#paperback #fiction #relationships #familydrama #darkhumor

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Pennsylvania

By the author of the New York Times bestseller, Love Poems for Married People, and the Thurber Prize-winner Truth in Advertising comes a wry yet tenderhearted look at how one man's public fall from grace leads him back to his family, and back to the man he used to be. It's a story that Ted Grayson has reported time and time again in his job as a network TV anchor: the public downfall of those at the top. He just never imagined that it would happen to him. After his profanity-laced tirade is caught on camera, his reputation and career are destroyed, leaving him without a script for the first time in years. While American viewers may have loved and trusted Ted for decades, his family certainly didn't: His years of constant travel and his big-screen persona have frayed all of his important relationships. At the time of his meltdown, Ted is estranged from his wife, Claire, and his adult daughter, Franny, a writer for a popular website. Franny views her father's disgrace with curiosity and perhaps a bit of smug satisfaction, but when her boss suggests that she confront Ted in an interview, she has to decide whether to use his loss as her career gain. And for Ted, this may be a chance to take a hard look at what got him to this place, and to try to find his way back before it's too late. Talk to Me is a sharply observed, darkly funny, and ultimately warm story about a man who wakes up too late to the mess he's made of his life... and about our capacity for forgiveness and empathy.

Talk to Me

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Ma Jian

Flora Drew

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Ohio

Blending fact and fiction, this darkly comic fable “may be the purest distillation yet of Mr. Ma’s talent for probing the country’s darkest corners and exposing what he regards as the Communist Party’s moral failings” (Mike Ives, The New York Times). Called “Red Guards meet Kurt Vonnegut . . . powerful!" by Margaret Atwood on Twitter, China Dream is an unflinching satire of totalitarianism. Ma Daode, a corrupt and lecherous party official, is feeling pleased with himself. He has an impressive office, three properties, and multiple mistresses who text him day and night. After decades of loyal service, he has been appointed director of the China Dream Bureau, charged with replacing people's private dreams with President Xi Jinping's great China Dream of national rejuvenation. But just as he is about to present his plan for a mass golden wedding anniversary celebration, his sanity begins to unravel. Suddenly plagued by flashbacks of the Cultural Revolution, Ma Daode's nightmare visions from the past threaten to destroy his dream of a glorious future. Exposing the damage inflicted on a nation's soul when authoritarian regimes, driven by an insatiable hunger for power, seek to erase memory, rewrite history, and falsify the truth, China Dream is a dystopian vision of repression, violence, and state–imposed amnesia that is set not in the future, but in China today.

China Dream

94e5e246-b0d3-48e0-983d-f69ab53fa211-1

Larry McMurtry

From the same author of Lonesome Dove - winner of the Pulitzer Prize 

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Maryland

Aurora Greenway must come to grips with old age while those around her try to cope with their own problems, including an unwanted pregnancy and time spent in prison

The Evening Star

edc8e13c-22f1-4c9f-8b5b-f47036fa9a33-1

Jessica Knoll

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Connecticut

Grooming herself for an ideal life involving a successful career and a happy marriage, a rising young journalist confronts a violent episode from her past that threatens to unravel everything she has worked to achieve. A first novel.

Luckiest Girl Alive

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#hakannesser #murdermystery #detective-mystery #Scandinaviansuspense #darkhumor  

Florida

An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery

For Waldemar Leverkuhn the day could not have begun more auspiciously. He and three of his friends, all retirees, have just won the lottery. It's a modest sum when split four ways--certainly not enough to lift Waldemar out of the plain apartment he shares with his quiet, weary wife--but it's enough for the old men to toast their good luck with a blowout at their favorite bar. The celebration ends, however, with Waldemar drunk, stumbling, belligerent, and eventually dead in his own bed, stabbed twenty-eight times in the chest with a carving knife.
 
