Maison d'édition: Sheba Blake Publishing
Humorist Stephen Leacock was known for targeting the excesses of the aristocratic class in his lighthearted satire. This tendency is on full display in Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich, a series of stories and vignettes that mock the pomp, pretensions and silly customs of the upper classes.
The snippets below attest that every day was an adventure while doing census work in the wilds of the South during the most contentious political climate of our time. ...Not too many guns came out. I wasn't told to get the hell off my property but for once or twice... ...the driver suddenly wheeled her substantial upper torso around to face me and with all seriousness said "I'd knock you over for that har." The mountains are majestic, their colors an infinite blur of enchanting hues that changes as the earth rounds the sun and the sun crosses the sky. One lot had more decaying vehicles spread out higgledy-piggledy than I had time to count, and the space between the crapped-out conveyances was chockablock with other junk. If your smart speaker overhears you asking your dog if he went out and crapped like a boss will it go on your permanent record? ...The next day when the boys got together to smoke, the lizard came back for more. This time all they had to do was hold the cigarette where the lizard could get to it and it came and put its mouth on the butt of the cigarette to get a hit of nicotine. ...It was a small-caliber pistol, so if he was a lousy shot, or a very good one, and missed my vitals, he could have pumped more than a few slugs in me before I hit the ground. A cup of coffee suits me in the morning. Please don't bring me a latte, frappe, mocha-chino, double grande-cuppa-froo-froo, early in the morning. A glass of fresh brewed iced tea and a tomato sandwich, a beer and a burger; onion rings, and hush puppies done-just-right will do just fine, thank you much. And then I came to a freakin' fork in the road. A freakin' fork. No signs, just a fork. I still had no GPS signal, I was back in the old world now, left to my own devices. A lot of my time that day was spent around the Coosa, a lazy flowing river as inviting as any I'd ever seen. It was a good day. Everyone I met was a friend. It was enough to have one let go of the need to cleave to one or another belief about anything and to just let things be as they are. We settled down and went back to watching the night sky for shooting stars and speculating on UFOs, but by that time none of us was particularly interested in believing what the rest of us had to say about anything. We all know what it's like to be betrayed; To hell with that. Fool me once, fuck you. Alabama was somewhat like a seductive and partly dangerous woman who has her way with you because she can, and it's all your fault for showing up anyway. I'd go back to Alabama in a skinny minute.Voir livre
John Straley's fifth entry to the Alaska P.I. series finds Cecil Younger tracking down a murderer on an Alaskan cruise ship-not quite the vacation he was anticipating. Cecil Younger never thought it would come to this: providing surveillance for a chicken coop being raided by a fowl thief. But things have not exactly been breaking right lately for the Alaskan P.I. The logical thing to do? Take a vacation, of course. Well, it's not exactly a vacation. Younger has been paid to investigate a doctor aboard a luxurious first-class cruise ship up the Alaskan coast. Except passengers are dying. Now Younger finds himself trapped on a ship of fools with a murderer who is leaving a trail of well-to-do passengers in his wake . . . and leaving evidence pointing an accusing finger at Cecil! By the time the S.S. Westward makes landfall, Younger will be wishing he was back guarding chickens instead of sleeping with the fishes.Voir livre
Sherry reads Jane Austen’s sparkling comedy of manners with wit and vivacity, and brings the characters to life. Mr. Woodhouse worries and frets, Miss Bates chatters on, and Emma blithely manipulates and misunderstands her friends and family until she finally learns her lesson! (Summary by Kara)Voir livre
How does one become accidentally engaged? That's what Suzy Curtis thinks when she suddenly finds herself very publicly engaged to handsome Harry Fitzallan, local town hero. Harry wants famous rock star Jaz to be his best man—only Jaz is Suzy's ex-husband and a recovering alcoholic. Suzy's half sister Lucille loves getting to know the family she'd never met, but she can't help her attraction to Jaz, nor can Suzy quash her entirely inappropriate feelings for Leo, Harry's engaged brother. With all these wild players at the table, mayhem is bound to ensue. As each new piece comes into play, everyone has more to lose, and the only way to win is if you're good at the games of love.Voir livre
Anton Chekhov's "The Death of a Government Clerk" humorously unfolds when a government official accidentally sneezes on a high-ranking official. The tale navigates the protagonist's escalating paranoia and guilt, culminating in a series of comical misadventures. Chekhov's satire highlights the absurdity of social anxieties and bureaucratic entanglements in this short yet entertaining story. Read in English, unabridged.Voir livre
