Showing results by publisher "Coronet" in Biographies & Memoirs

Rachel Bloom has felt abnormal and out of place her whole life. In this exploration of what she thinks makes her 'different', she's come to realise that a lot of people also feel this way - even people who she otherwise thought were 'normal'. In a collection of laugh-out-loud funny essays, all told in the unique voice (sometimes singing voice) that made her a star, Rachel writes about everything from her love of Disney, OCD and depression, weirdness and female friendships to the story of how she didn't poop in the toilet until she was four years old. 

In this brilliantly entertaining and heartfelt memoir, beloved star and comic maverick Bob Odenkirk writes honestly about the highs and lows of showbiz: his work on infamous cult comedy Mr. Show, as a performer and writer on legendary series such as The Larry Sanders Show and Saturday Night Live, becoming everyone's favourite lawyer in global hit TV series' Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, and what it's like to reinvent himself as an action film ass-kicker at 50 in Nobody. 

In this exceptional biography, Pulitzer Prize finalist Mary Gabriel chronicles the meteoric rise and enduring influence of the greatest female pop icon of the modern era: Madonna. Deftly tracing the artist's life and influence from her Michigan roots through to her sold out concerts in Lisbon, Buenos Aires, London, and Malawi, Mary captures the inspiration, fame, and activism of one of the greatest pop icons of our time.

But where are you really from? Phil Wang has been asked this question so many times he's lost count. So, finally, he decided to write a book about it. About how to be from two places at once. Phil was born in the UK, in Stoke-on-Trent to an English mother and a Chinese-Malaysian father. Three weeks after his birth, the Wang family returned to his fathers' hometown in Malaysia, and at age 16, Phil was uprooted once again, to return with his family to the UK.

Virginia Grohl, mother of Dave Grohl, had not seen any of it coming. Not the arenas of screaming fans, not Nirvana or the Foo Fighters, not the induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and certainly not her son, Dave, performing with Sir Paul McCartney at the White House. Theirs had always been a life full of music - the Grohl family sang together on long car trips, harmonising to Motown and David Bowie - yet Virginia never expected her son to become a musician.

DJ Fat Tony has been described as 'the closest thing that club culture has to a national treasure' and the 'unlikely cult hero of quarantine'. Few people have crammed so many lives into one: when your first line of cocaine is aged 16 with Freddie Mercury, where do you go from there? I Don't Take Requests is Fat Tony's breathtakingly candid and outrageous memoir of a life of extremes. 

Who - or what - was the real love of Freddie Mercury's life? Millions of Queen and screen fans who watched the Oscar-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody believe that Mary Austin, the woman he could never quite let go of, was the love of Freddie Mercury's life. But the truth is infinitely more complicated. Best-selling biographer and music writer Lesley-Ann Jones explores the charismatic frontman's romantic encounters and reveals why none of his love interests ever perfected the art of being Freddie's life partner.

***Shortlisted for the Great Outdoors Book of the Year*** Surviving in the wild takes a great deal of strength. Often faced with frozen tundra, sweltering deserts, humid jungles, perilous mountains and fast-flowing rivers, Megan Hine is no stranger to perilous conditions. Whilst leading...

In an intimate portrait penned by the close friend Terry chose to write his memoir, Seriously Silly is the story of one our greatest comedy legends. Taking in his major successes as well as his personal battles, it is the whole story, from his start as a war baby in the picturesque coastal town of Colwyn Bay, to meeting his lifelong friend Michael Palin at Oxford and the journey that took him on a convoluted pathway through revue sketches, anarchic children's shows, Monty Python, TV presenting and beyond.

Laura Dern and Diane Ladd always had a close relationship, but the stakes were raised when Diane developed a sudden life-threatening illness. Diane's doctor prescribed long walks to build back her lung capacity. The exertion was challenging, and Laura soon learned the best way to distract her mom was to get her talking and telling stories. Their conversations along the way began to break down the traditional barriers between mothers and daughters. In Honey, Baby, Mine, Laura and Diane share these conversations, taking listeners on an intimate tour of their lives.

