Accidental lives (on Purpose) --I REGRET ALMOST EVERYTHING: A Memoir by KEITH MCNALLY and WHEN THE GOING WAS GOOD: An Editor's Adventures by GRAYDON CARTER
I REGRET ALMOST EVERYTHING , a memoir by Keith McNally, the restaurant entrepreneur behind Odeon, Balthazar, Lucky Strike, One Fifth ( to name a few) was always thinking about the next restaurant before the one in process was finished. In his excruciatingly honest and darkly funny memoir, McNally examines his seemingly "accidental" life, where little was expected of him. Born an average "bloke" to a working class family in Britain, he didn't excell in school or sports and wasn't suited to "trade."He did possess an insatiable curiousity about the world outside his insular neighborhood. It was no surprise, when like many kids he left school at 16 to "work." What his family, who might have objected, didn't know was that he found work as an actor, playing boy roles in a variety of plays and theaters. He was good enough to attract the attention of New Wave playwrights, like Alan Bennett ( The Madness of King George, The History Boys). ...