Search results for ""author sly"

Celebrations of sentiment, wit and thought: an overview on the beloved and influential American postminimalist Ree Morton This volume accompanies the first major United States exhibition of artist Ree Morton (1936–77) in nearly four decades. During a brief but incredibly prolific career, Morton produced installations, sculptures and drawings rich in emotion and philosophically complex, that celebrated tropes of love, friendship and motherhood, radically asserting sentiment as a legitimate subject of artmaking. Her inclusion of personal narrative—through literary, theoretical and autobiographical references—and use of bold color and theatrical imagery infused her objects with sly humor and decorative energy, generating a feminist legacy increasingly appreciated in retrospect. Long celebrated by peers and younger generations, Morton’s influence on contemporary art remains considerable yet widely under-recognized.

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'Two hours ago I fell in love and trembled, and tremble still, and haven't a clue whom I should tell'From one of the truly singular and beloved poets of contemporary Italy, these are poems of the self, the body, pasta, cats, the city and - always, and above all - love. This volume is the first substantial gathering of the best of Patrizia Cavalli's work from her first six collections, from 1974 to 2006, translated by a selection of renowned poets. By turns thoughtful and sly, sensual and comic, charismatic and profound, these are works perfectly attuned to the pleasures and pains of everyday life and love.'The most intensely ethical poetry in Italian literature of the twentieth century' Giorgio Agamben 'Amazingly fresh and surprising. The world does change, in the telling' John AshberyEdited by Gini Alhadeff

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Polar bears and arctic foxes team up for a hunt in this photo-filled non-fiction book for young wildlife fans. One powerful polar bear + one sly arctic fox = a dream team! Discover how two vastly different animal species team up to find food. With super-smell and tremendous strength, polar bears are the Arctic's deadliest hunters. So much so, these big-time beasts often have leftovers. Cue the arctic foxes! These clever opportunists are game for any meal and will clean up after polar bears, lickety-split. With eye-popping photographs, quick facts and beyond-the-book back matter, Polar Bears and Arctic Foxes Team Up! will have young readers and wildlife fans rooting for these animal allies.

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“The next good mood I find my father in, I’ll get him quite discarded” With these chillingly offhand words, Beatrice-Joanna, the spoilt daughter of a powerful nobleman, plots to get rid of the family servant who has crossed her once too often. The Changeling’s vivid tale of sexual appetite, repulsion, betrayal and lunacy remains one of the most compelling tragedies of the 17th century. Exposing the vexed relationship between servants and masters, setting notions of `change’ against the revelation of psychological ‘secrets’ as ways of explaining human behaviour, and exploring the idea of love as a `tame madness’, the play reveals the terrifying consequences of ungoverned sexual appetite and betrayal. Featuring the full and modernized play text, this revised edition includes incisive commentary notes which explain the nuances of the play’s vibrant, colloquial language and demonstrate its sly delight in the characters’ conscious and unconscious wordplay. Michael Neill’s illuminating introduction provides a firm grounding in the play’s socio-political context, demonstrates how careful close-reading can expand your enjoyment of the play, explains the play’s violent linkage of comic and tragic plots and gives theatrical life to the text via a discussion of its stage history, with a particular emphasis on the most interesting recent productions. The New Mermaids plays offer: · Modernized versions of the play text edited to the highest textual standards · Fully annotated student editions with obscure words explained and critical, contextual and staging insight provided on each page · Full Introductions analyzing context, themes, author background and stage history

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A gritty swords and sorcery tale of a veteran mercenary who must start anew after he loses his old company--and don't miss the manga adaptation, also from Seven Seas!One by one, the mercenaries who raised Loren fell in a terrible, bloody battle. The lone survivor in a hard world with only his wits and his sword to his name, Loren hires himself out as an adventurer. His new party, however, proves all too willing to run headlong into danger using him as their meat shield. Only Lapis, the party’s sly priest, sees his true worth, just as Loren sees hers. They must rely on each other, or else neither of them will live to see the end of their first adventure.

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*SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION* 'Extraordinary' Kate Mosse 'Electric' Lemn Sissay 'Searing' Julia Samuel One Omaha winter day in 1978, when Debora Harding was just fourteen, she was abducted at knife-point, thrown into a van, assaulted, held for ransom, and left to die. But what if this wasn't the most traumatic, defining event in her childhood? Undertaking a radical project, Debora Harding dexterously shifts between the past and present to unravel her story. From the immediate aftermath to the possibility of restorative justice twenty years later, Dancing with the Octopus lays bare the social and political forces that act upon us after the experience of serious crime. A vivid, sly and intimate portrait of one family's disintegration, this is a darkly humorous and ground-breaking narrative of reckoning and recovery.

