(Book). Composer, lyricist and driving force behind such songs and stage productions as "Heart and Soul," "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Guys and Dolls and The Most Happy Fella , Frank Loesser left an indelible mark on American music. In this rich and revealing biography, his daughter profiles this prolific musical mastermind, piecing together her own memories with those of singers, songwriters, producers, friends and family members. The result is an accurate account of what it was like to know Frank Loesser: a very funny man with a fiery temper whose ferocious commitment to his art drove singers out of their minds and to their best. This comprehensive account of Loesser's life and career includes photos, drawings, lyrics and an index.

Shepherd Mead, bestselling author of How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, came to live in England with his family in 1958. Six years later he published a satirical handbook for fellow Americans to guide them through the nuances of British culture and save them from blunders: 'Write down now that pants always mean underpants', he advises. 'What you wear out in the open are trousers. Mistakes in this area can lead to nasty misunderstandings.'Structured around the fictional experience of an American couple Peggy and Buckley Brash and their two children, the book covers such topics as 'How to Dress in England', 'The Dream House and How to Rebuild it', and 'How to Live with the Upper Classes Without Having Any Money'. Through the Brash family's encounters with the British and their bewildered conversations with each other as they attempt to interpret an alien way of life, Mead answers pertinent questions such as 'Do English schools create sex madness?' and 'Is England really a pest hole?' with quirky and affectionate humour.Written with the light touch and incisive wit which brought Mead such success with his earlier book, and deftly illustrated with dynamic cartoons, How to Live Like A Lord without Really Trying is packed with gems on Anglo-American differences and pithy advice which tells us as much about the British of the 1960s as it does about their visitors from across the Pond.

Despicable Me meets Diary of a Wimpy Kid in this hilarious illustrated middle grade adventure that follows a hapless warlock-in-training as he struggles to live up to his great and terrible destiny. Meet Wick. He's the son of the Dark Lord, heir to the throne of black and broken glass, and next in line to be the leader of the Grim World. Too bad he's stuck in Remedial Spell Casting (he can barely even cast the fart-revealer spell), he's allergic to fire and brimstone, and the bullies at school insist on calling him Dork Lord. Full of humor, hijinks, and lively illustrations, Confessions of a Dork Lord follows Wick through the pages of his journal as he comes up with a genius plan to defeat his foes, achieve greatness . . . and survive Middle Ages School. "I loved every page, and your kid will too!" --Melissa de la Cruz, bestselling author of the Descendants series "It's not easy being bad. But this book will give you a head start." --Pseudonymous Bosch, bestselling author of the Secret series "Hilarious! Not to be missed!" --Eoin Colfer, bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series

Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Michael Dirda has been hailed as "the best-read person in America" (The Paris Review) and "the best book critic in America" (The New York Observer). His latest volume collects fifty of his witty and wide-ranging reflections on a life in literature. Reaching from the classics to the post-moderns, his allusions dance from Samuel Johnson, Ralph Waldo Emerson and M. F. K. Fisher to Marilynne Robinson, Hunter S. Thompson, and David Foster Wallace. Dirda's topics are equally diverse: literary pets, the lost art of cursive writing, book inscriptions, the pleasures of science fiction conventions, author photographs, novelists in old age, Oberlin College, a year in Marseille, writer's block, and much more. As admirers of his earlier books will expect, there are annotated lists galore—of perfect book titles, great adventure novels, favorite words, books about books, and beloved children's classics, as well as a revealing peek at the titles Michael keeps on his own nightstand.Funny and erudite, Browsings is a celebration of the reading life, a fan's notes, and the perfect gift for any booklover.

This fascinating, 200-page book features the quotes from the best hunting, fishing, and nature writers to ever grace the pages of Sporting Classics. It’s laced with poignant passages from hunting stories by Hemingway, Ruark, Roosevelt, and Rutledge. You’ll enjoy hundreds of quotes by the greatest fishing writers, including Izaak Walton, Sigurd Olson, Robert Traver, and Roderick Haig-Brown along with the thoughtful words of renowned conservationists like John Madson, Aldo Leopold, and Henry David Thoreau. The book even includes lines from poems by Rudyard Kipling, Robert Frost, and many other great poets. With fifty black-and-white illustrations by Joseph Byrne, Passages—The Greatest Quotes from Sporting Literature is a handsome, timeless collection, one that is sure to please anyone with an interest in the outdoors.