"Hilarious, smart, and utterly addicting. Watch out, Nora Ephron." -Valerie Frankel Jenna McCarthy presents an uproarious but insightful peek behind the curtains at the unholy state of matrimony. With ballsy wit and bawdy humor, she explores everything from male domestic idiocy and the frustrating misfires in spousal communication to how to stay true to the peskiest of vows: forsaking all others. Part in-your-face guide, part brutal confession, this book is a must-read manifesto on surviving marriage in an age when everyone seems to live forever and getting a divorce is as easy as ordering a latte.
Henry James was born in the United States, in New York City, on April 15, 1843 and is considered an American writer, though he spent most of his life in England and, a year before his death in London on February 28 1916, became a British citizen. He is regarded as one of the key literary figures of the 19th century, writing mainly narrative fiction. He influenced many other writers, most notably Edith Wharton. James was the son of Henry James, Sr., a well-known intellectual of his day, and the brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James. Henry is known especially for the novels in which he portrays Americans encountering Europe and Europeans. His style of writing, often verbose and indirect, especially in his later years, can make him difficult to read. Often, too, he often writes from the point of view of characters within a tale, exploring issues related to consciousness and perception. James contributed significantly to literary criticism, especially in his later years when his works were republished with extensive introductions by James. He insisted that writers be allowed the greatest freedom in their writing, and that narrative fiction be true to life, giving readers a view of life that is recognizable. He felt that the only way to judge whether a novel or story is good or bad is by whether the author is good or bad. His imaginative use of point of view, interior monologue, and narrators who were not necessarily reliable, brought depth and interest to his fiction. The Golden Bowl (1904), his most difficult book, was influenced by his play-writing experience, the story told mostly through dialogue. James was a prolific writer. In addition to fiction he published articles, books of travel, autobiography, biography, criticism, and plays. Among his masterpieces are Daisy Miller (1879, The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Bostonians (1886), What Maisie Knew (1897), The Wings of the Dove (1902), and The Ambassadors (1903). His best known novellas are Washington Square (1881), and The Turn of the Screw (1898).
THE COMING-OF-AGE NOVEL FOR PEOPLE WHO HATE COMING-OF-AGE NOVELS! Charlie Kirby spends his life imagining trouble is just around the corner. For once, it is and the only man on his side is Ted Lawrence, a washed-up actor logging too many miles on the comeback trail. Charlie agrees to help Ted rescue his career and meets a comedian who offers him a chance to become a self-help guru, a housekeeper who spies on him, and a cast of off-beat characters in a story filled with action, hilarity, and weirdness. Charlie faces his fears, his phobias, and (worst of all) his family, as Los Angeles becomes the heart of the end of the world. (Parental guidance is suggested.)
Dizzy is an exuberant and fearless lady, an eighty-year-old "free spirit" who likes to help people and share her love of life with them. While looking for her missing cat, she meets a homeless man half her age, and they strike up a friendship. They go on a trip together in her newly acquired car-despite her children's warnings-and have some adventures (good and bad). Then Dizzy goes to France as a caretaker for a young American boy and has other exploits, sometimes comical. All along, she is wondering who took care of her runaway cat in her absence. The mystery is finally solved and Dizzy's life takes a sharp turn for new adventures.
Fifty timeless novels in one collection, plus additional bonus classics: The Oresteia by Aeschylus Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa Little Women by Louisa May Alcott The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri Between Past and Future by Hannah Arendt and Jerome Kohn Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum Around the World in Seventy-Two Days and Other Writings by Nellie Bly The Brontë Sisters by Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas The Psychopathology of Everyday Life by Sigmund Freud The Iliad by Homer The Odyssey by Homer The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson Niels Lyhne by Jens Peter Jacobsen On the Road: The Original Scroll by Jack Kerouac Tristes Tropiques by Claude Levi-Strauss The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories by Jack London The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham All My Sons by Arthur Miller The Crucible by Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe by Fernando Pessoa Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck East of Eden by John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck The Short Novels of John Steinbeck by John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men and The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck Dracula by Bram Stoker Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton Three Novels of New York by Edith Wharton Gray When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
The best part of Christmas for Charlie is going to Gigi’s annual Christmas Eve party. Unlike Charlie, Gigi has rich parents, a big house, and complete freedom to do whatever she wants. So for one day each year, Charlie can bask in the extravagant life of his spoiled and beautiful friend. Gigi’s mother is back from an exotic trip through Tibet. She brought a priceless artefact from an ancient Tibetan temple with her: a Tibetan wishing bowl. To Gigi’s mom, it’s just another expensive piece of art so she can flex her wealth to her friends. But to Charlie, it’s a tiny chance to have a better life. So during that party, when nobody is looking, he wishes his life could be more like Gigi’s.
