Tag: memoir
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My Cultural Awakening: How Losing My Religion by R.E.M. Helped Me Escape a Doomsday Cult
Introduction: A Quiet Crisis in the Shadow of End Times In 1991, I lived in a commune with about 200 others in Japan, a place that felt more like a closed ecosystem than a home. The group preached that the world would end in 1993, a timeline that shaped every choice and interaction. The environment…
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My favourite family photo: 30 years of tears, a smile that finally mattered
Introduction: A turning point captured in a single frame In a portrait that still feels like a hinge in time, I look at the photo: a moment when the years of patience, fear, and quiet endurance finally met the courage to change our story. Diane and I had shared life for more than three decades,…
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Huey Morgan: A Life in Rhythm—From Fun Lovin’ Criminals to Marine Dad
From Studio Nights to the Front Lines Huey Morgan rose to fame with Fun Lovin’ Criminals, a band that rode the wave of 1990s alt-rock with a swagger all its own. But behind the neon-lit glamour of touring, recording sessions, and lucrative rock’n’roll contracts lay a life defined by contrasts. A musician who could command…
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Miracle Wake-Up: A Reunion with Kenny Dalglish After Hillsborough
Introduction: A life rewritten by a miracle In the quiet lanes of a Warwickshire village, a story began that would forever defy the ordinary. Born in a place far from the roar of Anfield, I carried in me a lifelong pull toward Liverpool FC—the pull of a memory I didn’t quite understand until a miracle…
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A Particular Kind of Courage: A Thoughtful Debut Memoir Review
Introduction: The Courage to Tell One’s Truth Publishing a memoir is an act of naked vulnerability. When an author commits to revealing the intimate threads of their life, they invite judgment, vulnerability, and, crucially, connection. A particular kind of courage—this debut memoir’s compass—drives the narrative, guiding readers through moments that are by turns intimate, painful,…
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A Particular Kind of Courage: A Book Review
Introduction: A Moment of Honest Reckoning Publishing a debut memoir requires more than polished prose and a compelling story: it demands a particular kind of courage. In A Particular Kind of Courage, the author turns a scrutinizing lens on personal history, inviting readers to witness the raw process of turning lived experience into narrative. This…
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Book review: A particular kind of courage
Review: A particular kind of courage and the act of publishing memoir Publishing a debut memoir is a leap into uncharted territory. The author behind A particular kind of courage steps onto the page with a willingness to expose not just memories but the emotional weather that shaped them. This review considers how the book…
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Judi Dench’s Shakespearean Roots: A Marvellous Family History in My Family and Me
Overview: A luminous arc from stage legend to family historian Judi Dench’s television special, My Family and Me, lands with the quiet authority of a life spent on Shakespearean stages and the even more intimate stage of personal memory. The programme, part memoir, part genealogical quest, treats ancestry not as a dusty catalog of names…
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Nonfiction to Watch in 2026: Essential Reads for 2026
What to Expect in 2026 Nonfiction As the literary calendar turns, 2026 promises a rich slate of nonfiction that blends intimate storytelling with rigorous reporting. After a run of high-profile memoirs, readers can expect more ground-level, rigorously researched works that illuminate complex issues—from climate science to policy reform, and from personal transformation to systemic Overhauls…
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Mixed Up: A Candid Look at Belonging in a Young Immigrant’s Ireland
Introduction: A Memoir That Delves Beyond the Cover Books often invite readers to judge by the cover, but the true impact lies in the pages between. In Mixed Up, Leon Diop crafts a candid coming-of-age memoir that refuses easy answers about identity, belonging, and what it means to grow up between cultures. The subtitle, “An…