Satirical fiction and parodies
Penguin Books Ltd Scoop
Book SynopsisEvelyn Waugh''s brilliantly irreverent satire of Fleet Street, with an introduction by Alexander WaughLord Copper, newspaper magnate and proprietor of The Daily Beast, has always prided himself on his intuitive flair for spotting ace reporters. That is not to say he has not made the odd blunder, however, and may in a moment of weakness make another. Acting on a dinner party tip from Mrs Algernon Stitch, he feels convinced that he has hit on just the chap to cover a promising little war in the African Republic of Ishmaelia. But for, pale, ineffectual William Boot, editor of the Daily Beast''s ''nature notes'' column, being mistaken for a competent journalist may prove to be a fatal error...''Waugh at the mid-season point of his perfect pitch''Christopher Hitchens
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group A Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again
Book SynopsisA collection of insightful and uproariously funny non-fiction by the bestselling author of INFINITE JEST - one of the most acclaimed and adventurous writers of our time. A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING... brings together Wallace''s musings on a wide range of topics, from his early days as a nationally ranked tennis player to his trip on a commercial cruiseliner. In each of these essays, Wallace''s observations are as keen as they are funny. Filled with hilarious details and invigorating analyses, these essays brilliantly expose the fault line in American culture - and once again reveal David Foster Wallace''s extraordinary talent and gargantuan intellect.Trade ReviewIt's the kind of book you can't even put down while brushing your teeth. He's damn good. I take my hat off to him. * GUARDIAN *Enviably good. * SUNDAY TIMES *Like sea air, David Foster Wallace is so bracing. * GLASGOW HERALD *Brilliant. * MAXIM *
£11.39
Vintage Publishing Karoo
Book SynopsisSteve Tesich wrote many plays and screenplays, including the Academy Award-winning Breaking Away and The World According to Garp. His first novel, Summer Crossing, was published in 1982. He died in 1996 at the age of fifty-three.Trade ReviewKaroo has all the ingredients of a truly great novel. Its plot has the pathos of a Greek tragedy and enough twists and turns to satisfy the most avid Raymond Chandler fan. The characters come alive as soon as they appear on the page. Fantastic * Literary Review *Utterly wonderful... This novel does supremely what novels were invented to do - it confronts the most unbearable sadness with a comic exhilaration that makes you almost pleased that life is tragic -- Howard JacobsonMordantly funny, unexpectedly moving and brutally honest about the business of making movies -- Richard E GrantFascinating. A real satiric invention, loaded with wise outrage -- Arthur MillerTerrific. Nakedly honest, a tour de force of self-destruction. As Saul spirals into free-fall we're with him all the way, because he's so furiously funny -- Deborah Moggach
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Gargantua and Pantagruel Penguin classics
Book SynopsisA masterly new translation of Rabelaiss robust scatalogical comedy Parodying everyone from classic authors to his own contemporaries, the dazzling and exuberant stories of Rabelais expose human follies with mischievous and often obscene humor. Gargantua depicts a young giant who becomes a cultured Christian knight. Pantagruel portrays Gargantuas bookish son who becomes a Renaissance Socrates, divinely guided by wisdom and by his idiotic, self-loving companion, Panurge.
£17.09
Vintage Publishing Catch22
Book SynopsisWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HOWARD JACOBSONExplosive, subversive, wild and funny, 50 years on the novel''s strength is undiminished. Reading Joseph Heller''s classic satire is nothing less than a rite of passage.Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, Catch-22 is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never even met keep trying to kill him. Joseph Heller''s bestselling novel is a hilarious and tragic satire on military madness, and the tale of one man''s efforts to survive it.Trade ReviewIt is a rare book in that it has the ability to make you laugh out loud and be deeply moved within a few pages. -- Adam Staten * British Journal of General Practice *Wildly original, brutally gruesome, a dazzling performance that will outrage as many readers as it delights. Vulgarly, bitterly funny, it will not be forgotten by those who can take it * New York Times *Blessedly, monstrously, bloatedly, cynically funny and fantastically unique. No one has ever written a book like this * Financial Times *Blessedly, monstrously, bloatedly, cynically funny, and fantastically unique. No one has ever written a book like this * Financial Times *An apocalyptic masterpiece * Chicago Times *
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd Oh to be in England Inspiration for the ITV drama
Book SynopsisJoin the Larkins for another adventure in the much-loved series, inspiration for the new ITV drama starring Bradley Walsh''Christening? We never said nothing about no christening, Ma, did we?''And so with the appearance of a letter announcing the imminent arrival of Madame Dupont, Pop and Ma Larkin learn that little Oscar and Blenheim - Charley and Mariette''s new boy - are to be christened.In fact, once Mr Candy - who will be officiating (much to raven-haired Primrose''s delight) - learns that Pop and Ma have neglected the entire Larkin brood, the whole family seems set for a dunking!Pop, who needs no excuse to open a few bottles of Dragon''s Blood and host the perfick party, rushes out and buys a fun fair to celebrate.But there are one or two gatecrashers even Pop hadn''t counted on turning up . . .Trade ReviewThey are absolute comfort books . . . all five titles are being rereleased just in time for summer * The Lady *As funny as Evelyn Waugh and as enchanting as Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie. Don't miss it -- - * Hearald *Pop Larkin, Ma and their progeny . . . are essentially English of the rich and ribald England of Chaucer and Shakespeare. A superb and timeless comedy -- - * Scotsman *Pop is as sexy, genial, generous, and boozy as ever. Ma is a worthy match for him in all these qualities -- - * The Times *Pop Larkin is a living, breathing quotable character, cast large in the heroic mould -- - * The Times *Busty and lusty -- - * New Statesman *A gently, anarchic wish-fulfilling daydream -- - * The Times *
£8.99
Transworld Publishers Ltd Guards Guards
Book SynopsisTerry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. In all, he was the author of over fifty bestselling books which have sold over 100 million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood for services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any.www.terrypratchettbooks.comTrade Review'This is one of Pratchett's best books. Hilarious and highly recommended' * The Times *'Pratchett is at the peak of his powers; it's hard to think of any humorist writing in Britain today who can match him...A masterful ear for dialogue, a keen eye for the ridiculous and a real feel for language' * Time Out *'The best humorous English author since P.G. Wodehouse' * Sunday Telegraph *
£10.44
Orion Publishing Co Jingo
Book SynopsisA hilarious Discworld City Watch novel, delving into the dangers of unbridled patriotism and its disastrous consequences''Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own'' The TimesDISCWORLD GOES TO WAR, WITH ARMIES OF SARDINES, WARRIORS, FISHERMEN, SQUID AND AT LEAST ONE VERY CAMP FOLLOWER.As two armies march, Commander Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch faces unpleasant foes who are out to get him... and that''s just the people on his side. The enemy might be even worse.JINGO, the 21st in Terry Pratchett''s phenomenally successful Discworld series, makes the World Cup look like a friendly five-a-side.Readers love Jingo:''In Jingo Terry Pratchett is actually waging a bitter and deeply sad one-man war against nationalism, racism, religious fundamentalism, territorialism . . . and he does it the way he knows best: by making you laugh out loud and think!'' G
£13.49
Canongate Books Pride And Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of
Book SynopsisIn 2002, an amateur Jane Austen scholar, while staying at a Hertfordshire estate, stumbled upon a hidden cache of manuscript pages and made an extraordinary literary discovery - lost scenes from Jane Austen's novels that reveal an altogether different dimension to her oeuvre.Pride and Prejudice's Bingley sisters appear as Sapphic seductresses; Mansfield Park's incest subtext becomes manifest; and Darcy gets more than his shirt wet. This incisive parody of academic study is sure to astonish and delight mischievous Austenites.Trade ReviewArielle Eckstut brings her ready imagination to conjuring the sex scenes that Austen was not able to provide; she can write as if this were homage rather than desecration. * * The Guardian * *Make of Pride and Promiscuity what you will, but it's so impudently indulgent, so wantonly imaginative, only a killjoy could dismiss it with a sniff. * * Erotic Review * *Eckstut, I mean of course, Austen, has not gone over the top. . . she has stayed faithful to both tone and characters. Reader, it works. * * Time Out * *A parody to delight Austen aficionados * * The Scotsman * *A wickedly funny collection that satirises the Austen oeuvre yet also manages to play implicit homage by echoing her incomparable style with astonishing fidelity.
