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Lucky Break
by Rob StevensLeon’s twin, Lenny, had the best imagination in the world. He could do a back flip from a standing start and tell rude jokes nonstop for hours. But a year ago Lenny died, and Leon's family hasn't been the same since.When a new boy, Arnold, starts at Leon's school, he has no idea what to think: Arnold doesn’t understand jokes, sarcasm is lost on him and he can be completely blunt. Leon has never met anyone like Arnold before, and an unlikely friendship blossoms. Before long things start to get seriously bonkers, and the two boys are breaking windows, accidentally holding up a bank and getting arrested after a disagreement with a baguette. But amidst all this madness, can Awkward Arnold actually help Leon to sort his life out?
The Lucky Country: Amazing Australian tales of fortune, flukes and windfalls
by Eamon EvansThe happy accident that created wi-fi. The well-placed piece of coral that saved the Endeavour from sinking. The karaoke night that launched Kylie's singing career.Australia may be known as 'the lucky country', but just how accurate is that description? Turns out, very. From the Gold Rush to Stephen Bradbury, our history is full of times when lady luck made a spectacular appearance. Now, Eamon Evans dives deep to deliver the most hilarious, fascinating tales of the Australians who were almost too lucky to be believed.
Lucky Day
by null Beth MorreyFrom the Sunday Times bestselling author of SAVING MISSY, comes a fierce, joyful and uplifting novel about putting life on pause, pleasing yourself, and getting your own back. Whatever it takes. 'Funny, inspiring and uplifting' Nina Stibbe 'Raging, outrageous and joyous' Nikki May CAN SHE SAY F*CK IT, JUST FOR ONE DAY? After a morning that starts with a terrible migraine, an accidentally strong concoction of painkillers, and a bump on the head, Clover Hendry is not quite herself. And as she walks out of work at 9.47am, for once Clover isn't worrying about anything. She is taking some much-deserved me-time, and everyone else had better get out of her way. As she crashes from once incident (a deliciously illicit swim) to the next (art theft), Clover is on a one-woman mission to do exactly as she pleases – consequences are for tomorrow! It's a day of joyful recklessness, but behind the chaos, a plan is afoot. Will her new-found freedom uncover long-buried secrets? A euphoric, raging, galvanizing story about putting life on pause, pleasing yourself, and getting your own back – whatever it takes.
The Lucky Dress: The perfect feel-good romance for 2020
by Aimee BrownWe all have our lucky dress... an irresistibly hilarious rom-com! Emi Harrison hasn't been feeling particularly lucky lately. Ever since her ex-fiancée, Jack Cabot, successfully shattered her heart into a million pieces. She's managed to avoid him for a whole year, but all that's about to change at her brother Evan's wedding... She will have to face Jack, Jack's sister, Jack's parents, and Jack's new girlfriend: a mean girl that just won't quit. What could possibly go wrong? With her lucky dress on, all bets are off, and maybe Emi will find her happily-ever-after at last? Perfect for fans of Anna Bell, Jo Watson and Sophie Kinsella. Praise for The Lucky Dress: 'One of my favorite books this year, maybe even ever' Michelle Harris. 'I was sucked in from the start and pretty much devoured the book' Nikki Newcomb. 'Perfect beach reading book' Danielle Dobson. 'Funny, relatable story' Erin Butler. 'I enjoyed this frothy, funny rom-com and read it in one sitting. Perfect beach read!' Amanda Driver.
The Lucky Escape
by Laura Jane Williams‘This is exactly the book we all need right now’ Beth O’Leary ‘I can’t remember the last time a book made me forget I had a phone’ Stacey Halls
Lucky Jim (Penguin Decades)
by Kingsley AmisPenguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling.Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim was published in 1954, and is a hilarious satire of British university life. Jim Dixon is bored by his job as a medieval history lecturer. His days are only improved by pulling faces behind the backs of his superiors as he tries desperately to survive provincial bourgeois society, an unbearable 'girlfriend' and petty humiliation at the hands of Professor Welch.Lucky Jim is one of the most famous and influential of all British post-War novels.
