![]() |
![]() |
Your cart is empty |
||
Books > Sport & Leisure > Humour > Humour collections & anthologies
Based on the award-winning 10-million-plus-hit blog 1000 Awesome Things, The Book of Awesome is an international bestselling high five for humanity and a big celebration of life's little moments. Sometimes it's easy to forget the things that make us smile. With a 24/7 news cycle reporting that the polar ice caps are melting, hurricanes are swirling in the seas, wars are heating up around the world, and the job market is in a deep freeze, it's tempting to feel that the world is falling apart. But awesome things are all around us, like: * Popping Bubble Wrap * Wearing underwear just out of the dryer * Fixing electronics by smacking them * Getting called up to the dinner buffet first at a wedding * Watching The Price Is Right when you're home sick * Hitting a bunch of green lights in a row * Waking up and realizing it's Saturday The Book of Awesome reminds us that the best things in life are free (yes, your grandma was right). With laugh-out-loud observations from award-winning comedy writer Neil Pasricha, The Book of Awesome is filled with smile-inducing moments on every page that make you feel like a kid looking at the world for the first time. Read it and you'll remember all the things there are to feel good about. A New York Times Bestseller * USA Today Bestseller * Globe and Mail Bestseller * Toronto Star Bestseller * Vancouver Sun Bestseller * Macleans Bestseller * Winner of the Forest of Reading Award
But be forewarned, once you start, you may not be able to stop! Help, I Can't Stop Laughing! offers a collection of nonstop fun, foibles, and rib-tickling humor for those who know that laughter is the best medicine.Contributors like Barbara Johnson, Martha Bolton, Mark Lowry, Patsy Clairmont, Becky Freeman, and Chonda Pierce share their most hilarious and embarrassing moments to remind you that God's love and a little laughter will keep you smiling no matter what curves life throws you.This cheerful collection of quips, stories, anecdotes, and quotes offers a continual source of refreshment in the midst of life's struggles and stresses. Let the laughter begin!
A compelling collection of anonymous postcards sent during lockdown, revealing hilarious, salacious, relatable and sometimes heartbreaking secret confessions.In the thick of the 2021 coronavirus lockdown, designer and shopowner Eleanor Tattersfield put out a call on Instagram: 'I'll send you a postcard, you send me a secret'. Lockdown Secrets is an astonishing record of what happened next.Postcards poured in, some beautifully decorated, some simply handwritten, but each one anonymously sharing a very personal confession. They came from people of all ages and all walks of life, including some celebrities. Prominent themes began to emerge: relationships, sex, masturbation, food, rebellion, loneliness and, surprisingly, a lot of love for lockdown itself.This beautiful book brings together the best of the postcards Eleanor received, and all human life is here: furtive infidelities, bad behaviour in the local bakery, sneaking off for baths during a busy homeschooling schedule, rediscovered marital bliss, and, occasionally, poignant moments of sadness and despair.We've all been through the lockdown experience, and every reader will find something to relate to in this fascinating collection, a perfect snapshot of an extraordinary time.
Comedian and star of The Office and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Ellie Kemper delivers a hilarious and uplifting collection of essays about one pale woman's journey from Midwestern naif to Hollywood semi-celebrity to outrageously reasonable New Yorker. There comes a time in every sitcom actress's life when she is faced with the prospect of writing a book. When Ellie Kemper's number was up, she was ready. Contagiously cheerful, predictably wholesome, and mostly inspiring except for one essay about her husband's feet, My Squirrel Days is a funny, free-wheeling tour of Ellie's life-from growing up in suburban St. Louis with a vivid imagination and a crush on David Letterman to moving to Los Angeles and accidentally falling on Doris Kearns Goodwin. But those are not the only famous names dropped in this synopsis. Ellie will also share stories of inadvertently insulting Ricky Gervais at the Emmy Awards, telling Tina Fey that she has "great hair-really strong and thick," and offering a maxi pad to Steve Carell. She will take you back to her childhood as a nature lover determined to commune with squirrels, to her college career as a benchwarming field hockey player with no assigned position, and to her young professional days writing radio commercials for McDonald's but never getting paid. Ellie will guide you along her journey through adulthood, from unorganized bride to impatient wife to anxious mother who-as recently observed by a sassy hairstylist-"dresses like a mom." Well, sassy hairstylist, Ellie Kemper is a mom. And she has been dressing like it since she was four. Ellie has written for GQ, Esquire, The New York Times, McSweeney's and The Onion. Her voice is the perfect antidote to the chaos of modern life. In short, she will tell you nothing you need to know about making it in show business, and everything you need to know about discreetly changing a diaper at a Cibo Express.
