Search results for ""Author Sly"

A smooth-talking monster gets what's coming to him in this funny and slyly subversive picture book for fans of There's a Monster in Your Book and We Don't Eat Our Classmates. A big orange creature lurks in a crowded playground...but don't worry! He would never eat a child. What do you think he is…a MONSTER? And kids are definitely not disappearing every time you turn a page. You're imagining things. The monster has nothing to hide; in fact, he loves children. And he would never, ever, ever—oops! There goes another kid....   This laugh-out-loud story will keep readers guessing until the end, then send them straight back to the beginning to keep a close eye on the wily monster (and the one kid who knows exactly what he's up to). A great read aloud for bedtime (or anytime!), this silly and subversive picture book delivers poetic justice and giggles galore.

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The village of Slyford St James is no stranger to supernatural happenings, as long-time residents Jed and Emma know all too well. When Jed receives a letter from an old friend, he is intrigued. Though he and Simon were like brothers during their army days, they have lost touch over the years. However, the invitation to the Pomeroy family estate isn't quite the reunion he was hoping for - Simon's eldest brother has been brutally murdered, and he wants Jed to use his connection to the dead to help solve the crime. When they arrive at the estate, Jed is shocked by how fragile and fearful his friend has become. As Jed calls upon the spirit world, the results are dramatic, and a gruesome warning reveals dark and dangerous family secrets that threaten the safety of them all.

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'Pure pleasure.' Evening Standard'An absolute treat . . . wittily and slyly written.' Euro CrimeAN AURELIO ZEN MYSTERYWhen the corpse of the shady industrialist who owns the local football team is found both shot and stabbed, Inspector Aurelio Zen is called to Bologna to oversee the investigation. Recovering slowly from surgery, and fleeing an equally painful crisis in his personal life, Zen is only too happy to take on what at first appears to be a routine and relatively undemanding assignment. But soon a world-famous university professor is shot with the same gun, and the case threatens to spin out of control . . .'The best of the Zen series. Exceptionally clever and witty.' 5* reader review'A very entertaining romp with Zen.' 5* reader review'Very funny and perceptive on Italian society. Michael Dibdin's Zen books are the top of the pile in detective fiction.' 5* reader reviewPRAISE FOR MICHAEL DIBDIN AND THE INSPECTOR ZEN SERIES:'He wrote with real fire.' IAN RANKIN'A maestro of crime writing.' SUNDAY TIMES'One of the genre's finest stylists . . . And Zen himself is a masterly creation: he is anti-heroic and pragmatic but obstinate, cunning and positively burdened with integrity.' GUARDIAN'Dibdin tells a rollicking good tale that you want both to read fast, because of its gripping storyline, and to linger over, to savour the evocative descriptions of place and mood.' INDEPENDENT'One of British crime fiction's most distinguished and distinctive voices.' ANDREW TAYLOR'Dibdin has a gift for shocking the unshockable reader.' Ruth Rendell'Zen is one of the greatest creations of contemporary crime fiction.' OBSERVER'I love the way these books capture the atmosphere and contradictions of Italy.' 5* reader review'Aurelio Zen novels are a great treat.' 5* reader review'There is no better writer than Dibdin. His books are a joy to read.' 5* reader review'Love these books . . . I am sure you will get hooked too!' 5* reader review

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'Simply glorious. Every nook and cranny of 1930s Singapore is brought richly to life' Catriona McphersonSu Lin is doing her dream job: assistant at Singapore's brand new detective agency. Until Bald Bernie decides a 'local girl' can't be trusted with private investigations, and replaces her with a new secretary - pretty, privileged, and white. So Su Lin's not the only person finding it hard to mourn Bernie after he's found dead in the filing room. And when her best friend's dad is accused, she gets up to some sleuthing work of her own in a bid to clear his name. Su Lin finds out that Bernie may have been working undercover, trading stolen diamonds for explosives from enemy troops. Was he really the upright English citizen he claimed to be? Meanwhile, a famous assassin commits his worst crime yet, and disappears into thin air. Rumours spread that he may be dangerously close to home.Beneath the stifling, cloudless Singaporean summer, earthquakes of chaos and political unrest are breaking out. When a tragic loss shakes Su Lin's personal world to its core, she becomes determined to find the truth. But in dark, hate-filled times, truth has a price - and Su Lin must decide how much she's willing to pay for it. Praise for Ovidia Yu:'Chen Su Lin is a true gem. Her slyly witty voice and her admirable, sometimes heartbreaking, practicality make her the most beguiling narrator heroine I've met in a long while' Catriona McPherson'Charming and fascinating with great authentic feel. Ovidia Yu's teenage Chinese sleuth gives us an insight into a very different culture and time. This book is exactly why I love historical novels' Rhys Bowen'A wonderful detective novel . . . a book that introduces one of the most likeable heroines in modern literature and should be on everyone's Must Read list' Scotsman

