Born in Lancashire as the wealthy heiress to her British father's textiles empire, Leonora Carrington was destined to live the kind of life only known by the moneyed classes. But even from a young age she rebelled against the strict rules of her social class, against her parents and against the hegemony of religion and conservative thought, and broke free to artistic and personal freedom.Today Carrington is recognised as the key female Surrealist painter, and Poniatowska's fiction charms this exceptional character back to life more truthfully than any biography could. For a time Max Ernst's lover in Paris, Carrington rubbed elbows with Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Joan Miró, André Breton and Pablo Picasso. When Ernst fled Paris at the outbreak of the Second World War, Carrington had a breakdown and was locked away in a Spanish asylum before escaping to Mexico, where she would work on the paintings which made her name. In the hands of legendary Mexican novelist Elena Poniatowska, Carrington's life becomes a whirlwind tribute to creative struggle and artistic revolution.

« Notre mémoire est pleine de mots. Il suffit de puiser dedans. On trouvera dans ce dictionnaire très personnel des mots qui m’ont accompagné dans ma vie professionnelle comme, précisément, dictionnaire et mot. Plus apostrophe, orthographe, écrivain, lecture, bibliothèque, guillemets… A ceux-là s’ajoutent une ribambelle d’autres mots qui relèvent de ma vie privée, de mes souvenirs intimes, de mes manières d’être, de ma psychologie d’enfant et d’adulte, de mes trucs, de mes rêveries, de mes bonheurs, de mes chagrins, de mes petites aventures d’homme devenu public grâce à une succession de clins d’œil du hasard. »Bernard PivotD’Apostrophes à Bouillon de culture, Bernard Pivot est une figure incontournable du petit écran, et l’une des personnalités les plus populaires de France. Ses deux précédents ouvrages, publiés chez Albin Michel, 100 mots à sauver (2004) et 100 expressions à sauver (2008) ont rencontré un immense succès. Bernard Pivot est membre de l’académie Goncourt.La quatrième de la couvertureMots autobiographiques, mots intimes, mots professionnels, mots littéraires, mots gourmands… Tous ces mots forment un dictionnaire très personnel. Mais les mots de ma vie, c'est aussi ma vie avec les mots. J'ai aimé les mots avant de lire des romans. J'ai vagabondé dans le vocabulaire avant de me promener dans la littérature. Sur ces mots…

Written on the twentieth anniversary of James Baldwin’s death, Letter to Jimmy is African writer Alain Mabanckou’s ode to his literary hero and an effort to place Baldwin’s life in context within the greater African diaspora.Beginning with a chance encounter with a beggar wandering along a Santa Monica beach — a man whose ragged clothes and unsteady gait remind the author of a character out of one of James Baldwin’s novels— Mabanckou uses his own experiences as an African living in the US as a launching pad to take readers on a fascinating tour of James Baldwin’s life. As Mabanckou reads Baldwin’s work, looks at pictures of him through the years, and explores Baldwin’s checkered publishing history, he is always probing for answers about what it must have been like for the young Baldwin to live abroad as an African-American, to write obliquely about his own homosexuality, and to seek out mentors like Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison only to publicly reject them later.As Mabanckou travels to Paris, reads about French history and engages with contemporary readers, his letters to Baldwin grow more intimate and personal. He speaks to Baldwin as a peer — a writer who paved the way for his own work, and Mabanckou seems to believe, someone who might understand his experiences as an African expatriate.

A collection of letters from Lt Col Laurie to his wife whilst serving in France in WWI before being killed in action in March 1915.

Originally published in 1960, this compact book tells the true story of a German soldier: from his early childhood during the First World War, through to his harrowing experiences on the frontline during the Word War II, culminating in his capture by the Red Army on 20 December 1942…An astonishing first-hand account.

The man who gave it all awayAt age 50, when some people start planning for retirement, John Lefebvre hit the digital motherlode. Neteller, a tiny Canadian internet start-up that processed payments between players and online gambling arenas, rocketed into the stock market. In its early years, Neteller had been a cowboy operation, narrowly averting disaster in creative ways. Co-founder Lefebvre, a gregarious hippie lawyer from Calgary, Alberta, had toked his way through his practice for decades, aspiring all the while to be a professional musician. With the profit from Neteller and his stock holdings, he became a multi-millionaire. He started buying Malibu beach houses, limited edition cars, complete wardrobes, and a jet to fly to rock shows with pals. When that got boring he shipped his fine suits to charity, donned his beloved t-shirt and jeans, and started giving away millions to the Dalai Lama, David Suzuki and other eco-conscious people, as well as anyone else who might…

