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	<title>Curious Book Fans &#187; Autobiography</title>
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	<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk</link>
	<description>This is a site for curious book fans who like to read and write about books they read...</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:06:31 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2012/health-mind-and-body/8923/c-because-cowards-get-cancer-too</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2012/health-mind-and-body/8923/c-because-cowards-get-cancer-too#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:44:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>koshkha</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health, mind and body]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Diamond]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=8923</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[John Diamond was a journalist and broadcaster known for his wit as much as for his marriage to Nigella Lawson and he was by his own admission, a hypochondriac. After decades of seeing every little twinge as a portent of medical doom and waiting almost expectantly for the heart attack for which decades of over-indulgence must surely qualify him, it was as much a self-fulfilling prophesy as a big surprise when a lump in his neck turned out to be more sinister than he'd expected. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2012/health-mind-and-body/8923/c-because-cowards-get-cancer-too/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Twisting my Melon</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2012/autobiography/8870/twisting-my-melon-shaun-ryder</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2012/autobiography/8870/twisting-my-melon-shaun-ryder#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:48:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>koshkha</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shaun Ryder]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=8870</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When Shaun Ryder appeared in (and very nearly won) the 2010 TV series of 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here', the nation split into two camps. The over 55s and under 35s mostly didn't have the slightest idea who he was and those whose age lay between knew exactly who Ryder was but were flabbergasted he'd survived the years of drugs and hard living with his mental faculties sufficiently in tact to be capable of doing much more than sitting in a corner talking to himself. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2012/autobiography/8870/twisting-my-melon-shaun-ryder/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Ghosts by Daylight: A Memoir of War and Love</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/8718/ghosts-by-daylight-a-memoir-of-war-and-love-janine-di-giovanni</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/8718/ghosts-by-daylight-a-memoir-of-war-and-love-janine-di-giovanni#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:39:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>elkiedee</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Janine Di Giovanni]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=8718</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Two war reporters decide to settle down to a more ordinary, domestic life, away from the world’s conflicts, in Paris. They are having a baby. This effort at normal life turns out to be more stressful for them both than they could have imagined. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/8718/ghosts-by-daylight-a-memoir-of-war-and-love-janine-di-giovanni/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Cloyne Court</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/fiction-books/8527/cloyne-court-dodie-katague</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/fiction-books/8527/cloyne-court-dodie-katague#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:08:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>koshkha</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contemporary fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fiction Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dodie Katague]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=8527</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Student days are for many people the best days of their lives. Free at last from parental supervision and not yet encumbered by the responsibilities of work, marriage and mortgages, the years at university can be fantastic – more so perhaps in the past before the introduction of massive student loans and tuition fees. Cloyne Court by Dodie Katague is a student 'coming of age' novel set in one of the wildest times and settings. As California turned on, tuned in and dropped out in the mid-1970s Berkeley students benefited from the widespread availability of drugs (many of them not yet illegal), access to the pill and plenty of alcohol and made the most of what life had to offer. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/fiction-books/8527/cloyne-court-dodie-katague/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>No Off Switch</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/7962/no-off-switch-andy-kershaw</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/7962/no-off-switch-andy-kershaw#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:49:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary Bor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andy Kershaw]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=7962</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Those moments in life when you feel a genuine connection with another person are few and far between; I’m talking about that moment you realise that there’s someone thinks the same as you, has the same values and ideas. Often it can come from books, for me it came through music and the person who made everything make sense was Andy Kershaw. As a teenager I did not follow the crowd; I had my own firm ideas about what made good music and those ideas were fueled by Kershaw’s Radio 1 broadcasts. You might say I grew up with Kershaw; as the content of his shows grew wider and his travels took him all over the world so too did my musical (and often political) horizons expand. Did I mention I also had an enormous crush on the man too?
 
“No Off Switch” is an autobiography I’ve been eagerly awaiting for a long time. The shelves of bookstores real and virtual teem with so-called celebrity autobiographies but few of them can offer the stories that Kershaw has to tell. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/7962/no-off-switch-andy-kershaw/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>An Ordinary Man: The True Story Behind Hotel Rwanda</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/history/7831/an-ordinary-man-the-true-story-behind-hotel-rwanda-paul-rusesabagina</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/history/7831/an-ordinary-man-the-true-story-behind-hotel-rwanda-paul-rusesabagina#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:20:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>eilidhcatriona</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paul Rusesabagina]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=7831</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“My name is Paul Rusesabagina. I am a hotel manager.” So begins An Ordinary Man: The True Story Behind Hotel Rwanda. This is the story of an ordinary man, a hotel manager, who saved 1268 lives during the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

