Showing results for "But" in Literature & Fiction

'There once was a man who, one night between the main course and the sweet at a dinner party, went upstairs and locked himself in one of the bedrooms of the house of the people who were giving the dinner party....' As time passes by and the consequences of this stranger's actions ripple outwards, touching the owners, the guests, the neighbours and the whole country, so Ali Smith draws us into a beautiful, strange place where everyone is so much more than they first appear....

Meet Otto and Cecil. Two brothers who grew up privileged in the Welsh countryside. They enjoyed watching nature shows, playing with their pet pony, impersonating their Grandfather…and killing the help. Murder is the family business after all. Downton Abbey, this is not. However, it’s not so easy to continue the family legacy with the constant stream of threats and distractions seemingly leaping from the hedgerow.

A follow-up to the New York Times best-selling The New Rules, The New New Rules delivers a series of hilarious, intelligent rants on everything from same-sex marriage to health care, from Republican agendas to celebrity meltdowns, with all the razor-sharp insight that has made Bill Maher one of the most influential comedic voices shaping the political debate today.

Suzanne Collins' epic trilogy was way more about death than food. Or at least this is what Bratniss Everclean discovers, when she leaves the comforts of Slum 12, Pandumb's garbage dump, to shortsightedly volunteer for a teenage death tournament. But she soon realizes there are fates worse than death...like weirdly having to date her fellow competitor, and lifelong stalker, Pita Malarkey. Okay, okay, it's not worse than DEATH, but it's still pretty annoying.

Sam Bennett is the last of a dying breed, a former Mad Man, now made redundant after 30 years at the same advertising agency. Left with his awards and a case of Bulgarian whiskey (which he still can’t remember buying), Sam retreats to his home, awaits the summer arrival of his daughter and crazy son-in-law, Muller, is plagued by panic attacks and has an incident involving a pressed ham on a liquor store window with a young security guard named Max. .

Jennings Cohen is no ordinary man - not at all. He would have never imagined his life would turn into such a spectacle. The tabloids exploit him, fans stalk him, and the paparazzi are relentless. It's not always fun being Jennings. It doesn't help that he has a secret, one that comes at a price he's not sure he can pay. Relationships get complicated and hearts shatter. It's not easy living a lie, but it's easier than telling the truth.

Part thriller, part self-help manual, and part drinking companion, Corkscrew is a coruscating critique of neoliberal capitalism, religious intolerance, and the perils of blind tasting.

In her diary, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Lorelei Lee, a not-so-dumb blonde from Arkansas, documents her wild adventures to Hollywood, Manhattan, Europe, and back again with her best friend, Dorothy. Along the way, Lorelei and Dorothy are flanked by suitors from all walks of high society, but it might just be the American millionaire who draws her eye. But just because Lorelei might have found “the one” doesn’t mean the adventures are over! In the sequel, But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, Lorelei takes up her diary once again to tell Dorothy’s tale.

Joy Bergman is not slipping into old age with the quiet grace her children, Molly and Daniel, would prefer. She won't take their advice, and she won't take an antidepressant. Her marriage to their father, Aaron, has lasted through health and dementia, as well as some phenomenally lousy business decisions. The Bergman clan has always stuck together, growing as it incorporated in-laws, ex-in-laws, and same-sex spouses. But families don't just grow, they grow old.

Quentin Tipper enlisted because he didn’t want to stay a two-bit hustler like his father. Alvin Phish enlisted to impress his fiance’s father, the Admiral. Together, two nobodies become members of the Intergalactic Space Force and become...still nobodies. But when the ISF is attacked by the mysterious Femen, these two nobodies must answer the call to action.

The classic international sensation is back! Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and its sequel But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes are Anita Loos' witty comedies of manners, following the misadventures of Lorelei Lee, a charmingly naïve blonde who turns male admiration into jewels, and her clever brunette friend, Dorothy Shaw.

Getting up close and personal to small things, a gently humorous journey from Birmingham in the 80's, to the Northern Isles, to Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery, with a stop-off en route to eavesdrop on a crazy creative writing group...

Planet Hyman is at a lost as Hilda takes a sabbatical, she has found her "pleasure dome" and while she learns there is more to life than a new manifesto, H2 and DBO plot a coup. With Mex hungover, and Beryl shamed, there is little to stand in their way apart from a hippy colony too chilled to care, a reporter with no scruples, and a missing set of batteries. Will H2 and DBO take over the planet and run it the proletarian way? Or will Hilda rise from her wet dreams toss her dead batteries to the wind and take over from where Beryl left?

Sticks and stones are no match for flowers and cameras as Poison Ivy delivers flower bouquets with a vengeance. Zesty entrepreneur Em seeks the ultimate revenge by creating a business that exposes cheating partners in the most scandalous proposition since the Ashley Madison hack. The dramatic public displays create brilliant PR fodder and become a social media juggernaut. A razor-sharp focus is cast on those caught in the act, and no red carpet is safe.

Russia, 1907. Vladimir Durov has a prized pig he has trained for the circus. Dorov loves to make people laugh at his pig’s crazy antics. But he finds that when his pig performs for the recently widowed circus owner, Natasha, the most he can get is a smile. Desperate to capture her heart, the rough-hewn trainer comes up with a dangerous scheme to impress the woman he has come to love. As the circus travels to Germany in pursuit of more paying customers, Durov decides to dress his prized pig as the war-mongering Kaiser himself.

Juan Carlos I de Borbón ha desaparecido dejando sólo una nota tras de sí: "Me voy a buscar al niño. Volveré cuando lo encuentre. O no. Feliz Navidad." Para encontrarlo el ministro de Interior juega su última carta: José María Arregui, detective melancólico y visceral, de rápido disfraz y puño fácil, deberá protegerlo de una poderosa intriga.

Dunlop Fantasia has a passion for marketing, excellent ideas, hovercrafts, and avoiding rehab. A dark, complicated family upbringing sets him on course for early divorce, a blunder with his father's mistress, making TV shows, the heartbreaking death of a manservant, pursuit of celebrity endorsements, and winning respect for his growing advertising empire. Follow his satirical exploration of wealth, self-help advice, business success, gritty optimism, and downgrading to business class flights.

In Boogers Are My Beat, Dave gives us the real scoop on: The scientific search for the world's funniest joke; RV camping in the Wal-Mart parking lot; outwitting "smart" kitchen appliances and service contracts; elections in Florida ("You can't spell Florida without 'duh'"); the Olympics, where people from all over the world come together to accuse each other of cheating; and much, much more.

Where were you when you first fell in love? Was that the moment your whole life changed? For Ozzy, falling in love would change everything. It all started with one crazy week back in 1998.

A tiny commercial film crew finds themselves stranded after a coup d'état in a foreign country, with no means of escape. Using the products for the advertisement they were sent there to film as a distraction, they hide their planned fade-out, in plain sight.