How to Become a Scandal: Adventures in Bad Behavior Hardcover by Laura Kipnis

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

We all relish a good scandal. Why do people feel compelled to act out their tangled psychodramas on the national stage, and why do we so enjoy watching them? The motifs are classic—revenge, betrayal, ambition, madness—though the pitfalls are ones we all negotiate daily. After all, every one of us is a potential scandal in the making: failed self-knowledge and colossal self-deception—the necessary ingredients—are our collective plight. How to Become a Scandal is “an extremely smart, funny, acid, and beautifully written meditation on a scary truth that we all try desperately to ignore” (David Shields, author of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto).

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Two very public downfalls and two very public uproars guide us through the contemporary infernal regions of scandal: the downfall of the lovelorn astronaut, Lisa Nowak, and an unreasonable judge, Sol Wachter, and the uproar set off by Linda Tripp and James Frey. Familiar as they may be, Kipnis (Against Love) freshly illuminates her subjects' plights, while scrutinizing the public delight in their misfortune, wearing her learning so lightly that the reader is easily seduced by her quick wit and her camouflaged erudition. Kipnis ties psychoanalysis and reality TV, detectives and literary critics, talk show hosts and sociologists, along with the scandalizers and the scandalized into a persuasive bundle: Scandals aren't just fiascoes other people get themselves embroiled in while the rest of us go innocently about our business, she argues. e all have crucial roles to play. A deliciously flippant tone serves the reader the juicy details we savor so about scandal, while tossing in some timeless questions and speculations about the deeper meaning of it all ( free will, moral luck, the stranglehold of desire, the difference between right and wrong ) as though they were mere garniture. This is a dead serious book that's an utter lark to read.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

You should ever bear in mind that it is to your kind parents that you are indebted for your food, and for the privilege of staying home from school when you let on that you are sick. Therefore you ought to respect their little prejudices, and humor their little whims, and put up with their little foibles until they get to crowding you too much.

When Mark Twain wrote the sparky short story "Advice to Little Girls" in 1865, he probably didn't mean for it to be shown to them. Or maybe he did, since we all know Twain was a rascal. Now, author and illustrator Vladimir Radunsky has created a picture book based on Twain's text that adds all the right outlandish touches.

Born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri, Samuel L. Clemens wrote under the pen name Mark Twain. He wrote two major classics of American literature, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He was also a riverboat pilot, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur, and inventor. Whether or not it was Mark Twain's actual intention for little girls to read this humorous short story, it's clear that he did not talk down to children, but rather expected them to stretch themselves in order to grasp sophisticated, adult meaning.

"The work of a fine writer coming into her own...Laurano is an appealing character whose most natural responses are warmth and humor."--THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD

In this sequel to EVERYTHING YOU HAVE IS MINE, Lauren's closest friend Megan is killed hours after a hold up of her Greenwich Village jewelry store, and Lauren soon discovers how little she knew about her friend's life. Hired by one of Megan's many ex-husbands to investigate, Lauren takes a microscope to a life she thought she knew intimately and finds a secret world of deception and danger. As Lauren moves closer to the solution to Megan's murder, she uncovers some unpleasant truths about herself--and realizes how much she needs a little help from her friends....

While compiling a genealogy of her family of successful attorneys, sixteen-year-old history buff Ivy Breedlove treks into the mountain wilderness to interview a reclusive aunt with whom she identifies and who in turn helps her to truly know herself and her family. 

"Sugar's voice is convincing, both as storyteller and young writer; her natural good humor shines through what could be a sad story indeed. Quirky supporting characters—both human and dog—add to its appeal. Sugar...will win readers hearts." —Kirkus, starred review

"Sure to inspire..." —Library Media Connection, starred review

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joan Bauer is also the author of Rules of the Road and Hope Was Here.

WE'RE ALL GETTING OLDER,

AND BILL COSBY KEEPS GETTING BETTER

America's best-loved humorist, media personality and bestselling author now brings his unique warmth, wisdom and wit to a subject common to all: aging. From five to fifty and beyond, Bill Cosby takes us on a hilarious romp through the trials and tribulations of growing—and being—older. Funny, highly personal, and with just the right tugs on the heartstrings, Time Flies is Cosby at his best.

Number one bestselling author Janet Evanovich teams up with award-winning author Dorien Kelly to deliver a sparkling novel of romantic suspense, small-town antics, secretive sabotage, and lots and lots of beer

Kate Appleton needs a job. Her husband has left her, she’s been fired from her position as a magazine editor, and the only place she wants to go is to her parents’ summer house, The Nutshell, in Keene’s Harbor, Michigan. Kate’s plan is to turn The Nutshell into a Bed and Breakfast. Problem is, she needs cash, and the only job she can land is less than savory.

Matt Culhane wants Kate to spy on his brewery employees. Someone has been sabotaging his company, and Kate is just new enough in town that she can insert herself into Culhane’s business and snoop around for him. If Kate finds the culprit, Matt will pay her a $20,000 bonus. Needless to say, Kate is highly motivated. But several problems present themselves. Kate despises beer. No one seems to trust her. And she is falling hard for her boss.

Can these two smoke out a saboteur, save Kate’s family home, and keep a killer from closing in…all while resisting their undeniable attraction to one another? Filled with humor, heart, and loveable characters, Love in a Nutshell is delicious fun.

