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[[Category:Autobiography|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Autobiography]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove --> ==Autobiography== <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jim Perrin0241636604|title=WestThe Trading Game: A Journey Through the Landscapes of LossConfession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=34.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Where would If you go if the love were to bring up an image of a city banker in your lifemind, and your son, both died within a short few months you're unlikely to think of each other? someone like Gary Stevenson. Jim Perrin headed West A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin- to stripe suit and his background is the scraggly patches of land off IrelandEast End, closer to the setting sunwhere he was familiar with violence, nearer poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the further horizon, beyond the noise, information and opinion London School of humanityEconomics. Of course, that question could also be answered in Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a more metaphoric way. Jim went inward, before coming outwardfacility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He suffered - "involuntarily, the tears have come. Who would have thought also realised that death would release so many.most rich people expect poor people to be stupid." He alsoIt was his ability at what was, although he would probably hate me for saying itessentially, went on a "psycho-geographical ramble" - both in lifecard game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, and in making this bookturned into permanent employment as a trader.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843546116</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=G Willow Wilson1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Butterfly Mosque: A Young Woman's Journey to Love and IslamSecret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands|rating=43.5|genre=AutobiographyAnimals and Wildlife|summary=This memoir is told in the first person so straight away there is a connection with the readerSiôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. The story starts - not His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in Egypt his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on- but in the USA. Willow (lovely name) says shecall put on his father's ''in life. When he was seventeen he took the market for opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a philosophy.'' And in vet and was convinced this search she is extremely thoroughwas the job for him. She looks Before long, he was at mainstream religions - Christianity, Buddhism to name but two and puts them under the microscope, so to speak. She dismisses all of them before settling on IslamLiverpool University. It appears to offer what she is after, what she is looking for, that enigmatic thing. But also, therehadn's some little twist which helps make her mind up. But not before she digs deep and seeks answers to complex and awkward questions. She reads and researches Islam and finds out surprising facts, which she shares t - as with the reader. Willow is well-read and wellso many students -educated. She seems set for been his dream since he was a good career of her choice on American soilchild. Why not settle for that? But sheIf anything, he's set on travel d wanted to the Middle East come what maybe a professional footballer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843548283</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Anna Del ConteEdel Rodriguez|title=Risotto with NettlesWorm: A Cuban American Odyssey
|rating=4
|genre=AutobiographyGraphic Novels|summary= People who are serious about food will know We're in childhood, and we're in Cuba. The revolution has happened, and Castro, first thought of as a saviour of the name country, has proven himself a Communist, and not done nearly enough to create a level playing field for all. Well, those hours-long speeches of Anna Del Contehis were kind of taking his time away. SheOur narrator's a serious writer about Italian food but family weren't in the happiest of places here, an uncle refusing to be the good soldier the country demanded (especially as he would probably be shipped off to some minor pro-Communism skirmish, such as Angola) and the father being watched and watched, and not someone who has courted fame via the television screenliked for his successful photography business, success being frowned upon. You'll have met her in places like 'Sainsbury's Magazine' or read The mother gets the couple jobs with the party to ease some of her brilliant writing about the food heat, but in this sultry island country, it remains the kind of her native Italy.heat forcing you out of the kitchen…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099505991</amazonuk>1474616720
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michael Hutchinson1035025299|title=Missing Went to London, Took the Boat: Chasing a Childhood Sailing DreamDog|author=Nina Stibbe
|rating=4