After three acclaimed novels—The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, Absurdistan, and Super Sad True Love Story—Gary Shteyngart turns to memoir in a candid, witty, deeply poignant account of his life so far. Shteyngart shares his American immigrant experience, moving back and forth through time and memory with self-deprecating humor, moving insights, and literary bravado. The result is a resonant story of family and belonging that feels epic and intimate and distinctly his own.Born Igor Shteyngart in Leningrad during the twilight of the Soviet Union, the curious, diminutive, asthmatic boy grew up with a persistent sense of yearning — for food, for acceptance, for words — desires that would follow him into adulthood. At five, Igor decided to become a writer, and his grandmother paid him a slice of cheese for every page he produced. He wrote Lenin and His Magical Goose, his first novel.In the late 1970s, world events changed Igor’s life. Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev made a deal: exchange tankers of grain for the safe passage of Soviet Jews to America — a country Igor viewed as the enemy. Along the way, Igor became Gary so that he would suffer one or two fewer beatings from other kids. Coming to the United States from the Soviet Union was equivalent to stumbling off a monochromatic cliff and landing in a pool of pure Technicolor.Shteyngart’s loving but mismatched parents dreamed that he would become a lawyer or at least a “conscientious toiler” on Wall Street, something their distracted son was simply not cut out to do. Fusing English and Russian, his mother created the term Failurchka—Little Failure — which she applied to her son. With love. Mostly.As a result, Shteyngart operated on a theory that he would fail at everything he tried. At being a writer, at being a boyfriend, and, most important, at being a worthwhile human being.Swinging between a Soviet home life and American aspirations, Shteyngart found himself living in two contradictory worlds, all the while wishing that he could find a real home in one. And somebody to love him. And somebody to lend him sixty-nine cents for a McDonald’s hamburger.Provocative, hilarious, and inventive, Little Failure reveals a deeper vein of emotion in Gary Shteyngart’s prose. It is a memoir of an immigrant family coming to America, as told by a lifelong misfit who forged from his imagination an essential literary voice and, against all odds, a place in the world.

Men, women, and children ran for cover as the bombs started falling on Pervomaisk. The Russian separatists were invading Eastern Ukraine in 2015. Many Ukrainians fled into Central and Western Ukraine to find safety. “Lives Left Behind” is the captivating and inspiring story of ten Ukrainian women who escaped the war in Eastern Ukraine. Through great trials and difficulties these ten women eventually resettled in L’viv, Ukraine. Their journeys are marked by disappointments and sorrows, but show also incredible resilience, determination, and joy. You will be inspired and encouraged as you travel with them to L’viv.

The amazing true story of how London became home to the Russian super-rich – told for the first time ever. A dazzling tale of incredible wealth, ferocious disputes, beautiful women, private jets, mega-yachts, the world’s best footballers – and chauffeur-driven Range Rovers with tinted windows.

A group of buccaneering Russian oligarchs made colossal fortunes after the collapse of communism – and many of them came to London to enjoy their new-found wealth. Londongrad tells for the first time the true story of their journeys from Moscow and St Petersburg to mansions in Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Surrey – and takes you into a shimmering world of audacious multi-billion pound deals, outrageous spending and rancorous feuds.

But while London’s flashiest restaurants echoed to Russian laughter and Bond Street shop-owners totted up their profits, darker events also played themselves out. The killing of ex-KGB man Alexander Litvinenko in London to the death – in a helicopter crash he all but predicted – of Stephen Curtis, the lawyer to many of Britain’s richest Russians, chilled London’s Russians and many of those who know them.

This is the story of how Russia’s wealth was harvested and brought to London – some of it spent by Roman Abramovich on his beloved Chelsea Football Club, some of it spent by Boris Berezovsky in his battles with Russia’s all-powerful Vladimir Putin. Londongrad is a must-read for anyone interested in how vast wealth is created, the luxury it can buy and the power and intrigue it produces.

