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Showing 1 - 19 of 19 items
By Robert J Dole, Bob Dole. 2001
Former presidential candidate Bob Dole ranks the American presidents in terms of their senses of humor. Gives examples of their…
wit in the forms of one-liners, wisecracks, witticisms, self-deprecations, and quips. 2001By Jill Twiss. 2020
Pudding the snail and his friends can't seem to agree on anything. Whatever Jitterbug the chipmunk wants, Geezer the goose…
does not. Whatever Toast the butterfly wants, Duffles and Nudge the otters are absolutely against. And if somehow Toast and Duffles and Jitterbug and Nudge all agree on something, then Geezer is not having it. So when Toast suggests they need a leader, the friends try to figure out the best way to pick someone to be in charge. Should that someone be the fastest? The fluffiest? The squishiest? Or can Pudding show his friends that there just might be a way where everyone gets a say? 2020. For grades K-3By Paul Cruickshank, Tim Lister, Aimen Dean. 2019
As one of al-Qaeda&’s most respected bomb-makers, Aimen Dean rubbed shoulders with the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and swore…
allegiance to Osama bin Laden. As a double agent at the heart of al-Qaeda&’s chemical weapons programme, he foiled attacks on civilians and saved countless lives, brushing with death so often that his handlers began to call him their spy with nine lives. This is the story of how a young Muslim, determined to defend his faith, found himself fighting on the wrong side – and his fateful decision to work undercover for his sworn enemy. From the killing fields of Bosnia to the training camps of Afghanistan, from running money and equipment in Britain to dodging barrel bombs in Syria, we discover what life is like inside the global jihad, and what it will take to stop it once and for all.By Ian Rankin. 2019
It always starts with a small lie. That's how you stop noticing the bigger ones.After his friend suspects something strange…
going on at the launch facility where they both work - and then goes missing - Martin Hepton doesn't believe the official line of "long-term sick leave"...Refusing to stop asking questions, he leaves his old life behind, aware that someone is shadowing his every move.The only hope he has is his ex-girlfriend Jill Watson - the only journalist who will believe his story.But neither of them can believe the puzzle they're piecing together - or just how shocking the secret is that everybody wants to stay hidden...A gripping, page-turning suspense masterclass - experience the brilliance of the iconic Ian Rankin.By Robert Menasse. 2017
THE PRIZE-WINNING SATIRICAL BESTSELLER - A "HOUSE OF CARDS" FOR THE EU MORE THAN 500,000 COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDEThis is the…
tale of a continent, a city and its inhabitants as they navigate their way through the confusing tangle of 21st-century life. The Capital is a brilliantly entertaining satire, a crime story, a comedy of manners . . . and a wild pig chase. "First-class satire" Guardian""A deliciously vicious and timely satire" Financial Times"Mischievous yet profound" Economist"Thoroughly entertaining" Spectator"A romp" Politico *************************************Brussels. A hive of tragic heroes, manipulative losers, involuntary accomplices. No wonder the European Commission is keen to improve its image.The fiftieth anniversary of the European Commission approaches, and the Directorate-General for Culture is tasked with organising an appropriate celebration. When Fenia Xenopoulou's assistant comes up with a plan to put Auschwitz at the very centre of the jubilee, she is delighted. But she has neglected to take the other E.U. institutions into account.Meanwhile the city is on the lookout for a runaway pig. And what about the farmers who take to the streets to protest against restrictions blocking the export of pigs to China?**************************************See what the critics are saying about The Capital:"Omniscient" New York Times"An exceptional work" Kirkus Reviews"Deliciously witty" Metro"Elegant... brilliantly constructed" Die Zeit "Robert Menasse is pioneering the genre of Eurolit" Financial Times WINNER OF THE GERMAN BOOK PRIZE 2017By Ali Benjamin. 2021
AN OF-THE-MOMENT NOVEL FOR READERS OF FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE'Timely, risky and dazzling' Polly Clark, author of Tiger'Sharply funny, perceptive,…
