Insanely creative, laugh-out-loud funny, Insults May Vary is one of the finest collections of humor writing available today: a brain-on-fire romp through the craggy landscape of Western culture. Author David Ferrell combines eloquence with irreverence -- and vice versa -- as he answers questions no one has ever asked. What are the high-desert raconteurs jabbering about in Jerome, Arizona?Who started the alleged celebrity food fight at Spago, if it happened, and what was Ge...

These widely acclaimed essays from the author of Infinite Jest -- on television, tennis, cruise ships, and more -- established David Foster Wallace as one of the preeminent essayists of his generation.In this exuberantly praised book -- a collection of seven pieces on subjects ranging from television to tennis, from the Illinois State Fair to the films of David Lynch, from postmodern literary theory to the supposed fun of traveling aboard a Caribbean luxur...

Internationally bestselling novelist and American icon Tom Robbins' legendary memoir—wild tales of his life and times, both at home and around the globe.Tom Robbins' warm, wise, and wonderfully weird novels—including Still Life with Woodpecker, Jitterbug Perfume, and Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates—provide an entryway into the frontier of his singular imagination. Madcap but sincere, pulsating with strong social and philosophical undercurrents, his irreverent...

A collection of insightful and uproariously funny non-fiction by the bestselling author of INFINITE JEST - one of the most acclaimed and adventurous writers of our time. A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING... brings together Wallace's musings on a wide range of topics, from his early days as a nationally ranked tennis player to his trip on a commercial cruiseliner. In each of these essays, Wallace's observations are as keen as they are funny.Filled with hilarious details and invigorating analys...

**"A moving love letter to Los Angeles and a thoughtful rumination on what people can mean to one another." —Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times–bestselling author of Daisy and the SixA struggling Hollywood producer, Richard Baumbach is twenty-nine, hung-over, and broke. Ridiculously handsome with an innate charm and an air of invincibility, he still believes good things will come his way.At thirty-three, Elizabeth Santiago is on track to make partn...

"The teaching of creative writing just entered a whole new era . . . Heavens, what a joy this book is." —Lynne Truss, New York Times–bestselling author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves"What do you think of my fiction book writing?" the aspiring novelist extorted."Darn," the editor hectored, in turn. "I can not publish your novel! It is full of what we in the business call 'really awful writing.'""But how shall I absolve ...

Named a Top Ten Best Book of the Year by Time and PeopleNamed a Best Book of the Year by: Washington Post * Kirkus Reviews * New Yorker * Chicago Public Library * NPR * Oprah Daily * Philadelphia EnquirerA taut, groundbreaking, and highly acclaimed novel from bestselling and award-winning author Elizabeth McCracken, about a writer’s relationship with her larger-than-life mother—a...

The first graphic novel from Dean Koontz, featuring the famously well-loved character of Odd Thomas.Nineteen-year-old Odd Thomas, a young fry cook from Pico Mundo, California, can see the dead.Beautifully drawn by Australian artist Queenie Chan, this graphic novel tells the story of Odd’s race to solve the murder of a young boy whose killer appears to be stalking a second child. With the help of his beautiful girlfriend Stormy, his friend Police Chief Porter and the ghost o...

A legendary love letter to Los Angeles by the city's most charming daughter, complete with portraits of rock stars at Chateau Marmont, surfers in Santa Monica, prostitutes on sunset, and Eve's own beloved cat, Rosie.Journalist, party girl, bookworm, artist, muse: by the time she’d hit thirty, Eve Babitz had played all of these roles. Immortalized as the nude beauty facing down Duchamp and as one of Ed Ruscha’s Five 1965 Girlfriends, Babitz’s first book sho...

“This is so well written. [When a book like this] comes along, it’s, like, ‘Thank you!’ What a great way to spend an afternoon, an evening, reading these essays. . . . Absolutely great.”—Jon Stewart“[Merrill] Markoe is easily as funny as David Sedaris. She’s capable of manic riffs and acerbic skewering. Still, her good nature shines through.”—The Washington PostIn this hilarious collection of candid essays, including two pieces new...

The New Yorker is, of course, a bastion of superb essays, influential investigative journalism, and insightful arts criticism. But for eighty years, it’s also been a hoot. In fact, when Harold Ross founded the legendary magazine in 1925, he called it “a comic weekly,” and while it has grown into much more**,** it has also remained true to its original mission. Now an uproarious sampling of its funny writings can be found in a hilarious new collection, one as satirical and witty, m...