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The Senility of Vladimir P: A Novel
by Michael HonigAs a former president of Russia loses his marbles, those around him get down to losing their morals.Former Russian president, Vladimir P, is going senile, marooned in a world of memories from his years in power. To get him out of the way, he has been exiled to his luxury dacha, where he is served by a coterie of bickering house staff. Only Sheremetev, the guileless nurse charged with Vladimir's round-the-clock care, is unaware that everyone else is busily using every means at their disposal to skim money from their employer's inexhaustible riches. But when the nurse suddenly needs to find cash for a bribe or see his nephew rot in jail, the dacha's chef lets him in on the secret world of 'commissions' going on all around him. Yet surely Sheremetev wouldn't think to steal from his ailing patient? And surely, in the upstanding modern Russia that Vladimir P created, no one would actually let him...
Senior Moments
by Angus FitzsimonsHave you had a Senior Moment yet? Maybe you know someone who's had a few? Check this list to know for sure: · You can remember being told the King was dead (George, not Elvis).· You still say 'colour television', and you watch television on a television.· Your home phone rings and you answer it. (And you still have a phone, not a 'landline'.)· You boast about 'doing it' three times a night and that's just getting up to pee.· You realise that your wardrobe has become ironic. You're not back in fashion, but you're hip. (And ironically, you now have an artificial hip).If you answered 'yes' to one or more of the above, congratulations! You are officially a Senior and this book is here to guide you through your best years (i.e. the past). Stroll, or maybe shuffle, down Nostalgia Avenue and bask in the glory of growing old disgracefully. (If you are a Young Person, this is the easiest Senior gift idea ever. You're welcome!)
Senior Moments: The Perfect Gift for Those Who Are Getting On a Bit
by Freddie GreenYou know you’re having a senior moment when…… you need a pen and paper just to order a round of drinks.Getting old? Join the club! This upbeat collection of all-too-common mishaps, sprinkled with quotes from wise old sages, will have you nodding in agreement and chuckling at all your lovable foibles.
Senor Nice: Straight Life from Wales to South America
by Howard MarksHoward Marks was released from Terre Haute Penitentiary, Indiana in April 1995 after serving seven years of a twenty-five year sentence for marijuana smuggling. It was time for a change of career. So he wrote two best-selling books, became a sports writer and travel writer, stood as a parliamentary candidate in Norwich North, Norwich South, Southampton Test and Neath, applied to become the country's Drug Czar, and embarked on a long-running sell-out series of one man shows. While performing in his home town of Kenfig Hill, he fell among old friends who made extraordinary claims for Welsh culture (Was Elvis really Welsh? Was there really a tribe of Welsh-speaking Native Americans?) At the same time his elderly aunt told him of his outlaw ancestry: William Owen, the legendary Welsh smuggler (who had operated for some time in South America) and his great-great-grandfather Patrick McCarty, the half brother of Billy the Kid, who had joined Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in Patagonia. He decided to explore South America. His travels took him to Jamaica and Panama in the footsteps of the Welsh buccaneer Henry Morgan; he went to Brazil looking for groups of Welsh settlers so obscure he never found them (although he did succeed in finding his musical idol Jimmy Page); and he searched among the thriving Welsh community in Patagonia for signs of Billy the Kid's half brother. Richly comic and charged with the sense of adventure that would induce an Oxford graduate to become the world's most notorious marijuana smuggler, Señor Nice is the hugely entertaining sequel to Mr Nice.
Sense and Sensibility (Macmillan Collector's Library #358)
by Jane AustenA special edition from Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning classics that make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. Featuring beautiful heritage wallpaper patterns from Jane Austen’s own home in Hampshire, these collectable paperback editions are a must for all Jane Austen fans.Two sisters of opposing temperament but who share the pangs of tragic love provide the subjects for Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Elinor, practical and conventional, the epitome of sense, desires a man who is promised to another woman. Marianne, emotional and sentimental, the epitome of sensibility, loses her heart to a scoundrel who jilts her. A powerful drama of family life and growing up, Sense and Sensibility is at once a subtle comedy of manners and a striking critique of early nineteenth-century society.With original illustrations by the celebrated Hugh Thomson, this Macmillan Collector’s Library edition also features bonus material by Jane Austen expert and curator of Jane Austen's House Sophie Reynolds.
