Comedy Essays

Thunder at Twilight is a landmark historical vision, drawing on hitherto untapped sources to illuminate two crucial years in the life of the extraordinary city of Vienna—and in the life of the twentieth century. It was during the carnival of 1913 that a young Stalin arrived in Vienna on a...

Heralding the arrival of a stunning new voice in American fiction, Robin Black’s If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This takes readers into the minds and hearts of people navigating the unsettling transitions that life presents to us all. Written with maturity and insight, and in beautiful...

“I was raised Lutheran: Bible-believing, Jesus-loving Lutheran. But as an adult I tried everything: Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Rock ‘n’ Roll Slackers 4 Jesus, Actors for Yahweh. Then I said, ‘Screw it’ and became a drunk and a slut. Well, a Lutheran slut–I slept with...

In the 1970's Rajesh Khanna achieved the kind of fame that no film star had ever experienced before or has since. But then he saw it all vanish. They say superstardom destroyed him. But was it something else buried deep in his past? In this riveting biography, award winning journalist Yasser...

Faux history of North Carolina's outer banks.

Every relationship requires effort but a long-distance relationship requires extra effort Aditya is a writer while the mere thought of reading repels Jasmine. They have absolutely nothing in common. Not even the cities they live in. Yet nothing can stop them from falling head over heels for each...

A memoir about writing a novel about searching for love. Is romance dead? Is that why there are so many vampires in today's romance novels? When Avi Steinberg's love life took a grim turn, he did what he always does: He consulted his old books, the usual cast of Great (Very Serious, Usually...

The making of a writer Ruskin Bond's first full-fledged autobiographical book covers his formative years,' till the age of twenty-one. The world of Anglo-India, with all its conflicting pulls, comes alive as he tells his story. His earliest memoirs are bitter-sweet, and relate to Jamnager where...

What is it like to be known as Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi's daughter? Or to have a mother as famous as Sharmila Tagore? Or to be recognized as Saif Ali Khan's sister? Or as Kareena Kapoor's sister-in-law? And where do I stand among them? Actor Soha Ali Khan's debut book is at heart a brilliant...

Frank and funny, these stories written originally for the Bengali children's magazine Sandesh, are an essential read for all Ray enthusiasts as well as those who want to know Ray, the writer and film-maker, better. In this volume, Ray also shares some of his experiences while shooting Pather...

Dating is an undeniably daunting task, especially when you're done with casual flings and are looking for the real deal to settle down with. When a 30-something woman signs up on a dating website for people looking to get married, she realizes just how delightful, vexing, amusing and befuddling...

“The really important things in life are your family and friends. And what will people say about you at your funeral—that you won an Emmy once, or that you were a good person, kind and generous? Well, as for me, I hope it's the latter. And the fact that I recently commissioned an Emmy-shaped...

A timely manifesto urging us to think critically, form opinions, and then argue them with gusto. Hater begins from a simple premise: that it's good to hate things. Not people or groups or benign belief systems, but things. More to the point, it's good to hate the things everyone seems to like...

“We've got a long history of resistance in Vermont and this book is testimony to that fact.” –Bernie Sanders A book that's also the beginning of a movement, Bill McKibben's debut novel Radio Free Vermont follows a band of Vermont patriots who decide that their state might be better off...

Bestselling author A. E. Hotchner's intimate account of his 53-year friendship with his pal Paul Newman. A. E. Hotchner first met Paul Newman in 1955 when the virtually unknown actor assumed the lead role in Hotchner’s first television play, based on an Ernest Hemingway story. The project...

In 1998, when Amazon.com began to recruit employees, they gave temp agencies a simple directive: send us your freaks. Mike Daisey -- slacker, onetime aesthetics major -- fit the bill. His subsequent ascension, over the course of twenty-one dog years, from lowly temp to customer service...

“Dear Luke, We Need to Talk, Darth is proof that a funny book on pop culture doesn't have to be snide and nasty. I loved everything about it.” —Jim Gaffigan We all know how Darth Vader shared his big secret with Luke Skywalker, but what if he had delivered the news in a handwritten note...

From the authors of the bestselling Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . ., a new book on the meaning of death (and life, too)...

“Liberals seem to have hit upon a reverse Christ story as their belief system. He suffered and died for our sins; liberals make the rest of us suffer for sins we didn’t commit.” Who are the victims here? To hear liberals tell it, you’d think they do nothing but suffer at the hands of...

With this latest work of fiction, a collaboration with New York Times writer, John Tierney, Christopher Buckley promises to be every bit as hilarious and witty as in his previous audiobook, Thank You For Smoking. In God Is My Broker, Buckley aims his sharp humor at the self-help gurus; and the...