A brilliant way to brighten each day. In this playful, innovative collection, Brian Bilston writes a poem to accompany every day of the year. Each poem is inspired by a significant - often curious - event associated with that day: from Open an Umbrella Indoors Day to the day on which New York banned public flirting; from the launch of the Rubik's Cube to the first appearance of the phrase, 'the best thing since sliced bread'. Perfect for reading aloud and sharing with friends, Days Like These: An alternative guide to the year in 366 poems will take the blues out of Monday, flatten the Wednesday hump, and amplify that Friday feeling.
Some of Britain's most famous sporting legends regale their favourite tales in this humorous compilation of after-dinner stories. These are real stories from their lives both inside and outside the world of sport; some already known and much loved, others untold until now. To top it all, the royalties from the book are being donated to the SPARKS (Sport Aiding medical Research for KidS) Charity.
Another collection of the heartwarming and hilarious Family Circus cartoons of Bil Keane, featured daily in nearly 1,500 newspapers worldwide! "From the Paperback edition."
This volume is a collection of five satires from the Reformation period, written between 1517 and 1526. In her Introduction to the work, Rummel explains that the battle between reformers and champions of the old faith was waged on many fronts, "not only by preachers thundering from the pulpits, theologians facing each other in acrimonious disputations, and church authorities issuing censures and condemnations." This collection focuses on the impact and importance of a supporting cast of satirists whose ad hoc productions reached a wider audience, in a more visceral manner, than the rational approach which typified scholarly theological arguments. Rummel explains: "Satire, a genre that requires finely honed language skills, was the preferred weapon of the humanists, who by and large sympathizes with the reformers." The humanists and reformers were often so closely associated in the reading publicas mind that the earliest phase of the Reformation was sometimes interpreted as a quarrel between philogists and theologians, a manifestation of professional jealousies. Thus Erasmus claimed that the debates of his time were the result of antagonism between the faculties of Arts and Theology. Three of the selections contained in the volume represent the Reformers, and two support the Catholics, the "Papists" of the title. These satirical essays, circulated widely among educated laypersons, use wit and biting humor to ridicule and discredit their adversaries and belong to a genre which was part of a larger body of sixteenth-century satire. The proliferation of satires became a concern of authorities who moved to suppress what they called "hate-mongering." Officials banned the publication ofanonymously authored writings, effectively ending the publication of the satires, which were largely published either anonymously or carried only the name of the publisher. As a result, many of the pieces did not survive to the present day, many more are only known to us through obscure references in other literature. This volume brings to light five of these satiric pieces, written in the pivotal period when the Reformation ceased to be a protest and organized itself as a full-fledged movement. The topical issues featured in each satire are brought into historical context by a headnote explaining the circumstances surrounding its publication and giving bibliographical information about the satireas author. The witty style makes this collection entertaining reading and the impact of these writings sheds new light on the history of the Reformation.
15 Bytes Book Award 2021 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Gold Medal Winner In English disparate means "different" or "miscellaneous"-apt descriptors of these essays by Patrick Madden. In Spanish, however, disparate means "nonsense," "folly," or "absurdity,"-words appropriate to Madden's goal of undercutting any notion that essays must be serious business. Thus, in this collection, the essays are frivolous and lively, aiming to make readers laugh while they think about such abstract subjects as happiness and memory and unpredictability. In this vein, Madden takes sidelong swipes at weighty topics via form, with wildly meandering essays, abandoned essays in honor of the long tradition of essayists disparaging their own efforts, and guerrilla essays-which slip in quietly under the guise of a borrowed form, abruptly attack, and promptly escape, leaving laughter and contemplation in their wake. Madden also incorporates cameos from guest essayists, including Mary Cappello, Matthew Gavin Frank, David Lazar, Michael Martone, Jericho Parms, and Wendy S. Walters, much like a musician features other performers. Disparates reflects the current zeitgeist by taking on important issues with a touch of cleverness, a dash of humor, and a little help from one's friends. Read Chapter 1.
A timelessly funny cartoon collection by Tim Whyatt. Everyone has at some stage had a 'senior moment' whether you've called your child by the wrong name, returned from the supermarket without the one item you went out for in the first place or even moaned at the annoying kid who is playing their music too loud. The years may keep piling up and our bodies may be losing the ultimate battle against gravity but our humour remains the same! Senior Moments: Ageing Distgracefully is an amusing collection of some of the best of two-time 'Henries' winner, Tim Whyatt's hilarious imagery, depicting the highs, lows, laughter and indignities of later life.
