Shopgirl

Steve Martin's first foray into fiction is as assured as it is surprising. Set in Los Angeles, its fascination with the surreal body fascism of the upper classes feels like the comedian's familiar territory, but the shopgirl of the book's title may surprise his fans. Mirabelle works in the glove department of Neiman's, "selling things that nobody buys any more." Spending her days waiting for customers to appear, Mirabelle "looks like a puppy standing on its hind legs, and the two brown dots of her eyes, set in the china plate of her face, make her seem very cute and noticeable." Lonely and vulnerable, she passes her evenings taking prescription drugs and drawing "dead things," while pursuing an on-off relationship with the hopeless Jeremy, who possesses "a slouch so extreme that he appears to have left his skeleton at home." Then Mr. Ray Porter steps into Mirabelle's life. He is much older, rich, successful, divorced, and selfish, desiring her "without obligation." Complicating the picture is Mirabelle's voracious rival, her fellow Neiman's employee Lisa, who uses sex "for attracting and discarding men."

Download

or

Download

Dave Barry Turns 40

What happens when you hit 40? Humorist Dave Barry, the man most likely to want to stay a kid, gives us the hilarious answers in this "gut-busting" guide to the pitfalls of mic-life.

In his attempt to act like a responsible grown-up and offer something with reedeeming social value, Dave Barry spells out what it means to be middle-aged: too young for the nursing home yet too old to be a rock star. Let Barry counsel you, in his own inimitable fashion, on how to plan your mid-life crisis-from hairpieces to the curious appeal of "Barbie shaped" teenagers, from everything that deranges men and infuriates their wives. Listen as he poignantly discusses your disintegrating body-what goes wrong when you try to fix what goes wrong as you start to go to pot. And laugh a lot and cry lust a little as he explains what it feels like when your marriage is as exciting as scraping grass off the lawn-mower blades, your kids are driving you crazy, and each decade goes by twice as fast as the one before (fondly called by Barry "The Theory of Decade Relativity")!

With all this and more, the bestselling author of Dave Barry Slept Here remains the nation's savviest funny man-no matter how old he is!

Download

or

Download