Bøker utgitt av Little, Brown Book Group

Superpiss used to be a brand of windscreen washer fluid in Finland but they've changed the name for some reason. Bra milk has gone the same way.Luckily, there is still an Italian detergent called BumBum, a Ghanaian pepper sauce called Shitto, Jamaicans can buy Mannish Water Ram Goat Soup, those horrible Danish salt-liquorice pastilles are Spunk brand, the Swedes eat marshmallows called Skum, you can keep your feet dry in China with a Sex Shoes Set and refresh after a jog in Japan with a glass of Sweat.This hilarious book contains hundreds of examples from foreign parts of product names, signs and advertising puffery that make English speakers laugh immoderately, plus a few mistakes that slipped through at home.It's all real. None of it has been invented. In Egypt, you really can buy German Winter Hats for Diabetics.

John Crace's Digested Read first appeared in in February 2000 and has been running ever since. Each week Crace reduces a new book anything from a Booker Prize winner to a Nigella cookery book is fair game to 700 words in a parody of the plot, style, dialogue and themes. Or lack of them. The Digested Read has not just become an institution for readers; it is read and enjoyed by publishers and authors too. So long as it is not their book being digested. A few years ago Crace wrote Brideshead Abbreviated, A Digested Read of the 20th Century. This is the 21st Century. So far.

This selection of the very best, and most intriguing, writing on cricket, drawn from the mid-eighteenth century to the present day, adopts a fresh approach. It is arranged around the theme of the many things that must happen simply for a day's play to happen - from creating a clearing in a Malaysian jungle to getting to the ground - so includes, alongside writing by players both great and unknown, the perspectives of spectators, umpires, scorers and other unsung heroes of the game. There are contributions from John Arlott, Neville Cardus, C. L. R. James and E. V. Lucas; Marcus Trescothick writes on his introduction to cricket aged three; Angus Fraser on meeting Nelson Mandela; Phil Tufnell on being shanghaied into getting a haircut by Mike Gatting; and Rachael Heyhoe Flint on being the first woman to step onto the Lord's ground as a player.But it is the cricket itself and the outstanding players and their achievements that remain the focus - the greats of the recent and distant past involved in some of their most famous exploits. From 'disgraceful scenes at Lord's', described by Irish writer Robert Lynd, to North America, which W. G. Grace toured in 1872, and from a match played on ice to the tropical islands of Fiji and Samoa, this is a collection that does full justice to the extraordinary breadth, diversity and enduring fascination of the greatest game in the world.

Every cat owner believes that his or her cat understands every word that they say. Every cat owner believes that cats are far more intelligent than dogs - they're just too cool to show it. Every cat owner believes that their cat should be on TV starring in advertisements for everything from furniture and carpets to central heating and, yes, cat food. And those Andrex puppies have had it their own way for far too long...Every cat owner, in fact, is a cat lover. If they're not cat lovers when the cat first comes along - you don't purchase a cat, they choose to live with you - then they will be within a very short space of time. There are stories, of course, that every cat owner loves to tell. It may be that the cat became hugely and unusually distressed the day a relative died unexpectedly on the other side of town. It may be about how the cat is a constant source of comfort during bad times, or how the cat faces up to urban foxes in the garden. It may simply be a story about how the cat is a loving companion.Cat lovers simply love telling cat stories!

A very readable guide which fills the gap between academic analysis and less critical retellings of the myths and legends. Marytn Whittock provides an accessible overview while also assessing the current state of research regarding the origins and significance of the myths. Since all records of the myths first occur in the early medieval period, the focus is on the survival of pre-Christian mythology and the interactions of the early Christian writers with these myths. A wide-ranging and enthralling introduction to Celtic mythology, from the Irish gods before gods, the Fomorians, to the children of Llyr, the sea deity; from the hunter-warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill, whose exploits are chronicled in the Fenian Cycle, to C Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster; and from the Welsh heroes of the Mabinogion to Arthur, King of Britain, though the mythical, Welsh version who predates the medieval legends.