Lucky Jim (Penguin Modern Classics)
by Kingsley Amis David LodgeJim Dixon has accidentally fallen into a job at one of Britain's new red brick universities. A moderately successful future in the History Department beckons. As long as Jim can survive a madrigal-singing weekend at Professor Welch's, deliver a lecture on 'Merrie England' and resist Christine, the hopelessly desirable girlfriend of Welch's awful son Bertrand.
Lucy Holliday 2-Book Collection: A Night In With Audrey Hepburn And A Night In With Marilyn Monroe
by Lucy HollidayA double dose of romance and hilarious faux pas with Libby Lomax and your favourite Hollywood screen icons. Perfect for fans of Lucy Diamond and Sophie Kinsella.
Lucy Locket: Online Disaster (Girls Can Vlog #1)
by Emma MossNEWSFLASH . . . VLOGGING IS GO!It's bad enough having to move house, school and country all at the same time, without making a fool of yourself on the first day of term. But that's just what Lucy's done - and one of her classmates has videoed the whole thing and put it online!Lucy's so stressed, her stammer's become worse than ever. So when a friend encourages her to create her own videos, she thinks it's a terrible idea - surely she's embarrassed herself enough for one lifetime! But when Lucy finally gives vlogging a try, she's amazed to find that people actually want to watch . . .Includes tips for making your own vlogs!
Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married: British Book Awards Author of the Year 2022
by Marian KeyesNever before has this title been published as an eBook . . . Lucy Sullivan's been told she is getting married . . . but to who? She doesn't even have a boyfriend yet . . .'I was still at that stage in my life when I thought that weekdays were for recovering from the weekend'Lucy Sullivan is twenty-six and living it up (and occasionally down) in London. Hers is a life of quiet, undisciplined desperation. But when she and three friends visit a psychic for a bit of fun and the woman's predictions start coming true, Lucy is horrified.For the fortune teller insisted she'd soon be married - within the year, in fact.Not only does Lucy not have a boyfriend, but the chances of getting one are looking slim. Between the bottles of wine, anti-depressants and her addiction to self-help books, she's not quite ready to walk, or even stumble, down the aisle sober.Is Lucy's fate really written in the stars? Or will she finally take control of her own destiny?'When it comes to writing page-turners that put a smile on your face and make you think, Keyes is in a class of her own' Daily Express'Gloriously funny' The Sunday Times'A warm and hilarious page turner' Good Housekeeping'A modern fairy tale, it's full of Keyes's self-deprecating wit' The Sunday Mirror
Lucy Willow
by Sally Gardner'There were three things that marked out Lucy Willow as different. The first was that she lived on a train. The second was that she had a snail called Ernest as a pet. And the third, the most important of all, was that she had green fingers.'It's Lucy's green fingers that save the day when Silverboots McCoy the famous footballer and his girlfriend Blossom B order flowers for their wedding - for Ricky Sparks, who runs the rival garden centre, will stop at nothing to get the contract for himself.Longer and fuller than the Magical Children books, LUCY WILLOW has all Sally Gardner's soaring imagination, enchanting humour and great heart, and is rich in scenes and characters that readers will adore and always remember.
