Queenan Country

Author: Joe Queenan
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429900822
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 171

Book Description
In this hilarious romp through England, one of America's preeminent humorists seeks the answer to an eternal question: What makes the Brits tick? One semitropical Fourth of July, Joe Queenan's English wife suggested that the family might like a chicken vindaloo in lieu of the customary barbecue. It was this pitiless act of gastronomic cultural oppression, coupled with dread of the fearsome Christmas pudding that awaited him for dessert, that inspired the author to make a solitary pilgrimage to Great Britain. Freed from the obligation to visit an unending procession of Aunty Margarets and Cousin Robins, as he had done for the first twenty-six years of their marriage, Queenan decided that he would not come back from Albion until he had finally penetrated the limey heart of darkness. His trip was not in vain. Crisscrossing Old Blighty like Cromwell hunting Papists, Queenan finally came to terms with the choochiness, squiffiness, ponciness, and sticky wicketness that lie at the heart of the British character. Here he is trying to find out whose idea it was to impale King Edward II on a red-hot poker-and what this says about English sexual politics. Here he is in an Edinburgh pub foolishly trying to defend Paul McCartney's "Ebony and Ivory." And here he is, trapped in a concert hall with a Coventry-based all-Brit Eagles tribute band named Talon who resent that they are nowhere near as famous as their evil nemeses, the Illegal Eagles. At the end of his epic adventure, the author returns chastened, none the wiser, but encouraged that his wife is actually as sane as she is, in light of her fellow countrymen.

Closing Time

Author: Joe Queenan
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101032561
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Book Description
An affecting memoir from one of America's most provocative humorists Over the past two decades, Joe Queenan has established himself as a scourge of everything that is half-baked, half-witted, and halfhearted in American culture. In Closing Time, Queenan turns his sights on a more serious and a more personal topic: his childhood in a Philadelphia housing project in the early 1960s. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Closing Time recounts Queenan's Irish Catholic upbringing in a family dominated by his erratic, alcoholic father, and his long flight away from the dismal confines of his neighborhood into the greater, wide world. A story about salvation and escape, Closing Time has at its heart the makings of a classic American autobiography.

Red Lobster, White Trash, & the Blue Lagoon

Author: Joe Queenan
Publisher: Hyperion
ISBN: 9780786884087
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
A riotously funny, razor-sharp indictment of America's cultural wasteland by one of its most merciless critics.

Balsamic Dreams

Author: Joe Queenan
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312420826
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
" ... how a generation with so much promise lost its way ... a hilarious work of incisive social commentary."--Jacket.

Art and Craft

Author: Bill Thompson
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1611174430
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 421

Book Description
A compendium of profiles, interviews, and reviews published by the South Carolina book review editor Art and Craft presents the hand-picked fruit of Bill Thompson's three decades covering writers and writing as book review editor of Charleston, South Carolina's Post and Courier. Beginning with a foreword by Charleston novelist Josephine Humphreys, this collection is a compendium of interviews featuring some of the most distinguished novelists and nonfiction writers in America and abroad, including Tom Wolfe, Pat Conroy, Joyce Carol Oates, Rick Bragg, and Anthony Bourdain, as well as many South Carolinians. With ten thematic chapters ranging from the Southern Renaissance, literature, biography, and travel writing to crime fiction and Civil War history, Art and Craft also includes a sampling of Thompson's reviews. A foreword is written by South Carolina novelist Josephine Humphreys, who is author of Dreams of Sleep (winner of the 1985 Ernest Hemingway Award for First Fiction), Rich in Love (made into a major motion picture), The Fireman's Fair, and Nowhere Else on Earth. Featuring: Jack Bass, Rick Bragg, Roy Blount, Jr., Robin Cook, Pat Conroy, Patricia Cornwell, Dorothea Benton Frank, Herb Frazier, Sue Grafton, Carl Hiaasen, Sue Monk Kidd, Brian Lamb, Bret Lott, Jill McCorkle, James McPherson, Mary Alice Monroe, Joyce Carol Oates, Carl Reiner, Dori Sanders, Charles Seabrook, Anne Rivers Siddons, Lee Smith, Mickey Spillane, Paul Theroux, Tom Wolfe