For us to perceive any of the worlds that exist beside our own, not only do we have to covet them but we need to have sufficient energy to seize them. In this revolutionary book, Carlos Castaneda offers readers the key to this energetic conditioning for the first time, revealing a series of body positions and physical movements that enabled various sorcerers, and their apprentices, to navigate their own sorceric journeys. By sharing this centuries-old wisdom, Carlos Castaneda makes it possible for readers to travel to some of these other realms, which are as real, unique, absolute, and engulfing as our own world. Castaneda offers both a philosophical history of magical passes and an innovative, easy-to-understand instructional format, complete with more than 450 computer-generated illustrations. Written with humor, clarity, and authority, Magical Passes further illuminates the true meaning of sorcery and magic.

Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech by Craig Silverman  and Jeff Jarvis

We regret the error: it’s a phrase that appears in newspapers almost daily, the standard notice that something went terribly wrong in the reporting, editing, or printing of an article. From Craig Silverman, the proprietor of www.RegretTheError.com, one of the Internet’s most popular media-related websites, comes a collection of funny, shocking, and sometimes disturbing journalistic slip-ups and corrections. On display are all types of media inaccuracy—from “fuzzy math” to “obiticide” (printing the obituary of a person very much alive and well) to complete and utter ethical lapses. While some of the errors can be laugh-out-loud funny, the book contains a sobering journey through the history of media mistakes (including the outrageous hoaxes that dominated newspapers during the circulation wars of the 19th-century) and a serious muckraking investigation of contemporary journalism’s lack of accountability to the public. It shines a spotlight on the media’s carelessness and the sometimes tragic and calamitous consequences of weak or non-existent fact checking. 

From Publishers Weekly

Blogger Silverman is a man obsessed with pointing out the mistakes of others, though he dreams of a world in which he didn't have to. If media outlets printed their own corrections more thoroughly, amending online content appropriately, embracing their mistakes wholeheartedly, he argues, he wouldn't have to collect and publicize them with such devotion. Having founded regrettheerror.com to tally inaccuracies and corrections in the press, Silverman has set out to chronicle and categorize these errors in his first book. The result is a winding journey through the most glaring, damaging and humorous typos, misprints, misidentifications, fuzzy numbers and obiticides in the history of journalism, from the accidental to the malicious. These chapters are chock-full of amusing historical anecdotes, including the story behind the incorrect headline Dewey Defeats Truman, the case of mistaken identity that galvanized Nobel to create his prestigious awards, and the oft-presumed dead but still living Abe Vigoda. Silverman injects plenty of humor, but mostly he is deeply concerned about the science of journalism, and at the heart of this romp is an argument for increased public participation in the news cycle.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

For this book, Paul Krassner contacted 250 friends and acquaintances to cull stories. These true tales, ranging from funny to bizarre to poignant, include "How the Yippies Mailed 30,000 Joints to Perfect Strangers," "The Bust at Ken Kesey's Place," and "The Acid Trip of a Death Row Prisoner."

Paul Krassner is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor, and a contributor to the The Realist. Krassner became a key figure in the counterculture of the 1960s as a member of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and a founding member of the Yippies. He lives in Southern California.

Welcome to Los Angeles, birthplace and residence of Tori Spelling. 

It’s not every Hollywood starlet whose name greets you on a Virgin Airways flight into la-la land. But Tori Spelling has come to accept that her life is a spectacle. Her name is her brand, and business is booming. Too bad when your job is to be yourself, you can’t exactly take a break. 

Tori finally has everything she thought she wanted—a loving family and a successful career—but trying to live a normal life in Hollywood is a little weird. With the irresistible wit, attitude, and humor that fans have come to love, the New York Times bestselling author of sTORI telling and Mommywood is back with more hilarious, heartwarming, and candid stories of juggling work, marriage, motherhood, and reality television cameras. 

Tori comes clean about doing her time on jury duty, stalking herself on Twitter, discovering her former 90210 castmates’ "I Hate Tori" club, contracting swine flu, and contacting Farrah Fawcett from the dead. Like many mothers, she struggles to find balance (Stars, they’re just like us!)—only most women don’t have to battle it out with paparazzi at the grocery store. She talks openly about the darker side of life in the spotlight: media scrutiny over her weight and her marriage to Dean McDermott, her controversial relationship with Dean’s ex-wife, and her unfolding reconciliation with her mother. 

Having it all isn’t always easy—especially when you’re a perfectionist—but with the help of her unconventional family and friends, an underwear-clad spiritual cleansing or two, and faith in herself, she’s learning to find her happy ending. Because when you’re Tori Spelling, every day brings uncharted terriTORI.

Reading and writing poetry as a class assignment can be a rewarding experience―especially when it’s approached in a spirit of fun. This book explains how poets use words imaginatively in rhymed and metered verse as well as free verse. Poems can be humorous or serious, long or very short, joyful or sad―and this instructive, yet fun-to-read book points the way toward composing and reading poems of all kinds. It’s filled with examples from Homer through today. All titles in Barron’s Painless Series are written especially for classroom use for middle-school students.

A Stoner McTavish Mystery

There were dark forces afoot in the sleepy little New Age town of Shelburne Falls, hungry ghosts who had chosen Aunt Hermione as their prey. Stoner McTavish, lesbian travel agent and reluctant detective, her lover Gwen, and her best friend and business partner Marylou, must stop them before it's too late. But who are they? What do they want, and why? And how do you stop an enemy you can't even find? Stoner embarks on a journey that forces her to face her worst fears. And they just might come true.