Five strangers gather at Eric's inn on a remote Hebridean island after he advertises in the London weeklies for "e;Christmas at the edge of the world."e; Harry, a military widower, is fascinated by General Gordon and the last days of Khartoum. Jessica is a voice-over artist and actress. Jon is a vain actor who is dangerously obsessed with Jessica. Anita, a salesperson in the stationary department of a store and, Ronald, a psychoanalyst who is pining for the cooking and domestic skills of his recently departed wife. Each has their own reasons for escaping the usual festivities, but the refuge of the island is complicated as Eric's wife Mabel flounces out at the last minute and the locals and visitors mingle and clash.A beautifully timed comic novel with a hint of the supernatural.

Behaving badly made Lydia feel better. She hoped she wasn't turning into one of those maniacs who murder people in order to establish their superiority over their fellows who say Please and Thank you and conform to the basic customs of society.Recovering from a love affair gone wrong, Lydia retreats to the Welsh countryside, leaving behind her sophisticated friends, but accidentally inviting Betty, "e;the human equivalent of sackcloth and ashes,"e; as her companion. There they encounter Hywel, a dour farmer, Elizabeth, his nervous wife, the aspiring priest Beuno, Hywel's brother, and randy Doctor Wyn. Meanwhile Hywel's strange sister Angharad roams the land, observing all, while Lydia is increasingly unnerved by the unexplained laughter that comes down from the hills.

Mary felt rather like someone for whom a marriage was being arranged by people who doubted the suitability of the match but could think of no seemly way of retiring. Her family and friends behaved like outsiders privy to a secret and dubious courtship, treating her with an arch, considered and wholly unnatural care, whispering together and falling silent when they remembered her sitting by the window and possibly listening.Mary Marsh has lost her only child, but rather than allow her peace in which to grieve, her mother cajoles her into participating in a proper family Christmas. As the various guests arrive, Mary's sister Barbara, Barbara's children and husband, Barbara's lover, Barbara's husband's lover ("e;the Thrush"e;), Vera and Dennis the neighbors, a grown cat and a kitten, the house descends into farcical chaos.

Before May 2011 the top demographics experts of the United Nations had suggested that world population would peak at 9.1 billion in 2100, and then fall to 8.5 billion people by 2150. In contrast, the 2011 revision suggested that 9.1 billion would be achieved much earlier, maybe by 2050 or before, and by 2100 there would be 10.1 billion of us. What's more, they implied that global human population might still be slightly rising in our total numbers a century from now. So what shall we do? Are there too many people on the planet? Is this the end of life as we know it?Distinguished geographer Professor Danny Dorling thinks we should not worry so much and that, whatever impending doom may be around the corner, we will deal with it when it comes. In a series of fascinating chapters he charts the rise of the human race from its origins to its end-point of population 10 billion. Thus he shows that while it took until about 1988 to reach 5 billion we reached 6 billion by 2000, 7 billion eleven years later and will reach 8 billion by 2025. By recording how we got here, Dorling is able to show us the key issues that we face in the coming decades: how we will deal with scarcity of resources; how our cities will grow and become more female; why the change that we should really prepare for is the population decline that will occur after 10 billion.Population 10 Billion is a major work by one of the world's leading geographers and will change the way you think about the future. Packed full of counter-intuitive ideas and observations, this book is a tool kit to prepare for the future and to help us ask the right questions

