Charming, funny, a good friend, a less than perfect boyfriend, Spencer Matthews is one of the most talked-about stars of Made in Chelsea. But what lies behind his sometimes controversial behaviour? In Confessions of a Chelsea Boy, his honest and revealing autobiography, Spencer opens up about life before the cameras, including growing up on the beautiful island of St Barths where his parents own the exclusive Eden Rock hotel. He also writes movingly about the devastating loss of his brother on Everest, and the close family ties that ground him. Spencer describes his antics at Eton, where the masters declared they'd never met a boy like him before (this was not entirely a compliment), and introduces us to his friends Proudlock, Jamie, Hugo and Caggie. He takes us from his first kiss to his many romantic adventures (and misadventures) and describes the four loves of his life so far and why things didn't work out. From St Barths to St Tropez, from London to New York, Spencer also gives us glimpses into his world as he gambles with Hollywood stars, runs away from an enraged Middle-Eastern despot, and narrowly avoids death in a powerboat crash. Sensational, entertaining, full of laughter, this is the real Spenny as you've never seen him before.
He's the man with short fat hairy legs who kept us laughing for decades, his comic timing sparking perfectly with the genius of his partner Eric Morecambe. Yet little has been known about Ernie's amazing story, until now.Little Ern! takes us from Ernie's childhood in Leeds, where he supported his family by performing on stage, to being left to fend for himself in London at thirteen, a star in the making. We see his friendship with the young comic Eric grow when they toured the theatres of war-torn Britain as teenagers, and discover how their double-act evolved. They survived numerous setbacks on the road to television stardom - and we learn the impact fame had on their lives and friendship. Fully exploring the crucial contribution he made to the act, this charming biography reminds us why Ernie Wise deserves his place in the pantheon of comedy greats.
Welcome to Alphabet City, Manhattan's most crime-ridden neighbourhood with murder, rape and violence hitting record levels the streets, fuelled by a drug problem that's got the city by the throat. It was into this vision of hell that Mike Codella and his partner Gio stepped in 1988, two plainclothes narcs expected just to pull a few street arrests to keep statistics looking good, and try to get out alive. But Mike had his eyes on something bigger. Davey Blue Eyes: local kingpin, druglord and stone cold murderer. Just one drawback - no one even knew what he looked like. Fascinating, brutal and told with a furious, even poetic energy, Alphaville stands shoulder to shoulder with other modern true crime classics such as Serpico, The French Connection, Wiseguy, or David Simon's Homicide.'Nerve-shreddingly real. Addictive, brilliant and compelling' R.J. Ellory, bestselling author of A Simple Act of Violence
'I thought I was the biggest dope smuggler. I wasn't. He was' Howard Marks On 29 June 1988 Michael Forwell (aka The Fox) had it all - fast cars and speedboats, a nightclub in Bangkok, homes around the world. And a ship heading towards California carrying 72 tons of high-grade Thai marijuana, his last deal before going straight. On 30 June the DEA seized the ship in the biggest dope bust in history . . . and very soon Michael had nothing at all. A mild-mannered, public school educated Englishman who abhors violence, Michael was not the most likely drug smuggler but he was certainly one of the most successful. Now he shares his astonishing adventures as he found ever more inventive ways to smuggle dope from South-East Asia to the US. By the eighties Michael was juggling aliases, dodging the authorities and making millions of dollars. Until that final deal, too good to pass by, went horribly wrong and he was forced to go on the lam. Fast-paced and funny, Blowback takes us on an adrenalin-charged journey with a charming rogue, revealing the fun he had and the price he ultimately paid.
Signs Point to Yes is an irresistible Swoon Reads romance from Sandy Hall, author of A Little Something Different.Jane doesn't like making decisions. Whenever there's a question, she turns to her Magic 8 Ball for answers . . . Q. Should Jane take a summer job babysitting the siblings of her childhood friend Teo? A. Without a doubtQ. Will Jane's mum ever give her a break about college applications? A. Don't count on itQ. Can Jane and her sister Margo be friends again? A. Outlook goodQ. Does Teo feel the same way about Jane as she does about him? A. Signs point to yes . . . Perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell and John Green.