Sarah Dreher is the author of the well-loved Stoner McTavish Mystery Series as well as many award winning plays. She attended Wellesley College and went on to earn a PH.D. in clinical psychology from Purdue University.
At the age of 17, she was threatened with expulsion from Wellesley College for “being too fond of other girls.” In an interview, Sarah reveals,

“I was accused of being a lesbian, though I wasn’t ‘out’ at the time,” she recalls. “I felt like killing myself. One of the rules of being gay in the 1950’s was that you should hate yourself. It took me 15 years to get over it; it took the women’s movement really, to get me past it.”

Sarah’s play “Alumnae News” parallels this experience in her life. As in all of her work, the poignancy and bristling energy are leavened by humor, and by the author’s empathy with her characters.
Sarah passed away to writer’s heaven at her home on April 2nd, 2012, just one week after celebrating her 75th birthday.

Brenda Brissette-Mata was born in Flint, Michigan, and has lived in the area her whole life.  She began working at The Flint Journal as a high school student in 1975 and continued at the newspaper while attending the University of Michigan-Flint.  She has worked as a columnist since 1991.  Her three sons, 17-year-old twins and one 9-year-old, keep her busy, but in her spare time Brenda enjoys sorting laundry, paying bills, hugging her children and pretending to have life under control, although not necessarily in that order.

Be ready the next time the spotlight is on you!

She’s interviewed “glamazons,” watched stars shine (Sharon Stone in a Gap T-shirt at the Oscars) and bomb (Jennifer Aniston in dreadlocks, Cher in an Egyptian headdress), and witnessed many a celebrity rise to the top only to come crashing down a mere year later. And she’s both reveled in kudos and despaired over criticism of herself.

As the daughter of Joan Rivers and with years of face time with the Hollywood elite, Melissa has learned far more than your average person about what it takes to be a star—not just on the red carpet, but in life. For the first time, she shares the lessons she’s learned along the way and teaches you how to embrace your big moments, be it a graduation, a first date, a job interview, a prom, or a wedding. 

Pulling from inspirational and humorous tales from her probing chats with red-carpet royalty and episodes in her own life, she lays out nine essential rules to seize momentous times with graciousness, fun, preparedness, confidence—and, of course, drop-dead gorgeous style that flatters you. (Hint: It’s not always the top designer brand that’ll scream stardom.) The walk down the red carpet, as Rivers so colorfully relates, can teach us all some basic but essential lessons in fashion and in life.

With miles of red carpet under her belt, Melissa Rivers has seen it all, from the biggest oops! moments to those unforgettable times when a star truly did shine. She knows exactly what it takes to be a star—both on the red carpet and in life.

Based on her insider knowledge and her personal experience under Hollywood’s glare, Melissa shares tips and techniques for embracing your momentous times and being at your best when the focus is on you, including:

•  The simple trick to being the hit of every party

•  How to escape from a date that’s become a train wreck

•  The celebrity secret to looking radiant, rain or shine

•  A success strategy that beats pure talent every time

•  The one rule about people even the superstars are afraid to break

•  How to apologize or run into your ex and keep your cool

After ten months of living in the White House, seventeen-year old Meg Powers knew she should be used to the pressures of life in the spotlight―but she wasn't.

In addition to the usual senior year worries―college applications and Josh, her first serious boyfriend―Meg had to live up to what was expected from the President's daughter. She had to suppress her sense of humor and watch the way she dressed and spoke. And she had to try to have a normal relationship with Josh despite intrusions by reporters and secret service agents who followed her everywhere.

Then, just when everything was already so difficult, a shocking attack on her mother makes life in the White House even more impossible. Meg, her father, and her two younger brothers find they must turn to one another for solace and support―while her mother's life hangs in the balance.

When a health scare puts him in the hospital, Eric Weiner-an agnostic by default-finds himself tangling with an unexpected question, posed to him by a well-meaning nurse. "Have you found your God yet?"The thought of it nags him, and prods him-and ultimately launches him on a far-flung journey to do just that. 

Weiner, a longtime "spiritual voyeur" and inveterate traveler, realizes that while he has been privy to a wide range of religious practices, he's never seriously considered these concepts in his own life. Face to face with his own mortality, and spurred on by the question of what spiritual principles to impart to his young daughter, he decides to correct this omission, undertaking a worldwide exploration of religions and hoping to come, if he can, to a personal understanding of the divine. 

The journey that results is rich in insight, humor, and heart. Willing to do anything to better understand faith, and to find the god or gods that speak to him, he travels to Nepal, where he meditates with Tibetan lamas and a guy named Wayne. He sojourns to Turkey, where he whirls (not so well, as it turns out) with Sufi dervishes. He heads to China, where he attempts to unblock his chi; to Israel, where he studies Kabbalah, sans Madonna; and to Las Vegas, where he has a close encounter with Raelians (followers of the world's largest UFO-based religion).

At each stop along the way, Weiner tackles our most pressing spiritual questions: Where do we come from? What happens when we die? How should we live our lives? Where do all the missing socks go? With his trademark wit and warmth, he leaves no stone unturned. At a time when more Americans than ever are choosing a new faith, and when spiritual questions loom large in the modern age, MAN SEEKS GOD presents a perspective on religion that is sure to delight, inspire, and entertain.

