For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the Galaxy is a very very very large and startling place.THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE.When all questions of space, time, matter and the nature of being have been resolved, only one question remains --- "Where shall we have dinner?" The Restaurant at the End of the Universe provides the ultimate gastronomic experience, and for once there is no morning after to worry about.LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING.In consequence of a number of stunning catastrophes, Arthur Dent is surprised to find himself living in a hideously miserable cave on prehistoric Earth. However, just as he thinks that things cannot possibly get any worse, they suddenly do. He discovers that the Galaxy is not only mind-boggling big and bewildering but also that most of the things that happen in it are staggeringly unfair.SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH.Just as Arthur Dent's sense of reality is in its dickiest state he suddenly finds the girl of his dreams. He finds her in the last place in the Universe in which he would expect to find anything at all, but which 3,976,000 people will find oddly familiar. They go in search of God's Final Message to His Creation and, in a dramatic break with tradition, actually find it.

    An anthology of cartoons from the syndicated comic strip, "Bloom County" encompasses highlights from the five-year span of the strip.

    These seemingly undistinguished possessions, stuffed into a worn-out suitcase, take on a riotously funny life of their own as Dovlatov inventories the circumstances under which he acquired them, occasioning a brilliant series of interconnected tales: A poplin shirt evokes the bittersweet story of a courtship and marriage, while a pair of boots (of the kind only the Nomenklatura can afford) calls up the hilarious conclusion to an official banquet. Some driving gloves—remnants of Dovlatov’s short-lived acting career—share space with neon-green crepe socks, reminders of a failed black-market scam. And in curious juxtaposition, the belt from a prison guard’s uniform lies next to a stained jacket that once belonged to Fernand Léger.Imbued with a comic nostalgia overlaid with Dovlatov’s characteristically dry wit, The Suitcase is an intensely human, delightfully ironic novel from “the finest Soviet satirist to appear in English since Vladimir Voinovich.”

    Told in the same fanciful, irreverent style as the Hitchhiker trilogy, with scraps of scripts, letters and comments from Adams, Don't Panic is the perfect companion to one of the most successful series in publishing history.

    Bawdy, funny, touching, and downright outrageous, there's simply no one else like Roald Dahl.This volume is a diabolical collection of 28 of Dahl's best stories. Shiver to classics like The Man From the South, Taste, Royal Jelly and The Great Switcheroo and hard-to-find gems like Poison, The Wish and Neck. It's the perfect remedy for a sleepless night. From Someone Like YouTasteLamb to the SlaughterMan from the SouthThe SoldierDip in the PoolGalloping FoxleySkinPoisonWishNeckSound MachineNunc DimittisGreat Automatic GrammatizatorClaud's DogRatcatcherRumminsMr HoddyMr FeaseyFrom Kiss KissLandladyWilliam and MaryThe Way Up to HeavenRoyal JellyGeorgy PorgyGenesis and CatastropheEdward the ConquerorPigChampion of the WorldFrom Switch BitchGreat SwitcherooLast ActBitch

    After leaving the Soviet Union following a series of unsatisfying relationships, Marusya Tatarovich quickly becomes the center of the Russian community in Queens, New York, but finds that it mirrors in many ways the community she left behind

    It uncovers the slow maturing of love and trust between two loners in a hard world.

    But no animal was dearer to his heart, and no animal provided him with more heartwarming and wonderful tales. With over a million copies sold, James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories has inspired dog lovers the world over. After being out of print for many years, it is now again available in an affordable, beautifully repackaged hardcover edition, filled with original watercolors that illustrate Herriot's charming and wholesome tales. This classic heartwarming collection of ten stories about dogs - from border collies and sheepdogs to the exploits of Tricki Woo, the unforgettable Pekinese - by the late author of All Creatures Great and Small is prefaced by a moving introduction from Herriot himself - the very last piece of writing the beloved author ever completed. So, follow the master veterinarian as he journeys through Yorkshire, caring for big dogs and small with his characteristic gentleness and peace, profound observation, and deep, loving humor.A warm and joyful collection of James Herriot’s loving tales of our furry friends. From delightful old favorites like Tricki Woo to heartwarming stories of Brandy, Hermann, Jock, and more. James Herriot’s Favorite Dog Stories is a must-have for any dog lover.Contains:“Tricki Woo Goes Crackerdog” * “Prince and the Card Above the Bed” * “Jock Top Dog” * Tricki Woo “A Triumph of Surgery” * “Jake Rides into Town”* Gyp “Only One Woof” * Roy “From Rags to Riches” * Tricki Woo “A Judge of Form” * Hermann “A Happy Ending” * Brandy “The Dustbin Dog”

    Jane Wagner's masterpiece--The first play in more than 20 years to become a national bestseller--is now a motion picture!In this satire, a form all too lacking in American theater, Trudy the bag lady, Wagner's central character, tries to explain modern American material society to an alien (i.e., interstellar) committee.