|genre=SportAutobiography|summary=As Nina Stibbe is returning to London for a youngster in the nineteen eighties, Michael Hutchinson was passionate about sailing. He acquired a dinghy and crew, and spent his early sabbatical after being away for twenty years messing around on Belfast Lough. He learned to sail, race Mirrors and fling jellyfish accurately She's been at passing competitors. In time, his salty daydreams became ambitious, encompassing the Olympic Games, AmericaVictoria's Cup and Round the World yacht races. Trouble was, Hutchinson proved smallholding in Leicestershire which isn't all that conducive to be a deeply mediocre dinghy sailorwriting, clocking up only one win in several seasons round the buoysas there's always something smallholding happening - as you might expect. Although he was good enough at race tactics and seamanship, he lacked the sprinkling The other side of gold dust that differentiates the very good performer from the brilliant. And so eventually, as is the way decision was sealed when a room became available (courtesy of sensible young men, he became disenchanted and stopped trying. Ironically, he then found he had Deborah Moggach) at a talent for cycling which took him as far as the Commonwealth Gamesvery reasonable rent.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099552345</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Greg BaxterChristopher Fowler|title=A Preparation for DeathWord Monkey|rating=3.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=It's the first of August in the middle of a cool wet summer in East Anglia. I've always been slightly wary decided not to swim at the pool in favour of autobiographies which are written whilst going to my beach hut. The weather closed in, rain arrived, and I decided not to do that either. When I finished reading this book, I realised it was because (a) I wanted to finish reading this book and (b) I did not want to do so anywhere near my shack. No spoiler alerts, the subject is still relatively youngdust jacket tells us who Christopher Fowler 'was' – and his first chapter tells us about his terminal diagnosis. They can often feel incompleteThere is something very strange about being made to laugh by a man who repeatedly reminds you that he is dying, particularly when and you know the author he actually is still successful in their chosen careerat that point, because he does. Frequently they are also written from an immediate perspective which time can alter thanks to hindsightHe did.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0141048433</amazonuk>0857529625
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{{Frontpage
|author= Kit De Waal
|title= Without Warning and Only Sometimes
|rating= 4
|genre= Autobiography
|summary= As Philip Larkin so eloquently put it, “They f*** you up, your mum and dad/ They may not mean to, but they do” Without Warning and Only Sometimes by Kit De Waal focuses on this idea of parenthood and the bonds that bind family. This book is a memoir focussing on the author’s formative years as a teenager living in a lower class area of Birmingham. Her father is from St. Kitts in the Caribbean and her mother is an Irish woman ostracized by her family for becoming pregnant by and marrying a black man. This intersectionality plays a large role in the autobiography. Kit De Waal faces multiple hurdles due to her race, her class and her gender. Her parents loom large and are written with care, love, and the kind of anger only a child can express to their parents.
|isbn=1472284852
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1638485216
|title=Black, White, and Gray All Over: A Black Man's Odyssey in Life and Law Enforcement
|author=Frederick Reynolds
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=''Corruption is not department, gender or race specific. It has everything to do with character. Period.''
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Gary YoungeBjorn Natthiko Lindeblad, Caroline Bankeler, Navid Modiiri and Agnes Bromme (Translator)|title=Who Are We - And Should It Matter in the 21st Century?I May Be Wrong
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography|summary=Journalist Gary Younge’s book draws heavily on When the Dalai Lama adds his articles for words to your frontispiece, I'm inclined to think it doesn't really matter how the rest of the Guardian newspaperworld responds to your book. I know, as he mentions having read the book in his acknowledgementsquestion, but it isn’t just a collection of his journalismthat Lindeblad would disagree with that thought. Who Are We? is partly a memoir He knows (and partly a thoughtful and incisive exploration at core so do I) that it matters very much how the rest of the politics and political impact of identityworld responds to this book, including race, gender, language groups, religionbecause it tells the truth as it is, sexuality in various countries around the worldearly 21st century. He sets out to explore 'To what extent can our various identities be mobilized to accentuate our universal humanity as opposed to separating us off into various, antagonistic camps?'|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0670917036</amazonuk>1526644827
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michael Jacksongareth_steel|title=MoonwalkNever Work With Animals|author=Gareth Steel
|rating=4
|genre=AutobiographyAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Michael JacksonI don's autobiography, based on tape-recorded conversations t often begin my reviews with a warning but with his editor Shaye Ereheart, was first published in 1988''Never Work With Animals'' it seems to be appropriate. This new edition has an introduction by Berry Gordy, founder Stories of Motown Records a vet's life have proved popular since ''All Creatures Great and his original mentorSmall'' but ''Never Work With Animals'' is definitely not the companion volume you've been looking for. As a TV show the author would argue that ''All Creatures'' lacked realism, and an afterword by Areheart about how the book was writtenas do other similar programmes. The main part of Gareth Steel says that the book is a straight reprint of the original, not suitable for younger readers and - after reading - I agree with no updating at allhim. Intriguingly, although GordyHe says that he's four pages refer written it to is protégé in the past tenseinform and provoke thought, calling him ''the greatest entertainer that ever livedparticularly amongst aspiring vets. It deals with some uncomfortable and distressing issues but it doesn't lack sensitivity, Areheart's writing, although there are occasions when you would be best choosing between reading and also the cover, refer to him in the presenteating. No reference anywhere is made to his untimely death.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099547953</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Captain William WellsDave Letterfly Knoderer|title=A Sailor's TalesSpeedy: Hurled Through Havoc
