Showing titles in Arts & Entertainment

Jane Austen was born in Steventon, England, in 1775, where she lived for the first 25 years of her life. Her father, George Austen, was the rector of the local parish, and provided most of her education in their home. She began to write while in her teens and completed the original manuscript of Pride and Prejudice First Impressions, between 1796 and 1797. Pride and Prejudice was published in January 1813, two years after Sense and Sensibility, her first novel.

It’s been over three months since my friends and I took down Cyrus. Three months where my biggest fear was what paper was due next... But I should have known it was too good to last. Now everything is falling apart. The Vampire Court has no king, the Dragon Court has no heart, and the Gargoyle Court has me—a teenager in way over her head. And it’s the worst possible timing, because a threat is brewing just as the Circle is collapsing.

A new edition of the phenomenal international bestseller. From bitter poverty to the stardom of the West - this is the extraordinary true story of one boy's great courage and determination. In a small, desperately poor village in north-east China, a young peasant boy sits at his rickety old...

Author Scott Dikkers will tell you how to write jokes. He’s a master joke writer, founder of the world’s most popular humor site TheOnion.com, number one New York Times best-selling humor author, professional public speaker, and successful cartoonist. In this definitive joke-writing handbook, he'll teach you comedy writing and how to write a joke with a simple comedy-writing and joke-writing formula you can use right now to write your own jokes.

Rockonteurs is a podcast all about the real stories behind real music.Presented by Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp, who wrote and performed megahits like ‘Gold’ and ‘True’, and Guy Pratt, a bass player who shaped songs for the likes of Madonna and Pink Floyd, you’ll hear exclusive stories of life on the road, in the studio and what really happened behind the scenes from artists who wrote, performed and produced the some of the biggest classic rock and pop tracks of all time.Guests include Sir Bob Geldof, Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera, super-producer Trevor Horn, Chris Difford of Squeeze...

The apocalypse is approaching as his Doom Points tick up and John is finding it harder and harder to keep it together. His deepening knowledge of magic seems to be helping but as a hidden society creeps out of the shadows, intent on throwing the world into chaos, it may not be enough.

This is a podcast for emerging writers who want to improve the quality of their work and learn more about the publishing industry. Your one host, Bianca Marais (the bestselling author of 'The Witches of Moonshyne Manor') interviews authors, agents, editors and just about anyone and everyone who's involved in bringing a book to market. She's joined by her cohosts, literary agents Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra from P.S. Literary Agency, who read and critique query letters as well as opening pages in their Books with Hooks segment. Expect good advice, honest insights, and a few laughs along the way...

In 1980-1981 former COO of Apple Corp, Peter Brown and author Steven Gaines interviewed everyone in the Beatles' inner circle and included a small portion of the transcripts in their international bestselling book The Love You Make, which spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list. But left in their archives was a treasure trove of unique and candid interviews that they chose not to publish, until now. 

Brought to you by Penguin. From a life in comedy to the Glitterball Trophy – Chris McCausland Tells All. The perfect feel-good gift for fans of comedy and Strictly alike. Already one of the country's best loved comedians, Chris McCausland's participation on Strictly was a phenomenon. But how...

Rainn Wilson’s memoir about growing up geeky and finally finding his place in comedy, faith, and life. For nine seasons Rainn Wilson played Dwight Schrute, everyone's favorite work nemesis and beet farmer. Viewers of The Office fell in love with the character and grew to love the actor who...

No one does glamour, severity, girlish charm or tight-lipped witticism better than Dame Maggie Smith, one of Britain's best-loved actors. This new biography shines the stage-lights on the life and career of a truly remarkable performer, one whose stage and screen career spans six decades. From...

England, 1952. Churchill is Prime Minister for the last time. Rationing is still in force. All music sounds like the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. People like living in 1952: it's familiar and reassuring, and Britain knows its place in the world. Few have noticed it's been 1952 for the past 65 years...

With Charity's fate on the line, Devon and his pack must face the perils of the Realm in search of the elusive warrior fae. With no real experience and against some of the most powerful creatures in existence, they are fighting a losing battle. Thankfully, they don't have to do it alone. Knowing what's at stake, Penny and Emery, the magical powerhouses of the mage world, will lend their aid. Even though Emery is outlawed from stepping foot in the Realm, the pair will try to sneak Charity in the backdoor. If they are caught, they'll all be captured or worse. Much worse.

Dinnerladies is a classic BBC sitcom based around the lives of the staff of the canteen at Manchester factory HWD Components. Written by and starring Victoria Wood a Brenda, these eight classic TV episodes are brilliantly funny, where the jokes fly as thick and as fast as granary torpedoes. Along with the day to day feeding the faces of folk, the canteen staff Bren, Twink, Jean (and all the others!) have to contend with the arrival of a royal onsite, a Japanese-themed party complete with costumes and the controversial delivery of new uniforms. 

The quintessential depiction of 1980s New York and the downtown scene from the artist, actor, musician, and composer John Lurie “A picaresque roller coaster of a story, with staggering amounts of sex and drugs and the perpetual quest to retain some kind of artistic integrity.”—The New York...

With deftness and skill, journalist Lili Anolik uses Babitz, Babitz's brilliance of observation, Babitz's incisive intelligence and, most of all, Babitz's diary-like letters, as the key to unlocking Didion. Franklin Avenue was the making of one great American writer: Joan Didion, a mystery behind her dark glasses and cool expression, her marriage to John Gregory Dunne as tortured as it was enduring. It was also the breaking and then the remaking - and thus the true making - of another great American writer: Eve Babitz.

Elspeth McGillicuddy is down from Scotland for a holiday and boards the 4:50 train from Paddington station to visit her friend, Miss Marple. During the journey, another train pulls alongside, and through the window Mrs McGillicuddy witnesses a tall, dark man strangling a blonde woman. She...

David Mitchell hosts the hilarious panel show which turns honest men into lying cheats. In this devious and delightfully funny competition, four comedians have the audacity to lie through their teeth for victory.

The musician and Hip Hop legend—hailed as “the greatest MC of all time” and compared to Thelonious Monk—reimagines the writing handbook in this memoir and guide that incorporates the soulful genius, confidence, and creativity of a master artist. When he exploded on the music scene...

A gritty, revealing heavy metal memoir by Lamb of God’s lead guitarist and co-lyricist, which explores both his life in music and his tumultuous path through addiction and into recovery. DESOLATION is the story of Morton's lifelong quest for clarity and self-acceptance, and shows how the...