Other books that might interest you

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  Ghetto Klown - A Graphic Memoir

  John Leguizamo

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  This graphic novel adaptation of the award-winning Broadway play Ghetto Klown “is autobiographical dynamite—this is Leguizamo at his scathing, honest, moving, comedic best. Among the finest portraits of an artist as a young wounded talented man as I’ve read” (Pulitzer Prize–winning author Junot Díaz). 
   
  Tony Award winner John Leguizamo lays bare his life story in this graphic novel illustrated by artists Christa Cassano and Shamus Beyale. 
   
  He shares memories of his early years as an actor on stage, on television, and in major motion pictures opposite some of Hollywood’s biggest stars—including Al Pacino, Patrick Swayze, and Steven Seagal—and working for directors Baz Luhrmann and Brian De Palma. 
   
  Leguizamo also opens up about his loves and marriages, while addressing self-doubt and melancholy in a way that enlightens and entertains.

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  A BIKE AT LARGE - Ordeals on Wheels

  Jo May

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  A Bike at Large is the fourth book in Jo’s ‘At Large’ series. 
  When he was overtaken by a jogger on a borrowed mountain bike, Jo knew it was time for drastic action. Welcome to the world of a man in his 60s and his new e-bike. 
  His first injury occurred within one foot! Setting off for his first practice ride round a car park, he misjudged the width of the handlebars and scraped his hand on the cycle shop’s stone wall. 
  ‘You’ll go places you’ll never have dreamed of,’ said the shop owner. Prophetic words indeed. Eighteen hours later Jo was embedded in his neighbours hedge due to a clothing malfunction. Fortunately, before setting out he’d put his ego and self-esteem in the top drawer in the kitchen. 
  With the emergency ambulance on speed-dial, Jo climbs a steep learning curve on a series of mini adventures throughout the north of England, mercifully with a diminishing distance to injury ratio. 
  By calling his e-bike a ‘Lifestyle Investment’, it took his wife’s mind off the cost. At the time she needed some new slippers, so it was a sensitive issue. Asked whether he was searching for eternal youth? ‘Not really,’ he said, ‘more trying to keep out of my eternal hole in the ground.’ 
  Fuelled by red wine and optimism, off he goes………

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  The Life of Charlotte Bronte...

  Elizabeth Gaskell

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  Part of the Hero Classics series 
  “As far as she could see, her life was ordained to be lonely, and she must her nature to her life, and, if possible, bring the two into harmony. When she could employ herself in fiction, all was comparatively well. The characters were her companions in the quiet hours, which she spent utterly alone, unable often to stir out of doors for many days together.” 
  When Charlotte Bronte’s father asked Gaskell to write his daughter’s biography, his main concern was to preserve the legacy of Charlotte and present an authorised take on her life as opposed to the speculations and gossip in the yellow papers. Gaskell and Charlotte had met on just a few occasions, so the biographer had to do profound research to actually delve into her mysterious life. From Charlotte’s own notes to various letters she had access to, Gaskell is seen mapping through a range of sources to find out the truth of her life. Right from the first pages of the text, we can distinctly spot Gaskell’s artistic infusions of metaphors and the poetic descriptions of the setting as well as doing justice with the life of Charlotte Bronte. This biography is all that is needed for Bronte’s readers as well as the admirers of inventive stylistic takes in non-fictional writing. 
  Upon its publication in 1857, The Life of Charlotte Bronte quite predictably caused controversy, so much so that the biographer was threatened with a legal action. Exciting exploration into Charlotte’s life and the criticism which followed, this makes it a must read for Bronte students and fans. 
  The Hero Classics series:MeditationsThe ProphetA Room of One’s OwnIncidents in the Life of a Slave GirlThe Art of WarThe Life of Charlotte BronteThe RepublicThe PrinceNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American SlaveUtopia

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  King Hancock - The Radical...

  Brooke Barbier

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  Americans are more familiar with his signature than with the man himself. In this spirited account of John Hancock's life, Brooke Barbier depicts a patriot of fascinating contradictions—a child of enormous privilege who would nevertheless become a voice of the common folk; a pillar of society uncomfortable with radicalism who yet was crucial to independence. 
   
   
   
  Orphaned young, Hancock was raised by his merchant uncle, whose business and vast wealth he inherited—including household slaves, whom Hancock later freed. By his early thirties, he was one of New England's most prominent politicians, earning a place on Britain's most-wanted list and the derisive nickname King Hancock. While he eventually joined the revolution against England, his ever moderate—and moderating—disposition would prove an asset after 1776. Barbier shows Hancock appealing to southerners and northerners, Federalists and Anti-Federalists. He was a famously steadying force as president of the fractious Second Continental Congress. As governor of Massachusetts, Hancock convinced its delegates to vote for the federal Constitution and calmed the fallout from the shocking Shays's Rebellion. An insightful study of leadership in the revolutionary era, King Hancock traces a moment when passion was on the side of compromise and accommodation proved the basis of profound social and political change.

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  Dust and Light - On the Art of...

  Andrea Barrett

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  The celebrated National Book Award–winning writer's intimate exploration of how fact is transformed into fiction. 
   
   
   
  In this thoughtful collection of essays, Andrea Barrett draws from her experiences writing some of the most acclaimed historical fiction of our time to explore the mysteries and delights of the genre. Inspiration found in the past, she argues, can illuminate fiction, just as dust scatters light and makes the unseen visible. Delving into some of the largest questions in the genre—How does a writer find meaningful subject matter beyond the confines of their life? How are scraps of history transformed into a fully formed narrative?—Barrett explores how she came to create some of her beloved works and explores lessons gleaned from the work of such masters of historical fiction as Toni Morrison, Leo Tolstoy, Hilary Mantel, and Colm Tóibín. Candid and elegant, Dust and Light is the perfect book for anyone who loves reading fiction set in the past, as well as for anyone aspiring to write it.

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  Concerning the American Language...

  Mark Twain

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  Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri on the 30th November 1835 and is far better known by his pen name of Mark Twain.  An American writer and humorist of the first order he is perhaps best known for his novels ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and its sequel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ which are often described with that mythic line The Great American Novel. 
  Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri which would later provide the backdrop to these great novels.  Apprenticed to a printer he also became a typesetter and then a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi.  Later, heading west with his brother Orion to make his fortune, he failed at gold mining and instead turned to journalism and thence his true calling as a writer of humorous stories where his wit and humor sparkled from every paragraph, his craft evident with every page and punctured target. 
  A staunch supporter of copyright protections this helped him keep much of the wealth his writing created, though much money was also lost on investments that he pursued in his love for science and technology as well as investing in his own inventions. 
  Twain was born during a visit by Halley’s comet, and he predicted that he would go out with it as well.  He died the day after its subsequent return on 21st April 1910, at his house, Stormfield, located in Redding, Connecticut.

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