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co Feet Of Clay
Book SynopsisVimes is back, in all his curmudgeonly glory, in this classic, perceptive and laugh-out-loud Discworld mystery that will keep you turning the pages.''In my opinion, this is the book where Pratchett *really* hits his stride in terms of the city watch books . . . Is this book worth your time? Yes. A thousand times yes'' Patrick Rothfuss, New York Times bestselling author of The Name of the WindTHERE''S A WEREWOLF WITH PRE-LUNAR TENSION IN ANKH-MORPORK. AND A DWARF WITH ATTITUDE AND A GOLEM WHO''S BEGUN TO THINK FOR ITSELF.But for Commander Vimes, Head of Ankh-Morpork City Watch, that''s only the start...There''s treason in the air. A crime has happened.He''s not only got to find out whodunit, but howdunit too. He''s not even sure what they dun. But soon as he knows what the questions are, he''s going to want some answers.Readers love Feet of Clay:''One of the best Pratchett bo
£13.49
Orion Publishing Co Wyrd Sisters
Book SynopsisThe funniest, most insighftul, clever and totally bonkers parody of all things Shakespeare, filled to the brim with Pratchett''s signature style.''Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own'' The Times''The Discworld novels have always been among the most serious of comedies, the most relevant and real of fantasies'' Independent''An enduring, endearing presence in comic literature'' GuardianWitches are not by nature gregarious, and they certainly don''t have leaders.Granny Weatherwax was the most highly regarded of the leaders they didn''t have.But even she found that meddling in royal politics was a lot more difficult than certain playwrights would have you believe...Readers love Wyrd Sisters:''Witty, well written, amusing anecdotes, Shakespeare/real life parody, DEATH, witches it has to be Terry Pratchett''<
£13.49
Penguin Books Ltd Candide or Optimism
Book Synopsis''The prince of philosophical novels'' John UpdikeIn Candide, Voltaire threw down an audacious challenge to the philosophical views of the Enlightenment to create one of the most glorious satires of the eighteenth century. His eponymous hero is an innocent young man whose tutor, Pangloss, has instilled in him the belief that ''all is for the best''. But when his love for the Baron''s rosy-cheeked daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to make his own fortune. As he and his various companions roam over the world, an outrageous series of disasters - earthquakes, syphilis, the Inquisition - sorely test the young hero''s optimism, holding a mirror up to all fanatics, zealots and moral reformers of humankind. Translated and Edited by Theo Cuffe with an Introduction by Michael WoodTrade ReviewWinner of the 2012 Fifty Books/Fifty Covers show, organized by Design Observer in association with AIGA and Designers & BooksWinner of the 2014 Type Directors Club Communication Design AwardPraise for Penguin Drop Caps:"[Penguin Drop Caps] convey a sense of nostalgia for the tactility and aesthetic power of a physical book and for a centuries-old tradition of beautiful lettering."—Fast Company“Vibrant, minimalist new typographic covers…. Bonus points for the heartening gender balance of the initial selections.”—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings"The Penguin Drop Caps series is a great example of the power of design. Why buy these particular classics when there are less expensive, even free editions of Great Expectations? Because they’re beautiful objects. Paul Buckley and Jessica Hische’s fresh approach to the literary classics reduces the design down to typography and color. Each cover is foil-stamped with a cleverly illustrated letterform that reveals an element of the story. Jane Austen’s A (Pride and Prejudice) is formed by opulent peacock feathers and Charlotte Bronte’s B (Jane Eyre) is surrounded by flames. The complete set forms a rainbow spectrum prettier than anything else on your bookshelf."—Rex Bonomelli, The New York Times"Drool-inducing."—Flavorwire"Classic reads in stunning covers—your book club will be dying."—Redbook
£7.59
Penguin Books Ltd The Good Soldier vejk and his Fortunes in the
Book SynopsisThe inspiration for such works as Joseph Heller''s Catch-22, Jaroslav Hašek''s black satire The Good Soldier Švejk is translated with an introduction by Cecil Parrott in Penguin Classics.Good-natured and garrulous, Švejk becomes the Austro-Hungarian army''s most loyal Czech soldier when he is called up on the outbreak of the First World War - although his bumbling attempts to get to the front serve only to prevent him from reaching it. Playing cards, getting drunk and becoming a general nuisance, the resourceful Švejk uses all his natural cunning and genial subterfuge to deal with the doctors, police, clergy and officers who chivvy him towards battle. The story of a ''little man'' caught in a vast bureaucratic machine, The Good Soldier Švejk combines dazzling wordplay and piercing satire to create a hilariously subversive depiction of the futility of war.Cecil Parrott''s vibrant, unabridged and unbowdlerized translation is accompanied by an intro
£11.69
Alma Books Ltd Mansfield Park: Annotated Edition (Alma Classics
Book SynopsisBorn into a poor family, Fanny Price is raised amid the daunting splendour of Mansfield Park by her rich uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram. Treated as an inferior by most of the family, Fanny forms a close attachment to her cousin Edmund, the only person to show her kindness. With the departure of her uncle to the West Indies and the arrival from London of the fashionable Henry and Mary Crawford, flirtation and romantic intrigue abound. As Fanny becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the conduct of her companions, she finds herself isolated and forced to face the conflict between her sense of integrity and social expectation.
