Book of the day
The Most Beautiful: My Life With Prince
Mayte Garcia
(UK: Trapeze, 2017; USA: Hachette, 2017)
In The Most Beautiful, a title inspired by the hit song Prince wrote about their legendary love story, Mayte Garcia for the first time shares the deeply personal story of their relationship and offers a singular perspective on the music icon and their world together: from their unconventional meeting backstage at a concert (and the long-distance romance that followed), to their fairy-tale wedding (and their groundbreaking artistic partnership), to the devastating losses that ultimately dissolved their romantic relationship for good.
Throughout it all, they shared a bond more intimate than any other in Prince’s life. No one else can tell this story or can provide a deeper, more nuanced portrait of Prince – both the famously private man and the pioneering, beloved artist – than Mayte, his partner during some of the most pivotal personal and professional years of his career. The Most Beautiful is a book that will be returned to for decades, as Prince’s music lives on with generations to come.
Available in the UK via ‘My Local Bookshop‘ search engine, or via Amazon (The Most Beautiful: My Life With Prince
Available in the USA via Amazon (The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince
Facts of the day
30 January
1948 Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by Nathuram Godse.
New Year
According to blogger, Steven Aitchison, it takes 21 days to cement a change in behaviour: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life blog, ‘A New Habit‘
Book
In 1951, William Burroughs accidentally shot dead his common-law wife, Joan Vollmer, at a party during a drunken game of ‘William Tell’.
Writers birthdays
1775 Walter Savage Landor (UK)
1781 Adelbert von Chamisso (France, Germany)
1841 George Alfred Townsend (USA)
1846 F H Bradley (UK)
1866 Gelett Burgess (USA)
1878 Anton Hansen Tammsaare (Estonia)
1890 Jaishankar Prasad (India)
1901 Hans Erich Nossak (Germany)
1909 Saul Alinsky (USA)
1912 Barbara W Tuchman (USA)
1918 André Bjerke (Norway)
1919 Nikolay Glazkov (Russia)
1924 Margaret Yorke (UK)
1924 Lloyd Alexander (USA)
1928 Andrew Salkey (Panama, Jamaica)
1931 Shirley Hazzard (Australia, USA)
1931 Allan W Eckert (USA)
1935 Richard Brautigan (USA)
1941 Gregory Benford (USA)
1945 Michael Dorris (USA)
1947 Les Barker (UK)
1955 Judith Tarr (USA)
Jokes of the day
I’ve given up social media for the New Year and am trying to make friends outside Facebook while applying the same principles. Every day, I walk down the street and tell passersby what I’ve eaten, how I feel, what I did the night before, and what I will do tomorrow. Then I give them pictures of my family, my dog, and me gardening. I also listen to their conversations and tell them I love them. And it works. I already have three people following me – two police officers and a psychiatrist.
Cartoon: Ed Fisher, Genre categories, New Yorker
Jolabokaflod 