The Ludicrous Laws of Old London
by Nigel CawthorneLondon abounds with all manner of ludicrous laws, and not all of these curious statutes have been relegated to the past. Despite the efforts of the Law Commission there are medieval laws that are still in force, and the City of London and its livery companies have their own legal oddities. Laws are made in the capital because parliament is here; so are the Old Bailey, the Law Courts, the House of Lords and, now, the Supreme Court. The privy council, which sometimes has to decide cases, also sits in London, and there were other courts that used to sit in London, from prize courts concerning war booty to ecclesiastical courts. Having maintained its 'ancient rights and freedoms' under Magna Carta, the City felt free to enact its own laws, many of which seem to have had to do with what people could wear. Until quite recently, for example, a man could be arrested for walking down the street wearing a wig, a robe and silk stockings - unless he was a judge. And all human folly has been paraded through the law courts of London, to the extent that it is difficult to know where the serious business of administering justice ends and where farce begins. As law is made in the courtroom as well as in parliament and elsewhere, judges like to keep a firm hand, but sometimes so-called jibbing juries will simply not do what they are told. All sorts of oddities get swept up into the law. Legislators particularly love to pass Acts about sex. If sexual services are being offered in a London massage parlour, for example, a police officer must then search the premises for school children. According to The Children and Young Persons Act of 1933 it is against the law for children and 'yowling persons' between the age of four and sixteen to frequent a brothel. A writ was introduced under both Edward III and Henry IV to ban lawyers from parliament as there were too many of them, the reason being that it was easier for a lawyer to spend his time in London attending parliament that it was for a knight of the shires. But because parliament was already packed with lawyers it was difficult to make any such rule stick. Then an effective way of excluding them was found. They were denied the wages paid to members in those days. Sadly, these days, parliament and the government are packed with lawyers once again. And they are being paid.A law passed in 1540 - and still in force today - makes it illegal for barbers in the City of London to practise surgery; with impeccable impartiality, the Act also forbids surgeons to cut hair. Finally, never forget that under the Vagrancy Act of 1824, you can be convicted of being 'an idle and disorderly person, or a rogue, vagabond, or incorrigible rogue'. The same act also outlaws people 'professing to tell fortunes', including 'palmistry'. Under the Act, it is an offence merely to be suspected.
Lullaby
by Chuck PalahniukCarl Streator is a reporter investigating Sudden Infant Death Syndrome for a soft-news feature. After responding to several calls with paramedics, he notices that all the dead children were read the same poem from the same library book the night before they died. It's a 'culling song' - an ancient African spell for euthanizing sick or old people. Researching it, he meets a woman who killed her own child with it accidentally. He himself accidentally killed his own wife and child with the same poem twenty years earlier. Together, the man and the woman must find and destroy all copies of this book, and try not to kill every rude sonofabitch that gets in their way. Lullaby is a comedy/drama/tragedy. In that order. It may also be Chuck Palahniuk's best book yet.
The Luminous Novel
by Mario Levrero‘Perhaps the luminous novel is this thing that I started writing today; just now. Maybe these sheets of paper are a warm-up exercise. […] But it’s quite possible that if I go on writing – as I usually do – with no plan; although this time I know very well what I want to say; things will start to take shape; to come together. I can feel the familiar taste of a literary adventure in my throat.I’ll take that as confirmation; then; and start describing what I think was the beginning of my spiritual awakening – though nobody should expect religious sermons at this point; they’ll come later. It all began with some ruminations prompted by a dog.’A writer attempts to complete the novel for which he has been awarded a big fat Guggenheim grant; though for a long time he succeeds mainly in procrastinating – getting an electrician to rewire his living room so he can reposition his computer; buying an armchair; or rather; two: ‘In one; you can’t possibly read: it’s uncomfortable and your back ends up crooked and sore. In the other; you can’t possibly relax: the hard backrest means you have to sit up straight and pay attention; which makes it ideal if you want to read.’Insomniacs; romantics and anyone who’s ever written (or failed to write) will fall in love with this compelling masterpiece told by a true original; with all his infuriating faults; charming wit and intriguing musings.
The Lumley Autograph
by Susan Fenimore CooperA satirical work concerning the autograph collecting mania of the mid-nineteenth century.
The Lunar Cats
by Lynne TrussBy the bestselling author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves and Cat Out of Hell, a nail-biting tale of good versus evil involving one man, his dog and a group of 18th-century amateur scientific pioneers who just happen to be cats.When you are an inoffensive retired librarian with bitter personal experience of Evil Talking Cats, do you rescue a kitten from the cold on a December night?Do you follow up news items about cats digging in graveyards?Do you inquire into long-ago cats who voyaged around the world with Captain Cook?Well, yes. If you are Alec Charlesworth that is precisely what you do - with unexpected and terrifying consequences ...
