A vibrant novel from Booker Prize winner Penelope Lively—a wry, wise story about the surprising ways lives intersect When Charlotte Rainsford, a retired schoolteacher, is accosted by a petty thief on a London street, the consequences ripple across the lives of acquaintances and strangers alike. A marriage unravels after an illicit love affair is revealed through an errant cell phone message; a posh yet financially strapped interior designer meets a business partner who might prove too good to be true; an old-guard historian tries to recapture his youthful vigor with an ill-conceived idea for a TV miniseries; and a middle-aged central European immigrant learns to speak English and reinvents his life with the assistance of some new friends. In this engaging, utterly absorbing and brilliantly told novel, Penelope Lively shows us how one random event can cause marriages to fracture and heal themselves, opportunities to appear and disappear, lovers who might never have met to find each other and entire lives to become irrevocably changed. Funny, humane, touching, sly and sympathetic, How It All Began is a brilliant sleight of hand from an author at the top of her game.

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PULTIZER PRIZE WINNER • The captivating inside story of the woman who helmed the Washington Post during one of the most turbulent periods in the history of American media: the scandals of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate In this widely acclaimed memoir ("Riveting, moving...a wonderful book" The New York Times Book Review), Katharine Graham tells her story—one that is extraordinary both for the events it encompasses and for the courage, candor, and dignity of its telling. Here is the awkward child who grew up amid material wealth and emotional isolation; the young bride who watched her brilliant, charismatic husband—a confidant to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson—plunge into the mental illness that would culminate in his suicide. And here is the widow who shook off her grief and insecurity to take on a president and a pressman’s union as she entered the profane boys’ club of the newspaper business. As timely now as ever, Personal History is an exemplary record of our history and of the woman who played such a shaping role within them, discovering her own strength and sense of self as she confronted—and mastered—the personal and professional crises of her fascinating life.

The Long-Awaited, Enormously Entertaining Memoir by One of the Great Artists of Our Time—Now a New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller. In this candid and often hilarious memoir, the celebrated director, comedian, writer, and actor offers a comprehensive, personal look at his tumultuous life. Beginning with his Brooklyn childhood and his stint as a writer for the Sid Caesar variety show in the early days of television, working alongside comedy greats, Allen tells of his difficult early days doing standup before he achieved recognition and success. With his unique storytelling pizzazz, he recounts his departure into moviemaking, with such slapstick comedies as Take the Money and Run, and revisits his entire, sixty-year-long, and enormously productive career as a writer and director, from his classics Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Annie and Her Sisters to his most recent films, including Midnight in Paris. Along the way, he discusses his marriages, his romances and famous friendships, his jazz playing, and his books and plays. We learn about his demons, his mistakes, his successes, and those he loved, worked with, and learned from in equal measure. This is a hugely entertaining, deeply honest, rich and brilliant self-portrait of a celebrated artist who is ranked among the greatest filmmakers of our time.

The unflinching story of a professional oboist who finds order and beauty in music as her personal life threatens to destroy her. Music was everything for Marcia Butler. Growing up in an emotionally desolate home with an abusive father and a distant mother, she devoted herself to the discipline and rigor of the oboe, and quickly became a young prodigy on the rise in New York City's competitive music scene. But haunted by troubling childhood memories while balancing the challenges of a busy life as a working musician, Marcia succumbed to dangerous men, drugs and self-destruction. In her darkest moments, she asked the hardest question of all: Could music truly save her life? A memoir of startling honesty and subtle, profound beauty, The Skin Above My Knee is the story of a woman finding strength in her creative gifts and artistic destiny. Filled with vivid portraits of 1970's New York City, and fascinating insights into the intensity and precision necessary for a career in professional music, this is more than a narrative of a brilliant musician struggling to make it big in the big city. It is the story of a survivor. One of 2017's 35 over 35 One of the Washington Post's Top 10 Classical Music Moments of the Year

A fill-in book from the San Francisco Writers' Grotto, authors of the bestselling 642 Things series Focus on a single aspect of the craft of writing with help from the San Francisco Writers' Grotto. Writing Memoir starts with a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Julie Lythcott-Haims, who offers pointers for crafting a compelling narrative from your own experiences. The rest of the book consists of prompts and space to write, providing opportunities to reframe aspects of your life in thoughtful and interesting ways. Among other ideas, you'll be asked to write: a virtual tour of your hometown a description of what's in your purse or wallet right now a list of all the lies you've told an account of a historical event from your own lifetime, in a way that reveals something significant about yourself Perfectly sized to take to a café, on vacation, or on your morning commute, this book is designed for practicing your creative writing a little bit at a time. Special Features Paperback with textured cover stock, flaps, and a lay-flat binding Advice from a published writer, followed by fill-in prompts and space to write Part of the Lit Starts series, a collection of single-subject writing prompt books by the San Francisco Writers' Grotto Check out the other books in this series: Writing Action, Writing Character, Writing Dialogue, Writing Humor, and Writing Sci-fi and Fantasy.

"The Memoirs of Alexander Herzen, Parts I and II" by Aleksandr Herzen and translated by J. D. Duff takes you into the fascinating life of Aleksandr Herzen. Herzen is known as the "father of Russian socialism" and as one of the main fathers of agrarian populism in the country. His voice helped foster change in the territory and his story is one worth remembering. Duff does Herzen justice with a faithful translation.

This edition brings to you the finest collection of personal memoirs from the true champions of liberty. With their powerful narratives, they have changed people's convictions about slavery and shook the very foundation of this social evil: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup The Underground Railroad The Willie Lynch Letter: The Making of Slave! Confessions of Nat Turner Narrative of Sojourner Truth Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs Harriet: The Moses of Her People History of Mary Prince Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom, by William and Ellen Craft Thirty Years a Slave: From Bondage to Freedom, by Louis Hughes Narrative of the Life of J. D. Green, a Runaway Slave Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington Narrative of Olaudah Equiano Behind The Scenes - 30 Years a Slave & 4 Years in the White House, by Elizabeth Keckley Father Henson's Story of His Own Life Fifty Years in Chains, by Charles Ball Twenty-Two Years a Slave and Forty Years a Freeman, by Austin Steward Narrative of the Life of Henry Bibb Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave Story of Mattie J. Jackson A Slave Girl's Story, by Kate Drumgoold From the Darkness Cometh the Light, by Lucy A. Delaney Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy Narrative of Joanna; An Emancipated Slave, of Surinam Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Who Escaped in a 3x2 Feet Box Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley Buried Alive For a Quarter of a Century - Life of William Walker Pictures of Slavery in Church and State Dying Speech of Stephen Smith Who Was Executed for Burglary Life of Joseph Mountain Charge of Aiding and Abetting in the Rescue of a Fugitive Slave Lynch Law in All Its Phases Duty of Disobedience to the Fugitive Slave Act Captain Canot Pearl Incident: Personal Memoir of Daniel Drayton History of Abolition of African Slave-Trade History of American Abolitionism

Reproduction of the original.