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More Arabel and Mortimer (A Puffin Book)
by Joan AikenArabel and her notorious pet raven Mortimer make a welcome return to the Puffin nest.When Arabel's father, Ebenezer Jones, drives his taxi home late one night he comes across 'a large black bird, with a hairy fringe around its beak.' He takes it home and, from that moment on, life is never the same again for the Jones family. Arabel's raven is called Mortimer - and he's one in a million. 'Nevermore!' he cries when astonished or upset, 'Down the hatch' he thinks before gobbling bowler hats, stairs, telephones. He dislikes flying except in emergencies, and with disaster-prone Mortimer around there are plenty of those. There are seven hilarious escapades in this collection, brought to life by Quentin Blake's wonderfully animated illustrations: THE MYSTERY OF MR JONES'S DISAPPEARING TAXI; MORTIMER'S PORTRAIT ON GLASS; MORTIMER'S CROSS; MORTIMER SAYS NOTHING; A CALL FROM THE JONESES; MR JONES'S REST CURE and ARABEL'S BIRTHDAY.
Popular Performance
by Adam Ainsworth Oliver Double Louise PeacockThere is no fourth wall in popular performance. The show is firmly rooted in the here and now, and the performers address the audience directly, while the audience answer back with laughter, applause or heckling. Performer and role are interlaced, so that we are left uncertain about just how the persona we see onstage might relate to the private person who presents it to us. Popular Performance defines and surveys varieties of performance where the main purpose is to entertain, and where there is no shame in being trivial, frivolous or nonsensical as long as people go home happy at the end of the show. Contributions by new and established scholars focus particularly on how it is made, explaining the techniques of performance and production that make it so appealing to audiences. With sections examining how popular performance works in a range of historical and contemporary examples, readers will gain insights into:* performance forms associated with the variety tradition: music hall, vaudeville, cabaret, variety* performance forms associated with circus: wild west shows, clowning* issues relating to the identity of the performer in relation to magic, burlesque, pantomime in contemporary performance* issues relating to venue and audience in relation to contemporary street theatre, stand-up, and live sketch comedy.
Popular Performance
by Adam Ainsworth Oliver Double Louise PeacockThere is no fourth wall in popular performance. The show is firmly rooted in the here and now, and the performers address the audience directly, while the audience answer back with laughter, applause or heckling. Performer and role are interlaced, so that we are left uncertain about just how the persona we see onstage might relate to the private person who presents it to us. Popular Performance defines and surveys varieties of performance where the main purpose is to entertain, and where there is no shame in being trivial, frivolous or nonsensical as long as people go home happy at the end of the show. Contributions by new and established scholars focus particularly on how it is made, explaining the techniques of performance and production that make it so appealing to audiences. With sections examining how popular performance works in a range of historical and contemporary examples, readers will gain insights into:* performance forms associated with the variety tradition: music hall, vaudeville, cabaret, variety* performance forms associated with circus: wild west shows, clowning* issues relating to the identity of the performer in relation to magic, burlesque, pantomime in contemporary performance* issues relating to venue and audience in relation to contemporary street theatre, stand-up, and live sketch comedy.
The Little Buddhist Monk
by César AiraIn Korea, a little Buddhist monk (really very dwarf-sized) dreams of the Western world and secretly reads up on Western culture. When he meets the holidaying French couple Napoleon Chirac and Jacqueline Bloodymary, he offers his services as their guide, in the hope they will take him, a penniless monk, to Europe. He whisks them off on a tour of the temples. Among the many twists and turns, our stunned tourists encounter a suicidal horse and discover that a person can also be a robot. Though our monk appears to them as the very spirit of tourism, nothing is natural in this tour de force of Aira’s twisted imagination.
The Proof
by César AiraMarcia is sixteen, overweight and unhappy. One day, as she’s walking down a Buenos Aires street, she hears a shout: ‘Wannafuck?’ Startled, she turns round and is confronted by two punk girls Lenin and Mao. Soon, she’s beguiled by them and the possibilities they open up. But the two have little time for a philosophical discussion of love: they need proof, and with their own savage logic the duo, calling themselves the Commando of Love, hold up a supermarket as the novel climaxes in an unforgettable splatter-fest finale.
