Other books that might interest you

• 

  Look Who It Is!: My Story

  Alan Carr

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Famed for his gentle innocence and brilliant observational wit, comedian Alan Carr describes his childhood growing up in a football-mad family in Northampton and his rise to become one of Britain’s best-loved comedians. 
  ‘Puberty had been unkind. Whereas it had come in the night and left the other boys with chiselled, stubbly chins and deep masculine voices, I’d been left with a huge pair of knockers and the voice of a pensioner.’ Alan Carr 
  Alan Carr grew up in one of the most boring towns in England – Northampton. A place known for making shoes. It was also famous for its football club, Northampton Town FC. Alan’s dad as manager of the club was a local hero. A dream come true for most lads, but not Alan. Alan wore glasses and had man boobs at 14. He did not like P.E. 
  In his very first book, Alan tells his life story (‘oh and what a life’) with his unique twist of natural, observational humour – 
  ‘I’m not saying I’m a fantasist but there have been times when things that I’ve seen on television when I was younger have tended to seep into my subconscious and blended into my own life. I remember telling my Mum about the time I stopped that woman from having a diamond encrusted necklace stolen and she’d say ‘No Alan, that was Poirot.’ 
  With his tongue-in-cheek, end of pier humour that has made him famous, Alan describes an ordinary life in bursts of technicolour. His journey from awkward schoolboy hiding his man-boobs on the pitch, drinking tea with the dinner ladies and working in a call centre, to becoming one of our best-loved comedians likened to the great Frankie Howerd, will make his book a guaranteed tickler with a laugh-out-loud gag on every page. 
  From a football-mad family in Northampton to the heights of the performing arts, Alan Carr's Sunday Times bestselling autobiography is a testament to his talent and perseverance. His unique sense of humour and honesty make this biography a standout in the entertainment genre. 
  For fans of Graham Norton (The Life and Loves of a He Devil), Romesh Ranganathan (As Good As It Gets), Sarah Millican (How to be Champion), Louis Theroux (Theroux The Keyhole), and Miriam Margolyes (Oh Miriam!).

  Show book

• 

  Not My Father's Son - A Memoir

  Alan Cumming

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 
  “Equal parts memoir, whodunnit, and manual for living . . . a beautifully written, honest look at the forces of blood and bone that make us who we are, and how we make ourselves.”  --Neil Gaiman 
  In his unique and engaging voice, the acclaimed actor of stage and screen shares the emotional story of his complicated relationship with his father and the deeply buried family secrets that shaped his life and career. 
  A beloved star of stage, television, and film—“one of the most fun people in show business” (Time magazine)—Alan Cumming is a successful artist whose diversity and fearlessness is unparalleled. His success masks a painful childhood growing up under the heavy rule of an emotionally and physically abusive father—a relationship that tormented him long into adulthood. 
  When television producers in the UK approached him to appear on a popular celebrity genealogy show in 2010, Alan enthusiastically agreed. He hoped the show would solve a family mystery involving his maternal grandfather, a celebrated WWII hero who disappeared in the Far East. But as the truth of his family ancestors revealed itself, Alan learned far more than he bargained for about himself, his past, and his own father. 
  With ribald humor, wit, and incredible insight, Alan seamlessly moves back and forth in time, integrating stories from his childhood in Scotland and his experiences today as a film, television, and theater star. At times suspenseful, deeply moving, and wickedly funny, Not My Father’s Son will make readers laugh even as it breaks their hearts.

  Show book

• 

  Inventing Chemistry - Herman...

  John C. Powers

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The story of this little-known Dutch physician “will interest students and practitioners of history, chemistry, and philosophy of science” (Choice).   In Inventing Chemistry, historian John C. Powers turns his attention to Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738), a Dutch medical and chemical professor whose work reached a wide, educated audience and became the template for chemical knowledge in the eighteenth century.   The primary focus of this study is Boerhaave’s educational philosophy, and Powers traces its development from Boerhaave’s early days as a student in Leiden through his publication of the Elementa chemiae in 1732. Powers reveals how Boerhaave restructured and reinterpreted various practices from diverse chemical traditions (including craft chemistry, Paracelsian medical chemistry, and alchemy), shaping them into a chemical course that conformed to the pedagogical and philosophical norms of Leiden University’s medical faculty. In doing so, Boerhaave gave his chemistry a coherent organizational structure and philosophical foundation, and thus transformed an artisanal practice into an academic discipline. Inventing Chemistry is essential reading for historians of chemistry, medicine, and academic life.