'He's 100% political herpes. Back in six months whatever you do. Or three days, like last time.' Camilla Long on Nigel Farage 'You're as ugly as a salad.' Bulgarian insult 'I'm going to beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.' Muhammed Ali There's no pleasure like a perfectly turned put-down (when it's directed at somebody else, of course) but Matthew Parris's Scorn is sharply different from the standard collections. Here are the funniest, sharpest, rudest and most devastating insults in history, from ancient Roman graffiti to the battlefields of Twitter. Drawing on bile from such masters as Dorothy Parker, Elizabeth I, Donald Trump, Groucho Marx, Princess Anne, Winston Churchill, Nigel Farage, Mae West and Alastair Campbell - which form an exchange between voices down the ages - Scorn shows that abuse can be an art form. This collection includes extended literary invective as well as short verbal shin-kicks. Encompassing literature, art, politics, showbiz, marriage, gender, nationality and religion, Matthew Parris's sublime collection is the perfect companion for the festive season, whether you're searching for the perfect elegant riposte, the rudest polite letter ever written, or a brutal verbal sledgehammer.
In this bittersweet collection of daily moments of pleasure, conflict and disappointment, Liz delves into everything from an agonisingly slow shopper, to falling in and out of love. Her wry wit and honest observations cast a poignant light on all the big and small things that make up everyday life.Endlessly entertaining and approachable, We All Have Our Moments is a book for those who love verse, and for those who normally wouldn't.
A selection of more than 150 of the best daily strips from Brian Crane's hugely popular cartoon Pickles.
'Whether you agree with him or not, P.J. writes a helluva piece.' Richard Nixon P.J. O'Rourke has had a prolific career as one of America's most celebrated humourists. But that career almost didn't happen. As he tells it, 'I began to write for pay in the spring of 1970. To tell the truth I didn't even mean to be a writer, I meant to be a race car driver, but I didn't have a race car.' Fortunately for us, he had to settle for writing. From his early pieces for the National Lampoon ('How to Drive fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink'), through his classic reporting as Rolling Stone's International Affairs editor in the 80s and 90s ('Among the Euroweenies'), and his brilliant, inimitable political journalism and analysis (Parliament of Whores, Give War a Chance, Eat the Rich), P.J. has been entertaining and provoking readers with high octane prose, a gonzo Republican attitude and a rare ability to make you laugh out loud while silently reading to yourself. For the first time Thrown Under the Omnibus brings together his funniest, most outrageous, most controversial and most loved pieces in the definitive P.J. reader.
Here are more than 100 of the best Jewish jokes you'll ever hear, interspersed with perceptive and persuasive insight into what they can tell us about how Jews see themselves, their families, and their friends, and what they think about money, sex, and success. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin is as celebrated for his wit as for his scholarship, and in this immensely entertaining book, he displays both in equal measure. Stimulating, something stinging, and always very, very funny, Jewish Humor offers a classic portrait of the Jewish collective unconscious.
The seventh book in Dav Pilkey's mega-bestselling Captain
Underpants series. Now with super-cool foil covers Shiny Fun
This specially updated edition, released to mark the passing of the late and much-missed monarch, is a collection of warm, amusing recollections from the royal household celebrating the lighter side of palace life. ‘What do you do?’ a guest inquired of the Queen at a Buckingham Palace garden party. ‘I had no idea what to say,’ the Queen told friends afterwards. As the longest reigning monarch of this realm, the Queen represented stability, hope and continuity. We loved her because she was always there, didn’t make a fuss and was dedicated in her duty even in old age. But alongside her stoic and sensible exterior, she was also renowned for a playful and keen sense of humour, as seen when she delighted audiences all around the world by inviting Paddington Bear for tea to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee. How exactly did the Queen reactwhen she found her footman draped in her jewels? What did she do to amuse herself to while away the hours spent sitting for her portrait? How did she respond when faced with a plate full of Mexican food? This characterful, illustrated book answers these questions and poses many more in its affectionate celebration of the diverse personalities of the House of Windsor. Gathered together in this amusing tribute are a compendium of stories which provide access to the unique world of the royals.
Viral Instagram sensation @Common_Wild offers a witty, empathic, and beautifully illustrated look at the roller coaster ride that is modern motherhood. Being a mom is hard—anywhere in the world. From early mornings and sleepless nights to temper tantrums and meddling in-laws, it’s a daily feat of strength that can reduce even the most confident woman to a bundle of nerves. Luckily, today’s moms have @Common_Wild, the popular Instagram account run by Australian artist Paula Kuka, who channels that heady stew of anxiety and love in a series of warm, funny cartoons that are eagerly shared by women around the world. Kuka features moments instantly recognizable to any parent, like cooking an elaborate meal only to have it swept to the floor by a picky toddler, or dragging strollers home from the playground in the rain. She also winks at the societal expectations that ask women to do it all, including “taking care of themselves,” with a smile. But most importantly, she highlights the huge love that underpins the journey of parenthood, and the sometimes-surprising things you learn about yourself while watching your children grow up.
