Download or read book Fatty O Leary s Dinner Party written by Alexander McCall Smith and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-08-05 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An all-new, never-before-published original short novel by the bestselling author of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, about a hapless American tourist’s larger-than-life comical trip to Ireland. Shortlisted for the 2015 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction Cornelius P. “Fatty” O'Leary and his wife, Betty, plan a vacation in Ireland for his fortieth birthday, where they will tour his ancestral homeland and relax in the countryside. Almost immediately, things go terribly wrong: the seats in economy class on the plane are too small; the country hotel’s dinner spread and bathroom fixtures leave much to be desired; and the down-to-earth O’Learys find their fellow guests are more than a little snobbish. In this amusing and touching portrayal of a kindly, misunderstood soul, McCall Smith has created yet another memorable character who will become an instant favorite to his many fans. An eBook short.
Download or read book Fatty O Leary s Dinner Party written by Alexander McCall Smith and published by Polygon. This book was released on 2018-03-08 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It takes a lot to get under the skin of Cornelius 'Fatty O'Leary, but then there is a lot of skin to get under. The heroically proportioned Fatty can normally take life as it comes. Right at home in easy-going Fayetteville, Arkansas, he is happily married to his childhood sweetheart Betty, and likes nothing better than the company of good friends Tubby O'Rourke and Porky Flanagan. But when Fatty and Betty head off to Ireland on the trip of a lifetime, they find that they have left their comfort zone far behind. Calamity and mayhem ensue as one mishap after another befalls the beleaguered couple. Can Fatty's broad shoulders take the strain or will he suffer one indignity too many? Will he get his just deserts, or just dessert?
Download or read book The Forever Girl written by Alexander McCall Smith and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2014-02-06 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Clover has loved James for as long as she can remember, since before she knew what what love was. But fate seems determined to keep them apart. As children, Clover and James played beside a turquoise sea under cloudless skies, their Caribbean island home a place of pleasure and privilege, of lush lawns and tennis parties. In such a paradise nothing should obstruct the kind of happiness Clover dreams of, except that, as she discovers, true love is often harder than paradise allows for. And when Clover's mother falls out of love with her husband, a web of complications is woven that may take Clover a lifetime to unravel. If she ever can . . . Tender and true, The Forever Girl traces love's unpredictable path to maturity with style, wit and feeling.
Download or read book Trains and Lovers written by Alexander McCall Smith and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2013-06-11 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rocking motion of the train as it speeds along, the sound of its wheels on the rails . . . There’s something special about this form of travel that makes for easy conversation, which is just what happens to the four strangers who meet in Trains and Lovers. As they journey by rail from Edinburgh to London, the four travelers pass the time by sharing tales of trains that have changed their lives. A young, keen-eyed Scotsman recounts how he turned a friendship with a female coworker into a romance by spotting an anachronistic train in an eighteenth-century painting. An Australian woman shares how her parents fell in love and spent their life together running a railroad siding in the remote Australian Outback. A middle-aged American patron of the arts sees two young men saying goodbye in a train station and recalls his own youthful crush on another man. And a young Englishman describes how exiting his train at the wrong station allowed him to meet an intriguing woman whom he impulsively invited to dinner—and into his life. Here is Alexander McCall Smith at his most enchanting, exploring the nature of love—and trains—in a collection of romantic, intertwined stories. This eBook edition includes a Reading Group Guide.
Download or read book Bitterhall written by Helen McClory and published by Polygon. This book was released on 2021-03-04 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bitterhall is a story of obsession told between three unreliable narrators. Daniel, Órla and Tom share a flat and narrate the intersections of their lives, from future-world 3D printing technology to the history of the book, to a stolen nineteenth-century diary written by a dashing gentleman who may not be entirely dead. A Hallowe'en party leads to a series of entanglements, variously a longed-for sexual encounter clouded by madness, a betrayal, and a reality-destroying moment of possession.
Download or read book Alive written by Ha Jin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-09-23 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of our most celebrated contemporary writers, winner of the National Book Award and PEN/Faulkner Award: Ha Jin’s staggering story “Alive,” from the collection The Bridegroom. Tong Guhan is a regular businessman, husband, and father, trying to find a job for his daughter and an apartment for his son in rural China. He’s next in line to be Vice Director of the cannery where he works. One morning in late July he makes the eleven hour train trip from Muji City to Taifu, to conduct business for his company that he hopes will finally lead to a promotion and the easy life. The events that follow are nothing short of astonishing, as the very earth shifts under Guhan’s feet. This is Ha Jin’s moving, strange, captivating story of an earthquake and a common man, the ties of family and the powers of circumstance: the perfect introduction to an internationally acclaimed modern master. An eBook short.
