Nigel Richardson first met Josh Avery when he was a boy, but it was only much later that he got to know him well. Richardson was fascinated by the anecdotes of Avery's life in and around the post-war Soho that included Daniel Farson, William Empson, George Barker, Henrietta Moraes, John Minton, and Francis Bacon. Richardson was never quite sure if the stories were true or not, but it seemed not to matter. In Dog Days in Soho Richardson has woven a life of Josh that might be true in every detail, or might not. Employing the same technique as in his highly acclaimed Breakfast in Brighton, he has produced a book which captures the essence of a time and a place now gone.
A look at style and urbanism, offering a reconsideration of the role of fashion in city life and filling in overlooked gaps in the history of London and modern design.
A newly divorced mom fends off her matchmaking friends—with unexpected results—in this novel from a “Jane Austen in modern dress” (The Boston Globe). Patricia’s marriage of eleven years is over. Aside from her doubts about the arrival of Brian, a dog who has become a father-substitute for her ten-year-old daughter, Patricia is more than ready for a fulfilled life as a single parent. But then the matchmaking begins. Even her most trusted friends are determined to provide her with potential lovers, all of whom she skillfully manages to avoid—that is until Roland, who is deeply unsuitable, arrives on the scene . . . “A witty, enjoyable novel that will appeal to readers who like their fiction sharp and British.” —Library Journal “Taking dead aim at complacency and pretension, Mavis Cheek is Jane Austen in modern dress.” —The Boston Globe “[A] stylish, engaging comedy of manners . . . The scenes leading up to the denouement are unpredictably hilarious.” —Publishers Weekly “A devilishly funny social satirist.” —Daily Mail
‘Moon Over Soho cements [the Rivers of London] series as my favorite urban fantasy series. The humor, the world-building, the action, the magic, the mystery, the procedural—all are top-notch.’ — Ranting Dragon My name is Peter Grant, and I’m a Police Constable in that mighty army for justice known as the Metropolitan Police (a.k.a. the Filth). I’m also an apprentice wizard, the first in fifty years. When your dad is an almost famous jazz trumpeter, you know the classics. And that’s why, when Dr Walid called me down to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognized the tune it was playing as the jazz classic ‘Body and Soul.’ Something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint on his corpse as if it were a wax cylinder recording. The former owner of the body, Cyrus Wilkinson, was a part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant who had dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig. He wasn’t the first, but no one was going to let me exhume corpses just to see if they were playing my tune. So it was back to old-fashioned police legwork, starting in Soho, the heart of the scene, with the lovely Simone – Cyrus’s ex-lover, professional jazz kitten and as inviting as a Rubens portrait – as my guide. And it didn’t take me long to realise there were monsters stalking Soho, creatures feeding off that special gift that separates the great musician from someone who can raise a decent tune. What they take is beauty. What they leave behind is sickness, failure and broken lives. Reviews for Moon Over Soho Mr. Aaronovitch is, in short, writing the best contemporary occult detective series on the shelf today, and that’s by a substantial margin.’ — Pornokitsch ‘Moon Over Soho is a gripping continuation of River of London’s well executed blend of police-procedural and fantasy with a good splash of horror thrown in. This is urban fantasy done with a loving attention to detail and enlivened by an ever present wit making this series a must-read for anyone who likes their fantasy with a strong edge of realism.’ — SF Book Reviews
The “shrewd, entertainingly dark Hollywood novel” that inspired the award-winning Robert Altman film (The New York Times Book Review). Hollywood insider Michael Tolkin perfectly skewers the movie-making business through the mind of Griffin Mill, senior vice president of production at a major Hollywood studio. Ruthlessly ambitious, Mill is driven to control the levers of America’s dream-making machinery. He listens to writers pitch him stories all day, sitting in judgment of their fantasies, their lives. But now one writer whose pitch he responded to so glibly is sending him mortally threatening postcards. Squeezed between the threat to his life and the threat to his job, Mill’s deliberate and horrifying response spins him into a nightmare. Then he meets the sad and beautiful June Mercator and his obsession for her threatens to destroy them both. “One of the most wounding and satirical of all Hollywood exposes.” —Los Angeles Times “In its wry, acerbic description of life behind the studio gates Tolkin’s book recalls F. Scott Fitzgerald . . . and the vengeful comedy of Nathaniel West’s The Day of the Locust.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer
Compiled by Four & Sons, a dog magazine with a cult following, and Hoxton Mini Press, a renowned London publisherPlayful, beautiful and ready to carry under your arm - just like a spinoza puppyFrom the best green spaces to go fetch, to the most stylish cafés and hotels that welcome guests on four legs, this guide tells you all you need to know to have a tail-wagging time in New York City. With beautiful photography, handy maps and plenty of insider's tips, it lets you in on where to eat, drink, walk, visit and stay, alongside profiles of some of New York's most interesting dog owners. Whether you're looking for weekend get-aways or doggy day-trips, find out just how much more fun the city can be when you've got your pooch in tow.