  Show book

• 

  Thomas MacDonagh - 16Lives

  Shane Kenna

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Born in Cloughjordan in Co. Tipperary, MacDonagh was a poet and playwright, an educator and political activist. Appointed to the IRB Military Council he became a member of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic and was a signatory of the 1916 Easter proclamation. During the Rising MacDonagh was commandant of the 2nd Battalion of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers and occupied the Jacobs Biscuit factory garrison. Following an inspiring speech at his Court Marshal he was executed on 3 May 1916 at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin.
  In this meticulously researched biography Shane Kenna places this remarkable man within the great pantheon of Irish Republican heroes. He provides a riveting reconstruction of the life of a man whose death played such a key part in the shaping of modern Ireland.
  'an epic new series of books' - RTE Guide on 16Lives

  Show book

• 

  Hometown Victory - A Coach's...

  Keanon Lowe, Justin Spizman

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The Blindside meets Friday Night Lights in Keanon Lowe's Hometown Victory when an NFL coach returns home after losing a friend to opiods to coach a team of struggling high school kids on a 23-game losing streak.Keanon Lowe was working as an offensive analyst for the San Francisco 49ers when his childhood friend and former high school teammate suddenly died from an opioid overdose. Keanon dropped everything––including the plum NFL job he had been working towards since childhood––leading him to a position as football coach at a struggling high school back in his hometown. At the time, Parkrose High School was in the middle of a 23-game losing streak--they were the ultimate underdogs.In many ways, the road to Parkrose was paved by Keanon's life-defining experiences––from a childhood spent dodging racist bullies and finding the support and mentorship he craved on the football team, to an NFL season where he worked closely with Colin Kaepernick as he evolved his sideline protest. Keanon was drawn to the young men on the Parkrose team, and to the school itself. After two years, he pushed them to become conference champions, mentoring countless players along the way.But still, there was that nagging sense that his calling wasn't meant to stop there. He was at that school for a reason. In May 2019, he got his answer when a 19-year-old student entered a Parkrose classroom with a trench coat and shotgun. Keanon disarmed him and pulled the boy into a hug, telling him he cared. In the boy, Keanon saw himself, and the young men he grew up with or mentored along the way––and weren't so many of them just looking for acceptance, for comfort, for love?With the heart of favorite football classics––The Blindside, Friday Night Lights, Remember the Titans––Keanon’s journey at Parkrose is the true account of a life spent striving forward, even when faced with the unimaginable. Hometown Victory is a story about gratitude, service, and most of all, hope.

  Show book

• 

  By Snowshoe Buckboard and...

  Kathryn Bridge

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The vivid, personal accounts of four women who lived and travelled as settlers in early British Columbia“…a cloud passing away from the face of the moon revealed a band of wild horses bearing down upon us at a full gallop. As they came near and saw us they divided into two groups, passing by on either side. Had the moon not come out they would probably have become entangled in our tent ropes, and we should not have lived to tell the tale.”—Violet Sillitoe, between Osoyoos and PentictonThe women in this book were trailblazers. The frontiers they lived on were not only geographical but personal.  As they left the drawing rooms of England and eastern Canada for new lives in the far West, social patterns were disrupted, and the status quo dissolved.  On the wagon roads and river boats of nineteenth-century British Columbia, they found  risks, opportunities and freedoms far beyond those familiar to their more settled contemporaries. By Snowshoe, Buckboard and Steamer tells four extraordinary stories of life on the unruly edge of empire.Winner of the 1998 BC Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing.

  Show book