Lea and Gabe are in the same creative writing class. They get the same pop-culture references, order the same Chinese food and hang out in the same places. Unfortunately, Lea is reserved, Gabe has issues, and despite their initial mutual crush it looks like they are never going to work things out.But somehow, even when nothing is going on, something is happening between them, and everyone can see it. Their creative-writing teacher pushes them together. The baristas at the local Starbucks watch their relationship like a TV show. Their bus driver tells his wife about them. The waitress at the diner automatically seats them together. Now they just need to realize that they're meant for each other, and start falling in love . . .This irresistible romance is told by all the people who are willing love to blossom in a unique multi-voice narrative structure. It is perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell and John Green.
With an introduction by Xiaolu GuoA classic memoir set during the Chinese revolution of the 1940s and inspired by folklore, providing a unique insight into the life of an immigrant in America.When we Chinese girls listened to the adults talking-story, we learned that we failed if we grew up to be but wives or slaves. We could be heroines, swordswomen.Throughout her childhood, Maxine Hong Kingston listened to her mother's mesmerizing tales of a China where girls are worthless, tradition is exalted and only a strong, wily woman can scratch her way upwards. Growing up in a changing America, surrounded by Chinese myth and memory, this is her story of two cultures and one trenchant, lyrical journey into womanhood. Complex and beautiful, angry and adoring, Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior is a seminal piece of writing about emigration and identity. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1976 and is widely hailed as a feminist classic.
With an introduction by Ross Raisin.A modern classic of Irish fiction, shortlisted for the 1992 Booker prize.When I was a young lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs Nugent.Francie Brady is a small-town rascal who spends his days turning a blind eye to the troubles at home and getting up to mischief with his best friend Joe - hiding in the chicken-house, shouting abuse at fish in the local stream. But after a disagreement with his neighbour Mrs Nugent over her son's missing comic books, Francie's reckless streak spirals out of control and gives rise to a monstrous obsession . . .Fearless, shocking and blackly funny, Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy won the 1992 Irish Times Literature Prize and was shortlisted for the 1992 Booker Prize. It is a modern classic of Irish fiction, a portrait of the insidious violence latent in small town life and of a frenzied young man lashing out at everyone, even himself.
THREE TOP MBA PROFESSORS - ONE BIG ROAD TRIP Full of powerful insights about product differentiation, pricing, brand management and tactics for battling the 'Big Boys', The Roadside MBA takes the blue-chip knowledge and tactics of Wall Street, and brings them to the High Street.Paul Oyer, Michael Mazzeo and Scott Schaefer have taught thousands of MBAs at some of the world's leading business schools. While travelling back from an economics conference together they dropped into a shoe store in Maine and chatted to the staff - and quickly realized that the strategic problems faced by small businesses are just as rich and compelling as anything challenging Microsoft or General Electric.These three wise men decided to go in search of real-world case studies that illustrate the key lessons of an MBA. The result is a rollicking American road trip that is both a great introduction for business owners who haven't done an MBA, and an entertaining refresher for those who have.
The second in the steamy Stage Dive series, Play is a passionate rock n' roll romance from Kylie Scott.Mal Ericson, drummer for the world famous rock band Stage Dive, needs to clean up his image fast - at least for a little while. Having a good girl on his arm should do the job just fine. Mal doesn't plan on this temporary fix becoming permanent, but he didn't count on finding the one right girl.Anne Rollins never thought she'd ever meet the rock god who plastered her teenage bedroom walls - especially not under these circumstances. Anne has money problems. Big ones. But being paid to play the pretend girlfriend to a wild life-of-the-party drummer couldn't end well. No matter how hot he is. Or could it?