The Sense of Rhythm: A Semiotic Investigation of a Fundamental Device (Emerald Points)
by Giulia CerianiThe importance of rhythm spans time and space, its significance both natural and constructed. As contemporary society challenges us to search for connection, the question of rhythm is profoundly and uniquely capable of managing the exchange and dialogue between deep narrativity and surface figurativeness. A semiotic examination of the regulative efficacy of rhythm is at the centre of The Sense of Rhythm, which frames rhythm as a characteristic of texts and narratives in order to organize and sense meaning. Rhythm is capable of creating and conveying a passionate tone, and of fostering cross-disciplinary and cross-textual convergences. An awareness and recognition of rhythmic structure allows for potential to cross-code between perception and sensation across cultures. This new edition, published for the first time in English, brings semiotician Giulia Ceriani’s research to English-speaking students and researchers across disciplines. The Sense of Rhythm serves as a foundation for interdisciplinary research, creative practices, and a unique semiotic approach to the study of rhythm.
The Sense of Rhythm: A Semiotic Investigation of a Fundamental Device (Emerald Points)
by Giulia CerianiThe importance of rhythm spans time and space, its significance both natural and constructed. As contemporary society challenges us to search for connection, the question of rhythm is profoundly and uniquely capable of managing the exchange and dialogue between deep narrativity and surface figurativeness. A semiotic examination of the regulative efficacy of rhythm is at the centre of The Sense of Rhythm, which frames rhythm as a characteristic of texts and narratives in order to organize and sense meaning. Rhythm is capable of creating and conveying a passionate tone, and of fostering cross-disciplinary and cross-textual convergences. An awareness and recognition of rhythmic structure allows for potential to cross-code between perception and sensation across cultures. This new edition, published for the first time in English, brings semiotician Giulia Ceriani’s research to English-speaking students and researchers across disciplines. The Sense of Rhythm serves as a foundation for interdisciplinary research, creative practices, and a unique semiotic approach to the study of rhythm.
The Senses of Humor: Self and Laughter in Modern America
by Daniel WickbergWhy do modern Americans believe in something called a sense of humor, and how did they come to that belief? Daniel Wickberg traces the relatively short cultural history of the concept to its British origins as a way to explore new conceptions of the self and social order in modern America. More than simply the history of an idea, Wickberg's study provides new insights into a peculiarly modern cultural sensibility.The expression "sense of humor" was first coined in the 1840s, and the idea that such a sense was a personality trait to be valued developed only in the 1870s. What is the relationship between medieval humoral medicine and this distinctively modern idea of the sense of humor? What has it meant in the past 125 years to declare that someone lacks a sense of humor? Why do modern Americans say it is a good thing not to take oneself seriously? How is the joke, as a twentieth-century quasi-literary form, different from the traditional folktale? Wickberg addresses these questions among others and in the process uses the history of ideas to throw new light on the way contemporary Americans think and speak about humor and laughter.The context of Wickberg's analysis is Anglo-American; the specifically British meanings of humor and laughter from the sixteenth century forward provide the framework for understanding American cultural values in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The genealogy of the sense of humor is, like the study of keywords, an avenue into a significant aspect of the cultural history of modernity. Drawing on a wide range of sources and disciplinary perspectives, Wickberg's analysis challenges many of the prevailing views of modern American culture and suggests a new model for cultural historians.
The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire (Canopus in Argos: Archives Series #5)
by Doris LessingFrom Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the fifth and final instalment in the visionary novel cycle ‘Canopus in Argos: Archives’.
A Separate Development
by Christopher HopeYoung Harry Moto has problems with fallen arches, crinkly hair that won't flatten down, a plump chest and, for a white man, unusually dark skin. Harry's appearance provokes mercilessly sarcastic taunting from his school mates but, living in South Africa, it is not surprising that it is his skin colour which eventually brings about his downfall...
