Publisher: Envelope Books
A comic first novel, about a Chinese school teacher who dreams himself back a thousand years, bringing to the formal conventions of traditional Buddhist literature the wry humour of Carrollian satire.
The necessity of a work on Snobs, demonstrated from History, and proved by felicitous illustrations:—I am the individual destined to write that work—My vocation is announced in terms of great eloquence—I show that the world has been gradually preparing itself for the WORK and the MAN—Snobs are to be studied like other objects of Natural Science, and are a part of the Beautiful (with a large B). They pervade all classes—Affecting instance of Colonel Snobley. (Summary excerpted from Prefatory Remarks from the book by W. M. Thackeray)Show book
Do you have a curious mind? Are you looking for unique and interesting facts to “wow” innocent bystanders at your next boring mixer? Or perhaps you have indeed left that boring mixer because you’d rather sink your teeth into a solid good time? (Of book reading, obviously.) Fear not, my friend. We have you covered. Included in this titillating smorgasbord of fun facts are answers to the following questions, plus a few more to keep you on your toes: Precisely, an entire book full of them. Inside Untypical Tales, discover: Why does Switzerland have strange rules about guinea pigs? Which skull makes a better president? What on earth was the “Bucket War”? And why on earth did it begin? What comical reason led to the birth of the potato chip? What’s the cure for insomnia? Hint: It’s hilarious. Plus a slew of ridiculously interesting, funny true stories about world history. Now, don't just go running off to Google, because we aren't that silly. Diabolically, we’ve saved the very best for Untypical Tales.Show book
This is one of a series of EC Bentley novels featuring the highly erudite artist qua reporter / detective, Philip Trent. In it, Trent is sent to a charming English seaside village to cover the murder of Sigsbee Manderson for a large London newspaper. The victim is an unpopular and extremely powerful financial tycoon, who is murdered virtually within sight of his own house, at a time when it seems impossible that anyone there – to say nothing of all of its more than half dozen inhabitants – could have failed to see or hear the crime being committed. As Trent pokes around, attention is focused on Manderson’s extremely troubled marriage, not least because Trent himself falls in love with Margaret Manderson, the widow of the murdered man. At the same time, Trent himself considers her to be at least complicit in the crime for much of the novel. The plot cannot be described further without spoiling the punch-line, as it were. Indeed, to the really clever detective fiction-lover, this is already almost saying too much. Trent’s Last Case was on the “ten best” list of Rex Stout, author of the famous Nero Wolfe mysteries. Like Stout, Bentley has a fondness for complex plot twists of the “boxes within boxes” variety.(Introduction by Kirsten Wever)Show book
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW ""BEST HORROR FICTION OF 2024"" From Eliza Clark, the author of the brilliant novels Boy Parts and Penance and one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists, comes a fierce, visionary and darkly comic story collection. A woman welcomes a parasite into her body. A teenager longs for perfect skin. A scientist tends to fragile alien flora. A young man takes the night into his own hands. Unsettling, revelatory, and laced with her signature dark humor, Eliza Clark’s debut short story collection plumbs the depths of that most basic human feeling: hunger.Show book
Fascinating anecdotes by— and about— some of the most famous golfers in history including Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.Former Golf Digest editor Don Wade has collected literally hundreds of anecdotes from some of the greatest names in the sport and delivers those stories in a series of captivating volumes. This particular collection assembles not only golf legends like Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Amy Alcott, Lee Trevino, and Jack Nicklaus, but other notables such as Bing Crosby and Jack Lemmon— not to mention Howard Hughes and Dwight D. Eisenhower. From Augusta National to The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, enjoy this entertaining, funny, and intimate audio that places you on the green next to the greatest players in the world.Show book
Meet Liz. Mother of two teenage kids and wife of Brian. Faced with midlife & realising that unless she gets her skates on, she'll never get to live out her fantasy of travelling the world with her family (and be like that woman from Eat, Pray Love), Liz plans a year-long globetrotting trip. Annoyingly, things don't quite go as expected. This is probably because Liz is slightly deluded & chooses to ignore the fact that her husband has acid reflux & can't eat anything foreign, & her teenage children would rather scroll funny Snapchat videos than look at old things in Europe. From an ill-fated yoga class in India, ancient ruin humiliation in Italy, to getting sloshed at a charity festival in rural England, Liz’s endless mishaps and hysterical far-flung flops make for an unforgettable experience that no family could ever forget. Even if they wanted to. Armed with humour, optimism, this feel-good hilarious pee-your-pants, laugh-out-loud memoir will have you changing your life and racing to book your next adventure. Prepare to laugh, cry & curl your toes. Clench those buttocks, fellow traveller. We're off on a (real) family vacation...! What readers are saying: "…brilliantly entertaining writing…read it all in one sitting..." "... Bridget Jones crossed with Eat, Pray, Love...a wickedly funny delight!..." “…I snorted with laughter, Liz is genuinely hilarious…” “…everything you could want in a travel memoir & more…” “…inspiring, funny, cringe-worthy & heartwarming, often all at the same time. Fabulous…” “…I laughed out loud throughout…British humour at it's best!'” "...Relatable, hilarious, funny stories: everything from being a wife, mother to family travel...LOVED IT!"Show book