A fourth-generation insomniac, Patricia Morrisroe decided that the only way she’d ever conquer her lifelong sleep disorder was by becoming an expert on the subject. So, armed with half a century of personal experience and a journalist’s curiosity, she set off to explore one of life’s greatest mysteries: sleep. Wide Awake is the eye-opening account of Morrisroe’s quest—a compelling memoir that blends science, culture, and business to tell the story of why she—and forty million other Americans—can’t sleep at night.             

Over the course of three years of research and reporting, Morrisroe talks to sleep doctors, drug makers, psychiatrists, anthropologists, hypnotherapists, “wake experts,” mattress salesmen, a magician, an astronaut, and even a reindeer herder. She spends an uncomfortable night wired up in a sleep lab. She tries “sleep restriction” and “brain music therapy.” She buys a high-end sound machine, custom-made ear plugs, and a “quiet” house in the country to escape her noisy neighbors in the city. She attends a continuing medical education course in Las Vegas, where she discovers that doctors are among the most sleep-deprived people in the country. She travels to Sonoma, California, where she attends a Dream Ball costumed as her “dream self.” To fulfill a childhood fantasy, she celebrates Christmas Eve two hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle, in the famed Icehotel tossing and turning on an ice bed. Finally, after traveling the globe, she finds the answer to her insomnia right around the corner from her apartment in New York City. 

A mesmerizing mix of personal insight, science and social observation, Wide Awake examines the role of sleep in our increasingly hyperactive culture. For the millions who suffer from sleepless nights and hazy caffeine-filled days, this humorous, thought-provoking and ultimately hopeful book is an essential bedtime companion. It does, however, come with a warning: Reading it will promote wakefulness.

"Hilarious, heartfelt and brimming with humanity.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest

Teddy Telemachus is a charming con man with a gift for sleight of hand and some shady underground associates. In need of cash, he tricks his way into a classified government study about telekinesis and its possible role in intelligence gathering. There he meets Maureen McKinnon, and it’s not just her piercing blue eyes that leave Teddy forever charmed, but her mind—Maureen is a genuine psychic of immense and mysterious power. After a whirlwind courtship, they marry, have three gifted children, and become the Amazing Telemachus Family, performing astounding feats across the country. Irene is a human lie detector. Frankie can move objects with his mind. And Buddy, the youngest, can see the future. Then one night tragedy leaves the family shattered.

Decades later, the Telemachuses are not so amazing. Irene is a single mom whose ear for truth makes it hard to hold down a job, much less hold together a relationship. Frankie’s in serious debt to his dad’s old mob associates. Buddy has completely withdrawn into himself and inexplicably begun digging a hole in the backyard. To make matters worse, the CIA has come knocking, looking to see if there’s any magic left in the Telemachus clan. And there is: Irene’s son Matty has just had his first out-of-body experience. But he hasn’t told anyone, even though his newfound talent might just be what his family needs to save themselves—if it doesn’t tear them apart in the process.

Harnessing the imaginative powers that have made him a master storyteller, Daryl Gregory delivers a stunning, laugh-out-loud new novel about a family of gifted dreamers and the invisible forces that bind us all.

“Masterful. . . . gracefully balances the outrageous melodrama of Chicago mobsters and shadowy government agencies with the ordinary mysteries of family dynamics. . . . Readers will emerge from the fray sure they know each Telemachus down to the smudges on their hearts. A skillfully written family drama that employs quirk and magic with grace.” —Kirkus Reviews (Starred)

“This gloriously imaginative novel featuring a family of somewhat reluctant psychics has a nifty trick up its sleeve—as whimsical and eccentric as the Telemachus family is, their hopes and desires perfectly mirror our own. Spoonbenders is hilarious, heartfelt and brimming with humanity.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest
 
“Imagine amazing powers—but do so with uncommon creativity, rigor, and humor. You might, if you're lucky, arrive at the delicious drama of the girl who can smell lies; the all-at-once-ness of the boy who can’t not see the future; the great dilemma of the psychic pressed into service as a spy. Daryl Gregory's novel traces the line where gift balances against curse and by the end, we realize he isn’t only talking about amazing powers after all. Spoonbenders is X-Files meets The Sopranos with a real, roaring heart.” —Robin Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

“Did you spend a childhood convinced that you were *this close* to developing telekinetic powers? Me too! The supernatural may elude us still, but there is real magic in Daryl Gregory’s gleeful story of the Amazing Telemachus Family. Spoonbenders is also about the power of belief and whether we can ever escape our tangled family legacies—and why we might not want to.” —Jade Chang, author of The Wangs vs. the World

About the Author

Daryl Gregory is an award-winning writer of genre-mixing novels, stories, and comics. His latest novel, SPOONBENDERS, about a down-on-their-luck family with psychic powers, was published by Knopf in June, 2017, and is being developed for television by Paramount and Anonymous Content.

His recent work includes the young adult novel HARRISON SQUARED (Tor, March 2015), a Locus Award finalist which will be reissued by Tor Teen in 2018, along with two sequels. The novella WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE won the World Fantasy award and the Shirley Jackson award, was a finalist for the Nebula, Sturgeon, and Locus awards, and is in development for television by Universal Cable Productions.