The Seamstress and the Wind
by César AiraIn a small town in Argentina, a seamstress is sewing a wedding dress. All of a sudden she fears that her son has been kidnapped and driven off to Patagonia. She gives chase in a taxi. Her husband finds out and takes off after her – to the end of the world, to the place where monsters are born, and to where the southern wind falls hopelessly in love.
Desire: The Concept and its Practical Context (Praxiology)
by Timo Airaksinen Wojciech W. GasparskiDesire is a rich term meaning wish and want, willingness and relish, appetite and lust. This volume is an effort to analyse the concept of desire and its different practical contexts from a morally philosophic point of view. By analysing multiple definitions and studying underlying motivations, the authors offer a variety of explanations and interpretations. The volume consists of three main parts. The first part, "Desire and Practice," examines desire as a mental state that seeks personal satisfaction. The second part of the volume, "Desire and Moral Life," explores social, cultural, and literary facets of desire. Finally, in the third part, "Business Ethics and Other Contexts," the authors apply PR axiological principles to the business world, examining the conflict between frugality and consumerist ideology, the role of intuition in decision-making, and the need for design education as the basis of effective planning. The contributors to this, the newest volume in Transaction's Praxeology series, seek to explore desire in PR axiological terms, with an eye toward the three E's of praxeology: ethics, effectiveness, and efficiency. In doing so, they demonstrate that desire is central for practical activity in general and work in particular.
Desire: The Concept and its Practical Context (Praxiology #340)
by Timo Airaksinen Wojiciech W. GasparskiDesire is a rich term meaning wish and want, willingness and relish, appetite and lust. This volume is an effort to analyse the concept of desire and its different practical contexts from a morally philosophic point of view. By analysing multiple definitions and studying underlying motivations, the authors offer a variety of explanations and interpretations. The volume consists of three main parts. The first part, "Desire and Practice," examines desire as a mental state that seeks personal satisfaction. The second part of the volume, "Desire and Moral Life," explores social, cultural, and literary facets of desire. Finally, in the third part, "Business Ethics and Other Contexts," the authors apply PR axiological principles to the business world, examining the conflict between frugality and consumerist ideology, the role of intuition in decision-making, and the need for design education as the basis of effective planning. The contributors to this, the newest volume in Transaction's Praxeology series, seek to explore desire in PR axiological terms, with an eye toward the three E's of praxeology: ethics, effectiveness, and efficiency. In doing so, they demonstrate that desire is central for practical activity in general and work in particular.
We’re British, Innit: An Irreverent A To Z Of All Things British
by Iain AitchUnlike the Government's Citizenship Test, this is the real measure of Britishness.
Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes from a Small Island
by Ben AitkenAn irreverent homage to the '95 travel classic, from the author of The Gran Tour'It would be wrong to view this book as just a highly accomplished homage to a personal hero. Aitken's politics, as much as his humour, are firmly in the spotlight, and Dear Bill Bryson achieves more than its title (possibly even its author) intended.' Manchester ReviewIn 2013, travel writer Ben Aitken decided to follow in the footsteps of his hero - literally - and started a journey around the UK, tracing the trip taken by Bill Bryson in his classic tribute to the British Isles, Notes from a Small Island.Staying at the same hotels, ordering the same food, and even spending the same amount of time in the bath, Aitken's homage - updated and with a new preface for 2022 - is filled with wit, insight and humour.
The Swells
by Will AitkenIn this darkly hilarious satire by the inimitable Will Aitken, class war erupts aboard a luxury cruise ship. A boatload of white privilege, The Emerald Tranquility is the most luxurious cruise liner afloat, its passengers some of the richest people in the world. Meanwhile the ship’s crew, overworked and underpaid, live packed tightly together in airless below-deck cabins. The passengers encounter a great number of cataclysms at sea, but no matter the catastrophe, the great ship always sails on. Briony, a globetrotting luxury travel writer, emulates the rich — though homeless and penniless herself — as she hops from gig to all-expenses-paid gig. On her own personal voyage, she encounters Mrs. Moore, an enigmatic woman of advanced age clandestinely fomenting a mutiny on this bountiful ship. With the captain overthrown, roles quickly reverse: the crew become the ship’s new leisure class and the aged passengers learn how to mop floors and scrub toilets. Confused and terrified by the resultant chaos, Briony must decide which lot to cast her fate with in this savage satire of the way we live now.