    Grin, giggle, and guffaw your way through this celebrated cartoonist's graphic commentary of contemporary lesbian life.

    This hilarious collection of essays by the offbeat writer and director is a treat for fans of the "Pope of Trash" and the perfect introduction for those who have not yet discovered his eccentric charms.

    and Mrs. Porcupine name their baby Lance? Needleroozer? Quillian? Perhaps they should, but they don't. Instead they decide on the unlikely name of Fluffy. Fluffy's name is a source of sorrow to the sharp-quilled youngster, until he meets and befriends a rhinoceros named . . . Hippo! Munsinger's bright, cheery pictures are as whimsical as Lester's delightfully silly text. Together, they create nicely absurd images, such as a scene in which Fluffy and Hippo roll on the ground, laughing so hard that they start to cry. Lester and Munsingerwho have collaborated on other picture bookstell a sweet story with joyful exuberance.

    The child of two alcoholic parents, Burnett presents a sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking coming-of-age: from her sadly hopeful mother, who was hooked on Tinseltown fantasy, to the first signs of her own comic gift; from happy weekends spent with her father, to their last tragic meeting in a public sanatorium. Featuring a new Afterword by the author, about teaming up with her daughter to bring this story to Broadway, One More Time is an intimate, touching, and astonishing narrative of a financially desperate but emotionally rich childhood on the wrong side of Hollywood’s tracks.

    Seuss creates a classic picture-book ode to aging in You're Only Old Once! On a visit to "the Golden Years Clinic on Century Square for Spleen Readjustment and Muffler Repair," readers will laugh with familiar horror at the poking and prodding and testing and ogling that go hand in hand with the dreaded appellation of "senior citizen." Though Dr. Seuss is known for his peerless work in books for children, this comical look at what it's like to get older is ideal for Seuss fans of advanced years. In his own words, this is "a book for obsolete children." A perfect gift for retirement, birthdays, and holidays!

    When Interflux decides to build a factory on the grounds of Simon's high school, Simon "reinvests" the Student Council's funds and decides to fight for his school.

    Includes: Another Fine Myth Myth Conceptions Myth Directions Hit or MythFrom dust jacket: What does a half-trained apprentice magician do when his master is killed while conjuring up a demon - leaving him to face a green, pointy-eared creature with razor-sharp teeth? If the place is Klah and the apprentice is Skeeve, the answer is clear: Set off on a riotous odyssey through a universe where magic and science combine to create more trouble - and more laughs - than man or beast can imagine. Another Fine Myth introduces Skeeve to the green-skinned Aahz, dimension-traveler from Perv, who, it turns out, isn't such a bad fellow after all. Stripped temporarily of his powers, the pointy-eared Pervert (that's Pervect, he insists) offers to complete Skeeve's training and help him track down his master's murderer. The killer, a nasty sort of fellow from the dimension of Imper, is scheming to dominate the universe by controlling all magik. But Aahz and Skeeve, impervious to the Imp's charms, aim to stand in his way. Myth Conceptions finds Skeeve applying for the job of Court Magician in Possiltum. The cushy job Aahz has promised becomes quite something else, however, when Possiltum's tight-fisted rulers give Skeeve his first assignment: stop the virtually invincible army of the invading Empire...singlehanded. In Myth Directions, former Assassin Tanda takes Skeeve on a whirlwind tour of the other dimensions to find the perfect birthday present for her old friend Aahz. They find it on the planet Jahk: an enormous toadlike trophy that is the prize in the annual game between the rival cities of Veygas and Ta-hoe. When they're caught stealing it, Aahz and his teammates must take to the field in one of the zaniest sports competitions of all time - with Tanda's life hanging in the balance. Hit or Myth finds Aahz returning to Perv and Skeeve duped into standing in for a cowardly king wo's about to marry the ruthless, bloodthirsty, promiscuous Queen Hemlock. And with Don Bruce's irate Mob pressing their own impossible demands as well, Skeeve had better think fast.... Join Robert Lynn Asprin's engaging menagerie of wizards, demons, kings, dragons, gremlins, gargoyles and dimension-hopping gangsters. Even the most serious lover of fantasy won't be able to resist the spell of these myths. Jacket art by Walter Velez.

