This book is called Much Obliged for two reasons. The first is that it is what Stephen’s dad says when he has been served in shops. The second is because Stephen has noticed that he only does things to stop himself letting people down. Joe Brainard’s I Remember is the inspiration for Stephen Sutcliffe’s similarly constructed assemblage of loosely connected reminiscences, each containing a reference to ‘Stephen’. John Ashbery described Brainard’s writing as ‘humane smut’, and, drawing on the comedy of childhood, experience of work, and school friends, as well as family snapshots and Stephen’s own collages, Much Obliged finds a similar tone, firmly rooted in class, the challenge to authority, self-doubt and self-deprecation.--Book Works website.

Despite a long-standing agreement between their families, Addie Winstead never believed John Fitzwilliam would marry her. She refuses to marry anyone who asks for her hand out of obligation--even Fitzwilliam, whom she has loved since childhood. Reissue.

ALLAH IS NOT OBLIGED TO BE FAIR ABOUT ALL THE THINGS HE DOES HERE ON EARTH.These are the words of the boy soldier Birahima in the final masterpiece by one of Africa’s most celebrated writers, Ahmadou Kourouma. When ten-year-old Birahima's mother dies, he leaves his native village in the Ivory Coast, accompanied by the sorcerer and cook Yacouba, to search for his aunt Mahan. Crossing the border into Liberia, they are seized by rebels and forced into military service. Birahima is given a Kalashnikov, minimal rations of food, a small supply of dope and a tiny wage. Fighting in a chaotic civil war alongside many other boys, Birahima sees death, torture, dismemberment and madness but somehow manages to retain his own sanity. Raw and unforgettable, despairing yet filled with laughter, Allah Is Not Obliged reveals the ways in which children's innocence and youth are compromised by war.

The Muslim Bridget Jones - the hilarious romantic comedy from the writer behind Nadiya Hussain's bestselling The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters. Sofia Khan is single once more, after her sort-of-boyfriend proves just a little too close to his parents. And she'd be happy that way too, if her boss hadn't asked her to write a book about the weird and wonderful world of Muslim dating. Of course, even though she definitely isn't looking for love, to write the book she does need to do a little research . . . 'Snort-Diet-Coke-out-of-your-nostrils funny . . . will resonate with any woman who's looking for love' Sarra Manning, author of It Felt Like a Kiss 'Funny and sparky . . . a smart and acerbic romcom . . . Read Ayisha Malik's book: it's huge fun.' Jenny Colgan

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

The best-selling author of BRINGING UP BÉBÉ investigates life in her forties, and wonders whether her mind will ever catch up with her face. When Pamela Druckerman turns 40, waiters start calling her "Madame," and she detects a new message in mens' gazes: I would sleep with her, but only if doing so required no effort whatsoever. Yet forty isn't even technically middle-aged anymore. And there are upsides: After a lifetime of being clueless, Druckerman can finally grasp the subtext of conversations, maintain (somewhat) healthy relationships and spot narcissists before they ruin her life. What are the modern forties? What do we know once we reach them? What makes someone a "grown-up" anyway? And why didn't anyone warn us that we'd get cellulite on our arms? Part frank memoir, part hilarious investigation of daily life, There Are No Grown-Ups diagnoses the in-between decade when... • Everyone you meet looks a little bit familiar. • You're matter-of-fact about chin hair. • You can no longer wear anything ironically. • There's at least one sport your doctor forbids you to play. • You become impatient while scrolling down to your year of birth. • Your parents have stopped trying to change you. • You don't want to be with the cool people anymore; you want to be with your people. • You realize that everyone is winging it, some just do it more confidently. • You know that it's ok if you don't like jazz. Internationally best-selling author and New York Times contributor Pamela Druckerman leads us on a quest for wisdom, self-knowledge and the right pair of pants. A witty dispatch from the front lines of the forties, THERE ARE NO GROWN-UPS is a (midlife) coming-of-age story--and a book for anyone trying to find their place in the world.

Utopia is a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More published in 1516 in Latin. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. Many aspects of More's description of Utopia are reminiscent of life in monasteries.

Our Mutual Friend - explores the conflict between doing what society expects of a person and the idea of being true to oneself The Pickwick Papers - To extend his researches into the quaint and curious phenomena of life, Samuel Pickwick suggests that he and three other "Pickwickians" should make journeys to places remote from London and report on their findings to the other members. Oliver Twist is an orphan who starts his life in a workhouse and is then sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. He escapes from there and travels to London, where he meets the Artful Dodger, a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal, Fagin… A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. David Copperfield is a fatherless boy who is sent to lodge with his housekeeper's family after his mother remarries, but when his mother dies he decides to run away… Hard Times is set in the fictional city of Coketown and it is centered around utilitarian and industrial influences on Victorian society. A Tale of Two Cities depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same period. Great Expectations depicts the personal growth and development of an orphan nicknamed Pip in Kent and London in the early to mid-19th century. Bleak House – legal thriller based on true events. Little Dorrit – criticize the institution of debtors' prisons, the shortcomings of both government and society. COLLECTED LETTERS THE LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS by John Forster

From David Graeber, the bestselling author of The Dawn of Everything and Debt—“a master of opening up thought and stimulating debate” (Slate)—a powerful argument against the rise of meaningless, unfulfilling jobs…and their consequences. Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs.” It went viral. After one million online views in seventeen different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer. There are hordes of people—HR consultants, communication coordinators, telemarketing researchers, corporate lawyers—whose jobs are useless, and, tragically, they know it. These people are caught in bullshit jobs. Graeber explores one of society’s most vexing and deeply felt concerns, indicting among other villains a particular strain of finance capitalism that betrays ideals shared by thinkers ranging from Keynes to Lincoln. “Clever and charismatic” (The New Yorker), Bullshit Jobs gives individuals, corporations, and societies permission to undergo a shift in values, placing creative and caring work at the center of our culture. This book is for everyone who wants to turn their vocation back into an avocation and “a thought-provoking examination of our working lives” (Financial Times).

A Public Intimacy (A Life Through Scrapbooks) is a way of reviewing an archive. Cuttings, clippings and comments, the stuff of scrapbooks, started in 1964, make up part of the author's archive, the information that threads through the library, events and life explored. The book does not fit easily into any genre or category, blurring notions of essay or biography, or ideas employed in fiction writing and other art forms. Traversing paths pursued in visual art is a key factor, even outside the more obvious image pages. Collage is part of the process, with cuttings scrolling vertically alongside the text, forming an adjacent narrative. In part an account of the times, the counter-currents and counter-culture of the last four decades, in part an exploration of the nature of scrapbooks and of collections, the book forms as much a counter-intellectual narrative of the times, as counter-biography, revealing as much as the writer wants, playing into the hands of fiction as much as any novel.Paul Buck works as a poet, writer, playwright, artist, performer, translator and teacher in the visual arts. As well as founding the seminal magazine Curtains, which blasted French contemporary writing into British culture, he is the author, editor and translator of numerous published and unpublished works, appended in this book as Selected Context.