Humor Classics

When Keith Knight sets out one morning to buy a tin of custard from his local shop, he didn't bank on falling through the fabric between his world and a land of fantasy. Mistaken as the "Knight" from afar who, it is said, will lift the Mushroom King's curse on the land, he must face dragons, avoid swamp donkeys and negotiate the "forest of certain death" to seek out the elusive and dangerous Baba Yaga in order to complete her three impossible tasks if he has any hope of reaching the Wishing Tree and returning home.

The Big Bleep is the story of hard-boiled, Harley riding detective Sam Shovel, digging up the truth on a comedic, existential journey of self-realization. It's an investigation into a universe where a fictional character can become self-aware - just like in real life! And, it's the only book that tells the truth about what REALLY happened to the Earth dinosaurs... (really).

Mark Greene, that semi-smart layabout, is back. Venturing to Bunk Bunk Community College to enroll in courses that he hopes might lead to some sort of employment, Mark inexplicably finds himself tossed into the lowest depths of the teaching profession. He's hired as an adjunct to teach English at midnight. Try as he might to impart literature and spark creativity to those in his charge, Mark Greene cannot help but get his own schooling - good and hard.

The Capulets and the Montagues have some deep and essential differences. Blood differences. Of course, the Capulets can escape their vampire fate, and the Montagues can try not to kill their undead enemies. But at the end of the day, their blood feud is unstoppable. So it's really quite a problem when Juliet, a vampire-to-be, and Romeo, the human who should be hunting her, fall desperately in love. What they don't realize is how deadly their love will turn out to be - or what it will mean for their afterlives....

David Wilson is called "Pudd'nhead" by the townspeople, who fail to understand his combination of wisdom and eccentricity. He redeems himself by simultaneously solving a murder mystery and a case of transposed identities.

A mysterious stranger arrives in a small Sussex village, covered up from head to toes with a coat, gloves, bandages, goggles and hat. The stranger demands to be left alone, spending most of his time in his room working with chemicals and laboratory apparatus. He quickly becomes the talk of the village as he unnerves the locals. Eventually, though, after a burglary (in which the thief was unseen) the stranger's secret comes out.

Gogol's great comic masterpiece paints an hilariously satirical picture of provincial life in 19th century Russia. Its publication in 1847 not only provided inspiration for succeeding generations of Russian writers, but fanned the already flickering flames of social discontent which were eventually to flare up and consume Russia in the revolution of 1917.

Dilbert Pinkerton's not the greatest private detective, but he's good at sniffing out clues. Of course, it's hard to take a five-foot-nothing mutant armadillo in a trench coat and fedora seriously. He sticks his snout where it doesn't belong far too often while digging for the truth. So when some rich dame asks him to steal - ahem, retrieve - a pearl necklace from her ex-husband, Dill almost reconsiders. Until, that is, she offers him so much money that he can't refuse.

This novel is Shakespeare's worst nightmare. It takes two of the bard's most famous plays, Hamlet and Othello, and recasts them with fantasy characters in a place called Gundarland. Hamlet is a dwarf and Othello is a dark elf. Iago and his wife, Emilia, are trolls. If that isn't bad enough, these two tragedies are now comedies with Falstaff, Shakespeare's most popular rogue, thrown in as a bonus. Not familiar with Shakespeare? No problem. You'll still enjoy this romp.

Davant dels ulls del lector una plaça d’una gran ciutat sense nom i el tramvia que hi circula cobren vida. En aquest escenari minimalista es desenvolupa una història sobre les vides quotidianes i les passions ocultes dels seus residents. Tot el seu món el controla el personal invisible interessat només a maximitzar els beneficis i a infectar, amb un enfocament omnipresent, destructiu i improvisat, expressió de la seva arrogància, els residents i enverinar-ne les emocions.

En la ciudad de Mordasoff, Marya Aleksandrovna Moskalyova, una ambiciosa mujer, intenta casar a su hija Zina, de veintitrés años con el adinerado y noble anciano Príncipe "K", quien tras haber volcado su carruaje pasa por la casa en la que ellas viven para que le asistan. Zina es considerada mayor para estar soltera y, entre las razones que explican por qué aún no se ha casado, la principal es el siniestro rumor sobre algunas extrañas relaciones que tuvo hace un año y medio con un pobre maestro de la escuela del distrito.