Taking charge of the case is Intendent Münster, Chief Inspector Van Veeteren's longtime right-hand man, and his beguiling colleague Ewa Moreno. They seem to have a surefire lead with the disappearance of one of Waldemar's friends on the same night as the murder, but after a cursory look into his whereabouts produces more questions than answers, the investigation suddenly seems to solve itself when Marie-Louise Leverkuhn, Waldemar's wife, confesses to the crime and calmly resigns herself to her fate. The case is, but all accounts, closed. That is, until one of the Leverkuhns' neighbors in the same unassuming block of apartments goes missing and turns up--spectacularly, gruesomely--in pieces around the city.
 
Thrown back into the fog and chasing after wisps of clues that tenuously but inextricably link the murders, Müenster and Moreno take center stage in Håkan Nesser's haunting new addition to his acclaimed series.

Munster's Case

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Patrick deWitt

This book is in excellent condition. It has the usual stickers and stamps that come with ex-library books. The only problem I see is the edges of the pages at the top are discolored in a consistent pattern, but it doesn’t show inside the book. Please see pictures.

A Novel

National Bestseller NAMED A RECOMMENDED BOOK OF THE SEASON BY: Vanity Fair • Entertainment Weekly • Vulture • The Millions • Publishers Weekly • Esquire • San Francisco Chronicle • USA Today • Parade • The Washington Post • Buzzfeed From bestselling author Patrick deWitt, a brilliant and darkly comic novel about a wealthy widow and her adult son who flee New York for Paris in the wake of scandal and financial disintegration. Frances Price – tart widow, possessive mother, and Upper East Side force of nature – is in dire straits, beset by scandal and impending bankruptcy. Her adult son Malcolm is no help, mired in a permanent state of arrested development. And then there’s the Price’s aging cat, Small Frank, who Frances believes houses the spirit of her late husband, an infamously immoral litigator and world-class cad whose gruesome tabloid death rendered Frances and Malcolm social outcasts. Putting penury and pariahdom behind them, the family decides to cut their losses and head for the exit. One ocean voyage later, the curious trio land in their beloved Paris, the City of Light serving as a backdrop not for love or romance, but self destruction and economical ruin – to riotous effect. A number of singular characters serve to round out the cast: a bashful private investigator, an aimless psychic proposing a seance, and a doctor who makes house calls with his wine merchant in tow, to name a few. Brimming with pathos, French Exit is a one-of-a-kind 'tragedy of manners,' a send-up of high society, as well as a moving mother/son caper which only Patrick deWitt could conceive and execute.

French Exit

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#hardcover #humor #comedy #darkhumor #irreverent 

Traveling to the wedding of his estranged daughter and left stranded in O'Hare Airport when his flight is cancelled, Bennie Ford begins writing a letter of complaint to the airline that evolves into a painful lament for a life that has gone badly awry.

Dear American Airlines

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Etgar Keret

Nathan Englander

Miriam Shlesinger

Stories

Combines absurd, humorous, and poignant themes that reveal the fierce humanity of characters in surreal situations.

Suddenly, a Knock on the Door

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See my other items just posted tons of books use bundle option 

Arizona

Andrew Ridker

Michigan

A professor at a Midwestern college invites his estranged children to reconcile with him at his St. Louis home, but he is also after the large fortune his ex-wife left the children.

The Altruists

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Texas

Paul Goldberg

First Edition 
Paper back in like new condition, with the exception of a small black dot on the top of the outer pages which do not affect the inside pages. ￼

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

"We have proverb in Florida...You know why it's good to be on beach?" Bill smiles, but says nothing. He wants the guy to keep talking. "Because on beach you are surrounded by idiots on only three sides." "And on the remaining side you have what?" asks Bill. "Sharks..." Paul Goldberg, the acclaimed author of The Yid, takes us behind the scenes of a Florida condo board election, delivering a wild spin on Miami Beach, petty crime, Jewish identity, and life in Trump's America. It is January 2017 and Bill has hit rock bottom. Yesterday, he was William M. Katzenelenbogen, successful science reporter at The Washington Post. But things have taken a turn. Fired from his job, aimless, with exactly $1,219.37 in his checking account, he learns that his college roommate, a plastic surgeon known far and wide as the “Butt God of Miami Beach,” has fallen to his death under salacious circumstances. With nothing to lose, Bill boards a flight for Florida’s Gold Coast, ready to begin his own investigation—a last ditch attempt to revive his career. There’s just one catch: Bill’s father, Melsor. Melsor Yakovlevich Katzenelenbogen—poet, literary scholar, political dissident, small-time-crook—is angling for control of the condo board at the Château Sedan Neuve, a crumbling high-rise in Hollywood, Florida, populated mostly by Russian Jewish immigrants. The current board is filled with fraudsters levying “special assessments” on residents, and Melsor will use any means necessary to win the board election. And who better to help him than his estranged son? As he did in The Yid, Paul Goldberg has taken something we think we know and turned it on its ear. Featuring a colorful cast of characters, The Château guarantees that you will never look at condo boards, crime, kleptocracy, vodka, Fascism, or Florida the same way again.