The Truth About Hillary

Author: Edward Klein
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101217774
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Book Description
Hillary Rodham Clinton is the most polarizing figure in American politics. Love her or hate her, everyone has a strong opinion about the former first lady turned senator who is almost certainly going to run for president in 2008. Despite more than a dozen years in the national spotlight and more than a dozen unauthorized books about her, she has managed to keep many secrets from the public especially about her turbulent marriage and its impact on her career. There have been plenty of rumors about what Hillary and Bill Clinton did behind closed doors, but never a definitive book that exposes the truth. Bestselling author Edward Klein draws on rare access to inside sources to reveal what Hillary knew and when she knew it during her years as first lady, especially during her husband’s impeachment. Klein’s book, embargoed until publication, will break news about the choices and calculations she has made over the years. It will also prove that she lied to America in her bestselling autobiography Living History. When she was just a little girl, Hillary Rodham dreamed of becoming the first female president, and her lifelong dream is almost within reach. But just as the swift boat veterans convinced millions of voters that John Kerry lacked the character to be president, Klein’s book will influence everyone who is sizing up the character of Hillary Clinton.

Town & Country Modern Manners

Author: Thomas P. Farley
Publisher: Hearst Books
ISBN: 9781588164544
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Book Description
As a follow up to the extremely successful Town & Country's Social Graces comes this new collection of essays by some of our most celebrated writers, exploring the need for manners in today's hectic world. Such keen observers as David Brown, Hugh Downs, Frank McCourt, and Peggy Noonan offer their witty and incisive views on how to avoid offending others. Town & Country magazine has been synonymous with good taste and refinement for more than a century. So who better to comment on the need for manners in a time of constant cell phone chatter, non-step competition, hair-trigger-tempers, and fast-paced lifestyles? Both humorous and insightful, this sparkling collection of essays reflects on the pressing need for kindness, consideration, and civilized behavior. And the list of contributors is stellar: David Brown makes a persuasive plea for civility; Jamie Lee Curtis talks about "Having Dinner with the Family"; Sonya Friedman reflects on motherhood; Charles Osgood comments on everyday courtesies; and Ted Sorenson discusses "Patriotic Pride." With topics that range from the art of listening to good elevator etiquette, these eloquent pieces offer advice worth following.

Rules, Britannia

Author: Toni Summers Hargis
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429905190
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
How do you respond to a dinner invitation that says "Eight for eight thirty"? What might induce you to get off a London train at a place called Mud Chute? When is it okay to drive over a sleeping policeman? And why do teh Brits keep saying "Who's she, the cat's mother"? Rules, Britannia is an invaluable resource for Americans who want to make a smooth transition when visiting or relocating to the UK. This entertaining and practical insider's guide contains scores of established do's and dont's that only a Brit would know. Most of us know that an elevator is called a "lifet," a toilet is a "loo," and the trunk of your car is the "boot," but who would have a clue about a "sprog" or a "gobsmacked berk"? These phrases are part of daily conservation in the UK, and leave many visiting Americans as baffled as if they listening to a foreign language. Covering such essential topics as vocabulary, house- or "flat"-hunting, business culture, child rearing, and even relationship etiqutte, Rules, Britannia will ease the anxiety that comes with a transatlantic move or extended visit, and is sure to make any old Yank feel like a regular Joe Bloggs.

My Goodness

Author: Joe Queenan
Publisher: Pan MacMillan
ISBN: 9780330393249
Category : Cynicism..
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Book Description
This is a journey of spititual self-regeneration by a mean-spirited, dried-up cynic. The author looks at the icons of goodness, such as Sting and Susan Sarandon, and sets out to make sure people get the facts and figures about being a wonderful person.

Fan-Tan

Author: Marlon Brando
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307264270
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
Fan-Tan is a hugely entertaining, swashbuckling romp, from one of the greatest actors of our time: Marlon Brando. The story of an eccentric early-twentieth-century pirate who sets out on the high seas from the Philippines to Shanghai, Fan-Tan follows the exploits of Anatole “Annie” Doultry, a larger-than-life character that Brando could have easily inhabited himself. When Annie saves the life of a Chinese prisoner in a Hong Kong prison, he’s led to the mysterious and seductive Madame Lai Choi San—one of the most notorious gangsters in Asia—and here the true adventures begin.Years in the making with Brando’s longtime collaborator, screenwriter and director Donald Cammell, Fan-Tan is a rollicking, delectable tale—and the last surprise from an ever-surprising legend.