£7.59
Little, Brown Book Group Infinite Jest
Book Synopsis''A writer of virtuostic talents who can seemingly do anything'' New York Times''Wallace is a superb comedian of culture . . . his exuberance and intellectual impishness are a delight'' James Wood, Guardian''He induces the kind of laughter which, when read in bed with a sleeping partner, wakes said sleeping partner up . . . He''s damn good'' Nicholas Lezard, Guardian''One of the best books about addiction and recovery to appear in recent memory'' Sunday TimesSomewhere in the not-so-distant future the residents of Ennet House, a Boston halfway house for recovering addicts, and students at the nearby Enfield Tennis Academy are ensnared in the search for the master copy of Infinite Jest, a movie said to be so dangerously entertaining its viewers become entranced and expire in a state of catatonic bliss . . .Trade ReviewA writer of virtuostic talents who can seemingly do anything * NEW YORK TIMES *Wallace is a superb comedian of culture . . . his exuberance and intellectual impishness are a delight * James Woods, GUARDIAN *He induces the kind of laughter which, when read in bed with a sleeping partner, wakes said sleeping partner up . . . He's damn good * Nicholas Lezard, GUARDIAN *One of the best books about addiction and recovery to appear in recent memory. * SUNDAY TIMES *
£12.34
Pan Macmillan Emma
Book SynopsisOft-copied but never bettered, Jane Austen's Emma is a remarkable comedy of manners. Now a major motion picture starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Miranda Hart and Bill Nighy.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. Gorgeously illustrated by the celebrated Hugh Thomson, this Macmillan Collector's Library edition also includes an afterword by David Pinching.Set in the fictional village of Highbury, Austen follows the charming but insensitive Emma Woodhouse as she sets out on an ill-fated career in match-making. Adopting the pretty but dreary Harriet Smith as her subject, Emma creates misunderstandings and chaos as she attempts to find Harriet a suitor – until she begins to realize it isn't the lives of others she must try to transform, but her own.Trade ReviewIt's provincial, opaque, sparkling and wonderfully optimistic while being at the same time tinged with intimations of sorrow and mortality. -- Robert McCrum, ‘The 100 best novels' * The Guardian *Emma’s brilliance—its enduring status as a masterpiece of fiction—is that it puts us in the position of the less-clever-than-she-thinks-she-is heroine -- Devoney Looser * Literary Hub *Emma seems to know more about our hearts that we ever do, no matter how old or experienced we may think we are. -- Luke McGrath * HuffPost *
£10.44
Pan Macmillan Sense and Sensibility
Book SynopsisTwo sisters of opposing temperament but who share the pangs of tragic love provide the subjects for Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. Gorgeously illustrated by the celebrated Hugh Thomson, this edition also includes an afterword by author and critic Henry Hitchings.Elinor, practical and conventional, the epitome of sense, desires a man who is promised to another woman. Marianne, emotional and sentimental, the epitome of sensibility, loses her heart to a scoundrel who jilts her. A powerful drama of family life and growing up, Sense and Sensibility is at once a subtle comedy of manners and a striking critique of early nineteenth-century society.Trade ReviewAusten's genius lies in her style and elegance of mind -- Amanda Craig * Independent *Austen's oeuvre is inviolable – it can never be unwritten -- Francesca Segal * The Guardian *
£10.44
Transworld Publishers Ltd The Last Continent
Book SynopsisA minor masterpiece. I laughed so much I fell from my armchair' Time OutThe Discworld is very much like our own if our own were to consist of a flat planet balanced on the back of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle, that is . . .''Anything you do in the past changes the future. The tiniest little actions have huge consequences. You might tread on an ant now and it might entirely prevent someone from being born in the future.''The Discworld''s most inept wizard has found himself on the Discworld's last continent, a completely separate creation.It''s hot. It''s dry . . . very dry. There was this thing once called The Wet, which no one believes in. Practically everything that''s not poisonous is venomous. But it''s the best bloody place in the world, all right?And in a few days, it will be except . . . Who is this hero striding across the red desert? Champion sheep shearer, horse rider, road wTrade Review'Pratchett's humour takes logic past the point of absurdity and round again, but it is his unexpected insights into the human morality that make the Discworld series stand out' * Times Literary Supplement *A cross between Tolkien and a gentler, more benign Tom Sharpe. * Sunday Telegraph *Delightful...gleeful and downright mischevious. The pleasures on the page are so quirkily seductive. Puts one in mind of one of the greatest comic writers of them all PG Wodehouse' * Sunday Telegraph *A minor masterpiece. I laughed somuch I fell from my armchair' * Time Out *The humour sparkles as brightly as ever' * The Times *
£9.49
The New York Review of Books, Inc Dear Illusion: Collected Stories
Book Synopsis
£16.96
Penguin Books Ltd Animal Farm
Book Synopsis''All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others''When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless élite among them, masterminded by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, starts to take control. Soon the other animals discover that they are not all as equal as they thought, and find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is replaced with another. The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers'' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.
£7.99
Pan Macmillan Orlando
Book SynopsisOne of BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World.Virginia Woolf’s wildly imaginative, comic novel was inspired by the life of her lover, Vita Sackville West. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features original illustrations and with an introduction by the academic and novelist, Professor Susan Sellers.Orlando is a young Elizabethan nobleman whose wealth and status afford him an extravagant lifestyle. Appointed ambassador in Constantinople, he wakes one morning to find he is a woman. Unperturbed by such a dramatic transformation, and losing none of his flamboyance and ambition, the newly female Orlando charges through life and English history so that by the end of this extraordinary biography she is a modern, 1920s woman.
