European Comedy

"La Spéculation, dit le parfumeur, quel est ce commerce ? C'est le commerce abstrait, reprit Claparon, un commerce qui restera secret pendant une dizaine d'années encore, au dire du grand Nucingen, le Napoléon de la finance, et par lequel un homme embrasse les totalités des chiffres, écrème les revenus avant qu'ils n'existent, une conception gigantesque, une façon de mettre l'espérance en coupes réglées, enfin une nouvelle Cabale !"

Tom Jones is a splendid Hogarthian panorama of 18th-century English life and morals, encompassing both city and country, and comprising some of the greatest comic characters in British literature. First published in 1749, it was an instant success and has gone on to become a classic of its genre. Quite simply, there has never been anything like it.

2031. La plupart des grandes espèces animales sont en voie d'extinction. Face au péril, Martin, un généticien vétérinaire et prix Nobel, alerte les chefs d'État de la planète réunis en conclave : il faut voter d'urgence un "Traité de protection de la Nature". Mais les résistances sont fortes et Martin ne fait pas le poids.

Egon Friedell, vor 1916 Egon Friedmann, war ein echtes Universalgenie. Er war Journalist, Schriftsteller, Dramatiker, Kritiker, Schauspieler, Kabarettist - und Philosoph! Seine Werke zur Kulturgeschichte sind wunderbar zu lesende Perlen der Literatur. Friedell stürzte sich, verfolgt von den Nazis, aus dem Fenster seiner Wiener Wohnung - er mochte nicht fliehen. Eines seiner berühmtesten Bühnenwerke ist: "Goethe. Eine Groteske in zwei Bildern", in der er den Schulbetrieb aufs Korn nimmt - und Goethe mit Frankfurter Dialekt sprechen lässt.

Dame Edith Evans, Sir John Guilgud & Anthony Quayle perform a selection of 18th century comedy.

Emiliano, un joven sin perspectivas de futuro estancado en Miami, recibe una tentadora oferta económica por parte de un reality show alemán. El único detalle es que su padre, el poeta Alfonso Dubuc, debe acompañarlo. El anciano está convencido de ser el mejor escritor de América Latina y jura tener el vigor sexual de un adolescente. Para él, la próxima invitación debería venir de Suecia y anunciar un premio Nobel. En medio hay una madrastra que todo lo resuelve con unas pastillas anaranjadas. En el pasado, un momento fundacional del mito, y un lugar: La Habana de principios de los ochenta.

Adam Gorozpe, a respected businessman in Mexico, has a life so perfect that he might as well be his namesake in the Garden of Eden - but there are snakes in this Eden too. For one thing, Adam's wife, Priscila, has fallen in love with the brash director of national security - also named Adam. Another unlikely snake is the little Boy-God who's started preaching in the street wearing a white tunic and stick-on wings, inspiring Adam's brother-in-law to give up his job to follow this junior deity and implore Adam to do the same.

La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades, de autor anónimo, es una de las mejores obras de la picaresca española. En ella, Lázaro de Tormes nos relata su niñez y su adolescencia, los diferentes amos a los que sirvió, y lo que aprendió en su lucha por sobrevivir. Una novela llena de crítica a la sociedad de su tiempo, de penas y alegrías...y, sobre todo, de ingenio. Literaudio te ofrece las obras cumbres de la literatura española e hispanoamericana en formato audiolibro.

Esta novela constituye un momento afortunado del Siglo de Oro de la literatura espanola. No solo fue uno de los mas apreciados logros en la literatura picaresca, sino tambien una de las obras fundadoras del genero novelistico. Por medio de la narracion de simples travesuras, el autor dio a su personaje Lazaro, la voz adecuada para retratar los defectos y las miserias de los grupos y clases sociales espanolas de la epoca.

Rosie Maldonne thought she hit it big when she stumbled upon an envelope of cash in Queen of the Trailer Park. But with a nasty flu keeping her laid out, school fees due, and Christmas on the way, she finds herself back in the red. Time to find a real job. After weeks of searching, Rosie is losing hope when the man of her dreams happens to post a new position: cleaning for an elderly person. Perfect! She lands the job, but the new role brings more than the promise of romance.