The Château

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California

Minnesota

Henry James

New Jersey

Strikingly modern in subject and narrative voice, this 1897 novel centers on a child's view of a bitter divorce. Rather than a gloomy parable of innocence corrupted, it abounds in dark humor.

What Maisie Knew

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#fiction #hardcover #humor #darkhumor #romance #growingold #satire #BritishComedy #QueenBeeBooks

From the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Finkler Question and J, and one of “our funniest writers alive” (Allison Pearson): a wickedly observed novel of old age and new love. At the age of ninety-something, Beryl Dusinbery is forgetting everything—including her own children. Her tongue, meanwhile, remains as sharp as ever. She spends her days stitching macabre messages into her needlework and tormenting her two long-suffering carers with tangled stories of her love affairs. Shimi Carmelli can do up his own buttons, walk without the aid of a frame, and speak without spitting. Among the widows of North London, he’s whispered about as the last of the eligible bachelors. Unlike Beryl, he forgets nothing—especially not the shame of a childhood incident that has hung over him ever since. There’s very little life remaining for either of them, but perhaps just enough to heal some of the hurt inflicted along the way and find new meaning in what’s left. Could this be their chance to live a little? Told with Jacobson’s trademark wit and style, Live a Little is equal parts funny, irreverent, and tender—a novel to make you consider all the paths not taken, and whether you could still change course. Advance praise for Live a Little “One of the great comic geniuses of our time.”—Lit Hub “A tender story of unlikely love . . . Jacobson treats with compassion the dilemma of old age. . . . Wise, witty, and deftly crafted.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “For all of its moments of bleakness, and the occasional flicker of genuine terror, it’s rarely less than bitterly funny in its determination to face up to the obliteration that awaits us all.”—The Guardian “What a relief to come on a novel which invites you to smile and even laugh.”—The Scotsman “The novel’s brilliant cover tells it all: hearts and skulls, love and death.”—The Jewish Chronicle “A thoroughly enjoyable read. For a literature snob and a language obsessive . . . there is a lot to feast on . . . for someone looking for an emotionally honest storyline, the book also delivers. Live a Little is about growing old, but it’s also about gender, race, love and politics.”—Independent “Tender and funny.”—Grazia

Live a Little

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#hardcover #fiction #humor #contemporary #darkhumor #drama #funny #QueenBeeBooks

Ellen Homes is done being invisible. Well, sort of.

Living with her closest friends, Temerity and Justice, has helped her step out of the shell of invisibility she once hid away in. She still seeks refuge in solitary time and observing from afar, but she has pushed herself to open up to others in ways that bring her unexpected happiness.

But when a terrible bus crash upends her normal routine, Ellen finds herself on a whirlwind crusade for the unseen and downtrodden. Only this time, helping others-including two young children with no one else to turn to-will mean facing a pain from her past that she's long tucked away.