and surprising at every turn, The Smash-Up is a story that's acid-etched and full of heart, intimate, and relevant' Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of White Houses and Away'Every woman should read this book. Every woman, every feminist, every activist' Jane Harris, author of Orange Prize shortlisted The ObservationsAfter years spent in the city, working with his business partner Randy on Bränd media, Ethan finds himself in the quiet, closed-off town of Starkfield. His wife Zenobia is perpetually distracted by the swirling #MeToo politics, the Kavanaugh hearings, and her duties to the feminist activism group she formed: All Them Witches. Ethan finds himself caught between their regular meetings at his home and the battle to get his livewire daughter Alex to sleep.But the new, stilted rhythm of his life is interrupted when he receives a panicked message. Accusations. Against Randy. A slew of them. And Ethan is abruptly forced to question everything: his past, his future, his marriage, and what he values most.Unrelenting in its satire, The Smash-up jolts you into the twisted psyche of successful brand advertising, where historic exploitation is only ever a panicked phone-call away. With magnetic energy and doses of comic wit, Benjamin creates a world of social media algorithms, extreme polarization, the collapsing of identity into tweet-sized spaces, and the spectre of violence that can be found even in the quietest places.By Gauz. 2014
"One of those rare, transformative novels" KARIM MISKE"Funny and poignant" TIFFANY TSAO, author of The MajestiesInitially a little intrigued, all…
babies eventually return the security guard's smile.The security guard adores babies. Perhaps because babies do not shoplift.Babies adore the security guard. Perhaps because he does not drag babies to the sales.The 1960s - Ferdinand arrives in Paris from Côte d'Ivoire, ready to take on the world and become a big somebody.The 1990s - It is the Golden Age of immigration, and Ossiri and Kassoum navigate a Paris on the brink of momentous change.The 2010s - In a Sephora on the Champs-Élysées, the all-seeing eyes of a security guard observes the habits of those who come to worship at this church to consumerism.Amidst the political bickering of the inhabitants of the Residence for Students from Côte d'Ivoire and the ever-changing landscape of French immigration policy, Ferdinand, Ossiri and Kassoum, two generations of Ivoirians, attempt to make their way as undocumented workers, taking shifts as security at a flour mill.Sharply satirical, political and poignant, Standing Heavy is a searingly witty deconstruction of colonial legacies and capitalist consumption, an unprecedented and unforgettable account of everything that passes under a security guard's gaze.Translated from the French by Frank Wynne"A formidable keenness of observation and a sarcastic wit" La Croix"Political satire with the air of a poetry slam" StylistBy Robert Menasse. 2017
"A deliciously vicious - and timely - satire about the E.U. and the meaning of Europe today" - Frederick Studemann,…
Financial TimesBrussels. A panorama of tragic heroes, manipulative losers, involuntary accomplices. In his new novel, Robert Menasse spans a narrative arc between the times, the nations, the inevitable and the irony of fate, between petty bureaucracy and big emotions.As the fiftieth anniversary of the European Commission approaches, the Directorate-General for Culture is tasked with planning and organising a fitting celebration. The project will serve the wider purpose of revamping the Commission's image at a time of waning public support. When Fenia Xenopoulou's Austrian P.A. Martin Susman suggests putting Auschwitz at the centre of the jubilee, she is thrilled. But she has neglected to take the other E.U. institutions into account.Inspector Brunfaut is in a tricky situation too: his murder case has been suppressed at the highest level. Luckily, he's friends with the I.T. whizz at Brussels' Police H.Q., who gains access to secret files in the public prosecutor's office. Matek, the Polish hitman, knows nothing of this. But he does know that he shot the wrong guy, and for Matek, who would rather have become a priest, this is serious. And what about the pig farmers who take to the streets of the city to protest about existing trade restrictions blocking the export of pigs' ears to China . . .?The Capital is a sharp satire, a philosophical essay, a crime story, a comedy of manners, a wild pig chase, but at its heart it has the most powerful pro-European message: no-one should forget the circumstances that gave rise to the European project in the first place.(P)2019 Quercus Editions LimitedBy Simon Conway. 2018
Winner of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, a Contemporary Spy Thriller for Fans of Brad Thor and John Le…
