Family Humor

On the Ides of March, our hero, Raleigh Whittier Hayes (forgetful husband, baffled father, prosperous insurance agent, and leading citizen of Thermopylae, North Carolina), learns that his father has discharged himself from the hospital, taken all his money out of the bank and, with a young Black female mental patient, vanished in a yellow Cadillac convertible. Left behind is a mysterious list of seven outrageous tasks that Raleigh must perform in order to rescue his father and his inheritance.

From mingling with tabloid millionaires to trading favours and fortunes with royalty, she will stop at nothing to reach the top of the career ladder at the Mercury newspaper. Landing scoop after scoop, Becky ruthlessly carves a place for herself in a society determined to ignore her. These are the biggest stories and scandals of the decade, and she has something to do with every one of them. But Becky may have more in common with the people she writes about than she thinks – what takes a lifetime to build takes only a moment to destroy...

After three marriages and a lot of living, resilient Billie Slate knows exactly what trouble love can bring. Now she’s reinvented herself as the Heartbreak Bunny, an on-call performance artist who can heal anyone who’s been burned by that four-letter word, LOVE, by hopping about and whisking away sad mementos from their past relationships. Call it magic. Call it peculiar. But her bunny costume is as perfect as her breakup mantra: SNAP OUT OF IT.

Grace Johnson can’t escape the feeling that her life is on autopilot—until her husband announces he’s done with their marriage. Grace has a choice: wallow in humiliation . . . or reluctantly grant her outlandish mother’s seventieth birthday wish with a road trip Graceland. Buckle up, Elvis. We’re on our way.

Tess Simpson needs a break. No one appreciates her at home. No one appreciates her at work. And now her dog has died. She’s had enough! Maybe what she really needs is a break from hopeless husband, Dave, the ungrateful ‘kidults’ and the lacklustre job.

Willard Thrasher Card III, from Cardston, Alberta, Canada, embarks on an African adventure as a freshly minted development expert. His assignment to Malawi dissolves just as he makes the disastrous decision to start a business and move his young family to Africa with him. With the help of newfound African friends, his family moves to Zambia and stumbles their way through several business failures. Eventually, they find some success and recognize that Africa runs on a small balance of favors.

Tracee is a runaway bride and kleptomaniac. Lana's an audacious beauty and a recovering alcoholic. Rita is a holy-roller minister's wife, desperate to escape her marriage and discover whether she actually has a mind of her own.

One warm summer's night, these three women go on the lam together. Their car breaks down on a rural highway in North Carolina, and they're forced to seek shelter in a seemingly abandoned nightclub - which is where they meet Marcel. And soon everything changes.

The Comfort Food Cafe is perched on a windswept clifftop at what feels like the edge of the world, serving up the most delicious cream teas, beautifully baked breads and carefully crafted cupcakes. For tourists and locals alike, the ramshackle cafe overlooking the beach is a beacon of laughter, companionship and security - a place like no other, a place that offers friendship as a daily special and where a hearty welcome is always on the menu.

Lismore resident Rob–a happily married empty-nester, enjoying his late middle age–has always defined himself by the quality of the roof over his head and the state of his family life. Solid. Safe. Stable. But when the 2022 flood hits, he and his wife Sal find themselves homeless, their lives now the very opposite of secure and predictable.

Was kann denn schon groß schief gehen, wenn man ein zweites Kind bekommen will – vor allem durch künstliche Befruchtung? Zweieinhalb Jahre liegt der erste Versuch zurück, als unser Papa sich erneut traut und zwar gleich doppelt: Denn mit einem weiteren Kind muss ein größeres Heim her und warum dann nicht auch gleich ein Eigenheim? Ob es nun ein, zwei oder vielleicht sogar drei Kinderzimmer sein werden, wie die Stelzen unter das Haus kommen und wie Mann das alles neben Job, Partnerschaft und einem strammen Kleinkind bewältigt … das lernt der Papa auf die harte Tour.

