A collection of funny and reflective poems from the poolside; a Scotsman abroad.

Middle school is hard enough without problems like these... Toshihiko Ota is mocked by his peers for his smooth, hairless body, but his life changes forever when he meets a young woman in swim club with the opposite problem: Ayako Goto, poised for swim-meet glory but too ashamed of her body hair to compete. After Ota happens on her trying unsuccessfully to shave in the locker room, she comes to him with an astonishing request...! Can they help each other find the confidence to embrace their own bodies? This sweet yet erotic early work from psychosexual auteur Shuzo Oshimi (Blood on the Tracks, Flowers of Evil) is not your average tale of puppy love. A quiet story of budding sexuality, self-exploration, trust, and friendship, Sweet Poolside is ultimately one of Oshimi's most focused and sincere works, as well as the basis for the live-action movie of the same name.

The last thing single mom Nicole expected was to find love on her Hawaiian vacation. All she wanted to do was drink daiquiris, read her dirty book and relax for the first time without her son. Enter a beach ball to the head courtesy of Bree, the college student with eyes for the the single mom. After an apology leads to a heated hookup and a walk on the beach they begin to like each other. But will their vacation fling turn into something real or will it be a Hawaiian romance they leave behind?

The 125 poems contained in this collection were written on sunbeds on five different sun holidays and are about the experience of going on a sun holiday. They are intended to be read while on a sun holiday. Of course you can read it over the Christmas holidays if you prefer, or on the bus into work. Your call. Some of the poems are funny, some are reflective, some stray into the area of black humour. Most of them are crap. That's life.

Slim Aarons offers images of jet-setters and the wealthy, and beautiful, glittering people living the glamorous life. However, the main character is the pool and everything that goes with them - magnificent suntanned bodies, well-oiled skin, bikini-clad women, yachts, summer cocktails, sumptuous buffets, and, above all, fun.

Slim Aarons made a career, in his words, photographing attractive people who were doing attractive things in attractive places. His subjects were the beautiful and the celebrated, the rich and the powerful, the talented and the privileged, high society and aristocracy. Slim Aarons captured their image for the picture magazines of the 1940s - '90s, and, in so doing so, defined the image of the Beautiful People - the post-war international Jet Set. Aarons always shows his subjects in their natural setting, in a circumstance synonymous with their station in life, and in so doing, he gained their trust and a most precious thing - access. And so he was welcomed into the exclusive precincts of the world's elite, in essence attaining the status of court photographer. The images included here are the fruit of that access.

A celebratory ode to the joy and enduring allure of the swimming pool, and a gorgeous photography book to accompany poolside daydreaming. Glamorous, seductive, and fun, made for lounging, frolicking, splashing, dipping, diving, floating, and escaping, swimming pools are symbols of both sport and leisure and conjure images of well-oiled bodies, colorful bikinis, and glimmering blue waters on hot summer days. Muse to writers, artists, photographers, and filmmakers, the swimming pool's careless opulence is splashed across the pages of this book in gorgeous images by contemporary photographers. In her second book for Rizzoli, curator, writer, and avid swimmer Lou Stoppard offers the promise of sunshine and the seduction of youth in her edit of some of the best contemporary swimming-pool photography. Organized by theme, from the glamour of the poolside party to the simple, meditative pleasure of being in the water, the selected photographs are as inspiring as they are moving. Photographers whose images are featured in this book include Sølve Sundsbø, Glen Luchford, Stephen Shore, Mert & Marcus, Diana Markosian, Martin Parr, Martine Franck, Alex Webb, Alice Hawkins, and Nick Knight. This is the perfect gift purchase for photography fans, swimmers, and lovers of leisure.