You are Awful (but I Like You)

Author: Tim Moore
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0099546930
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Book Description
A hilarious account of an odyssey across 'unloved Britain'. It began with an accidental daytrip to an intriguingly awful resort on the Thames Estuary, and ended 3,812 miles later: one man's journey through deep-fried, brownfield, poundshop Britain, a crash course in urban blight, deranged civic planning and commercial eccentricity. Following an itinerary drawn up from surveys, polls, reviews and lazy personal prejudice, Tim Moore goes to all the places that nobody wants to go to -- the bleakest towns, the shonkiest hotels, the scariest pubs, the silliest sea zoos. He visits the grid reference adjudged by the Ordnance Survey to be the least interesting point in Britain, and is chased out of the new town twice crowned Scotland's Most Dismal Place. His palate is flayed alive by horrific regional foodstuffs, his ears shrivelled by the 358 least loved tracks in the history of native popular music. With his progress entrusted to our motor industry's fittingly hopeless finale, he comes to learn thatBritain seems very much larger when you're driving around it in a Bulgarian-built Austin Maestro. Yet as the soggy, decrepit quest unfolds, so it evolves into something much more stirring: a nostalgic celebration of our magnificent mercantile pomp, and an angry requiem for a golden age of cheerily homespun crap culture being swept aside by the faceless, soul-stripping forces of Tesco-town globalisation."

Ooh You are Awful- But I Like You!

Author: William Hall
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780283072796
Category : Comedians
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Book Description
This biography, by his lover, shows, how away from the screen, Dick Emery was plagued with self-doubt and insecurity. This book covers his life and the scandals that surrounded it.

The Songs of Manolo Escobar

Author: Carlos Alba
Publisher: Birlinn
ISBN: 0857900501
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Book Description
Suspicion had been fomenting within me for some time that our family was different. Why, for example, were Pablito, my elder brother, and I dark-haired with olive skin when the rest of my classmates were sandy and pale? Why did our family have a second way of speaking, which I didn't understand? Why was ours the only home I knew where the walls were dominated with pictures of men in spangly waistcoats and tight trousers?' For Antonio, growing up Spanish in Glasgow is a nightmare - one of shame and potential embarrassment on every front. But there is no hiding his ethnicity: his noisy, bullying father, even his gentle mother and her quest for olives and exotic meats, put paid to that. It is only as he grows older, and can see his father for what he is, a reluctant exile washed up on the cold shores of Scotland, that Antonio begins to understand what terrible forces drove his father to flee 40 years before. Unravelling his father's secret life piece by piece, Antonio discovers a truth that will shock and heal him.

Perfect

Author: Rachel Joyce
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0679645128
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 359

Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry comes “a poignant, searing tale” (O: The Oprah Magazine) about a young boy who is thrown into the murky, difficult realities of the adult world. “A powerful book, rich with empathy and charged with beautiful, atmospheric writing.”—Tana French A nice house in a tony neighborhood. A hardworking husband. A private school for the children. From the outside, Diana has a perfect life. But her sensitive and observant young son notices that the other kids’ mothers are not like his own. They dress differently. Byron’s father prefers that his wife dress formally, in slim skirts and pointy heels. He gives Diana a Jaguar so neighbors will sit up and take notice. And they do. Then, one morning, during a shortcut to school through a poor neighborhood, something happens that Byron cannot shake and his mother refuses to acknowledge. Until she has no choice. In the weeks that follow, the façade of a happy family shows signs of distress. Diana makes a questionable friend, and an increasingly tense dance begins—between guilt and resentment, envy and regret—all leading to a tragedy and a shattering revelation.

