Book picks similar to
Writing the Revolution: A French Woman's History in Letters by Lindsay A.H. Parker


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Benedict Cumberbatch: In Transition: An Unauthorised Performance Biography


Lynnette Porter - 2013
    For most actors, these stellar cinematic, theatrical, and television events would be the highlights of a lifetime’s work. On Benedict Cumberbatch’s résumé they are only a few of many entries. Especially since 2010, his performances have garnered a plethora of best actor awards, both in the theatre (Evening Standard Theatre Award, Critics Circle Theatre Award, and Olivier Award), by playing the dual roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature in the National Theatre’s Frankenstein, and on television (Broadcasting Press Guild Award, Critics Choice Television Award, Crime Thriller Award, and TV Choice Award), by starring as the titular Holmes in the BBC’s Sherlock. Add these and other recent accolades to nearly a decade’s nominations and awards (such as the Golden Nymph as best actor in Hawking), and it’s easy to see why Benedict Cumberbatch is often hailed as the actor of his generation.Cumberbatch’s body of work further includes indie films, radio plays and series, television documentaries, live dramatic readings, multimedia advertisements, and even the occasional stint as a fashion model. He often shares an intriguing perspective on his profession, as evidenced in sometimes controversial interviews. He has become so much in demand that online box offices crash when tickets for his performances go on sale, and, before a Cheltenham Literature Festival Q&A session, fans overwhelmed Twitter when so many responded immediately to a call for questions. Cumberbatch consistently is a top name on lists ranging from sex appeal to global influence. In 2012 he beat David Beckham in the former and U.S. President Barack Obama in the latter. Increasingly, part of Cumberbatch’s job involves the role of celebrity.Benedict Cumberbatch is at a pivotal point in his profession, and his career trajectory—especially as documented in entertainment media—permits a closer examination of just what it means to be a celebrity or star in Britain or the U.S. and how an actor may be perceived very differently in London or Hollywood. This performance biography is an analysis of a man in transition from working actor to multimedia star, as well as the balance between actor and celebrity. It looks at what makes this actor so well suited to play one of popular culture’s iconic characters, Sherlock Holmes, and how Sherlock is so well suited to propel Cumberbatch toward greater global fame.

Memory Hold-the-Door: The Autobiography of John Buchan


John Buchan - 1940
    A highly accomplished man, his was a life of note. Although now known by many chiefly as an author, he was also an historian, Unionist politican and Governor General of Canada. Although he stated that it was not strictly an autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door provides a reflective, personal account of his childhood in Scotland, his literary work from his time at Oxford University to the famous Hannay and Leithen stories and his extensive public service in South Africa, Scotland, France in the Great War, and Canada. Of great interest are his accounts of key contemporary figures, including Lord Grey, Lord Haldane, Earl Balfour, Lord Haig, T.E. Lawrence and King George V. Known in the United States as Pilgrim's Way, Memory Hold-the-Door was reportedly one of the favourite books of John F. Kennedy.

Tintin & Co.


Michael Farr - 2007
    Farr presents his choice of the dozen most important and colorful characters from "The Adventures of Tintin." This handsome, lavishly-illustrated volume takes a closer look at the remarkable cast that enriches the adventures.

Pablo Picasso: Life and Work


Elke Linda Buchholz - 2000
    This collection has been culled from the startling twenty-four year stream of prose poetry that resulted. Reading like a hallucinatory journal, it provides a seismeographic slice of an unknown Picasso, a visceral stew of sensory pleasure and madness that matches his visual work.

A Field Guide for Immersion Writing: Memoir, Journalism, and Travel


Robin Hemley - 2012
    Considering various types of participatory writing as different strains of one style—immersion writing—Robin Hemley offers new perspectives and practical advice for writers of this nonfiction genre.Immersion writing can be broken down into the broad categories of travel writing, immersion memoir, and immersion journalism. Using the work of such authors as Barbara Ehrenreich, Hunter S. Thompson, Ted Conover, A. J. Jacobs, Nellie Bly, Julio Cortazar, and James Agee, Hemley examines these three major types of immersion writing and further identifies the subcategories of the quest, the experiment, the investigation, the infiltration, and the reenactment. Included in the book are helpful exercises, models for immersion writing, and a chapter on one of the most fraught subjects for nonfiction writers—the ethics and legalities of writing about other people.A Field Guide for Immersion Writing recalibrates and redefines the way writers approach their relationship to their subjects. Suitable for beginners and advanced writers, the book provides an enlightening, provocative, and often amusing look at the ways in which nonfiction writers engage with the world around them.A Friends Fund Publication.

Dracula: A Biography of Vlad the Impaler 1431-1476


Radu R. Florescu - 1973
    

Patrick Troughton: The Biography of the Second Doctor Who


Michael Troughton - 2012
    A prolific actor, he was also a complex and troubled man, constantly wrestling with two lives, one of which he was determined to keep secret. Michael Troughton presents here an entertaining and personal account of his father’s professional and private life. Meticulously researched, he explores Patrick’s childhood, his experiences at sea during World War II and the successful acting career which led to his historic casting as Doctor Who in 1966. Patrick’s Doctor Who years are recalled in vivid detail, from his initial uncertainty about taking on the part through the legendary ‘monster years’, to his troubled final season and three subsequent returns to the role.In this fascinating biography, Patrick’s extraordinary career and his multi-layered personal life are enhanced by the memories of family members, actors, friends and colleagues. Michael peppers the book with revealing extracts from Patrick’s own diaries, and many rare and personal photographs. This book is an honest, affectionate and complete account of Patrick Troughton the actor, and Patrick Troughton the man.

Balzac: Old Goriot


David Bellos - 1946
    Professor Bellos explains how Balzac challenged prevailing nineteenth-century expectations of what novels should be like.

Dungeon: Zenith - Vol. 3: Back in Style


Joann Sfar - 2009
    Two stories continue the heyday of Dungeon, in the first, Isis is to be married to the Keeper but she wants Herbert! Besides, the whole affair promises to ruin the Dungeon completely. In the second, besides the continued Keeper financial mishaps, Herbert wishes to make his comeback to his hometown where his name is mud. He disguises himself with a potion that makes him the mask of death . Only one problem: if he laughs, he becomes himself again!