When DCI Andy Gilchrist is called to a crime scene to find an amputated hand clutching a note addressed to him, a note that contains only one word, murder, he is pulled into an investigation that will test him to the limit. Soon other single word clues are found along with amputated body parts and the murderer's vengeful message becomes clear as the identity of the next intended victim is revealed. But when someone close to him disappears, Gilchrist knows he is too late. Together with Nance Wilson, the sexy DC with her own agenda, Gilchrist comes to see the answer to the present murders lies within the secrets of his past. Forced to confront his demons, Gilchrist must solve the cryptic clues and find the murderer before the next victim, a woman whose life means more to Gilchrist than his own, is served up to him piece by slaughtered piece.Praise for T.F. Muir:'Rebus did it for Edinburgh. Laidlaw did it for Glasgow. Gilchrist might just be the bloke to put St Andrews on the crime fiction map.' Daily Record'A truly gripping read, with all the makings of a classic series.' Mick Herron'Gripping and grisly, with plenty of twists and turns that race along with black humour.' Craig Robertson'Gilchrist is intriguing, bleak and vulnerable... if I were living in St Andrews I'd sleep with the lights on.' Anna Smith

'A truly gripping read' Mick HerronThe cobbled lanes and back streets of St Andrews have become home to a vicious serial killer. Striking during heavy rain and choosing only victims who abuse women, 'The Stabber' has police baffled. After the sixth man is found murdered, having been stabbed to death through his left eye, DCI Andy Gilchrist is at his wit's end. Struggling against his self-serving and autocratic boss, Gilchrist is left furious when he is taken off the case at a crucial point. Driven by his fear of failure, and desperate to redeem his career and his reputation, Gilchrist vows to catch The Stabber alone.Digging deeper into the world of a psychopath, Gilchrist fears he is up against a serial killer on the verge of mental collapse. Can Gilchrist unravel the warped mind of the murderer and stop him before the next victim is slain? With reckless resolve, Gilchrist risks it all in a heart-stopping race to catch The Stabber, knowing that any mistake could be his last.Praise for T.F. Muir:'Everything I look for in a crime novel' Louise Welsh'Rebus did it for Edinburgh. Laidlaw did it for Glasgow. Gilchrist might just be the bloke to put St Andrews on the crime fiction map' Daily Record'Gripping and grisly, with plenty of twists and turns that race along with black humour' Craig Robertson'Gilchrist is intriguing, bleak and vulnerable... if I were living in St Andrews I'd sleep with the lights on' Anna Smith

A very readable overview of Tolkien and his work, incorporating a brief biography, an examination of the books and a look at the process of filming his work, including The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings saga. It explores how Tolkien's background as a medievalist and linguist informed the languages of Middle-earth, the influence of his Catholicism and Tolkien's legacy in fantasy.A timely book to coincide with the first of Peter Jackson's two keenly awaited Hobbit films.

Retelling the most spectacular cock-ups in military history, this graphic account has a great deal to say about the psychology of military incompetence and the reasons even the most well-oiled military machines inflict disaster upon themselves. Beginning in AD9 with the massacre of Varus and his legions in the Black Forest all the way up to present day conflict in Afghanistan it analyses why things go wrong on the battlefield and who is to blame.

It is the summer of 1987. Jason Prosper is eighteen and on his way to Bellingham Academy, a school known for offering wayward privileged students a second chance - and Jason needs a second chance: ever since his best friend's suicide, his life has been badly adrift. At Bellingham, Jason joins the sailing team, and meets a compelling young woman called Aidan. His friends warn him off, saying she is 'damaged goods'. But Jason feels like damaged too, and the pair form an intense connection. But when a major hurricane gathers just off the coast, Jason's world begins to cloud over again. And when the full extent of the storm's damage is finally revealed, the truths it lays bare - and the secrets it dredges up - look set to alter the course of Jason life forever.

A handsome young man arrives in St Petersburg at the house of Marya Morevna. He is Koschei, the Tsar of Life, and he is Marya's fate. For years she follows him in love and in war, and bears the scars. But eventually Marya returns to her birthplace - only to discover a starveling city, haunted by death. Deathless is a fierce story of life and death, love and power, old memories, deep myth and dark magic, set against the history of Russia in the twentieth century. It is, quite simply, unforgettable.

