5744 results for "Literature"

The quantity theory of morality: together with five supporting propositions and the epilogue

Self, Will
"A blistering, brilliant novel from the Booker-shortlisted author, elegantly reflecting his Geoffrey Faber Memorial award-winning story collection The Quantity Theory of Insanity. In The Quantity Theory of Morality, Will Self 's unconventional new novel, his pen remains dipped in vitriol and elegance as ever. In this dark yet hilariously satirical "state-of-an-era novel," Self 's target is a collective morality that is nothing more or less than pure sociability. His middle-class, middle-English characters appear trapped in a timeless go-round of polite chitchat in dinner parties that refract like a hall of mirrors as the novel progresses, until one day someone says something to the effect of, "This way to the gas chamber, please, ladies and gentlemen." The Quantity Theory of Morality finally solves the equation of time and money that dominates our lives, in a way that is simultaneously deranging, destabilizing, and hilarious. With recurring-if defeated-appearances from now-canonical characters like Zack Busner, the repetition of each chapter, or "Proposition," shows Will Self to be both a master of satire and slapstick humor and a sublime and thoughtful critic of the alienation of modern life. With The Quantity Theory of Morality, Self provides the sequel to his award-winning debut of thirty-four years ago: The Quantity Theory of Insanity. That literary psycho-surgery proved there wasn't enough sanity to go around-now he's established what many of us fear to be the absolute truth: there isn't enough good to go around, either"-- Provided by publisher.
Grove Press 2026-03-10 368 pages

Torture Man

Warren Adler
When the daughter of prominent human rights activist, Sarah Raab, is kidnapped by what may be a terrorist organization, her life is put into turmoil. Told not to seek out the police, she turns to a former high-level CIA operative, Carl Helman: an anti-terrorist expert she has only recently met. She must battle with her conscience and her strongly held beliefs while working with a man who embodies everything she despises. When she discovers that a member of her own inner circle could be involved, Sarah must make the horrific choice of allowing Helman to use his "advanced interrogation techniques" on them or risk losing her daughter. How could this happen? Why would a terrorist group target her family? And how far against her own values is Sarah willing to go when the threat of loss becomes devastatingly personal?
Independently Published 2019-03-22 254 pages

The Washington Dossier Diaries

Warren Adler
Diplomacy, ethics, and passion clash in these chronicles of the social scene in the nation's capital. Originally published in Dossier magazine, these stories are a priceless series from bestselling "War of the Roses" author, Warren Adler, about the rarely revealed, behind-the-scenes peccadilloes of official Washington's socially elite circles. Warren Adler provides an intimate look into the erotic stimulation of power and sexual mores of official Washington, capturing how the rich and mighty live in Washington, D.C.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2016-06-22 114 pages

The Housewife Blues

Warren Adler
A small town girl from the Midwest is carried away by her "Prince Charming" to the super-charged canyons of modern New York City. Warned by her uptight advertising executive husband to beware of strangers, the newlywed cannot repress her small town upbringing and instinctive innocence. She eventually befriends many of the offbeat and quirky tenants in her apartment building and enters into their complicated and sometimes tragic lives. Her journey of self-discovery from naivet� through disenchantment and eventual wisdom makes for a suspenseful story of a young woman's inner turmoil and how culture shock can impact on deeply held values.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2016-06-21 342 pages

The Casanova Embrace

Warren Adler
From the carcass of a Washington, D.C. car bomb explosion, the CIA launches an investigation into the mysterious events leading to the assassination of Chilean dissident and infamous casanova, Eduardo Allesandro Palmero. As CIA investigator Alfred Dobbs rummages through the evidence, Palmero's mysterious life, from heir to the Chilean oligarchy to a fist-raising Marxist and trickster in disguise, comes to light. But what Dobbs soon discovers soars beyond his wildest imagination. At the height of international terrorism, Eduardo fights his war with an unlikely weapon-seduction. From Marie DeFarge to Frederika Millspaugh to Penny Anne McCarthy, Eduardo orders his sex-craving subjects into battle, tearing them from a life of tranquility and into the passionate caress of a man who will stop at nothing for a cause, his cause. Soon enough, Marie, Frederika and Anne are making headline news as part of a South American terror squad. But when Eduardo's carpet of lies begins to unravel, thread by thread, and his obsession-inducing sexual offensive comes to a slow and subtle halt, his very fate is at stake. Will the feared Chilean Intelligence Agency finally get him? Will lust intoxicate the minds of three women descending beyond reason? Or will the conned women become the conwomen?
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2016-06-17 444 pages

