This week’s top memoirs include Billy Connolly’s autobiography and The Lick Of Love by Julian Clary. A compelling account by Evanna Lynch, Michael McIntyre, and Julian Clary.










Windswept & Interesting

Billy Connolly                                                                                          Two Roads £25

This is everything an autobiography of a celebrity should be. Beginning life in a Glasgow tenement building and surviving brutal abuse at the hands of his own family, comedy’s wild man faced some daunting early odds. 

He started his life as a shipyard worker, then became a banjo-playing and street-fighting folk musician before he discovered his true calling. His unique voice ring out from every page. It is full of life-affirming silliness, fearlessness, humility and a sense of humor.

 

The opposite of butterfly hunting

Evanna Lynch                                                                                              Headline £20

‘Neither love, money, riches nor a part in a Harry Potter will compel a person to recover from their eating disorder if they don’t want to let it go,’ confides the Luna Lovegood actor in this myth-busting coming- of-age story. 

The book not only documents her battle with anorexia in her adolescence, but also provides a compelling, timely account of her journey to becoming a woman in the spotlight of global celebrity.

 

The Lick Of Love: How Dogs Have Changed My Life

Julian Clary                                                                                                    Quercus £20

An autodography? Julian Clary’s candid, colourful memoir doubles as a love letter to his canine companions. From his earliest days of stand-up to telly stardom and deciding to move to the countryside, there’s invariably a dog in the picture. 

These pooches can be used as co-stars, life coaches, or chaperones, but they always bring out the best of him as a person as well as a writer.

 

A Funny Life

Michael McIntyre                                                                                  Macmillan £20

Michael McIntyre was expecting a smooth ride to fame, fortune and success after his 2006 Royal Variety Performance. Happily for readers of this latest instalment of his autobiography, the world’s biggest-selling comedian couldn’t have been more wrong. 

Panel show disasters, talent judge flops, having his trousers fall down in front of three policemen – there are plenty of guffaws, but it can be moving, too.  

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