Something immediately annoyed writer Harris Wittels about Twitter. All of a sudden it was OK to brag, so long as those brags were ever-so-thinly masked in crappy, transparent humility. Once Harris identified this widespread issue, he decided to take action by naming this phenomenon and creating the twitter account called Humblebrag--solely dedicated to retweeting the humblebrags of others. Started less than a year ago, the Twitter feed is literally adding thousands of subscribers every day. A humblebrag, as defined by Harris, is a specific type of boast that allows the offender to broadcast their achievements without the necessary shame and guilt that should normally accompany such claims. Here are two examples: @JoshHighland tweets: "Just filed my taxes. Biggie was right, mo money mo problems." @glowyjoeybunny tweets: "I hate when I go into a store to get something to eat and the male staff are too busy hitting on me to get my order right :( so annoying!" Harris also shows us what humblebrags might look like from some of history's most notable names, as well as devoting an entire chapter to @TotesMcGotes, the greatest humblebraggart of them all.
Broadly Speaking offers diverse perspectives on comedy with quotes from the world's greatest female comics and entertainers. As varied as the comedians themselves, witty one-liners, intimate anecdotes, and honest accounts tell the story of dismantling the boys' club and redefining what a woman in comedy can look, act, and sound like. Covering one hundred years of women in comedy, Broadly Speaking showcases original legends Dorothy Parker and Moms Mabley, who share the page with current influential figures Tina Fey and Ilana Glazer, alongside the emerging generation of funny women, including Awkwafina and Patti Harrison. Chuckle, laugh, and muse over these insights into the internal and external challenges of becoming a comedian and the way the industry and game have changed.
If you've ever dared to express dissatisfaction with the state of your life, you've inevitably received a variety of helpful suggestions: "Have you tried meditation? Exercise? A cult? An exercise cult?" In Do I Feel Better Yet?, Madeleine Trebenski explores more than 45 so-called solutions suggested to her in the name of self-care. In a playful and at times sardonic chronicle of the elusive promises of multistep skin-care routines, gratitude journaling, scented candles, and more, Trebenski perfectly captures what it's like to live in a time when homemade kombucha and weighted blankets are said to single-handedly solve all our problems. These essays will make you laugh, make you feel less alone, and maybe make you feel better-even if just for a little while.
*** 365 JOY-FILLED TASKS TO MAKE LIFE MORE ENGAGING, FUN, CARING AND JOLLY! *** There are little things we can all do that can make a huge difference to our lives and to the lives of those around us. Doing something jolly every day that you can look back on with a smile and be grateful for, knowing it has also brought kindness to others, can gently help replace old negative thought patterns with more positive ones. The tasks included in this little book are designed to be universal and free (or as cheap as possible). And all the ideas here, however silly they may seem, offer genuine and healthy ways to change the way we feel for the better. Now is the time to have some childish fun and break the monotony of adult life and all its stresses. I hope some of the ideas do this for you, that you have SUCH FUN doing them and that day by day you can begin to lead a calmer and happier life!
In a surreal and unprecedented year in which even the most seasoned commentators have struggled to keep pace with the news cycle, letter writers to The Daily Telegraph have once again provided their refreshing and witty take on events. Now in its twelfth year, this new edition of the best-selling series is a review of the year made up of the wry and astute observations of the unpublished Telegraph letter writers. Readers of the Telegraph Letters Page will be fondly aware of the eclectic combination of learned wisdom, wistful nostalgia and robust good sense of humour that characterise its correspondence - whether it's suggesting the sci-fi Vulcan salute as an alternative to the now-discouraged handshake, or a parable of political dysfunction drawn from shopping in Ikea. From Covid to Corbyn, Trump to Top Gear, Brexit to Megxit, VAR to Marr, no one escapes their hilariously whimsical and sometimes risque musings. With an agenda as enticing as ever, the twelfth book in the bestselling Unpublished Letters series will prove, once again, that the Telegraph's readers still have a shrewd sense of what really matters. |
![]() ![]() You may like...
There Once Was A Man With Six Wives…
Mick Twister, Hannah Warren
Hardcover
![]() R308 Discovery Miles 3 080
The Chapo Guide to Revolution - A…
Chapo Trap House, Felix Biederman, …
Paperback
![]()
|