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'Terrific, page-turning, slyly funny' India Knight'As satisfying a novel as I have read in years' Sarah Perry'Absolutely magnificent' Marian KeyesQuentin and Lottie Bredin, like many modern couples, can't afford to divorce. Having lost their jobs in the recession, they can't afford to go on living in London; instead, they must downsize and move their three children to a house in a remote part of Devon. Arrogant and adulterous, Quentin can't understand why Lottie is so angry; devastated and humiliated, Lottie feels herself to have been intolerably wounded.Mud, mice and quarrels are one thing - but why is their rent so low? What is the mystery surrounding their unappealing new home? The beauty of the landscape is ravishing, yet it conceals a dark side involving poverty, revenge, abuse and violence which will rise up to threaten them.Sally Verity, happily married but unhappily childless knows a different side to country life, as both a Health Visitor and a sheep farmer's wife; and when Lottie's innocent teenage son Xan gets a zero-hours contract at a local pie factory, he sees yet another. At the end of their year, the lives of all will be changed for ever. A suspenseful black comedy, this is a rich, compassionate and enthralling novel in its depiction of the English countryside, and the potentially lethal interplay between money and marriage.

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What it means when your father dies. How it feels when summer comes. What it’s like to live in a great but troubled American city. The value of wearing sunscreen. These are just a few of the topics that Mary Schmich addresses in this second, expanded edition of Even the Terrible Things Seem Beautiful to Me Now, a collection of her columns from the Chicago Tribune, including the 10 that won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Schmich is the rare newspaper columnist whose writing resonates long after it’s published and far beyond the place she lives. She may be best known for a column widely called “Wear Sunscreen”—misattributed to Kurt Vonnegut and turned into a hit recording by Baz Luhrmann—but her writing ranges as widely as life itself. It can be slyly humorous, deeply moving, or tough. She addresses subjects as varied as family love, sexual harassment, long friendships, poverty, and Chicago violence. Every city has its voices, the enduring writers who both explain and create a city’s culture. Chicago has had many, including the legendary Mike Royko and Studs Terkel. Mary Schmich is among them. In a hectic age, her writing lifts us, calms us, and helps us understand.

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Two tales, set in a time “when animals and human beings still talked to each other,” display Thomas King’s cheeky humor and master storytelling skills. Freshly illustrated and reissued as an early chapter book, these stories are perfect for newly independent readers. In Coyote Sings to the Moon, Old Woman and the animals sing to the moon each night. Coyote attempts to join them, but his voice is so terrible they beg him to stop. He is crushed and lashes out — who needs Moon anyway? Furious, Moon dives into a pond, plunging the world into darkness. But clever Old Woman comes up with a plan to send Moon back up into the sky and, thanks to Coyote, there she stays. In Coyote’s New Suit, mischievous Raven wreaks havoc when she suggests that Coyote’s toasty brown suit is not the finest in the forest, thus prompting him to steal suits belonging to all the other animals. Meanwhile, Raven tells the other animals to borrow clothes from the humans’ camp. When Coyote finds that his closet is too full, Raven slyly suggests he hold a yard sale, then sends the human beings (in their underwear) and the animals (in their ill-fitting human clothes) along for the fun. A hilarious illustration of the consequences of wanting more than we need. Key Text Features table of contents illustrations Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

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A gripping story about race, money and motherhood that asks: what would you sacrifice for a new life? 'A firecracker of a novel' Madeline Miller 'Intelligent, thought-provoking, slyly satirical' Sunday Times 'About everything a book should be about: race and class, power and inequality - and it's dark and funny' Joanna Cannon 'An unsettling, unputdownable read' Elle 'Ramos has crafted a real page-turner' The Times Ambitious businesswoman Mae Yu runs Golden Oaks - a luxury retreat transforming the fertility industry. There, women get the very best of everything: organic meals, fitness trainers, daily massages and big money. Provided they dedicate themselves to producing the perfect baby. For someone else. Jane is a young immigrant in search of a better future. Stuck living in a cramped dorm with her baby daughter and her shrewd aunt Ate, she sees an unmissable chance to change her life. But at what cost? Chosen as a book of the summer by the Guardian, Telegraph, Evening Standard and Cosmopolitan