Over the course of 100 days between April and July 1994, over 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered by the Interahamwe militia, because of their racial background. The Interahamwe were Hutus, and the build up to the genocide was filled with words of hate against the Tutsi “cockroaches” and the moderate Hutus who lived in peace with them. The UN soldiers in Rwanda had orders only to fire if fired upon, and so many stood by and watched the murder of children in front of them. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/history/7831/an-ordinary-man-the-true-story-behind-hotel-rwanda-paul-rusesabagina/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Man Who Cycled the Americas</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/sport-and-leisure/7777/the-man-who-cycled-the-americas-mark-beaumont</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/sport-and-leisure/7777/the-man-who-cycled-the-americas-mark-beaumont#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:44:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary Bor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sport and leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mark Beaumont]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=7777</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The blogosphere is well suited to the coverage of extended journeys or endurance achievements; there have, in recent years, been several excellent blogs written by cyclists (Tom Kevill-Davies’s The Hungry Cyclist and currently Alastair Humphreys’s terrifically entertaining blog covering his round the world cycle ride are just two of them) and a few of these have been the catalyst for full length books, proving not only the enduring popularity of cycling but just how much the public’s imagination is fired by tales of such feats of strength, daring and will to succeed.

Following on from “The Man Who Cycled the World”, an account of his record breaking trip of 2008, “The Man Who Cycled the Americas” is Mark Beaumont’s next major undertaking, cycling down the back bone of the continents of North and South America. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/sport-and-leisure/7777/the-man-who-cycled-the-americas-mark-beaumont/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Tongue Firmly in Cheek</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/7707/js-and-the-times-of-my-life-a-worm%e2%80%99s-eye-view-of-indian-journalism-jug-suraiya</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/7707/js-and-the-times-of-my-life-a-worm%e2%80%99s-eye-view-of-indian-journalism-jug-suraiya#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:10:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anjana Basu</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jug Suraiya]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=7707</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The title stops you with its combination of two logos. You look at it and, if you’re a person in the know about Jagdish Suraiya’s life you wince at the puniness of it all. Perhaps if the logos had not been force-fed, it could have been accepted as a subtle tribute. But those are among the rare things to cavil about in this book.

Jug Suraiya is one of India’s best known journalists, with a name insightful tongue in cheek pieces. And, for taking digs at himself. The opening chapter sets the tone – the journalist who rarely watched television missed the news about Diana’s death and so ran an opinion piece a day late. But then, he goes on to say, he became a journalist quite by accident, preferring to try odd business ventures like marketing paint spraying devices or selling tendu leaves. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/7707/js-and-the-times-of-my-life-a-worm%e2%80%99s-eye-view-of-indian-journalism-jug-suraiya/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Signs of Life</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/society/7434/signs-of-life-natalie-taylor</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/society/7434/signs-of-life-natalie-taylor#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:23:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>eilidhcatriona</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Natalie Taylor]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=7434</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Signs of Life by Natalie Taylor is an autobiographical account of sixteen months of the authors life, starting on the day her husband Josh died, and ending on their sons first birthday. At the age of 24, Natalie suddenly found herself widowed and pregnant.

When I was offered the chance to read and review Signs of Life, my initial reaction was that Natalie’s story is similar to that of a former colleague who lost her partner shortly after their daughter’s birth. I remember the grief that struck the office at that time, and I felt drawn to Signs of Life, to find out just how someone could cope with such a tragedy. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/society/7434/signs-of-life-natalie-taylor/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A Widow’s Story</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/7181/a-widow%e2%80%99s-story-joyce-carol-oates</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/7181/a-widow%e2%80%99s-story-joyce-carol-oates#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:53:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>koshkha</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joyce Carol Oates]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=7181</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[To her fans and readers she’s Joyce Carol Oates, a highly respected writer with a bucket-load of writing awards and over 50 novels to her name. To others she’s Rosamund Smith or Lauren Kelly, two of her pen names. To students at Princeton University where she’s taught since 1978, she’s Professor Oates. To family and friends, she was Joyce Smith, loving wife of Raymond J Smith.  In February 2008 when Ray died suddenly and unexpectedly of a hospital acquired infection, she took on her latest role and identity – that of ‘the Widow’. Her latest book is the entirely autobiographical and deeply personal ‘A Widow’s Story’ and it is Oates’ account of the aftermath of Ray’s death and its impact on her.