When Friedman moved to New York City, he missed the dogs that had surrounded him growing up. He began photographing dogs on the street, and posting them on his blog, The Dogist. Whether because of the look in a dog's eyes, its innate beauty, or even the clothes its owner has dressed it in, every portrait in this book tells a story and explores the dog's distinct character and spirit.
This is an account of being brought up a household established by two bohemians of their age. Hetta and William met as fellow students at the 'liar's school', an induction course for new recruits to the BBC Foreign Service during World War 2. He was an established poet and literary critic, an academic whose career had been blighted in the UK. She was an orphaned South African, an aspiring sculptor, and a member of the Communist Party. Their marriage was to last over 40 years. Soon after the end of the war they took their two sons with them to Peking, where the civil war was resuming, and the Chinese Communist Party was to establish the new People's Republic. Oddly enough, their open marriage worked very well in the expatriate community. On their return to England William was able to resume an academic career in the north of England. Hetta stayed in London. The vicissitudes of their relationship made for an interesting life for the boys, who where sometimes being looked after by childless relations, sometimes roughing it on their own in the huge house that their parents had bought in Hampstead during the war. It was a life of privilege as well as neglect, but never dull.
“Eravamo anti-sistema in tutto e per tutto, nella musica e nell’arte. Volevamo distruggere qualsiasi cosa avesse regole prestabilite, tutto quel che c’era di asfissiante, tutte le certezze. Eravamo decisi a infrangere tutte le regole in tutti i modi possibili”. La Londra di Barry Miles è quella della cultura underground che nasce fra le macerie della Seconda guerra mondiale ed esplode nel corso degli anni Sessanta e Settanta, concentrandosi sul West End e su Soho, le zone in cui era confluita un’eterogenea popolazione di personaggi creativi e fuori dalle righe, intolleranti nei confronti delle costrizioni della cultura e del costume ufficiale: scrittori, poeti, registi, musicisti, artisti, pubblicitari, architetti, stilisti, e una miriade di più anonimi personaggi decisi a fare della propria vita un’arte. È la storia di una rivoluzione culturale determinata a ottenere una “totale confusione dei sensi”, che si sviluppa fra le vie di una metropoli artisticamente onnivora, fatta di locali, librerie, club, pub, teatri, piazze, vicoli, scantinati, case occupate o case borghesi. Una storia di sconvolgente energia vitale e al tempo stesso autodistruttiva, raccontata sul filo di quell’ironia che solo un testimone diretto può comunicare. Mettere in fila i nomi che si incontrano fra queste pagine fa tremare l’idea stessa di ‘controcultura’, poiché vi si ritrova molta della creatività che animerà per ibridazione la cultura ufficiale del Novecento: Dylan Thomas, Francis Bacon, i Situazionisti, il cool jazz, il rock ’n’ roll, Mary Quant, Kingsley Amis, J.G. Ballard, i Rolling Stones, i Beatles, William Burroughs, Jimi Hendrix, i Pink Floyd, Allen Ginsberg, Pete Townshend, Yoko Ono, Derek Jarman, David Hockney, i Clash, i Police, Gilbert & George, Vivienne Westwood, i Sex Pistols, Boy George, Charles Saatchi, Lucian Freud, Damien Hirst e moltissimi altri. Un libro-mondo brulicante di storie e di personaggi, il ritratto più preciso e divertente mai scritto sull’avventura gloriosa e infame di un’epoca oggi entrata nella leggenda.
I Could Be So Good For You is a unique portrait of north London's working class from the 1950s to the 21st century, and how it lived, struggled, survived and sometimes thrived. I Could Be So Good For You tackles head-on the pernicious and implicitly racist fiction that London, most especially north London, has no "real" working class in comparison to a more "authentic" working class in a place called "the North". In doing so it offers a history and a portrait of north London's working class from the 1950s to the 21st century, based on a wide and original range of sources including personal memoirs, autobiographies, collected oral histories and new interviews conducted by the author. The result is an important social history and a rich panorama of working-class life — its struggles, work, celebrations, events, triumphs, tragedies and the occasional nice little earner. For good or ill, from the start of post-war affluence in the 1950s to the economic crash of 2008, north London's working class had a life experience like almost no other part of the British working class, one not just of poverty, racism and exploitation, but also of bold new housing schemes in the heart of the city, of great opportunity and diversity and enjoyment. Its about time to tell that story.