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A MAN OF SIN Devastatingly handsome. Vain. Unscrupulous. Valentine Napier, the Duke of Montgomery, is the man London whispers about in boudoirs and back alleys. A notorious rake and blackmailer, Montgomery has returned from exile, intent on seeking revenge on those who have wronged him. But what he finds in his own bedroom may lay waste to all his plans. A WOMAN OF HONOUR Born a bastard, housekeeper Bridget Crumb is clever, bold and fiercely loyal. When her aristocratic mother becomes the target of extortion, Bridget joins the Duke of Montgomery's household to search for the incriminating evidence - and uncovers something far more dangerous. A SECRET THAT THREATENS TO DESTROY THEM BOTH Astonished by the deceptively prim - and surprisingly witty - domestic spy in his chambers, Montgomery is intrigued. And try as she might, Bridget can't resist the slyly charming duke. Now as the two begin their treacherous game of cat and mouse, they soon realise that they both have secrets, and neither may be as nefarious - or as innocent - as they appear ...

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A treasure trove of outstanding stories from 'the best writer of our generation' (Gary Shteyngart) - the perfect gift for the Zadie Smith fan in your life'She's already one of our best novelists and essayists, this reminds us that her short stories are right up there too' Observer'Sexy and hilarious. There is no moment in Grand Union when we are not entertained, or doubt that we are in the company of one of our best contemporary writers' Guardian'Brilliant. Another slam dunk. Street life, patois, music, food, clothes, hair: Smith has her finger on the pulse of life and the utter weirdness of whatever has just become normal. This is a book of and for the times, sobering in its clarity but bracingly witty and clever' Evening Standard'Smith's dialogue crackles with mordant wit. This dazzling collection of stories will leave you with plenty to think about' IndependentInterleaving ten completely new and unpublished stories with some of her best-loved pieces from the New Yorker and elsewhere, Zadie Smith presents a dizzyingly rich and varied collection of fiction. Moving exhilaratingly across genres and perspectives, from the historic to the vividly current to the slyly dystopian, Grand Union is a sharply alert and prescient collection about time and place, identity and rebirth, the persistent legacies that haunt our present selves and the uncanny futures that rush up to meet us.

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Over Easy is a brilliant portrayal of a familiar coming-of-age story. After being denied financial aid to cover her last year of art school, Margaret finds salvation from the straight-laced world of college and the earnestness of both hippies and punks in the wisecracking, fast-talking, drug-taking group she encounters at the Imperial Cafe, where she makes the transformation from Margaret to Madge. At first she mimics these new and exotic grown-up friends, trying on the guise of adulthood with some awkward but funny stumbles. Gradually she realizes that the adults she looks up to are a mess of contradictions, misplaced artistic ambitions, sexual confusion, dependencies, and addictions. Over Easy is equal parts time capsule of late 1970s life in California-with its deadheads, punks, disco rollers, casual sex, and drug use-and bildungsroman of a young woman who grows from a naive, sexually inexperienced art-school dropout into a self-aware, self-confident artist. Mimi Pond's chatty, slyly observant anecdotes create a compelling portrait of a distinct moment in time. Over Easy is an immediate, limber, and precise fictionalized memoir narrated with an eye for the humour in every situation.

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In 1941 Thelonious Monk and Kenny Clarke copyrighted “Epistrophy,” one of the best-known compositions of the bebop era. The song’s title refers to a literary device—the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses—that is echoed in the construction of the melody. Written two decades later, Amiri Baraka’s poem “Epistrophe” alludes slyly to Monk’s tune. Whether it is composers finding formal inspiration in verse or a poet invoking the sound of music, hearing across media is the source of innovation in black art.Epistrophies explores this fertile interface through case studies in jazz literature—both writings informed by music and the surprisingly large body of writing by jazz musicians themselves. From James Weldon Johnson’s vernacular transcriptions to Sun Ra’s liner note poems, from Henry Threadgill’s arresting song titles to Nathaniel Mackey’s “Song of the Andoumboulou,” there is an unending back-and-forth between music that hovers at the edge of language and writing that strives for the propulsive energy and melodic contours of music.At times this results in art that gravitates into multiple media. In Duke Ellington’s “social significance” suites, or in the striking parallels between Louis Armstrong’s inventiveness as a singer and trumpeter on the one hand and his idiosyncratic creativity as a letter writer and collagist on the other, one encounters an aesthetic that takes up both literature and music as components of a unique—and uniquely African American—sphere of art-making and performance.

