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The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (Library of Latin America)

The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (Library of Latin America)

by Machado deAssis, Gregory Rabassa

"Be aware that frankness is the prime virtue of a dead man," writes the narrator of The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas. But while he may be dead, he is surely one of the liveliest characters in fiction, a product of one of the most remarkable imaginations in all of literature, Brazil's greatest novelist of the nineteenth century, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. By turns flippant and profound, The... (more)

Between, Georgia

by Joshilyn Jackson

Nonny Frett understands the meaning of the phrase "in between a rock and a hard place" better than any woman alive. She's got two mothers, "one deaf-blind and the other four baby steps from flat crazy." She's got two men: a husband who's easing out the back door; and a best friend, who's laying siege to her heart in her front yard. And she has two families: the Fretts, who stole her and raised her right; and the... (more)

American Psycho

by Bret Easton Ellis

The controversial novel about a handsome serial killer who moves among the young and trendy in 1980s New York.

Breathers: A Zombie's Lament

by S. G. Browne

For fans of Max Brooks’s The Zombie Survival Guide and zombie aficionados everywhere, a hilarious debut novel about life (and love) after death. Meet Andy Warner, a recently deceased everyman and newly minted zombie. Resented by his parents, abandoned by his friends, and reviled by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new existence. But all that changes... (more)

That Old Cape Magic

by Richard Russo

Following Bridge of Sighs —a national best seller hailed by The Boston Globe as “an astounding achievement” and “a masterpiece”—Richard Russo gives us the story of a marriage, and of all the other ties that bind, from parents and in-laws to children and the promises of youth. Griffin has been tooling around for nearly a year with his father’s ashes in the trunk, but his mother is very much alive and not shy... (more)

Then We Came to the End

by Joshua Ferris

This wickedly funny, big-hearted novel about life in the office signals the arrival of a gloriously talented new writer. The characters in THEN WE CAME TO THE END cope with a business downturn in the time-honored way: through gossip, secret romance, elaborate pranks, and increasingly frequent coffee breaks. By day they compete for the best office furniture left behind and try to make sense of the... (more)

Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories

Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories

by Flannery O'Connor

The collection that established OÂ’ConnorÂ’s reputation as one of the american masters of the short story. The volume contains the celebrated title story, a tale of the murderous fugitive The Misfit, as well as Â“The Displaced PersonÂ” and eight other stories.

Amphigorey Also

by Edward Gorey

Drawings (including thirty-two pages in color), captions, and verse showcasing Gorey’s unique talents and humor. “The Glorious Nosebleed,” “The Utter Zoo,” “The Epiplectic Bicycle,” and fourteen other selections.

King Dork

by Frank Portman

Tom Henderson (a.k.a. King Dork, Chi-mo, Hender-fag, and Sheepie) is a typical American high school loser until he discovers the book, The Catcher in the Rye, that will change the world as he knows it. When Tom discovers his deceased father’s copy of the Salinger classic, he finds himself in the middle of several interlocking conspiracies and at least half a dozen mysteries involving dead people, naked people,... (more)

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

by Christopher Moore

The town psychiatrist has decided to switch everybody inPine Cove, California, from their normal antidepressants toplacebos, so naturally -- well, to be accurate, artificially -- business is booming at the local blues bar. Trouble is, thoselonely slide-guitar notes have also attracted a colossal seabeast named Steve with a, shall we say, thing for explosiveoil tanker trucks. Suddenly morose Pine Cove turns... (more)

Coyote Blue

by Christopher Moore

Sam Hunter has spent twenty years escaping his past. Now it has caught up to him in the weirdest of all possible ways. As a boy growing up in Montana, he was Samson Hunts Alone -- until a deadly misunderstanding with the law forced him to flee the Crow reservation at age fifteen. Today he is a successful Santa Barbara insurance salesman with a Mercedes, a condo and a hollow, invented life. The one day,... (more)