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"For a woman who thinks of herself as a New Yorker at this point, I buy a lot of clothes from companies named things like Shrimp & Grits. Why? Because identity is complicated."Elizabeth Passarella is content with being complicated. She grew up in Memphis in a conservative Republican family with a Christian mom and a Jewish dad. Then she moved to New York, fell in love with the city--and, eventually, her husband--and changed. Sort of. While her politics have tilted to the left, she still puts her faith first, and argues that the two can go hand in hand, for what it's worth.Whether you have city lights or starry skies in your eye, Good Apple will show you that: God pursues each of us, no matter our own inconsistencies or failures There's beauty in the gray areas of our lives We can all embrace the absurdity, chaos, and strange sacredness of life that brings us together In this sharp and slyly profound memoir, Elizabeth upends stereotypes about Southerners, New Yorkers, and Christians, making a case that we are all flawed humans simply doing our best.Praise for Good Apple:"With sly humor, ecumenical warmth, and disarming frankness, Elizabeth Passarella builds bridges between red and blue and North and South. Good Apple makes a strong case for New York City as the kingdom of God--and for handwritten thank-you notes."--Ada Calhoun, author of St. Marks Is Dead, Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give, and Why We Can't Sleep

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"For a woman who thinks of herself as a New Yorker at this point, I buy a lot of clothes from companies named things like Shrimp & Grits. Why? Because identity is complicated."Elizabeth Passarella is content with being complicated. She grew up in Memphis in a conservative Republican family with a Christian mom and a Jewish dad. Then she moved to New York, fell in love with the city--and, eventually, her husband--and changed. Sort of. While her politics have tilted to the left, she still puts her faith first, and argues that the two can go hand in hand, for what it's worth.Whether you have city lights or starry skies in your eye, Good Apple will show you that: God pursues each of us, no matter our own inconsistencies or failures There's beauty in the gray areas of our lives We can all embrace the absurdity, chaos, and strange sacredness of life that brings us together In this sharp and slyly profound memoir, Elizabeth upends stereotypes about Southerners, New Yorkers, and Christians, making a case that we are all flawed humans simply doing our best.Praise for Good Apple:"With sly humor, ecumenical warmth, and disarming frankness, Elizabeth Passarella builds bridges between red and blue and North and South. Good Apple makes a strong case for New York City as the kingdom of God--and for handwritten thank-you notes."--Ada Calhoun, author of St. Marks Is Dead, Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give, and Why We Can't Sleep

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Set in Oregon in the early years of the twentieth century, H. L. Davis’s Honey in the Horn chronicles the struggles faced by homesteaders as they attempted to settle down and eke out subsistence from a still-wild land. With sly humor and keenly observed detail, Davis pays homage to the indomitable character of Oregon’s restless people and dramatic landscapes without romanticizing or burnishing the myths.Clay Calvert, an orphan, works as a hand on a sheep ranch until he stumbles into trouble and is forced to flee. Journeying throughout the state, from the lush coastal forests, to the Columbia Gorge, to the golden wheat fields east of the Cascades, he encounters a cast of characters as rich and diverse as the land, including a native Tunne boy and a beautiful girl named Luce.Originally published in 1935, Honey in the Horn reveals as much about the prevailing attitudes and beliefs during H. L. Davis’s lifetime as it does about the earlier era in which it is set. It transcends the limitations of its time through the sheer power and beauty of Davis’s prose. Full of humor and humanity, Davis’s first novel displays a vast knowledge of Pacific Northwest history, lore, and landscape.The only Oregon book that has ever won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction, this classic coming-of-age novel has been called the “Huckleberry Finn of the West.” With a new introduction by Richard W. Etulain, this important work from one of Oregon’s premier authors is once again available for a new generation.

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A queer, Black “biography in essays” about the performer who gave us “Hound Dog,” “Ball and Chain,” and other songs that changed the course of American music. Born in Alabama in 1926, raised in the church, appropriated by white performers, buried in an indigent’s grave—Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton's life events epitomize the blues—but Lynnée Denise pushes past the stereotypes to read Thornton’s life through a Black, queer, feminist lens and reveal an artist who was an innovator across her four-decade-long career. Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters “samples” elements of Thornton’s art—and, occasionally, the author’s own story—to create “a biography in essays” that explores the life of its subject as a DJ might dig through a crate of records. Denise connects Thornton’s vaudevillesque performances in Sammy Green’s Hot Harlem Revue to the vocal improvisations that made “Hound Dog” a hit for Peacock Records (and later for Elvis Presley), injecting music criticism into what’s often framed as a cautionary tale of record-industry racism. She interprets Thornton’s performing in men’s suits as both a sly, Little Richard–like queering of the Chitlin Circuit and a simple preference for pants over dresses that didn’t have a pocket for her harmonica. Most radical of all, she refers to her subject by her given name rather than "Big Mama," a nickname bestowed upon her by a white man. It's a deliberate and crucial act of reclamation, because in the name of Willie Mae Thornton is the sound of Black musical resilience.

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A provocative and penetrating new life of Galileo, placing the man, his achievements, and his failures in the broader history of the Scientific Revolution Galileo (1564–1642) is one of the most important and controversial figures in the history of science. A hero of modern science and key to its birth, he was also a deeply divided man: a scholar committed to the establishment of scientific truth yet forced to concede the importance of faith, and a brilliant analyst of the elegantly mathematical workings of nature yet bungling and insensitive with his own family.Tackling Galileo as astronomer, engineer, and author, David Wootton places him at the center of Renaissance culture. He traces Galileo through his early rebellious years; the beginnings of his scientific career constructing a “new physics”; his move to Florence seeking money, status, and greater freedom to attack intellectual orthodoxies; his trial for heresy and narrow escape from torture; and his house arrest and physical (though not intellectual) decline. Wootton reveals much that is new—from Galileo’s premature Copernicanism to a previously unrecognized illegitimate daughter—and, controversially, rejects the long-established orthodoxy which holds that Galileo was a good Catholic.Absolutely central to Galileo’s significance—and to science more broadly—is the telescope, the potential of which Galileo was the first to grasp. Wootton makes clear that it totally revolutionized and galvanized scientific endeavor to discover new and previously unimagined facts. Drawing extensively on Galileo’s voluminous letters, many of which were self-censored and sly, this is an original, arresting, and highly readable biography of a difficult, remarkable Renaissance genius.