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How did Russian writers respond to linguistic debate in the post-Soviet period?Post-Soviet Russia was a period of linguistic liberalisation, instability and change with varied attempts to regulate and legislate language usage, a time when the language question permeated all spheres of social, cultural and political life. Key topics for debate included the Soviet linguistic legacy, the past and future of Russian, linguistic variation, language policy and linguistic ideologies. This book looks at how these debates featured in literature and illustrates the discussion through six interpretive readings of post-Soviet Russian prose. It analyses both the writers' explicit and implicit responses and in doing opens up new perspectives for sociolinguistic research on metalanguage. Spanning a number of theoretical fields including language variation, language policy and literary stylistics, Ingunn Lunde provides a coherent way of triangulating these fields by the introduction of the concept of performative metalanguage. The book also offers insight into the role of writers in the broader social and political context of language culture in contemporary Russia and into the various ways in which the linguistic and aesthetic practices of literary art can engage in questions related to the negotiation of linguistic norms.Key FeaturesHighlights the role of writers, and of fiction, in the language debates of post-Soviet Russia Looks at the subject from the point of view of literary language discussing six texts in detailFeatures work by Tatiana Tolstaia, Evgenii Vodolazkin, Evgenii Popov, Vladimir Sorokin, Valerii Votrin and Mikhail GigolashviliIntroduces a new concept of a 'performative metalanguage' one that opens up new perspectives for sociolinguistic research on metalanguage Analysis of Key TextsEvgenii Popov: 'The True Story of 'The Green Musicians''Vladimir Sorokin: 'Monoklon'Tatiana Tolstaia: 'The Slynx'Evgenii Vodolazkin: 'Laurus'Valerii Votrin: 'The Speech Therapist'Mikhail Gigolashvili: 'The Occupation of Muscovy: a national-linguistic novel'

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In recent decades, authenticity has become an American obsession. It animates thirty years' worth of reality TV programming and fuels the explosive virality of one hot social media app after another. It characterizes Donald Trump's willful disregard for political correctness (and proofreading) and inspires multinational corporations to stake activist claims in ways that few "woke" brands ever dared before. It buttresses a multibillion-dollar influencer industry of everyday folks shilling their friends with #spon-con and burnishes the street cred of rock stars and rappers alike. But, ironically, authenticity's not actually real: it's as fabricated as it is ubiquitous. In The Authenticity Industries, journalist and scholar Michael Serazio combines eye-opening reporting and lively prose to take readers behind the scenes with those who make "reality"—and the ways it tries to influence us. Drawing upon dozens of rare interviews with campaign consultants, advertising executives, tech company leadership, and entertainment industry gatekeepers, the book slyly investigates the professionals and practices that make people, products, and platforms seem "authentic" in today's media, culture, and politics. The result is a spotlight on the power of authenticity in today's media-saturated world and the strategies to satisfy this widespread yearning. In theory, authenticity might represent the central moral framework of our time: allaying anxieties about self and society, culture and commerce, and technology and humanity. It infects and informs our ideals of celebrity, aesthetics, privacy, nostalgia, and populism. And Serazio reveals how these pretenses are crafted, backstage, for audiences, consumers, and voters.