Stay up all night with the sexy rockers in Lead, the third novel in the Stage Dive series from New York Times bestselling romance writer Kylie Scott, author of Lick and Play.As the lead singer of Stage Dive, Jimmy is used to getting whatever he wants, whenever he wants it, whether it's booze, drugs, or women. However, when a PR disaster serves as a wake-up call about his life and lands him in rehab, he finds himself with Lena, a new assistant to keep him out of trouble. Lena's not willing to take any crap from the sexy rock star and is determined to keep their relationship completely professional, despite their sizzling chemistry. But when Jimmy pushes her too far and Lena leaves, he realizes that he may just have lost the best thing that ever happened to him.
From the publishers of Bridget Jones's Diary Only an idiot would attempt to make a pie - a special-ordered chocolate caramel cream Amore Pie - while watching Pride and Prejudice. Had she put in the vanilla? What about the salt? Damn Colin Firth and his pond-soaked white shirt. At home in Boothbay Harbour, Maine, Veronica Russo loves to lose herself in watching Colin Firth movies and baking pies filled with good thoughts. Pies that can bring you happiness, hope, even love (everything she feels when Colin Firth is on the screen, in fact). But Veronica is not so in touch with her own feelings and has deeply buried memories of that one heart-breaking summer, when she was just 16 . . . In Boston, college graduate Bea Crane has received an earth-shattering letter. A year after the death of her wonderful mum, she reads that she was adopted at birth and that her biological mother lives not that far away, in Boothbay. But is she brave enough to find out more? Gemma Hendricks has come to Boothbay not to find something, but to run away. She's accidentally pregnant, suddenly unemployed and under pressure from her husband to give up on her career and settle down, away from her beloved New York City. With all this on her shoulders, Gemma would rather watch Bridget Jones' Diary with a bowl of popcorn rather than face the truth. But she can't hide away for ever. With Colin Firth in town to shoot a new movie, all three women find their lives become closely entwined. They might be looking out for Colin Firth at every turn, but they'll also find new and important friendships along the way. The perfect feel-good read for anyone who loved Bridget Jones' Diary, From Notting Hill with Love . . . Actually and The Jane Austen Book Club. *** This is a work of fiction, in no way endorsed by Colin Firth and where Colin Firth himself does not feature. ***
Opening with the military preparations before Paris was besieged by the invading German army in September 1870, Alistair Horne's compelling account of this dramatic episode takes the reader through the fall of Paris and German victory to the last days of the Paris Commune in May Week 1871.
'A brilliant read... that illustrated the strong will and determination of man in the face of everything that nature had to throw at us' WanderlustNick Middleton, the intrepid Oxford don, explorer and author of Going to Extremes is back, and he's set himself a challenge to cope with the worst that nature can throw at him in Surviving Extremes. Travelling to four of the most extreme natural environments: swamps, deserts, jungles and arctic wastelands, the question is, can he pick up enough tips from the indigenous people to hack it at the very edge of human existence, or will his mid latitude sensibilities forever let him down? This is Nick's account of how he had to put his body and mind to the test in a unique survival experiment.
Even when I was funny, I wasn't this funny'Augusten Burroughs, author of Running With Scissors Have you ever embarrassed yourself so badly you thought you'd never get over it? Have you ever wished your family could be just like everyone else's? Have you ever been followed to school by your father's herd of turkeys, mistaken a marriage proposal for an attempted murder or got your arm stuck inside a cow? OK, maybe that's just Jenny Lawson . . . The bestselling memoir from one of America's most outlandishly hilarious writers.
The stories in these pages comprise all the surviving fiction of a man described by John Updike in the introduction as 'one of the great transmogrifiers of the world into words'. They portray the doom-ridden yet comic world of a small Polish town in the years before the war, a world brought vividly to life in prose as memorable and as unique as are the brushstrokes of Marc Chagall.
