With Erma Bombeck in your corner, laughter is the best coach you can have....

    He really was shrinking.Hilarious complications result as he becomes more minuscule by the moment. Treehorn is a bit downhearted when his teacher says, "we don't shrink in this class," and sends him to the principal. Poor Treehorn spends an unhappy day and night until he discovers a magical game that restores him to his natural size. This is a great relief to Treehorn before he notices that he is turning faintly green. . . .An ALA Notable Book

    Offering all the qualities of his general bestselling fiction, this is Tom Sharpe's blazing satire of South African apartheid, companion to Indecent Exposure.

    But what shines through these five vignettes is the author's engagement with and immense affection for animals in all their forms. From fish to fowl, from lizards to little water fleas (daphnia), Durrell's eye is acute and his prose is tart. You can read this book for the humor alone (for he did perceive his family as some rare and rarefied species), but between the lines you can discern the makings of a world-class naturalist and a cultivated and engaging writer.

    She gets anxious about running out of ball bearings; about snakes sneaking in through the pipes; about making meaningful conversation on New Year’s Eve. Married life, she realizes, is an unpredictable saga even when you know exactly how loud your husband snores every night—and she wouldn’t have it any other way. In this crisp collection of essays, Bombeck shows off the irresistible style that made her one of America’s favorite humorists for more than three decades. When she sharpens her wit, no family member is sacred and no self-help fad is safe.

    gave me a travel warrant, a white feather and a picture of Hitler marked "This is your enemy". I searched every compartment, but he wasn't on the train . . .'In this, the first of Spike Milligan's uproarious recollections of life in the army, our hero takes us from the outbreak of war in 1939 ('it must have been something we said'), through his attempts to avoid enlistment ('time for my appendicitus, I thought') and his gunner training in Bexhill ('There was one drawback. No ammunition') to the landing at Algiers in 1943 ('I closed my eyes and faced the sun. I fell down a hatchway').Filled with bathos, pathos and gales of ribald laughter, this is a barely sane helping of military goonery and superlative Milliganese.'The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read' Sunday Express'Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar' Sunday Times'Milligan is the Great God to all of us' John Cleese'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard'That absolutely glorious way of looking at things differently. A great man' Stephen FrySpike Milligan was one of the greatest and most influential comedians of the twentieth century. Born in India in 1918, he served in the Royal Artillery during WWII in North Africa and Italy. At the end of the war, he forged a career as a jazz musician, sketch-show writer and performer, before joining forces with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe to form the legendary Goon Show. Until his death in 2002, he had success as on stage and screen and as the author of over eighty books of fiction, memoir, poetry, plays, cartoons and children's stories.

    . . the aroma of the backyard lilac bush . . . the inviting appeal of the vacant lot next door . . . the riches of a bottle-cap collection . . . the temptation of the cookie jar . . . the summers that never ended.Capture a moment and journey back with us to the good old days . . . those very, very good old days.

    Recounts the experiences of a little girl growing up in a seaside town in Yorkshire during the years between the two world wars.

    Then WW II came and she became a "V-girl," attracting servicemen with her beautiful face and voluptuous figure. Thus began her entry into the world of New York high fashion models and Fifty-Second Street strippers. Fate led her into the underworld, where she became a confidante and girlfriend to important mobsters and shady dealers. From New York she went to Hollywood, where she won a Marilyn Monroe look-alike contest and became a national celebrity; meanwhile her paintings were selling for $5,000 each and her poetry was recorded and broadcast. Then came an indictment and three-year probation for her unwillingness to cooperate with authorities by testifying against the mobster Mickey Cohen. A violation of her probation landed her in prison for three years. Married eight times, appeared before thirteen grand juries, with more lovers than any swinger of her generation-Liz Renay tells the story of her compelling and memorable adventures with honesty and candor.