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These are your elected officials. Some are slyly taking advantage of the system. They are hoping no one is savvy enough to notice. But Matt Lewis has. And this is what he's learned.Today's politicians are an unsavoury lot-a hybrid of plutocrats and hypocrites. And it's worse (and more laughable) than you can imagine. Lewis will introduce you to a crop of latte liberals, ivy league populists, insider traders, trust-fund babies, and swamp creatures as he exposes how truly ludicrous money in politics has gotten.In Filthy Rich Politicians, Lewis embarks on an investigative deep dive into the ridiculous state of modern American democracy-a system where the rich get elected and the elected get rich. One of the brightest conservative writers of his generation, Lewis doesn't just complain: he articulates how Americans can achieve accountability from their elected leaders through radically commonsense reforms. But many of these ruling-class elites have a vested financial interest in rejecting the reforms so desperately needed to rebuild Americans' trust in the institutions that once made our nation great.This is not an "eat the rich" kind of book, and it is not for those who want to stoke class warfare, topple the whole regime, and burn it all to the ground. This is a must-read book for thoughtful readers who yearn for transparency and will commit to holding their elected leaders accountable to those they are supposed to represent-we the people.The reforms spelled out in this book would incentivize good behaviour in our leaders, stymie corruption, and prevent politicians from using the system (and our taxpayer dollars) to feather their filthy rich nests.It is only by taking these steps to reform the system that we can rebuild trust in our institutions and preserve American democracy for future generations. There really is no richer inheritance we could leave them.

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Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and soon to be back on Broadway in a revival directed by the Lion King's Julie Taymor, starring Clive Owen"A brilliant play of ideas… a visionary work that bridges the history and culture of two worlds."—Frank Rich, New York TimesBased on a true story that stunned the world, and inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly, M. Butterfly was an immediate sensation when it premiered in 1988. It opens in the cramped prison cell where diplomat Rene Gallimard is being held captive by the French government—and by his own illusions. He recalls a time when Song Liling, the beautiful Chinese diva, touched him with a love as vivid, as seductive—and as elusive—as a butterfly.How could he have known that his true love was, in fact, a spy for the Chinese government—and a man disguised as a woman? The diplomat relives the twenty-year affair from the temptation to the seduction, from its consummation to the scandal that ultimately consumed them both.M. Butterfly is one of the most compelling, explosive, and slyly humorous dramas ever to light the Broadway stage, a work of unrivaled brilliance, illuminating the conflict between men and women, the differences between East and West, racial stereotypes—and the shadows we cast around our most cherished illusions.The original cast included John Lithgow as Gallimard and BD Wong as Song Liling. During the show's 777-performance run, David Dukes, Anthony Hopkins, Tony Randall, and John Rubinstein were also cast as Gallimard. Hwang adapted the play for a 1993 film directed by David Cronenberg, starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone.TEXT OF THE ORIGINAL BROADWAY PRODUCTION

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'Escapism of a high order.' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY'A slyly intelligent page turner.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLYAN AURELIO ZEN MYSTERY When a group of Austrian cavers in the Italian Alps come across human remains at the bottom of a deep shaft, everyone assumes the death was accidental - until the still unidentified body is stolen from the morgue and the Defence Ministry puts a news blackout on the case. The whole affair has the whiff of political intrigue. That's enough to interest Aurelio Zen's boss at the Interior Ministry, who wants to know who is hiding what from who and why. The search for the truth leads Zen into the murky history of post-war Italy and obscure corners of modern-day society to uncover the truth about a crime that everyone thought was as dead and buried as the victim.'As the plot quickens, we are soon deep in Dibdin's favourite territory: the murky political conflicts of Italy's past and the oily chicanery of its present.' SUNDAY TIMES'Dibdin's misanthropic wit finds plenty to play with.' GUARDIAN'A terrific detective story.' 5* reader review'Beautifully written . . . You get a real sense of the turbulence in the Italian state during that era.' 5* reader review'MEDUSA is the best I've read so far, with a complex but pleasing plot.' 5* reader reviewPRAISE FOR MICHAEL DIBDIN AND THE INSPECTOR ZEN SERIES:'He wrote with real fire.' IAN RANKIN'A maestro of crime writing.' SUNDAY TIMES'One of the genre's finest stylists . . . And Zen himself is a masterly creation: he is anti-heroic and pragmatic but obstinate, cunning and positively burdened with integrity.' GUARDIAN'Dibdin tells a rollicking good tale that you want both to read fast, because of its gripping storyline, and to linger over, to savour the evocative descriptions of place and mood.' INDEPENDENT'One of British crime fiction's most distinguished and distinctive voices.' ANDREW TAYLOR'Dibdin has a gift for shocking the unshockable reader.' Ruth Rendell'Zen is one of the greatest creations of contemporary crime fiction.' OBSERVER'I love the way these books capture the atmosphere and contradictions of Italy.' 5* reader review'Aurelio Zen novels are a great treat.' 5* reader review'There is no better writer than Dibdin. His books are a joy to read.' 5* reader review'Love these books . . . I am sure you will get hooked too!' 5* reader review

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