A Selfie as Big as the Ritz
A Selfie as Big as the Ritz

Author: Lara Williams

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Published: 2017-10-31

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1250126630

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“Lara Williams makes a bold debut with this razor-sharp, magnificently humane story collection.” —Entertainment Weekly She finds herself single, twenty-nine, partially-employed, and about a half a stone overweight. Roller dexter of eligible friends rattling thin. Thirties breathing down her neck like an inappropriate uncle. She jogs. Looks good in turquoise. Finds herself punctuating gas “better out than in!” patting her stomach like a department store Santa. This is who I am, she thinks. The women in Lara Williams’ debut story collection, A Selfie as Big as the Ritz, navigate the tumultuous interval between early twenties and middle age. In the title story, a relationship implodes against the romantic backdrop of Paris. In “One of Those Life Things,” a young woman struggles to say the right thing at her best friend’s abortion. In “Penguins,” a girlfriend tries to accept her boyfriend’s bizarre sexual fantasy. In “Treats,” a single woman comes to terms with her loneliness. As Williams’ characters attempt to lean in, fall in love, hold together a family, fend off loneliness, and build a meaningful life, we see them alternating between expectation and resignation, giddiness and melancholy, the rollercoaster we all find ourselves on.

A Selfie as Big as the Ritz
A Selfie as Big as the Ritz

Author: Lara Williams

Publisher:

Published: 2017-10-31

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1250126622

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“Lara Williams makes a bold debut with this razor-sharp, magnificently humane story collection.” —Entertainment Weekly She finds herself single, twenty-nine, partially-employed, and about a half a stone overweight. Roller dexter of eligible friends rattling thin. Thirties breathing down her neck like an inappropriate uncle. She jogs. Looks good in turquoise. Finds herself punctuating gas “better out than in!” patting her stomach like a department store Santa. This is who I am, she thinks. The women in Lara Williams’ debut story collection, A Selfie as Big as the Ritz, navigate the tumultuous interval between early twenties and middle age. In the title story, a relationship implodes against the romantic backdrop of Paris. In “One of Those Life Things,” a young woman struggles to say the right thing at her best friend’s abortion. In “Penguins,” a girlfriend tries to accept her boyfriend’s bizarre sexual fantasy. In “Treats,” a single woman comes to terms with her loneliness. As Williams’ characters attempt to lean in, fall in love, hold together a family, fend off loneliness, and build a meaningful life, we see them alternating between expectation and resignation, giddiness and melancholy, the rollercoaster we all find ourselves on.

Supper Club
Supper Club

Author: Lara Williams

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2020-09-01

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 052553959X

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Named a Best Book of the Year: Vogue * TIME * Real Simple * Kirkus Reviews A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice For fans of Sally Rooney's Normal People: A sharply intelligent and intimate debut novel about a secret society of hungry young women who meet after dark and feast to reclaim their appetites--and their physical spaces--that posits the question: If you feed a starving woman, what will she grow into? Roberta spends her life trying not to take up space. At almost thirty, she is adrift and alienated from life. Stuck in a mindless job and reluctant to pursue her passion for food, she suppresses her appetite and recedes to the corners of rooms. But when she meets Stevie, a spirited and effervescent artist, their intense friendship sparks a change in Roberta, a shift in her desire for more. Together, they invent the Supper Club, a transgressive and joyous collective of women who gather to celebrate, rather than admonish, their hungers. They gather after dark and feast until they are sick; they break into private buildings and leave carnage in their wake; they embrace their changing bodies; they stop apologizing. For these women, each extraordinary yet unfulfilled, the club is a way to explore, discover, and push the boundaries of the space they take up in the world. Yet as the club expands, growing in both size and rebellion, Roberta is forced to reconcile herself to the desire and vulnerabilities of the body--and the past she has worked so hard to repress. Devastatingly perceptive and savagely funny, Supper Club is an essential coming-of-age story for our times.

