It introduces preemptive opening bids, overcalls and takeout doubles.

    We all know one! They like to groan and grumble, offering their own commentary on the shortcomings of modern life. Whether it is queues at the supermarket, the state of the health system, the price of a pint these days, the hairstyles of teenagers, or the number of Maltesers you actually get in a bag, there is always something that will get their goat. 'The Grumpy Old Git's Guide to Life' is a hilarious celebration of all these grumps, how to identify one, what exactly they find so irritating and why we find their rants quite so amusing.

    Goddard takes readers on a tour through the works of William Shakespeare, celebrating his incomparable plays and unsurpassed literary genius.

    With elegance, humor, and sophistication, Gardner describes the life of a working novelist; warns what needs to be guarded against, both from within the writer and from without; and predicts what the writer can reasonably expect and what, in general, he or she cannot. "For a certain kind of person," Gardner writes, "nothing is more joyful or satisfying than the life of a novelist." But no other vocation, he is quick to add, is so fraught with professional and spiritual difficulties. Whether discussing the supposed value of writer's workshops, explaining the role of the novelist's agent and editor, or railing against the seductive fruits of literary elitism, On Becoming a Novelist is an indispensable, life-affirming handbook for anyone authentically called to the profession. "A miraculously detailed account of the creative process."—Anne Tyler, Baltimore Sun

    Television shows and newspaper articles often gloss over the shocking details because it may be too grisly for the average viewer or reader.When researching these stories, I commonly use actual police reports, court documents, and first-hand descriptions. Some of the details can be disconcerting. I do my best to not leave out any of the details in my books, no matter how depraved they may be. My intent is not to shock, but to show precisely how twisted the mind of a killer can be.That being said, if you are overly squeamish, this may not be the book for you. If you’re okay with it, then let’s proceed.Volume 5 features: longer stories, more photos, a bonus chapter, and an online appendix with additional photos, videos, and documents. Volume Five features twelve of the most incomprehensible stories of the last fifty years.

    But photography has surely changed during these many decades. The rigs and gear of old have given way-first slowly, then all at once-to sleek miracle machines that process pixels and have made the darkroom obsolete. The casual photog puts eye to lens, sets everything on auto and captures a photograph that is . . . perfectly fine. One of LIFE's master shooters-in fact, the final in the long line of distinguished LIFE staff photographers-was Joe McNally, and he has always believed that with a little preparation and care, with a dash of enthusiasm and daring added to the equation, anyone can make a better photo-anyone can turn a "keeper" into a treasure. This was true in days of yore, and it's true in the digital age. Your marvelous new camera, fresh from its box, can indeed perform splendid feats. Joe explains in this book how to take best advantage of what it was designed to do, and also when it is wise to outthink your camera or push your camera-to go for the gold, to create that indelible family memory that you will have blown up as large as the technology will allow, and that will hang on the wall forevermore. As the storied LIFE photographer and photo editor John Loengard points out in his eloquent foreword to this volume, there are cameras and there are cameras, and they've always been able to do tricks. And then there is photography. Other guides may give you the one, two, three of producing a reasonably well exposed shot, but Joe McNally and the editors of LIFE can give you that, and then can show you how to make a picture. In a detailed, friendly, conversational, anecdotal, sometimes rollicking way, that's what they do in these pages. Prepare to click.

    It is a story about last chances, about crafting solutions from the wreckage of a devastated place, and about the high cost, emotionally and physically, of hope in the presence of despair. Writing from the Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana, the wildest valley in the Lower 48, Rick Bass portrays the plight of the artist deeply embedded in a place he loves. The author asks how a writer survives amidst the destruction of the natural world around him, if, like Bass, the writer must struggle passionately to protect a place like the Yaak from devastation. As a work of fiction, "Fiber" elegantly follows the life of the narrator as he evolves from the geologist who takes, to the artist who gives, to the activist who fights, and finally to the troubling and magical 'log fairy.'

    Each work of literature featured here is a seminal work key to understanding and appreciating the written word.The featured works have been handpicked by a team of international critics and literary luminaries, including Derek Attridge (world expert on James Joyce), Cedric Watts (renowned authority on Joseph Conrad and Graham Greene), Laura Marcus (noted Virginia Woolf expert), and David Mariott (poet and expert on African-American literature), among some twenty others.Addictive, browsable, knowledgeable--1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die will be a boon companion for anyone who loves good writing and an inspiration for anyone who is just beginning to discover a love of books. Each entry is accompanied by an authoritative yet opinionated critical essay describing the importance and influence of the work in question. Also included are publishing history and career details about the authors, as well as reproductions of period dust jackets and book designs.

