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Books > Sport & Leisure > Humour > Humour collections & anthologies
DEVIL IN THE DETAILS announces Jennifer Traig as one of the most
hilarious writers to emerge in recent years - and one of the
strangest! Recalling the agony of growing up as an obsessive-
compulsive religious fanatic, Traig fearlesslessly confesses the
most peculiar behaviour - like scrubbing her hands for a full
half-hour before meals, feeding her stuffed animals before herself
and washing everything she owned because she thought it was
contaminated by pork fumes! The result is a book so relentlessly
funny and frank that it's totally refreshing.
Damn You, Autocorrect! brings together some of the laugh-out-loud
funny and painfully embarrassing posts from the hit website, which
highlight the hilarity that often ensues when text messaging goes
wrong: girlfriends getting together for 'manila penis,'(mani
pedis); a husband texting his wife that he 'laid' the babysitter
(paid); a friend asking if someone got tickets to the 'Lady Vagina'
(Lady Gaga) concert, and the most popular image on the website so
far: a father texting his daughter that he and his mother were
going to divorce, when they were in fact just going to Disney.
Oops. The phenomenally successful Damnyouautocorrect.com began when
author Jillian Madison innocently tried to invite some friends over
for gelato. Autocorrect, however, had another idea, and asked them
over for a night of 'fellatio' instead. And that's just the tip of
the iceberg. Damn You, Autocorrect! includes 200 never before seen
submissions to the website, as well as an introduction from the
author and website creator, Jillian Madison.
In her first-ever (sort of) memoir, the beloved actor and YouTube
sensation gets personal about everything from mental health to
drunken debaucheries with this "brave, behind-the-webcam look at
self-discovery" (Kirkus Reviews). As an only child raised in a town
of less than 8,000 people and without a Starbucks in sight, Meghan
Rienks has always been pretty good at entertaining herself. Then
one day-cue the dramatic voiceover-her life changed forever. In
2010, Meghan was diagnosed with mononucleosis. Mono is basically
just a really bad case of the flu, right? Wrong. To a party crazed
sixteen-year-old, mono is social suicide. More than anything, it's
just plain boring. So, Meghan opened up her MacBook, used the
webcam for something other than a bad Andy Warhol-style photobooth
session, and recorded her first YouTube video. Since then, Meghan
has shared the ups and downs of her life with the internet,
documenting her teenage years for the whole world to see. Now that
she's (mostly) through her awkward stage, Meghan's here to tell you
that it gets better. You're not alone in the thoughts you think.
Sometimes a bad hair day feels worse than a punch in the gut and
asking a boy out seems about as difficult as achieving that perfect
dewy glow. But despite what you've been told, your problems are not
unique, and somebody else has felt the way you feel right at this
very moment. You're not special. But you're also not alone on the
bumpy road to adulthood.
Ripley's has spent 100 years compiling strange-but-true facts from
around the world. Now, the most extraordinary stories from the last
century are brought together in a single colourful volume. Featured
Believe It Or Not stories include: * The chicken that lived for
months without its head * The man who swallowed seven swords at
once * The jockey who died while riding his horse - but won the
race anyway With spectacular photos throughout, 100 Best Believe It
Or Not Stories is a must-have for any Ripley's fan. Incredibly hard
to believe. Undeniably true!
I'll Mature When I'm Dead is the New York Times bestseller from
"the funniest man in America" (New York Times). Let Pulitzer
Prize-winning humorist and nationally unrecognized voice of
maturity Dave Barry make the journey to adulthood a little
easier-and a lot funnier. Not everyone has to be dragged kicking
and screaming through adulthood. Dave Barry will help through this
process-with his hilarious takes on parenting, changing self-image,
the battle of the sexes, technology, health care, celebrityhood,
and even vampires!
The perfect stocking filler for frustrated commuters everywhere!