|rating=4
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Captain William Wells was born How to summarise the life of Dave Letterfly Knodererv in New Zealand where a pithy sentence to kick off a review of his father ran a successful carpentry businessmemoir? Do you know, but his heart wasnI really don't in following his father into the family firm or in most of the lessons at school. He was an enthusiastic sportsman but what enthralled him most were the ships sailing out of Wellington harbour, which he could see from his bedroom window. Without his parents' knowledge he applied for a scholarship which allowed six boys each year to travel to the UK and undertake their basic nautical training. Billy Wells, who previously had only got 2% in his English exam (his name was spelled correctly) had the second highest score in the country and was soon on his way to Englandthink I can.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>095629040X</amazonuk>}}
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Chris Stewart0008350388|title=Three Ways We Need to Capsize a Boat: An Optimist AfloatTalk About Money|author=Otegha Uwagba
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=There can ''To be few people who are unaware of the name of Rupert Murdoch. Over four decades he's built News International into a seventy billion dollar corporation from its original Australian base. His position in the UK media dark-skinned Black woman is such that he's courted by politicians and has what many believe to be an excessive amount of power for someone who is not elected seen as less desirable, less hireable, less intelligent and is not even a UK citizenultimately less valuable than my light-skinned counterparts... '' He's now expanding into Southeast Asia and in his eightieth year it's still difficult We Need to imagine when – or where – he will stop.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099523523</amazonuk>}}Talk About Money'' by Otegha Uwagba
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lisa Lynch0571365884|title=The C-Word|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=In the beginning was the word, closely followed by the internet. The two combined to form the wonder that is blogging, and when that took off and people wanted a more concrete and permanent record, books quickly followed. Perhaps that's not ''exactly'' how the quote goes, but it's close enough. Breast cancer at twenty eight My Mess is not just scary and unusual. For journalist Lisa, it's downright inconvenient. But, when a stage three tumour bulges out Bit of her boob, she decides to document her subsequent fight against the big C (or, as she affectionately calls it, ''The Bullshit'') online for all to see. The [httpLife://alrighttit.blogspot.com/ blog] was a success, it garnered some famous fans ([[:Category:Stephen Fry|Stephen Fry]], among others) and a book offer followed. This is the result.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099547546</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewAdventures in Anxiety|author=Ngugi wa Thiong'o|title=Dreams in a Time of WarGeorgia Pritchett
|rating=4
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=The interest in Georgia Pritchett has always been anxious, even as a child. She would worry about whether the monsters under the bed were comfortable: it was the lives sort of unfortunate children has created the publishing phenomenon nicknamed life where if she had nothing to worry about she would become anxious but such occasions were few and far between. On a visit to a therapist, as an adult, when she was completely unable to speak about what was wrong with her it was suggested that she should write it down and 'misery memoirs'. Happily for readers My Mess is a Bit of Ngugi wa Thionga Life: Adventures in Anxiety''o’s Dreams in a Time of War memories of is the author’s often difficult childhood result - or so we are presented as a tale of triumph and empowerment rather than anger and self-pitygiven to believe. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846553776</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Gervase PhinnDaniel Gibbs with Teresa H Barker|title=Road to the Dales: The Story of a Yorkshire LadA Tattoo on my Brain|rating=43.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=As Alzheimer's is a teacher currently anticipating (I won't say looking forward to!) an OFSTED inspection, school inspectors aren't generally my favourite peopledisease that slowly wears away your identity and sense of self. I'll make an exception for Gervase Phinn, thoughhave been directly affected by this cruel disease, as he's entertained me for have many hours with his previous books on his . Your memories and personality worn away like a statue over time in affected the Dales doing the jobelements. It seems as if nature wants that final victory over you and your dignity. This is what makes Daniel Gibbs' memoir so admirable. I Daniel Gibbs is a neurologist who was expecting diagnosed with Alzheimers and has documented his memoirs of his childhood to be equally entertaining – and feel slightly letdown, if Ijourney in ''A Tattoo on my Brain''m honest.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0718149114</amazonuk>1108838936
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1529109116
|title=Call Me Red: A Shepherd's Journey
|author=Hannah Jackson
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=''I want the image of a British farmer to simply be that of a person who is proudly employed in feeding the nation. I don't think that is too much to ask.''