Mothers on American television: From here to maternity
by Kim AkassMothers on American television takes an in-depth look at how motherhood is represented on some of the most popular television series produced this century. Adopting a feminist, Marxist, cultural studies and psychoanalytical approach, the book offers a history of the positioning of mothers within American society. It provides detailed analysis of The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Handmaid’s Tale and more, while reflecting on the newspaper ‘mommy wars’, employment patterns and alternative views of motherhood.
Mothers on American television: From here to maternity
by Kim AkassMothers on American television takes an in-depth look at how motherhood is represented on some of the most popular television series produced this century. Adopting a feminist, Marxist, cultural studies and psychoanalytical approach, the book offers a history of the positioning of mothers within American society. It provides detailed analysis of The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Handmaid’s Tale and more, while reflecting on the newspaper ‘mommy wars’, employment patterns and alternative views of motherhood.
More than a Best Friend: The Lesbian Bridgerton you didn’t know you needed (Mischief and Matchmaking)
by Emma R. Alban'Gives us all the top tier wit, spice, and swoons.... One to watch!' Evie Dunmore-----Love is more than just a game for two.It’s 1857, and anxious debutante Beth has just one season to snag a wealthy husband, or she and her mother will be out on the street.Gwen, on the other hand, is on her fourth season and counting, with absolutely no intention of finding a husband, possibly ever. She has plenty of security as the only daughter of a rakish earl, from whom she’s inherited her penchant for drinking too much and dancing ‘til dawn.Beth and Gwen are enchanted with each other on sight. And it doesn’t take long for Gwen to hatch her latest scheme: rather than join the husband hunt, they should set up Gwen’s father and Beth’s newly-widowed mother.They had a fling years ago, after all…Can Beth and Gwen find a way to defy convention and be together? And will their parents find love along the way too?A swoon-worthy debut queer Victorian romance in which two debutantes distract themselves from having to seek husbands by setting up their widowed parents, and instead find their perfect match in each other—the lesbian Bridgerton you never knew you needed!
The Very Last List of Vivian Walker
by Megan Albany'This novel has humour and pathos in spades - I laughed and cried' CINDY MACDONALD, The Saturday PaperVivian Walker is dying. This is not on her list of things to do. A darkly funny debut that proves even the most imperfect of lives is worth celebrating.Now that I've got cancer, I know I should be letting go and just being in the moment with my child but, seriously, what mother has got time to spend with their kids?Vivian Walker's life is exceptionally ordinary. Average husband, check. Darling son, check. Refrigerator in a state of permanent disarray, check. Everything is thoroughly and frustratingly routine, even being terminally ill.After receiving her diagnosis, Viv's family won't let her lift a finger . . . for at least a week. But once the novelty wears off, she's lucky to get a cup of tea for her trouble. In preparation for D-day, self-professed control freak Viv has made a list of essential things to do, such as decluttering the playroom and preparing her taxes. She doesn't expect to become spiritually enlightened or have any outlandish last-minute successes. All she wants is to finish her unfinished business.As her final days unfold, Viv realises her life has become a love letter to the mundane but she still manages to keep her wicked sense of humour and cynical take on life unapologetically intact. The Very Last List of Vivian Walker will make you ugly cry, snort tea out your nose with laughter and want to embrace humanity in all its selfishness, beauty and awkwardness.'Compelling. Beautifully relatable. [A] touching story that provides insight into how even the most ordinary person can leave a lot of love behind' Books + Publishing
Imogen, Obviously
by Becky AlbertalliThe sensational new novel from Becky Albertalli, best-selling author of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda.