Commuting is hell -- this is your survival guide Delays, price
rises, leaves on the line, rail replacement bus services,
snowflakes, sunshine, rain, the list of excuses is endless. Forget
enjoyment, commuting is about survival. This is your guide to
getting to work and back again with your sanity intact. Packed with
quizzes (what kind of commuter are you?), trivia (the dirtiest
seats on the Underground), tips and techniques (seat etiquette,
armpit dodging), a commuter's lexicon (Comfort paradox, Seat
remorse), complaint letter templates and more, this is everything
you need to channel your fury and make the best of the journey to
work. This book is a call to arms and a sign of solidarity amongst
commuters. Whenever you see a fellow traveller with a copy, give
them the secret sign of the commuter: ignore them completely. But
inside you both will know that you are part of a silent army. We
are commuters. We are coming. But we will probably be at least half
an hour late.
Grandma - You're the Best! is a glorious collection of more than
300 quotes celebrating grandmothers and grannies everywhere.
Grandmas have deservedly attracted thousands of amazing quotes,
thoughts and observations and this unique anthology features
contributions from the deeply philosophical to the wonderfully
humorous, and is the perfect present to say thank you for all your
grandma's love, kindness and compassion. With witty and wonderful
quotes from the stars of stage, screen and literature, the worlds
of music, comedy and politics, Grandma - You're the Best! makes for
a delightful book and gift.
Nasty, Brutish, and Short is a collection of irreverent essays
about life overseas. The author no longer has to hold his tongue
about his experiences-which means it's payback time. He now speaks
his mind about all the strange people and places he has encountered
around the world over the last twenty years. And he takes the
reader on a funny and endearing jaunt to a dozen countries, from
England to Egypt, and Afghanistan to Haiti, answering crucial
questions like Why are Pakistani driving ranges so dangerous? And,
How long can Bulgarians actually hold a grudge? Unlike other
foreign travel books, the author isn't just passing through. He has
lived in these dangerous and difficult places, often for years at a
time. He knows their people, streets, and customs like the back of
his hand. It was part of his job. Sometimes his life depended on
it.
'The English aristocrat John 'Mad Jack' Mytton died a bloated,
paralysed and penniless debtor in prison. His premature demise was
partly due to injuries sustained while setting fire to his own
night-shirt to try to cure hiccups. Just before the horribly burned
Mytton slumped into unconsciousness he said, "Well, the hiccups is
gone, by God."' An 18th-century French scholar attributed the
British talent for eccentricity to a 'mixture of fogs, beef and
beer...aggravated by the tedium of the English Sunday'. Whatever
the reason, the British Isles do seem to have thrown up more than
their fair share of magnificent oddballs, the finest of which are
profiled in this fast, funny celebration of over 200 aristocrats,
inventors, artists and the just plain weird... * Dr Samuel Johnson
is said to have shaved off all of his bodily hair, just to see how
long it would take to grow back * Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of
Devonshire, once related an experience he had at Westminster: 'I
had a horrid nightmare. I dreamed I was making a speech in the
House of Lords, and woke up to find I actually was.' * Percy Bysshe
Shelley once tied a cat to a kite in a thunder storm to see if it
would be electrocuted
Follow the adventures of Charlie, an urban three-year-old on the
fast track, and his slow-track mommy. In this hilarious volume,
Charlie gets a haircut like Sting’s, runs up a tab at a baseball
game, and prefers the garlic press to any of his expensive
“educational” toys. Charlie is a kid learning to be a consumer.
His mommy reveals important secrets, like which stroller is
“in,” which is the “right” playgroup, and how to throw a
fabulous fourth birthday party. Moms and dads alike will find these
anecdotes of parenting at the end of the century to be truly
priceless.