Lunar Love
by Lauren Kung JessenThis sweet, enemies-to-lovers debut rom-com filled with Chinese astrology will undoubtedly prove to be a perfect match with readers of Helen Hoang, Jasmine Guillory, and Sarah Adams. Always a matchmaker, never a match... Olivia Huang Christenson is excited-slash-terrified to be taking over her grandmother&’s matchmaking business. But when she learns that a new dating app has made her Pó Po&’s traditional Chinese zodiac approach all about &“animal attraction,&” her emotions skew more toward furious-slash-outraged. Especially when L.A.&’s most-eligible bachelor Bennett O&’Brien is behind the app that could destroy her family&’s legacy . . . Liv knows better than to fall for any guy, let alone an infuriatingly handsome one who believes that traditions are meant to be broken. As the two businesses go head to head, Bennett and Liv make a deal: they&’ll find a match for each other—and whoever falls in love loses. But Liv is dealing with someone who&’s already adept at stealing business ideas . . . so what&’s stopping him from stealing her heart too?
Lunar New Year Love Story: A YA Graphic Novel about Fate, Family and Falling in Love
by Gene Luen YangLunar New Year Love Story is a heartwarming, full colour, YA graphic novel rom-com about fate, family and falling in love, from superstars Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham.She was destined for heartbreak. Then fate handed her love.Val is ready to give up on love. It's led to nothing but secrets and heartbreak, and she's pretty sure she's cursed — no one in her family, for generations, has ever had any luck with love.But then a chance encounter with a pair of cute lion dancers sparks something in Val. Is it real love? Could this be her chance to break the family curse? Or is she destined to live with a broken heart forever . . . ?
Lunar Park (Vintage Contemporaries Ser.)
by Bret Easton EllisHe became a bestselling novelist while still in college, immediately famous and wealthy. He watched his insufferable father reduced to a bag of ashes in a safety-deposit box. He was lost in a haze of booze, drugs and vilification. Then he was given a second chance. This is the life of Bret Easton Ellis, the author and subject of this remarkable novel. Confounding one expectation after another, Lunar Park is equally hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking. It’s the most original novel of an extraordinary career – and best of all: it all happened, every word is true.
Lunatics and Luck: Book 3 (Raven Mysteries #3)
by Marcus SedgwickJoin the wonderfully weird Otherhand family and their faithful guardian, Edgar the raven, and discover the dark secrets of Castle Otherhand.Solstice and Cudweed are appalled to find their father has appointed a new school master. But things get even worse when the grumpy, viciously mean teacher actually arrives. The Otherhand children are sure there's something more to him than meets the eye - the trouble is, who will believe them? No one it seems. Except, perhaps, Edgar.Winner of the 2011 Blue Peter Book Award for Most Fun Story With Pictures, LUNATICS AND LUCK is the third story in this hilarious six book mystery series (with a touch of goth-froth) for 9 year olds from bestselling author, Marcus Sedgwick with quirky black and white line illustrations from new talent, Pete Williamson.Dedicated website on Raven Mysteries: www.ravenmysteries.co.uk
The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum: Political Letters to The Daily Telegraph
by Ian HollingsheadTelegraph letter writers, that most astute body of political commentators, are probably not alone in thinking that politics has taken some strange turns in recent years. The first coalition government since 1945 has led the country from the subprime to the ridiculous, lumbering from Leveson to Libya, riots to referendums, pasty-gate to pleb-gate, Brooks to Bercow, the Bullingdon Club to the Big Society.Five years is a long time in politics. Fortunately for us, it has also been a most fertile period for the Telegraph's legion of witty and erudite letter writers, who have their own therapeutic way of dealing with the pain. An institution in their own right, theirs is a welcome voice of sanity in a world in which the lunatics appear finally to have taken over the asylum.