By the author of You Can Change Your Life (Macmillan, December 2012) Over the last decade, Rob Yeung has interviewed hundreds of high achievers in business, sport and entertainment to gain insight into the minds of successful people. Combining this knowledge with a wealth of scientific research, he has defined the subtle yet crucial differences that distinguish exceptional people from everyone else. By reading this book you will: - Discover the critical mindset that allows high achievers to generate creative ideas - Learn the secret psychology that helps you to influence and persuade others to come round to your way of thinking - Develop practical techniques for boosting yoour relationships and earning and achieving more 'A great guide to high achievement. Full of fascinating information and wonderful advice' Professor Richard Wiseman Please note this book was published as THE EXTRA ONE PER CENT in Trade Paperback.
For Romany Eva Petulengro, marrying outside her culture was a big step to take. And now she had to adapt to living with a gorger - and her husband had to adapt to living with her! In this charming sequel to The Girl in the Painted Caravan, she describes their first eventful years of married life in Brighton, and the birth of their four children She also reveals how she became famous as a clairvoyant, the advice her clients needed, and the attack from an enraged wife who assumed her husband's meetings with Eva meant he was having an affair. In the Swinging Sixties, a sheltered Romany girl could easily find herself out of her depth, and Eva's innocence led her into some strange situations, including a narrow escape from a notorious duchess. She also weaves in the story of her wider family, from her brother Nathan's romance and the adventures of her charming brother Eddie to her aunts and cousins in Blackpool. Funny and heartwarming, Caravans and Wedding Bands is a poignant reminder of a time when life was changing irrevocably for the Romany, and yet their spirit remained the same.
'Fizzes with intellectual curiosity. Kane writes engagingly and with a humility difficult to find among idea-entrepreneurs' James Harkin, Independent We all think we know what play is. Play is what we do as children, what we do outside of work, what we do for no other reason than for pleasure. But this is only half of the truth. The Play Ethic explores the real meaning of play and shows how a more playful society would revolutionize and liberate our daily lives. Using wide and varied sources - from the Enlightenment to Eminem, Socrates to Chaos theory, Kierkegaard to Karaoke - The Play Ethic shows how play is fundamental to both society and to the individual, and how the work ethic that has dominated the last three centuries is ill-equipped to deal with the modern world. With verve, wit and intelligence, Pat Kane takes us on a tour of the playful world arguing that without it business, the arts, politics, education, even our family and spiritual lives are fundamentally impoverished. The Play Ethic seeks to change the way you look at your daily life, how you interact with others, how you view the world. It is a guidebook to new, exciting - and unsettling - times. Shocking, controversial, yet magnificently argued, The Play Ethic is a book no one who works, or has ever worked, can afford to be without. 'Kane's Manifesto for a Different Way of Living is a brave attempt to inject a little playfulness . . . into the dull grind of the working stiff' Iain Finlayson, The Times
With wit and verve Robin Waterfield brings the bizarre story of hypnotism to life. A lively mixture of popular history, science and psychology, Hidden Depths is the definitive work on hypnosis. From its origins as animal magnetism, as practised by Franz Anton Mesmer, to its modern day use as a health cure and a form of entertainment, hypnosis encompasses many different facets of humanity. Always controversial, the outlandish claims that its zealous believers make are only matched in intensity by the howls of derision that they provoke from sceptics. Hypnotism exists on the periphery of the scientific community, much as it has since its inception, and Robin Waterfield approaches the issues with an open mind, carefully stripping the fact from the fancy and the truth from the myth. Vividly written, compellingly readable, this is a fascinating insight into one of the more esoteric branches of science. 'Hidden Depths is a highly readable, wide-ranging and informative account of a fascinating topic' Observer 'Fascinating' Daily Telegraph
