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  Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle Gent

  Washington Irving

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  The Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. (1824) is a compilation of eight humorous and observational letters written by American writer, Washington Irving, under the pseudonym, Jonathan Oldstyle. These eight letters and one additional were first published as a series of "Letters to the Editor" of the New York paper, The Morning Chronicle, between 1802 and 1803. In them Oldstyle skewered the local New York social scene on the topics of etiquette, marriage, fashion, and other particulars of human interaction.Most of Oldstyle's observations took place in the theatre, but really had less to do with that venue and more to do with an analysis of men and women acting out their own particular roles in life. At times this letter-writing Oldstyle had a bit of help from his good friend, the inimitable Andrew Quoz (another of Irving's personae). Together they subverted the status quo of theatre criticism in New York, and placed social behavior in the limelight, figuratively speaking. These letters were Irving's first foray into published writing; he was 19 at the time. He would later pen Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. (Summary by James K. White, Gent.)

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  Red Birds

  Mohammed Hanif

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  An American pilot crash lands in the desert and finds himself on the outskirts of the very camp he was supposed to bomb. After days spent wandering and hallucinating from dehydration, Major Ellie is rescued by one of the camp's residents, a teenager named Momo, whose entrepreneurial money-making schemes are failing as his family is falling apart: his older brother, Ali, left for his first day of work at an American base and never returned; his parents are at each other’s throats; his dog, Mutt, is having a very bad day; and an earthy-crunchy aid worker has shown up wanting to research him for her book on the Teenage Muslim Mind. Amidst the madness, Momo sets out to search for his brother Ali, hoping his new Western acquaintances might be able to help find him. But as the truth of Ali’s whereabouts begin to unfold, the effects of American “aid” on this war-torn country are revealed to be increasingly pernicious.

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  Something New

  P. G. Wodehouse

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  In this classic satire of English gentry and their servants, romantic intrigue collides with the hunt for a stolen artifact at a lord’s country house.   When struggling author Ashe Marson and former chorus girl Joan Valentine decide to make a fresh start of their lives, they don’t expect to meet again at Blandings Castle—each under an assumed identity, hoping to find a priceless stolen scarab. Posing as servants to various guests, they decide to team up rather than compete. But their covert search is child’s play compared to the complicated etiquette of a lord’s domestic staff, let alone the intricate intrigues of the families they serve.   With the earl’s son Freddie engaged to the daughter of an American millionaire, a fixer has been hired to recover compromising love letters Freddie once sent to a chorus girl named Joan. But Freddie’s soon-to-be father-in-law has an embarrassing secret of his own: he accidentally pocketed one of the earl’s prized scarabs while on a tour of the house. The ensuing ruckus will shuffle the fates and fortunes of all involved before two lovers may unite in this uproarious comedy of manners by the beloved master of British farce.

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  Mr Justice Raffles

  E. W. Hornung

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  A. J. Raffles is a British gentleman thief of some renown who, in this, the hero's final adventure, ironically demonstrates a sense of morality by teaching a London East End loan shark a lesson. The book was later made into a movie, as well as a British television series. (Summary by Cathy Barratt)

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  Cockatiels at Seven

  Donna Andrews

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  When her old friend Karen drops by with her two-year-old son, Meg Langslow reluctantly agrees to babysit. But when night falls, the toddler is still in residence, and Karen isn't answering her phone. Concerned, Meg spends the next morning retracing her friend's steps-and what she discovers makes her begin to suspect that Karen has either been killed, kidnapped, or is on the run. Since the police don't seem to care, Meg once again plays sleuth-this time with a toddler in tow and with her extended family, as usual, complicating everything. In this outrageous book of feathered fun, Donna Andrews once again proves her skill as one of the funniest, most entertaining mystery authors around.

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  Wildcat - A Novel

  Amelia Morris

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  Amelia Morris's Wildcat is an uproariously funny, surprisingly touching story of one woman’s journey through motherhood and female friendship, in a society that plays fast and loose with information. New mother, aspiring writer, and former shopgirl Leanne has lost her way. As she struggles with both her grief and the haze of motherhood, it also becomes clear that her best friend, the default queen of East Side Los Angeles, Regina Mark, might not actually be a friend at all.As Leanne begins to investigate and undermine Regina, she also strikes up an unexpected friendship with the lauded writer Maxine Hunter. Feeling frustrated and invisible next to Regina’s wealth and social standing, Leanne seeks security wherever she can find it, whether that’s by researching whether she should vaccinate her son, in listening to the messages she thinks her father is sending from beyond the grave, or in holding her own against a petulant student in her creative writing class. Most of all, however, she looks for it within Maxine, who offers Leanne something new.With a keen eye for the trappings of privilege, class, and the performative nature of contemporary domestic life, Morris’s tender and wicked debut shows us a woman who bucks against the narrative she’s been fed, only to find power in herself and the truth that emerges.  A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

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