"El Buscón" nos cuenta las aventuras de Pablos, un pícaro con "altos pensamientos de caballero". En el deseo de mejorar su posición social, el protagonista sale de su Segovia natal hacia otras ciudades como Madrid, Toledo y Sevilla, desde donde embarca a las Indias en un desesperado intento de cambiar su suerte. El ingenio y la magistral pluma de Quevedo consiguen que el lector disfrute con estas aventuras y desventuras de Pablos.

"Les aventures de Tom Sawyer" és una de les més grans novel·les per a adolescents que s'han escrit mai. Tota la vida dels pobles de la riba del Mississipí hi és mostrada a través de la narració dels jocs, les preocupacions, les activitats i les relacions d'un parell de personatges que han esdevingut veritables clàssics de la novel·la d'aventures: Tom Sawyer i Huck Finn.

L'"Utopia" di Thomas More rappresenta a pieno titolo il prototipo moderno della letteratura utopistica e visionaria. Suddiviso in due parti, l'audiolibro è incentrato sul dialogo di More con Raffaele Itlodeo ("il chiacchierone"). Questi, gran viaggiatore, esordisce con la descrizione a tinte vive dell'Inghilterra dell'epoca. Il fenomeno delle recinzioni, dell'espropriazione delle terre comuni a opera della nobiltà terriera, aveva condotto sul lastrico vaste componenti della società inglese, soprattutto i contadini.

Wer Karl Kraus im Literaturbetrieb des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts kannte, verehrte oder verabscheute ihn - Gleichgültigkeit löste er jedenfalls nicht aus. Mit nur 25 Jahren gründete Kraus in Wien die Zeitschrift Die Fackel, mit der 1899 seine steile Karriere als Journalist und Kritiker, Dramatiker und Satiriker begann. Bis zu seinem Tod im Jahr 1936 galt er als scharfzüngigster Beobachter des kulturellen und politischen Zeitgeschehens. Seine Worte richteten sich gegen die Verlotterung der Sprache, gegen Phrasendrescher und Kriegstreiber, gegen Korruption und Heuchelei.

With tongue firmly implanted in cheek, Benson introduces us to a world full of snobs, hypochondriacs, faddists, and social climbers. Some of the titles include "The Compleat Snob", "Aunt Georgie", "The Poison of Asps", "The Eternally Uncompromised", "The Grizzly Kittens", and "The Praisers of Past Time".

Oliver Twist fu il secondo romanzo di Dickens, pubblicato a puntate mensili dal 1837 al 1839. E' una delle opere più famose dello scrittore, primo romanzo inglese ad avere un ragazzo come protagonista e uno dei primi romanzi sociali. L'umorismo feroce con cui Dickens descrive la società inglese, la povertà, l'abuso infantile, l'ipocrisia della cultura fu decisamente una novità.

Grandi speranze è considerato uno dei più grandi e più sofisticati romanzi di Dickens; ebbe inoltre più di 250 adattamenti sul palcoscenico e sullo schermo. Fu pubblicato a puntate fra il 1860 e il 1861, ed è come altri romanzi di Dickens la storia di un percorso di crescita morale di un ragazzo che viene seguito, nel racconto, dall'eta di 7 anni all'età di 35 anni.

An ebullient Mr Finchley is about to propose marriage to a lady he had rescued from mishap, when he is sent to Paris by his firm. There he manages to upset a boat, adopt a stray orphan, and get himself kidnapped. The fine tangle he gets into takes some unravelling! Only when eventually back in London does he complete the proposal of marriage that was interrupted at the start. This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway best seller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today.

Recovering witch Garnet Lacey owns Wisconsin's premier occult bookstore. And a fringe benefit of the job is getting customers like Sebastian Von Traum - piercing brown eyes, a sexy accent, and a killer body. The only thing missing is an aura. Which means he's dead. And that means trouble - something Garnet's a sucker for....