    “Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats” is a fun, inspiring and humorous read you'll enjoy from cover to cover, full of useful and encouraging words of wisdom from 27 women who made the move and couldn’t be happier. In inspiring words straight from the heart, the contributors share their plans and preparations, hardships and challenges, joys and satisfactions as their new lives in Mexico unfold.

    The bookstore or library is half full of that kind of crap. What you're holding here is a collection of quips and observations with a refreshingly gloomy, sometimes twisted, always funny take on life. Or lack thereof.With illustrations by renowned artist Brian Andreas, this book is a glimpse inside the humorously askew mind of a writer whose witticisms have been featured on NPR, printed onto t-shirts, performed on stage in Germany, and posted online at the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times. He's been named one of the top funniest people on Twitter by the likes of Maxim, MSNBC and Mashable.

    We are in an era where entire businesses are built on Instagram; kids in their bedrooms are racking up tens of millions of YouTube views; bloggers are becoming millionaires from their kitchen tables, and businesses are getting more attention from a viral video than a Super Bowl ad. But in a space that moves so fast, how can businesses keep up - let alone compete? And how do you make sure that your activity is profitable? Whether it’s building a targeted fanbase, selling more of your products & services or serving customers, every piece of your social media marketing campaign should be making you money. Combining the ‘holy grail’ marketing principles from some of history’s most successful marketers with the very latest social media strategies gives savvy businesses of all size a chance to ‘do’ social media in an entirely new way. Gone are the days of fumbling around in the dark. The new era is about testing, measuring and profit. From the psychological triggers that make us buy; employing social proof to stand out; using (and faking) controversy to sell more or just simply demonstrating your true competitive advantage, profitable social media marketing is here. As Head Ninja at Exposure Ninja, Tim Cameron-Kitchen has personally worked with hundreds of businesses of all shapes and sizes, and seen first hand how doing the right things on social media can transform a business. Yvonne Ivanescu came to Exposure Ninja from one of the world’s highest profile marketing agencies, and brought her brand experience to help business on the front line. This book is the distillation of everything that makes a profitable campaign, laid out in step-by-step instructions for you to follow and apply to your own business - whatever your size or market. So whether you’re a local plumber looking to pick up leads from Twitter, or an independent e-commerce site wanting the attention of influential bloggers, the strategies and profitable shortcuts for entrepreneur-run businesses in this book will give you a chance to compete in competitive markets where time and budget is of the essence.

    In this pocket version of his bestselling Life Without Diabetes, Professor Roy Taylor offers a brilliantly concise explanation of what happens to us when we get type 2 and how we can escape it.Taylor's research has demonstrated that type 2 is caused by just one factor - too much internal fat in the liver and pancreas - and that to reverse it you need to strip this harmful internal fat out with rapid weight loss.In simple, accessible language, Taylor takes you through the three steps of his clinically proven Newcastle weight loss plan and shows how to incorporate the programme into your life.Complete with FAQs and inspirational tips from his trial participants, this is an essential read for anyone who has been given a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes and wants to understand their condition and transform their outcomes.

    To Hogshire, pills are the quintessence of Western culture, embodying our desires, fears, ambivalence about life and death, health and freedom -- as well as our faith in the quick fix.Hogshire muses on pill naming and marketing, presents up-to-the-minute pill news, and discusses celebrities and their pills of choice. Along the way, he provides histories of drug manufacturers and examines how pills are the product of decades of scientific exploration and the result of billions of dollars in research.

    Showalter is one of the few scholars who can make her readers rush to their bookshelves to refute her point, or simply to experience again Jane Eyre, The Mill on the Floss, or the bitterly illuminating stories of Katherine Mansfield. Her chief innovation is to place the works of famous women writers beside those of the minor or forgotten, building a continuity of influence and inspiration as well as a more complete picture of the social conditions in which women's books have been produced. She has added a new introduction recounting, with justifiable pleasure, how daring and controversial her study seemed when it first appeared in 1977 (and how many enemies it made her). In an afterword, she touches on more recent developments in the women's novel in Britain, including the influence of the dazzling Angela Carter. --Regina Marler

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