Download or read book It s Kind of a Funny Story written by Ned Vizzini and published by Disney Electronic Content. This book was released on 2010-09-25 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future. Determined to succeed at life—which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job—Craig studies night and day to ace the entrance exam, and does. That's when things start to get crazy. At his new school, Craig realizes that he isn't brilliant compared to the other kids; he's just average, and maybe not even that. He soon sees his once-perfect future crumbling away.

Download or read book Seriously Funny written by Gerald Nachman and published by Pantheon. This book was released on 2009-08-26 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The comedians of the 1950s and 1960s were a totally different breed of relevant, revolutionary performer from any that came before or after, comics whose humor did much more than pry guffaws out of audiences. Gerald Nachman presents the stories of the groundbreaking comedy stars of those years, each one a cultural harbinger: • Mort Sahl, of a new political cynicism • Lenny Bruce, of the sexual, drug, and language revolution • Dick Gregory, of racial unrest • Bill Cosby and Godfrey Cambridge, of racial harmony • Phyllis Diller, of housewifely complaint • Mike Nichols & Elaine May and Woody Allen, of self-analytical angst and a rearrangement of male-female relations • Stan Freberg and Bob Newhart, of encroaching, pervasive pop media manipulation and, in the case of Bob Elliott & Ray Goulding, of the banalities of broadcasting • Mel Brooks, of the Yiddishization of American comedy • Sid Caesar, of a new awareness of the satirical possibilities of television • Joan Rivers, of the obsessive craving for celebrity gossip and of a latent bitchy sensibility • Tom Lehrer, of the inane, hypocritical, mawkishly sentimental nature of hallowed American folkways and, in the case of the Smothers Brothers, of overly revered folk songs and folklore • Steve Allen, of the late-night talk show as a force in American comedy • David Frye and Vaughn Meader, of the merger of showbiz and politics and, along with Will Jordan, of stretching the boundaries of mimicry • Shelley Berman, of a generation of obsessively self-confessional humor • Jonathan Winters and Jean Shepherd, of the daring new free-form improvisational comedy and of a sardonically updated view of Midwestern archetypes • Ernie Kovacs, of surreal visual effects and the unbounded vistas of video Taken together, they made up the faculty of a new school of vigorous, socially aware satire, a vibrant group of voices that reigned from approximately 1953 to 1965. Nachman shines a flashlight into the corners of these comedians’ chaotic and often troubled lives, illuminating their genius as well as their demons, damaged souls, and desperate drive. His exhaustive research and intimate interviews reveal characters that are intriguing and all too human, full of rich stories, confessions, regrets, and traumas. Seriously Funny is at once a dazzling cultural history and a joyous celebration of an extraordinary era in American comedy.

Download or read book Sorrow and Bliss written by Meg Mason and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-02-09 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Brilliantly faceted and extremely funny. . . . While I was reading it, I was making a list of all the people I wanted to send it to, until I realized that I wanted to send it to everyone I know." — Ann Patchett “Improbably charming...will have you chortling and reading lines aloud.” — PEOPLE The internationally bestselling, compulsively readable novel—spiky, sharp, intriguingly dark, and tender—that combines the psychological insight of Sally Rooney with the sharp humor of Nina Stibbe and the emotional resonance of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. Martha Friel just turned forty. Once, she worked at Vogue and planned to write a novel. Now, she creates internet content. She used to live in a pied-à-terre in Paris. Now she lives in a gated community in Oxford, the only person she knows without a PhD, a baby or both, in a house she hates but cannot bear to leave. But she must leave, now that her husband Patrick—the kind who cooks, throws her birthday parties, who loves her and has only ever wanted her to be happy—has just moved out. Because there’s something wrong with Martha, and has been for a long time. When she was seventeen, a little bomb went off in her brain and she was never the same. But countless doctors, endless therapy, every kind of drug later, she still doesn’t know what’s wrong, why she spends days unable to get out of bed or alienates both strangers and her loved ones with casually cruel remarks. And she has nowhere to go except her childhood home: a bohemian (dilapidated) townhouse in a romantic (rundown) part of London—to live with her mother, a minorly important sculptor (and major drinker) and her father, a famous poet (though unpublished) and try to survive without the devoted, potty-mouthed sister who made all the chaos bearable back then, and is now too busy or too fed up to deal with her. But maybe, by starting over, Martha will get to write a better ending for herself—and she’ll find out that she’s not quite finished after all.

