Book picks similar to
The World of the Brontes: The Lives, Times, and Works of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte by Jane O'Neill
autobiography-and-biography
biography
female-and-lgbt
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Freddie Foreman: The Godfather of British Crime
Freddie Foreman - 2009
Held responsible for the gangland killings of Ginger Marks and Frank ?The Mad AxemanOCO Mitchell, he was the punisher to those who broke the underworldOCOs strict code of conduct.ForemanOCOs dramatic kidnap and arrest for BritainOCOs biggest cash robbery made headlines around the world, yet this daring raid was just the peak of a safe-blowing, bank-robbing career that spanned decades. His story is a fascinating, yet chilling account of life as a freelance enforcer for the Kray twins, and as LondonOCOs most feared gangster.Bloodshed aside, FreddieOCOs often humorous stories reveal a caring man who believes that violence is a last resort and who always treated people with respect. Revealed in these pages are the amazing details of the heists, the double crossings, the shoot-outs and the betrayals that accompanied life as a career criminal when the streets were controlled by fear. Exposed are the audacious plans behind the centuryOCOs most famous crimes, the damning evidence of police corruption and the eye-opening events that gave Freddie this most revered reputation.OCOThe most blood-curdling gangster memoir youOCOll ever readOCO ? The News of the World"
Joe Biden: The Biography
University Press - 2020
is one of the most recognizable figures in American politics. In the past six decades, he has overcome heartbreaking personal tragedies and discouraging political setbacks to become a popular U.S. senator, U.S. Vice President, and U.S. Presidential candidate.Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania to a large, hard-working, Catholic family, Biden was ridiculed for his stutter, emerged as a popular football player, was elected class President, married his college sweetheart, went to law school, practiced law, became a public defender, won a county council seat, became the sixth-youngest U.S. senator in American history, grieved the tragic deaths of his wife and young daughter, chaired the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, caused some plagiarism scandals, served as the 47th Vice President of the United States, grieved the tragic death of his adult son, and ran for President of the United States.This short book tells the intensely human story of a man who is changing the world in a way that no one else can.
Give Them Lala
Lala Kent - 2021
What does “Give them Lala” mean? It means giving the truest, most honest version of yourself to the world. It means being authentic, bold, adventurous, and having an unapologetic approach to life. Hollywood is where Lauren Burningham, aspiring actress from Utah, fully embraced her alter-ego Lala Kent, entrepreneur, entertainer, and film and television star. Some say she’s rude; Lala says she claps back. Some say she’s spontaneous; Lala says “eat up the drama.” Some say she’s too bold; Lala knows she’s reality TV gold. Truth is, without giving them Lala, Lauren could never have become the woman she is today. In her debut collection of essays, Lala shares how you, too, can embrace the best version of yourself and never feel guilty for deserving more. As she leads us on her bumpy journey from suburban boredom to Hollywood glamour, she’ll explain how women can—and should—feel just as free as men when it comes to sex, how sobriety saved her life and relationship, and how we should treasure every day we have with those we love.
Ask Bethany: FAQs: Surfing, Faith & Friends
Bethany Hamilton - 2007
In her chatty and breezy style, typical of any online conversation, Bethany Hamilton shares information on a wide variety of topics about her life and faith.
Driven
James Martin - 2008
In this entertaining narrative he revealshow his two passions – cooking and cars – have fuelled his hopes, dreams and successes and made him the household name he is today.James talks with passion, energy and candid humour about his childhood, early ambitions, becoming a successful chef and wowing audiences with his foxtrot on Strictly Come Dancing. His story is punctuated with tales of remarkable cars, from his first toy Ferrari to his vintage Maserati, each one representing a personal milestone and bringing with it charming stories and amusing anecdotes. James' cars give him the perfect excuse to delve into his life, revealing frank and fascinating details - from racing through the fields on his father's tractor and teenage fumblings in the back seat, to hurtling round a track with James Bond actor, Daniel Craig.With James' career reaching new heights, and his collection of classic cars continuing to grow, Driven tells how his two lifelong obsessions have shaped the life of this relentlessly ambitious man.
In Search of Anne Brontë
Nick Holland - 2016
The brilliance of her two novels and her poetry belies the quiet, truthful girl who often lived in the shadow of her more outgoing sisters. Yet her writing was the most revolutionary of all the Brontës, pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable. This revealing new biography opens Anne’s most private life to a new audience, and includes unpublished letters from Anne to the family to which she was governess as well as first publication of a controversial image that could be the only photograph of the three Brontë sisters.
The Victorian and the Romantic: A Memoir, a Love Story, and a Friendship Across Time
Nell Stevens - 2018
As publication loomed, Mrs. Gaskell was keen to escape the reviews. So, leaving her dull minister husband and dreary provincial city behind, she set off with her daughters to Rome. There she met a dazzling group of artists and writers, among them the American critic Charles Eliot Norton. Seventeen years her junior, Norton was her one true love. They could not be together--it would be an unthinkable breach of convention--but by his side and amidst that splendid circle, Mrs. Gaskell knew she had reached the "tip-top point of [her] life." In 2013, Nell Stevens is embarking on her PhD--about the community of artists and writers living in Rome in the mid-19th century--and falling head over heels for a soulful American screenwriter in another city. As her long-distance romance founders and her passion for academia never quite materializes, she is drawn to Mrs. Gaskell. Could this indomitable Victorian author rescue Nell's pursuit of love, family and a writing career? Lively, witty, and impossible to put down, The Victorian and the Romantic is a moving chronicle of two women each charting a way of life beyond the rules of her time.