Treats
Treats

Author: Lara Williams

Publisher: Cargo Publishing

Published: 2016-02-15

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 1910449717

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"Dance like nobody gives a crap. Drink like you don't have a family to go home to. Love because what else is the point." So says one of the characters in Lara Williams' extraordinary debut story collection. Treats is a break-up album of tales covering relationships, the tyranny of choice, and self navigation. This fresh, beguiling new voice paints a portrait of contemporary adulthood, balancing wry humour with a pervading sense of alienation in the digital era. Williams' characters struggle with how to negotiate intimacy within relationships and isolation when single, the pitfalls and indignities of dating, dragged down by dissatisfaction. Meanwhile the dilemmas of life play out, including abortion, depression, extra-marital affairs, infatuation, new baby anxiety, bereavement, hair loss, sexual ethics, cats, and taxidermy. Praise for Treats: 'What a wonderful collection. Very smart and VERY funny. A stunning mix of measured wisdom and raw emotion. There's also a real sense that these stories - beautiful in their own right - belong together. I loved the connection between them, and the way ideas were subtle and steadily developed from beginning to end.' Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals 'Maybe you meet someone. Maybe you fall in love. Maybe you break up. Maybe someone writes a book about your life. This is that book. Brilliant stories; awesome debut.' Nicholas Royle, editor of Best British Short Stories 2015 'Funny and witty and sad and painfully self-aware.' Chris Killen, author of The Bird Room and In Real Life '[Treats] is described as a break-up album of tales covering relationships and their aftermath. So far, so Adele - but if the inescapable singer is the beige paint on a crumbling wall, this is more akin to sniffing that paint and seeing every colour in the rainbow.' The Skinny 'Each of these stories blows like a bracing wind - brilliantly written, devastating in parts but an acuity, a sense of the smallness and frailty of human relationships. Stories that make you seek shelter out of their keen urbane gaze.' Helen McClory, author of On The Edges of Vision

Test Signal
Test Signal

Author: Dead Ink Books

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-07-08

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1526630885

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A ground-breaking anthology of the best contemporary northern writing from Dead Ink and Bloomsbury, showcasing the wealth of literary talent in the North of England. 'Test Signal ... is testament to the fact that there is no singular prescription of what it means to be a northern writer and no such thing as a definitive northern voice; instead it celebrates a community of writers, each telling a different story in their own words' JESSICA ANDREWS bridges over the Tyne / crumbling coastlines / influencers' online worlds / asylum applications / packed train carriages / forgotten village social clubs / family in Nigeria / holidays in Greece / shining university campuses / ghosts in city cemeteries / jobs in London / teenage explorations / monstrous graffiti / suburban woodland We are the North With ground-breaking new authors, a thriving independent publishing scene and vibrant grass-roots networks, the North is driving a revolution in new literature. This anthology showcases the best of its talent, from every corner of the region and across all its vibrant genres. Some contributors are well-known established names, others are newcomers; all of them are part of the new northern writing scene. This is Test Signal Adam Farrer / Andrew Michael Hurley / Amy Stewart / Carmen Marcus / Crista Ermiya / Désirée Reynolds / Jane Claire Bradley / Jenna Isherwood / J. A. Mensah / Kit Fan / Lara Williams / Laura Bui / Matt Wesolowski / Melissa Wan / Naomi Booth / Rebecca Hill / Robert Williams / Sammy Wright / Sara Sherwood / Sharon Telfer / Tawseef Khan / Tricia Cresswell 'There's nothing too obviously Northern about these trenchant stories – in their content or form – beyond that stubborn refusal to blend in, to stay still, to be complacent' TOM BENN

Buzz Books 2017: Fall/Winter
Buzz Books 2017: Fall/Winter

Author:

Publisher: Publishers Lunch

Published: 2017-05-16

Total Pages: 901

ISBN-13: 0997774487

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Buzz Books gives you 40 chances to find your next great reads, providing exclusive early looks at the next big thing from favorite authors and hot new discoveries. From bestselling authors, we have samples of new work from Louise Erdrich and nonfiction from novelist Amy Tan in her memoir Where the Past Begins, as well as fiction from environmentalist Bill McKibben (Radio Free Vermont). A rich selection of highly anticipated follow-up books is inside, too: From author of Ten Thousand Saints Eleanor Henderson comes her new novel The Twelve Mile Straight; from the author of the quirky Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Robin Sloan there is Sourdough; and Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You returns with Little Fires Everywhere. This edition is packed with 16 debut novels, including the highly-touted Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo and the big thriller The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, along with first novels by Sarah Bailey, Phil Harrison, Ali Land, K Arsenault Rivera, Adrian Walker, Cherise Wolas and more. In nonfiction, Bryan Mealer's The Kings of Big Spring recounts his family's complicated history with the Texas oil industry; Jaime Lowe's Mental: Lithium, Love, and Losing My Mind is both memoir and an investigation into the history, uses, and controversies behind lithium; Heather Harpham's Happiness looks at an estranged couple drawn back together by their daughter's unexpected illness; and actor Gabrielle Union's collection of essays about gender, sexuality, race, beauty, Hollywood, and what it means to be a modern woman suggests that We're Going to Need More Wine. Regular readers know that each Buzz Books collection is filled with early looks at titles that will go on to top the bestseller lists and critics' "best of the year" lists. And our comprehensive seasonal preview starts the book off with a curated overview of hundreds of notable books on the way later this year. For still more great previews, check out our separate Buzz Books 2017: Young Adult Fall/Winter as well, available on all major ebookstores.