In the kingdom of Fairyland-Below, preparations are underway for the annual Revels . . . but aboveground, the creatures of Fairyland are in no mood for a party. It has been a long time since young September bid farewell to Fairyland, and she is excited to see it again; but upon her return she is shocked to find that her friends have been losing their shadows, and therefore their magic, to the kingdom of Fairyland-Below... It spells certain disaster and September won't stand for it. Determined to make amends, she travels down into the underworld where, among creatures of ice and moonlight, she encounters a face she recognizes all too well: Halloween, the Hollow Queen. Only then does September realize what she must do to save Fairyland from slipping into the mundane world forever.Come and join in the Revels with September and her friends. But be warned: in Fairyland-Below, even the best of friends aren't always what they seem . . . Praise for The Girl Who Circumnavigated Farilyand in a Ship of Her Own Making:'A glorious balancing act between modernism and the Victorian Fairy Tale, done with heart and wisdom.' Neil Gaiman.'An Alice in Wonderland for the 21st century... So effortless, so vivid, so funny. Every page has a phrase or observation to savour and her characters are wondrous creations.' Sunday Telegraph.'A charming modern fairytale...with a knowing twinkle in its eye.' Telegraph.'A whole esoteric world of whimsy - Alice meets the Wizard of Oz meets the Persephone story with a whiff of Narnia.' Independent on Sunday.'Bundles of imagination and wry wit.' Financial Times.

This compendious celebration of ineptitude includes some of history s most spectacularly ill-conceived expeditions and entirely useless pursuits, and features tales of black comedy, insane foolhardiness, breathtaking stupidity and relentless perseverance in the face of inevitable defeat. It rejoices in men and women made of the Wrong Stuff: writers who believed in the power of words, but could never quite find the rights ones; artists and performers who indulged their creative impulse with a passion, if not a sense of the ridiculous, an eye for perspective or the ability to hold down a tune; scientists and businessmen who never quite managed to quit while they were ahead; and sportsmen who seemed to manage always to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Like Walter Oudney, one of three men chosen to find the source of the River Niger in Africa, who could not ride a horse, nor speak any foreign languages and who had never travelled more than 30 miles beyond his native Edinburgh; or the explorer-priest Michel Alexandre de Baize, who set off to explore the African continent from east to west equipped with 24 umbrellas, some fireworks, two suits of armor, and a portable organ; or the Scottish army which decided to invade England in 1349 during the Black Death. Entries include: briefest career in dentistry; least successful bonding exercise; most futile attempt to find a lost tribe; most pointless lines of research by someone who should have known better; least successful celebrity endorsement; least convincing excuse for a war; worst poetic tribute to a root vegetable; least successful display of impartiality by a juror; Devon Loch sporting metaphor for blowing un unblowable lead; least dignified exit from office by a French president; and least successful expedition by camel.

An incredible 30,000 flights at least arrive safely at their destinations every day. But a handful don t, while some come terrifyingly close to crashing. When even the smallest thing does go wrong at 35,000 feet, the result is nearly always a fast-unfolding tragedy. This extensive collection of compelling real-life accounts of air disasters and near-disasters provides a sobering, alternative history of the just over 105 years that passengers have been travelling by air, from the very earliest fatality to recent calamities.But there are incredible stories of heroism against the odds, too, such as that of Captain Chesley Sullenberger who successfully landed his aircraft with both engines gone on the Hudson River in New York, saving the lives of everyone aboard, and of the American Airlines crew who prevented terrorist Richard Reid from exploding a bomb hidden in his shoe three months after 9/11.The book also details the often ingenious, always painstaking work done by air-accident investigators, while a glossary helps to clarify the occasional, inevitable bits of jargon.