    Skeeve and Aahz return in the hilarious (and visually fantastic) Myth Adventures Two—the conclusion to the graphic novel adaptation of Robert Asprin's Another Fine Myth.

    After accidentally becoming the star of University of Alabama's football team, Forrest goes on to become a Vietnam War hero, a world-class Ping-Pong player, a villainous wrestler, and a business tycoon -- as he wonders with childlike wisdom at the insanity all around him. In between misadventures, he manages to compare battle scars with Lyndon Johnson, discover the truth about Richard Nixon, and survive the ups and downs of remaining true to his only love, Jenny, on an extraordinary journey through three decades of the American cultural landscape. Forrest Gump has one heck of a story to tell -- and you've got to read it to believe it...

    His two-legged companion is Mark. This is a heroic study of survival against the odds, as together they take a journey, up hill and down dale, with rucksacks full of kennomeat, along Britain's longest coastal footpath - from Somerset to Devon, from Cornwall to Dorset.

    Paul's attempts to adjust to New York City life are thwarted at his high school, nicknamed Don't Care High, until his manipulation of a new Student Council president wakes up the apathetic student body.

    This is the book that revealed to the world what really happened behind the scenes during the first ten years of this groundbreaking program, from the battles SNL fought with NBC to the battles fought within the show itself. It's all here: The love affairs, betrayals, rivalries, drug problems, overnight successes, and bitter failures, mixed with the creation of some of the most outrageous and original comedy ever. "It reads like a thriller," said the Associated Press, "and may be the best book ever written about television." Available for the first time in ebook format, this edition features nearly fifty photographs of cast, crew and sketches.

    This is a compelling, often hilarious portrait of a loving man who faced failure but always remained an inspiration to his son. "A sad book, a funny book, a very human book".--The Courier-Times.

    The outrageous humor of cult favorite and syndicated cartoonist Lynda Barry--one of the world's "shrewdest chroniclers of sex, love and romance" (Mother Jones).

    8 page of photos.

    Left behind is a mysterious list of seven outrageous tasks that Raleigh must perform in order to rescue his father and his inheritance. And so Raleigh and fat Mingo Sheffield (his irrepressibly loyal friend) set off on an uproarious contemporary treasure hunt through a landscape of unforgettable characters, falling into adventures worthy of Tom Jones and Huck Finn. A moving parable of human love and redemption, Handling Sin is Michael Malone's comic masterpiece.

    They and the critics agree that a trip to see any one of this master of comedy's stage triumphs ranks among the most wonderful experiences that the American theater offers. The eight plays in this, the second volume of The Collected PLays of Neil Simon, bear eloquent witness to the unique genius of this master playwright who so magnificently blends the joy of laughter and the love of life.

    

    A collection of satires by Harishankar Parsai, who is known for his famous satirical stories, including Bholaram ka Jeev.

    Drawings

    Here's great news for the more than three million people who read and loved Peg Bracken's classic I Hate To Cook Book and its two successors: Peg is back with her very best recipe tips and advice. In a text that is both highly informative and hilarious, she covers everything from shopping to diets to kids to parties to picnics to full meals and more.

    It follows her through her eventual marriage to Corny, and the joys and trials of being a wife, and a mother to six-year-old twins, Rose Mary and David.

     This book is a comprehensive ‘backstage look’ at the making of this historic TV show – how the writers contrived that delicious misinterpretation of Gracie’s world; the real Gracie and George vs. the characters they play; and an early look at broadcast television - kinescopes, then the coaxial cable – and loaded with George’s comedic wisdom and dialog from the series! The comedy is timeless. The genius behind the show may have been George Burns, who played the "straight man," but the one who got the laughs was Gracie, whose "illogical logic" made the show catch on like wildfire.

    

    is a collection of Drew Friedman’s earliest comic strips and illustrations, featuring his most obsessively stippled black-and-white panels and his most hilarious wise-guy takes on the stars and demi-stars and never-quite-stars of that swamp we like to call showbiz.In these strips, many of them written by his brother Josh Alan Friedman (both are sons of the legendary Bruce Jay Friedman: humor genes will tell!), the artist works out his obsession with such celebrities as Jim Nabors, Frank Sinatra Jr., Joe Franklin, Bob Hope, Andy Griffith... and Ed Wood, Jr. film star Tor Johnson, whom Friedman actually catapulted back into some sort of semi-fame when these strips were first published in the 1980s.Friedman is the kind of pop-culture aficionado whose Three Stooges worship is focused not on Moe, Larry or Curly but on Shemp (whose unmistakable mug graces the new cover of this edition), and whose teasing adoration can often be mistaken for mockery or contempt. But who but a worshipful fan would lavish quite so many dots on the loving delineation of these greats’ every pimple and wrinkle?