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jean Baggott0008333173|title=The Girl on the WallHungry: One Life's Rich Tapestry|rating=4|genre=Autobiography|summary=Jean Baggott is now seventy two and in the final year A Memoir of her history degree at Warwick University. After almost a lifetime of bending her life to the needs of other people she has decided that now is the time to look after herself – the eleven year old girl whose picture hangs on her wall. She plans to achieve what that girl would want her to achieve and from this she's found great fulfilment.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848311265</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewWanting More|author=Abby Lee|title=Girl With a One Track Mind: Exposed: Further Revelations of a Sex Blogger Grace Dent
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Abby Lee I'm always relieved when Grace Dent is back with a brand new book one of the judges on ''Masterchef''. You know thatyou's sure re going to bring get an honest opinion from someone whom you sense does real food rather than fine dining most of the time. You also ponder on how she can look so elegant with all that good food in front of her readers closer to her than they. I've ever been before. For those who missed often wondered about the woman behind the media spectacle that surrounded her first book, image and 'Girl With a One Track Mind' followed twelve months in the life Hungry: A Memoir of Wanting More'Abby Lee', is a film runner who became an internet sensation after starting a blog stunning read which will make you laugh and break your heart in 2004 detailing her sexual exploits and thoughts. The book became an immediate success with men and women alike and earned Abby a couple of thousand more hits on her blog ever dayequal measures.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330509691</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Leslie Kenton1504321383|title=Love Affair: The Memoir of a Forbidden Father-daughter RelationshipSingle, Again, and Again, and Again|author=Louisa Pateman
|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=For some years, I had been aware of Leslie Kenton's books 'You can't be happy and fulfilled on healthy living, and also of Stan Kenton's work as a jazz bandleader, though I had never made the connection until nowyour own. This family memoir reveals all about the famous father and later-to-be-famous daughter, and it is You are not complete until you find a disturbing taleman''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091910536</amazonuk>}}
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Margaret DrabbleSakinu Ahronglong|title=The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws Hunter School
|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Imagine the scene: The flyleaf to this little collection tells us that it is a major publishing house receives the latest pitch for a bookwork of fiction. That's possibly misleading. Its basis I am not sure whether it is a history of "fiction" in the jigsawsense that Ahronglong made it all up, interwoven with a highly personal memoir of an ever so slightly irascible maiden aunt with whom or whether it is as the author partook in blurb goes on to say ''recollections, folklore and autobiographical stories''. It feels like the delights of puzzlinglatter. Two words save this pitch from oblivion: Margaret Drabble. Faced with It feels like the same dilemma in stories he tells about his experiences as a bookshopchild, as an adolescent, the reader would be wise to follow the publisher's hunch as an adult are real and buy this book - it true. But memory is a gentle delight from start to finishfickle thing, and maybe poetic licence has taken over here and there and maybe calling it fiction means that its safer and therefore more people will read it. More people should.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1843546205</amazonuk>1999791282
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alice Taylor1544641923|title=To School Through The FieldsAmbassadors Do It After Dinner|author=Sandra Aragona|rating=3.54
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=To School Through It's tempting to think that the Fields diplomatic life is the memoir of a farmer’s daughter who grew up in rural County Cork in the 1940s (though the book never mentions the date of when privileged and luxurious. It might be privileged, but family connections tell me that it is set)far from luxurious. Taylor makes Now you're not going to get many ambassadors telling you what it's really like (it clear at 's not ''diplomatic'' to do so, you know), but the diplomatic spouse, the beginning accompanying baggage, well, that she 's an entirely different matter. She (and it still usually is writing a nostalgic look back at the era of her childhood, before the 'changing winds she') can tell us exactly what goes on.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241446732|title=Our House is on Fire: Scenes of time' a Family and then presents a series of anecdotes about her parentsPlanet in Crisis|author=Malena Ernman, Greta Thunberg, her Beata Thunberg and Svante Thunberg|rating=5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=The Ernman / Thunberg family seemed perfectly normal. Malena Ernman was an opera singer and some Svante Thunberg took on most of the other characters who lived in parenting of their two daughters. Then eleven-year-old Greta stopped eating and talking and her villagesister, Beata, then nine years old, struggled with what was happening. In such circumstances, it's natural to seek a solution close to home, but eventually, it became clear to the family that they were ''burned-out people on a burned-out planet''. If they were to find a way to live happily again their solution would need to be radical.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0863224210</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Phil Daniels191280493X|title=Phil Daniels: Class ActorComing of Age|author=Danny Ryan