For everyone who was that girl.For everyone who knew that girl.For everyone who wondered who that girl was.Kerry Cohen is eleven years old when she recognizes the power of her body in the leer of a grown man. Her parents are recently divorced and it doesn’t take long before their lassitude and Kerry’s desire to stand out—to be memorable in some way—combine to lead her down a path she knows she shouldn't take. Kerry wanted attention. She wanted love. But not really understanding what love was, not really knowing how to get it, she reached for sex instead.Loose Girl is Kerry Cohen’s captivating memoir about her descent into promiscuity and how she gradually found her way toward real intimacy. The story of addiction—not just to sex, but to male attention—Loose Girl is also the story of a young girl who came to believe that boys and men could give her life meaning. It didn't matter who he was. It was their movement that mattered, their being together. And for a while, that was enough.From the early rush of exploration to the day she learned to quiet the desperation and allow herself to love and be loved, Kerry's story is never less than riveting. In rich and immediate detail, Loose Girl re-creates what it feels like to be in that desperate moment, when a girl tries to control a boy by handing over her body, when the touch of that boy seems to offer proof of something, but ultimately delivers little more than emptiness.Kerry Cohen’s journey from that hopeless place to her current confident and fulfilled existence is a cautionary tale and a revelation for girls young and old. The unforgettable memoir of one young woman who desperately wanted to matter, Loose Girl will speak to countless others with its compassion, understanding, and love.

A recently retired Israeli Air Force general and its second-highest-scoring fighter ace, Iftach Spector is one of Israel’s living legends. He was the leader of the flight that attacked the USS Liberty in 1967. After the 1967 and 1973 wars, in which he commanded a squadron of fighter-bombers, he rose to head the IAF’s Training and War Lessons Section and later became its the Chief of Operations. He was one of the eight Israeli pilots who attacked Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor at Osirik in 1981.In 2003, his career took an even more dramatic turn: he was the senior signatory of the famous “Pilots’ Letter,” in which Spector and 27 other Israeli pilots stated their refusal to bomb targets in Palestine where collateral damage would likely be severe. His maverick conscience is well on display in this artfully written memoir, which is currently a 10-week-and-counting bestseller in Israel and has been licensed in Brazil as well.The son of a family that immigrated to Palestine at the turn of the 20th century, whose father and mother served in the Palmach, Israel’s early clandestine commando force, Spector has written a rich and reflective meditation on loyalty, on what is right and wrong in war, and on his dedication to the idea and reality of the state of Israel.The Pilots’ Letter ended Spector’s military career, but also made him one of the most compelling and celebrated defenders of the conscience of the Jewish state. In that battle, as in his previous battles against Nasser’s MiGs, his mother’s constant lesson to him sustained him: “All from within.”General Spector’s first book, A DREAM IN BLACK AND AZURE (1992; never translated into English), won the Sade Literary Award, given to him personally by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He has a B.A. in history and Middle East Studies from Tel Aviv University and a masters in political science from UCLA, both with honors.

A recently retired Israeli Air Force general and its second-highest-scoring fighter ace, Iftach Spector is one of Israel’s living legends. He was the leader of the flight that attacked the USS Liberty in 1967. After the 1967 and 1973 wars, in which he commanded a squadron of fighter-bombers, he rose to head the IAF’s Training and War Lessons Section and later became its the Chief of Operations. He was one of the eight Israeli pilots who attacked Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor at Osirik in 1981.In 2003, his career took an even more dramatic turn: he was the senior signatory of the famous “Pilots’ Letter,” in which Spector and 27 other Israeli pilots stated their refusal to bomb targets in Palestine where collateral damage would likely be severe. His maverick conscience is well on display in this artfully written memoir, which is currently a 10-week-and-counting bestseller in Israel and has been licensed in Brazil as well.The son of a family that immigrated to Palestine at the turn of the 20th century, whose father and mother served in the Palmach, Israel’s early clandestine commando force, Spector has written a rich and reflective meditation on loyalty, on what is right and wrong in war, and on his dedication to the idea and reality of the state of Israel.The Pilots’ Letter ended Spector’s military career, but also made him one of the most compelling and celebrated defenders of the conscience of the Jewish state. In that battle, as in his previous battles against Nasser’s MiGs, his mother’s constant lesson to him sustained him: “All from within.”General Spector’s first book, A DREAM IN BLACK AND AZURE (1992; never translated into English), won the Sade Literary Award, given to him personally by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He has a B.A. in history and Middle East Studies from Tel Aviv University and a masters in political science from UCLA, both with honors.