The Happiness Revolution

Author: Andy Cope
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0857088947
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 275

Book Description
A new book by two of the biggest powerhouses in positive psychology and personal development – Dr Andy Cope and Professor Paul McGee Happiness. We chase it, we crave it...it’s so in demand... yet so scarce and fleeting. But here’s the good news. In The Happiness Revolution: A Manifesto For Living Your Best Life, bestselling authors Dr Andy Cope and Professor Paul McGee deliver a page-turning self-help book of the times, for the times. As the world wakes up to a new kind of normal, The Happiness Revolution challenges readers to sign up to an uprising of wellbeing and to making the most of the privilege of being on this planet. The book outlines a 10-point Happiness Manifesto. Grounded in the science of human flourishing and the reality of life, the principles are simple, do-able and above all make a difference not only to yourself but to others too. Let the fight back to mental wealth start right here. Welcome to global domination of the happiness kind! Discover: How to regain your sanity, clarity, and wellbeing, even when your smartphone, kids, spouse, job, and possessions seem to be conspiring to keep you from doing just that. Why it can be so hard to maintain a happy outlook when the outside world has never been so fast, complex, and unpredictable. How to be at your best in a world that is doing its worst. Happiness is the #1 thing you want for yourself and your family. The Happiness Revolution is an indispensable guide for everyone trying to live their best life and to spread some happiness whilst doing so. Rise Up and Be Happy! Vive la revolution!

Everything Is Awful and You're a Terrible Person

Author: Daniel Zomparelli
Publisher: arsenal pulp press
ISBN: 155152676X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Book Description
In these quirky interconnected stories of first-person narratives, text messages, and Facebook posts, gay men look for love, bake pies, hook up on Grindr, use Botox, have threesomes with ghosts, and fear happiness: a deadpan, tragicomic exploration of love, desire, and dysfunction in the twenty-first century.

Deception

Author: Ziyad Marar
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317488687
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description
Most of us think we are about 15 per cent cleverer, nicer, more attractive and better drivers than others think we are. It seems deception begins at home. After all the most convincing liars convince themselves first. Sellers and buyers, parents and children, friends and lovers must conceal from each other the unutterable truth that they don't believe or want the same things. In this book, Ziyad Marar throws a revealing light on the many ways deception is woven into the texture of human life: our wiring leaves us easily suckered by persuasive illusions, while our contradictory desires (for sex and honesty, money and kindness, for cake and losing weight) force us to cook up self-serving stories. We manage flattering impressions with effortless skill, while pretending our sins and self-indulgences are beyond our control.Drawing on insights from philosophy, psychology and literature, Marar explores the implications for living well in the shadow of Kant's humbling thought that "out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made".

Misadventures in the English Language

Author: Caroline Taggart
Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books
ISBN: 1782436499
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 140

Book Description
Misadventures in the English Language looks at some of the controversial aspects of English usage - grammar, vocabulary and punctuation - and tries to assess what matters and what doesn't.

Shouting at the Telly

Author: John Grindrod
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571317227
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 197

Book Description
A host of comedians, writers and viewers, including Rebecca Front, Andrew Collins, Kevin Eldon, Emma Kennedy, Richard Herring, Jim Shelley and David Quantick share funny and heartfelt rants and raves on everything from soaps to sitcoms, sci-fi to reality shows, HBO to QVC. All of TV is here: the age-old rift between BBC and ITV that tore families apart; the secret shame of crying at adverts; and those significant moments in life when television has made for an unforgettable backdrop. Richard Herring has a controversial new theory about Goodnight Sweetheart, Boyd Hilton shares his all-time comedy top ten and Rebecca Front demolishes the clichés of news reading. They're joined by a list of fellow telly addicts with axes to grind, . So, if you have ever rooted for the most offensive candidates in The Apprentice or repeatedly corrected Supernanny Jo Frost's pronounciation of 'unacceptable' then this book will give you and your spleen many happy memories of the hours you've spent shouting at the telly.

Judged

Author: Ziyad Marar
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474298346
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 229

Book Description
Everyone worries about being judged. One foolish tweet can destroy a career, one careless image can ruin a reputation. Yet judgement is inescapable; we cannot be social beings without judging and being judged. We're stuck with judgement and all the awkwardness, embarrassment, shame, guilt and loneliness that can come with that. Yet all is not lost in this arena of snap verdicts and social misfires. In this sensitive and creative book, Ziyad Marar reclaims judgement proposing that we need it in order to value ourselves and others; we can't live abundantly without the peaks and troughs of judgement. Drawing upon psychology, philosophy, TV, Film, poetry and literature, Marar reveals a world which takes seriously our need to reach out and connect and one where hope, however tentative, can blossom. There are no easy answers here, but there are moments where our judging can become generous and forgiving; moments where the cracks in the world feel like possibilities rather than dead ends, moments when the light comes in.