Carré. The last time Jonah saw Nor ed-Din, he was lying face-down in a pool of icy water in the Khyber Pass. He thought he had killed him, but now the trail of betrayal has come full circle. Friends since childhood, Jonah and Nor ed-Din had been groomed for the intelligence service, with Jonah as handler for Nor's penetration of ISI. But when Nor is cut loose after the Soviets are forced to withdraw from Afghanistan, the pattern of engagement and abandonment begins. Years later, when contact with Nor is revived to stage an off-the-books, multi-agency assassination attempt on Bin Laden that goes badly wrong, Jonah no longer knows who Nor is really working for-and whether he has simply taken revenge on his former countrymen in a private act of jihad. In the aftermath of 9/11, the failed operation comes back to haunt its survivors, sowing mistrust when they most need CIA support. For, gradually, the outlines of a plot begin to emerge that takes Nor from the diamond fields of Africa to the mountains of Afghanistan and to the beating heart of London, where millions of lives are at stake.Written by a scholar of satire and politics, Trump Was a Joke explains why satire is an exceptional foil for…
absurd political times and why it did a particularly good job of making sense of Trump. Covering a range of comedic interventions, Trump Was a Joke analyzes why political satire is surprisingly effective at keeping us sane when politics is making us crazy. Its goal is to highlight the unique power of political satire to encourage critical thinking, foster civic action, and further rational debate in moments of political hubris and hysteria. The book has been endorsed by Bassem Youssef, who has been referred to as the “Jon Stewart of Egypt,” and Srdja Popovic, author of Blueprint for Revolution, who used satirical activism to bring down Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. With a foreword by award-winning filmmaker, satirist, and activist Michael Moore, this study will be of interest to readers who follow politics and enjoy political comedy and will appeal to the communications, comedy studies, media studies, political science, rhetoric, cultural studies, and American studies markets.By Mark Hollingsworth. 2023
There&’s no such thing as a former KGB man. Agents of Influence reveals the secret history of an intelligence agency…
gone out of control, accountable to no one but itself and intent on subverting Western politics on a near-inconceivable scale. In 1985, 1,300 KGB officers were stationed in the USA. The FBI only had 350 counter-intelligence officers. Since the early days of the Cold War, the KGB seduced parliamentarians and diplomats, infiltrated the highest echelons of the Civil Service, and planted fake news in papers across the world. More disturbingly, it never stopped. Putin is a KGB man through and through. Journalist Mark Hollingworth reveals how disinformation, kompromat and secret surveillance continue to play key roles in Russia&’s war with Ukraine. It seems frighteningly easy to destabilise Western democracy.The only thing Americans want to read more than Trump's tax returns.Constantly late to work? Caught cheating on your spouse…
again? Can't stop tweeting unhinged rants against your political enemies at three in the morning? Then The Kellyanne Conway Technique is the book you need.Preeminent spin expert and University of Phoenix Online alumnus, Jarret Berenstein, brings you the world's only comprehensive analysis of the tricks, distractions, and outright lies utilized daily by White House advisor Kellyanne Conway and distills her special brand of verbal jujitsu into a spin Bible for the common man.Filled with real transcripts from the esteemed spin-ster herself, The Kellyanne Conway Technique takes the invaluable lessons from her verbal boxing matches with the mainstream media and breaks down, step by step, the mental and rhetorical aerobatics she performs as the talking piece for a president who once wrestled Vince McMahon on the WWE. From alternative facts to the Bowling Green Massacre, take lessons from Kellyanne's greatest hits.The Kellyanne Conway Technique is the perfect guide to outsmarting the Jake Tappers in your own life: whether that is your boss, your husband, or a special hearing of the congressional oversight committee. Never again be held accountable for anything you do with a little help from Kellyanne!By Rob Sinclair. 2009
The complete SLEEPER 13 trilogy from international bestselling author Rob SinclairSmuggled to the Middle East as a child. Trained as…
