An Entertaining Story

Style icon India Hicks's charming take on entertaining, featuring dreamy tablescapes, found centerpieces, and enjoyable family anecdotes. Daughter of the late David Hicks and goddaughter to Prince Charles, India Hicks is known for her irreverent take on style. In her previous books, she invited readers into her homes on Harbour Island and in England. For her third book, India presents her own slightly madcap spin on entertaining. Organized by meal, the book begins marvelously with the most important meal of the day--cocktail hour--and ends with breakfast. In between, there are family suppers and big dinners, birthday cakes and Christmas crackers, great British breakfasts, quick teas and long lunches, mustard pots as vases, and bedcovers for tablecloths. Like India, these stories are full of personality, from the Panic Dinner (or what to do when you suddenly have a crowd descending) to the Naked Cake (cake decorating for the harried or untalented) to a White Christmas in the Bahamas. Each celebration includes clever advice and inspiration for place settings, homemade flower arrangements, table design, and more. These are parties that make use of what is on hand, whether it's beach towels thrown down a long table, children's candy piled in cups on a tray, or massing palm fronds collected from the lawn. Beautifully photographed and embellished here and there with a bit of Hicks family lore, the book is rounded out with a sprinkling of recipes from India's beloved cook, Claire Williams, fondly known as Top Banana, and other family members, from traditional English fare such as Victoria Sponge to tropical treats such as the Marquess's Banana Daiquiri.

Irene grew up traveling around Germany with her family’s circus, surrounded by her loved ones and thrilling the crowds with her performance on the high wire...until one day, the audience boos. The Lorch family is Jewish, and the increasing power of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis has put them all in grave danger. When the circus is forced to shut down and Irene’s father is taken away, Irene and her mother must go into hiding with another circus. Every day is a frightening new kind of balancing act, caught between the desire to perform and the need to hide—even in plain sight.

Winner of the 2003 Trillium Book Award "Stories are wondrous things," award-winning author and scholar Thomas King declares in his 2003 CBC Massey Lectures. "And they are dangerous." Beginning with a traditional Native oral story, King weaves his way through literature and history, religion and politics, popular culture and social protest, gracefully elucidating North America's relationship with its Native peoples. Native culture has deep ties to storytelling, and yet no other North American culture has been the subject of more erroneous stories. The Indian of fact, as King says, bears little resemblance to the literary Indian, the dying Indian, the construct so powerfully and often destructively projected by White North America. With keen perception and wit, King illustrates that stories are the key to, and only hope for, human understanding. He compels us to listen well.

Short Stories of World War 1 and the 1920s, some funny, some poignant, by the author whom John Galsworthy rated "e;one of the best short-story writers of all time"e;.

Entertaining at Home presents gatherings in the homes of leading tastemakers from the worlds of interior design, architecture, culinary arts, and society--including Lynn Wyatt, Suzanne Kasler, and Julia Reed, among others--who show readers how best to entertain with flair and finesse. Leading party aficionados share their successful strategies for delighting family and friends, offering their personal viewpoints and providing behind-the-scenes details that go into creating memorable occasions. They offer their approaches to arranging flowers, setting the table, selecting menus, stocking the pantry, compiling killer playlists, and purchasing the perfect hostess gift. Included are a variety of easy-to-master delectable recipes, such as bacon-wrapped pretzels, seafood chowder, spicy gazpacho, and refreshing sangrias. From a summer social in New Orleans and a lively luncheon in Texas to a lavish winter smorgasbord holiday dinner in Washington, D.C., the hosts offer a myriad of inspirational ideas. Whether it's an elegant table set with Leontine Linens or Pinot Grigio served in colorful cups and paired with potato chips and caviar, this book is a visual trove of festive get-togethers in beautiful residences. Lavishly photographed, it is the essential new go-to entertaining guide

A fast-break history of basketball--from its humble beginnings to its all-time great players--featuring engaging true tales from the court and vivid, dynamic illustrations. Whether it's millionaire pros facing off in an indoor arena full of screaming fans or a lone kid shooting hoops on an outdoor court, basketball is one of the most popular and widely played sports in the world. The Comic Book Story of Basketball gives you courtside seats to the history of hoops. It chronicles the sport from its beginnings in a YMCA in Massachusetts to its current status as a beloved international game for men and women of all ages. Learn the true stories behind the college game, the street game, the women's game, and the international game, with legendary players and coaches like Dr. J, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Steph Curry profiled throughout.

A young girl and her family arrive in an airport in a new country. They are refugees, migrants who have travelled across the world to find safety. Strangers greet them, and one of them gives the little girl a doll. Decades later, that little girl is grown up and she has the chance to welcome a group of refugees who are newly arrived in her adopted country. To the youngest of them, a little girl, she gives a doll, knowing it will help make her feel welcome. Inspired by real events.

The prize-winning, New York Times bestselling short story collection from the internationally bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo 'The best book you'll read this year' New York Times 'Dazzlingly surreal stories about a failing America' Sunday Times WINNER OF THE 2014 FOLIO PRIZE AND SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2013 George Saunders's most wryly hilarious and disturbing collection yet, Tenth of December illuminates human experience and explores figures lost in a labyrinth of troubling preoccupations. A family member recollects a backyard pole dressed for all occasions; Jeff faces horrifying ultimatums and the prospect of Darkenfloxx(TM) in some unusual drug trials; and Al Roosten hides his own internal monologue behind a winning smile that he hopes will make him popular. With dark visions of the future riffing against ghosts of the past and the ever-settling present, this collection sings with astonishing charm and intensity.