Download or read book Evil s Root written by Michael Segedy and published by Michael Segedy. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FINALIST IN THE 2014 NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDWhen American expat journalist Steve Collins sets off for the middle of the Amazon Jungle to cover a plane crash with a U.S senator aboard, he has no idea how his life is about to change. The Peruvian military is claiming the Shining Path rebel insurgency launched a missile attack on the aircraft, and the U.S. embassy is backing the military's claim. Steve's editor informs him that Jennifer Strand, a gorgeous, spunky young journalist embedded with the U.S. embassy, will be accompanying him to the crash site. Though wide apart in their political views, they manage to set aside their differences as they attempt to unravel the dark mystery behind the senator's death. Their investigation places them at the heart of the conflict between the rebels and the Peruvian government while taking them on a terrifying adventure in which they uncover shocking truths that transform their perceptions of the world and of themselves. Evil's Root is not just a political thriller. It is a powerful tale of romance and courage, of dark intrigues and harrowing revelations, of absolute power and secular evil. But more than anything, it is an encomium to brave souls, past and present, who have shown the will and moral commitment to confront the dark forces that threaten civilized life.

Download or read book Wacky Eire written by Geraldine Comiskey and published by Liberties Press. This book was released on 2012-09-01 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Welcome to Wacky Eire - it's stranger than fiction. Imagine RTÝ's Nationwide crossed with the cult series Eurotrash, or BBC's Country File mixed with Father Ted . . . Now imagine it as a book of true stories, written by an insider who has travelled the length and breadth of Ireland seeking out the weird, the wacky, the raunchy and the downright shocking . . . this is Wacky Eire. In this hilarious account on modern Irish life, Sunday World journalist Geraldine Comiskey takes the reader on an outrageous romp through the real Ireland - where ancient traditions and modern obsessions make lively bedfellows and where people will constantly surprise you. From naughty farmers, animal antics and dodgy faith-healers to secret swingers and strippers, from scandalous exposés to charming vignettes of rural life, Wacky Eire is the naked face of modern Ireland.

Download or read book You Are Weird written by Diane Swanson and published by Kids Can Press Ltd. This book was released on 2009-03 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human body.

Download or read book Dead Funny written by David Gillota and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2023-07-14 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Horror films strive to make audiences scream, but they also garner plenty of laughs. In fact, there is a long tradition of horror directors who are fluent in humor, from James Whale to John Landis to Jordan Peele. So how might horror and humor overlap more than we would expect? Dead Funny locates humor as a key element in the American horror film, one that is not merely used for extraneous “comic relief” moments but often serves to underscore major themes, intensify suspense, and disorient viewers. Each chapter focuses on a different comic style or device, from the use of funny monsters and scary clowns in movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street to the physical humor and slapstick in movies ranging from The Evil Dead to Final Destination. Along the way, humor scholar David Gillota explores how horror films employ parody, satire, and camp to comment on gender, sexuality, and racial politics. Covering everything from the grotesque body in Freaks to the comedy of awkwardness in Midsommar, this book shows how integral humor has been to the development of the American horror film over the past century.

Download or read book Life Is a Funny Thing written by Jeff Charlebois and published by Dorrance Publishing. This book was released on 2012-09-28 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Drop Dead Funny 70s written by Dan Lalande and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2023-08-17 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work offers a critical examination of 130 commercially-released film comedies of the 1970s. It considers the socio-political circumstances of each year of the decade, then critiques each film released that year with a focus on its effect on the film industry and the art of big screen comedy, as well as the emergence of talents whose work influenced (or was influenced by) the zeitgeist of the decade. Covering popular titles like M*A*S*H, Blazing Saddles, American Graffiti, The Bad News Bears, Smokey and the Bandit and many more, it argues that the 1970s may rightly be considered the last golden age of film comedy.

Download or read book Building Jewish Roots written by Faydra L. Shapiro and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2006-08-10 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Building Jewish Roots offers an exploration of how participants build rich and varied Jewish identities through their experiences in Israel at the long-established Livnot U'Lehibanot program. Shapiro argues that Israel Experience Programs offer something vital to participants - the power to shape and choose their own Jewish identities.