À l'occasion du centenaire de sa naissance, célébré en 2014, la première biographie complète de Louis de Funès, où l'on découvre non seulement l'acteur, côté cour, mais aussi, côté jardin, l'homme secret méconnu.Tout, tout, tout sur Louis de Funès… La première biographie complète d'un des acteurs préférés des Français, toutes générations confondues.Né à Courbevoie quelques heures avant la déclaration de la Grande Guerre, Louis de Funès aurait eu cent ans en 2014. Le Corniaud, La Grande Vadrouille, Fantômas, La Folie des grandeurs, Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob, L'Aile ou la cuisse, la saga du Gendarme de Saint-Tropez… chacun connaît ses films, synonymes de l'âge d'or de la comédie à la française.Mais que sait-on vraiment de cet homme au génie comique inimitable, que sait-on de son quotidien, de ses galères, lui qui fit mille petits boulots avant de brûler les planches et rencontra tardivement le succès ? Extrêmement fouillé et documenté, le livre de Jean-Marc Loubier nous fait découvrir un comédien intransigeant, boulimique de travail et qui choisissait ses rôles avec une minutie maniaque afin qu'ils amusent parents et enfants, mais aussi l'homme secret qui protégeait farouchement sa vie privée.À l'appui des témoignages de ses partenaires, de ses réalisateurs, des membres de sa famille qui ont pour la première fois accepté de se confier, cette bio « à l'américaine » revisite un demi-siècle d'histoire du cinéma et du théâtre en compagnie de merveilleux monstres sacrés (Bourvil, Gabin, Montand, Carmet, Coluche…), et notamment les joyeuses décennies 1960–1970.Biographie de l'auteurÉcrivain et journaliste spécialisé dans le cinéma, Jean-Marc Loubier est l'auteur de nombreuses biographies — Louis Jouvet, Michel Simon, Pierre Brasseur, Patrick Dewaere, Marilyn Monroe… — , couronné en 1997 par le prix Saint-Simon pour son livre d'entretiens avec Simone Valère et Jean Desailly, Un destin pour deux. En 1991, il publia sous le titre Le Berger des roses la première biographie consacrée à Louis de Funès. Devenu proche de la famille, il a au fil des ans pu reconstituer toute la matière de la vie de l'acteur pour nous proposer aujourd'hui sa biographie « définitive ».

The aeroscouts of the 1st Infantry Division had three words emblazoned on their unit patch: Low Level Hell. It was then and continues today as the perfect, concise definition of what these intrepid aviators experienced as they ranged the skies of Vietnam from the Cambodian border to the Iron Triangle. The Outcasts, as they were known, flew low and slow, aerial eyes of the division in search of the enemy. Too often for longevity's sake they found the Viet Cong and the fight was on. These young pilots (19-22 years-old) literally “invented” the book as they went along.

No artist has been more ruthlessly driven by his creative urge, nor more isolated by it from most ordinary sources of human happiness, than Vincent Van Gogh. A painter of genius, his life was an incessant struggle against poverty, discouragement, madness and despair. Lust for Life skilfully captures the exciting atmosphere of the Paris of the Post-Impressionists and reconstructs with great insight the development of Van Gogh’s art. The painter is brought to life not only as an artist but as a personality and this account of his violent, vivid and tormented life is a novel of rare compassion and vitality.

No artist has been more ruthlessly driven by his creative urge, nor more isolated by it from most ordinary sources of human happiness, than Vincent Van Gogh. A painter of genius, his life was an incessant struggle against poverty, discouragement, madness and despair. Lust for Life skilfully captures the exciting atmosphere of the Paris of the Post-Impressionists and reconstructs with great insight the development of Van Gogh’s art. The painter is brought to life not only as an artist but as a personality and this account of his violent, vivid and tormented life is a novel of rare compassion and vitality.

«Иванов-Козельский.Какие светлые, какие мрачные воспоминания вызываешь ты, – это имя.Я знал двух Ивановых-Козельских. Одного – артиста, находившегося на вершине своей славы, полного таланта, сил, любви к искусству; его глаза горели восторгом, когда он говорил о своем боге – Шекспире и о пророке этого театра – Томазо Сальвини; он был идолом толпы, переполнявшей театр; идолом, глаза которого сверкали вдохновением и звуки голоса западали глубоко в сердце…»

Часто спрашивают: какова же истинная Мадонна? Существует расхожий стереотип, представляющий Мадонну алчной женщиной-вамп, в то время как для большинства женщин она является символом феминизма. Ее песни внятны и просты, хотя сама она личность сложная и изменчивая. Она впитала влияния тысячи различных культур, собрав их в единое целое, и стала самой продаваемой певицей за всю историю музыки. Все ее альбомы — это этапы большого путешествия. Переживая драмы и потери, она использовала музыку как способ противостоять боли, искала в ней новые источник радости. Ее стиль противоречив, тщеславие безгранично, и при этом она постоянно превращает свою жизнь в завораживающее произведение искусства. Беспристрастное исследование британского музыкального журналиста Люси О'Брайен — самая полная биография королевы поп-сцены.