His SF novel AFTERPARTY was an NPR and Kirkus Best Fiction book of 2014, and a finalist for the Campbell and the Lambda Literary awards. His first novel, PANDEMONIUM, won the Crawford award and was a finalist for the World Fantasy award. His other novels are THE DEVIL'S ALPHABET (a Philip K. Dick award finalist) and RAISING STONY MAYHALL (a Library Journal best SF book of the year).

Many of his short stories are collected in UNPOSSIBLE AND OTHER STORIES, which was named one of the best books of 2011 by Publishers Weekly. He wrote the choose-you-own-adventure -style video game, "Flatline", for 3 Minute Games. His comics work includes the sereies "Legenderry: Green Hornet," "Planet of the Apes," "Dracula: The Company of Monsters" (co-written with Kurt Busiek), and the graphic novel "The Secret Battles of Genghis Khan."

He lives and writes full-time in Oakland, California.

"Khong is a magician, and we are lucky to fall under her spell at the very beginning of her brilliant writing life." ―Lauren Groff

“This novel sneaks up on you ― just like life . . . and heartbreak. And love.”―Miranda July

Her life at a crossroads, a young woman goes home again in this funny and inescapably moving debut from a wonderfully original new literary voice.

Freshly disengaged from her fiancé and feeling that life has not turned out quite the way she planned, thirty-year-old Ruth quits her job, leaves town and arrives at her parents’ home to find that situation more complicated than she'd realized. Her father, a prominent history professor, is losing his memory and is only erratically lucid. Ruth’s mother, meanwhile, is lucidly erratic. But as Ruth's father’s condition intensifies, the comedy in her situation takes hold, gently transforming her all her grief.
Told in captivating glimpses and drawn from a deep well of insight, humor, and unexpected tenderness, Goodbye, Vitamin pilots through the loss, love, and absurdity of finding one’s footing in this life.

A wild and bittersweet memoir of a classic '70s childhood

It's a story of the 1970s. Of a road trip in a wood-paneled station wagon, with the kids in the way-back, singing along to the Steve Miller Band. Brothers waking up early on Saturday mornings for five consecutive hours of cartoons and advertising jingles that they'll be humming all day. A father-one of 3M's greatest and last eight-track-salesman fathers-traveling across the country on the brand-new Boeing 747, providing for his family but wanting nothing more than to get home.

It's Steve Rushin's story: of growing up within a '70s landscape populated with Bic pens, Mr. Clean and Scrubbing Bubbles, lightsabers and those oh-so-coveted Schwinn Sting-Ray bikes. Sting-Ray Afternoons paints an utterly fond, psychedelically vibrant, laugh-out-loud-funny portrait of an exuberant decade. With sidesplitting commentary, Rushin creates a vivid picture of a decade of wild youth, cultural rebirth, and the meaning of parental, brotherly, sisterly, whole lotta love.

Praise for Sting-Ray Afternoons

"If you existed in the 1970s and had any awareness of the world around you, Steve Rushin's Sting-Ray Afternoons is going to hit you like the smell of Clairol Herbal Essence Shampoo. Smart as heck, laugh out loud funny and warm, Steve Rushin does for 1970s childhoods what Jean Shepherd did for 1940s Christmas. This book is nothing short of a Nadia Comenici Perfect 10."―Julie Klam, author of The Stars in Our Eyes and the New York Times bestseller You Had Me at Woof

"Steve Rushin's Sting Ray Afternoons is a fun and often hilarious account of growing up in the midwest in the 1970s. Throughout the book I was pleasantly reminded of things from my own past-Rushin revisits the TV shows, the toys, the games of the era while telling his family's own story. Sting Ray Afternoon captures both the freedom of youth and the universal longing for experience in a bigger, more adult world. If you grew up in the 1970s, prepare to have your memory triggered."―Craig Finn, songwriter and guitarist, The Hold Steady

"Charming and heartfelt, hilarious and touching, Rushin's Sting-Ray Afternoons is a pitch-perfect portrait of growing up in middle America during the Brady Bunch era. A gem of a memoir, a tribute to family, and a delectable slice of American history."―Nina Sankovitch, author of Tolstoy and the Purple Chair and The Lowells of Massachusetts 

"[Rushin's] childhood, from the ages of 3 to 13, was perfectly encapsulated in the 1970s, and he celebrates the excesses and excitement of the decade with ardor.... Rushin's everykid upbringing and the touchstones of childhood he recounts make Sting-Ray Afternoon a fun-filled and charming trip."―Booklist

"Rushin may not have been able to compete with his athletic older brothers for glory on the playing field, but he pleased his parents with a talent for puns and other wordplay... The nostalgic sweetness of his memories...provides convincing evidence that life in the '70s wasn't as chaotic as it's often made out to be."―Kirkus

"Rushin uses his family as the book's focal point, capturing the nonstop zaniness of growing up with four siblings.... But it's Rushin's dad, a child of the Depression, who steals the show. Whether quoting his father as he describes his five kids...or retelling stories about him being drunk on what was the then new Boeing 747, it's through his father that Rushin captures the mystery and magic of childhood."―Publishers Weekly

"A wild ride through [Rushin's] '70s boyhood in fast-growing Bloomington, Minnesota.... Fiercely funny memoir about family, sports, music, food and fads."―Priscilla Kipp, BookPage

"In his funny, elegiac memoir Sting-Ray Afternoons, Rushin mines...ineffably familiar terrain with a sense of irony and deep affection, working hard to capture the look and feel of the 1970s...Much of what Rushin writes about - the Sears Christmas Wish Book, leaded gasoline, Johnny Carson's many vacations - will strike a chord with anyone who, like me, grew up in that era. What makes the book more than just late-baby-boomer nostalgia is the writing, which is knowing and funny."―Jim Zarroli, NPR