Winner of the Alan Paton Award and the South African Booksellers Choice AwardJonathan Kaplan has been a hospital surgeon, a flying doctor, a ship's medical officer and a battlefield surgeon. He has worked in places as diverse as Burma, Kurdistan, America, Mozambique, England and Eritrea. The Dressing Station presents a vivid, moving account of the varied faces of medicine he has encountered. In a mixture of reportage, confession and exposition Kaplan talks about the practice of medicine and of its shortcomings, because medicine is not always benign or balanced. At its extremes it is a process of treating the casualties, for life is a war, and being a doctor is serving in that war. 'His account is born of two talents: to save lives and to bear witness. The result is a unique mixture of biography and reportage, both personal and clinical' Time Magazine
'It's a story worthy of a blockbuster novel, and it's all true. Oodles of sex, passion, adultery, media hype, decadence, plots, murder, mayhem, anguish and betrayal fill these pages . . . an enjoyable, well-researched book; I didn't want to reach the end' Edwina Currie, New Statesman Books of the Year One of the most potent icons of female sexuality, Josephine has largely been reduced to an empty cipher, wife to her more famous husband and the butt of one of the oldest jokes around. Yet as Andrea Stuart shows, the girl who grew up on the beautiful island of Martinique endured Caribbean slave revolts, an arranged marriage, and the threat of the guillotine before she even met the man who made her Empress of France. In the grip of turbulent times, Josephine used her intelligence and her allure to forge her way in a Paris that raged and fought and danced its way through revolution and empire. This is the thrilling story of her strength, survival and ultimate transformation.
If the 1960s was the decade of peace, love and understanding, the 1970s was the decade of glitter and glam rock. Or was it? Gerard DeGroot peels away the polyester to examine what really happened in a decade that began with the death of Jimi Hendrix and ended with Ronald Reagan in the White House and Margaret Thatcher in 10 Downing Street. Some commentators have written off the Seventies as a period in which nothing happened, yet politically it was a time of great hope. Dictatorial regimes ended in Portugal, Spain, Nicaragua, Rhodesia and Greece. Accord between nations was established at Camp David, Peking, Moscow, Geneva and Brussels. For feminists, environmentalists and homosexuals, the Seventies was the decade of hope. In cultural terms, it brought the Sydney Opera House, Monty Python, Annie Hall, David Hockney and M.A.S.H. The music, with or without ABBA, was simply brilliant. But it was also a time of quite extraordinary violence and as the decade continued, the bloodshed and the hate came to dominate, whether in Jonestown, Belfast, Palestine or Cambodia. And while the violence of nations is a constant throughout history, in the 1970s ordinary people seemed to surrender to violence with frightening ease. As the Sixties chickens came home to roost, the Seventies became an era when dreams died, hope was thwarted, problems long ignored finally exploded, and optimism repeatedly crushed gave way to frustration. Incisive, iconoclastic and hugely entertaining The Seventies Unplugged is popular history at its best.
Let Pete Cohen become your personal life coach and show you how to get your life sorted once and for all with his 21-day programme to help you tackle the different problem areas which may be troubling you. He covers the areas in our lives that cause us all anxiety and stress from time to time, whether it is body image and weight loss, confidence and self-esteem, time-management, stress and anxiety, relationships or just bad habits. This book will provide you with the tools to help you increase your happiness and wellbeing and fulfil your full potential. The book contains questionnaires, exercises and case studies to inspire you and help you to create the life you want.
Madness is only a step away . . . Tom Wallace is happy with his suburban lot. Until an evening of casual entertainment turns reality into nightmare. Tom sees himself as a pragmatist, and when his brother-in-law challenges him to undergo hypnotism, he obliges to prove a point. So no one is more surprised than Tom when it works. But this cheap parlour trick unlocked something that now threatens his sanity, way of life and marriage. Suddenly he can sense his neighbours' darkest desires, and some are dark indeed. When shadows from the past and glimpses of the future are revealed to him, Tom tries to deny what's happening. But as his existence becomes increasingly unbearable, the biggest revelation of all awaits -- a message from beyond the grave.
