Historical Humor

Russia, 1907. Vladimir Durov has a prized pig he has trained for the circus. Dorov loves to make people laugh at his pig’s crazy antics. But he finds that when his pig performs for the recently widowed circus owner, Natasha, the most he can get is a smile. Desperate to capture her heart, the rough-hewn trainer comes up with a dangerous scheme to impress the woman he has come to love. As the circus travels to Germany in pursuit of more paying customers, Durov decides to dress his prized pig as the war-mongering Kaiser himself.

Sending his human resources manager on a reconnaissance mission to the great Jin city of Rhizun seemed like a good idea to Genghis Khan at the time, until a serendipitous scroll appears with revelations of a secret heir to the khanate. To save his legacy, Genghis sends his Mongol horde into Jin lands with nothing more than the fiercest army the world has ever known and several hundred of Captain Kupcayk’s famous buns. Unfortunately for Genghis, his successor is on the wrong side of the city walls.

Dice llamarse Gregori Makarov, haber tocado el acordeón siendo niño ante Stalin y vivir una imposible historia de amor que le llevó a ser internado en el terrible campo de trabajo del Kolimá, uno de los lugares más lejanos e inhóspitos de Siberia, de donde no se salía vivo. Pero él sobrevivió, y su vida fue contada por un periodista, hasta que se descubrió que había sido engañado. Que no era verdad, pero tampoco mentira, que su existencia se había construido, como tantas otras, con retazos de lo que puede saberse y lo que hay que ocultar.

Sembrerebbe impossibile, perché la posizione è invidiabile, ma anche al caffè dell'imbarcadero di Bellano capita che per una giornata intera entri solo qualche sparuto cliente. Come martedì 5 marzo 1935. Per tirare sera l'oste Gnazio Termoli deve inventarsele tutte, fino a lavare e rilavare bicchieri già puliti. E poi sbadigliare all'ingresso del bar deserto. Eppure questa è una data che non potrà dimenticare, né lui né l'intero paese.

Trudy works nights in a linen factory, avoiding romance and sharing the care of her four-year-old niece with Trudy’s mother, Claire. Claire still pines for Trudy’s father, a St. Lawrence Seaway construction worker who left her 20 years ago. Claire believes in true love. Trudy does not. She’s keeping herself to herself. But when Jules Tremblay, aspiring daredevil, walks into the Jubilee restaurant, Trudy’s a goner.

Franny Steinberg knows there’s powerful magic in laughter. She’s witnessed it. With the men of Chicago off fighting WWII on distant shores, Franny has watched the women of the city taking charge of the war effort. But amidst the war bond sales and factory shifts, something surprising has emerged, something Franny could never have expected. A new marvel that has women flocking to comedy clubs across the nation: the Showstopper.

Banking, Beer & Robert The Bruce is a fictional novel depicting two slowly entwining families from Irish/Scottish and English descent in a humorous and real-life way. Mixing bawdy British humor and American-style action-adventure, this is good old fashioned story-telling at its best.

It is the early 1990s in Seattle, and the MTV video for Nirvana’s "Smells Like Teen Spirit" has just premiered the previous week. Lethargy is in the air. Grunge fashion is all the logy rage. Something is brewing beneath these moist, overcast Seattle skies. Twenty-two-year-old Willow Montgomery has freshly arrived in town, having just graduated from an elite liberal arts college back east.

"Mort de Dama" és la primera novel·la escrita per Llorenç Villalonga i Pons i és considerada una de les primeres novel·les modernistes de les Illes Balears. La novel·la és una sàtira de la societat mallorquina i gira entorn de l'agonia d'Obdúlia de Montcada, una viuda que representa l'aristocràcia, una dona avariciosa i de caràcter fort. La viuda fa d'eix temàtic amb la resta de personatges que mostren els diferents vessants de la societat de l'illa, des dels terratinents nobiliaris i aristòcrates al món intel·lectual i literari.

En el último carnaval de la Segunda República, Fidel Ruiz, el chirigotero más admirado de la tacita de plata, se alza con el primer premio en el concurso de agrupaciones. Nadie sospecha que detrás de su exquisito talento se encuentra María, su asistenta. Para continuar alcanzando la gloria carnavalera, el arrogante y maquiavélico señorito no dudará en manipularla y sacar tajada del amor incondicional que ella le profesa.

