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> > Music, Stage & Screen |
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Author:
Paul O'Grady
By
Bantam Press
 Brilliant Boy from Birkenhead....Roll on book 2, 2008-10-12
Well What Can I say.
I couldn't wait to get my hands on it and ordered my copy from here to arrive on the day it was released.
Once I started I couldn't put this book down, From his times as an Altar Boy, to working in London to the sad ending that leaves you wanting to know more it's a must have for any fan.
Paul has wrote this in a way that makes it sound like he is with you reading it. Almost like you're transported into his world watching the happenings he describes.
10 out of 10 and get cracking on book number 2 Paul! Can't wait to hear about the adventures of Miss Savage!!!
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List Price: £18.99
Our Price: £8.48
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Author:
Julie Walters
By
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Warm and funny!, 2008-10-10
From the off this is hilarious, moving and funny. I can think of at least a dozen people I'll be giving this to at Christmas - just brilliant!
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List Price: £18.99
Our Price: £7.99
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Author:
Dawn French
By
Century
It's become a cliché in Britain to call somebody in the entertainment field a national institution -- but that's exactly what Dawn French is. As both comedienne and actress (the latter in both comedy and straight parts), she has become one of the best loved entertainers in the country. Her range is not wide (unlike her dimensions -- and that's the sort of joke she'd crack), but she is utterly winning in everything he does. And that quality continues in Dear Fatty, a truly entertaining memoir of an event-packed life.The form of the book is a series of letters by French, conjuring her transformation from a West Country RAF girl to a star of the cult alternative comedy group The Comic Strip. This was followed by the groundbreaking all-female Girls on Top (which did much to establish the position of women in British comedy), the astonishing success of the TV series French and Saunders (with French's equally talented friend Jennifer Saunders) and the sitcom The Vicar of Dibley, where French's wickedly sardonic touch keeps the tweeness of the basic situation -- female vicar in a rustic town -- at bay. For French, early dreams of becoming a ballerina or an air hostess came to nothing, but the loss to the worlds of dance and aviation was a gain for TV audiences. All of that, of course, is covered in this frequently hilarious and often moving collection. We are invited into her most personal relationships with (among others) her mother and father, her husband (fellow comedian Lenny Henry), and, of course, her most important comedic ally, Jennifer Saunders. Everything French describes -- from the agonies of being a teenager to the death of her father -- and (of course) the way in which society defines her by her generous size -- is treated with a highly diverting insight. Fans of Dawn French's TV appearances will lap it up, but Dear Fatty has a lot more to offer, even to those only vaguely familiar with her. But is anyone in Britain only vaguely familiar with Dawn French? --Barry Forshaw
Real Life, 2008-10-21
Dear Fatty has made me smile, made me laugh, made me cry and made me reflect on my own life. It was a great way for Dawn to "talk to" her friends and family and to share her life story (to date) with everyone. I loved the way it was written and the fact that I can almost hear her speaking. Great book!
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List Price: £18.99
Our Price: £7.79
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Author:
Fern Britton
By
Michael Joseph
Heartwarming and inspirational, 2008-11-15
I have been a fan of Fern's for years. I admit I was disappointed when it all came out about her gastric band and I bought the book fearing that it would be a whitewash. It isn't. Fern has not had it easy. The proof that she really is the nice person I always thought she was is that she doesn't point fingers or spill blood and guts in the way that has become commonplace in celebrity biographies which, in my view, is all to her credit. Yet reading between the lines, her father being totally absent, her stepfather being less than easy... I have a much clearer understanding of how she manages to emphathise with people who go on This Morning. Her descriptions of depression so closely mirrored my own that it was a great comfort to me. People always say "Oh you can't be a depressive, you're always laughing and joking and seem so happy" Yes, I am by nature happy, but when depression descends on me it is as if I have fallen off the platform that everyone else stands on and from which one can operate normally. In a horrible way it is comforting to know that someone known for being so smiley, can have felt the same.
I was lucky enough to be able to conceive my children normally and this is the first time I have really understood the pressures that face women in Fern's situation. It's not something you can ask anyone about. Thanks to her book, I can now appreciate just how painful it must be and the joy Fern experienced, and the difficult decision to leave the twins' father had me in tears. I thoroughly recommend this book. It told me so much, not only about Fern's past but also about her current life, busy and happy. Well done Fern.