Lunch at the Piccadilly
by Clyde EdgertonIn his eighth deliciously funny novel, Clyde Edgerton introduces us to the irrepressible Lil Olive, who's recently arrived at the Rosehaven Convalescence Center to recuperate from a bad fall. Lil longs to be back in her own apartment, and since her driver's license doesn't expire until her ninety-seventh birthday, she also longs to get back behind the wheel of her sporty '89 Olds. To pass the time until independence, Lil strikes up some new friendships. Mrs. Maudie Lowe and Mrs. Beatrice Satterwhite, who are laying bets on whether Clara Cochran's glass eye comes out at night. And L. Ray Flowers, the freelance evangelical preacher with fancy white hair who sings his sermons, strums a mean guitar, and aspires to an even higher calling. Keeping a watchful eye on them all is Carl, Lil's middle-aged bachelor nephew with a heart of gold and the patience of a saint. But soon Rosehaven is turned upside down and the outcome is anyone's guess. Lil and the girls steal a car and hit the highway. L. Ray's vision of a national movement to unite churches and nursing homes (Nurches of America) is embraced by the residents. And then there's Darla Avery's dirty little secret, which could spell the end for the visionary preacher. Edgerton looks at the challenges of aging with sympathy, sensitivity, and his trademark sense of humor. Like the bestseller Walking Across Egypt, this is vintage Edgerton: wise, wistful, and laugh-out-loud funny.
Lunchtime Riddles (Riddle Me This!)
by Lisa ReganI am a food with three letters in my name. Lose the last two, and I still sound the same. What am I? Wrap your mind around this incredible collection of over 60 food-themed riddles. As well as traditional riddle formats, it also includes logic puzzles, tongue-twisters, silly puns and more, leaving children age 7+ much to ponder over. The wacky cartoon illustrations on every page are the icing on the cake. ABOUT THE SERIES: Riddle Me This is packed full of clever riddles and hilarious cartoon illustrations, designed to appeal to children. Each title follows a popular theme, from animals to school to underwater riddles, so readers age 7+ can puzzle, ponder and stretch their minds.
Lurid & Cute
by Adam Thirlwell'I had this vision very clearly of a book in which I would record my total experience, and I knew how it should sound: with all the tones that no one ever admires, – the Gruesome, Tender, Needy, Sleazy, Boring, the Lurid and the Cute.’In this way the hero of Adam Thirlwell’s new novel describes the book you hold between your hands: a delirious tale of backchat and low tricks, all of which begin when our hero wakes beside a woman who is bleeding, unconscious and not, unfortunately, his wife... And then, of course, events get very much worse.SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2015WINNER OF THE E.M. FORSTER AWARD 2015
Lush: A True Story, Soaked in Gin
by Gabrielle Fernie'FRANK, FILTHY and FEROCIOUSLY FUNNY' Sunday Mirror'I loved every HONEST and HILARIOUS second!' Carrie Hope Fletcher 'Made me CACKLE OUT LOUD on every single page' Daisy BuchananLush (adj.) Very rich and providing great sensory pleasure (Oxford English Dictionary) (n.) A habitual drunkard (Oxford English Dictionary)Gabby and Emma have been best friends since primary school in Wales. Emma has a stable job, a nice home and has just got engaged. Gabby has had a succession of disastrous one-night stands and awful jobs since drama school . . . and she has just been diagnosed with scurvy. She has one year until the wedding to pull herself together and prove to her friends and family that she can be a proper grown-up.Described by Caitlin Moran as 'filthy, immoral and incredibly funny', Gabrielle Fernie's blog, loveisa4letterturd.com, catalogued her life as a struggling actress with a taste for gin. Here, in her first book, she shares her most raucous stories with eye-watering honesty. It is a laugh-out-loud account of a young woman trying to find her place in the world.Readers love Lush:'Best book I have read for a very long time! Absolutely hilarious!' 'Thanks for making me laugh out loud on the tube like a weirdo and for making me miss my stop more than once''Moments of true absurdity partnered with genuinely touching stories of friendship in your twenties makes for an excellent read' 'I would recommend this book to anyone who's ever doubted themselves; as a little reminder that no matter how ridiculous your life seems to have become, Gabrielle Fernie's has always been hilariously and irrevocably far, far worse'