Separation Anxiety: The hilarious, heartbreaking book that will make you happy-cry
by Laura ZigmanOne of the most anticipated books for 2020 in Entertainment Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Good Morning American, Glamour, USA Today, Parade, Real Simple, Buzzfeed, and The MillionsHave you ever wondered if you love your dog better than your partner?Life hasn’t gone according to Judy’s plan. Her career as a children’s book author has taken an embarrassing nose dive. Her teenage son Teddy treats her with a combination of mortification and indifference. Her best friend is dying. And her husband, Gary, has become a pot-addled ‘snackologist’ who she can’t afford to divorce. On top of it all, she has a painfully ironic job writing articles for a self-help website—a poor fit for someone seemingly incapable of helping herself.Gleefully irreverant and genuinely touching, Separation Anxiety is a novel that celebrates the ‘squeezed generation’; a book filled with heart and humour for anyone fumbling their way towards happiness. _____________________________________Praise for Separation Anxiety ‘I enjoyed Separation Anxiety very much... It has a real freshness of voice and though it is very poignant, several parts also made me laugh out loud’ - Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us‘What a gem of a novel…It's laced with moments of self-doubt and marital mayhem, but also the many small daily acts of mercy and heroism that love inspires.’ - Diane Ackerman‘Laura Zigman is able to home in on the most tender, revealing, exquisitely painful aspects of our relationships with others and with ourselves. And somehow she manages to come out the other end with hope.’ - Chelsea Handler'My advice: Start reading and don’t stop until you get to the last page of this wise and wonderful novel.' - Alice Hoffman ‘[Separation Anxiety] is compassionate and funny, articulating with gentle humor the terrible things that we’re all grappling with. To steal a phrase from my daughter, it made me happy-cry.’ - Laura Lippman'I never imagined that the crossroads of mid-life - with family bereavement, a divorce on the horizon and a son reaching puberty - could be this hilarious and this heartbreaking. Laura Zigman’s “Separation Anxiety” made me laugh again and again.' - Dorthe Nor, Man Booker International shortlisted author of Mirror, Shoulder, Signal
Separation for Beginners: THE FEEL-GOOD, FUNNY READ ABOUT STARTING OVER
by Joe Portman'I laughed. I cried. I loved it' - Jack Dee This is not what Pete thought middle-age would be like. His marriage is over, his business is on its last breaths and he's spending more time than is healthy in a dressing gown. So when his 23-year-old daughter Susie needs to move back home, it's like a glorious ray of sunshine has found him at last.Except that she brings Niall with her. Niall: the boyfriend. Niall: a druid gardener who inexplicably only works from home. Niall: the annoying shadow that follows Susie everywhere.Getting Niall out of the house becomes Pete's new purpose in life. But as he tries to bring Niall's flaws to the surface, Pete is forced to admit he's far from perfect himself. And spending time with this oddball – as awkward as it may be – is making Pete open up in ways he'd long shut down.Separation for Beginners is a warm and wise novel about facing old heartaches and finding new friends, in the unlikeliest of places . . .This uplifting, laugh-out-loud funny read about new beginnings is perfect for fans of David Nicholls, Beth O'Leary and Marian Keyes. ___________'Sharp-witted, self-deprecating and honest, had me laughing from start to finish' - Daily Mail'Sharp and heart-warming' - Daily Mail, Fiction Books of the Year ___________
The Serendipity Foundation
by Sam SmitThe Serendipity Foundation demands anarchy over apathy. They deal in terrorism with a social conscience. And they're going to make the British government play along.When four British citizens are kidnapped in Cairo, they soon realise this is no ordinary hostage situation: the accommodation is three star and the menu à la carte. Without the deep regrets and thwarted ambitions of their lives back home, they soon come to view their kidnapping as a welcome escape.They are the captives of the Serendipity Foundation, a tiny collective with a millennium-old prophecy to fulfil and a rather redeeming quality: they only demand ransoms that people would want to give.As the ransom demands begin, the British government has no choice but to play along... can they really allow four men to die because parliament refuses to conduct Prime Minister’s Questions in Haiku? As the threats and demands escalate, so does the tension, until they challenge the very foundations and assumptions of the media, industry and society.The Serendipity Foundation, bursting with the satirical deftness of a Douglas Coupland and the subversive intensity of an Owen Jones, is a thrilling yet endearing satirical novel for the new political generation that will make us question why we settle for a lesser world when we have the power to make it better.
Serenity House
by Christopher HopeMax Montfalcon lay in bed and tried to remember how many people he had killed...Old Max, the genial giant of Serenity House, north London's 'Premier Eventide Refuge', might have been left to die in peace. But his son-in-law Albert, an MP with a special interest in the War Crimes Bill, has other ideas. Then Jack arrives. An all-American boy who survives on a diet of video nasties and Chinese takeaways. Max is haunted by dreams of the Holocaust. And the occupants of Serenity House are haunted by Jack...
The Sergeant's Christmas Mission (The Brands of Montana #3)
by Joanna SimsShane Brand is finally home.Now he needs a reason to stay.
The Sergeant's Unexpected Family (Small-Town Sweethearts #2)
by Carrie NicholsFalling for his brother's ex–and her baby!