A Sucky Love Story: Overcoming Unhappily Ever After
Brittani Louise Taylor - 2018
Tinder, Bumble, Match.com, OkCupid—I tried them all. My thirty-two-year-old self clicked and swiped her little heart out, leading to more dates than I could count, and more disappointment than I was prepared for.Maybe you can relate. Maybe you know all too well the perils of modern dating. But let’s say, eventually, you meet someone. You think to yourself, “Wow, they’re perfect! Take me off the market, put a ring on it, knock me up, the whole enchilada, because they are ‘the one.’” Let’s also say that they “feel the same way” about you. Your life starts to make sense! All the pain, heartbreak, and frustration from past failed relationships was worth it. Slow clap.That’s how I felt about Milos. He was from Europe, a doctor, wealthy, athletic. He had an accent and a dog. Milos was textbook marriage material.For him it was “love at first sight,” but for me, it was “anxiety on every date.”Something was telling me to run—but for two years, the only running I did was straight into his arms.If only I would have listened.This isn’t a love story.It’s my story of survival.
Court in the Middle
Andrew Fraser - 2007
Then it all went horribly wrong. In 1999 he was charged with being knowingly concerned with the importation of a commercial quantity of cocaine. Fraser pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing, trafficking a small quantity, and using cocaine over a period of time. He was sentenced to seven years in maximum security prison. Court in the Middle describes his early yearsgrowing up in a family of lawyers, running hard to build a criminal law practice; his successful years with a national practice, and defending high profile, sometimes notorious, clients. He also discusses his relationship with cocaine, addiction and deals, crime and punishment, and the shocking details of his time spent in a maximum security prison.
Gary Speed: Unspoken: The Family's Untold Story
John Richardson - 2018
Aged just 42, he was found hanged in the garage of his home. As a long-standing legend of the game and manager of Wales, he appeared to have everything to live for. Now, as he would have approached his 50th birthday, family and friends come together to speak honestly and emotionally about the man they knew and loved. Wife Louise opens her heart for the first time and talks in depth about her life with Gary and her own personal journey since his death. Mum Carol and dad Roger recall their beloved son. And a multitude of famous names from the game remember their friend and speak emotionally about how the tragedy has touched their own lives. Author John Richardson was a close friend of the man he knew as ‘Speedo’ and was entrusted to write his autobiography. Gary completed two chapters of his life story before putting the project on hold because he thought he had not achieved enough in the game to merit a book. For the first time, these revealing chapters are published in the original form they were written, with insights from Richardson on the personal story that would remain so sadly untold. Gary Speed: Unspoken is a unique celebration of one of the football heroes of our generation. A tribute to a role model, leader and a much-loved husband, father and son gone too soon.
John D. Rockefeller: The Wealthiest Man In American History
Michael W. Simmons - 2017
Rockefeller is held to be one of the wealthiest men who ever lived; he is also one of the most controversial figures in American history. Born of the unlikely union between a strict Baptist matriarch and her husband, a bigamist, alleged rapist, and snake-oil salesman, Rockefeller’s early childhood was spent learning how to shoulder an adult’s responsibility for his family and turn a deaf ear to the gossip that followed wherever his father went. This book contains highlights from the extraordinarily long life of a man many believed to be little better than a criminal, preying on small business owners to establish the supremacy of the Standard Oil Trust. John D. Rockefeller crushed his competitors and sparked massive public outrage against his businesses. Yet he also saved thousands of lives and helped establish respect for evidence-based medicine in the United States. From his teen years as a bookkeeper in a small commodities trading firm, to his imperial rule over the oil industry, to his early retirement and the decades he spent establishing philanthropic trusts in the fields of education and medicine, you will learn that there is no simple way to pass judgment on John D. Rockefeller’s life.
Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs
Beth Ann Fennelly - 2017
Ranging from childhood recollections to quirky cultural observations, these micro-memoirs build on one another to arrive at a portrait of Beth Ann Fennelly as a wife, mother, writer, and deeply original observer of life’s challenges and joys.Some pieces are wistful, some wry, and many reveal the humor buried in our everyday interactions. Heating Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs shapes a life from unexpectedly illuminating moments, and awakens us to these moments as they appear in the margins of our lives.
Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport
Jennifer Shahade - 2005
Chess Bitch, written by the 2004 U.S. Woman's Chess Champion, is an eye-opening account of how today's young female chess players are successfully knocking down the doors to this traditionally male game, infiltrating the male-owned sporting subculture of international chess, and giving the phrase "play like a girl" a whole new meaning. Through interviews with and observation of the young globetrotting women chess players who challenge male domination, Chess Bitch shines a harsh light on the game's gender bias. For those who think of chess as two people sitting quietly across a table, Shahade paints a colorful world that most chess fans never knew existed.
Love Interrupted: Navigating Grief One Day at a Time
Simon Thomas - 2019
Gemma died from acute myeloid leukaemia, just three days after being diagnosed.In Love, Interrupted, Simon is brutally honest about his journey through grief, and opens up about how close he came to ending his own life. Simon didn’t know how to carry on without Gemma; he just knew that, for the sake of his eight-year old son, he had to find a way …Love, Interrupted is a moving story of love, loss, faith, and family.
Loose Balls: Easy Money, Hard Fouls, Cheap Laughs, & True Love in the NBA
Jayson Williams - 2000
From revelations about the meanest, softest, and smelliest players in the league, to Williams’s early days as a “young man with a lot of money and not a lot of sense,” to his strong and powerful views on race, privilege, and giving back, Loose Balls is a basketball book unlike any other.No inspirational pieties or chest-thumping boasting here—instead, Jayson Williams gives us the real insider tales of refs, groupies, coaches, entourages, and all the superstars, bench warmers, journeymen, clowns, and other performers in the rarefied circus that is professional basketball.From the Trade Paperback edition.