They say there are no second acts in American lives, and third acts are almost unheard of. That's part of what makes Brian Wilson's story so astonishing. As cofounder of the Beach Boys in the 1960s, Wilson created some of the most groundbreaking and timeless popular music ever recorded. With intricate harmonies, symphonic structures, and wide-eyed lyrics that explored life's most transcendent joys and deepest sorrows, songs like 'In My Room', 'God Only Knows' and 'Good Vibrations' forever expanded the possibilities of pop songwriting.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor's kitchen discos became a source of much-needed escapism, catharsis and sequined joy for a swathe of the population during lockdown. From knackered mothers and fed-up fathers, to cooped up partiers with nowhere to go, Sophie's gloriously chaotic Friday kitchen performances have cheered and revived us. Now Sophie is bringing that same mixture of down-to-earth candour and optimistic sparkle to her first book. Part memoir, part musings, Sophie will write about the conjuring act of adulthood and motherhood.

No comprehensive biography of the time Paul McCartney spent with Wings has ever been published. A period often dismissed as McCartney's 'missing' years, in fact the band lasted for a decade: two years longer than the Beatles, and wielded such impact and influence that they at one point achieved the status as the biggest live band in the world. Band on the Run sold over 6 million copies worldwide and became EMI's biggest selling album of the 1970s in the UK. Music biographer Lesley-Ann Jones presents the first definitive account of Paul McCartney's time in Wings.

Only one TV interview with a serial killer has ever been recorded in a British jail and broadcast. The Dennis Nilsen Tapes: In Jail with Britain's Most Infamous Serial Killer covers four hours of interrogation, two days spent face to face with Nilsen and two years of graphic correspondence and confessions. With fresh insight from world famous psychological profilers and a leading pathologist, Morley completes almost three decades of investigation into what turned the former chef, policeman and civil servant into one of the world's most notorious murderers and necrophiles.

A collection of gorgeously written and timely pieces in which prize-winning poet and author Ross Gay considers the joy we incite when we care for each other, especially during life's inevitable hardships. In an era when divisive voices take up so much air space, Inciting Joy offers a vital alternative: what might be possible if we turn our attention to what brings us together? Full of energy, curiosity, and compassion, it is essential listening from one of our most brilliant writers.

In August 2021 a women's creative writing group in Afghanistan shared news of political turmoil and the Fall of Kabul. These women were in the process of publishing a short-story collection when their world was turned upside down by the Taliban. In staying connected via WhatsApp messages, they established a lifeline; a vital space to keep their creativity alive, support each other and bear witness to the events unfolding around them.

Yvonne Orji has never shied away from being unapologetically herself and that includes being outspoken about her faith. Known for interpreting Biblical stories and metaphors to fit current times, her humorous and accessible approach to faith leaves even non-believers inspired and wanting more. The way Yvonne sees it, God is a Sovereign Prankster. When she meditates on her own life - complete with unforeseen blessings and unanticipated roadblocks - she realises it's one big testimony to how God tricked her into living out her wildest dreams.

After her mother, Brenda, passed away and her father sold the family home, broadcaster and writer Emma Kennedy found herself floundering, unable to make peace with the complex, charismatic woman who had been her mum. And then they found the letters. This heartbreakingly funny book about the impact of discovering lost letters is a celebration of correspondence; those lost acts of penned love, the vivid snapshots in time scattered back through a life.

Sonnet is a writer. She is a professional with a wide network of important people. She is athletic, creative and successful. She always remembers to send Christmas cards. Sonnet also likes to be caned. She likes to be humiliated. She likes to go into a room blindfolded with ten strangers and have them do whatever they want to her. Sonnet likes whatever you tell her she likes. This is the secret memoir of a submissive.

As an adult, Lauren Hough has had many identities: an airman in the U.S. Air Force, a cable guy, a bouncer at a gay club. As a child, however, she had none. Growing up as a member of the infamous cult The Children of God, Hough had her own self robbed from her. The cult took her all over the globe - to Germany, Japan, Texas, Chile - but it wasn't until she finally left for good that Lauren understood she could have a life beyond 'The Family'. Along the way, she's loaded up her car and started over, trading one life for the next.