Stalin Ate My Homework

Author: Alexei Sayle
Publisher: Sceptre
ISBN: 1848945000
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
'Fascinating and hugely entertaining' Daily Telegraph 'It's not like other comedians' memoirs. It's funny' Guardian THE SAYLES MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN THE ONLY JEWISH ATHEIST COMMUNIST FAMILY IN LIVERPOOL, BUT ALEXEI KNEW FROM AN EARLY AGE THAT THEY WERE ONE OF THE MORE ECCENTRIC. Born on the day egg rationing came to an end, Alexei was the only child of Joe, an affable trade unionist who led the family on railway expeditions across eastern Europe, and Molly, a hot-tempered red-head who terrified teachers and insisted Alexei see the Red Army Choir instead of the Beatles. Perceptive and hilarious, this is a portrait of a family, a city, a country and a continent going through enormous changes. 'Sayle's book has charm and substance, both as memoir and history' Times Literary Supplement

Thatcher Stole My Trousers

Author: Alexei Sayle
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 140886455X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 323

Book Description
'Enlightening ... Funny, smart, original and provocative ... It is hard to imagine the stalwarts of Mock the Week recognising the Druze militia leader Walid Jumblatt in a London cinema' NEW STATESMAN 'Few standups have come close to capturing a fraction of this creative energy in a book ... Alexei Sayle is an exception' GUARDIAN "What I brought to comedy was an authentic working-class voice plus a threat of genuine violence - nobody in Monty Python looked like a hard case who'd kick your head in." In 1971, comedians on the working men's club circuit imagined that they would be free to continue telling their tired, racist, misogynistic gags forever. But their nemesis, a nineteen-year-old Marxist art student, was slowly coming to meet them... Thatcher Stole My Trousers chronicles a time when comedy and politics united in electrifying ways. Recounting the founding of the Comedy Store, the Comic Strip and the Young Ones, and Alexei's friendships with the comedians who – like him – would soon become household names, this is a unique and beguiling blend of social history and memoir. Fascinating, funny, angry and entertaining, it is a story of class and comedy, politics and love, fast cars and why it's difficult to foul a dwarf in a game of football.

Barcelona Plates

Author: Alexei Sayle
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780340936382
Category : England
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A septuagenarian contract killer, a chronic hypochondriac, two zombie-creating comedians, a good Samaritan and a man called Barnaby whose holiday takes an unexpected turn. In these sleek and witty tales, described by Loaded as 'an excellent collection of dark, funny and bizarre short stories', Alexei Sayle's characters are vividly, wryly - and occasionally disturbingly - portrayed. Their voices, and the stories they have to tell will remain in the mind for a long, long time.

The Dog Catcher

Author: Alexei Sayle
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780340819449
Category : Black humor
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Book Description
The acclaimed BARCELONA PLATES revealed Alexei Sayle as a writer with an outstanding ability to describe contemporary life in an unusual way. Now, in his new collection THE DOG CATCHER, he brilliantly captures the morals and absurdities of our so-called 'cool' culture, populated by characters as recognizable as they are memorable. THE DOG CATCHER will confirm Alexei Sayle's reputation as not only one of the great exponents of the short story genre, but also as a profound commentator on the way we live now.

Red Azalea

Author: Anchee Min
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408840855
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Book Description
The acclaimed memoir from the bestselling author of Empress Orchid 'Historically remarkable ... intensely moving' SUNDAY TIMES 'The book sings. It is a small masterpiece' VOGUE Born into a devoutly Maoist family in 1950s Shanghai and forced to work on a communal farm from the age of seventeen, Anchee Min found herself in an alienating and hostile political climate, where her only friendships were perilous and intense. Both candid and touching, this compelling memoir documents her isolation and illicit love against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution. From her coming of age in the Red Guard to her recruitment into Madame Mao's burgeoning industry of propaganda movies, Red Azalea explores the secret sensuality of a repressive society with elegance and honesty.

Sophie's World

Author: Jostein Gaarder
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1466804270
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 599

Book Description
A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

Everyday Stalinism

Author: Sheila Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195050002
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Book Description
Focusing on urban areas in the 1930s, this college professor illuminates the ways that Soviet city-dwellers coped with this world, examining such diverse activities as shopping, landing a job, and other acts.

The Fetish Room

Author: Rudi Rotthier
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1847654525
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
Redmond O'Hanlon is known as an amiable anti-hero - the debunker of classical exploration literature - and here on this joint road trip with journalist Rudi Rotthier, O'Hanlon visits places from his dark childhood. With a fine sense of the comic and beautifully rendered observations of the people they encounter, Rotthier excels in painting a portrait of this English author as he details the escapades of their journey. O'Hanlon provides a stream of jokey anecdotes which offset the bleakness of almost all his memories as do their conversations on God, Darwin and nature. Plagued by depression and scarred by his childhood and sadistic teachers, O'Hanlon drinks excessively, pops caffeine and nicotine pills. One of his most important possessions is a jar containing some of the charred remains of a close friend who committed suicide. In his house in Oxfordshire piles of books have spilled over tables and shelves and tottering mounds of dirty crockery obscure the sink. Yet, unlikely as it may seem, this is a remarkably light-hearted, sensitive and funny book.

Weeping Women Hotel

Author: Alexei Sayle
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1848948115
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 253

Book Description
'A funny, frightening book that is also refreshingly bonkers' Guardian 'A brilliant writer...a great novelist' Richard and Judy Northern girl Harriet lives and works on a London estate which is a battleground between the white working class plus the immigrants versus the newly arrived middle class focaccia-eaters. Unhappy and overweight, she hires a personal trainer who lures her into joining the martial arts class he runs. There she learns the regime of the completely phoney martial arts master and embarks on a spiritual and literal journey which leads her to a hotel opposite the railway station at Crewe, the Weeping Women Hotel. 'If you like your weirdness with warmth and wit, Sayle's your man' Metro

Restaurant Man

Author: Joe Bastianich
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101583541
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 342

Book Description
The New York Times Bestselling Book--Great gift for Foodies “The best, funniest, most revealing inside look at the restaurant biz since Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential.” —Jay McInerney With a foreword by Mario Batali Joe Bastianich is unquestionably one of the most successful restaurateurs in America—if not the world. So how did a nice Italian boy from Queens turn his passion for food and wine into an empire? In Restaurant Man, Joe charts a remarkable journey that first began in his parents’ neighborhood eatery. Along the way, he shares fascinating stories about his establishments and his superstar chef partners—his mother, Lidia Bastianich, and Mario Batali. Ever since Anthony Bourdain whet literary palates with Kitchen Confidential, restaurant memoirs have been mainstays of the bestseller lists. Serving up equal parts rock ’n’ roll and hard-ass business reality, Restaurant Man is a compelling ragu-to-riches chronicle that foodies and aspiring restauranteurs alike will be hankering to read.