|rating=4
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=If we were asked ''He began writing novels and poetry at the age of twelve, but it was to nominate the archetypal Cockney actor on large or small screen over the last twenty take him a further forty-eight years or so, Phil Daniels would undoubtedly come high on the listto realise that he wasn’t very good at either. Born in Islington in 1958 and raised in Kings CrossConsistently unpublished for all that time, he was remains a graduate shining example of the Anna Scher Theatre in the 1970shope over experience...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847376207</amazonuk>}}''
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Carole White and Sian Williams190874572X|title=Struggle or StarveLetters from Tove|author=Tove Jansson (Author), Boel Westin (Editor), Helen Svensson (Editor), Sarah Death (Translator)|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Struggle or Starve is a collection Back at the beginning of autobiographical writings about girls' and women's lives in South Wales between the warscentury, I went on holiday to Nepal. This is I met a new edition wonderful Finnish woman and we became sort-of -friends. I can't remember if it was on that holiday or a book first published in 1998 by Honno, an independent publisher set up later one that Paula told me I really had to encourage Welsh women writersread Tove Jansson. Most I do know that it was four years later that I finally acquired an English translation of The Summer Book, and that I eagerly awaited the contributors in this book came from miners' families and grew up in real poverty 'Sort Of'' translations of the rest of Jansson's work and economic insecuritydevoured them as soon as I could get my hands on them.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906784094</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Bee Rowlatt and May Witwit 1908745819|title=Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad: The True Story of an Unlikely FriendshipSurfacing |author=Kathleen Jamie
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=In early 2005Sometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book, they tell you ''this one has your name on it''. Mostly we take them at their word, or not, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so, unless it turns out that we didn't like the book. That's a BBC journalist emails an Iraqi woman rare experience. People who are sensitive to confirm and prepare for hearing a telephone interview about day to day life in Baghdadbook calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In this case, and about her thoughts on I was told why. The blurb speaks of the forthcoming elections thereauthor considering ''an older, less tethered sense of herself.'' Older. Less tethered. MayThat's detailed not a bad description of where I am. Add to that my love of the natural world, of those aspects of the poetic and frank responses prompt more curiosity lyrical that are about style not form, and questions from Beesubstance most of all, and a friendship develops between the two womenabout connection. They tell each other about their workOf course, relationships and family livesthis book had my name on it. It was written for me. It would have found its way to me eventually. I am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141038535</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Chinua Achebe1906852472|title=The Education of a British-Protected Wild Child|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=This book is : Growing Up a collection of autobiographical essays by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, whose best known work is the novel Things Fall Apart, published in 1958. Topics covered include Nigerian, Biafran and Igbo history and culture, African literature and the legacy of colonialism in his country and the rest of Africa. Some of the essays are taken from guest lectures at universities around the world and conference papers, and others are written for this book, particularly many of the more personal pieces about Achebe's family.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846142598</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewNomad|author=Gabriel Weston|title=Direct RedIan Mathie