The Upside of Unrequited
by Becky AlbertalliI don't entirely understand how anyone gets a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend. It just seems like the most impossible odds. A perfect alignment of feelings and circumstances . . . Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. No matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly is always careful. Better to be careful than be hurt. But when Cassie gets a new girlfriend who comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick, everything changes. Will is funny, flirtatious and basically the perfect first boyfriend. There's only one problem: Molly's coworker, Reid, the awkward Tolkien superfan she could never fall for . . . right?A heartwarming and hilarious story about growing up and learning to be comfortable in your own skin. Praise for Becky Albertalli:'The love child of John Green and Rainbow Rowell' Teen Vogue 'I love you, Simon. I love you! And I love this fresh, funny, live-out-loud book.' Jennifer Niven, New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places'A remarkable gift of a novel.' Andrew Smith, author of Grasshopper Jungle'Both hilarious and heartbreaking . . . Readers will fall madly in love with Simon' Publishers Weekly (starred review)'A brilliant beacon of optimism and cuteness for LGBTQA+ youth in a genre often bogged down with tragedy and heartbreak. Books like SIMON do change people's lives' Waterstones Darlington Bookseller'A wonderfully charismatic story about coming-of-age and coming out'. Bookseller'Funny, moving and emotionally wise' Kirkus Reviews (starred)'It made me laugh, cry and all the fifty shades of emotions I can think of right now. There is literally no adjectives that would be suffice to describe how brilliant this book is' Goodreads (5 star review)'I think I just felt my heart explode in my chest' Goodreads (5 star review)'One of the most electric, authentic characters I've ever read. . . I LOVE this book. LOVE it. Five freaking stars.' Goodreads (5 Stars)Becky Albertalli is the author of the acclaimed novels Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda and The Upside of Unrequited. She is a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with children and teens. Becky now lives with her family in Atlanta, where she spends her days writing fiction for young adults.
The Underminer: The Best Friend Who Casually Destroys Your Life
by Mike Albo Virginia HeffernanSuccessful, gorgeous, and beloved by everyone you know, the Underminer remembers your every foolish ambition and humiliating mistake-and never fails to remind you. The Underminer makes you feel suicidal. But the Underminer is your friend. Mike Albo and Virginia Heffernan do us all a public service by capturing the elusive evils of an age-old archetype. To understand and resist your toxic friend, you need The Underminer. Who is the Underminer? "An insincere, name-dropping predator with a rise so meteoric that you feel like crawling into your sad little apartment and eating gallons of ice cream right out of the carton while sniffling over reruns of old Bette Davis movies."-New York Times Book Review "A character that is so malicious, so insensitive and sadistic, that we can only gape horror-struck as every venomous phrase rolls off her tongue."-Rocky Mountain News "A psychological predator of the highest order. A viper cloaked in velvet. The Shaquille O'Neal of schadenfreude."-Boston Globe "An ego-skewering, passive-aggressive blowhard of indeterminate gender, surfing annoyingly along the breaking waves of pop and consumer culture-from dot-com to New Age, from hip-hop to a yurt in Afghanistan-always on top and armed with a put-down."-New York Times "The 'friend' who somehow manages to turn every compliment into an incredibly subtle insult, thus making you wonder whether you are truly the most neurotic person in all of Manhattan-or if your friend is just, well, evil."-New York Post
Infinite Home
by Kathleen AlcottAn utterly charming and tender story of the disparate tenants of a Brooklyn brownstone and the community they form around their ageing landlord when their home is suddenly threatened.
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned
by Alan AldaHe's one of America's most recognisable and acclaimed actors-a star on Broadway, an Oscar nominee for The Aviator, and the only person to ever win Emmys for acting, writing, and directing during his eleven years on M*A*S*H. Now Alan Alda has written a memoir as elegant, funny, and affecting as his greatest performances. 'My mother didn't try to stab my father until I was six,' begins Alan Alda's irresistible story. The son of a popular actor and a loving, but mentally ill mother, he spent his early childhood backstage in the erotic and comic world of burlesque and went on after early struggles to achieve extraordinary success in his profession.Yet Never Have Your Dog Stuffed is not a memoir of show business ups and downs. It is a moving and funny story of a boy growing into a man who then realizes he has only begun to grow. It is the story of turning points in his life, events that would make him what he is - if only he could survive them.From the moment as a boy when his dead dog is returned from the taxidermist's shop with a hideous expression on his face, and he learns that death can't be undone, to the decades-long effort to find compassion for the mother he lived with but never knew, to his acceptance of his father in him, personally and professionally, he learns the hard way that change, uncertainty and transformation are what life is made of, and the good life is made of welcoming them.Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, filled with curiosity about Nature, good humour and honesty, is the crowning achievement of an actor, author, and director, but surprisingly, it is the story of a life more filled with turbulence and laughter than any he's ever played on the stage or screen.