    Included are "Sex and Death at the Age of 14," "Booze, Cars, and College Girls," "47 Beds," "Nobody Wanted to Sit Behind a Desk," "Travels through New England," and "Terror of Pleasure: The House." Also includes a preface by the author.

    

    For novel upon novel, the Rat has outfoxed the forces of conventionality, cutting a stylish swathe through dozens of star systems-and stealing the hearts of thousands of readers.Now three of the Rat's greatest exploits are collected in a single volume. In A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born, we see the origin and early days of Jim DiGriz's brilliant criminal career, as our underworld hero is forced to work for the Good Guys. Conscripted again in The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted, this time into a planetary army, the Rat must avenge the murder of his mentor-in-crime. And in The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues, Slippery Jim must retrieve a missing alien artifact, while disguised as a futuristic rock-and-roller...or forfeit his life.

    The brand-new edition, revised and expanded, includes dozens of new definitions.

    She discusses the behaviour of children and animals, horticulture and neighbours to the ability of the domestic appliance to do its own thing

    The original four short stories introducing the controlled anarchy of planet New Hong Kong and hero Buck Godot, the futuristic gun-for-hire who is "always available, but never free..."

    Seuss, here is a compendium of his work--a picture book, a reference book and a biography all in one volume. More than 250 photographs, sketches and drawings.

    It's another Cold War caper, featuring Eroica, the Major, and the return of the Major's old KGB rival, Mischa the Bear Cub. In "The Seventh Seal," Iron Klaus must stop an aggressive attempt by the Russians to close the West's lead in computer technology by stealing a top-secret item known only as The Black Box. His mission takes him to Liechtenstein to infiltrate a KGB front company. Into the middle of this operation inevitably waltzes Eroica, crashing a private event in a Liechtenstein castle, in disguise as an enchanting countess.

    Cartoons offer a humorous look at hunters, doctors, thieves, fishermen, job applicants, UFOs, zoos, marriage, cavemen, prisoners, pets, beginning drivers, musicians, waitresses, weddings, and dentists.

    A long-awaited introduction to the work of a fantastic and friendly mind, featuring drawings that are not only intelligent and funny but also beautifully rendered.

    The show is a fund raiser put on by the Little Sisters of Hoboken to raise money to bury sisters accidently poisoned by the convent cook, Sister Julia (Child of God). Up dated with new jokes, additional lyrics, two new arrangements and a brand new song, this zany musi

    Includes American comic strips featuring the character of Sylvia who offers her opinions on subjects ranging from spot slimming to international disarmament.

    Where better to recuperate than a villa on the Algarve, working as cook for a brilliant London heart surgeon on his research sabbatical. Warned of Rafe Harland's reputation as a heart breaker, Ellie's defences are resolutely in place.But he will prove more potent than any virus! And a broken heart is one he is totally unqualified to cure...

    In this book, selections from his best, wittiest, and most profound work in every area have been gathered together for the first time. The excerpts from the published and never-before-published work range from one-liners to memorable on-screen exchanges to essays, and are drawn from Woody's stand-up routines (which have never appeared in print before), his classic New Yorker pieces, his screenplays, film outtakes, magazine articles, plays, and interviews. Here is vintage Woody Allen on the topics that have dominated his work for more than thirty years: Intellectuals ("They're like the Mafia, they only kill their own"); Analysts ("My poor analyst got so frustrated. The guy finally put in a salad bar"); Love ("Should I marry W.? Not if she won't tell me the other letters in her name"); Work ("Show business is dog eat dog. It's worse than dog eat dog. It's dog doesn't return dog's phone calls"); Death ("I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve it through not dying"); and much more. Here is marvelous dialogue from twenty-six original screenplays, including Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, Bananas, Take the Money and Run, Play It Again, Sam, Broadway Danny Rose, Zelig, Radio Days, Manhattan, Husbands and Wives, and all the others. Here are highlights from monologues, including the first one he ever recorded in March, 1964; Woody dicussing his grandfather ("On his deathbed he sold me this pocket watch"); remembering a moth who ate his sports jacket; and telling the now-classic tale of the time he shot a moose. Also included are excerpts from more than sixty essays: "No Kaddish for Weinstein," "Confessions of a Burglar," "The UFO Menace," "The Discovery and Use of the Fake Ink Blot," "A Guide to Some of the Lesser Ballets," and "If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists," in which a distraught Dutch dentist named Vincent writes in anguish t

    Now you can TOUCH and FEEL the Yuppie world!