Le due sorelle Williamson, Penny e Josephine, sono nell'ordine: veterane della Resistenza francese, ottime ballerine di foxtrot, grandi bestemmiatrici sempre pronte a bere un Martini ben fatto, e - ma è solo un dettaglio - ultranovantenni. Lo sa bene il nipote Archie, il loro "agente", che le scarrozza alle varie commemorazioni di fatti della Seconda guerra mondiale cui sono invitate come ospiti d'onore. Quel che Archie non sa è che il passato delle due care prozie non è esattamente limpidissimo.

Salzburg, März 1913. Der Schausteller Otto Witte wird in eine Irrenanstalt eingewiesen, weil er steif und fest behauptet, König von Albanien gewesen zu sein. Der junge Doktorand Alois Schilchegger ist von diesem Mann fasziniert und nimmt sich seiner an. Ottos Version der Weltgeschichte beginnt im Oktober 1912 in Konstantinopel. Das Osmanische Reich droht auseinanderzubrechen. Albanien nutzt die Gunst der Stunde, erklärt sich unabhängig und sucht einen König. Otto und sein Kumpan, der Schwertschlucker Max Hoffmann, riskieren einen waghalsigen Coup: Albanien sucht einen König?

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.

It's Halloween night, when the ghost of bygone poet Renée Vivien haunts the legendary premises at 20 Rue Jacob. Natalie Clifford Barney, the seductive American writer and saloniste, known to all as the Amazon, has invited the who's who of literary Paris 1926 to her 50th birthday party. Never mind that half the guest list is comprised of Natalie's current lovers and exes.

The true test for surviving war lies in the mind, not on the battlefield. Inspired by the author’s own experiences of US military operations during the Vietnam War, Boot is a debut literary novel that charts the journey of marine George Orwell Hill, known affectionately as G.O. by his brothers-in-arms, as he comes to grips with the psychological impacts of war in the jungles and rice paddies of Southeast Asia.

One of the great what-ifs among Pride & Prejudice aficionados is: If Mr. Collins married Mary Bennet instead of Charlotte Lucas, how would that influence Mr. Darcy's dogged pursuit of the elusive Elizabeth? In this breezy and hilarious re-telling of Jane Austin's classic novel, the author explores what would have changed - and what would have not - had two of literature's most self-righteous characters found their way together. Elizabeth Bennet goes to Kent with her sister Jane, and the fur flies! A wonderful, mad-cap romp!

Written as an adventure tale, Nicole Burton’s novel Adamson's 1969 is a frolic through the year 1969 as seen through the eyes of a guileless young Englishman, Adamson Henry. Like the characters in the movies Forrest Gump and Zelig, Adamson finds himself caught up in 1969's major historic moments including the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Woodstock, and the massive anti-war protests. Welcome to Adamson's 1969.

June 1813. As the Peninsular War edges toward its climactic battle at Vitoria, a well-bred, newly commissioned, and hopelessly incompetent officer arrives to take charge of a seasoned troop of British cavalry. The troop's eloquent but shifty corporal takes the officer under his wing, and thus begins a journey through the campaign with many laugh-out-loud moments as the less-than-upright members of the troop determine to turn the war against the French to their pecuniary advantage.

Mailand 1493: Der junge Pandolfo liegt mit eingeschlagenem Schädel in einem Abfallhaufen. Der Seidenhändler Bernardino Bellapianta findet den Schwerverletzten und pflegt ihn in seinem märchenhaften Palast gesund. Doch Pandolfo hat sein Gedächtnis verloren. Auf der Suche nach seiner Vergangenheit überlebt Pandolfo einen zweiten Mordanschlag, steigt mit einem Flugmaschinenbauer in die Lüfte auf, verliebt sich zum zweiten Mal in dieselbe Frau und kommt langsam dahinter, dass sein Wohltäter nicht ganz so tadellos ist, wie er scheint.

Tennyson's Gift is an imaginative cocktail of Victorian seriousness and farce that reimagines the world of the 19th-century English poet laureate, placing him in the midst of eccentric company that includes Lewis Carroll. Going Loco features a critic trying to write a definitive account of the doppelganger in Gothic fiction, amid the chaos of her domestic life, including paranoia that her cleaning lady is taking over her life.