£9.89
Wave Books SPRAWL
Book Synopsis“SPRAWL in fact does not sprawl at all; rather, it radiates with control and fresh, strange reflection.” —Bookforum“Reads as if Gertrude Stein channeled Alice B. Toklas writing an Arcades Project set in contemporary suburbia.” —The BelieverWhen Danielle Dutton’s SPRAWL first broke upon the world in 2010, critics likened it to collage, a poetics of the suburbs, a literal unpacking of et cetera. This updated edition, with a new afterword by Renee Gladman, reopens the space of SPRAWL’s “fierce, careful composition”—as Bookforum wrote—“which changes the ordinary into the wonderful and odd.”Today I fell asleep in the tall grass near the old train station. It was a complete picture. A fashionable park. Yet the picture had its sordid and selfish aspect. I can’t seem to say what I mean, Mrs. Barbauld, but with some urgency I mean to inform you what a triumph the big city has become. I am a secular individual but even I can feel the shift in the horizon utterly alien to the constitution of things, the habitual. Sincerely, etc. I move in shade on the edge of a parking lot under walnut trees in the early morning around the edge of a curve in an accidental manner. I walk the sidewalk and ripple the surface of it. From this condition I have a view of the world.Danielle Dutton is the author of Margaret the First, SPRAWL, and Attempts at a Life. Her writing has also appeared or is forthcoming in The Paris Review, Harper’s, The White Review, Fence, BOMB, and others. She is on the faculty of the writing program at Washington University in St. Louis and is co-founder and editor of the feminist press Dorothy, a publishing project.Trade Review"Danielle Dutton's SPRAWL reads as if Gertrude Stein channeled Alice B. Toklas writing an Arcades Project set in contemporary suburbia."—The Believer"Borrowing techniques from both fiction, poetry, and visual art (particularly photography), the book not only infuses each object . . . with a Vermeeresque glow but arranges it into part of a verbal still life. The result? A fresh take on suburbia, one of reverence and skepticism. The beauty of SPRAWL resides in its fierce, careful composition, which changes the ordinary into the wonderful and odd. SPRAWL in fact does not sprawl at all; rather, it radiates with control and fresh, strange reflection."—Bookforum"In the long line of novels about the vapidity of suburbia, Dutton has a narrator who may be one of the most likable. Aloof and hilarious, she dissects their lives with the casualness of a cynical scientist."—TimeOut Chicago"This experimental novel is best read in a single sitting and, like the photographs that inspired it, can be viewed in any number of ways, with a different effect each time."—Publishers Weekly"SPRAWL feels like walking around the neighborhood at night, spying through lit living room windows . . . Dutton makes the domestic feel forbidden with how lusciously she renders each scene."—Nathan Scott McNamara, Lithub"Dutton is not the first writer to explore the paradoxical nature of contemporary suburbia . . . yet Dutton has found her own perspective on the subject, and a formal balance between experiment and simplicity, critique and appreciation. Yes, SPRAWL heaps volumes of satire on suburbia. Here, however, suburbia is in on the joke, and returns our gaze."—Erin Becker, Make Magazine"At the heart of Danielle Dutton's SPRAWL is a lavish, endless list of domestic objects: water pitchers, sweaters, cakes on cake stands, petunias in a terra-cotta pot. Borrowing techniques from both fiction, poetry, and visual art (particularly photography), the book not only infuses each object, be it a juice glass or a paper napkin, with a Vermeeresque glow but arranges it into part of a verbal still life. The result? A fresh take on suburbia, one of reverence and skepticism."—Leigh Newman, Bookforum"Danielle Dutton's unnamed narrator stalks through yards, streets, and her own house with such sharp perception that everything she encounters—cake trays, the doorbell'ring, a dead body—becomes an object in her vast and impeccable still-life. Dutton's sentences are as taut and controlled as her narrator's mind, and a hint at what compels both ('I locate my body by grounding it against the bodies of others') betrays a fierce and feral searching. SPRAWL makes suburban landscapes thrilling again." —The Believer Book Award, Editors' Shortlist"Dutton's unnamed housewife roams sidewalks and manicured lawns like one of Benjamin's flaneurs, reminiscent of the contemporary urban walkers of Renee Gladman's stories or Gail Scott's My Paris. But this novel is like other works, and it is not—it is both unabashedly voracious in terms of literary sources and an extraordinarily original text."—Believer Magazine"In this reissue by Wave Books, poet and fiction writer Danielle Dutton observes the suburban. She walks along sprawling suburbs and considers the eeriness of its normalcy, the stillness of its imagination, with wry graceful attention."—Largehearted Boy"Imagine literally unpacking et cetera. This is what Dutton's experimental novel, SPRAWL, aspires to do. SPRAWL is a double entendre—written in single sentences with no paragraph breaks whatsoever, its prose affects a sprawling internal monologue of a female protagonist; the title also locates the novel in the suburbs, which, like et cetera, could go on forever. . . . It is an original approach to a conventional subject, a challenge to the basic ingredients of novels (setting, character development, point of view), and a reinvestigation of Victorian fascination with the inner lives of distraught, socially confined women. Dutton's rendition, because of its strict commitment to continuous run-on feels strange and new, even while echoing Molly Bloom's exasperated soliloquy at the end of Joyce's Ulysses.” —Cora Fisher, The Rumpus"It'a cousin of Woolf's stream of consciousness, focused almost entirely outward, and constructs, in the mundane setting of an unnamed suburb, a world of unexpected intensity. . . . One of the novel's many successes is that its narrator never succumbs to the malaise baked into the trope of the suburban housewife. Although she is often affectless, she is always keenly aware of her project. . . . This novel is a captivating exercise of language as a medium, a still life in just over a hundred pages."—Lauren Kane, Paris Review"Sprawl is not an essay but feels like essay—spreading out one’s thinking on the page, on many pages, to feel the accumulation of thought, motion of consciousness, its emotional mixtures and fresh perceptions, how it knows and un-knows at once, at twice, at thrice, O the rise and fall of one’s thoughts speeding towards the slow, slow drip, into blank page spaces. I’m talking about the variety of human consciousness, cogitation as action, contradictory thought tissues as plot with emotional, dramatic, and thematic resonances. On the page of essay, we encounter not ourselves but a voluminous representation of something like ourselves that makes us feel visible to ourselves and to others and connected to something totally other that may or may not be sentient. It’s wanting to not be left behind. Our ancestors we never knew who suffered and who felt pleasure, alone and with others. Of course we are left behind, but in the moment of composition—and perhaps replicated when we read the work of others—we feel something other, the touch of another. Thank you, Ms. Dutton, for making this book, Sprawl. I am alone but not feeling lonely."Jay Ponteri, Essay Daily