 

When we marry and utter those words ‘til death us do part’ it can almost sound like a contractual ‘get out’ clause; like death is the end of the relationship and releases us from all promises and obligations. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/7181/a-widow%e2%80%99s-story-joyce-carol-oates/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Vet: My Wild and Wonderful Friends</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/science-and-nature/6986/the-vet-my-wild-and-wonderful-friends-luke-gamble</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/science-and-nature/6986/the-vet-my-wild-and-wonderful-friends-luke-gamble#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2011 11:33:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>eilidhcatriona</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Science and nature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Luke Gamble]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=6986</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I was offered the chance to read and review The Vet: My Wild and Wonderful Friends by Luke Gamble, billed as a 21st century James Herriot, I thought it was my lucky day. Treatment and technology may have advanced, but animals haven’t changed so surely there would be more hilarity to be had from this new book.

Gamble, I should point out, may be a familiar face to you – he has fronted some TV series about his work and his charity, Worldwide Veterinary Services (WVS). I hadn’t seen any of his shows, but I was vaguely aware of him. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/science-and-nature/6986/the-vet-my-wild-and-wonderful-friends-luke-gamble/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Ten Pound Pom</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/travel-books/6827/ten-pound-pom-niall-griffiths</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/travel-books/6827/ten-pound-pom-niall-griffiths#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:58:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary Bor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Niall Griffiths]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=6827</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I’ve read very little travel writing on Australia, but then very little has grabbed my attention. We feel like we know Australia even if we haven’t been there ourselves; from Ramsey Street to the late Steve Irwin and the Australia Zoo we’re familiar with Aussie culture without having to spend twenty-four hours stuck on a plane to experience it. In his book “Ten Pound Pom”, however, Welshman Niall Griffiths turns all that on its head and makes sure that, in no uncertain terms, we learn the truth about what this faraway bastion of equality and opportunity is really like.

