A wild and witty satire of American college life from the author of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis On his first day of college, farm boy Asa Hearthrug enthusiastically jumps out of bed—and discovers that his pajama pants are caught in the bedsprings. He learns that his dog has died, and his father, in an effort to soften the blow, tells an absurd story about a female bullfighter. Next, the freshman pays a visit to his high school sweetheart to say a heartfelt goodbye, but Lodestone La Toole is more interested in hamburgers than vows of devotion. And when Asa finally arrives at the University of Minnesota—wham!—he gets run over by a frat boy’s convertible. Max Shulman’s bestselling debut novel, written when he was almost as fresh-faced as his protagonist, delightfully skewers every sacred cow of collegiate life. From the faculty expert on “Merrie Olde England” who once spent two weeks on that distant land to the sidewalk booby-trap used by the Alpha Cholera fraternity to round-up reluctant pledges, Barefoot Boy with Cheek bursts at the seams with outrageous characters, delirious set pieces, and gut-busting one-liners.

“Mallery has set the bar high....The characters...come to life in their small-town setting and will touch readers’ hearts and funny bones.”—RT Book Reviews On Blackberry Island, friendship, love and forgiveness are as constant as the ocean waves, if only you can make room in your heart for hope. Michelle Sanderson may appear to be a strong, independent woman, but on the inside, she’s still the wounded girl who fled home years ago. A young army vet, Michelle returns to the quaint Blackberry Island Inn to claim her inheritance and recover from the perils of war. Instead, she finds the owner’s suite occupied by the last person she wants to see. Carly Williams and Michelle were once inseparable, until a shocking betrayal destroyed their friendship. And now Carly is implicated in the financial disaster lurking behind the inn’s cheerful veneer. Single mother Carly has weathered rumors, lies and secrets for a lifetime, and is finally starting to move forward with love and life. But if the Blackberry Island Inn goes under, Carly and her daughter will go with it. To save their livelihoods, Carly and Michelle will undertake a turbulent truce. It’ll take more than a successful season to move beyond their devastating past, but with a little luck and a beautiful summer, they may just rediscover the friendship of a lifetime. Don't miss The Boardwalk Bookshop by Susan Mallery! A heartfelt tale of friendship between three women brought together by chance who open a bookshop together on the boardwalk of the California beaches.

Home from the war, a veteran finds that his battles have only just begun in this zany and irreverent satire from the author of Rally Round the Flag, Boys! Last seen gallivanting on a college campus in Barefoot Boy with Cheek, Asa Hearthrug traded in his varsity jacket for khaki and fought his way across the Pacific. Now he’s back in his hometown of Whistlestop, Minnesota, eager to share his war stories, but no one wants to listen—they’ve already seen the movies. Postwar America is a brave new plastic world, and Asa’s girlfriend dreams of settling down in a house made entirely of the synthetic material. To help make Lodestone La Toole’s fantasy a reality, Asa seeks his fortune in vitamin-infused cookie cutters, junkyard fan lamps, airplane fishing trips, and mobile culture emporiums. A failed capitalist, he flirts with communism but decides to rededicate himself to college instead. If only his professors didn’t expect every veteran to be a window-busting, wall-chewing, bloodthirsty maniac, he might actually get some studying done.

Catfish Cowboy is a story about a catfish that lived in a deep water hole until he was befriended by a curious turtle who challenged him to jump out of the water one day. To the turtle's surprise the catfish had a personality and luck that would marvel any creature, man, or beast. The catfish couldn't wait to see what the real or dry world was all about. All he had ever experienced was the water hole.

"A ... debut about two young brothers and their physically and psychologically abusive father"--

Collects all the verse of the Massachusetts-born poet whose humanitarianism and great popular appeal established him as an important 19th-century figure.

From the author of The Great Glass Sea, three linked novellas set between the Virginias about men confronting love, loss, and personal demons. Set in the hardscrabble hill country between the Virginias, The New Valley contains characters striving to forge new lives in the absence of those they have loved. Told in three varied and distinct voices—a soft-spoken middle-aged beef farmer struggling to hold himself together after his dad’s death; a health-obsessed single father desperate to control his reckless, overweight daughter; and a developmentally delayed man who falls in love with a married woman intent on using him in a scheme that will wound them both—each story explores survival, isolation, and the deep, consuming ache for human connection. As the men battle against grief and solitude, their heartache leads them all to commit acts that will bring both ruin and salvation, in these tales “full of tenderness and looming menace” (The New York Times Book Review). “Stark and haunting . . . Delivers great beauty” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “[Weil’s] language is exquisite, his sentences glorious. . . . Refreshing and engaging.” —Ploughshares