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List Price: £18.99
Our Price: £7.16
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Author:
Richard Porter
By
BBC Books
FUNNY, 2008-11-19
I don't even watch Top Gear that religiously but I bought the book for my brother for Christmas. I opened it to write a message in the cover and ended up reading most of it! I laughed out loud on so many occasions, it is SO funny!! As funny if not funnier than the show.
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List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £4.74
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Author:
Roger Moore
By
Michael O'Mara Books
Charming................., 2008-10-21
My sister is a major Roger Moore fan so I bought this for her as an early Christmas present - I have to say I had a sneaky peak and once I started reading I could not put it down - loved it - what a charming read it was. A great tone and it was just so funny. This is a proper autobiography by someone who has lead a life and a half. I love old fashioned Hollywood stories and there are plenty in here to keep me happy.
Will have to buy a new copy for my sister as this one is staying firmly on my bookcase!
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List Price: £18.99
Our Price: £7.21
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Author:
Alan Carr
By
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Honesty is the word, 2008-10-31
As soon as l saw this book l wanted it, l was not going to browse past past. So l bought it,
and it arrived the next day.
I dropped what l was reading (which is unusual for me), and got started.
It comes through from an early age Alan is very happy with himself, it's
others around him, who don't see it the same way.
Don't think this is a constant laugh out loud book, there are some very
funny incidents, but Alan talks very VERY frankly about being Alan Carr.
How he appeared 1st time on stage, and vowed never to return.
Alan doesn't moan at life he gets on with it. He makes it very clear that
money was so very tight, and even I thought that appearing at the
Edinburgh Festival you made money from it, and he lost.
He isn't ashamed of the jobs he did, and "The Phantom" at one job.
He talks of his highs and lows of being on stage. But he doesn't hit the big time straight away.
The book isn't full of antidote's its about his life, and how easy it was to eventually go on stage. I can
understand how sensitive he is about audiences, especially the christian one!!!
Alan comes over a very humble person, he is not one boast about all the people whom he has met,
he is overwhelmed when Robbie Williams comes to talk to him, same with Charlotte Church.
If you didn't know Alan Carr at the start of this book, you will hopefully
love him at the end.
The book ends as of where he is now, it leaves no strings dangling.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.
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List Price: £18.99
Our Price: £6.48
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Author:
Stephen Fry
By
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
From Cover to Shining Cover, 2008-11-02
Having read the three and four star reviews, I had second-thoughts about purchasing 'Stephen Fry in America'. But after purchasing the book on the back of watchin three episodes of the TV programme I was compelled to write a review and it is one of 5 stars, as I'm sure you may be aware of! I can tell you my friends, that this well put together travelogue of a quintessentially Englishman's journey through and into the heart of America is almost definitely a book everyone who 'views' this item on amazon should purchase.
I don't want to slate the former reviews (apart from the 5 star one, great outlook ol' chum) because they're entitled to create their own opinions but they are wrong! To quote Mike D of the Beastie Boys, "I don't speak what I hear, I just say what I know" and this will form the basis of my own review, which I hope will prove informative and may tip the balance in favour of you buying this book. And I am an independent source, I'm not on Stephen Fry's payroll (NB* If he has one, can somebody please get in touch with me).
Firstly, the price of this book, as of 2/10/08 (or to be topical 10/02/08), on Amazon is £9, which is £1 cheaper than the low price of ASDA and Waterstones, is very reasonable especially seeing as it is in hardback and vibrant in colour, and perhaps more central, priceless with in the qualitative and quantitative information it is crammed with.
Fry starts off in Maine, following an interesting and humorous introduction. From the off, one can simply tell that this tale is going to be an insightful and intriguing journey through all 50 states. Fry does not fail to miss out the `little man' which he seems to stress as being so important in the fabric of the American global blanket.
I won't list every single tale from every single encounter in every single tale for I feel it is a story you need to embark upon yourself. But I can tell you he meets one very special Hollywood A-lister, and this isn't even the highlight of the saga!
This very factual and delightfully subjective account avoids falling into that massive cavity of the all-too common `America-bashing', something the man makes clear he is not a fan of. This book is not a fact-by-fact, number-by-number tale but rather an engrossing book which will see you turning the page faster and faster, your fingers will be moving faster than a New York Minute, or faster than a mid-western diner waitress swiftly topping up the `bottomless coffee' of her thirsty patrons.
