Enid Blyton's books are beloved the world over and The Famous Five have been the perennial favourite of her fans. Now, in this new series of Enid Blyton for Grown-Ups, George, Dick, Anne, Julian and Timmy confront a new challenge: give up the booze. Give up alcohol you say? Why, of course they can! Talk about an easy challenge! Five old friends set about this simple task and find all of a sudden that: the days are longer; they get to see each other for who they really are; the empty laughter of ordinary conversation is so much harder to fake. Yes, they're saving money and losing weight, but the world itself seems to take on a slow, dreary inevitability. Soon they begin to snap at each other, and then fight - until they begin to wonder, have the Five at last found the challenge that will defeat them? The perfect gift for anyone who has woken up and promised themselves that they will never drink again. Or at least until next weekend.

Kept in a bird-coop by his parents, Sunny McCreary endured a childhood of neglect, abuse and being bullied by pigeons, only to find it was all downhill from there. In the course of the most painful life ever, he survived tragedy and maiming, a savage convent school education, being pimped out in pink-satin hot pants, a degrading addiction to helium, and having a baboon's arse grafted onto his face. Then things got really bad. More horrible than A Child Called It, more heartrending than Ugly, more repulsive than the Alastair Campbell diaries, My Godawful Life is the misery memoir to end all misery memoirs and the feel-bad book of the year. "At last, a book to satirise the endless parade of misery memoirs. I seized upon this like manna from Heaven ... A glorious overload of dysfunction." Sue Baker, Publishing News

Il libro di favole di Jouni Aalto e un libro per i piu grandi. Si tratta di scritti che affrontano con energia il tema della menzogna umana e della societa. Lo stile di Aalto spazia tra il cinismo e un acuto umorismo. L'autore ci invita a riflettere sui motivi che spingono l'uomo a voler vivere in un mondo fittizio e a credere, secondo le situazioni, a qualcosa che va contro la ragione. L'occultamento della verita e l'affabulazione sono la chiave fondamentale per aver successo nella vita. L'uomo che non impara a mentire, resta ai margini della societa. Viene considerato un outcast. La falsita ci raggiunge ovunque. I genitori, la scuola, la chiesa, l'esercito e tanti altri impulsi della societa ci programmano come robot che non sanno riconoscere la verita vera. Leggendo il libro di Aalto il lettore puo ridere e disperarsi. Jouni Aalto ha conseguito il titolo di dottore di ricerca. E noto per i suoi pamphlet sarcastici ma che comunque ci spingono a sorridere.

An affectionately imagined, candid, and often funny view of British life, in the voice of the Queen

For many years, Her Majesty the Queen has received a weekly report on the news and issues of the day, known at the Palace as "The Current Affairs Briefing Document," from one of her senior private secretaries. She has replied to them in letters which have expressed her private thoughts, and occasionally questions, about what is happening in the world outside. Now she has decided to allow some of these letters from the last 12 months to appear in the public domain. They reveal for the first time what she really thinks about attitudes to the Royal Family, about the Prime Ministers she has met, about Helen Mirren, about why dogs are so superior to cats, about the great, the good, and the mysteriously famous people she meets as she goes about her duties. She shares what it is really like to jump out of a helicopter to open the Olympics, how to deal with a media obsessed with taking pictures of one's grandchildren without their clothes and, and the happy prospect of being a great-grandmother.

Quand le celebrissime Jean Aymard de Vauquonery decide de publier ses memoires, le monde litteraire fut bouleverse.
Voir couche sur papier une existence si pleine, avec une plume si legere ne pouvait qu'enthousiasmer les amateurs de belles lettres et de mots croises fantomatiques.
Nous nous souvenons tous de ses incroyables aventures qui nous sont si proches et pourtant si abstraites.
Apres de longues annees de recherches et d'introspection, Jean Aymard s'est enfin lance dans la redaction de son chef d' uvre. Les intenses descriptions et les emotions admirablement maitrisees montrent a quel point il est possible de surmonter l'angoisse de la page blanche.
Qui pourrait oublier pareille histoire ? Son histoire est la notre, elle nous appartient.
Et si la complexite apparente des tournures si subtiles de ses glorieux souvenirs vous effraient, n'ayez crainte, l'auteur a su s'exprimer de maniere limpide... voire transparente.
Et quand la lecture vous aura comble, il vous restera un merveilleux espace pour y gribouiller a satiete vos reflexions. Parce que Jean Aymard vous aime, vous et vos idees Parce que vous aurez l'honneur et le privilege de contribuer a cette uvre memorable.
Un livre a s'offrir et a offrir sans tarder
NB: un index des mots compliques vous est offert par l'editeur.