an elite insurgent. Forced to do things no one should, for a cause he didn't believe in. Aydin Torkal will break free and hunt the men who made him a monster, and bring down the terrorists who threaten global peace.'Perfect for spy thriller lovers and fans of I Am Pilgrim and Orphan X' - Goodreads reviewer'I could not put down this book' - Netgalley reviewer'Brilliant, gripping' - Netgalley reviewer'One of the most intense and engrossing thrillers of the last decade' - Amazon reviewer****************This Kindle boxset includes every book in the explosive trilogySLEEPER 13 - Smuggled to the Middle East as a child. Trained as an elite insurgent. Forced to do things no one should, for a cause he didn't believe in. On the eve of the deadliest coordinated attack the world has ever seen, Aydin Torkal finally makes his escape. He will break free and hunt down those who made him a monster. He will need to draw on all his training to survive.FUGITIVE 13 - Aydin Torkal is being hunted by international intelligence agencies and by the elite brotherhood he betrayed. He has lived the past year as a ghost. Until now. MI6 agent Rachel Cox is the only person who believes he is an ally, not an enemy. So when a coded message arrives from him, warning her not to trust her own colleagues, Rachel must choose between her career and the truth.IMPOSTER 13 - Now living a secret life in London, MI6 needs Aydin Torkal's help infiltrating a sinister new terrorist cell. In order to halt their deadly ambitions, he must convince the world's most dangerous terrorists that he's one of them. He must do it before the world suffers another deadly attack. And he must do it alone.Own the complete series now!By Ian Rankin. 2020
THE CLASSIC LOST THRILLER FROM THE ICONIC NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER'Shockingly good' The Sun'A prescient, high-octane thriller' Daily Express'Totally on the…
money - and ripe for this republication' i Newspaper * * * * *It always starts with a small lie. That's how you stop noticing the bigger ones.After his friend suspects something strange going on at the satellite facility where they both work - and then goes missing - Martin Hepton doesn't believe the official line of "long-term sick leave"...Refusing to stop asking questions, he leaves his old life behind, aware that someone is shadowing his every move. But why?The only hope he has is his ex-girlfriend Jill Watson - the only journalist who will believe his story.But neither of them can believe the puzzle they're piecing together - or just how shocking the secret is that everybody wants to stay hidden...DISCOVER THE CLASSIC LOST THRILLER FROM THE ICONIC NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER.* * * * *'Rankin is a master storyteller'Guardian'Great fiction, full stop'The Times'Ian Rankin is a genius'Lee Child'One of Britain's leading novelists in any genre'New Statesman'A virtuoso of the craft'Daily Mail'Rankin is a phenomenon'Spectator'Britain's No.1 crime writer'Mirror'Quite simply, crime writing of the highest order'Express'Worthy of Agatha Christie at her best'ScotsmanBy Rob Sinclair. 2013
The complete SLEEPER 13 trilogy from international bestselling author Rob SinclairSmuggled to the Middle East as a child. Trained as…
an elite insurgent. Forced to do things no one should, for a cause he didn't believe in. Aydin Torkal will break free and hunt the men who made him a monster, and bring down the terrorists who threaten global peace.'Perfect for spy thriller lovers and fans of I Am Pilgrim and Orphan X' - Goodreads reviewer'I could not put down this book' - Netgalley reviewer'Brilliant, gripping' - Netgalley reviewer'One of the most intense and engrossing thrillers of the last decade' - Amazon reviewer****************This Kindle boxset includes every book in the explosive trilogySLEEPER 13 - Smuggled to the Middle East as a child. Trained as an elite insurgent. Forced to do things no one should, for a cause he didn't believe in. On the eve of the deadliest coordinated attack the world has ever seen, Aydin Torkal finally makes his escape. He will break free and hunt down those who made him a monster. He will need to draw on all his training to survive.FUGITIVE 13 - Aydin Torkal is being hunted by international intelligence agencies and by the elite brotherhood he betrayed. He has lived the past year as a ghost. Until now. MI6 agent Rachel Cox is the only person who believes he is an ally, not an enemy. So when a coded message arrives from him, warning her not to trust her own colleagues, Rachel must choose between her career and the truth.IMPOSTER 13 - Now living a secret life in London, MI6 needs Aydin Torkal's help infiltrating a sinister new terrorist cell. In order to halt their deadly ambitions, he must convince the world's most dangerous terrorists that he's one of them. He must do it before the world suffers another deadly attack. And he must do it alone.Own the complete series now!By Rob Sinclair. 2020