£12.34
Little, Brown Book Group Snow White And The Seven Samurai
Book Synopsis'When Tom Holt's on form, the world seems a much cheerier place' - SFX'Frantically wacky and wilfully confusing ... gratifyingly clever and very amusing' - MAIL ON SUNDAYOnce upon a time (or last Thursday, as it's known in this matrix) everything was fine: Humpty Dumpty sat on his wall, Jack and Jill went about their lawful business, the Big Bad Wolf did what big bad wolves do, and the wicked queen plotted murder most foul.But the humans hacked, cried havoc, shut down the wicked queen's system (mirrors 3.1) and corrupted her database - and suddenly everything was not fine at all. But at least we know that they'll all live happily ever after. Don't we?Computers and fairy tales collide to hilarious effect in the latest sparkling cocktail of mayhem, wit and wonder from the master of comic fantasy.Books by Tom Holt: Walled Orchard Series Goatsong The Walled Orchard J.W. Wells & Co. Series The Portable Door In Your Dreams Earth, Air, Fire and Custard You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But It Helps The Better Mousetrap May Contain Traces of Magic Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages YouSpace Series Doughnut When It's A Jar The Outsorcerer's Apprentice The Good, the Bad and the Smug Novels Expecting Someone Taller Who's Afraid of Beowulf Flying Dutch Ye Gods! Overtime Here Comes the Sun Grailblazers Faust Among Equals Odds and Gods Djinn Rummy My Hero Paint your Dragon Open Sesame Wish you Were Here Alexander at World's End Only Human Snow White and the Seven Samurai Olympiad Valhalla Nothing But Blue Skies Falling SidewaysLittle PeopleSong for NeroMeadowlandBarkingBlonde BombshellThe Management Style of the Supreme BeingsAn Orc on the Wild SideTrade ReviewUniquely twisted ... cracking gags * Rob Grant, THE GUARDIAN *Frantically wacky and wilfully confusing ... gratifyingly clever and very amusing * MAIL ON SUNDAY *Frothy, fast and funny * SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY *Dazzling * TIME OUT *
£9.49
Transworld Publishers Ltd Thief Of Time
Book SynopsisTrade Review'One of the best and one of the funniest English authors alive' * Independent *'He is a moralist, a philosopher and a humanist whose infectious fun completely engulfs you... the Dickens of the twentieth century' * Mail on Sunday *'Other writers are mining the rich seam of comic fantasy that Pratchett first unearthed, but what keeps Pratchett on top is - quite literally - the way he tells them.' * The Times *
£13.49
Pan Macmillan Animal Farm
Book SynopsisAnimal Farm is George Orwell’s brilliant political satire and allegorical fable about the corrupting effects of power. Published in 1945 it is, to this day, one of the most famous and influential works of fiction ever written.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. This edition features an introduction by journalist, award-winning writer and editor of the New Statesman, Jason Cowley.When the old Major, a highly respected white boar, gathers his fellow farm animals to preach about freedom, rebellion and the evils of man, he incites a revolution that has been brewing for years. The animals drive out their drunken farmer and create their own society – with the promise of equality for all, two scheming pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, appoint themselves leaders. What begins as a supposedly equalitarian community descends into an increasingly violent and hierarchical society, permeated by lies and corruption. Years after publication, Orwell's words remain a stark warning against the lure of fascist populism.Trade ReviewIf you are looking for allegorical literature to understand today’s politics, Animal Farm is a great guidepost. * Observer *The Cold War Candide . . . Virtually every detail in Animal Farm allegorizes some incident in that history. * New Yorker *Animal Farm is moving, bitter and a warning from history . . . [it] is one of the greatest socio-political works of all time. * Fantasy Book Review *Animal Farm is a biting satire of totalitarianism . . . Orwell is unnervingly precise in the way he depicts each step on the road from revolution to tyranny. * Common Sense Media *
£9.49
Pan Macmillan Burmese Days
Book SynopsisIn Burmese Days, George Orwell, one of the most famous writers in the English language, draws on his own experience of living and working in Burma to write an unflinching novel about the dark side of imperialism. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an introduction by journalist and writer David Eimer.John Flory is a disillusioned timber merchant based in the remote town of Kyauktada in 1920s Burma. Whilst his English peers gather night after night to drink and gossip in their exclusive club, Flory has embraced local life – his best friend is Dr Veraswami and his mistress is Ma Hla May. The slow, sticky, hot days are interrupted by the arrival of the young and beautiful Elizabeth. And when the club is forced to elect a non-white member, Flory is caught up in an increasingly hostile and dangerous feud.Trade ReviewA scathing portrait of the imperious attitudes of the British. * New York Times *Of all the fictions about colonial rule – A Passage to India, The Raj Quartet, Out of Africa – Burmese Days is the angriest, rawest, most scathing and least sentimental. * The Times *A scathing indictment of imperialism, exposing the dark face of British rule in the subcontinent. * Hindu *Orwell draws on his own experience and what’s so striking is how the uncomfortable echoes of that time still reverberate today among some expatriate circles in the region . . . A vaguely Austen feel permeates the romantic subplot; the ending is devastating. * Travelfish *Orwell can write . . . in Burmese Days he has written a malodorous, realistic novel of the white man in the east, as he really is. * Kirkus Reviews *
£10.44
Pan Macmillan Our Mutual Friend
Book SynopsisComplete and unabridged.One of BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World.Dickens exposes the corrupting power of money in his last complete novel, Our Mutual Friend, with its expansive cast of characters and interweaving plots.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition has an afterword by Lucinda Dickens Hawksley and original illustrations by Marcus Stone.John Harmon made his fortune collecting ‘dust’. On his death his estranged son is due to inherit his wealth on the condition that he marry Bella Wilfer, a young woman who he has never even met. But when his son is presumed dead, John’s riches pass to his servants Mr. and Mrs. Boffin and they in turn take Bella into their own home. They hire a secretive young man, John Rokesmith, to be Mr. Boffin’s secretary – but what is this man’s real identity and what is his interest in Bella?Trade ReviewI find it irresistible: the autumn evening closing in, the crazy little boat afloat on the filthy Thames, the strong young woman plying the oars and a ragged, grizzled man, her father, busying himself with something towed in the water behind them. You are some way into the narrative before it dawns on you that it is a drowned body. -- Shirley Hughes * Independent *Dickens's last completed novel is a marvel of play-acting and posturing, of taking on roles through delusion, calculation and ambition -- Philip Hensher * Guardian *
