Pocket Shop

"Vanity Fair" is William Makepeace Thackeray's 19th century novel which satirizes the English society of the time. It is the story of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, who have just completed their studies at Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies and are beginning to embark upon the world. The simple-minded nature of Amelia is contrasted with the strong-willed nature of Becky, who has affections for Amelia's brother Joseph Sedley. Set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, "Vanity Fair" is Thackeray's most popular work which brilliantly characterizes and satirizes the societal trappings of Victorian England.

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?

What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?

How much do parents really matter?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to parenting and sports—and reaches conclusions that turn conventional wisdom on its head.

Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much more.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, they show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.

Mockstrich season has begun. Welcome to "The Hunger But Mainly Death Games," the hilarious Hunger Games parody, and the only book brave enough to suggest that Suzanne Collins's epic trilogy was way more about death than food.

Or at least this is what Bratniss Everclean discovers, when she leaves the comforts of Slum 12, Pandumb's garbage dump, to shortsightedly volunteer for a teenage death tournament. But she soon realizes there are fates worse than death...like weirdly having to date her fellow competitor, and lifelong stalker, Pita Malarkey. Okay, okay, it's not worse than DEATH, but it's still pretty annoying.

Still, with help from her agent Oofie Triptrip and her mentor, Hagridmitch, who's pretty sure he can guide Bratniss to victory in the Tri-Wizard Cup, maybe Bratniss will somehow survive this book that she's the narrator of. "The Hunger But Mainly Death Games" is the perfect book for anyone who's going through Hunger Games withdrawal and ready for a wonderfully twisted take on their favorite story and characters. This book is also for the unfortunate teens who are trapped in a Hunger Games at this very moment and could really benefit from some levity. We're here for you, assuming you brought your books into the arena.

“I now have a girl crush on Babe Walker! Laugh-out-loud, pee-in-your-Cosabellas funny.” --Tori Spelling, author of Uncharted TerriTori

“White Girl Problems makes me laugh a lot, and cry a little. It’s about time someone drew our attention to the devastating reality: White girl problems are all around us . . . absolutely hysterical.” --Susan Sarandon

“Babe Walker will be your new best friend and worst enemy. I loved it!” --Emma Roberts

Babe Walker, center of the universe, is a painstakingly manicured white girl with an expensive smoothie habit, a proclivity for Louboutins, a mysterious mother she's never met, and approximately 50 bajillion Twitter followers. But her "problems" have landed her in shopping rehab—that's what happens when you spend $246,893.50 in one afternoon at Barneys. Now she's decided to write her memoir, revealing the gut-wrenching hurdles she's had to overcome in order to be perfect in every way, every day. Hurdles such as:

- I hate my horse.
- Every job I've ever had is the worst job I've ever had.
- He's not a doctor, a lawyer, or a prince.
- I’ll eat anything, as long as it’s gluten-free, dairy-free, low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie, sugar-free, and organic.

In an Adderall-induced flash of inspiration, Babe Walker has managed to create one of the most enjoyable, unforgettable memoirs in years.

“The epitome of the urban socialite you love to hate.” --Time magazine

“A social satire in the guise of a memoir�The most artful elements are the charming fashion illustrations peppered throughout�Walker’s half-million followers on Twitter and the public’s bottomless appetite for news about real-life socialites like the Kardashians prove that a large audience for this story does exist.”
—Booklist

One of the world’s most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey -- into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer.

In A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail -- well, most of it. In In A Sunburned Country, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand -- and, if possible, answer -- the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.

Life is good at Bingham's Bagel Deli. The loathed customers are dealt the poor treatment they seem to deserve, bad rap music is played loudly, and The Rat is killed often enough to stem his immortality. And the insane homeless regulars -- like drunken Little Johnny Redbeard -- keep life interesting.

But when a rival tricks the crew into thinking that the deli's closure is imminent, they do the only logical thing: instead of giving up, they decide to go out in a blaze of glory, handing their customers the humiliation and abuse that the pesky social contract had previously forbidden. But as insults turn to assaults and snide remarks turn to harassment and pro wrestling moves, a strange thing happens. Business goes up -- way up -- as people come back in droves, begging for more.

But the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and as pop-culture welcomes the parody musical group "The Bialy Pimps" and its frivolous merchandising machine -- and as the crew pushes to see how much bad behavior society will accept -- the violent road to fame begins to feel like a runaway train, out of control and headed for destruction…

The Bialy Pimps is a tale that could only be spun by the twisted, vaguely profane mind of outspoken blogger Johnny B. Truant. Combining hilarity with questions about conformity and whether the tail or the dog is the one doing the wagging, this story can't help but raise a question for the reader: If the rest of your friends decided to submit to the Face-Kicking Machine, would you do it too?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Johnny B. Truant is the author of JohnnyBTruant.com, a popular blog with a fiercely loyal readership that covers entrepreneurship, outside-the-box thinking, and human potential. He is also a regular contributor to premier business blogs Copyblogger and Problogger, the director and MC of the Virtual Ticket program for Blogworld, the world’s preeminent blogging and new media conference, and the creator of The Badass Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating excuses and profiling people with disabilities who make most so-called “able-bodied” people look like total wimps.

Humorous advice for cats, by cats.

The author "discovered" the feline world's best-kept secret in a file hidden on his mother's computer by her cat, Cleo, and now shares it with humanity for the first time. Topics covered range from avoiding visits to the vet, to the artful display of captured prey, to getting in the way of a human trying to read anything, including this paragraph. Upon publication, Cleo denied authorship and hired a team of lawyers, all of whom have their claws out, but despite her best efforts, word is spreading:

The Cat Manual is hilarious for cat-lovers of all ages.

From the author of Cave Passages and Dark Life.

Velvet Ball can’t believe the kids at her new school call her a pixie just because she’s bald, and when Rory O’Leary pulls her hat off and calls her baldy in front of her classmates, Velvet’s had enough. She stamps on his foot and escapes into the forest.

While picking wildflowers, Velvet stumbles upon a fairy caught in the bow of a tree. The fairy promises to grant Velvet a wish if she saves her and proclaims to be Roseberry — Fairy of Crabtree Forest. Velvet doesn’t believe in magic, but she rescues the so-called fairy anyway. And just like she thought, her wish of getting her hair back doesn’t work. Unable to explain why she has no magic, the fairy tries to fly away, but instead she crashes to the ground. Velvet feels sorry for the helpless little sprite and decides to hide her in her bedroom. But the fairy isn’t at all endearing—she’s rude, demanding, bad-mannered and spoilt, and she acts like a princess and expects to be waited on.

Velvet figures Roseberry doesn’t know how to use her powers because she didn’t pay attention in Magic School. But Rosebery’s not interested in learning ‒ she prefers dancing around the bedroom and getting up to mischief. When the fairy goes too far, Velvet threatens to take her back to the woods, though she doesn’t mean it, and when Roseberry gets kidnapped by Rory O'Leary and his gang, Velvet has to find a way to save her before the bullies discover that she's a fairy and not a doll.

Frederick Douglass (1817?-1895) was born into slavery by a slave mother and an unknown father. At the age of 8, he started to educate himself with the help of his master's wife. In 1838, he fled Baltimore for the North. There he soon became a noted author and speaker on slavery.

Douglass wrote three autobiographies, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" (1845), "My Bondage and My Freedom" (1855) and "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass" (1881). Quiet Vision publishes all three plus the "Selected Works of Frederick Douglass", a collection of short works and speeches.

A man ahead of his time, in the 1840's he had to be dragged from the railroad cars reserved for whites. He also protested the dual standard of certain churches in having separate worship.