Back in 1976, Griffiths was, along with his family a “Ten Pound Pom”, emigrating to Brisbane under a scheme sponsored by the Australian government. Griffiths was nine at the time, twelve when the family returned to Liverpool. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/travel-books/6827/ten-pound-pom-niall-griffiths/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Jumbo to Jockey</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/sport-and-leisure/6736/jumbo-to-jockey-dominic-prince</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/sport-and-leisure/6736/jumbo-to-jockey-dominic-prince#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:45:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>koshkha</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sport and leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dominic Prince]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=6736</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Never get between a man and his plan. Rather than just open another bottle of good wine and stuff his face with another delicious meal cooked by his wife (cookery writer Rose Prince) Dominic Prince got the bit between his teeth and set out to lose about a third of his body weight, spent months with a trainer learning to race and entered an amateur race at Towcester. Such things can end in amazing success – look at that amateur rider, Sam Waley-Cohen, who came second in the Grand National. But this isn't fairy tale time and Prince isn't a fit young dentist who already won the Derby. Will he cover himself in glory, fall off and get trampled to death by tons of horses or just make a bit of a dick of himself. Jumbo to Jockey is his account of his personal journey from fatboy to fitboy. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/sport-and-leisure/6736/jumbo-to-jockey-dominic-prince/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>For Richer, For Poorer</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/6644/for-richer-for-poorer-victoria-coren</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/6644/for-richer-for-poorer-victoria-coren#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:46:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>collingwood21</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Victoria Coren]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=6644</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“My brother’s a poker player, but he isn’t a gambler, not really. That’s no thanks to Grandpa Sam. When we were little, Sam gave us a comprehensive education in blackjack, which he called pontoon. Here was the lesson: he was always the dealer and we always lost”. From such beginnings, Victoria Coren has ended up doing rather well out of cards. She has learnt to play well enough to join a professional poker team and collect career winnings of $1.5 million, and has become the first female European champion at the game; this book is the story of those wins and how she got there from being a shy, awkward and unhappy schoolgirl losing to her grandfather at blackjack. (Incidentally, my granddad also taught me to play pontoon when I was little, but lacking a slightly disreputable older sibling to later teach me the rules of poker, I have not become a millionaire player. Or a millionaire anything for that matter. Indeed, the only card game I play these days is the odd game of freecell or solitaire on my laptop when I am supposed to be doing other things. Like writing book reviews.) From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/autobiography/6644/for-richer-for-poorer-victoria-coren/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Kenneth Williams Diaries</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/tv-and-radio/6027/the-kenneth-williams-diaries</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/tv-and-radio/6027/the-kenneth-williams-diaries#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:31:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TV and radio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kenneth Williams]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=6027</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Kenneth Williams kept a diary for more than forty years and in 1993, five years after his death, these diaries were published in an edited form. The diaries revealed a more complex figure than the comedian who became much loved through his Carry On roles and famous appearances on the chat show circuit. The private Kenneth Williams was a remarkably well read, religious man haunted by his homosexuality, his sometimes outrageous behaviour, and his thoughts of suicide. He lived an ascetic and often lonely life in a series of modest London flats and never seemed to have much money considering how famous he was. The diaries are 800 pages long (in my paperback copy) and include many interesting photographs from different points in Williams' life, from his early revue days to the distinguished, grey haired figure of the late eighties shortly before his death.
From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/tv-and-radio/6027/the-kenneth-williams-diaries/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Dirty Bombshell &#8211; From Thyroid Cancer Back to Fabulous</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/health-mind-and-body/5594/dirty-bombshell-from-thyroid-cancer-back-to-fabulous-lorna-j-brunelle</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/health-mind-and-body/5594/dirty-bombshell-from-thyroid-cancer-back-to-fabulous-lorna-j-brunelle#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:30:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>koshkha</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health, mind and body]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lorna J Brunelle]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=5594</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Lorna Brunelle was just 33 when a routine medical exam alerted her to a problem in her neck which subsequent tests showed to be papillary thyroid cancer, the most common format of this relatively rare form of cancer. As a professional voice user (she’s a singer, acting coach and trainer) and a plus-sized model she was terrified that surgery on her neck might damage both her voice and her looks and hence her career. She kept records of her experience throughout her ‘journey’ with cancer and these were used to create her book ‘Dirty Bombshell – from Thyroid Cancer back to Fabulous’ which I have recently read on my Kindle after downloading a copy from Amazon for about £7.
From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2011/health-mind-and-body/5594/dirty-bombshell-from-thyroid-cancer-back-to-fabulous-lorna-j-brunelle/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Veiled Kingdom</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/fiction-books/4786/the-veiled-kingdom-by-carmen-bin-ladin</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/fiction-books/4786/the-veiled-kingdom-by-carmen-bin-ladin#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:20:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>koshkha</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fiction Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carmen Bin Ladin]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=4786</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In 1973 Carmen met Yeslam and all  seemed right with the world. It was a carefree time when it seemed that to be  young and in love was the peak of human joy. She was the daughter of a Persian  mother and a Swiss father and had spent her childhood shuttling between the  sterile safety of Switzerland and the unreal world of spoiled family visits to  pre-Revolutionary Iran. Yeslam was just the handsome, intelligent, amusing,  well-off guy with whom she fell in love.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/fiction-books/4786/the-veiled-kingdom-by-carmen-bin-ladin/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Sex and Bowls and Rock and Roll</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/4692/sex-and-bowls-and-rock-and-roll-alex-marsh</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/4692/sex-and-bowls-and-rock-and-roll-alex-marsh#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:54:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>koshkha</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alex Marsh]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=4692</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sex and Bowls and Rock and Roll is an endearing story of a man changing his life – moving down a gear or two, re-evaluating what matters in life and getting in touch with his inner lazy, self-indulgent child. The book is peopled with a colourful array of salt of the earth country folk – like Big Andy and his rescue battery chickens, Marsh's chicken co-conspirator and next door neighbour Short Tony, Len the Fish who is a fab handyman and lots of other people with jokey names. The wives are identified only by their husbands – Mrs Big Andy, Mrs Short Tony and so on. Perhaps it's a way to protect the identities of the innocent or just one of those 'boy things'. It's fair to say that although women will enjoy the book, it's primarily a 'bloke book' – not so much 'chick lit' as 'bit of a dick lit'.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/4692/sex-and-bowls-and-rock-and-roll-alex-marsh/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Against All Odds</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/health-mind-and-body/4529/to-hell-with-cancer-and-back-katherine-russell-rich</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/health-mind-and-body/4529/to-hell-with-cancer-and-back-katherine-russell-rich#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:21:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anjana Basu</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health, mind and body]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Katherine Russell Rich]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=4529</guid>