Stephen Fry, the stand up for America guy! A warming and enlightening tale that is sure to warm up your autumn. Purchase in confidence of owning a great book that I'm sure you will be able to go back to again and again, until Fry embarks upon another such journey, perhaps of England!
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List Price: £20.00
Our Price: £8.95
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Author:
"Girls Aloud"
By
Bantam Press
A wonderful book from five wonderful girls, 2008-10-06
Barcode: 9780593061220
Girls Aloud are really quite beyond anything else. As a band, over the past six years they have caused a nation to fall in love with them, to cherish them and their inspired pop songs. They are impossibly beautiful, role models to countless young people, media darlings that have the tabloids and celeb mags hanging on their every move, they are fantastic singers who have treated us to some of the best pop songs of the 21st century, but most of all - they are Girls Aloud, and that is why we love them.
And now, in the book that all us fans have been waiting ages for, Cheryl, Nadine, Nicola, Sarah and Kimberley invite us to sit back and listen to just what it's like to be Girls Aloud. For those who have seen the Girls' brilliant DVD's Off The Record, Style and TV series Passions you will already have a taste of what to expect here. One thing I have always admired the Girls greatly for is their straight talking attitude, they have this down-to-earth charm and feistiness to them that truly sets them apart. And it is this that we see here in Dreams That Glitter.
The book takes a roughly chronological approach and starts off with the Girls' lives leading up to the band's beginnings on Popstars - The Rivals. The viewpoint alternates between each of the Girls, each offering their individual outlooks and own experiences at each stage of their career. It is fascinating to see them looking back now, with hindsight, on many of the things that must have just swept them up in a hurricane in the beginning. There are also individual sections scattered throughout with Q&A's for each of the Girls and such like.
In essence, this isn't so much an autobiography, but a series of insightful anecdotes, told by the Girls as they might tell a friend over an evening meal. In the past six years the Girls have been through a lot and this book shows very much how they have become very different, yet fundamentally still the same, from the people they set out as. They have learnt lessons in life, and as they started out so young, these lessons were all the more powerful, and it is heart-warming to see them working through these various aspects of their lives, whether they be for good or for bad. As the Girls repeatedly say, they wouldn't change any of it for the world - what will be will be and all that.
They are very humble about their success too, Cheryl in particular being very embarrassed by the stratospheric levels of fame and public awareness surrounding her now. There is an extremely touching paragraph in the book's introduction where the Girls say:
"We've been on the most amazing journey together and achieved so much more than we ever dreamed possible. We still have moments when we can't quite believe just how far we've come, that this extraordinary life really is ours. We'd love our story to inspire you to have faith in your dreams, whatever they might be, and to go for them, no matter what."
And you can't get a much more positive message than that. But it's true. Through these last six years, as the Girls themselves have grown up and matured, their fans have done so with them, it's a mutual experience, and I like to think that we all go through the same and that some of what's in this book will inspire people as from reading it, I think they say some truly insightful things about fame, the world around them, and life in general.
Girls Aloud have one of the most devoted fanbases around - they have after all helped the Girls to achieve that wonderful chart record of 18 consecutive top ten singles - and it is to these fans that this book is dedicated. Looking at the Girls today, we see a band that has serious publications like the Guardian writing six page articles about them, a band that NME applaud and give rave reviews to their albums.
In terms of the book itself, there are loads of lovely pictures in there of the Girls looking glam and having fun (plus one fascinating pic of the elusive Brian Higgins and Mirana Cooper - two of the masterminds making up the Girls' songwriters/producers Xenomania). The book itself is gorgeous too, very high quality with glossy, colourful pages and actual glitter on the cover.
I think it was around the time of Call The Shots that Girls Aloud finally transcended from being just a `great pop group' to something quite special indeed, something almost heroic, something almost magical. I've heard them described as `national treasures', the `saviours of pop' and thus this book makes a fitting tribute to a year which has really shown us the very essence of what Girls Aloud mean. Really, this book is for the fans, although I'm sure more casual readers will find plenty to enjoy here too - well worth reading.
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List Price: £14.99
Our Price: £7.39
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Author:
Michael Parkinson
By
Hodder & Stoughton
As good as I hoped, 2008-10-13
The is a very well written memoir this tells you so much about Parky himself through his passions, view of the world and recollections of some amazing meetings / interviews. A Biography that is well worth reading ( and for that see also Entirely Up to You, Darling)
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List Price: £20.00
Our Price: £7.25
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