Behind The Black Door, anything and everything can happen . . .Ariel Vaughn is a high powered attorney and a partner at her firm, dating one of the most eligible bachelors in New York City. She's living the high life, but her sex life has hit a low point.Then a hot young escort introduces her to The Black Door club and her best friend encourages her to try it out. There she finds a fantasy playground for women, full of every obsession and erotic temptation a girl could dream of. Soon she meets a man who taps into her darkest desires. But it's not long before everything she holds dear becomes threatened by this new found passion . . .
The women in the Naughty Book Club - Naomi, Kennedy, Mira and Tyler - will go to any length to satisfy their desires. Naomi, a suburban housewife, is stuck in a loveless, sexless marriage. Mira, the seemingly conservative CEO, has a wild side that could ruin not only her professional reputation but also her relationship with her partner Sam. Kennedy, a flight attendant, is tired of looking for love in the wrong places, but the mystery man seated in first class might be just what she needs. And when Tyler comes home early from her latest design assignment, she discovers her girlfriend in bed with a man, and it's all she can do to keep it together. Here, they each begin their journey at The Black Door club, a place of passionate desires and forbidden pleasures. But each soon comes to learn the repercussions these new-found experiences might have . . .
Surgery carries more individual responsibility than any other field of medicine. Jonathan Kaplan studied medicine in South Africa and, after working in a black township and being drafted by the South African army, he chose exile rather than serve the apartheid state. He travelled the globe in search of sanctuary, experiencing riots, tropical fevers, political upheaval and a jungle search for a lost friend. Kaplan landed eventually in Angola and took charge of a combat zone hospital, the only surgeon for 160,000 civilians, where he was exposed daily to the horrors of war. As a volunteer surgeon in Baghdad, he treated civilian casualties amid gunfights for control of hospitals, gangs of AK-47 wielding looters stripping pharmacies, and militant Shi'a groups harassing doctors out of operating rooms. Contact Wounds is an account of these travels. Immediate, haunting and wryly funny, the book is simultaneously a vivid illustration of how to mess up a promising medical career, and an account of survival - Kaplan's own as well as that of his patients. Kaplan describes his attempt to find his place in a world entering a time of instability and war, and the way in which his qualifications in trauma and uncertainty have made him a specialist in this century's changed requirements.
An accomplished history of the Buddha, An End to Suffering is also a deeply personal story -- the story of Pankaj Mishra's search for meaning, for truth and peace in the modern world and, specifically, in post-colonial, independent India. As he describes his travels to unearth the origins of the Buddha, Mishra offers glimpses into his own quest for enlightenment, from childhood to September 11, from family background to friends met and made, from lessons learned to achievements as a writer. Through this, Mishra reveals the parallels between his time and the Buddha's, between their respective journeys -- and that of their country -- in search of progress and reconciliation.
It's 2017 and the End Days are coming, beings that were once human gathering to fight in one last great war for control of the Vellum - the vast realm of eternity on which our world is just a scratch. But to a draft-dodging Irish angel and a trailer-trash tomboy called Phreedom, it's about to become brutally clear that there's no great divine or diabolic plan at play here, just a vicious battle between the hawks of Heaven and Hell, with humanity stuck in the middle, and where the easy rhetoric of Good and Evil, Order versus Chaos just doesn't apply. Here there are no heroes, no darlings of destiny struggling to save the day, and there are no villains, no dark lords of evil out to destroy the world. Or at least if there are, it's not quite clear which is which. Here, the most ancient gods and the most modern humans are equally fate's fools, victims of their own hubris, struggling to save their own skins, their own souls, but sometimes . . . just sometimes . . . sacrificing everything in the name of humanity."e;Vellum is a mind-blowing read that's genuinely like nothing you've ever read before. . . The imaginary worlds that he dreams up are stunning. . . Vellum has expanded fantasy's limits like nothing published in years."e; SFX
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