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Ru: In Vietnamese it means lullaby; in French it is a small stream, but also signifies a flow - of tears, blood, money. Kim Thúy's Ru is literature at its most crystalline: the flow of a life on the tides of unrest and on to more peaceful waters. In vignettes of exquisite clarity, sharp observation and sly wit, we are carried along on an unforgettable journey from a palatial residence in Saigon to a crowded and muddy Malaysian refugee camp, and onward to a new life in Quebec. There, the young girl feels the embrace of a new community, and revels in the chance to be part of the American Dream. As an adult, the waters become rough again: now a mother of two, she must learn to shape her love around the younger boy's autism. Moving seamlessly from past to present, from history to memory and back again, Ru is a book that celebrates life in all its wonder: its moments of beauty and sensuality, brutality and sorrow, comfort and comedy.

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THE BESTSELLER THAT DEFINED AN AGEWith cloth binding and bespoke marbled endpapers, this gorgeous 30th-anniversary hardback edition of The Secret History is the perfect gift for fans! 'Everything, somehow, fit together; some sly and benevolent Providence was revealing itself by degrees and I felt myself trembling on the brink of a fabulous discovery, as though any morning it was all going to come together---my future, my past, the whole of my life---and I was going to sit up in bed like a thunderbolt and say oh! oh! oh!'Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.'Haunting, compelling and brilliant' The Times'Irresistible and seductive' Guardian'Enthralling... Forceful, cerebral and impeccably controlled' New York Times

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Mischief, Magic, Love and War.It is the Year of Our Lord 1601. The Tuscan War rages across the world, and every lord from Navarre to Illyria is embroiled in the fray. Cannon roar, pikemen clash, and witches stalk the night; even the fairy courts stand on the verge of chaos.Five stories come together at the end of the war: that of bold Miranda and sly Puck; of wise Pomona and her prisoner Vertumnus; of gentle Lucia and the shade of Prospero; of noble Don Pedro and powerful Helena; and of Anne, a glovemaker’s wife. On these lovers and heroes the world itself may depend.These are the stories Shakespeare never told. Five of the most exciting names in genre fiction today – Jonathan Barnes, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Emma Newman, Foz Meadows and Kate Heartfield – delve into the world the poet created to weave together a story of courage, transformation and magic.Including an afterword by Dr. John Lavagnino, The London Shakespeare Centre, King's College London.

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Like many of the families in this book, Rex Sly follows in the footsteps of his ancestors who were also farmers in the Fens. The land was reclaimed by forebears, giving this unique bond between ‘soil and soul’ - each generation wishing to leave their soils as a sustainable inheritance to the next. The variety of crops which are grown has changed little over the past half-century, but the traditional farms have been largely replaced by high-tech agro-businesses. Not all farms in the fens are large, though, and the richness of the soils still enables the small grower to survive in a niche marketplace. The greatest change has been from the grower to the consumers’ shopping baskets. The marketing chain has changed from markets and merchants to the vast supermarket network: fast and efficient for the grower and value for money for the public. The corn exchanges which witnessed the rise and fall of agriculture over one and a half centuries of history are now no more than farming monuments. The ever-increasing demands on our soils are of concern to those in the Fens. Each generation is replaceable - fen topsoil is not.

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Where is taverner Tom Merchet? Owen Archer unearths a series of troubling secrets and a dangerous foe intent on retribution when his good friend goes missing.A standout . . . Robb reinforces her place among the top writers of medieval historicals - Publishers Weekly Starred ReviewYork, 1377. Owen Archer is determined to find his friend, taverner Tom Merchet, who has been missing for five days. His wife, Bess, is frantic with worry. AN ENIGMATIC STRANGER.Who is the elusive Widow Cobb that Tom was seen visiting? And who is the man spotted following Tom before he vanished? As Owen hunts for clues, Bess decides to visit the widow''s lodgings and makes a terrifying discovery.RETRIBUTION IS BREWING . . .Owen digs up past sins and long-buried secrets that answer some of the questions surrounding Tom''s disappearance. But who is the sly and malevolent figure intent on destroying his friend, and

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Milena Urbanska is a red princess living in a Soviet satellite state in the 1980s. She enjoys limitless luxury and limited freedom; the end of the Cold War seems unimaginable. When she meets Jason, a confident but politically naive British poet, they fall into bed together. Before long, Milena is planning her escape. She follows Jason to London, where she’s shocked to find herself living in bohemian poverty. The rented apartment is dingy, the food disgusting, and Jason’s family withholding, but at least there are no hidden cameras recording her every move. As she adjusts to her new life, however, Milena discovers the dark side of Jason’s idea of freedom. With cool wit and tender precision, Vesna Goldsworthy delivers a razor-sharp vision of two worlds on the brink of change, amidst the failures of family and state. Iron Curtain is a sly, elegant comedy of manners that challenges the myths we tell ourselves.