Everything I Know About Love: The Sunday Times Top 5 Bestseller
by Dolly Alderton'A wonderful writer, who will surely inspire a generation the way that Caitlin Moran did before her' Julie Burchill'If Nora Ephron is the cool aunt you wish you'd had, Dolly Alderton is your favourite cousin. I loved it and I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't; it's a genuine delight' Kristen Roupenian, author of Cat Person'I can say with absolute certainty that you have to add it to your 2018 book list' The PoolWhen it comes to the trials and triumphs of becoming a grown up, journalist and former Sunday Times dating columnist Dolly Alderton has seen and tried it all. In her memoir, she vividly recounts falling in love, wrestling with self-sabotage, finding a job, throwing a socially disastrous Rod-Stewart themed house party, getting drunk, getting dumped, realising that Ivan from the corner shop is the only man you've ever been able to rely on, and finding that that your mates are always there at the end of every messy night out. It's a book about bad dates, good friends and - above all else - about recognising that you and you alone are enough.'With courageous honesty, Alderton documents her life up to now, the highs and the lows - the sex, the drugs, the nightmare landlords, the heartaches and the humiliations. Deeply funny, sometimes shocking, and admirably open-hearted and optimistic. A brilliant debut.' Daily Telegraph'This is the book we will thrust into our friends' hands, the book that will help heal a broken heart. She feels like a best friend and your older sister all rolled into one and her pages wrap around you like a warm hug' Evening Standard'It's so full of life and laughs - I gobbled up this book. Alderton has built something beautiful and true out of many fragments of daftness' Amy Liptrot
Ghosts: The Top 10 Sunday Times Bestseller 2020
by Dolly AldertonA 21ST CENTURY LOVE STORY AND TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Utter BRILLIANCE . . . I absolutely LOVED it!' Marian Keyes, bestselling author of GROWN UPS'I loved it' Candice Carty-Williams, bestselling author of QUEENIE __________________________________________________ Everything gets easier in your thirties, right?Though she has plenty to celebrate - successful career, new home, loving friends and family - for Nina Dean, her thirties have not exactly been the liberating experience she was sold. From fading friendships to exes popping the question, everyone is moving on (or worse, to the suburbs). And as her dad slowly loses his memories, her mum seems dead set on making new ones. Then she meets Max, who tells her on date one that he's going to marry her. But what seems like an exciting new development will ensure this year is Nina's strangest yet . . . ____________________________________________________SHORTLISTED FOR THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE 'A book so relatable you'll give yourself neck ache nodding in recognition' Grazia'Funny, sharply observed, poignant' Matt Haig, bestselling author of THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY 'Alderton masterfully exposes the hideous reality of dating in your 30s . . . I adored it' Daily Mail'Like having one of those glorious girls night in, where you drink till the early hours - laughing, venting, and feeling warm and seen' Holly Bourne, author of HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW?'Dolly sums up life in your thirties with such wit, warmth and accuracy' Heat'Dolly is such a fantastic writer' Jill Mansell, author of AND NOW YOU'RE BACK'The perfect no-holds-barred modern day rom-com' Stylist
Good Material
by Dolly Alderton‘Made me laugh while punching me in the gut. Loved this book’ AISLING BEA'This is the greatest. You'll cry and laugh. I read it though the night. And I never, ever avoid sleep' CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN‘I award it 13/10 on my QWJ scale (stands for Queasy With Jealousy that I didn't write it)’ MARIAN KEYES---Every relationship has one beginning.This one has two endings.Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy.And he can't work out why she stopped.Now he is. . .1. Without a home2. Waiting for his stand-up career to take off3. Wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn't lookingSet adrift on the sea of heartbreak at a time when everything he thought he knew about women, and flat-sharing, and his friendships has transformed beyond recognition, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of their broken relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him.Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend's side of the story.From the bestselling author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love: a sharply funny, beautifully observed and exquisitely relatable story of heartbreak and friendship, and how to survive both.
The Brightfount Diaries
by Brian AldissAldiss’ first novel republished after many years out of print.