Divertentissimi, grotteschi, satirici, paradossali, questi racconti sono stati scritti a quattro mani nell'arco di vent'anni. Sono la parodia sciocchina e divertente dei romanzi rosa... Alcuni sono decisamente datati, altri fiammanti e chiaramente piu attuali. Il genere "rosa," come tutti i generi, e serio e sognante, serve (soprattutto al pubblico femminile) per uscire dalla dura realta quotidiana fatta di uomini esigenti e padroneschi, da una societa spietata e da alcuni topos e logos decisamente antifemminili, anche se alcuni romanzi sono autentici capolavori. Purtroppo, il romanzo rosa e stato a volte utilizzato proprio in funzione "antifemminile," per convincere il pubblico che si... La vita e dura... Ma che l'amore trionfa sempre. Donne, il principe azzurro si trasforma quasi sempre in un ciccione ciabattante che rutta e scorreggia, a volte si fila le amiche della moglie e, in qualche caso, persino delle figlie... Ecco cio che troverete in questo libro...

Fresh brains roasting on an open fire . . .

Outside the temperature's dropping. The snow is falling, blanketing the world in white. Sleigh bells are jingling. Soon it will be that most wondrous time of the year

That time of flesh-devouring zombie horror

Yes, Christmas is on its way--and all the little boys and ghouls are dreaming of stockings filled with candied eyes and bleeding body parts. You'd better watch out Santa Claws is coming to town--and he knows who's been naughty, who's been naughtier . . . and who'll taste best with a nice glass of Chianti

In celebration of this merry macabre season, we present a peerless compendium of more than two dozen of the most soul-stirring, brain-boiling carols composed specifically for the decomposing. Holiday favorites such as "I Saw Mommy Chewing Santa Claus," "Deck the Halls with Parts of Wally," and "We Three Spleens" are guaranteed to lift the spirits of the lumbering, shuffling undead and their temporarily still breathing meals-to-be. So put down your gore-splattered baseball bats and raise your voices in song And sing loudly--to drown out all the screaming.

When you like, live forever, what's there to live for? 'About three things I was absolutely certain. First, Edwart was most likely my soul mate, maybe. Second, there was a vampire part of him - which I assumed was wildly out of his control - that wanted me dead. And third, I unconditionally, irrevocably, impenetrably, heterogeneously, gynecologically, and disreputably wished he had kissed me.' And thus Belle Goose falls in love with the mysterious and sparkly Edwart Mullen in this hilarious send-up of Twilight. Pale and klutzy, Belle arrives in Switchblade, Oregon looking for adventure, or at least an undead classmate. She soon discovers Edwart, a super-hot computer nerd with zero interest in girls. After witnessing a number of strange events - Edwart leaves his hash browns untouched at lunch! - he saves her from a flying snowball and Belle has a dramatic revelation: Edwart is a vampire. But how can she convince Edwart to bite her and transform her into his eternal bride, especially when he seems to find girls so repulsive? Complete with romance, danger, insufficient parental guardianship, creepy stalker-like behaviour, and a vampire prom, Nightlight is the hysterical tale of a vampire-obsessed girl, looking for love in all the wrong places.

Join certified Ig-master Vaguen on the road to bliss. You might think that ignorance comes naturally, but on the contrary, the world conspires to cram our heads full of useless and dangerous 'know-ledge' every day. Fall off this know-ledge into the safe and comforting world of oblivio(n/ousness) by discovering "The Power of Ignorance". In his seminars, Vaguen has helped successful people, wealthy people, good-looking people, and people just like you to attain the heights/depths of ignorance. For the first time, his secrets are revealed between the covers of a book. Purchase this reasonably-priced volume and join the ranks of those who understand that a lack of understanding is unimportant. This title is based on original material and characters by Jeff Sumerel and Sam Reynolds.