A Series of Unrelated Events: Misadventures Of A Modern Man
by Richard BaconHave you ever been stitched up to the national press by your best mate?Or unintentionally upset a band with a slip of the tongue on a live TV show?Or ruined a dinner party by transforming everything alcoholic into water?Hello. I’m Richard Bacon and this is A Series of Unrelated Events. All of the stories are true. All of them happened to me. I’ve made the mistakes so you don’t have to (you’re welcome). So now, if you should ever find yourself sobbing on top of a box of gherkins in the stockroom of a Mansfield McDonald’s… having a Twitter conversation with your mum while she’s pretending to be an illiterate dog… performing stand-up to an audience who are funnier than you are… or just letting down all of the children of Great Britain……you’ll know exactly what to do.
Serious Larks: The Philosophy of Ted Cohen
by Ted CohenTed Cohen was an original and captivating essayist known for his inquisitive intelligence, wit, charm, and a deeply humane feel for life. For Cohen, writing was a way of discovering, and also celebrating, the depth and complexity of things overlooked by most professional philosophers and aestheticians—but not by most people. Whether writing about the rules of baseball, of driving, or of Kant’s Third Critique; about Hitchcock, ceramics, or jokes, Cohen proved that if you study the world with a bemused but honest attentiveness, you can find something to philosophize about more or less anywhere. This collection, edited and introduced by philosopher Daniel Herwitz, brings together some of Cohen’s best work to capture the unique style that made Cohen one of the most beloved philosophers of his generation. Among the perceptive, engaging, and laugh-out-loud funny reflections on movies, sports, art, language, and life included here are Cohen’s classic papers on metaphor and his Pushcart Prize–winning essay on baseball, as well as memoir, fiction, and even poetry. Full of free-spirited inventiveness, these Serious Larks would be equally at home outside Thoreau’s cabin on the waters of Walden Pond as they are here, proving that intelligence, sensitivity, and good humor can be found in philosophical writing after all.
Serious Larks: The Philosophy of Ted Cohen
by Ted CohenTed Cohen was an original and captivating essayist known for his inquisitive intelligence, wit, charm, and a deeply humane feel for life. For Cohen, writing was a way of discovering, and also celebrating, the depth and complexity of things overlooked by most professional philosophers and aestheticians—but not by most people. Whether writing about the rules of baseball, of driving, or of Kant’s Third Critique; about Hitchcock, ceramics, or jokes, Cohen proved that if you study the world with a bemused but honest attentiveness, you can find something to philosophize about more or less anywhere. This collection, edited and introduced by philosopher Daniel Herwitz, brings together some of Cohen’s best work to capture the unique style that made Cohen one of the most beloved philosophers of his generation. Among the perceptive, engaging, and laugh-out-loud funny reflections on movies, sports, art, language, and life included here are Cohen’s classic papers on metaphor and his Pushcart Prize–winning essay on baseball, as well as memoir, fiction, and even poetry. Full of free-spirited inventiveness, these Serious Larks would be equally at home outside Thoreau’s cabin on the waters of Walden Pond as they are here, proving that intelligence, sensitivity, and good humor can be found in philosophical writing after all.
Serious Larks: The Philosophy of Ted Cohen
by Ted CohenTed Cohen was an original and captivating essayist known for his inquisitive intelligence, wit, charm, and a deeply humane feel for life. For Cohen, writing was a way of discovering, and also celebrating, the depth and complexity of things overlooked by most professional philosophers and aestheticians—but not by most people. Whether writing about the rules of baseball, of driving, or of Kant’s Third Critique; about Hitchcock, ceramics, or jokes, Cohen proved that if you study the world with a bemused but honest attentiveness, you can find something to philosophize about more or less anywhere. This collection, edited and introduced by philosopher Daniel Herwitz, brings together some of Cohen’s best work to capture the unique style that made Cohen one of the most beloved philosophers of his generation. Among the perceptive, engaging, and laugh-out-loud funny reflections on movies, sports, art, language, and life included here are Cohen’s classic papers on metaphor and his Pushcart Prize–winning essay on baseball, as well as memoir, fiction, and even poetry. Full of free-spirited inventiveness, these Serious Larks would be equally at home outside Thoreau’s cabin on the waters of Walden Pond as they are here, proving that intelligence, sensitivity, and good humor can be found in philosophical writing after all.