Cult

Warren Adler
In the dead of night, Naomi Forman receives a phone call. Barney Harrigan, the man she once loved-now happily married with children-utters, "My wife Charlotte has been captured by the Glories." What began as a rude interruption of her night becomes a horrifying interruption of her life, as she is unable to ignore Barney's cry for help. Drawn into the Glory Church doomsday cult by her estranged sister, Charlotte Harrigan succumbs to the will of the enigmatic Father Glory. Brainwashed beyond comprehension, she is now not herself, but only one of many who have been entrapped by the cult's promise of rebirth into a new, idyllic life. Against her better judgment, Naomi agrees to help Barney confront the Glories and save Charlotte. But naive optimism quickly plummets to misery as their plans are systematically picked apart, dashed by members of the cult past and present, and even by the local Sheriff T. Clausen Moore, who is only as helpful as the Glories want him to be. His awareness of the Glory's practices and their secluded compound-including the river, where there has been more than one "accidental" drowning-is the one obstacle that he too must overcome to restore order to his county. No one is safe. Naomi's will is tested and Barney becomes more and more desperate. The lengths he is willing to go to save his wife are as sinister as the Glories themselves. From the Manson family to Scientology, cults have been fascinating, disturbing, and terrifying, from their induction methodologies to doomsday imperatives. The Glory Church of Warren Adler's vision is no different. Just look to the headlines. Their time will come.
Stonehouse Press 2014-03 256 pages

Greeks

Robinson, Tony
Tony Robinson takes you on a headlong gallop through time, pointing out all the most important, funny, strange, amazing, entertaining, smelly and disgusting bits about the Greeks! It's history, but not as we know it! Find out everything you ever needed to know in this brilliant, action-packed, fact-filled book, including: - Why the ancient Greeks were mad about olive oil - Who Pythagoras was - Why Alexander the Great named a city after his horse, Bucephalus, and - How the Greeks invented the first computer, vending machine and death-ray
Macmillan Children's 2012-08-30 155 pages

Bad kids: the naughtiest children in history

Robinson, Tony
From a 13-year old ninja to young Salem "witches"--a guided tour through the lives of outlaw children from history, their dastardly crimes, and awful punishments So you've broken a classroom window and you're standing outside the principal's office with sweaty palms and a serious sinking feeling in your stomach. Do you think no one's ever had a life as bad as you? Well, you're wrong--this book reveals how kids in the past have had to suffer much worse punishments than a lecture about how they've let the whole school down. For instance, however angry your principal gets, it's fairly certain that she's not going to put you in a pillory and nail your ears to it. All through history, children have been getting into some serious scrapes, and they didn't often get off lightly. This is a guided tour to children for whom laughing, dancing on a Sunday, killing a rabbit that wasn't on your land, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time could mean a beating, beheading, or ordeal by hot water (no, it's not a nice warm bath with bubbles and a little plastic duck).
Macmillan Children's 2011 133 pages