A "touching nostalgic memoir.... A vivid and comedic approach to [Rushin's] personal touchstones for the era."―CBC Radio's "Day Six"

"Magnificent... You will not read a better book this summer - and maybe well into the fall and winter, too."― New York Post

"Sting-Ray Afternoons is [Rushin's] story of growing up in Bloomington in the 1970s. It's a lighthearted, sentimental look back at a Minnesota childhood with a twist of wryness... Rushin's told-with-a-smile stories of childhood are worth the trip: bundling into a snowmobile suit in winter, piling into the Ford LTD Country Squire for a cross-country summer vacation, making mild mischief with neighborhood friends, and one memorable disaster when nature called and wouldn't be kept waiting. All seen through that gauzy, yellowish filter that blurs memory with Dad's Super 8 movies."―Casey Common, Star Tribune

Steve Rushin has been called “the ultimate tinkerer with language” by the New York Times. As a writer for Sports Illustrated, he has filed stories for the magazine from all seven continents, including Antarctica. He is a four-time finalist for the National Magazine Award and his work has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, The Best American Travel Writing and The Best American Magazine Writing collections. In 2006 he was named the National Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

Rushin’s first book, Road Swing, was named one of the “Best Books of the Year” by Publishers Weekly and one of the “Top 100 Sports Books of All Time” by Sports Illustrated. A collection of his sports and travel writing, The Caddie Was a Reindeer, was a semifinalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. His first novel, The Pint Man, was published in 2010 and was called “wipe-your-eyes funny” by the Los Angeles Times. His 2013 baseball book, The 34-Ton Bat, “will give even the most knowledgeable fan a new understanding of the game,” said the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, Sting-Ray Afternoons, is a memoir of his 1970s childhood.

A native of Bloomington, Minnesota, Rushin lives with his family in Connecticut.

"Line up the watermelon cosmos and get ready to be consumed by the swank, successful, and super-spunky 40-something protagonists of Candace Bushnell's lip-smacking new novel."

--New York Post

"Bushnell proves she's still the philosopher-queen of a social scene."
--New York Times Book Review

"A seductive, humorous tale about strong, powerful women."
--OK! Magazine,

It's a jungle out there. Dress accordingly.

In her fourth book, Candace Bushnell brings readers close to three powerful New York City women, each at the top of her field, each navigating her way through work, relationships, success, and scandal.

Nico O'Neilly is the ultimate executive-glamorous and always in control-until her marriage loses steam, and she is tempted to find refuge in the arms of a younger man. Wendy Healy, president of Parador Pictures and mother of three children, may not be able to save her most important production-her family. And Victory Ford, a wildly successful fashion designer and girlfriend of a billionaire, begins to question love and money-why shouldn't a woman be as rich as a man

A sidesplitting, heartwarming collection of anecdotes that turn everyday events into humorous memories.

Patsy Clairmont is a popular speaker, a coauthor of various Women of Faith devotionals, and the author of such best-selling books as "God Uses Cracked Pots" and "Sportin' a 'Tude." She and her husband live in Brighton, Michigan.

A Newbery Medal Winner

For over thirty-five years, Ellen Raskin's Newbery Medal-winning The Westing Game has been an enduring favorite. 

This highly inventive mystery involves sixteen people who are invited to the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. They could become millionaires-it all depends on how they play the tricky and dangerous Westing game, a game involving blizzards, burglaries, and bombings! Ellen Raskin has created a remarkable cast of characters in a puzzle-knotted, word-twisting plot filled with humor, intrigue, and suspense.

Winner of the Newbery Medal

Winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award

An ALA Notable Book

A School Library Journal One Hundred Books That Shaped the Century

"A supersharp mystery...confoundingly clever, and very funny." —Booklist, starred review

"Great fun for those who enjoy illusion, word play, or sleight of hand." —The New York Times Book Review

"A fascinating medley of word games, disguises, multiple aliases, and subterfuges—a demanding but rewarding book." —The Horn Book

A Newbery Medal Winner

For over thirty-five years, Ellen Raskin's Newbery Medal-winning The Westing Game has been an enduring favorite. 

This highly inventive mystery involves sixteen people who are invited to the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. They could become millionaires-it all depends on how they play the tricky and dangerous Westing game, a game involving blizzards, burglaries, and bombings! Ellen Raskin has created a remarkable cast of characters in a puzzle-knotted, word-twisting plot filled with humor, intrigue, and suspense.

Winner of the Newbery Medal

Winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award

An ALA Notable Book

A School Library Journal One Hundred Books That Shaped the Century

"A supersharp mystery...confoundingly clever, and very funny." —Booklist, starred review

"Great fun for those who enjoy illusion, word play, or sleight of hand." —The New York Times Book Review

"A fascinating medley of word games, disguises, multiple aliases, and subterfuges—a demanding but rewarding book." —The Horn Book

Samuel Langhorne Clemens had recently adopted his famed pen name of "Mark Twain" shortly before he landed in the Hawaiian Islands in 1866 to spend four months as a correspondent for the most prominent newspaper on the Pacific Coast. When, in 1872, he needed to supplement the chapters in his personal narrative Roughing It, he drew upon his twenty-five articles for the Sacramento Union and his personal notes to supply the additional recollections here presented.

