-Zone New York: Tony Amato Der Chef der kleinsten Oper Frankreich: Fred K. Prieberg Der Mann, der nicht vergessen will Peru: Lonnie Thompson Atemlos im tropischen Eis Madagaskar: Alexander von Bismarck Auf den Spuren der Holzmafia Kasachstan: Igor Bolschinsky Jäger des verlorenen Urans Alle Weltmeere: Paul Watson Naturschutz auf die harte Tour Weltreise Die Unumkehrbaren

Queen of Thrift

Biographies & Memoirs

When 21-year old military wife, Betty Whalen and her five-month-old daughter, Kim, embark on the 13,000 mile trip from New Jersey to Taiwan to join her husband, Betty never dreamed the trip, undertaken in the days before jet travel and disposable diapers, would take nine days, during which Kim would be hit with colic and diarrhea. Adding to the challenges the young mother would face was an unnecessary two-hour round trip by bus to San Francisco because of misinformation about her visa given to her by a flight operations specialist at Travis Air Force Base, California, her first stop. The error resulted in a tedious three-hour delay which caused Betty to miss a flight to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. Two days later upon arrival at Hickam, she faced another three-day wait. Then another exasperating four days in the Philippine Islands. On Taiwan, Betty was the youngest American Round-eye to meet the legendary Taiwanese President, Chiang Kai Shek. While there she gives birth to her second daughter in a missionary hospital only to lose this child suddenly three years later. Upon her familys return by ship, with two babies under two, from Taiwan, the angry Pacific Ocean brings their ship breathtakingly close to capsizing. During the voyage, 20-month old Kim faces emergency surgery on a ship that was bucking so badly, the surgeon was unable to stand upright without assistance.Back in the states with a family of four, Betty hones the shopping practices that enabled her to multiply her dollars and earn her the designation: Queen of Thrift. Her four basic principles: never pay the retail price, know the brands, shop the discount stores, and be patient, have paid off big for her. They can for anyone willing to try them.

For the Record

Biographies & Memoirs

A #1 bestseller in England, former Prime Minster David Cameron’s For the Record shares his views on his political career and the state of the UK.David Cameron was elected Conservative leader in 2005, promising to modernize the party following its three successive electoral defeats. He became Prime Minister in 2010, forming Britain’s first coalition government in seventy years, at a moment of economic crisis, and went on to win the first outright Conservative majority for twenty-three years at the 2015 general election.In For the Record, Cameron explains how the governments he led transformed the UK economy while implementing a modern, compassionate agenda that included reforming education and welfare, legalizing gay marriage, honoring the UK’s commitment to overseas aid and spearheading environmental policies. He will shed light on the seminal world events of his premiership—the Arab Spring; the rise of ISIS; the invasion of Ukraine; the conflicts in Libya, Iraq and Syria—as well as events at home, from the Olympic Games in 2012 to the Scottish referendum. He provides his perspective on the EU referendum and his views on the future of Britain’s place in the world following Brexit.Revealing the battles and achievements of his life and career in intimate and frank detail, For the Record is an important assessment of the significant political events of the 2010s, the nature of power and the role of leadership at a time of profound global change.

Il mio cuore è più stanco della mia voce

Biographies & Memoirs

Negli anni Settanta Oriana Fallaci è un mito. Prima il Vietnam, poi Città del Messico e infine la storia d’amore con Alekos Panagulis, eroe della Resistenza greca, simbolo dell’opposizione a qualunque regime liberticida. Dopo la morte di lui e la pubblicazione di Un uomo, Oriana riesce a creare un incantamento globale: vorrebbero essere come lei i tanti giovani e meno giovani attratti dalla personalità dei suoi reportage di guerra e dal suo coraggio. E vorrebbero essere come lei molte donne, per le quali la scrittrice rappresenta la realizzazione di un sogno. In quegli anni la Fallaci accetta i sempre più frequenti inviti a incontrare i suoi lettori stranieri, nelle città e nelle università del mondo. Questo libro raccoglie alcune delle sue conferenze di maggior rilievo, pagine rimaste a lungo inedite che rivelano il suo rapporto con la scrittura, la sua passione per la politica e per l’impegno civile, la sua “ossessione per la libertà”. È il suo autoritratto più autentico, una sorta di manifesto in cui Oriana rivendica e difende con vigore il diritto a “stare dalla parte dell’umanità, suggerire i cambiamenti, innamorarci dei buoni cambiamenti, influenzare un futuro che sia un futuro migliore del presente”.

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