Great Reads
Autobiographies
A Mad World, My Masters
By John Simpson
Autobiographies
This is a first rate read written by a man who has been to many of the hellholes of the world. It gives a vibrant picture of what it takes to bring the news to the TV screens in times of trouble.
Accepting the Psychic Torch
By Sylvia Browne
Autobiographies
An intriguing insight into the life of an international psychic showing the highs and lows of having an ability that is viewed with scepticism by some and believed in passionately by others.ÿ A very readable book that throws the light on a subject that intrigues many people.ÿ Sylvia Browne tells of her relationships with family and the building of a very successful business.
Can’t Stand Up For Sitting Down
By Jo Brand
Autobiographies
This is the second volume of Jo Brand’s enthralling life story and is fantastically diverse and laugh-out-loud funny. It covers her time from her early 30s when she became a professional stand up comedian to the present - Friday Night Live, Question Time, Through The Cakehole, marriage, motherhood, Trinny and Susannah, learning to rally drive and playing the organ at the Royal Albert Hall. It's a great read, full of hilarious stories and fascinating insight into one of Britain's best-loved comedians.
Dreams From My Father
By Barack Obama
Autobiographies
The compelling background story of the son of a white American mother and a black African father, detailing the early life of Barack Obama and his quest to become the first black President of the United States. It gives an insight into his search for a meaning to his life as a black American and what has shaped his ambition.
How Not to Run a Hotel
By Harry Pope
Autobiographies
Basil Fawlty has reincarnated in Eastbourne as Harry Pope, he enters into a disastrous partnership with a Californian businessman, and buys a 28 bedroom hotel. He employs Polish, not Spanish, staff, blocks the purchase of a £10,000 ornamental fountain for the front garden, and enters into a hate relationship with Volvo estate drivers.
It All Counts
By Carol Vorderman
Autobiographies
Carol Vorderman is everywoman: a single working mother, a businesswoman and a devoted daughter. And now, for the first time, she has decided to tell it like it is. In It All Counts, Carol tells the engrossing story of her life from an early age through to today - the personal struggles, the good times, the sad times, and lifts the lid on what really goes on behind the scenes in a TV studio and the full story behind her shocking Countdown departure.
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World
By John Wood
Autobiographies
John Wood left his high flying job at Microsoft to set up the charity Room to Read.ÿ This charity has now set up over five thousand schools and libraries in some of the poorest parts of the developing world.ÿ This is an inspiring and practical example for anyone who wants to change the lives of others.ÿ A really good read!ÿ I could not put it down.
Long Walk to Freedom
By Nelson Mandela
Autobiographies
This book should be read by anyone trying to understand Africa today. These are the memoirs of an outstanding leader and statesman of our time. It is an uplifting story of an epic life and the monumental struggle for freedom from apartheid. It shows one man?s struggle against injustice and one man?s struggle to bring hope to a troubled land.
One Flew into the Cuckoo's Egg
By Bill Oddie
Autobiographies
Britain's best known birdwatcher has a poignant and incredible story to tell in "One Flew into the Cuckoo's Egg". He performed in the Cambridge Footlights with some of the greatest comic talents of his generation, including John Cleese, Jonathan Miller and fellow Goodies. He has had a fascinating and varied life and he writes about it with wit and candour.
The Hare with the Amber Eyes
By Edmund de Waal
Autobiographies
The netsuke are the beginning and happy ending of the story. Their exquisite detail is emblematic of this beautifully crafted book and its touching story of the individuals through whose hands they passed. One or other of them seems, like a rosary, to accompany the writer in his travels: a constant reminder to keep faith with his past
Three Cups of Tea
By Greg Mortensen
Autobiographies
In 1993, after a terrifying and disastrous attempt to climb K2, a mountaineer called Greg Mortenson drifted, cold and dehydrated, into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains. Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school.
