Showing results for "bill bryson" in Literature & Fiction

Shakespeare's life, despite the scrutiny of generations of biographers and scholars, is still a thicket of myths and traditions, some preposterous, some conflicting, arranged around the few scant facts known about the Bard: from his birth in Stratford to the bequest of his second best bed to his wife when he died.

Stop me if you’re heard this one: Veteran comic Chauncy and social-media star José are the very definition of “opposites attract”. But sparks, and jokes, fly after the two of them embark upon a beautiful romance for the ages...two vastly different ages. Starring Drew Droege and Gabe Gonzalez, The Comedians is a modern queer love story, told through individual stand-up acts. We hear the ups and downs of their journey—from falling hard to failing harder than a botched punchline—in this hilariously relatable play about love, loss, and, above all, "The Laugh".

First published in 1956, The Ascent of Rum Doodle quickly became established as mountaineering classic. As an outrageously funny spoof about the ascent of a 40,000-and-a-half-foot peak, many thought it inspired by the 1953 conquest of Everest. But Bowman had drawn on the flavour and tone of earlier adventures, of Bill Tilman and his 1937 account of the Nandi Devi expedition. The book's central and unforgettable character, Binder, is one of the finest creations in comic literature.

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

La infancia de un chico estadounidense que creció en la década de 1950. Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Estados Unidos entró en una época de bonanza como no se había visto antes. El estilo de vida americano se desplegó envuelto en un aura de felicidad e ingenuidad: se podían comprar hasta cien marcas de helados, la mayoría de los hogares disponían de televisores para ver a Roy Rogers, el vaquero cantarín, y la gente creía que tomarse dos o tres cócteles antes de cenar era saludable.