Download or read book A Market Tale written by Martin Walker and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The eighth installment in the delightful, internationally acclaimed series featuring Chief of Police Bruno. Between the seventeenth-century mairie and the stone bridge over the river that winds through town, the village of St. Denis hosts its weekly market, as well-stocked with local gossip as with fresh produce and pâtés. As summer blooms, the newest talk of the town is the rapport between Kati, a Swiss tourist, and Marcel, a popular stall owner whom Kati meets over his choice strawberries. None are happier than police chief Bruno to see Marcel, a young widower, interested in love again, but as his friend’s romance deepens, Bruno senses trouble in the form of Marcel’s meddlesome sister Nadette. Even as Kati begins to put down roots in St. Denis, vending her delicious baking in the market, it seems the overbearing Nadette will stop at nothing to make her feel unwelcome. When her schemes reach the limits of law, Bruno takes it upon himself to set things right. An eBook short. A Vintage Short.
Download or read book American Hunger written by Eli Saslow and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-09-02 with total page 101 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting In this Pulitzer Prize-winning collection, Washington Post reporter Eli Saslow traveled across the country over the course of a year—from Florida and Texas to Rhode Island and Tennessee—to examine the personal and political implications and repercussions of America's growing food stamp program. Saslow shows us the extraordinary impact the arrival of food stamps has each month on a small town's struggling economy, the difficult choices our representatives face in implementing this $78-billion program affecting millions of Americans, and the challenges American families, senior citizens, and children encounter every day in ensuring they have enough, and sometimes even anything to eat. These unsettling and eye-opening stories make for required reading, providing nuance and understanding to the complex matters of American poverty. An eBook short.
Download or read book Teacher Trouble written by Alexander McCall Smith and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A tale involving madness and mayhem.
Download or read book Reasons to Be Cheerful written by Nina Stibbe and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2019-07-23 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From "the reliably hilarious" (Entertainment Weekly) author of Love, Nina: a brilliantly funny and heartbreaking story of growing up and finding the independence you might not actually want . . . Teenager Lizzie Vogel has a new job as a dental assistant. This is not as glamorous as it sounds. At least it means mostly getting away from her alcoholic, nymphomaniacal, novel-writing mother. But, if Lizzie thinks being independent means sex with her boyfriend (he prefers bird-watching), strict boundaries (her boss keeps using her loo) or self-respect (surely only actual athletes get fungal foot infections?) she's still got a lot more growing up to do. The winner of the 2019 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, Reasons to Be Cheerful is a novel that lives up to its title, confirming Nina Stibbe's status as one of the most original and delightful writers at work today.
Download or read book The Flatshare written by Beth O'Leary and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2019-05-28 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if your roommate is your soul mate? A joyful, quirky romantic comedy, Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare is a feel-good novel about finding love in the most unexpected of ways. Tiffy and Leon share an apartment. Tiffy and Leon have never met. After a bad breakup, Tiffy Moore needs a place to live. Fast. And cheap. But the apartments in her budget have her wondering if astonishingly colored mold on the walls counts as art. Desperation makes her open minded, so she answers an ad for a flatshare. Leon, a night shift worker, will take the apartment during the day, and Tiffy can have it nights and weekends. He’ll only ever be there when she’s at the office. In fact, they’ll never even have to meet. Tiffy and Leon start writing each other notes – first about what day is garbage day, and politely establishing what leftovers are up for grabs, and the evergreen question of whether the toilet seat should stay up or down. Even though they are opposites, they soon become friends. And then maybe more. But falling in love with your roommate is probably a terrible idea...especially if you've never met.
Download or read book The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party written by Alexander McCall Smith and published by Knopf Canada. This book was released on 2011-03-22 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twelfth installment in the beloved, bestselling series is once again a beautiful blend of wit and wisdom, and a profoundly touching tale of the human heart. Precious Ramotswe is haunted by a dream in which she is driving her dear old white van. Grace Makutsi dreams that her 97 percent on the Botswana Secretarial College exam was a mistake. When Mma Ramotswe discovers that her van is actually still in use (and, of course, sets out to retrieve it), Mma Makutsi wonders whether her dream will turn out to be prophetic as well. They can only wait and see, but, in the meantime, one of Phuti Radiphuti's apprentices has gotten a girl pregnant and, under pressure to marry her, has run away. Naturally, it is up to Precious and Grace to help the couple work things out. In other developments, Mma Ramotswe investigates a case of rural jealousy in which cattle are being poisoned. Add to the mix Violet Sephotho's newly begun, already unstoppable run for the Botswana Parliament and the possibility that wedding bells may finally ring for Phuti Radiphuti and Grace Makutsi — whose love for each other is as great as their love for Botswana — and we have a charming and delightful tale from the inimitable Alexander McCall Smith.