£11.69
HarperCollins Publishers Mr Bowling Buys a Newspaper
Book SynopsisIn Raymond Chandler's favourite novel, Mr Bowling buys the newspapers only to find out what the latest is on the murders he''s just committedMr Bowling is getting away with murder. On each occasion he buys a newspaper to see whether anyone suspects him. But there is a war on, and the clues he leaves are going unnoticed. Which is a shame, because Mr Bowling is not a conventional serial killer: he wants to get caught so that his torment can end. How many more newspapers must he buy before the police finally catch up with him?Donald Henderson was an actor and playwright who had also written novels as D. H. Landels, but with little success. While working for the BBC in London during the Second World War, his fortunes finally changed with Mr Bowling Buys a Newspaper, a darkly satirical portrayal of a murderer that was to be promoted enthusiastically by Raymond Chandler as his favourite detective novel. But even the author of The Big Sleep could not save it from oblivion: it has remained outTrade Review‘I think it's one of the most fascinating books written in the last ten years. Everyone who read it in my limited circle agrees with me.’ RAYMOND CHANDLER ‘There is an element of psychological fantasy in this novel. Mr Henderson pursues a grim little theme with lively perception and ingenuity. His manner is brief, deliberately undertoned, and for the most part curiously effective. There is acute observation in the portrait of Mr Bowling.’ TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT ‘This tragedy of a madman is told with great simplicity, and is very much helped by the realism of its details. All the events take place in the duller London suburbs which are beautifully observed.’ DAILY EXPRESS ‘Henderson has written about Mr Bowling so well and so clearly that I feel like I have met him; he follows him with the affectionate care with which H.G. Wells followed Kipps. Indeed, there is in places a touch of Wells’s genius; he writes with great skill and his dialogue is vivid.’ RAYMOND POSTGATE in TIME & TIDE ‘Top marks go to Donald Henderson whose Mr Bowling Buys a Newspaper gives us real hope of a literary discovery. This is a brilliant study in the macabre of a man who – almost it seems because he can’t help it – nonchalantly commits murders. A really fine thriller.’ SUNDAY GRAPHIC
£8.99
Pan Macmillan Ratner's Star
Book SynopsisWhen Billy Twillig, a genius adolescent, wins the first Nobel Prize ever to be given in mathematics, he is recruited to live and work in the company of thirty Nobel laureates in obscurity underground. There, away from the rest of the world, this panel of estranged, demented and lovable scientists work together on a secret scientific project: deciphering a mysterious transmission received from outer space, from just near Ratner's Star.Written in Don DeLillo's characteristically mesmerizing prose, Ratner's Star is a brilliantly observed, funny and deeply thought-provoking novel which explores the mysterious, mind-blowing, mathematical world of the future.Trade ReviewBrilliant . . . the wit, elegance, and economy of Don DeLillo's art are equal to the bitter clarity of his perceptions. * New York Times Book Review *Eerie and intriguing . . . funny as well as instructive. * Time *A mind-expanding trip to the finish line, and full of wit and slapstick as well * Washington Post *DeLillo's early-career masterpiece . . . a dense, entertaining, mind-bending boomerang of a book that luxuriates in the language of math and science. * LA Times *
£9.49
Pan Macmillan Vanity Fair
Book SynopsisA major TV series starring Olivia Cooke, Simon Russell Beale and Micheal Palin.Brilliant anti-heroine Becky Sharp will do anything to climb to society’s loftiest heights and couldn’t be more different from her rich, sweet-natured schoolmate, Amelia Sedley. Their parallel lives are marked by love, lust, marriage, fortune and loss, in all their different guises, as they navigate the corrupt circus of upper-class Regency England. Hailed as a literary masterpiece upon first publication, William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair has never waned in popularity and remains a highly entertaining satire of early nineteenth-century high society. This gorgeous edition includes an afterword by the prizewinning author and critic, Henry Hitchings. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector’s Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector’s Library are books to love and treasure.
£10.79
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial La montaña mágica / The Magic Mountain
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£16.43
Random House USA Inc Dear Committee Members
Book Synopsis“Like Richard Russo’s Straight Man this book has a lot to say about the humanities in American colleges and universities…. Very funny and also moving.” —Tom Perrotta, New York PostA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR and Boston Globe Finally a novel that puts the pissed back into epistolary. Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the midwest. His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels. His star (he thinks) student can't catch a break with his brilliant (he thinks) work Accountant in a Bordello, based on Melville
£13.60
Pan Macmillan Persuasion
Book SynopsisJane Austen's wickedly satirical final novel, and the inspiration for a major motion picture starring Dakota Johnson, Henry Golding and Richard E. Grant.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. Gorgeously illustrated by the celebrated Hugh Thomson, this edition also includes an afterword by author and critic Henry Hitchings.Persuasion follows the story of Anne Elliott who, as a teenager, was engaged to a seemingly ideal man, Frederick Wentworth. But after being persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that he is too poor to be a suitable match, Anne ends their engagement. When they are reacquainted eight years later, their circumstances are transformed: Frederick is returning triumphantly from the Napoleonic War, while Anne's fortunes are floundering. Will their past regrets prevent them from finding future happiness?Trade ReviewPersuasion seems to be the Jane Austen novel that has most touched our readers’ hearts -- Sam Jordison * Guardian *Persuasion is Austen’s most mature and melancholic novel, a frost-tipped exploration of the meaning of love and a quietly savage critique of Regency England’s obsessions with money and class -- Claire Allfree * Telegraph *
£10.44
Penguin Random House Children's UK Fairy Tales for Millennials
Book SynopsisWelcome to the world of Fairy Tales, Millennial style...Inside you''ll find Sleeping Beauty waking up Woke, the Nanny Goats Gruff getting trolled, and three little pigs explaining that - realistically - a house of straw is really the only way a first time buyer can get on the property ladder.Goldilocks discovers a darling little Porridge pop-up, the Pied Piper shifts his content strategy to attract more followers, and Hansel and Gretel meet a witch with a disruptive approach to clean eating.