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An insightful and haunting new collection from Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Simic Irreverent and sly, observant and keenly imagined, Come Closer and Listen is the latest work from one of our most beloved poets. With his trademark sense of humor, open-hearted empathy, and perceptive vision, Charles Simic roots his poetry in the ordinary world while still taking in the wide sweep of the human experience. From poems pithy, wry, and cutting—“Time—that murderer/that no has caught yet”—to his layered reflections on everything from love to grief to the wonders of nature, from the story of St. Sebastian to that of a couple weeding side by side, Simic’s work continues to reveal to us an unmistakable voice in modern poetry. An innovator in form and a chronicler of both our interior lives and the people we are in the world, Simic remains one of our most important and lasting voices on the page.

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Seidel is the great controversialist of American poetry. Dubbed a 'transgressive adventurer,' a 'demonic gentleman,' a 'triumphant outsider,' a 'great poet of innocence,' and 'an example of the dangerous Male of the Species', his sly, witty and wide-eyed poems seem earnest one moment and flippant the next, and will see him rotating his caustic fire from high-society cocktail parties to street-level poverty, genocide to Obamacare, New York to Syria. He's never more than a turn-line from humour, and it is often when he is at his funniest that he is also at his most shocking.The Independent said of his last collection: 'There is no contemporary poet writing in English as witty, as shrewd, as touching and as debonair as Frederick Seidel. That's a lot of praise, but he surely merits it.'Widening Income Inequality, Seidel's new collection, is a rhymed magnificence of sexual, historical, and cultural exuberance. Rarely has poetry been this dapper, or this dire, or this true.

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Embark on a colorful journey through the animal kingdom with this exotic color-by-number collection, featuring our planet''s diverse array of animal life, from sly chameleons to high-flying eagles. This collection will allow you to journey across the animal kingdom, as you create artworks of both the tiniest and mightiest of species. Each image is numbered so that, by referring to the colour key printed on the cover, you can give life to these fantastic creatures. Simply follow the guided numbers, and render a stunningly accurate portrait of your animal at its best. Features: • Thick, high-quality paper to prevent bleed-through • Previews of the finished designs in full-colour to aid design selection. • A flip-out colour key which can be flipped out beside your page for easy reference ABOUT THE SERIES: The bestselling Arcturus Colour by Numbers Collection features peaceful and enchanting designs from an array of

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"Child's best for some time...with detective-story and romcom elements (even sly humour) on top of the psychological duels and set-piece violence." (Sunday Times)Jack Reacher has no place to go, and all the time in the world to get there.A remote railroad stop on the prairie with the curious name of Mother's Rest seems perfect for an aimless one-day stopover. He expects to find a lonely pioneer tombstone in a sea of nearly-ripe wheat.Instead there is a woman waiting for a missing colleague, a cryptic note about two hundred deaths, and a small town full of silent, watchful people.Reacher's one-day stopover turns into an open-ended quest leading to the most hidden reaches of the internet, and right into the nightmare heart of darkness._________Although the Jack Reacher novels can be read in any order, Make Me is 20th in the series.And be sure not to miss Reacher's newest adventure, no.27, No Plan B! ***OUT NOW***

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This is the intimate and richly informative diary kept in 1910 by the young wife of a bustling merchant household in Kyoto. Makiko's husband was the had of his family's pharmaceutical business, and because the store and the family's living quarters were under one roof, it was a very busy place. Makiko writes perceptively about both special occasions (such as weddings, funerals, ancestral memorial services, and festivals) and the daily routine of the complex household. Almost all of the Japanese women whose accounts of family life are available in English were members of the elite or individuals who distinguish themselves in public life or in the arts. Makiko's Diary differs in that it is a spirited, first-hand account of the domestic world of a housewife, the role played by the vast majority of Japanese women. Makiko herself emerges as an engaging young woman, displaying flashes of sly humor, anger, sarcasm, and self-pity to temper her usual cheerfulness, eagerness to please, and determination to become a better person. Hers is a compelling voice.

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Beloved for the lens of the strange he places on small-town life, Steven Millhauser further reveals in Voices in the Night the darkest parts of our inner selves to brilliant and dazzling effect. Here are stories of wondrously imaginative hyperrealism, stories that pose unsettling what-ifs or that find barely perceivable evils within the safe boundaries of our towns, homes, and even our bodies. Here, too, are stories culled from religion and fables: from Samuel, who in the masterly "A Voice in the Night" hears the voice of God calling him in the night; to a young, pre-enlightenment Buddha; to Rapunzel and her Prince awakened only to everyday disappointment. Heightened by magic, the divine, and the uncanny, shot through with sly humour, Voices in the Night seamlessly combines the whimsy and surprise of the familiar with intoxicating fantasies that take us beyond our daily lives, all done with the hallmark sleight of hand and astonishing virtuosity of one of our greatest modern storytellers.

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"FAULTLESS." —The Guardian *** "A SLY PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER." —The Observer Like every other girl in her class, twelve-year-old Justine is drawn to her glamorous, charismatic new teacher and longs to be her pet. However, when a thief begins to target the school, Justine’s sense that something isn’t quite right grows ever stronger. With each twist of the plot, this gripping story of deception and the corrosive power of guilt takes a yet darker turn. Young as she is, Justine must decide where her loyalties lie. Set in New Zealand in the 1980s and probing themes of racism, misogyny and the oppressive reaches of Catholicism, Pet will take a rightful place next to other classic portraits of childhood betrayal: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Go-Between, Heavenly Creatures and Au Revoir Les Enfants among them.