Download or read book Crazy for You written by Jennifer Crusie and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2010-03-30 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On Wednesday, Quinn McKenzie changes her life. On Thursday, she tries to get somebody to notice. On Thursday night, somebody does. Quinn McKenzie is dating the world's nicest guy, she has a good job as a high school art teacher, she's surrounded by family and friends who rely on her, and she's bored to the point of insanity. But when Quinn decides to change her life by adopting a stray dog over everyone's objections, everything begins to spiral out of control. Now she's coping with dognapping, breaking and entering, seduction, sabotage, stalking, more secrets than she really wants to know, and two men who are suddenly crazy . . . for her.

Download or read book The Root Cellar written by C. A. Thomas and published by Dorrance Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-22 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Root Cellar By C. A. Thomas The idea for The Root Cellar came during one of many periods of extemporary daydreams. The first chapter opened up like a giant movie screen and, in the spur of a moment, it became necessary to quickly find a pen and paper. The words were coming so fast in one afternoon, nearly all the main characters had presented themselves. It was time to get out the old typewriter. Yet it was fun for author C. A. Thomas; plotting and planning, talking to herself, taking each characters’ part, repeating each phrase, grimacing in the mirror. The comment that is often lamented about a thing becoming, “a labor of love,” is absolutely understandable. Days went by. And those days turned into weeks. It took two old, run-down typewriters and an out-of-date word processor to eventually finish the original work. Subsequent readings of the completed manuscript led to many changes. Editing of the original got to be quite cumbersome, but The Root Cellar was finally a finished product.

Download or read book My New Roots written by Sarah Britton and published by Appetite by Random House. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Holistic nutritionist and highly-regarded blogger Sarah Britton presents a refreshing, straight-forward approach to balancing mind, body, and spirit through a diet made up of whole foods. Sarah Britton's approach to plant-based cuisine is about satisfaction--foods that satiate on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. Based on her knowledge of nutrition and her love of cooking, Sarah Britton crafts recipes made from organic vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds. She explains how a diet based on whole foods allows the body to regulate itself, eliminating the need to count calories. My New Roots draws on the enormous appeal of Sarah Britton's blog, which strikes the perfect balance between healthy and delicious food. She is a "whole food lover," a cook who makes simple accessible plant-based meals that are a pleasure to eat and a joy to make. This book takes its cues from the rhythms of the earth, showcasing 100 seasonal recipes. Sarah simmers thinly sliced celery root until it mimics pasta for Butternut Squash Lasagna, and whips up easy raw chocolate to make homemade chocolate-nut butter candy cups. Her recipes are not about sacrifice, deprivation, or labels--they are about enjoying delicious food that's also good for you.

Download or read book Root of All Evil written by Libby Howard and published by Libby Howard. This book was released on 2023-10-10 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marriage can be murder. Kay's first real case as a licensed investigator is to track down a suspected mistress and the possible hidden assets of an estranged husband. It all seems pretty routine, but when the financial trail leads Kay down a rabbit hole of laundered money and bank fraud, a boring divorce case gets interesting. Just as Kay closes in on what seems to be the white collar crime of the century, the husband drops dead in his morning coffee—coffee that has more than just cream and sugar added to the cup! The the man's widow is the main suspect, but Kay wonders if the murder is less a crime of passion and more one of greed—or even revenge.

Download or read book Roots written by Christi Mouton and published by Partridge Africa. This book was released on 2016-02-18 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fact that you are now reading this means that somehow I caught your attention, so you might just as well keep reading, yet only if you believe in such things as mysteries, magic, and secrets that are well-hidden within our world. It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit (Antoine Rivarol). A young girl is off to college in a strange town away from home. She quickly learns that this strange small town has one too many secrets. Her life takes a sudden twist of fate as she discovers her true dark destiny and uncovers all the secrets that the strange little town shes been living in has been hiding from the normal, outside world.

Download or read book The Root of Wild Madder written by Brian Murphy and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-08-04 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Original publication and copyright date: 2005.

Download or read book Roots and Wings Revised Edition written by Stacey York and published by Redleaf Press. This book was released on 2003-06-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new edition of the best-selling guide to multicultural education for young children.