Things are finally looking up for Rosie: she's debt-free, or at least almost, her trailer is in great condition, and she even has time to take her three kids on a Christmas vacation. But she knows the smooth sailing can't last. Rosie is always there for a friend in need, and before she knows it, she has her hands full. Again. To cover for her best friend, Véro, she fills in as housekeeper for a renowned psychoanalyst.

Listed in the BBC's "100 Novels That Shaped Our World", Psmith, Journalist takes Wodehouse's immaculate hero to the apparently dull city of New York, where he takes command of twee family periodical Cosy Moments, converts it to the yellowest of yellow journals, and embarks upon a crusade to unmask the owner of the notorious Pleasant Street tenements. But soon the staff of Cosy Moments find themselves dodging ambushes and assassination attempts, as the mysterious tenement owner tries to put them out of business - permanently; and war breaks out among New York's notorious street gangs.

Juliette has come to Tel Aviv to be with the love of her life. But when she shows up at Elias’s apartment, he’s with another woman. With nowhere else to go, Juliette falls in with a tight-knit group of French expats living in this city by the sea. There’s Manu, the retired adult film star turned real estate agent; Diabolo, a former mobster and aspiring media mogul; and Olga, a head-turning beauty who becomes fast friends with Juliette. When Elias, a film school dropout, initiates a scheme intended to make him some fast cash, he unwittingly gets Juliette and Olga thrown in jail.

Le nouveau phénomène de l'humour vient de Berlin-Est... Et c'est un kangourou ! Un jour, Marc-Uwe Kling voit débarquer chez lui un kangourou sans gêne. Communiste et chômeur, le marsupial vide le réfrigérateur et refuse de payer un loyer. Surtout, il entraîne le narrateur - souvent contre son gré - dans des conversations à bâtons rompus brassant tous les sujets, du totalitarisme des marchands de soupe en sachet aux tatouages de Robbie Williams. Difficile à la lecture de savoir qui des deux protagonistes montre le plus de mauvais esprit.

Lisa’s dated a series of disastrous men; Simon’s loved and lost the girl of his dreams. She’s hoping fate might intervene in her love life; he’d prefer that it stopped meddling with his. Today, they’re meeting, courtesy of the local paper’s ‘Blind Date’ feature - but while Lisa’s looking for that elusive ‘spark’, Simon’s sure lightning doesn’t strike twice. Will theirs be a love that’s written in the stars, or merely another mismatch written up in the Gazette?

Shanahan's Stone is a tale about greed, vengeance, redemption, and love. So much history and mythology has become misinterpreted and altered over the years. Although modern day depictions describe leprechauns as little men dressed in green who hoard pots of gold, ancient Irish folklore depicted them quite differently. Shanahan's Stone breaks from these cliches and many other contemporary Irish stereotypes. It weaves an imaginative and unique story steeped in colorful Irish folklore.

A piano tuner called Murkin, a close-shaven man with a yellow face, with a nose stained with snuff and cotton wool in his ears, came out of his hotel room into the passage. And looking at his frightened face one might have supposed that the ceiling had fallen in on him. 'Upon my word, Semyon!' he cried, seeing the attendant running towards him. 'What is the meaning of it? I am a rheumatic, delicate man and you make me go barefoot! Why is it you don't give me my boots all this time? Where are they?'

"Coleshanger people are pretty bad," said Uncle Edward. "They won't cross water after sunset. And they have to be in bed by midnight, otherwise they think that they'll be turned into baboons and apes. They also worship the flea." Written in 1952, Coleshanger is a humorous, whimsical, and charming recount of English village life in the early part of the last century, a tale waiting 70 years to be heard but still very much the story of us today.

This is a story from the "Great Ghost Stories" collection.

Kale Hunt has been her best friend since childhood. But it was never that simple. He was Lane's reason for leaving home and moving to New York. Seeing him with someone else, in love with someone else, shouldn't have hurt. But it did. It really, really did. So she upped sticks and left, started a new life and cut herself off from her past.