Serious Larks: The Philosophy of Ted Cohen
by Ted CohenTed Cohen was an original and captivating essayist known for his inquisitive intelligence, wit, charm, and a deeply humane feel for life. For Cohen, writing was a way of discovering, and also celebrating, the depth and complexity of things overlooked by most professional philosophers and aestheticians—but not by most people. Whether writing about the rules of baseball, of driving, or of Kant’s Third Critique; about Hitchcock, ceramics, or jokes, Cohen proved that if you study the world with a bemused but honest attentiveness, you can find something to philosophize about more or less anywhere. This collection, edited and introduced by philosopher Daniel Herwitz, brings together some of Cohen’s best work to capture the unique style that made Cohen one of the most beloved philosophers of his generation. Among the perceptive, engaging, and laugh-out-loud funny reflections on movies, sports, art, language, and life included here are Cohen’s classic papers on metaphor and his Pushcart Prize–winning essay on baseball, as well as memoir, fiction, and even poetry. Full of free-spirited inventiveness, these Serious Larks would be equally at home outside Thoreau’s cabin on the waters of Walden Pond as they are here, proving that intelligence, sensitivity, and good humor can be found in philosophical writing after all.
Serious Larks: The Philosophy of Ted Cohen
by Ted CohenTed Cohen was an original and captivating essayist known for his inquisitive intelligence, wit, charm, and a deeply humane feel for life. For Cohen, writing was a way of discovering, and also celebrating, the depth and complexity of things overlooked by most professional philosophers and aestheticians—but not by most people. Whether writing about the rules of baseball, of driving, or of Kant’s Third Critique; about Hitchcock, ceramics, or jokes, Cohen proved that if you study the world with a bemused but honest attentiveness, you can find something to philosophize about more or less anywhere. This collection, edited and introduced by philosopher Daniel Herwitz, brings together some of Cohen’s best work to capture the unique style that made Cohen one of the most beloved philosophers of his generation. Among the perceptive, engaging, and laugh-out-loud funny reflections on movies, sports, art, language, and life included here are Cohen’s classic papers on metaphor and his Pushcart Prize–winning essay on baseball, as well as memoir, fiction, and even poetry. Full of free-spirited inventiveness, these Serious Larks would be equally at home outside Thoreau’s cabin on the waters of Walden Pond as they are here, proving that intelligence, sensitivity, and good humor can be found in philosophical writing after all.
Serious Larks: The Philosophy of Ted Cohen
by Ted CohenTed Cohen was an original and captivating essayist known for his inquisitive intelligence, wit, charm, and a deeply humane feel for life. For Cohen, writing was a way of discovering, and also celebrating, the depth and complexity of things overlooked by most professional philosophers and aestheticians—but not by most people. Whether writing about the rules of baseball, of driving, or of Kant’s Third Critique; about Hitchcock, ceramics, or jokes, Cohen proved that if you study the world with a bemused but honest attentiveness, you can find something to philosophize about more or less anywhere. This collection, edited and introduced by philosopher Daniel Herwitz, brings together some of Cohen’s best work to capture the unique style that made Cohen one of the most beloved philosophers of his generation. Among the perceptive, engaging, and laugh-out-loud funny reflections on movies, sports, art, language, and life included here are Cohen’s classic papers on metaphor and his Pushcart Prize–winning essay on baseball, as well as memoir, fiction, and even poetry. Full of free-spirited inventiveness, these Serious Larks would be equally at home outside Thoreau’s cabin on the waters of Walden Pond as they are here, proving that intelligence, sensitivity, and good humor can be found in philosophical writing after all.
Seriously Funny: The Endlessly Quotable Terry Pratchett
by Terry Pratchett‘I’ll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there’s evidence of any thinking going on inside it.’The most quotable writer of our time, Terry Pratchett’s unique brand of wit made him both a bestseller and an enduring, endearing source of modern wisdom. This collection is filled with his funniest and most memorable words about life, the universe and snoring.
Seriously Funny, and Other Oxymorons (Gift Books)
by Simon Brett'Brilliant! Will make a perfect Xmas stocking filler' Bronya Ralley'Delightful. This dip-in-anywhere book put a smile on my face from the first page . . . for everyone who likes a good chuckle' Ruth MilliganAs we all know, the oxymoron is one of the great beauties of the English language. It has been defined as 'a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory'. Famous examples would include 'bitter-sweet', 'open secret' and 'compassionate Conservatism'.Seriously Funny, and Other Oxymorons brings together a great many examples of the oxymoron genre, amusingly illustrated by Paul Thomas. The book is arranged according to various categories ranging from Popular Culture to Political Principles and Business Ethics, all covered in Simon Brett's inimitably witty style.Anyone with an 'unbiased opinion' will quickly grasp that Seriously Funny makes a 'devilishly nice' book.