Bøker av Daniel Klein

';Every time I find the meaning of life, they change it.' The words of Reinhold Niebuhr provide the title and set the tone for what is a wryly humorous look at some of the great philosophical pronouncements on the most important question we can face. Daniel Klein's philosophical journey began fifty years ago with just this conundrum; he began an undergraduate degree in philosophy at Harvard University to glean some clue as to what the answer could be. Now in his seventies, Klein looks back at the wise words of the great philosophers and considers how his own life has measured up. Told with the same brilliantly dry sense of humour that made Travels with Epicurus a Sunday Times bestseller, Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change It is a pithy, dry, and eminently readable commentary on one of the most profound subjects there is.

A New York Times bestseller with over 300,000 copies sold worldwide

Our society worships at the fountain of youth. Each year, we seek to avert the arrival of old age using everything at our disposal, from extreme exercise and botox to pilates and cosmetic dentistry. But in the process, are we missing out on a distinct and extraordinarily valuable stage of life? Daniel Klein ponders whether it is better to be forever young or to grin toothlessly and live an authentic old age. He journeys to the Greek island of Hydra to discover the secrets of ageing happily. Drawing on the lives of octagenarian Greek locals, as well as philosophers ranging from Epicurus to Sartre, he uncovers the pleasures that are available only late in life. An escapist travel book, a witty meditation, and an optimistic guide to living well, this is a delightful jaunt through the terrain of old age, led by a funny and uniquely perceptive modern-day sage.

Murdering a man is a whole lot cheaper than paying him twenty grand.It's Memphis, 1965. Elvis passes his evenings at the movie-house, endlessly watching Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. His friends and hangers-on are starting to worry-and so is his famously hucksterish manager, Colonel Tom Parker.Things only get worse when the King finds out that someone has been disguising himself as Elvis in order to seduce his young female fans, and that Colonel Tom's been paying off their parents to keep the scandal out of the press.When a photographer who claims to have documented these seductions is murdered-and Colonel Tom is arrested for that murder-the stakes become life and death. All eyes are on Elvis, and only he can investigate the lethal crime, clear the innocent, and bring the guilty to justice.

"e;It doesn't seem likely that a man would murder his wife and then just crawl back into bed and go to sleep, does it?"e;1964. Elvis Presley is in Las Vegas for a little R&R before starting his next picture, Roustabout. But the King's work is never done. Before long, Elvis finds himself up to his neck in the hunt for a killer.A tourist turns up ritualistically murdered at one of Las Vegas's preeminent wedding chapels, and Elvis can't help falling into the middle of an inept police investigation. Just before the tourist's death, the Sahara Casino comedian, Howie Pickles, had singled her out for insulting jibes during his show. The rumor spreads all over town that Pickles's gags are deadly.A second tourist is murdered and conspiracy theories multiply: Is it a hotel and casino war? A feud between local wedding chapels? A fight between Sin City's major brothels?Elvis finds himself falling in love with a beautiful dancer living in a commune for faded showbiz characters. He also discovers that a born-again Christian group in town is hailing him as the Second Coming.As the death toll mounts, Elvis forms an unlikely alliance with a pill-popping, enlightenment-seeking Harvard dropout, a Southern belle turned high-class prostitute . . . and the immensely annoying Howie Pickles himself.

Billy had said the word "e;murder"e;. Worse, he'd said "e;serial murder"e;. This was definitely not a game anymore.Back from his tour of duty in Germany-and desperately missing his Momma-Elvis Aron Presley just isn't turned on by the music the way he used to be. Between his Machiavellian manager, the hangers-on and childhood pals crowding his Graceland mansion, and his own propensity for fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, the King tries desperately to get his heart back into Rock and Roll.But how can the King sing when young girls-the presidents of his fan clubs-are dying all over Tennessee? Elvis suspects foul play; to prove it, and to find the killer, he'll need to navigate the resentment, squareness, and bigotry that hound-dog him at every turn. Only by allying himself with a self-taught doctor in a small black community, his alluring-and forbidden-nurse, and a mysterious early Elvis impersonator, can Presley hope to Take Care of Business in time to save the next victim.

The McDougal homicide and the trial that followed never made it into a single newspaper east of the Rockies. Holly McDougal was, after all, just a bit player murdered by a nobody.1963. Elvis Presley has just completed filming Kissin' Cousins, his romance with Ann-Margret has become public knowledge, and Priscilla is on the warpath. Against this backdrop, one "e;Squirm"e; Littlejon, an old army friend, contacts Elvis. Littlejon is serving life in a California penitentiary for the murder of a young actress on the MGM lot and he insists he was framed.So begins a fast-paced mystery train-ride that takes Elvis from the weird world of movie stuntmen to a ground-breaking genetics laboratory in Mexico. His sidekick on this adventure is Squirm's deadbeat, Freud-spouting lawyer who has personal insight into the psychological quirks of surviving twins-like Elvis.Elvis will have to disprove a murder charge of his own and stop a diabolical film producer from publishing career-wrecking photographs of Elvis and Ann-Margret. Blue Suede Clues is a whodunnit that keeps readers guessing right up to an ending worthy of only one man: The King!

The great philosophers live among us, and they've got some great punchlines