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Discover everything you’ve ever wondered about the legendary spirits, creatures, and figures of Japanese folklore including how they have found their way into every corner of our pop culture from the creator of the podcast Uncanny Japan. Welcome to The Book of Japanese Folklore: a fascinating journey through Japan’s folklore through profiles of the legendary creatures and beings who continue to live on in pop culture today. From the sly kitsune to the orgrish oni and mischievous shape-shifting tanuki, learn all about the origins of these fantastical and mythical creatures. This gorgeous package is complete with stained edges and stunning four-color illustrations. With information on their cultural significance, a retelling of a popular tale tied to that particular yokai, and how it’s been spun into today’s popular culture, this handsome tome teaches you about the stories and histories of the beings that inspire

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Few stories have endured as long as the fables of Aesop. In this magnificent edition, award-winning illustrator Helen Ward has chosen a dozen of her favourite fables to create this breath-taking classic new collection to grace every bookshelf and bedside.The experiences described in the tales apply to us all and the lessons learned are both timeless and universal. Each creature comes to symbolise in its own way some particular aspect of the human condition - the sly fox, the silly crow, the majestic lion; all acting out their parts, uncomprehending, in the great game of life. Fear, greed, arrogance, stupidity, all these and more put in an appearance, leaping straight to the heart of our understanding from each page of this exquisitely illustrated edition. Includes the tales: The Hare and the Tortoise, The Lion and the Mouse and The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs.

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David Opdyke's massive collage This Land (as elucidated in this book by award-winning author Lawrence Weschler) presents a slow-burning satire of the American Dream as it blunders into the reality of climate change. This Land is an epic mural fashioned by New York artist David Opdyke out of vintage American postcards which he then treated with disconcerting painted interventions. What at first reads as a panoramic bird's-eye view of an idyllic alpine valley reveals itself, upon closer examination, to be an array of connected scenes and vignettes. Across more than five hundred postcards, each one portraying a distinct slice of idealized Americana (town squares, mountain highways, main streets and county seats), Opdyke's acerbic, emotionally jarring alterations gradually become evident. In this prophetic refashioning, forests are aflame, tornadoes torque from one card into the next, a steamboat gets swallowed up whole by some sort of new megafauna, frogs fall like Biblical hail from the sky. The human responses form a cacophony of desires and demands, panic and denial. Biplanes trail banners urging Repent Now!, others insist Legislative Action Would Be Premature, while still others advertise seats on an actual Ark. The book This Land affords readers a closer and closer viewing of Opdyke’s devastatingly sardonic take on our impending ecological future, one in turn enlivened by Lawrence Weschler's vividly sly blend of artist profile and critical interpretation. Featuring introductory essays providing background on the artist and the project as a whole, This Land also divides the sprawling mural into eight sections to allow for a more intimate viewing. Interspersed among the detailed visual sections are insightful thematic essays by Lawrence Weschler and an afterword that serves as a stirring call to action by civil rights attorney Maya Wiley. Additionally, the book's jacket is printed on both sides, folding out to reveal the work in its full grandeur.

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This is an enchanting retelling of a timeless fairy tale, with bright and imaginative drawings throughout. The fresh and lively storyline is designed to appeal to the young child, with appropriate vocabulary for those learning to read by themselves. It features interactive pages that encourage children to read, write and observe. It is an illustrated first reading book in a large, fun format. 'Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!' The Gingerbread Man outruns a little old lady, a cow, a horse and a farmer, but what happens when a sly fox offers to carry him across a wide river...? The classic children's story is retold in this delightful book, illustrated throughout with engaging drawings. The simple vocabulary and familiar language mean that children can follow as you read or try for themselves. Interactive questions and an odd-one-out game at the back of the book provide a valuable aid to learning.

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Personified animals (snakes, wolves, sheep), natural things (a swamp, a lake, a rainbow, trees), mankind’s creations (trucks, swords, zeroes) are all characters in The Teeth of the Comb. They aspire, they plot, they hope, they destroy, they fail, they love. These wonderful small stories animate new realities and make us see our reality anew. Reading Alomar’s sly moral fables and sharp political allegories, the reader always sits up a little straighter, and a little wiser. Here is the title story: Some of the teeth of the comb were envious of the class differences that exist between humans. They strived desperately to increase their height, and, when they succeeded, began to look with disdain on their colleagues below. After a little while the comb’s owner felt a desire to comb his hair. But when he found the comb in this state he threw it in the garbage.

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Winner of the 2016 Yale Series of Younger Poets prize A fresh and rebellious poetic voice, Airea D. Matthews debuts in the acclaimed series that showcases the work of exciting and innovative young American poets. Matthews’s superb collection explores the topic of want and desire with power, insight, and intense emotion. Her poems cross historical boundaries and speak emphatically from a racialized America, where the trajectories of joy and exploitation, striving and thwarting, violence and celebration are constrained by differentials of privilege and contemporary modes of communication. In his foreword, series judge Carl Phillips calls this book “rollicking, destabilizing, at once intellectually sly and piercing and finally poignant.” This is poetry that breaks new literary ground, inspiring readers to think differently about what poems can and should do in a new media society where imaginations are laid bare and there is no thought too provocative to send out into the world.