Classic World Cup clashes brought to life and re-evaluated by two
of the writers of the popular Guardian minute-by-minute football
blog. Watching each match in real time and reacting to the twists
and turns of the action, Murray and Smyth bring you the real
stories of the matches as they happened, not the highlights package
or rose-tinted version. From the crowd swarming over the pitch
moments before the Brazil-Uruguay classic of 1950 kicked off, to
the dubious refereeing decisions that decided England's single
triumph at Wembley, this is the history of the World Cup as you've
never seen it before. As well as 30 classic moments from other
matches, the games given a full report include: 1950 Uruguay v
Brazil 1962 Chile v Italy 1966 England v Argentina England v West
Germany 1970 England v West Germany Italy v West Germany Brazil v
Italy 1974 West Germany v Holland 1978 Scotland v Holland 1982
Brazil v Italy West Germany v France 1986 England v Argentina
France v Brazil 1990 England vs Cameroon England v West Germany
1994 Romania v Argentina 1998 Argentina v England 2006 Italy v
Germany 2010 Spain v Holland
A self-help guide to convert failures into success - Is Empowering
and Motivating - Provides practical tips and techniques - Is a
reserve of true failure-success stories - Is not a quick fix! - Has
author's personal experiences and examples - Gives practical ways
to convert Failures into Success
A humorous and insightful guide to what the British really mean
when they speak. In every walk of life, from relationships, to
work, to politics, sport and the news, our everyday use of English
harbours duplicities of meaning. We say 'I'm sorry' when we mean
'absolute nonsense', and write 'Yours faithfully' when we're
thinking 'Sod you!' Jealousy, rage, love, affection - we're equally
good at disguising them all. Leaves on the Line compiles this
secret language - this 'double English' - in a hilarious and
forthright volume exposing the doublespeak of the British language.
For the first time, everyday terms which we casually deploy to
loved ones and total strangers, and have been thrown at us from the
radio or TV will be 'glossed' (yes, we really mean 'stripped') to
reveal the unadorned, raw truth below. The book will be over 200
hilarious phrases of common doublespeak and will be essential
reading for everyone from puzzled foreigners to young people to
whom the dark art of linguistic dissembling are not yet second
nature. The book includes phrases and the truths behind them, such
as: Transport: 'This service is delayed because of leaves on the
track...' Social: 'I'm not being racist but...' Weather: 'Nice
weather we're having...' Sport: 'We're taking each game as it
comes...' Relationships: 'I've never met anyone like you before...'
Polititcs: 'Spending on health has increased in real terms, year on
year, since we were elected...' Word count: 30,000
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars is the second delightful collection
of stories and poems from Gervase Phinn. Following on from the
terrific success of A Wayne in a Manger, Gervase Phinn has
collected together from his bestselling Dales books his favourite
stories about children, and included some poems from his popular
Puffin poetry books. In this humorously illustrated book, the
stories have one thing in common - the wonderfully funny (and
usually innocent) things that children say. What makes Naomi's
granny wobble? What's the secret ingredient in Richard's jam tarts?
What is Billy's unconventional method for making babies? Whether
they are stories about children who cannot read very well but know
the names of many breeds of sheep or children who are more
privileged (coming to school in a Wolls-Woyce), they are simply
delightful. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars is a heart-warming book
will enchant you, as Gervase Phinn helps you look at life through a
child's eyes - and that's quite a special thing. 'Gervase Phinn's
memoirs have made him a hero in school staff-rooms' Daily Telegraph
Gervase Phinn is an author and educator from Rotherham who, after
teaching for fourteen years in a variety of schools, moved to North
Yorkshire to be a school inspector. He has written autobiographies,
novels, plays, collections of poetry and stories, as well as a
number of books about education. He holds five fellowships,
honorary doctorates from Hull, Leicester and Sheffield Hallam
universities, and is a patron of a number of children's charities
and organizations. He is married with four adult children. His
books include The Other Side of the Dale, Over Hill and Dale, Head
Over Heels in the Dales, The Heart of the Dales, Up and Down in the
Dales and Trouble at the Little Village School.
Ten years in the making, Dribble! is an A-Z of credulity-twanging
facts and stories about what Pele once memorably dubbed 'my bloody
job'. It includes definitive explanations of everyday phrases such
as 'the magic of the cup' and 'low centre of gravity'; a complete
guide to becoming a terrace character and an in-depth account of
how Roy Keane's pyjamas got him a smack on the nose . . . It also
addresses hitherto ignored aspects of the beautiful game, including
its longstanding relationship with Country and Western. Johnny Cash
dubbed himself 'The Man in Black' in homage to his idol, referee
Arthur Ellis and wrote what is arguably the greatest song ever
written about the life of an assistant referee - 'I Walk the Line'.