The views of the "Sandwich Islands" reported by America's most famous lecturer and beloved novelist in 1866 may differ somewhat from those of the visitor of the 1990s. "The Huckleberry Finn of foreign correspondents," however, gives many faithful accounts of old Honolulu, the nobility and their ceremonies, the somnolent islands of Maui, the native sport of surfriding, the City of Refuge on the Kona Coast, and the active volcano of Kilauea. And the light touch of the great humorist is seldom missing.

What are the poor villagers to do? The holiday-hating, hill-dwelling hobgoblins are bound and determined to ruin yet another Hanukkah for them. Every year the beasties snuff out the menorah candles, destroy the dreidels, and pitch the potato latkes on the floor. But these wicked wet blankets never counted on someone as clever as Hershel of Ostropol showing up. Using his wits and a few props--pickles, eggs, and a dreidel (a square-shaped top with Hebrew letters on each side)--Hershel manages to outwit all the creepy critters and break the spell. This fabulously creative adaptation of the ancient Hanukkah story in which the Syrians forbade the Jews to worship as they wanted, keeps the spirit of the original while adding a spine-tingling twist. Warmth and humor prevail, even in the midst of hopeless-looking circumstances. Award-winning illustrator Trina Schart Hyman creates lively and witty pictures that pair perfectly with Eric Kimmel's words to create this Caldecott Honor Book. (Ages 4 to 8)

Another perfect beach read from the USA Today bestselling author of While We Were Watching Downton Abbey.  

Madeline, Avery, and Nikki are strangers to each other, but they have one thing in common. They each wake up one morning to discover their life savings have vanished, along with their trusted financial manager- leaving them with nothing but co-ownership of a ramshackle beachfront house.

Throwing their lots in together, they take on the challenge of restoring the historic property. But just as they begin to reinvent themselves and discover the power of friendship, secrets threaten to tear down their trust-and destroy their lives a second time.

Praise for the novels of  the USA Today bestselling Wendy Wax
“Wise and witty...A beautiful book about loyalty, courage, and pursuing your dreams with a little help from your friends. I loved this book!”— Karen White, New York Times bestselling author of A Long Time Gone

“Reading Wendy Wax is like discovering a witty, wise, and wonderful new friend.”—Claire Cook, bestselling author of Must Love Dogs and Time Flies

“A terrific story brimming with wit, warmth, and good humor. I loved it!”—Jane Porter, author of The Good Wife

“Quite a clever, fun little novel.”—USA Today

“Great escape reading, perfect for the beach.”—Library Journal

"Fun . . . heartwarming. . . . A loving tribute to friendship and the power of the female spirit.”—Las Vegas Review-Journal“[Wax] writes with breezy wit and keen insight.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

About the Author

Wendy Wax, a former broadcaster, is the USA Today bestselling author of ten novels, including While We Were Watching Downton Abbey, The House on Mermaid Point, and Ocean Beach. The mother of two college-age sons, she lives in the Atlanta suburbs with her husband, and is doing her best to adjust to the quiet of her recently emptied nest.

The best humor often has deep insight. "Tales of a Mad Mystic" is outrageously funny, but after you laugh, you will find yourself asking questions, scratching your head, and then seeing with new eyes. The Mad Mystic begins his masterpiece with the "Ten Great Laws of Organized Religion". "If a spiritual leader issues vivid commands for people to love one another and live in peace, they will fight over how these commandments should be interpreted." (law 1) or "If people build a temple to remind them to worship God and only God, they will forget about God and worship the temple." (law 2) Following the "Great Laws", the Mad Mystic reveals to the public for the first time the long hidden "Lost Chapters of the Book of Genesis", which fills in the details about the troublesome relationship of Adam and Eve. The rest of the stories range from "McChurch" where salvation has never been more user-friendly, to the thought provoking allegory of "The Land of Light". The stories are childlike in their simplicity, but look deeper and you will find layer after layer of meaning. They are stimulating for individuals, but in group settings, where everyone may see something different, they are wonderful discussion starters or ice breakers. Most of the stories deal with spiritual issues. They sometimes raise disturbing questions, but they remain respectful of different traditions. People from any spiritual background will find this book insightful, enlightening and inspiring as well as amusing.

About the Author

No one knows from whence he comes, but the Mad Mystic has been sharing his stories with live audiences for many years. There is a fine line between genius and insanity, and he balances on that line like a skilled acrobat on a tightrope. He always appears in a monk's robe with dark glasses, leading many to believe he is hiding his true identity. Most believe this is a wise course of action. The Mad Mystic, known to some as John the Methodist, is a self-professed charlatan who has been known to levitate, predict the future and bend the laws of physics for willing audiences. He can even turn invisible when no one is looking. He insists, however, that his miracles are staged. He also maintains that his stories have no point or hidden meaning, but those who hear them generally disagree.

In ten stories that read like parables, Meera Nair depicts contemporary Indian life with fierce precision and an irresistible blend of humor, wit, and pathos, firmly establishing herself as a striking new voice in Indian fiction.

An American porn flick wreaks havoc on the life of an Indian man, much to the dismay of his wife. A young man’s uncanny gift for sculpting statues out of sand makes the women of his village swoon–until the men plot to put a stop to it. A small town of “utter inconsequence” prepares excitedly for a visit from President Clinton. This stunning debut collection offers brilliant snapshots of life’s small reversals and a broad-stroke portrait of our times.