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Who's to blame when a vain, heedless king meets his comeuppance? He is, of course! Fans of Tomi Ungerer's mischievous humor and Jon Agee's sly morality tales will be delighted by this hilarious read-aloud about a long, long beard and its short-sighted royal owner, by a popular Belgian illustrator, designer, and animation whiz.The lush, golden royal beard is a wondrous thing - especially to the king himself. He spends his days admiring and grooming it, and passes laws making it a crime punishable by death for anyone else's face to sport even a single hair. As the people of the kingdom nervously shave daily, the royal beard grows and grows until it appears at the palace's back gate. What happens next will have readers laughing along -- and cheering for the astronomers who, unlike the tyrannical king, know that the earth is round.

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One year ago, Cal Thompson was a college freshman more interested in meeting girls and partying in New York City than in attending his biology classes. Now, after a fateful encounter with a mysterious woman named Morgan, biology has become, literally, Cal's life.Cal was infected by a parasite that has a truly horrifying effect on its host. Cal himself is a carrier, unchanged by the parasite, but he's infected the girlfriends he's had since Morgan-and all have turned into the ravening ghouls Cal calls peeps. The rest of us know them as vampires. And it's Cal's job to hunt them down before they can create even more of their kind. . . .Bursting with the sharp intelligence and sly humor that are fast becoming his trademark, Scott Westerfeld's new novel is an utterly original take on an archetype of horror.

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Winner of the 1991 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Syl Cheney-Coker's acclaimed debut novel, The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar traces the history of a nation's rise and fall, as prophesied by an ancient sorcerer. A military general sits in one of Malagueta's prison cells, awaiting his execution. He has just failed to overthrow the government. In the same land, over two centuries ago, the wife of a formerly enslaved man takes her first steps towards freedom. From the creation of Malagueta to its devastating fall, Alusine Dunbar, the wizened old diviner, has prophesied it all. And what he sees, he calls a tragedy. One of Sierra Leone’s most renowned novelists and poets, Sly Cheney-Coker creates a world teeming with magical realism as he paints the journey from precolonial Africa to its shaky independence.

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'Believe me, my young friend, there is absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. In them or out of them, it doesn't matter. Whether you get away or you don't, whether you arrive at your destination or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy.'Ever since the publication of Kenneth Grahame's novel in 1908, the characters of Ratty, Mole, Toad and Badger have delighted generations of readers. Now Alan Bennett has written an adaptation for the stage, a version which is both true to the original and yet carries that distinctive Bennett hallmark.Alan Bennett introduces this edition, writing about the history of the project and the staging of the production.'Bennett is even able to inject the odd sly joke for the adult without bewildering the tots... the result is a delightful evening, a treat for anyone.' The Times

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As Scheherazade proved long ago, good stories make the best bedtime entertainment. The tales collected here represent the essence of the storyteller's art, with its ancient roots in fantastical legends and tales told around a fire. From the surreal night visions of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown' to the unspeakable horror that haunts two little girls in A. S. Byatt's 'The Thing in the Forest', from Washington Irving's comical 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' to Ursula K. LeGuin's sly perspective on Sleeping Beauty in 'The Poacher', these spellbinding stories transform the stuff of fables and fairy tales into high art. Robert Louis Stevenson, H. G. Wells, Isak Dinesen, Vladimir Nabokov, Angela Carter, Haruki Murakami and many more mingle their voices in this one-volume gateway to dreams - the perfect bedside companion for fiction lovers everywhere

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This chilling follow-up to Somerset Murders brings together more murderous tales that shocked not only the county but made headline news throughout the nation. Covering the length and breadth of Somerset, the featured cases include two female poisoners, Catherine Churchill, who killed her husband in Knowle-St-Giles in 1879 and Sarah Freeman, who claimed several victims in the Bridgwater area from 1843 onwards. A wide variety of means and motive are covered. There is murder committed in the course of robbery, such as the brutal killing of Sarah Wilkins in Nempnett Thrubwell in 1851; murder through jealousy, as in the case of George Bitten, who murdered his wife at Wolverton in 1867 and even altruistic murders, such as that committed by Albion Wadman near Wincanton in 1883. Also included is the strange and intriguing story of Reginald Woolmington, who faced two trials for the murder of his wife at Milborne Port in 1934. Nicola Sly and John Van der Kiste's well-illustrated and enthralling text will appeal to everyone interested in true-crime history and the shadier side of Somerset's past.

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"Animal Puzzles for the Scroll Saw, Second Edition" is a newly expanded version of the wildly popular pattern book that scroll saw artists have come to love! With over 50 patterns for upright standing and interlocking puzzles, woodworkers will have plenty of charming puzzles to sell at craft shows or to give to loved ones as special gifts. With a handy getting started section that includes information to ensure success, new scrollers will learn how to choose wood, blades, to transfer patterns and more. Experienced scrollers will find useful information to customize patterns and to create their own patterns from personal photographs. New realistic patterns include a playful scene of 4 cats, a smart beagle, an alligator, an adorable panda bear, Frisian pony, caribou, sly red fox and others - each with full color photographs of the finished puzzles.

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A splash of sea foam. A sly sparrow. A man dodging the rain. From such mundane, unexpected moments, Spanish poet Claudio Rodriguez crafted his 1965 Alliance and Condemnation, a collection of poems that temper the joy of existence - the "bounty that turns my flawed breath into prayer" - with a questioning of empirical reality. In these pages are poems of love and hate, contrition and forgiveness, and the joys of sorrow and existence. Many of the poems are essentially parables that seem to address the immediacy of the world yet point beyond it toward philosophical and eternal values. The result is a conjoining of the real and the ideal, a frequent theme in Spanish literature. Many of these poems bridge the distance between the Spanish mystics, among them Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa, and the nature poetry of romanticism. Of all his creations, the radiant poems in "Alliance and Condemnation" offer the best imaginable introduction to his extraordinary life and work.