Download or read book How to Raise an Elephant written by Alexander McCall Smith and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2020-11-24 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this latest installment in the cherished No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Mma Ramotswe must balance family obligations with the growing needs of one of Charlie’s pet projects. Precious Ramotswe loves her dependable old van. Yes, it sometimes takes a bit longer to get going now, and it has developed some quirks over the years, but it has always gotten the job done. This time, though, the world—and Charlie—may be asking too much of it, for when he borrows the beloved vehicle, he returns it damaged. And, to make matters worse, the interior seems to have acquired an earthy smell that even Precious can’t identify. But the olfactory issue is not the only mystery that needs solving. Mma Ramotswe is confronted by a distant relative, Blessing, who asks for help with an ailing cousin. The help requested is of a distinctly pecuniary nature, which makes both Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni and Mma Makutsi suspicious. And there is no peace at home, either, as the new neighbors are airing their marital grievances rather loudly. Still, Mma Ramotswe is confident that the solutions to all of these difficulties are there to be discovered—as long as she is led by kindness, grace, and logic and can rely on the counsel of her friends and loved ones.
Download or read book The Importance of Being Seven written by Alexander McCall Smith and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2012-08-21 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 44 SCOTLAND STREET - Book 6 The residents and neighbors of 44 Scotland Street and the city of Edinburgh come to vivid life in these gently satirical, wonderfully perceptive serial novels, featuring six-year-old Bertie, a remarkably precocious boy—just ask his mother. The great city of Edinburgh is renowned for its impeccable restraint, so how, then, did the extended family of 44 Scotland Street come to be trembling on the brink of reckless self-indulgence? After seven years and five books, Bertie is—finally!—about to turn seven. But one afternoon he mislays his meddling mother Irene, and learns a valuable lesson: wish-fulfillment can be a dangerous business. Angus and Domenica contemplate whether to give in to romance on holiday in Italy, and even usually down-to-earth Big Lou is overheard discussing cosmetic surgery. Funny, warm, and heartfelt as ever, The Importance of Being Seven offers fresh and wise insights into philosophy and fraternity among Edinburgh's most lovable residents.
Download or read book Portuguese Irregular Verbs written by Alexander McCall Smith and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2010-04-30 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A deliciously entertaining new series by the bestselling author of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency The many fans of Precious Ramotswe will find further cause for celebration in the protagonist of Alexander McCall Smith’s irresistibly funny trilogy, the eminent (if shamefully under-read) philologist Professor Dr. Mortiz-Maria von Igelfeld of the Institute at Regensburg. Unnaturally tall, hypersensitive to slights, and oblivious to his own frequent gaucheries, von Igelfeld is engaged in a never-ending quest to win the respect he knows is due him. Portuguese Irregular Verbs follows the Professor from a busman’s holiday researching old Irish obscenities to a flirtation with a desirable lady dentist. In The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs, von Igelfeld practices veterinary medicine without a license, transports relics for a schismatically challenged Coptic prelate and is mobbed by marriage-minded widows on board a Mediterranean cruise ship. In At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances, the final novel in the trilogy, we find our hero suffering the slings of academic intrigue as a visiting fellow at Cambridge, and the slings of outrageous fortune in an eventful Columbian adventure.
Download or read book Tiny Tales written by Alexander McCall Smith and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is often said that the best things in life come in small packages; anyone in search of proof need look no further than the stories in this collection from the acclaimed author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series: brief, utterly engaging tales that offer lasting surprise and delight, accompanied by charming illustrations by Iain McIntosh. In Tiny Tales, Alexander McCall Smith explores romance, ambition, kindness, and happiness in thirty short stories accompanied by thirty witty cartoons designed by Iain McIntosh, McCall Smith’s longtime creative collaborator. Here we meet the first Australian pope, who hopes to finally find some peace and quiet back home in Perth; a psychotherapist turned motorcycle racetrack manager; and an aspiring opera singer who gets her unlikely break onstage. And, of course, we spend time in McCall Smith’s beloved Scotland, where we are introduced to progressive Vikings, a group of housemates with complex romantic entanglements, and a couple of globe-trotting dentists. These tales and illustrations depict the full scope of human experience and reveal the rich tapestry of life—painted in miniature.
Download or read book The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3 4 written by Sue Townsend and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2003-08-14 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adrian Mole's first love, Pandora, has left him; a neighbor, Mr. Lucas, appears to be seducing his mother (and what does that mean for his father?); the BBC refuses to publish his poetry; and his dog swallowed the tree off the Christmas cake. "Why" indeed.