£9.49
Yale University Press The Valiant Little Tailor A Novel The Margellos
Book SynopsisThe classic Grimms’ fairy tale of the valiant little tailor, as you’ve never read it beforeTrade Review“Chevillard can be exhilarating, as he breathes powerful life into words, creating a sense of poetic animism”—Muriel Zagha, Times Literary Supplement“A creative take on storytelling, suggesting the potential in even the most familiar tale, with Chevillard riffing comfortably across subject-matters and stories old and new.”—M. A. Orthofer, Complete Review“This novel, superbly translated by Jordan Stump, is vintage Chevillard. A fairy tale for our time, it is engagingly playful, telling a story we thought we knew, prompting us to think about how stories are told.”—Warren Motte, author of Mirror Gazing“Here’s Chevillard at his cockeyed keenest, bedeviling the Brothers Grimm with a giddy vengeance. Jordan Stump once again proves a superb chaperone on this deliciously macabre, deliriously digressive, almost irresponsibly imaginative field trip into the bowels of narrative.”—Daniel Levin Becker, author of Many Subtle Channels“As Chevillard reinvents, subverts, and digresses from the Brothers Grimm tale, his wit and wordplay leap into life in Jordan Stump’s breathtaking translation. A book not to be missed by anyone new to Chevillard’s antics, or by his longtime, faithful readers.”—Alyson Waters, translator of Chevillard’s Prehistoric Times “Chevillard takes a Grimms’ fairy tale and runs rings around it, torquing and twisting it into new half-shapes. Amusing, maddening, funny, and absurd, this is a new sort of metafiction, like Robert Coover on acid.”—Brian Evenson, author of Song for the Unraveling of the World “Éric Chevillard’s sly, clever, imaginative tales reimagine how to tell a story.”—Madeleine Schwartz, journalist and advisory editor for Paris ReviewPraise for Éric Chevillard: “Chevillard [is] one of the bright spots in recent French literature.”—Publishers Weekly “A major talent, a worthy descendant in the Beckett-Bernhard line.”—Darren Reidy, The Believer “Éric Chevillard is one of the few great experimental French writers still writing today.”—Erik Martiny, London Magazine “Beloved for his playful and sharply intelligent fiction, Éric Chevillard is a voice worthy of a global readership.”—Music and Literature
£15.73
Dalkey Archive Press Mulligan Stew
Book SynopsisWidely regarded as Sorrentino's finest achievement, Mulligan Stew takes as its subject the comic possibilities of the modern literary imagination. As avant-garde novelist Antony Lamont struggles to write a "new wave murder mystery," his frustrating emotional and sexual life wreaks havoc on his work-in-progress. As a result, his narrative (the very book we are reading) turns into a literary "stew" an uproariously funny melange of journal entries, erotic poetry, parodies of all kinds, love letters, interviews, and lists—as Hugh Kenner in "Harper's" wrote, "for another such virtuoso of the List you'd have to resurrect Joyce." Soon, Lamont's characters (on loan from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flann O'Brien, James Joyce, and Dashiell Hammet) take on lives of their own, completely sabotaging his narrative. Sorrentino has vastly extended the possibilities of what a novel can be in this extraordinary work, which both parodies and pays homage to the art of fiction.Trade Review"Mulligan Stew is utterly dazzling."—Washington Post"An abundant and extravagantly decorated display of the pleasures of the imagination."—New York Times
£15.20
Pan Macmillan End Zone
Book SynopsisDuring a season of unprecedented success, Gary becomes increasingly fixated on the threat of nuclear war. Both frightened and fascinated by the prospect, he listens to his team-mates discussing match tactics in much the same terms as generals might contemplate global conflict. But as the terminologies of football and nuclear war – the language of end zones – become interchanged, the polysemous nature of words emerges, and DeLillo forces us to see beyond the sterile reality of substitution.This clever and playful novel is a timeless and topical study of human beings' obsession with conflict and confrontation.Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.Trade ReviewAmerica's greatest living writer. * Observer *Nobody, it seems, could write better than this. No one could have a clearer vision of the micro-circuitry of post-modern life. * Evening Standard *Powerfully funny, oblique, testy, and playful, tearing along in dazzling cinematic spurts . . . A masterful novel. * Washington Post *
£9.49
Random House USA Inc Liberation Day
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER? ?One of our most inventive purveyors of the form returns with pitch-perfect, genre-bending stories that stare into the abyss of our national character. . . . An exquisite work from a writer whose reach is galactic.??Oprah Daily Booker Prize winner George Saunders returns with his first collection of short stories since the New York Times bestseller Tenth of December. ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, Oprah Daily, NPR, Time, USA Today, The Guardian, Esquire, Newsweek, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library JournalThe ?best short-story writer in English? (Time) is back with a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice and cuts to the very heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. With his trademark prose?wickedly funny, unsentimental, and exquisitely tuned?Saunders continues to challenge and surprise: Here is a collection of prismatic, resonant stories that encompass joy and despair, oppression and revolution, bizarre fantasy and brutal reality.?Love Letter? is a tender missive from grandfather to grandson, in the midst of a dystopian political situation in the (not too distant, all too believable) future, that reminds us of our obligations to our ideals, ourselves, and one another. ?Ghoul? is set in a Hell-themed section of an underground amusement park in Colorado and follows the exploits of a lonely, morally complex character named Brian, who comes to question everything he takes for granted about his reality. In ?Mother?s Day,? two women who loved the same man come to an existential reckoning in the middle of a hailstorm. In ?Elliott Spencer,? our eighty-nine-year-old protagonist finds himself brainwashed, his memory ?scraped??a victim of a scheme in which poor, vulnerable people are reprogrammed and deployed as political protesters. And ?My House??in a mere seven pages?comes to terms with the haunting nature of unfulfilled dreams and the inevitability of decay.Together, these nine subversive, profound, and essential stories coalesce into a case for viewing the world with the same generosity and clear-eyed attention Saunders does, even in the most absurd of circumstances.
£11.20
Random House USA Inc The Singularities
Book SynopsisFrom the revered Booker Prize-winning author comes a playful, multilayered novel of nostalgia, life and death, and quantum theory, which opens with the return of one of his most celebrated characters as he is released from prison. ?A triumphant piece of writing…Prose of such luscious elegance…Exhilarating.? ?The New York Times Book ReviewA man with a borrowed name steps from a flashy red sports car?also borrowed?onto the estate of his youth. But all is not as it seems. There is a new family living in the drafty old house: the Godleys, descendants of the late, world-famous scientist Adam Godley, whose theory of existence threw the universe into chaos. And this mystery man, who has just completed a prison sentence, feels as if time has stopped, or was torn, or was opened in new and strange ways. He must now vie with the idiosyncratic Godley family, with their harried housekeeper who becomes his landlady, with the recently commissioned biographer of Godley Sr., and with a wealthy and beautiful woman from his past who comes bearing an unusual request.With sparkling intelligence and rapier wit, John Banville revisits some of his career?s most memorable figures, in a novel as mischievous as it is brilliantly conceived. The Singularities occupies a singular space and will surely be one of his most admired works.