Meera Nair was born in India and grew up in five different states before moving to the US in 1997. Her first collection, Video (NY: Pantheon 2003) won the Sixth Annual Asian-American Literary Award for Fiction and was named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post and a Notable Book by the Kiriyama Prize. She wrote her middle-grade children's book, "Maya Saves the Day" because when she was growing up, children's books in India didn't feature any children from India.
A recipient of fellowships from the NY Times, the New York Foundation for the Arts, Queens Council for the Arts and MacDowell Colony, her work has appeared on National Public Radio's Selected Shorts, the Washington Post, the New York Times magazine and The Hindu among other places.

With gentle wit and wisdom, Callaway shares five fascinating characteristics of rich people--characteristics that have nothing to do with money and everything to do with wealth.

Through the warmth and laughter, Callaway shows that the best things in life are not really things, after all.  And surprisingly, they just may be in your own backyard.

Phil Callaway is an award-winning author, speaker, and radio show host, known worldwide for his humorous yet perceptive look at life. He is the best-selling author of 24 books including Laughing Matters, Who Put My Life On Fast Forward? I Used to Have Answers...Now I Have Kids, Making Life Rich Without Any Money, and Family Squeeze. Phil's writings have been translated into languages like Polish, Chinese, Spanish, German, Dutch, Indonesian, and English (one of which he speaks fluently!)

His radio show Laugh Again airs in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Africa (laughagain.ca) He speaks 100 times a year around the world. Phil's list of accomplishments also includes shutting off the TV to listen to his children's questions (twice), taking out the garbage without being told (once), and convincing his high school sweetheart to marry him (once). Described as "Dave Barry with a message," Callaway is a popular speaker for corporations, conferences, camps, and marriage retreats. He is a frequent guest on national radio and television, and partners with Compassion, an international child development agency. Phil's writings have won more than a dozen international awards. His 5-part video series The Big Picture is being viewed in 80,000 churches worldwide.

Callaway is editor of Servant magazine, which he helped start in 1989 with the goal of encouraging, edifying, and educating readers. A general interest magazine, Servant is now read in more than 100 countries. Phil is a syndicated columnist and has published hundreds of articles.

A Crime in the Neighborhood, told with the deadpan humor of Nick Hornby-a wonderful novel about a boy genius whose brother may, or may not, be a murderer.

It's 1967. Jack Witcher is a twelve-year-old boy genius living in a Virginia suburb at an address the entire neighborhood avoids. Jack's father has lost his job-again-and he's starting fights with other fathers. Jack's mother, sweet but painfully ugly, works as a cashier at a local market. Jack's older brother is a long-haired, pot-smoking hippie.

If all of that isn't bad enough, Jack's brother suddenly becomes the main suspect in the disappearance of the town's golden boy. And to make matters even worse, Jack is in love with the missing boy's sister, Myra. Mr. Gladstein, the town jeweler and solitary Jew, is Jack's only friend; together, they scheme to win Jack Myra's love. But to do that, Jack must overcome the prejudices, both the town's and his own, about himself and his family.

Review

"Wetta's debut portrays the fictional El Dorado Hills in Virginia during the late 1960s with Southern gothic flair. ... At turns unsparing, tender, and disturbing when it comes to rivalry and the nuances of love versus obligation, this is no typical bildungsroman. That Jack emerges from a crucible determined never to look back is unsurprising; it is the path leading him to this conclusion that is intelligently, wonderfully conceived." — Publisher's Weekly, starred review.

"If Jack's in Love is a moving portrait of a specific time, family and town, but also a universal story of growing up and coming to terms with the people-and places-that raise us, told with all the humor, truth and urgency of its teenage hero. It may have taken the first half of his life to write, but Wetta's touching novel was well worth the wait." — BookPage

"...[Y]ou should read this wonderfully written marvel of a book: a work both gripping and hilarious, joyous and heartbreakingly bittersweet." — The Wall Street Journal

"The language here is wonderful. . . . downright funny." — School Library Journal

". . . terrific . . . raw and complicated . . . keeps us gripped until the end." — The Daily Beast

About the Author

Stephen Wetta is a native of Richmond, Virginia. He received his Bachelor's Degree from VCU and received Ph. D. at New York University. Stephen is currently an English professor at Hunter College. If Jack’s in Love is his first novel.

What does "being a guy" actually mean? some of the most talented writers are about to show you. in this diverse and original collection of short stories, ten well-known writers, including Mo Willems, Walter Dean Myers, Ron Koertge, Rene Salda, Jr., David Levithan, and David Lubar, share their stories about the trials and tribulations of being a guy. sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always honest, each story portrays the reality of being an everyday guy who gets a few life lessons and still manages to come out on top.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up–This collection provides a refreshing look at the values, decisions, and friendships that ultimately shape a boy into a man. The stories themselves are diverse, ranging from humorous to serious, and include Craig Thompson's comic-strip styled story, Strange Powers. The anthology is full of the angst that many teens will relate to, yet also includes substantive messages; the stories perform the rare feat of being moral without being preachy. David Lubar's Shockers is about a boy who strikes up a friendship with his girlfriend's father and points up the importance of adult mentors. The book includes comics-styled biographies that pose questions to the authors about what it means to become a man.–Scott La Counte, Anaheim Public Library, CA 
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