The Search Angel

Tish Cohen
As the owner of the upscale children's boutique Pretty Baby, Eleanor Sweet is surrounded by gleaming strollers, organic cotton onesies and round-bellied expectant mothers. It's a serene atmosphere of new beginnings but for the sounds of punk and funk coming from the graffiti-splattered new record shop next door and Eleanor's fierce desire for a baby of her own. Her wish for a child is finally granted in the form of Lily, an abandoned baby en route from Korea. But Eleanor's husband unexpectedly backs out, and the adoption is at risk. Orphaned as a young woman herself and determined to give Lily the family she deserves, Eleanor hires Isabelle, a search angel, to find her own birth mother. What Eleanor discovers about love and family isn't what she expects but gives a new understanding of what it means to be a mother. Praise for The Search Angel "In The Search Angel, Tish Cohen explores how the things one desires most are often linked inextricably to our pasts. Eleanor Sweet's pursuit of adoption and the search for her own birth parents is told with compassion, humour, and intelligence--all the ingredients you look for in the best of books." - Catherine McKenzie, author of Hidden "The Search Angel is not only beautifully written and populated with achingly real characters, it also strikes a delicate balance between incisive humour and the sadness and joy that are the inevitable by-product of love." - Susan Juby, author of The Woefield Poultry Collective "The Search Angel is a page-turner. I could not put it down, and those are the only clich's you will read with regards to this book. Eleanor, an adoptee in the process of getting her own child, a feisty "search angel" who helps find Eleanor find her birth mother and a depressed Great Dane are just some of the rich characters that you will be glad you invited into your home. A funny, sad, touching and original story that shouldn't be missed. Why are you wasting time reading this blurb? Read The Search Angel. You'll be glad you did." - Colin Mochrie, actor and comedian "Move over Jodi Picoult"--The Globe and Mail.
HarperCollins 2014-06-03 328 pages

Superhero: a novel

Nelson, Tim Blake
""A uniquely nuanced and engaging perspective on the oddness of Hollywood...Superhero goes inside baseball in all the best ways: unbiased, at times ridiculous, and wonderfully, uncomfortably accurate. It begs to be read because it is so damned good." -Amanda Seyfried A-list actor Peter Compton and producing partner Marci Levy exist in the rarefied air of Hollywood's elite. Their status as a married power couple is unmatched, their presence in any room transformative and god-like. But as their private jet lands in Atlanta to begin production on a tentpole superhero movie, even their privileged position will come under threat by the massive pressures of such an undertaking. Compton, a self-educated recovering addict, sees the role of Sparta comics superhero Major Machina as the opportunity to transcend his already stratospheric platform. As director Joel Slavkin, Oscar-winning DP Javier Benavidez, and a crew of hundreds arrive in Atlanta to begin shooting, it doesn't take long for the production to be embroiled in the tension and egos that drive the film. But when video of Peter's disastrous on-set behavior goes viral, Peter and Marci's partnership will be challenged as it never has before. As the stakes grow ever higher, it may just take a superhero to save them. With his signature wit and razor sharp dialog, Tim Blake Nelson invites the reader to walk alongside him as he enters the closely-guarded world of industrial strength cinema"--
Unnamed Press 2025-12-02 409 pages

Think Again: Contrarian Reflections on Life, Culture, Politics, Religion, Law, and Education

Fish, Stanley
Provocative essays from one of America's most important cultural critics Think Again gathers one hundred of the best of Stanley Fish's provocative New York Times essays, pieces that have generated passionate discussion and debate. Addressing controversies about such hot-button topics as atheism, affirmative action, free speech, identity politics, guns, and postmodernism, Fish dissects the arguments put forth by different sides in order to explain how their arguments work or don't work. Brief and accessible yet challenging, these essays teach you not what to think but how to think more clearly, and provide all the powerful intellectual, cultural, and political analysis one expects from Fish, one of America's most influential thinkers.
Princeton University Press 2019-08-27 448 pages

The Dick Gibson Show

Elkin, Stanley
Look who's on the "Dick Gibson Radio Show": Arnold the Memory Expert ("I've memorized the entire West Coast shoreline - except for cloud cover and fog banks"). Bernie Perk, the burning pharmacist. Henry Harper, the nine-year old orphan millionaire, terrified of being adopted. The woman whose life revolves around pierced lobes. An evil hypnotist. Swindlers. Con-men. And Dick Gibson himself. Anticipating talk radio and its crazed hosts, Stanley Elkin creates a brilliant comic world held together by American manias and maniacs in all their forms, and a character who perfectly understands what Americans want and gives it to them.
Grand Central Pub 1980 400 pages