While on patrol on foggy March evening, Mike Bowditch receives a call for help. A woman has reportedly struck a deer on a lonely coast road. When the game warden arrives on the scene, he finds blood in the road - but both the driver and deer have vanished. The details of the disappearance seem eerily familiar. Seven years earlier, a jury convicted Erland Jefferts of the rape and murder of a college student and sentenced him to a life in prison. But when the missing woman is found brutalized in a manner that suggests Jefferts may have been framed, Bowditch receives a warning from state prosecutors to stop asking questions.For Bowditch, doing nothing is not an option. And as he closes in on his quarry, he suddenly discovers how dangerous his opponents are, and how far they will go to prevent him from bringing a killer to justice.Praise for The Poacher's Son:An excellent debut - filled with murder, betrayal and a terrific sense of place. C.J. Box.A stunning debut...At its heart this is a tale of bitter betrayal, lost hopes and broken dreams. The book has a tautness that is impossible to forget and which left me close to tears. It is also the first in a series. Its successor, Trespasser, also featuring Bowditch, is on the way. Grab him now. Daily Mail.Stunning vistas...eye popping scenes - The New York Times Book Review.This is a compelling, moving and utterly impressive debut - Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog.The Poacher's Son is one of the best written debut novels I have read in years. This novel has it all - a great plot, a wonderful Maine woods setting and a truly remarkable and believable cast of characters. - Nelson de Mille.

Game warden Mike Bowditch has been sent into exile, transferred by his superiors to a remote outpost on the Canadian border. When a blizzard descends on the coast, Bowditch is called to the remote cabin of a terrified couple. A raving and half-frozen man has appeared at their door, claiming his friend is lost in the storm. But what starts as a rescue mission soon becomes a baffling murder investigation. The dead man is an infamous drug dealer and state police suspect it was his own friend who killed him. Bowditch isn't so sure - but his vow not to interfere in the case is tested when he finds himself powerfully attracted to a beautiful woman with a dark past and a troubled young son who harbours secrets of his own...Praise for The Poacher's Son:An excellent debut - filled with murder, betrayal and a terrific sense of place. C.J. Box.A stunning debut...At its heart this is a tale of bitter betrayal, lost hopes and broken dreams. The book has a tautness that is impossible to forget and which left me close to tears. It is also the first in a series. Its successor, Trespasser, also featuring Bowditch, is on the way. Grab him now. Daily Mail.Stunning vistas...eye popping scenes - The New York Times Book Review.This is a compelling, moving and utterly impressive debut - Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog.The Poacher's Son is one of the best written debut novels I have read in years. This novel has it all - a great plot, a wonderful Maine woods setting and a truly remarkable and believable cast of characters. - Nelson de Mille.

Set in the wilds of Maine, this is an explosive tale of an estranged son thrust into the hunt for a murderous fugitive - his own father.Game warden Mike Bowditch returns home one evening to find an alarming voice from the past on his answering machine: his father Jack, a hard-drinking womanizer who makes his living from poaching illegal game. An even more frightening call comes the next morning from the police: they are searching for a cop-killer - and Mike's father is their prime suspect.Now, alienated from the woman he loves and shunned by colleagues who have no sympathy for the suspected cop killer, Mike must come to terms with his haunted past. He knows firsthand of his father's brutality, but is he capable of murder? Desperate and alone, the only way for Mike to save his father is to find the real killer - which could mean putting everyone he loves into the line of fire...

Welcome to New York City, where the socialites are hiding some dark secrets ... Ever since the fabulously wealthy Malcolm Doran walked into her life and swept her off her feet, Jane Boyle has been living a fairy tale. When he proposes, Jane can't believe her luck and decides to leave her Paris-based job as a fledgling architect and make a new start with Malcolm in New York. But when Malcolm introduces Jane to the esteemed Doran clan, one of Manhattan's most feared and revered families, Jane's fairy tale takes a darker turn. Now Jane must struggle with newfound magical abilities and the threat of those who will stop at nothing to get them. 666 Park Avenue - enter at your peril.