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From the peerless author of The Lottery and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, this is a treasure trove of deliciously dark and funny stories, essays, lectures, letters and drawings.Let Me Tell You brings together the brilliantly eerie short stories Jackson is best known for with frank and inspiring lectures on writing; comic essays she wrote about her large, rowdy family; and revelatory personal letters and drawings. Jackson's landscape here is most frequently domestic - dinner parties, children's games and neighbourly gossip - but one that is continually threatened and subverted in her unsettling, inimitable prose. This collection is the first opportunity to see Shirley Jackson's radically different modes of writing side by side, revealing her to be a magnificent storyteller, a sharp, sly humorist and a powerful feminist.'The stories range from sketches and anecdotes to complete and genuinely unsettling tales, somewhat alarming and very creepy ... The whole of the book offers insights into the vagaries of her mind, which was ruminant and generous ... For those of us whose imaginations, and creative ambitions, were ignited by 'The Lottery', Jackson remains one of the great practitioners of the literature of the darker impulses' - Paul Theroux, New York Times'Shirley Jackson made a reputation with a short story in 1948. Like a lot of people I read 'The Lottery' when I was young, in an anthology of short stories from the New Yorker, and never forgot it. Let Me Tell You is a rich, enjoyable compendium of her unpublished short fiction and occasional writings, kicking off with a story of a dozen pages, 'Paranoia', which I won't forget, either' - Tom Stoppard, TLS Books of the Year

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Fearless heroes, feisty princesses, sly magicians, terrifying dragons, talking foxes and miniature dogs. They all feature in this enthralling compendium of Chinese fairy tales and legends, along with an array of equally colourful characters and captivating plots. Although largely unknown in the West, the 73 stories in this volume are just as beguiling as the more familiar Grimms’ Fairy Tales or Arabian Nights. They were collected in the early 20th century by Richard Wilhelm and first translated into English by Frederick H Martens. This beautifully produced revised and edited new edition includes updated notes which not only provide background on the tales, but also offer a fascinating insight into ancient Chinese folk lore and culture. These are stories to return to time and time again. From awesome adventures to quirky allegories, from the exploits of the gods to fables about beggars who outwit their betters, Chinese Fairy Tales and Legends is extraordinarily diverse and endlessly engaging. These wonderful stories have enduring and universal appeal, and will intrigue both children and adults.

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He had three perfect wivesUntil one of them killed him. 'Oh, my, can this author write women!' NEW YORK TIMES'Atmospheric and addictive' THE SUN'I could not put it down... I loved it!' MARIAN KEYES*****Blake's dead. His wife killed him.The question is... which one? Blake Nelson moved onto a hidden stretch of land - a raw paradise in the wilds of Utah - where he lived with his three wives:Rachel, the chief wife, obedient and doting to a fault.Tina, the other wife, who is everything Rachel isn't.And Emily, the youngest wife, who knows little else.Rachel, Tina and Emily have nothing in common - except that they share a husband and a homestead.When their beloved Blake is found dead under the desert sun, the questions pile up. But none of the widows know who would want to kill a good man like their husband.At least, that's what they'll tell the police . . .*****READERS AND CRITICS LOVE THE WIDOWS:'Three wives, three motives, three utterly compelling stories' ELLY GRIFFITHS'Intense, gripping, superb' WILL DEAN'A compelling read with a very dark heart' OBSERVER'A brilliant joyride in the company of three unforgettable women - a hugely enjoyable and original mystery with real heart' JANE CASEY'A sly, contemporary crime masterpiece. I loved it.' ADRIAN MCKINTY'An engrossing, original page-turner that will keep you hooked until the last page' (FIVE STARS)'Forget about sleep while you read this book' (FIVE STARS)'This book did not disappoint in any way . . . A real page turner.' (FIVE STARS)'I was enraptured all the way' (FIVE STARS)

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Britain''s answer to Marilyn Monroe. This tag was to hang around Diana Dors'' neck during the 1950s. As Diana would often point out she had been working professionally a lot longer than Monroe. Her first appearance was in 1946 in The Shop at Sly Corner, while still a student at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Diana, like Marilyn, was blonde, curvy and sexy, but that''s where the comparison ended. Her range as an actress encompassed everything from comedy to Greek tragedy.She was a real person a quality that endeared her to the public, but above all, she was a survivor.Diana was also a talented writer compiling two autobiographies of herself, as well as her three A - Z books. Diana had a prolific career covering every facet of the entertainment industry - theatre, cabaret, film and TV.Passport to Fame is a comprehensive study of Diana''s work across her 40 years of filmmaking. The book is also an invaluable source of reference to the fil

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Casey Gerald's story begins at the end of the world: on New Year's Eve 1999, Casey gathers with the congregation of his grandfather's black evangelical church to witness the rapture. The journey that follows is a beautiful and moving story of a young man learning to question the dreams of success and prosperity that are the foundation of modern America. Growing up gay in an ordinary black neighbourhood in Dallas, his parents struggling with mental health problems and addiction, Casey finds himself on a remarkable path to a prestigious Ivy League college, to the inner sanctums of power on Wall Street and in Washington DC. But even as he attains everything the American Dream promised him, Casey comes to see that salvation stories like his own are part of the plan to keep others from rising. Intense, incantatory, shot through with sly humour and quiet fury, There Will Be No Miracles Here is an extraordinary memoir that forces us to judge our society not on those who rise highest, but on those left behind along the way.