    When a night-roaming monster is seen in various sections of the city, few people suspect that it is the creation of the local bagel maker, Harold Frankenbagel.

    Harrison's tale is compelling, full of suspense, humor and wonderful descriptions of Amazon wildlife, all told in down-to-earth unpretentious language with disarming honesty. His quest is ambitious, exciting and, ultimately, flawed.

    Examines the nature, forms, and dynamics of self-hate and compassion, regarded as the strongest anti-therapeutic and therapeutic forces, respectively, and reevaluates society's more important destructive cultural values and conventions

    

    Creating a sort of periodic table of the southern populace, Southern Folk, Plain and Fancy catalogs and describes the several social types--gentleman and lady, "lord of the lash" and cunning belle, fun-loving "good old boy," depraved redneck, and other figures--that have animated the region since antebellum times.

    Fully illustrated with never-before-published photographs, the book chronicles the history of all, including interviews with the veterans. The filmography covers all of the 526 two-reelers: credits, date, synopsis.

    Cinderella left her glass slipper behind at the stroke of midnight, she was clearly acting in a state of rebellion against the dictatorial regimentation of the domineering fairy godmother.It's true. Members of the psychiatric community are capable of laughter. The Journal of Polymorphous Perversity, the brainchild of psychologist Glenn C. Ellenbogen, has received confirmed reports of uncontrollable outbursts of laughter as the pages of the scholarly parody are sampled.Now patients, professionals, and armchair travelers alike can enjoy the articles that have appeared in this hilarious journal in one hilarious anthology, including such profound and penetrating subjects as " New Improved Delusions, " " The Scale of Mental Abilities Requiring Thinking Somewhat (SMARTS), " " Cancer and Tobacco: A Bum Rat, " and more. Learn how psychoanalysts diagnose patients by the way they park their cars in the mental health clinic lot and how to apply the practical principles of Vigilante Effectiveness Training (VET) in daily life." For the Jung at heart " --New York Daily News

    

    TRAPS FORE contains over 100 civil rights violations never before seen outside certain South American "democracies" or the frozen wastes of Western Siberia. So just as the brave adventurers out there thought they had danced their way through the last of Grimtooth's previous offerings, and started whistling songs of good fortune, the Piper has come to be paid again! The traps within this book are presented without game mechanics of any kind. The nature, cause and effect of each trap has been described with excrutiating attention to detail so each game master can easily introduce these marvels of mayhem into his or her campaign with the ease of a stilleto sliding between ribs. For example: Slipshod Operation. Here the delvers discover a strong wooden door with the carefully lettered sign "Authorized Personnel Only" on it. This will not stop the delvers, of course, but all their efforts to open the door wil fail until someone gets exasperated enough to throw his weight against the door in a last ditch attempt to open it. That's when things get interesting...

    Ernie Mickler’s much-imitated sugarsnap-pea prose style accompanies delicacies like Tutti’s Fancy Fruited Porkettes, Mock-Cooter Stew, and Oven-Baked Possum; stalwart sides like Bette’s Sister-in-Law’s Deep-Fried Eggplant and Cracklin’ Corn Pone; waste-not leftover fare like Four-Can Deep Tuna Pie and Day-Old Fried Catfish; and desserts with a heavy dash of Dixie, like Irma Lee Stratton’s Don’t-Miss Chocolate Dump Cake and Charlotte’s Mother’s Apple Charlotte.

    

    country cowboys and city slickers, astronauts and suburbanites, break dancers and board chairmen all examined in weird and wonderful ways through the C"fractured lens' of Bizarro. A strip for the counter culture in all of us."-- "Vancouver Sun

    These "lost epsiodes" virtually triple the number of show available to fans. National syndication of these episodes in fall 1986. Photographs throughout.

    

    Full-color illustration.

    They approach the subject from philosophical, religious, anthropological, and historical perspectives as well as from the psychological point of view. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and literary theorists will find the book provocative and a convenient reference source to the narrative approach.

    

    

    

    A collection of 400 poems arranged in eighteen thematic sections.

    This superb collection of 500 English word origins is the perfect book for browsers, students and word aficionados. 34 woodcut illustrations.