It's 1962, and all across America barriers are collapsing. But when Natalie Marx's mother inquires about summer accommodations in Vermont, she gets the following reply: The Inn at Lake Devine is a family-owned resort, which has been in continuous operation since 1922. Our guests who feel most comfortable here, and return year after year, are Gentiles. For twelve-year-old Natalie, who has a stubborn sense of justice, the words are not a rebuff but an infuriating, irresistible challenge.

River Ryland is the girl everyone wants to be around. But this brave 13-year-old has a secret that's getting harder and harder to hide: she lives mostly alone in a ramshackle, single-wide trailer with a mom who drops in and out of her life.

It’s 2015 in New York City, and three women all known as Mrs. Tobias—Veronika, the matriarch, her daughter-in-law Mel, and Mel’s daughter-in-law Birdie—are trying to navigate personal difficulties, some of which are with one another. Veronika and Mel, despite having little in common, are both psychotherapists who are more skilled at helping other people than solving their own problems. Birdie, still dealing with the culture shock of moving to New York City and marrying into the Tobias clan, is pushed to her limit when her husband gets into trouble.

"Zugegeben, die meiste Zeit habe ich mich eher mit der Frage befasst, wie ich nicht Vater werde. Bis ich dieser Frau begegnete." Und nun heißt es plötzlich: Wie wird man eigentlich Vater, wenn man es möchte, aber es nicht auf Anhieb klappt? Und was macht der Prozess mit einem, das Auf und Ab des Hoffens und Bangens, neben und zusammen mit der Frau, die das alles am eigenen Leib erlebt? Ein schmerzvoll-tragisch-urkomischer Bericht aus Männersicht.

Nachdem er und seine Frau lange darum gerungen haben, endlich Eltern zu werden, ist die Schwangerschaft viel zu schnell vergangen. Schwups ist das Kind da – und mit ihm die Frage: "Was für ein Vater will ich eigentlich sein?" So stolpert er durch den Familienalltag mit ganz neuen Fallstricken und Fettnäpfchen – immer mit der Angst im Nacken, von einem Säugling als Versager enttarnt zu werden. Der zweite Band von Melanie Amélie Opalkas "Papa-Trilogie" erzählt den "unausgeschlafenen Imperfekt" seines ersten Jahres mit dem eigenen Nachwuchs.

Du liebst humorvolle Bücher über moderne (werdende) Papas? Du planst oder hast selbst Kinder? Du wolltest schon immer mal in den Kopf eines Mannes schauen? Oder aus seiner Sicht die Dinge sehen? Dann begleite diesen Papa durch die Phase des unerfüllten Kinderwunsches und fiebere mit, wenn es nach langem Zittern endlich klappt. Folge ihm durch das erste Jahr mit Baby bis er sich traut, sogar noch eine zweite Runde zu starten – und gleichzeitig ein Haus zu bauen.

The puppy started it. The poor thing was cold and trembling, abandoned on their front doorstep. Dash, impulsive as always, decides on the spot that they should keep it. But her husband, Andrew, thinks it's the craziest thing he's ever heard. A fight over a scruffy little dog doesn't seem like much of a reason to walk out on your husband of 20 years - but the spat over the puppy is just the last of many straws.

Kate has taught herself to be careful, to be meticulous. To mark the anniversary of a death in the family, she plans a dinner party—from the fancy table settings to the perfect Baked Alaska waiting in the freezer. Yet by the end of the night, old tensions have flared, the guests have fled, and Kate is spinning out of control. But all we have is ourselves, her father once said, all we have is family.

That someone might end up dead at the Palms School’s annual glamping trip in Santa Barbara wasn’t far-fetched. Taking city people into the woods was begging for murder. What was surprising was how far these mothers would go to cover it up.

Feeling the weight of mom guilt? Feeling all alone in this stay-at-home-mom life? Well, you’re not! I can't be the only one that constantly loses my phone while holding it, or make out my grocery and errand list just to leave it behind on the counter. I feel like I am constantly being pulled in thousands of different directions and lost the entire time. If you think this is just another audiobook on “how to parent” you are wrong. This audiobook is about how I am barely surviving life as a stay-at-home mom.