SEX, DRUGS, HEARTBREAK AND SCANDAL - THE INNER WORKINGS OF A TABLOID NEWSROOMFleet Street Fox's anonymity allows her to delve deep into the dark corners of that most guilty of pleasures - the tabloid expos . Acerbic, funny, and revelatory, her diaries show the heart within the hack as she tries to recover from a betrayal as devastating as any newspaper scandal.Now an internet smash, with over forty thousand followers on twitter, two hugely popular blogs and a reputation throughout the media industry, Foxy's diaries are juicy, shocking and as near to the knuckle as the lawyers would allow. The Diaries of a Fleet Street Fox tells the truth about her trade: the private scandals, victories and disasters that don't end up on the front page. This is the hardest story she has ever told.

The British monarchy may be over a thousand years old, but the House of Windsor dates only from 1917, when, in the middle of the First World War that was to see the demise of the major thrones of continental Europe, it rebranded itself from the distinctly Germanic Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the homely and familiar Windsor. By redefining its loyalties to identify with its people and country rather than the princes, kings and emperors of Europe to whom it was related by birth and marriage, it set the monarchy on the path of adaptation, making itself relevant and allowing it to survive. Since then, the fine line trodden by the House of Windsor between ancient and modern, grandeur and thrift, splendour and informality, remoteness and accessibility, and influence and neutrality has left it more secure and its appeal more universal today than ever.

Funny, fearless and absolutely filthy-nearly 3,000 more uncensored, dirty, sick, and deeply politically incorrect jokes, covering just about every topic imaginable, from adultery to (sex in) Zoos, including an assortment of bad taste lists. A worthy, all-new follow-on to the first bestselling volume.

This bumper collection of Irish humour covers topics such as Absenteeism and Zoos and everything in between. It would be disappointing should such a large collection not include the best of famous Irish wits such as Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, but the emphasis is very much on contemporary Irish humour from the likes of Tommy Tiernan, Dylan Moran, Ardal O'Hanlon and Dara O'Briain, to name just a few. Lunatic, iconoclastic and, as Spike Milligan might have put it, involving 'sideways thinking', this is Irish humour at its very best.

New mysteries, as well as variations on recurring ones, continue to surface on a weekly basis around the globe, from showers of frogs over Hungary to birds falling to earth in Arkansas. This compendious round-up of unexplained phenomena examines everything from the experiments being done with the Large Hadron Collider to classic maritime mysteries involving inexplicably missing crews, via UFOs, mediums, cryptozoology, panics, paranoia and a universe proving stranger in fact than we'd imagined.

In this brilliant reworking of Lewis Spence's seminal Myths and Legends of the North American Indians, Jon E. Lewis puts the work in context with an extensive new introductory essay and additional commentary throughout the book on the history of Native Americans, their language and lifestyle, culture and religion/mythology. He includes examples of myths from tribes omitted by Spence, a guide to tribes and their myths by region, a basic Lakota (Sioux) glossary, guides to key pronunciations and a bibliography.

More from Vicky Bliss - the new heroine from the creator of the bestselling Amelia Peabody series A picture is worth a thousand words - but the photograph art historian Vicky Bliss has just received gives rise to a thousand questions instead. A quick glance at the blood-stained envelope is all the proof she needs that something is horribly wrong. The photo itself is familiar: a woman adorned in the gold of Troy. Yet this isn't the famous photograph of Frau Schliemann - this photo is contemporary. And the gold, as Vicky and her fellow academics know - disappeared at the end of World War II. And now this circle of experts is gathered for a festive Bavarian Christmas - including a very determined killer.

The chase is on - and Amelia Peabody and Co. are in the thick of it!1922 - convinced that the tomb of the little-known King Tutankhamon lies somewhere in the Valley of the Kings, Emerson has tried to persuade his rivals Lord Carnavon and Howard Carter to hand over their digging rights in the valley to him - but they resist. So back in Luxor an incident at the hotel the clan is staying in turns their gifts for digging in another direction. Emerson and Ramses are lured into a trap by a group of villains who demand answers to the mysterious question, 'Where is he?'. Their curiosity piqued, the duo is determined to uncover who 'he' is and why 'he' should be so important.