Book picks similar to
Adventures of an Elephant Boy by Leonard Wibberley


satire
short-and-sweet
social-commentary
adult-fiction

The Christmas Gift


R. William Bennett - 2009
    He has been held back five years in a row; he was exposed to nuclear radiation as a child; he was raised in the woods by bears. So went the many assessments of Ben Jackson by his sixth-grade peers. Over-sized and under-niced , Ben was the school bully. As the school year begins, new student Scott stands up to Ben, and as a result, becomes Ben s new daily target. From the annoying comments to the humiliating pranks, Ben assures a day doesn't pass without making Scott's life miserable. But in this story of forgiveness, tolerance, and unconditional love, both Scott and Ben make a remarkable transformation that will leave you with a fresh understanding of the meaning of Christmas in your life.

Ecochondriacs: The No-Quarter November Novel


Douglas Wilson - 2020
    Helen Gardner accidentally reads an email from the International Task Force on Climate Change which proves that global warming is a lucrative scam, she's shocked and horrified.But that's nothing compared to how she feels the next day when her boss (the head of the Task Force) tries to have her killed.Helen goes into hiding with the help of her neighbor, a "fundy" Bible college professor named Cody, and an anti-eco-activist lumberjack-writer.But Helen's scandal isn't the only headline floating to the surface: the Democrat presidential candidate gets career-changing news; his running mate hits rock bottom after years of infidelity; the current Republican VP's past sins won't stay hidden forever.And Cody is about to uncover some dirt of his own.

Stolen by Her Mountain Men


Shae Sullivan - 2020
    . .ClarissaI’ve never been the marrying kind.I’m too busy helping my dad run the family ranch, for love or relationships.But when his health suddenly starts to fail—so does our entire livelihood.And it’s just the opportunity the slimy, Lloyd Howell has been waiting for.Not only does he hire all our best hand’s away, but he’s backed me into a corner.The only way to save everything I’ve ever loved, is to marry this snake of a man.It looks like Lloyd is gonna get exactly what he wants from me—until they show up.Harlan and Duke McKenzie.These brawny, rugged brothers steal me away from my own wedding and from any chance I had of saving my family.I’m half furious . . . half relieved . . . and mostly confused as hell.Trapped at their mountain compound for days, just the three of us, and I’m starting to feel things I shouldn’t.Now, all that anger is morphing into panty-melting desire.Hot, twisted desire for not just one brother—but two.Harlan/DukeHonorable men.That’s what we usually are . . . but not today.Why? Because today, we’re stealing a bride away from her own wedding.Not that this feisty beauty should be marrying this fool of a man anyway.But as they say, ‘desperate times call for desperate measures.’And things have never been more desperate.Lloyd ‘piece of sh*t’ Howell has weaseled his way into marrying the one woman who could upend our lives.Not only would their union devastate our beloved McKenzie Mountain and turn it into a rival logging operation; but it would force the one woman we want, into the bed of another man.Like hell we’re gonna let that happen.So we’re whisking her away in the hopes of stopping this mess.We had it all planned out.At least we thought we did.But we're starting to realize . . . you can’t plan for a woman like Clarissa Banks.Stolen by Her Mountain Men is a standalone heart-pounding, sizzling-hot, action-packed MFM Mountain Man Menage Romance. If you like dominant, tough males who know where to bury their axes . . . this book is for you!

Mystery in the Village


Rebecca Shaw - 2015
    He's intent on convincing her to pursue a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - in America. What's more, it looks like Caroline's career isn't the only thing Morgan is interested in.Newlyweds Chris and Deborah Templeton seem to be the perfect union. The old, unpredictable Chris has been replaced by a kinder and gentler man, yet he's still plagued by doubt. Where does Deborah disappear to for days on end? Why won't she tell her husband? After the tragic death of his young grandson, Ron Bissett is further devastated when he loses his wife. Sheila Bissett has taken her own life, and no one can fathom why. But when an unexpected letter is received, it soon becomes clear that Sheila was hiding far darker secrets than anyone ever knew.

The Subgenius Psychlopaedia of Slack: The Bobliographon


J.R. "Bob" Dobbs - 2006
    Scientific Shaman. Big Brother Au-Go-Go. He sits comfortably at the apex of the pyramid of worldly knowledge, twiddling his thumbs. His word, according to followers, is The Word, and that word is Slack. Beyond science, reason — and orgasm — find in Bobliography instant instructions for those who follow no master. The third installment of the holy SubGenius books, Bobliography is an uproarious send-up of all things cult. In addition to providing a guide for Eternal Salvation (or triple your money back), Bobliography is the encapsulated history of the SubGenius "movement" — from its beginnings in the 1980s to the growing Internet empire it has lately become — and also the essential, comprehensive collection of SubGenius lore. A Whole Earth catalog for the Deeply Weird, a Farmer's Almanac for the Truly Strange — Bobliography is the revelation of the millennium.

