I Regret Almost Everything

A Memoir

De: Keith McNally

Narrado por: Richard E. Grant

New York Times Bestseller

The entertaining, irreverent, and surprisingly moving memoir by the visionary restaurateur behind such iconic New York institutions as Balthazar and Pastis.

A memoir by the legendary proprietor of Balthazar, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, and Morandi, taking us from his gritty London childhood in the fifties to his serendipitous arrival in New York, where he founded the era-defining establishments the Odeon, Cafe Luxembourg, and Nell’s. Eloquent and opinionated, Keith McNally writes about the angst of being a child actor, his lack of insights from traveling overland to Kathmandu at nineteen, the instability of his two marriages and family relationships, his devastating stroke, and his Instagram notoriety.©2025 Keith McNally (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio

A lesson in memoir-writing

One of the best memoirs I’ve read for its raw honesty and humanity. Thank you, KM!

Stunned

Had to stop my life to listen to it near continuously and I don’t regret it!

Ever Surprising McNally

McNally writes with a fluid honesty. His insightful, self-deprecating style took me by surprise, unexpected for such a legendary downtown figure.
It feels strange to say the candor in sharing his experience of both his stroke and subsequent suicide attempt I found utterly endearing. A must read for anyone, yeah pretty much anyone.

Great fun read

As a New Yorker who came here about the same time as Keith McNally came from England, this was a great trip behind the scenes of NYC’s cool, hip and in some cases, most enduring restaurants. A pretty much unvarnished report of a real life with all the foibles of being human on display. Read with great heart and intimacy by the reader (not McNally whose voice had been decimated by a stroke), it feels like a long personal talk with the author. Highly recommended.

Fascinating Life

Best autobiography because McNally has a varied life, he spans many careers, deep reflections on all of his relationships.

Very compelling read

I loved this book and I couldn’t put it down. I found myself immersed in Mr Mcnally’s world…He’s such a talented writer, so interesting, so honest, This book is skillfully crafted…I’m going to read it again I liked it that much.

Wonderful…

very well written and Richard Grant does a marvelous job!!! I didn’t want it to end.

Rarely frank, wise and interesting memoir

Keith McNally, a working class guy from London, made a life long (superbly successful) detour into restaurant business from the (unsuccessful) film-making aspirations. At the very top of his career he had a stroke, followed by a divorce with a suicide attempt in between. Everything is in this story - successes and failures - written without any self-pity or any self-justification. The successful life is presented as is, with all its warts. Many, many warts. It makes it very lively reading. The best part of the book is the author's humling experience after his stroke (he did not recover to his former self) - this part alone makes it well-worth to pick up the book: how do you proceed with life and career after such a major change?
One more thing: McNally is an intellectually curious person, so mini-essays on various topics are scattered all over memoirs, which makes it even more interesting reading.
Richard Grant gave McNally's writing just the right voice. The reading is not overly dramatic, but the actor used the accents and intonations where approproate.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/4

I liked the book so much it compelled me to write about my own life. Keith made me seriously contemplate myself without meaning to. The candor with which he told his story was the gift I didn’t know I needed.

All heart, poignant, modest, all too human

Best book of my year. I listened to it as I swam and lost count of the laps