The Odyssey
The Odyssey

Author: Lara Williams

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2023-05-30

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 024199165X

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From the prize-winning author of Supper Club comes a wickedly funny and slyly poignant new satire on modern life - for fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Convenience Store Woman, and J. G. Ballard's High Rise 'Far from normal' The Times 'This book is a serious vibe' Cosmopolitan 'Lara Williams is the queen of smart modern satire. I could read her all day' Emma Jane Unsworth Meet Ingrid. She works on a gargantuan luxury cruise liner, where she spends her days reorganizing the merchandise and waiting for long-term guests to drop dead in the changing rooms. On her days off, she disembarks from the ship and gets blind drunk on whatever the local alcohol is. It's not a bad life. And it distracts her from thinking about the other life she left behind five years ago. Until one day she is selected for the employee mentorship scheme - an initiative run by the ship's mysterious captain and self-anointed lifestyle guru, Keith, who pushes Ingrid further than she thought possible. But sooner or later, she will have to ask herself: how far is too far? Utterly original, mischievous and thought-provoking, The Odyssey is a merciless takedown of consumer capitalism and our anxious, ill-fated quests for something to believe in. And as its title suggests, it is a voyage that will eventually lead its unlikely heroine all the way home. Though she'd do almost anything to avoid getting there...

Maggie Brown & Others
Maggie Brown & Others

Author: Peter Orner

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2019-07-02

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 0316516139

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In this powerful and virtuosic collection of interlocking stories, each one "a marvel of concision and compassion" (Washington Post), a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and "master of his form" (/~i~New York Times) takes the short story to new heights. Through forty-four compressed gems, Peter Orner, a writer who "doesn't simply bring his characters to life, he gives them souls" (NYT Book Review), chronicles people whose lives are at inflection points, gripping us with a series of defining moments. Whether it's a first date that turns into a late-night road trip to a séance in an abandoned airplane hangar, or a family's memories of the painful mystery surrounding a neglected uncle's demise, Orner reveals how our fleeting decisions between kindness and abandonment chase us across time. These stories are anchored by a poignant novella that delivers not only the joys and travails of a forty-year marriage, but an entire era in a working-class New England city. Bristling with the crackling energy of life itself, Maggie Brown & Others marks the most sustained achievement to date for "a master of his form" (New York Times). A New York Times Notable Book A Chicago Tribune Notable Book An Oprah Magazine Best Book of 2019 Kirkus Reviews Best Short Fiction of 2019 Longlisted for the Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Prize

Elements of Style
Elements of Style

Author: Erin Gates

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2014-10-07

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1476744882

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From the rising-star designer and author of the hit blog, Elements of Style, a full-color, fully illustrated book packed with honest advice, inspiration, ideas, and lessons learned about designing a home that reflects your personality and style. Elements of Style is a uniquely personal and practical decorating guide that shows how designing a home can be an outlet of personal expression and an exercise in self-discovery. Drawing on her ten years of experience in the interior design industry, Erin combines honest design advice and gorgeous professional photographs and illustrations with personal essays about the lessons she has learned while designing her own home and her own life—the first being: none of our homes or lives is perfect. Like a funny best friend, she reveals the disasters she confronted in her own kitchen renovation, her struggles with anorexia, her epic fight with her husband over a Lucite table, and her secrets for starting a successful blog. Organized by rooms in the house, Elements of Style invites readers into Erin’s own home as well as homes she has designed for clients. Fresh, modern, and colorful, it is brimming glamour and style as well as advice on practical matters from choosing kitchen counter materials to dressing a bed with pillows, picking a sofa, and decorating a nursery without cartoon characters. You’ll also find a charming foreword by Erin’s husband, Andrew, and an extensive Resource and Shopping Guide that provides an indispensable a roadmap for anyone embarking on their first serious home decorating adventure. With Erin’s help, you can finally make your house your home.