The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzmán


Louis de Bernières - 1992
    But this unruly utopia is imperiled when the demon-harried Cardinal Guzmán decides to inaugurate a new Inquisition, with Cochadebajo as its ultimate target.       On his side, the Cardinal has an army of fanatics who are all too willing to destroy bodies in order to save souls. The Cochadebajeros have precious little ammunition, unless you count chef Dolores's incendiary Chicken of a True Man, and a civil defense that deems nothing more crucial than the act of love. Part epic, part farce, The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzmán confirms de Bernières's reputation as England's answer to Gabriel García Márquez.

Kaleidoscope


Darryl Wimberley - 2008
    With debts to dangerous men piling up, he becomes an unwilling recruit for a Cincinnati gangster needing an expendable tool to recover his stolen cash and railroad bonds.

A Month of Sundays


John Updike - 1974
    At a desert retreat dedicated to rest, recreation, and spiritual renewal, this fortyish serial fornicator is required to keep a journal whose thirty-one weekly entries constitute the book you now hold in your hand. In his wonderfully overwrought style he lays bare his soul and his past—his marriage to the daughter of his ethics professor, his affair with his organist, his antipathetic conversations with his senile father and his bisexual curate, his golf scores, his poker hands, his Biblical exegeses, and his smoldering desire for the directress of the retreat, the impregnable Ms. Prynne. A testament for our times.

The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson/Those Extraordinary Twins


Mark Twain - 1894
    It began life as a slapstick comedy about Siamese twins, but as he wrote, something deepened. "The tale kept spreading along, and spreading along, and other people got to intruding themselves and taking up more and more time with their talk and their affairs. It changed from a farce to a tragedy while I was going along with it," Twain wrote in his frank afternote to the novel. In the end, the voice that comes to dominate the tale is Roxana's, a light-skinned slave who switches her infant son with her master's son to keep him from being sold down the river. Roxana, Twain's most complex and fully-realized adult female character, is a compelling and memorable tragic heroine, trapped with her son by the brutal system of slavery and by their own inescapable racial identities. At his best, Twain is the most uniquely American of writers, and it is inevitable that his best work revolves around the issues of race and of slavery embedded in the American psyche. The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson is a dark and powerful novel of race in America, written by the American master.

Toward That Which Is Beautiful


Marian O'Shea Wernicke - 2020
    Desperate and afraid of her feelings for an Irish priest with whom she has been working, she spends eight days on the run, encountering a variety of characters along the way: a cynical Englishman who helps her out; a suspicious Peruvian police officer who takes her in for questioning; and two American Peace Corps workers who befriend her. As Kate traverses this dangerous physical journey through Peru, she also embarks upon an interior journey of self-discovery―one that leads her somewhere she never could have expected.

Les Faux Fuyants


Françoise Sagan - 1991
    However, the elderly dowager, the homosexual diplomat, the society wife and her lover, all slowly adapt to their new lives under his wily direction.

Bastard Out of Carolina / Two or Three Things I Know For Sure


Dorothy Allison - 1995
    Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina (1992) and Two Or Three Things I Know For Sure (1995) under one cover.

Harrison Bergeron


Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - 1961
    Because of Amendments 211, 212, and 213 to the Constitution, every American is fully equal, meaning that no one is stupider, uglier, weaker, or slower than anyone else. The Handicapper General and a team of agents ensure that the laws of equality are enforced.One April, fourteen-year-old Harrison Bergeron is taken away from his parents, George and Hazel, by the government.

To the Moon and Back


Jill Mansell - 2011
    But eventually she’s ready for a new start – at work, that is. She doesn’t need a new man when she has a certain secret visitor to keep her company...Zack McLaren seems to have it all, but the girl he can’t stop thinking about won’t give him a second glance. If only she’d pay him the same attention she lavishes on his dog.Moving to North London, Ellie meets neighbour Roo who has a secret of her own. Can the girls sort out their lives? Guilt is a powerful emotion, but a lot can happen in a year in Primrose Hill...

A Good Distance


Sarah Willis - 2004
    Now the award-winning author delivers a heartrending story about mothers and daughters doing their best to negotiate the distance between freedom and love. Jennifer's mother, Rose, belongs in a home. At least that's what everyone else thinks. But Jennifer has walked away from her mother too many times already, and this is one duty she intends to fulfill herself. So she takes a leave of absence from her job and invites Rose to live with her and her family. Jennifer's teenage daughter and new husband can hardly tolerate Rose and her short temper, but Jennifer is desperate to know about the memories drifting in and out of her mother's reach, sometimes comforting her, sometimes tormenting her. Jennifer longs to use these memories to help rebuild her mother's life--to remind herself, and her mother, what went wrong, so she can ask for forgiveness--or is it the other way around?