THE EXPLOSIVE FINALE TO THE SLEEPER 13 SERIESAgainst all odds, Aydin Torkal - aka Sleeper 13 - broke free from…
the terrorist group that took him as a child and raised him into a life of violence and hate.In the two years since, he's been tracking and killing those responsible. But he's not done yet.Now living a secret life in London, MI6 needs his help infiltrating a sinister new terrorist cell. In order to halt their deadly ambitions, he must convince the world's most dangerous terrorists that he's one of them.He must do it before the world suffers another deadly attack.And he must do it alone.He is IMPOSTER 13.THE SLEEPER 13 THRILLER SERIES HAS READERS GRIPPED:'Perfect for spy thriller lovers and fans of I Am Pilgrim, Orphan X' - Goodreads review'I could not put down this book' - Netgalley reviewer'Brilliant, gripping' - Netgalley reviewerBy Rob Sinclair. 2020
THE EXPLOSIVE FINALE TO THE SLEEPER 13 SERIESAgainst all odds, Aydin Torkal - aka Sleeper 13 - broke free from…
the terrorist group that took him as a child and raised him into a life of violence and hate.In the two years since, he's been tracking and killing those responsible. But he's not done yet.Now living a secret life in London, MI6 needs his help infiltrating a sinister new terrorist cell. In order to halt their deadly ambitions, he must convince the world's most dangerous terrorists that he's one of them.He must do it before the world suffers another deadly attack.And he must do it alone.He is IMPOSTER 13.THE SLEEPER 13 THRILLER SERIES HAS READERS GRIPPED:'Perfect for spy thriller lovers and fans of I Am Pilgrim, Orphan X' - Goodreads review'I could not put down this book' - Netgalley reviewer'Brilliant, gripping' - Netgalley reviewerBy Rob Sinclair. 2013
The complete SLEEPER 13 trilogy from international bestselling author Rob SinclairSmuggled to the Middle East as a child. Trained as…
an elite insurgent. Forced to do things no one should, for a cause he didn't believe in. Aydin Torkal will break free and hunt the men who made him a monster, and bring down the terrorists who threaten global peace.'Perfect for spy thriller lovers and fans of I Am Pilgrim and Orphan X' - Goodreads reviewer'I could not put down this book' - Netgalley reviewer'Brilliant, gripping' - Netgalley reviewer'One of the most intense and engrossing thrillers of the last decade' - Amazon reviewer****************This Kindle boxset includes every book in the explosive trilogySLEEPER 13 - Smuggled to the Middle East as a child. Trained as an elite insurgent. Forced to do things no one should, for a cause he didn't believe in. On the eve of the deadliest coordinated attack the world has ever seen, Aydin Torkal finally makes his escape. He will break free and hunt down those who made him a monster. He will need to draw on all his training to survive.FUGITIVE 13 - Aydin Torkal is being hunted by international intelligence agencies and by the elite brotherhood he betrayed. He has lived the past year as a ghost. Until now. MI6 agent Rachel Cox is the only person who believes he is an ally, not an enemy. So when a coded message arrives from him, warning her not to trust her own colleagues, Rachel must choose between her career and the truth.IMPOSTER 13 - Now living a secret life in London, MI6 needs Aydin Torkal's help infiltrating a sinister new terrorist cell. In order to halt their deadly ambitions, he must convince the world's most dangerous terrorists that he's one of them. He must do it before the world suffers another deadly attack. And he must do it alone.Own the complete series now!In Erewhon, an anagram for "nowhere," sickness is a punishable crime, criminals receive compassionate medical treatment, and machines are banned,…
lest they evolve and take over. Originally published in 1872, the proto-steampunk novel Erewhon won its author immediate recognition as a satirist. SamuelButler followed in the tradition of Voltaire and Swift in creating Erewhon and Erewhon Revisited, which are widely recognized as the nineteenth century's most important works of their kind.Entertaining and provocative, these books are unsparing in their treatment of the hypocrisies of Victorian society, taking aim at the family, church, and mechanical "progress." George Orwell, no stranger to the depiction of futuristic societies, noted that at the time of Erewhon's writing the author needed "imagination of a very high order to see that machinery could be dangerous as well as useful." Today's readers will also find the book remarkably prescient in its anticipation of future sociological trends.