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An electrifying novel about the creeping reality of political terror, and the violent pleasures found in Brooklyn's queer heartlands. Part noir, part erotic thriller, X is a vivid, moody and darkly funny portrait of those living on the margins of an increasingly hostile society. Broke and discontented, amateur sadist Lee spends their days working for a big corporation and their nights searching the warehouses and dungeons of Brooklyn looking for the mysterious, seductive, and bloodthirsty X. In a sly purging of migrants, refugees, sex workers and queers - any citizens they claim to be undesirable - the US government has started exporting people, and Lee has heard X might be among those about to disappear. As their obsession with X grows, Lee becomes further enmeshed in the crimes and dramas of the city's queer community, following ex-lovers, playmates, clients, best friends, and accidental accomplices through damp and shining bars and parties looking for any lead that might bring them closer to X, before she vanishes for good.

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Voodoo, D'Angelo's much-anticipated 2000 release, set the standard for the musical cycle ordained as "neo-soul," a label the singer and songwriter would reject more than a decade later. The album is a product of heightened emotions and fused sensibilities; an amalgam of soul, rock, jazz, gospel, hip-hop, and Afrobeats. D'Angelo put to music his own pleasures and insecurities as a man-child in the promised land. It was both a tribute to his musical heroes: Prince, Sly Stone, Marvin Gaye, J Dilla...and a deconstruction of rhythm and blues itself. Despite nearly universal acclaim, the sonic expansiveness of Voodoo proved too nebulous for airplay on many radio stations, seeping outside the accepted lines of commercial R&B music. Voodoo was Black, it was definitely magic, and it was nearly overshadowed by a four-minute music video featuring D'Angelo's sweat-glistened six-pack abs. "The Video" created an accentuated moment when the shaman lost control of the spell he cast.

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No one knows who exactly invented the wheel, but in the inventive hands of illustrator Tom Schamp young readers will have great fun learning about all the ways wheels have rolled through history. From prehistoric carts to cars of tomorrow, this big, fun book takes a historic journey through a world where everything has wheels, from the Trojan horse to the Harley Davidson; from the stagecoach and the steam train to the Vespa and the Ferrari; from skateboards to electric scooters. Every spread of this deliriously entertaining and educational book is filled with Tom Schamp's quirky and colorful art. His sly, subtle texts will make older readers smile. Younger readers will return again and again to these playfully crowded pages to discover what different countries' emergency vehicles look like; to learn about buses of every imaginable dimension and weight; and to choose which bike they'd use to win a race. Each viewing will reveal charming new details that are as absurdly funny as they are educationally rewarding.

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“Filled with vivid details, shocking truths, and two sly, strong women who bring panache and humor to every scene. I’m simply in awe of the masterful, magical way Lauren Willig makes history come alive.” — Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnolia Place"A winning epic of war and friendship. Readers will devour this riveting tale."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig: a dramatic coming-of-age story with a dual timeline and a single heroine—a bold and adventuring young woman who finds herself caught up in two very different wars on both sides of the Atlantic.September 1896: An aspiring archaeologist, Smith College graduate Betsy Hayes travels to Athens, desperate to break into the male-dominated field of excavation. In the midst of the heat and dust of Greece she finds an unlikely ally in Charles, Baron de Robecourt, one of the few men who takes her academic passion seriously. But when a simmering conflict between Greece and Turkey erupts into open warfare, Betsy throws herself into the conflict as a nurse, not knowing that the decision will change her life forever—and cause a deep and painful rift with her oldest friend, Ava.June 1898: Betsy has sworn off war nursing—but when she gets the word that her estranged friend Ava is headed to Cuba with Clara Barton and the Red Cross to patch up the wounded in the Spanish-American War, Betsy determines to stop her the only way she knows how: by joining in her place. Battling heat, disease, and her own demons, Betsy follows Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders straight to the heart of the fighting, where she is forced to confront her greatest fears to save both old friends and new….Set during an electrifying era of nation-building, idealism, and upheaval, Two Wars and a Wedding is the tale of two remarkable women striving to make their place in a man’s world—an unforgettable saga of friendship, love, and fighting for what is right.

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Buzzfeed News,"15 Small Press Books To Kick Off Your 2020 Reading Season" The Millions, “February Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated” "Death looms in these four sparkling novellas—thus the book’s sly title—but until then there’s the wonder of life. Frank’s subjects include fascinating friendships and complicated marriages, awful parties and odd enthusiasm. Bonus: song mentions that add up to a terrifically eclectic playlist.” —Kim Hubbard, People Magazine In her quartet of novellas, Joan Frank invites readers into the inner lives of characters bewildered by love, grief, and inexplicable affinities. A young couple navigates a strange friendship and unexpected pregnancy; a woman recalls the bizarre fallout of her former lover's fame; a lonely widow is drawn to an arrogant young man; a wealthy spiritual seeker grapples with what wealth cannot affect. Witty and humane, Frank taps the riches of the novella form as she writes of loneliness, friendship, loss, and the filaments of intimacy that connect us through time.

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