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Few people have the ability to convey the minutiae of their profession in ways which engage the reader, answer your unspoken questions and talk in such a way that you're neither patronised nor overburdened with jargon. Gabriel Weston For Ian Mathie fans there is one such – good and ''Direct Red'' held me as though I was hypnotised for several hoursbad news. She's a surgeon and we're pulled into Ian has come up with the intricacies of her world without the need to don mask and gown.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099520699</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Dana Fowley|title=How Could She?|rating=4|genre=Autobiography|summary=From the age of five Dana Fowley was subjected to unimaginable sexual abuse and before long her sister would be subjected to more of the same. She was raped by her mother's partner and taken to the homes of her grandparents where she was abused by them and others. At other times she was forced to go to the homes of other men where she was raped and abused. Did her mother not know what was going on? Did she turn a blind eye? It was neither of those. Her mother was a willing participant missing link in the abuse and organised much of it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009952225X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Val Doonican|title=My Storyhis narrative, My Life: Val Doonican - The Complete Autobiography|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=In the 1960s, if Harold Wilson was the personification story of politics and the Beatles the collective icon of youth culturea very unusual childhood (yes, Val Doonican was similarly at the very apex of light entertainmentyears that made him the amazing man he became). He may no longer have such a high profile The bad – but hewell it's outlasted them both. Over four decades he has refused to bow to passing fads and fashions, remained true to himself, and in hardly news two years later – is that the process he has never really put a foot wrongbook is published posthumously. As he says towards the endalways, it'When you find out what it is you do bests beautifully written, and what the public wants from you, then stick with it, and do it as well as you canmany exciting moments.' With What I most enjoyed was the possible exception feeling that many of his contemporary and long-time professional and personal friend Rolf Harris, itthe questions in Ian Mathie's difficult to think of another person later books are answered in showbiz who comes across as more genuinely likeable, and more a genuine case of 'what you see is what you get'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906779619</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Aeronwy Thomas |title=My FatherWild Child's Places: A portrait of childhood by Dylan Thomas' daughter|rating=3.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=Aeronwy Thomas was six years old when she and her family came to settle after with a nomadic existence at Laugharne, on the Welsh coast, in 1949satisfying clunk. Dylan used to broadcast regularly on the BBC, and while he continued to travel to London regularly for the purpose (as well as to carouse with friends Seemingly all that's now left in his old haunts), somewhere off the beaten track was a more suitable working environmentdrawer is unpublishable.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849010056</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michael Palin1999811402|title=Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years|rating=4|genre=Autobiography|summary=''Never meet your heroes,'' goes the old adage. ''Never read their diaries'' might be equally sage advice. That's probably why I didn't tackle Michael Palin's collected daily journals until now. Along with the rest of the Monty Python team, he was without doubt a hero of my teenage years.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>075382177X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewPainting Snails|author=Shirley Williams|title=Climbing the Bookshelves: The Autobiography of Shirley WilliamsStephen John Hartley
|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Who could resist It's very difficult to classify ''Painting Snails'': originally I thought that as it's loosely based around a title like that? And is this some lesser-known Shirley Williamsyear on an allotment it would be a lifestyle book, recalling a life spent in libraries? but you're not going to get advice on what to plant when and where for the best results. The answer to would be something along the latter is nolines of 'try it and see'. Shirley Catlin Then I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed his A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, as she was bornbecame a busker, tells us in the early pages of this memoir finally got into medical school and is now an A&E consultant (part-time). I found out that during her childhood her father encouraged her there's an awful lot more to climb the bookshelves what goes on in their Chelsea housea Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from ''Casualty'', right up to but that isn't really what the ceilingbook's about. It was There's a secret between lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the two real passion of themHartley's life, as her mother, Testament of Youth Author Vera Brittain, would but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre either. Did we have immediately anticipated cracked skulls and broken armsa category for 'doing the impossible the hard way'? Yep - that's the one. It's an autobiography.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1844084760</amazonuk>
}}