£14.40
Vintage Publishing Light Over Liskeard: From the Sunday Times
Book SynopsisSometimes we must look to the past to survive the future.Q wants a simpler and safer life. His work as a quantum cryptographer for the government has led him to believe a crisis is imminent for civilisation and he's looking for somewhere to ride out what's ahead.He buys a ruined farmhouse in Cornwall and begins to build his own self-sufficient haven. Over the course of this quest he meets the eccentric characters who already live on the moors nearby - including the park ranger in charge of the reintroduced lynxes and aurochs that roam the area; a holy man waiting for the second coming on top of a nearby hill; an Arthurian knight on horseback and the amorous ghost of an Edwardian woman who haunts the farmhouse.As life in the cities gets more complicated, and our systems of electronic control begin to fall apart, Q flourishes in the wild Cornish countryside. His new way of life brings him back in tune with his teenage children, his ex-wife, and his own sense of who he is. He also grows close to Eva, energetic and enchanting, who is committed to her own quest for love and meaning.In this entertaining and heart-warming novel Louis de Bernières makes us reconsider what is really precious in our short and precarious lives.‘Marked by de Bernieres’ customary light touch and wry humour...This quirky novel is timely... a feelgood story about friendship and love – vintage de Bernieres.’ Daily MirrorTrade ReviewBeguiling...Set in a jollier dystopia than the norm, it tells the tale of “Q”, a cryptographer who takes refuge from the madding crowd in Cornwall * Observer *Marked by de Bernieres’ customary light touch and wry humour...This quirky novel is timely... a feelgood story about friendship and love – vintage de Bernieres. * Daily Mirror *A knockabout satire with twists aplenty * Mail on Sunday *A wonder worthy of Wyndham...wry, wise * Daily Mail *Heaps of old-fashioned adventure * The Times *
£13.49
Idea & Design Works The Bloom County Library: Book Three
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£27.20
And Other Stories Shalash the Iraqi
Book SynopsisPopulated by a cast of imagined con artists, holy fools, drag queens, and partisans – as well as some very factual politicians, priests, and generals – this novel started life as a pseudonymous blog written ‘live’ by ‘Shalash’ during and after the Second Iraq War. Never written to be published, all but lost save for disintegrating printouts treasured by its devotees, Shalash the Iraqi is here presented in its first authorised translation, with the blessing and commentary of ‘Shalash’ himself. The second U.S. invasion of Iraq began in the spring of 2003. By the autumn of 2005, though the Saddam Hussein regime had reached its bloody end, ordinary Iraqis were seeing little improvement in their daily lives. In the midst of this turmoil, a hero arose – or, rather, a jester. In a country where electricity was only intermittently available, a series of blog posts began to appear at a soon-to-be-defunct website and took Baghdad by storm. Individual entries were printed out and passed around for months, until the pages were nearly shredded. Where neither computers nor printers were available, the posts were retold aloud, then passed along at second- and third-hand. What could inspire such devotion? Signed ‘Shalash the Iraqi’, the posts proved to be nothing less than portions of a madcap serial novel thumbing its nose at Iraq’s new normal. From drunken monologues to prayers, from poetry to dirty jokes, from fairy tales and folk stories to pratfall humour, this novel delights readers and sheds light on Iraq in equal measure.
£11.69
Pan Macmillan The Rules of Attraction
Book SynopsisBret Easton Ellis is the author of several novels, including Imperial Bedrooms, Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho, Glamorama and Lunar Park, and a collection of stories, The Informers. Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho and The Informers have all been made into films. His first work of non-fiction, White, was published in 2019. He is the host of the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast available on Patreon. He lives in Los Angeles.Trade ReviewServes to establish Mr. Ellis’s reputation further as one of the primary inside sources in upper-middle-class America’s continuing investigation of what has happened to its children. * The New York Times Book Review *Compelling . . . sympathetic to his "lost generation" the way only Fitzgerald was about his * Vanity Fair *Ellis has always been regarded as th bad boy of contemporary American letters -- Douglas KennedyA tour de force of the heart of darkness, a moral Armageddon * The Times *
£9.89
Transworld Publishers Ltd Raising Steam
Book SynopsisTo the consternation of the patrician, Lord Vetinari, a new invention has arrived in Ankh-Morpork – a great clanging monster of a machine that harnesses the power of all of the elements: earth, air, fire and water.Trade ReviewLaugh-out-loud funny...A chuffing wonderful book. * SFX *Terry Pratchett’s creation is still going strong after 30 years as Ankh-Morpork branches into the railway age…There are sly nods to the history of railways and a cheeky reference to The Railway Children. Most aficionados, however, will be on the look-out for in-jokes and references from previous novels – of which there is no shortage…It is at the level of the sentence that Pratchett wins his fans. * The Times *The genius of Pratchett is that he never goes for the straight allegory. . .he remains one of the most consistently funny writers around; a master of the stealth simile, the time-delay pun and the deflationary three-part list. . .I could tell which of my fellow tube passengers had downloaded it to their e-readers by the bouts of spontaneous laughter. -- Ben Aaronovitch * The Guardian *
£14.24
Unnamed Press Exalted
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£21.60
Penguin Random House Children's UK How Not To Be A Twit and Other Wisdom from Roald
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£7.59
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial El día del ajuste /Adjustment Day
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£21.36
Pan Macmillan Mother for Dinner
Book SynopsisSUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021‘Outrageous satire . . . extremely funny, weirdly touching’ – Guardian‘A work of genius’ – Scotsman‘Close-to-the-knuckle farce with a big beating heart’ – Daily MailThis is the story of an unusual family. Though they are nothing like yours, you will recognize them. They are the last Cannibal-Americans. And they have a problem.When their mother dies, twelve children gather to dispose of the body in the traditional manner . . . by eating it. But can they follow the ancient rituals of consumption? Is their unique cultural heritage worth preserving if it's this gross? And what about dietary requirements - one of them is vegan. Surely it can't be this hard to do the right thing?Mother for Dinner is a dark comedy about modern life and its many difficulties.Trade ReviewBad taste has a purpose in this outrageous satire . . . grotesque, extremely funny, weirdly touching and acute * Guardian *Daring, provocative and controversial . . . the outrageous nature of the comedy is done perfectly . . . This is a work of genius * Scotsman *I loved [it] . . . I devoured it in one sitting . . . I recommend you dig in * The Times *Laugh-out-loud funny . . Underlying the dark humour, it is, dare I say, a tender tale * Financial Times *A terrifically funny book . . . Close-to-the-knuckle farce with a big beating heart * Daily Mail *A grotesque family comedy . . . Written in fast-moving, deadpan prose * New Stateman *[A] laugh-out-loud, gravely serious satire * Economist, The Best Books of 2021 *Auslander is an enfant even more terrible than Philip Roth . . . it provides plenty of dark laughs and inspired comic riffs * TLS *A virtuoso humorist, and a brave one * New York Times Book Review *You’re unlikely to read anything funnier this year * Big Issue *Auslander’s greatest strength is the zip and ping of his dialogue . . . uproariously funny * Literary Review *Brilliantly written, often hilarious but also deeply thoughtful * Jewish Chronicle *Consistently funny, consistently wise and consistently disturbing in ways that probably only Shalom Auslander could arrange. It is a rare and agile narrative . . . Perhaps not a perfect gift for Mother’s Day, but then again, it could be just the thing -- A. L. Kennedy, Costa Prize-winning author of DayPortnoy-era Roth couldn't hold a candle to Shalom Auslander * Entertainment Weekly *Blends tragedy, comedy and satire in the mold of Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka. * The Wall Street Journal *Auslander turns his taboo-shattering satiric gaze to cannibalism in this outrageous, salty take on contemporary culture . . . more effective is the riotous dissection of cultural formation and a community's hunger for meaning * Publishers Weekly *A book that’s funny enough not just to make you nod to show you got the joke, but to make you laugh and laugh * The Critic *Dead funny and dead serious. A deliciously appalling satire on the hazards of tribalism, religion and tradition – and eating your relatives -- Rhidian Brook, author of The Killing of Butterfly JoeIrreverent and written with Auslander's incomparable humor, Mother for Dinner is an exploration of legacy, assimilation, the things we owe our families, and the things we owe ourselves * The Jewish Book World *
£8.54