Sick Puppy

by Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen's characters ride and flail on little verbalhurricanes, and his literary storm shows no signs of dying down. Sick Puppyshares Dave Barry's giddy gift for finding humor in South Florida horrors, and a bit of Elmore Leonard's genius for pitch-perfect dialogue spouted smartly bycriminals who are dumb as stumps. The title of Hiaasen's eighth novel could apply to mostof its characters, but it chiefly... (more)

The Tin Drum

by Günter Grass

The publication of "The Tin Drum" in 1959 launched Gunther Grass as an author of international repute. Bitter and impassioned, it delivers a scathing dissection of the years from 1925 to 1955 through the eyes of Oskar Matzerath, the dwarf whose manic beating on the toy of his retarded childhood fantastically counterpoints the accumulating horrors of Germany and Poland under the Nazis.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: Book 4

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

by Douglas Adams

Back on Earth with nothing more to show for his long, strange trip through time and space than a ratty towel and a plastic shopping bag, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription, the mysterious disappearance of Earth's dolphins, and the discovery of his battered copy of The Hitchhiker's... (more)

Life Expectancy

by Dean Koontz

With his bestselling blend of nail-biting intensity, daring artistry, and storytelling magic, Dean Koontz returns with an emotional roller coaster of a tale filled with enough twists, turns, shocks, and surprises for ten ordinary novels. Here is the story of five days in the life of an ordinary man born to an extraordinary legacy—a story that will challenge the way you look at good and evil, life and death, and... (more)

Teacher Man: A Memoir

by Frank McCourt

Here at last in paperback is Frank McCourt's critically acclaimed and bestselling book about how his thirty-year teaching career shaped his second act as a writer. Teacher Man is also an urgent tribute to teachers everywhere. In bold and spirited prose featuring his irreverent wit and heartbreaking honesty, McCourt records the trials, triumphs and surprises of teaching in public high schools. Teacher Man shows... (more)

The October Country

by Joe Mugnaini, Ray Bradbury

Haunting, harrowing, and downright horrifying, this classic collection from the modern master of the fantastic features: THE SMALL ASSASSIN: a fine, healthy baby boy was the new mother's dream come true -- or her nightmare . . . THE EMISSARY: the faithful dog was the sick boy's only connectioin with the world outside -- and beyond . . . THE WONDERFUL DEATH OF DUDLEY STONE: a most remarkable case of murder -- the... (more)

Filth

by Irvine Welsh

At last, a novel that lives up to its name-from the author of the international sensation Trainspotting. With the Christmas season upon him, Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson of Edinburgh's finest is gearing up socially-kicking things off with a week of sex and drugs in Amsterdam. There are some sizable flies in the ointment, though: a missing wife and child, a nagging cocaine habit, some painful ... (more)

Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper

Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper

by Diablo Cody

Decreed by David Letterman (tongue in cheek) on CBS TV’s The Late Show to be the pick of "Dave’s Book Club 2006," Candy Girl is the story of a young writer who dared to bare it all as a stripper. At the age of twenty-four, Diablo Cody decided there had to be more to life than typing copy at an ad agency. She soon managed to find inspiration from a most unlikely source— amateur night at the seedy Skyway ... (more)

Pet's Revenge (Edgar and Ellen)

by Charles Ogden

Two Twins, One Eyeball, No Surrender Pet has long endured the trickery of its mischievous masters, Edgar and Ellen, but no more! The one-eyed creature has newfound strength, willpower, and a plan that could tear the twins apart. Meanwhile, the Knightleighs have invaded the twins' house, and Edgar and Ellen are worried -- not until Ellen starts acting very oddly. She's tidying the house and taking baths. She's... (more)

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Browse Subjects: dark humor

Top Books

by Machado deAssis, Gregory Rabassa

by Joshilyn Jackson

by Bret Easton Ellis

by S. G. Browne

by Richard Russo

by Joshua Ferris

by Flannery O'Connor

by Edward Gorey

by Frank Portman

by Christopher Moore

by Christopher Moore

by Carl Hiaasen

by Günter Grass

by Douglas Adams

by Dean Koontz

by Frank McCourt

by Joe Mugnaini, Ray Bradbury

by Irvine Welsh

by Diablo Cody

by Charles Ogden