Satire Comedy

Available to listeners for the first time, Sucker’s Portfolio showcases a collection of seven never-before-published works from Kurt Vonnegut, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Short, sardonic, and dark, these six brief fiction stories and one non-fiction piece are consummate Vonnegut with piercing satire and an eye for life’s obscene inanity. Also available for the first time is an unfinished science-fiction short story, included in the appendix.

Having unraveled the mysteries of Washington in his classic best seller Parliament of Whores, and the mysteries of economics in Eat the Rich, one of our shrewdest and most mordant foreign correspondents now turns his attention to what is these days the ultimate mystery - America's foreign policy.

Hailed in his lifetime as one of Latin America’s greatest writers, Machado de Assis (1839-1908) was a storyteller known for his wholly innovative narrative techniques and uncanny talent for unraveling the social and political milieu of nineteenth-century Brazil. These signature traits are on full display in Quincas Borba, a novel that sees Machado satirize a rapidly changing Rio de Janeiro. Originally published in 1891, the story begins with the death of its titular character, a mad philosopher infamous for spouting pessimistic theories of “Humanitism”.

Fallow, by Sarah Anderson is a forthcoming title from Farrar, Straus and Giroux...

"All I want is to be a success.That's all I ask." Joe fails to sell a single set of the Encyclopedia Britannica in six months. Then he fails to sell a single Electrolux and must eat hundreds of pieces of homemade pie, served up by his would-be customers who feel so sorry for him. Holed up in his trailer, Joe finds an outlet his for frustrations in a series of ingenious sexual fantasies, and at last strikes gold. His brain storm, Lightning Rods, Inc., will take Joe to the very top - and to the very heart of corporate insanity.

Honey Badger is angry because Honey Badger is hungry. In The Very Hungry Honey Badger, you’ll witness the angriest mammal in the animal kingdom get into several fights as he searches for food. From scaring off buffalo to battling cobras, Honey Badger will show you he does not mess around when his stomach’s grumbling. Someone get him food, pronto!

Von Andy Warhol entdeckt, als Stilikone und Talkgast verehrt, ist Fran Lebowitz in den USA eine Kultfigur. Mit der Netflix-Serie "Pretend It's a City" ihres Freundes Martin Scorsese wird sie weltweit gefeiert. Lebowitz' Ruhm begründet aber hat ihr Schreiben, das sie als ebenso aufmerksame wie weise Beobachterin der Menschen und ihres Alltags zeigt.

Erinnern Sie sich noch? Die anstrengenden Urlaubsreisen ins Gelobte Land jenseits der Alpen. Morgens um fünf ging es los, eingepfercht auf der Rückbank des bis unters Dach beladenen Ford Sierra. 15 Stunden Fahrt ohne Klimaanlage und Smartphone, dafür mit "Ich sehe was, was du nicht siehst". Und im Urlaubsparadies wurden Pizza und Espresso misstrauisch beäugt.

Nestled among Seattle's skyscrapers, The Zephyr Holdings Building is a bleak rectangle topped by an orange-and-black logo that gives no hint of Zephyr's business. Lack of clarity, it turns out, is Zephyr's defining characteristic. The floors are numbered in reverse. No one has ever seen the CEO or glimpsed his office on the first (i.e., top) floor. Yet every day people clip on their ID tags, file into the building, sit at their desks, and hope that they're not about to be outsourced.

A quest to find the treasure of all treasures launches this swashbuckling tale of romance and high adventure across three centuries and takes you on a hilarious and visionary journey that includes lovers, pirates, bank robbers, treasure maps, yoga cults, love potions, assassins, con artists, quicksand, smugglers, and rock-paper-scissors.

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk comes a biting satire of American politics and a searingly intelligent novel about the cruel absurdities of contemporary life, centering on a world champion professional wrestler with presidential ambitions Reporter...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every man in possession of a wife must be in want of a son. Seventeen eighty-five was to be the most marvelous year of Marianne's life until an unfortunate turn of events left her in a compromised state and desperate for a husband to care - or rather cover - for her. Now she is stuck in an undesirable marriage to Mr. Edward Bennet, a man desperate in his own way for a male heir.

Meet Charlie King. He’s doing great! Honestly. A fantastic job, two solid best mates and a girlfriend who might just be The One. Life is good. Perfect, even. So why is he waking up in a cold sweat? Why does his heart keep trying to punch its way out of his chest? Charlie should probably see a doctor. That’s what everyone keeps telling him. But it’s not that bad. He just needs a decent night’s sleep. Other than that, he’s Totally Fine. Except for that car crash a few months ago—the one he barely remembers. The one he hasn’t thought about at all.

2 b r 0 2 b is a classic science fiction short story by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Regarded by critics and fans alike as one of the most accomplished and witty social commentators of the twentieth century, all of Kurt Vonnegut's unique strengths as a writer shine in the short fiction piece 2 b r 0 2 b.

Young, arrogant tycoon Earl Grey seduces the naïve coed Anna Steal with his overpowering good looks and staggering amounts of money, but will she be able to get past his fifty shames, including shopping at Walmart on Saturdays, bondage with handcuffs, and his love of BDSM (Bards, Dragons, Sorcery, and Magick)? Or will his dark secrets and constant smirking drive her over the edge?

Revisit your favourite moments from the cult political comedy with this audio collection of the complete TV soundtracks Described as ‘the 21st century’s answer to Yes Minister’, this scabrous satire set in the corridors of the British government ran for four series between 2005 and 2012...

Le ton de l'ouvrage est vif, voire lapidaire, le style particulièrement cru et chatoyant. Pierre Louÿs use volontiers d'ironie pour évoquer les amours viles des jeunes filles perverses, et cette relative distanciation lui permet de faire fi de toute censure morale (inceste, pédophilie). De fait, on est loin du raffinement précieux des Chansons de Bilitis par exemple, et le Manuel de civilité est sans doute l'œuvre la plus subversive de Louÿs, véritable attaque en règle contre le puritanisme bourgeois de la Belle Époque.

Originally published in 1925, Heart of a Dog by Russian author and playwright Mikhail Bulgakov, is a dark, fantastical satire of the failures inherent in the dream of a Communist utopia. When a respected surgeon decides to transplant human body parts into a stray dog, he creates a monster—drunken, profligate, aggressive, and selfish. It seems the worst aspects of the donor have been transplanted as well. As his previously well-regulated home descends into riotous chaos, the doctor realizes he will have to try to reverse the operation, but the dog isn’t so keen.

Paul is a recently demoted adjunct instructor of freshman comp, a divorced but doting Brooklyn father, and a self-desc­ribed “curmudgeonly crank” cataloging his resentment of the priorities of modern life in a book called The Luddite Manifesto. Outraged by the authoritarian creeps ruining the country, he is determined to better the future for his young daughter, one aggrieved lecture at a time.

Set in Rhode Island, Winner of the National Book Award tells the story of twins who could not be more different. Abigail Mather is a woman of passionate sensual and sexual appetites, while her sister, the book-loving local librarian Dorcas, lives a quiet life of the mind. But when the sisters are sought out by the predatory and famous poet, Guy DeVilbiss, who introduces them to Hollywood hack writer and possible psychopath Conrad Lowe, they rapidly become pawns in a game that leads to betrayal, shame and ultimately, murder.