Picking up whereInvisible Ellenleft off,Becoming Ellenreturns us to the touching, poignant, and compassionate world of Ellen Homes as she learns how to navigate the world she has decided to become a part of.
'BecomingEllendeftly picks up whereInvisible Ellen,a favorite of mine, leaves off. It's a novel of grace and tenderness, so darkly funny in places it made me laugh out loud; I kept stopping as I read, to hold on to these wonderful characters, to keep them with me just a little longer.' Luanne Rice,New York Times-bestselling author

'A tale of kindhearted, hesitant heroism, with a little vigilante justice.'Kirkus Reviews

'Endearing . . . the character interaction, funny situations and heartfelt drama elevate this tale above many others in this genre.'RT Book Reviews

'Despite the underlying dark themes, the novel is upbeat overall as Ellen continues to take steps to open herself up to the world. Readers will warm to Shattuck's brave heroine.'Booklist


Becoming Ellen

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Jeff Povey

First edition 
Minor wear on dust jacket 

Killing a serial murderer while defending himself against an attack on his life, a man inadvertently enters an exclusive club of murderers who address one another with celebrity names and share a mutual love of 'the hunt, ' an organisation that the protagonist decides to stop by systematically killing off its members

The Serial Killers Club

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#hardcover #fiction #darkhumor #shortstories 

The debut collection of raucous, dark, strange, laugh-out-loud satirical stories from the former Late Show with Stephen Colbert writer and New Yorker contributor, featuring an introduction by Stephen Colbert.

The debut collection of raucous, dark, strange, satirical stories from the former Late Show with Stephen Colbert writer and New Yorker contributor, featuring a foreword by Stephen Colbert

"Jen Spyra's stories are shocking, silly, smart, andabsurdlyfunny. Underline both those words, I don't care how much it costs!"-Tina Fey

A bride so desperate to get in shape for her wedding that she enrolls in a new kind of workout program that promises the moon but costs more than she bargained for. A snowman who, on the wish of a child, comes to life in a decidedly less savory way than in the childhood classic. And in the title story, a time-hopping 1940s starlet tries to claw her way to the top in modern-day Hollywood, despite being ridiculously unwoke.

In this uproarious, addictive debut, Jen Spyra takes a culture that seems almost beyond parody and holds it up to a funhouse mirror, immersing the reader in a world of prehistoric influencers, woodland creatures plagued by millennial neuroses, and an all-out birthday bash determined to be the most lavish celebration of all time, by any means necessary.

Welcome, brave soul, to the world of Jen Spyra.

Big Time

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Rhoda Levine

Inscription on front page (pictured). Otherwise perfect.

Vermont

Wickedly funny and delightfully sad, Three Ladies Beside the Sea is a tale of love found, love lost, and love never-ending. Edward Gorey’s off-kilter Edwardian maidens are the perfect accompaniment to Rhoda Levine’s lilting rhymes. The place is remote: Three houses beside the sea. The Characters are Few: Laughing Edith of Ecstasy, Edith so happy and gay. Smiling Catherine of Compromise, She smiles her life away. And then there is Alice of Hazard, A dangerous life leads she. The question in the plot is quite simple: Why is Alice up in a tree? The answer can be discovered: Edith and Catherine do.

Three Ladies Beside the Sea

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""A highly unusual tale set in a highly unusual Irish village full of dark secrets

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John Kenney

Talk to Me

Ma Jian; Flora Drew

China Dream

Larry McMurtry

The Evening Star

Jessica Knoll

Luckiest Girl Alive

Laurie Thompson (Translator); Håkan Nesser

Munster's Case

Patrick DeWitt

French Exit

Jonathan Miles

Dear American Airlines

Etgar Keret; Nathan Englander; Miriam Shlesinger

Suddenly, a Knock on the Door

Jessica Knoll

Luckiest Girl Alive

Andrew Ridker

The Altruists

Jonathan Miles

Dear American Airlines

Paul Goldberg

The Château

Jessica Knoll

Luckiest Girl Alive

Jessica Knoll

Luckiest Girl Alive

Henry James

What Maisie Knew

Howard Jacobson

Live a Little

Shari Shattuck

Becoming Ellen

Jeff Povey

The Serial Killers Club

Jen Spyra; Stephen Colbert (Foreword by)

Big Time

Rhoda Levine

Three Ladies Beside the Sea

Jess Kidd

Himself

David Wong Louie

The Barbarians Are Coming

Chuck Palahniuk

Pygmy

Jess Kidd

Himself