		<description><![CDATA['I found the lump twenty minutes before breakfast, three weeks after my marriage broke up,' Katherine Russell Rich’s book opens with a slap in the face. And it continues at that pace, slap after slap as the author unfolds her journey through an Inferno that she calls Cancerland. We meet doctors who hover on the brink of malpractice suits and who are unwilling to believe that any woman in her thirties could possibly have breast cancer. And there are co workers who avoid anyone who reminds them that they may one day die. And relatives who cannot mention the ‘c’ word. And friends who are as young as Russell Rich and therefore cannot deal with the reality of cancer.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/health-mind-and-body/4529/to-hell-with-cancer-and-back-katherine-russell-rich/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The To-Do List</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/4513/the-to-do-list-mike-gayle</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/4513/the-to-do-list-mike-gayle#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:55:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kingfisher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mike Gayle]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=4513</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The To-Do List  takes on a diary format with the recounting of events being spread over the course of the year. There is a lovely conversational tone to the book and this helps you feel that you get to know the writer as you read through it. At times it is funny whereas at other times more serious. And sometimes real life – such as becoming a father for the second time - gets in the way! Also it does not help when disaster strikes and the list actually goes missing for a while. The entire retelling is told with a warmth and a humour that makes it very real and very readable.
From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Shame</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/society/4504/shame-jasvinder-sanghera</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/society/4504/shame-jasvinder-sanghera#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:29:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>koshkha</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jasvinder Sanghera]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=4504</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This could so easily be a 'poor me' or 'my crap life' autobiography but it's not. It's much more a tale of survival, hope and determination to make a difference. It's not about looking for sympathy or punishing those who've done her wrong - instead it's much more about showing that there's still a lot of honour crime going on in the UK and that just because we're surrounded with positive images of British Asian life, it doesn't mean that all of the horrors of the old ways have gone away. It's also a way for Sanghera to publicise the charity she set up to deal with these crimes. In 21st century Britain there are still things being done to women that seem positively medieval. It's also a tale of how no matter what your parents do to push you away, they're still your mum and dad and that's such a fundamental connection that you can't just leave it behind you. 
From http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/society/4504/shame-jasvinder-sanghera/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>In Pursuit of a Good Read</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/4257/in-pursuit-of-glory-by-bradley-wiggins</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/4257/in-pursuit-of-glory-by-bradley-wiggins#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:24:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>collingwood21</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bradley Wiggins]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=4257</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This was really an unusual book for me to pick up, and to be honest if you had told me a couple of months back that I would have read it, I would probably have laughed. I did go through a phase a few years ago where I was very much into reading biographies, but I haven't picked one up in quite a while - and this is certainly the first biography of a sporting personality that I have tried (my choices previously inclined towards historical figures and writers). So what inspired me to pick up Bradley Wiggins' autobiography?
From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/4257/in-pursuit-of-glory-by-bradley-wiggins/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Dream Catcher</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/4237/dream-catcher-by-margaret-salinger</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/4237/dream-catcher-by-margaret-salinger#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:09:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Margaret Salinger]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=4237</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dream Catcher  was published in 2000 and is a memoir by Margaret Salinger, daughter of the infamous recluse JD Salinger. At the height of the fame that followed the publication of The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger moved to Cornish, New Hampshire and lived in a modest house in the woods on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. Although he continued to write he never published anything after 1965 and his reclusive and apparently eccentric lifestyle frequently led to much speculation about him. Dream Catcher  is about what it was like to grow up in this house as JD Salinger's daughter and then gradually spins out into a more general memoir by the author about her own life with her father flitting in and out of the book.
From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Olive Season</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/travel-books/4069/the-olive-season-carol-drinkwater</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/travel-books/4069/the-olive-season-carol-drinkwater#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:03:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>eilidhcatriona</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carol Drinkwater]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=4069</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Olive Season  is the second in Carol Drinkwater's series of autobiographical books about life in the South of France, and the trials and tribulations that come with running an olive farm and doing up and old villa.

I first read the series years ago when I bought the first three books during one of my crazes for travel writing (escapism in an Aberdonian winter). I enjoyed them but wasn't as in love with them as I was with others. On revisiting them recently however, I felt I appreciated them more.
From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Gordon&#8217;s Humble Pie</title>
		<link>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/2080/gordons-humble-pie</link>
		<comments>http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/autobiography/2080/gordons-humble-pie#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:44:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kingfisher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chef]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cooking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gordon Ramsay]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/?p=2080</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Having been a fan of the chef Gordon Ramsay for some time now, I was very interested to read his autobiography – Humble Pie. I wasn&#8217;t disappointed as I found it a very honest and at times poignant book. It&#8217;s interesting with celebrities that, by seeing them on television, you think you know them. I [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
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