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Sigmund "Ziggy" Blissman isn't the best-looking, sanest boy in the world. Far from it. But this misfit child of a failed husband-and-wife vaudeville team has one thing going for him: He can crack people up just by batting his eyelashes. Vittorio "Vic" Fontana, the son of a fisherman, can barely carry a tune or even stay awake while attempting to, but he, too, has one thing going for him: Women love to look at him. On their own, these two men are failures. But one summer night in the Catskills, Ziggy and Vic step onstage and together become the funniest men -- and hottest act -- in America. Written as a fictional oral history and filled with more than seventy memorable characters, Funnymen is the wildly inventive story of "Fountain and Bliss," the comedy duo that delighted America in the 1940s and 1950s. The episodes recounted here by managers, wives, children, mistresses, friends, fans, and foes -- and the truths Heller reveals about human ambition, egotism, and friendship -- make Funnymen not only a masterpiece of storytelling, but also a thoroughly hilarious read.
In the pitch-perfect tradition of the very best of Nick Hornby, Martin Amis, and Christopher Buckley comes Slab Rat, a razor-sharp, highly comic novel of lethal ambition and office politics. Zachary Arlen Post is an up-and-coming editor at It magazine, one of the glossiest jewels in the glittery publishing crown of Versailles Publishing. The son of a well-regarded architect and an eccentric Palm Beach socialite, Zack was educated at an exclusive boarding school and has studied at Colgate, Berkeley, and Liverpool University. He is an excellent golfer and has a talent for translating Plautus from the original Latin. Or maybe not. He is really Allen Zachary Post, the son of a garment-center boo...
A “highly entertaining” story of a frustrated novelist who finds fame, fortune—and trouble—in the world of online poker (The New York Times Book Review). When Frank Dixon, a writer who has seen his career crash and burn, decides to dabble in online poker, he discovers he has a knack for winning. In this newfound realm, populated by alluring characters—each of them elusive, mysterious, and glamorous—he becomes a smash success: popular, rich, and loved. Going by the name Chip Zero, he sees his fortunes and romantic liaisons thrive in cyberspace while he remains blind to the fact that his real life is sinking. His online success, however, does not come without complications, as he c...
Everything You Know is the first novel from the bestselling author of Notes on a Scandal, Zoe Heller. The women in Willy Muller's life are trouble. His mother insists he eat tofu. His dopey girlfriend, Penny, wants him to overcome his personal space issues - while Karen, his other, even dopier, girlfriend, just wants more sex. Meanwhile, his oldest daughter, Sophie, wants him to finance her husband's drug habit. But it's his youngest daughter, Sadie, who's giving him the biggest headache. Just before committing suicide three months ago, she sent Willy her diaries. Poring over the record of her empty life, he feels pangs of something unexpected . . . remorse. But isn't it a bit late for such ...
“The Splendid Splinter,” “Teddy Ballgame,” “The Kid”—no matter the nickname, Ted Williams was one of the most accomplished hitters in baseball history. He was the last man to hit .400 in a single season, a nineteen-time All-Star, a two-time MVP and Triple Crown award winner, and an inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966 . . . all while serving his country in World War II and the Korean War. Far from a conventional biography, Facing Ted Williams aims to offer a different perspective with testimonials from teammates and opponents alike on how Williams was regarded among his peers. See Ted Williams through the eyes of pitchers struggling to put a fastball past hi...
'You're Joseph Heller's daughter? How terrific!' But was there a catch? Like his most famous work, Joseph Heller was a study in contradictions: eccentric, brilliant and voracious, but also mercurial, competitive, and stubborn, with a love of mischief that sometimes cut too close to the bone. Yossarian Slept Here is a daughter's darkly funny, poignant memoir about growing up a Heller - from her colourful family members and her parents' tumultuous marriage, to her father's celebrity friends and the family's eccentric neighbours. This is a story about achieving a dream, about fame and its aftermath, about squandered opportunities, lasting love and family.
How traumatic events can break our vital connections—and how to restore love, wholeness, and resiliency in your life From our earliest years, we develop an attachment style that follows us through life, replaying in our daily emotional landscape, our relationships, and how we feel about ourselves. And in the wake of a traumatic event—such as a car accident, severe illness, loss of a loved one, or experience of abuse—that attachment style can deeply influence what happens next. In The Power of Attachment, Dr. Diane Poole Heller, a pioneer in attachment theory and trauma resolution, shows how overwhelming experiences can disrupt our most important connections— with the parts of ourselv...
In this heartwarming essay collection, dozens of authors, actors, artists and others imagine one last lunch with someone they cherished. A few years ago, Erica Heller realized how universal the longing is for one more moment with a lost loved one. It could be a parent, a sibling, a mentor, or a friend, but who wouldn’t love the opportunity to sit down, break bread, and just talk? Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to ask those unasked questions, or share those unvoiced feelings? In One Last Lunch, Heller has asked friends and family of authors, artists, musicians, comedians, actors, and others, to recount one such fantastic repast. Muffie Meyer and her documentary subject Little Edie Beale go to a deli in Montreal. Kirk Douglas asks his father what he thought of him becoming an actor. Sara Moulton dines with her friend Julia Child. The Anglican priest George Pitcher has lunch with Jesus. And Heller herself connects with her father, the renowned author Joseph Heller. These richly imagined stories are endlessly revealing, about the subject, the writer, the passage of time, regret, gratitude, and the power of enduring love.
New Strangers in Paradise offers the first in-depth account of the ways in which contemporary American fiction has been shaped by the successive generations of immigrants to reach U.S. shores. Gilbert Muller reveals how the intersections of peoples, regions, and competing cultural histories have remade the American cultural landscape in the aftermath of World War II. Muller focuses on the literature of Holocaust survivors, Chicanos, Latinos, African Caribbeans, and Asian Americans. In the quest for a new identity, each of these groups seeks the American dream and rewrites the story of what it means to be an American. New Strangers in Paradise explores the psychology of uprooted peoples and t...
Natural science buffs, graphics professionals, and anyone interested in the visual expression of ideas will be fascinated by this tribute to Fritz Kahn, the German infographics pioneer who excelled in the demystification of complex scientific ideas and whose inspired creative concepts have influenced generations of artists and communicators...