The ultimate collection of X-rated and decidedly politically
incorrect limericks! This bumper new volume contains over 2,000
dirty verses, from the moderately blue to the absolutely filthy -
all illustrated throughout by Gray Jolliffe, creator of the
bestselling Wicked Willie cartoon character. Here are verses so
rude that even a blonde would blush, on subjects ranging from the
bedroom to the bathroom and beyond. You'll find plenty of
up-to-date limericks relevant to contemporary life as well as lewd
old favourites on every imaginable topic, all of them guaranteed to
make you laugh. Includes many newly devised limericks. On the
breast of a barmaid named Gail Was written the price of the ale And
on her behind, For the sake of the blind Was the same information
in Braille.
When Dionysus the Renegade faked a Sophocles text in 400BC
(cunningly inserting the acrostic 'Heraclides is ignorant of
letters') to humiliate an academic rival, he paved the way for two
millennia of increasingly outlandish literary hoaxers. The path
from his mischievous stunt to more serious tricksters like the
controversial memoirist and Oprah-duper James Frey, takes in every
sort of writer: from the religious zealot to the bored student, via
the vengeful academic and the out-and-out joker. But whether
hoaxing for fame, money, politics or simple amusement, each
perpetrator represents something unique about why we write. Their
stories speak volumes about how reading, writing and publishing
have grown out of the fine and private places of the past into
big-business, TV-book-club-led mass-marketplaces which, some would
say, are ripe for the ripping. For the first time, the complete
history of this fascinating sub-genre of world literature is
revealed. Suitable for bookworms of all ages and persuasions, this
is true crime for people who don't like true crime, and literary
history for the historically illiterate. A treat to read right
through or to dip into, it will make you think twice next time you
slip between the covers of an author you don't know...
Celebrities would have us believe they lead a charmed life, and
never make mistakes like us mere mortals. Charmed life my arse!
With his wicked trademark wit, Ricky Tomlinson reveals the truth:
they're just as likely to suffer from bloopers, blunders and bloody
awful cock-ups as the rest of us. Packed with hilarious gossip and
stories, and with a cast of characters from golden age superstars
right through to reality TV wannabes, CELEBRITIES MY ARSE! is the
perfect book for anyone who wants to know what goes on when the
camera isn't looking . . .
The Indignities of Coach Class, the Torments of Low Thread Count,
the Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First
World Problems
David Rakoff's collection of autobiographical essays, Fraud,
established him as one of our funniest, most insightful writers. In
Don't Get Too Comfortable, Rakoff journeys into the land of plenty
that is contemporary North America. Rarely have greed, vanity,
selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly and wittily
portrayed.
Whether contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the
supersonic Concorde with the good times and chicken wings of
Hooters Air, portraying the rarified universe of Paris fashion
shows where an evening dress can cost as much as four years of
college, or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize
to watch a soft-core Playboy TV shoot, where he is provided with
his very own personal manservant, David Rakoff takes us on a
bitingly funny grand tour of our culture of excess, delving into
the manic getting and spending that defines the North American way
of life.
Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into
obliterating narcissism, and Rakoff is there to map that frontier.
He sits through the grotesqueries of "avant garde" vaudeville in
Times Square immediately following 9/11. Twenty days without food
allows him to experience firsthand the wonders of "detoxification,"
and the frozen world of cryonics, whose promise of eternal life is
the ultimate status symbol, leaves him very cold indeed (much to
our good fortune).
At once a Wildean satire of our ridiculous culture of
overconsumption and a plea for a little human decency, Don't Get
Too Comfortable is a bitingly funnygrand tour of our special circle
of gilded-age hell.
Sports. It's what drives millions of people to work hard, play hard
- and laugh even harder. In this classic collection of
athletics-inspired wit, with his unique ability to integrate sports
into everyday life, Scheft will take on: * Theft: 'Despite his
problems with the law, Allen Iverson jerseys are still flying off
the shelves. And they've even sold a couple.' * The Boston Red Sox:
'Just wondering. Do you think for Daylight Savings, Grady Little
will set his clocks back four batters?' * Politics: 'Did you catch
the Democratic convention? I haven't heard that many empty promises
in the Fleet Center since Rick Pitino left town.' * Television
Cross-promotion: 'At one point I could have sworn I heard Tim
McCarver say July 31 was the deadline for Trading Spouses.' With
brand new additions and outtakes showcasing Bill's signature
humour, THE BEST OF 'THE SHOW' is a look at the world of sports
through a truly cracked - and hilarious - lens.
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