John Kennedy Toole's hilarious satire A Confederacy of Dunces is a Don Quixote for the modern age & this Penguin Modern Classics edition

Includes:: a foreword by Walker Percy Never published during his lifetime John Kennedy Toole's masterful comic novel takes its title as well asfrom Jonathan Swift A monument to sloth rant & contempt a behemoth of fat flatulence & furious suspicion of anything modern
- this is Ignatius J Reilly of New Orleans noble crusader against a world of dunces The ordinary folk of New Orleans seem to think he is unhinged Ignatius ignores them heaving his vast bulk through the city's fleshpots in a noble crusade against vice modernity & ignorance But his momma has a nasty surprise in store for him Ignatius must get a job Undaunted he uses his new-found employment to further his mission
- & now he has a pirate costume & a hot-dog cart to do it with John Kennedy Toole (1937-1969) was born in New Orleans He received a master's degree in English from Columbia University & taught at Hunter College & at the University of Southwestern Louisiana He wrote A Confederacy of Dunces in the early sixties & tried unsuccessfully to get the novel published; depressed at least in part by his failure to place the book he committed suicide in 1969 It was only through the tenacity of his mother that her son's book was eventually published & found the audience it deserved winning the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction His long-suppressed novel The Neon Bible written when he was only sixteen was eventually published as well If you enjoyed A Confederacy of Dunces you might like Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim also available in Penguin Modern Classics'A pungent work of slapstick satire & intellectual incongruities it is nothing less than a grand comic fugue' The New York Times



...

Describing Tolstoy's crisis of depression & estrangement from the world A Confession (1879) is an autobiographical work of exceptional emotional honesty By the time he was fifty Tolstoy had already written the novels that would assure him of literary immortality; he had a wife a large estate & numerous children; he was 'a happy man' & in good health
- yet life had lost its meaning In this poignant confessional fragment he records a period of his life when he began to turn away from fiction & aesthetics & to search instead for 'a practical religion not promising future bliss but giving bliss on earth'
...

Describing Tolstoy's crisis of depression & estrangement from the world A Confession is an autobiographical work of exceptional emotional honesty It describes his search for 'a practical religion not promising future bliss but giving bliss on earth' Although the Confession led to his excommunication it also resulted in a large following of Tolstoyan Christians springing up throughout Russia & Europe Throughout history some books have changed the world They have transformed the way we see ourselves
- & each other They have inspired debate dissent war & revolution They have enlightened outraged provoked & comforted They have enriched lives
- & destroyed them Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers pioneers radicals & visionaries whose ideas shook civilization & helped make us who we are

...

Granta Best of Young American Novelists 2017 In a snow-covered village in Chechnya eight-year-old Havaa watches from the woods as her father is abducted in the middle of the night by Russian soldiers Their life-long friend & neighbour Akhmed has also been watching & when he finds Havaa he knows of only one person who might be able to help For tough-minded doctor Sonja Rabina it's just another day of trying to keep her bombed-out abandoned hospital going When Akhmed arrives with Havaa asking Sonja for shelter she has no idea who the pair are But over the course of five extraordinary days Sonja's world will shift on its axis revealing the intricate pattern of connections that binds these three unlikely companions together & unexpectedly decides their fate 'A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is simply spectacular' Ann Patchett ...

A Contented House with Twins unites the UK's leading baby expert Gina Ford & the highly regarded television presenter Alice Beer a mother of twin girls Discovering you are pregnant with twins is both an exciting & a thoroughly terrifying prospect Within weeks of the arrival of her beautiful daughters Alice found that she was 'screaming out for a routine' & craving the knowledge of mothers who had been through it with two This book is the result of those cries Alice's front-line experience of coping with twins is combined with Gina's highly successful parenting advice & for the first time her groundbreaking routines specially adapted for twins Together they tackle the practical & emotional aspects of parenting two babies including- what you can expect in a multiple pregnancy- how to feed two at once- what to do when they each want a different story or both want a hug- how to cope with everyday practicalities shopping bathtime & much more Alice's humorous insights & Gina's essential advice tips support & successful routines will guarantee that parents enjoy their twins & get their lives back ...

Written specially for the World Book Day Quick Reads promotion My dad used to say to me ' Try to keep a cool head & a warm heart' At least I think it was my dad I don't really remember him Gravy worked in the graveyard
- hence the name He was having a normal day until his friend Benjy turned up in a car Gravy didn't recognise Benjy had a bullet hole in his chest but lived just long enough to ask Gravy to hide him & look after his gun Gravy had looked after things for Benjy before but never a gun When Gravy looked in the car he found blood a balaclava & a bag stuffed with money Gravy's not too bright but he wants to help his friend So Gravy finds himself caught up in the middle of a robbery gone wrong a woman who witnessed a murder & some very unpleasant men who will do anything to get back the money Benjy stole
...

A wise & witty 68-page short story that is full of Christmas cheer from the best-selling author & TV presenter Fern Britton This will be one Christmas they'll never forget Piran Ambrose is the epitome of brooding male But Pendruggan's Mr Rochester is in danger of becoming its Ebeneezer Scrooge when he is driven to distraction by the villager's over-the-top Christmas celebrations How could the cringeworthy amateur village production of Aladdin bring seasonal cheer to anyone he wonders? & do the village children really have to arrive at his cottage door every single night in December with their terrible recorders & discordant singing? But when Piran's bad temper risks spoiling Christmas for everyone something drastic needs to be done So over one Christmas Eve three very special people pay Piran a visit determined to show him what Christmas is really all about ...

Joy to the worldor joy to the worlds! Let heaven & nature
- & also the supernatural
- sing! A Cosmic Christmas presents twelve

...

Introducing twelve cosmic days of Christmas with tales ranging from vampires to robots from the hills of Appalachia to a high orbit space station all celebrating the holiday in off-beat ways from such sci-fi luminaries as New York Times best seller Larry Correia Darkship series creator Sarah A Hoyt & Sapphire Award Winner for urban fantasy Wen Spencer ...

A suspicious funeral a fatal encounter at a garden centre of all places & a country walk marred by the discovery of a hidden corpse are just some of the perplexing situations with which Thea Osborne her friends & a further cast of characters must contend In this expanded view of the world of her popular books Tope reminds us that death & crime will visit even the most idyllic country villages ...