Showing titles in Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence

John le Carré was one of the greatest novelists of his generation but also had an extraordinary life, from his childhood with a con man father to his inimitable career as a writer. From his involvement in the Cold War, time in Berlin, travels to Vietnam and engagement with world leaders, his experiences were truly remarkable. This collection of letters reveals John le Carré—the man, the writer and his world—for the first time and most intimately.

"Il carcere è come la giungla amazzonica, come un paese in guerra, un'isola remota, un luogo estremo dove la sopravvivenza è la priorità e i sentimenti primari sono nitidi": forse è per questo che, da narratrice attratta dai luoghi dove "l'uomo è illuminato a giorno", Daria Bignardi trent'anni fa è entrata per la prima volta in un carcere.

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost... In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky.

The next generation will face the reality that human activity is changing the planet from one geological epoch to another. From this vantage point—two generations across two geological epochs facing a fundamentally changing planet—Larry Rasmussen writes to his grandchildren. As a grandfather invested in a green earth and climate justice as well as a scholar of faith-based earth ethics, Rasmussen bridges this gap between generations to write to the future about climate change, global citizenship, democracy, and legacy.

Says Charles Pooter, "I fail to see - because I do not happen to be a 'somebody' - why my diary should not be interesting." Surprisingly, Mr. Pooter's life is fascinating! The fascination is two-fold: firstly, his astounding arrogance that we should care about his domestic trivia and narcissistic scribblings. Secondly, we can all sympathize with (and wince at!) this ridiculous slave to convention.

Questo audiolibro è la prima tappa di un pellegrinaggio di pace. Un pellegrinaggio compiuto da un uomo che, nel corso della sua vita, è stato un cronista coinvolto in prima persona nella realtà che descriveva; un giornalista capace d'individuare per istinto i segni che un determinato avvenimento lascia sul territorio sconfinato della Storia; un narratore con una voce unica, spesso fuori del coro, sempre autentica e piena di comprensione.

Edward "Ned" Kelly (1854 -1880) was the last and most celebrated Australian bushranger (outlaw). After being implicated in the shooting of three policemen at Stringybark Creek in October, 1878, Kelly and his gang were declared by the Victorian government to be outlaws, and were the subjects of an extensive manhunt over the next two years.

Congiure di corte, imperatori avvelenati, esili, matricidi, infamie varie, Nerone, Agrippina, Messalina. Quando si fa il nome di Lucio Anneo Seneca, il Giovane, bisogna subito associarlo a un fondale di trame e di lotte all'ultimo sangue per il potere. Bisogna pensare a imperatori pazzi e geniali, a calunnie, a cordate, a rese dei conti, a notti romane popolate di incontri segreti, di patti magari sottoscritti per essere subito disattesi. Sono cose che non vi giungono nuove?

Selling firecrackers by the side of the road, floating in space with no hope of rescue, reflecting on goldfish philosophy, the sunsets at San Nada, and the trees at Appomattox, I Awoke One Morning to Find Three Psychoanalysts in the Closet is a collection of short stories, prose poems, and other short writing. The topics, and the words used to fill them in are often silly, occasionally poignant, but always aiming to entertain.

As a young man, Narendra Modi had got into the habit of writing a letter to the Mother Goddess, whom he addressed as jagat janani, every night before going to bed. The topics were varied: there were seething sorrows, fleeting joys, lingering memories. In Modi's writings there was the enthusiasm of a youngster and the passion to usher in change. But every few months, Modi would tear up the pages and consign them to a bonfire. The pages of one diary, dating back to 1986, survived, however.

En Historia de la Guerra Civil sin mitos ni tópicos, Manuel P. Villatoro e Israel Viana repasan los años treinta del siglo XX para entender el enfrentamiento capital de nuestra historia reciente, la cruenta guerra civil que antecedió a uno de los períodos más convulsos del siglo XX en España y Europa.

Gaston Gallimard (1881-1975), fondateur des Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue française avec André Gide et Jean Schlumberger, confia un jour à Jean Cau qu'il n'écrirait jamais ses mémoires d'éditeur, craignant de ruiner sa maison en disant tout ce qu'il y avait vu et tout ce qu'il savait des mœurs et pratiques de la vie littéraire. Il ne les écrivit pas et, pour finir, se confia peu. Louable pudeur. Mais les grandes correspondances éditoriales publiées depuis lors sont là qui comblent ce manque.

Napoléon Ier, empereur des Français, ne peut laisser personne indifférent. Enfant, on est fasciné par l'épopée de ses conquêtes européennes, relayées par de beaux romans d'aventures. Adulte, on s'essaie à évaluer sa profonde transformation de la société française. On croit ainsi avoir tout lu ou tout appris sur lui grâce aux milliers d'ouvrages qui abordent le moindre aspect de sa vie et de destinée incroyable.

Auster parte de la llegada de las primeras señales de la vejez para evocar episodios de su vida: el despertar del deseo sexual, los lazos del matrimonio, un accidente de coche, la muerte de su madre o las 21 casas en las que ha vivido.

Publicada en 1701, esta carta constituye un documento fundamental para entender la defensa del derecho de las mujeres a la educación y al conocimiento en un tiempo en que estas aspiraciones eran frecuentemente restringidas y desvalorizadas. La carta es un documento autobiográfico en el que Sor Juana narra su propio desarrollo intelectual y su pasión por el estudio durante la época colonial de México.

It's hard to get inside friendship: its particular intensity; its singular ease; the way it can wax and wane; its ability to cause uncommon pain. This is the territory of novels and letters, poems and graphic novels - which is where The Virago Book of Friendship steps in. Celebratory, but also explanatory and wide in scope - from the Bible to Yellowface, from school friends to the loss of friends in old age - this wonderful book includes Jane Austen, Nora Ephron, Toni Morrison, Vivian Gornick, Helen Garner, LM Montgomery, Dolly Alderton - among nearly one hundred others.

For centuries, explorers from all over the globe have traveled the far reaches of what the world has to offer, helping us expand the map, learn about other cultures, and move the needle of human knowledge. But an explorer’s work isn’t finished when they reach a new destination or make a discovery; they need to somehow tell the tale. Letters from the Edge compiles letters, email exchanges, and field journals from explorers who have joined the esteemed and longstanding organization The Explorers Club.

Para los lectores, hay pocas experiencias tan asombrosas e inolvidables como la primera lectura de Kafka. No importa lo que uno haya leído antes: cruzarse con una de sus novelas o cuentos, con un fragmento de sus diarios, es aprender a leer de un modo nuevo. La prosa precisa y de resonancias alegóricas; la capacidad para urdir tramas perfectas donde la lógica de la pesadilla convive con el grotesco; el modo de narrar la inapelable arbitrariedad del poder; el don único de volver verosímil lo que en principio parece imposible de alcanzar ese estatuto.

In 2013, Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani was illegally detained on Manus Island. He has been there ever since. This book is the result. Laboriously tapped out on a mobile phone and translated from the Farsi. It is a voice of witness, an act of survival. A lyric firsthand account. A cry of resistance. A vivid portrait through five years of incarceration and exile.

What is it like to be a wife of a politician in modern-day Britain? Sasha Swire finally lifts the lid. For more than two decades she has kept a secret diary detailing the trials and tribulations of being a political plus-one; the travel, the security, the challenges to family life and the unpredictable events. A professional partner as well as a life partner and one with strong political opinions herself, she detonates the image of the dutiful stereotype.