Bøger af Andy Christopher Miller

When an old mountaineering friend fell gravely ill, Andy Miller found himself looking for solace in the oldest of a set of personal diaries that he had faithfully maintained for fifty years. Would their youthful adventures be recorded? What shared memories had he forgotten? Was there an anecdote or two that might help lift his stricken friend?Long-forgotten rock climbs and hitchhiking adventures tumbled out from the pages as he found himself immersed in the experimentation and freedom of his 1960s youth.As it dawned on him that the shelves of dusty notebooks literally contained the story of his life, questions started to crowd the mind of this nationally-recognized psychologist and award-winning poet. Why do people write personal diaries? What do they put in them?Who, if anybody, do they think will be interested in them? Jolted by his friend's condition he decided it was time to face his own past; time at last to read and edit them all.So began a journey not only into his own life story but into the role of diaries in our lives and, ultimately, into the very nature of human memory and the sense of the self..."An intimate and immensely readable book" - Dr Phil Stringer, Dept of Psychology, University College London.Andy Miller is an Honorary Professor at the Universities of Nottingham and Warwick.

An anthology drawing together previously published and new prose and poetry from across the writer's 40 year career, displaying a twin focus on mountaineering, rock climbing and outdoor adventure and on relationships across the adult life span."This collection pulses with life and energy ..." Aly Stoneman, LeftLion, 2013. Andy Miller's prose and poetry has won a range of awards and commendations. The judge for the 2011 international Yeovil Literary Prize, Daisy Goodwin, described his prize-winning poem 'Attempting to Interfere' as having "... a distinctive voice... (being) mysterious but repaying a close reading". His long out-of-print small book 'Hanging in the Balance' also attracted critical acclaim - "this brave, fragile pamphlet... is the best writing I've read in ages" (Terry Gifford, High) and "... it may already be a collector's item. For there is a breath of humanity in this book" (Ed Drummond, Mountain). 'Hanging in the Balance' is reprinted here in full.

A memoir of family, truth and secrets and what it was like to grow up in small-town Britain in the years following the Second World War. "A wonderful book ... anyone yet to read it has a real treat in store ..." - John Lindley, Cheshire Poet Laureate & Manchester Cathedral Poet of the Year. The War is over and a generation returns home to build peace, determined to create a new society, protected from cradle to grave. On the beautiful Dorset coast, baby boomer, Andy Miller, grows up surrounded by the security and nurture of the 1950s welfare state that will propel him from council estate to university. In a series of vignettes and stories, some humorous and some poignant, the author describes growing up in this vanished post-War world. But, what happens when one day, decades later, he discovers that everything he thought was true is not? Reviews Chris Thompson, writer for radio and TV (including The Archers, Heartbeat, Emmerdale and stand-alone radio plays), described the book as "highly recommended" saying that it is "as relevant to a child of the grimy north as to one brought up in coastal Dorset. Time and again I found myself recognising myself in the author's attempts to negotiate family, friendships, romantic stirrings and the occasional, casual cruelties of children. The writing is lovely; lyrical, subtle, original and surprising". Tony Jones, 2016 winner of the Writers Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Radio Drama, described the book as "excellent" and "... much more than regional nostalgia. The writing can shift from lovingly recalled detail to moments of powerful experience, and everything is jolted into another perspective by the last two sections, giving the whole piece a new significance and weight". Dorset-based writer, Judi Moore, says "... Miller is not afraid to dig deeply into his memories. He finds some which are poignant, others which show him in a less favourable light. He is an honest author with a broad palette with which to colour his childhood". And Nottingham author, Frances Thimann, has called the book "... (a) vivid and touching account of a time of hope and innocence (with) darker currents hinted at many times throughout".

With a focus on the western tip of Cornwall, its abiding attraction as a holiday location, its proud fishing and mining history and the varying and often dramatic moods of its weather and sea, Way to the West is a glorious collection featuring twenty-five beautiful full-page watercolours alongside accompanying poems