Irish Humor

As a teen Maddy Harvey was a bit of an ugly duckling. Luckily she's blossomed since then, and Maddy thanks God for this small miracle when a tall, handsome stranger comes to her rescue one starry summer's night. But instant attraction turns to a disaster in the making when Maddy learns the identity of her superman: Kerr McKinnon. Of all the colorful residents of the small Cotswold town of Ashcombe, why did it have to be him? Because, as family feuds go, the Montagues and the Capulets have nothing on the Harveys and the McKinnons.

What do you get when you cross a gold-digging stripper, a down-on-her-luck hooker, an estranged husband, his knocked-up wife, a Wayne Newton lookalike taxi driver and one beleaguered Baltimore cop? A typical night in the life of Riley Collins—Vegas style. Riley’s always been the wildest of the Collins clan, but even she bites off more than she can chew during an impromptu trip to Sin City. Once again, it’s Aaron Young to the rescue. No surprise; Aaron’s been watching Riley’s ass forever—and he’s wanted to spank it for even longer. Tracking her down, Aaron finally gets his wish...

Kate has taught herself to be careful, to be meticulous. To mark the anniversary of a death in the family, she plans a dinner party—from the fancy table settings to the perfect Baked Alaska waiting in the freezer. Yet by the end of the night, old tensions have flared, the guests have fled, and Kate is spinning out of control. But all we have is ourselves, her father once said, all we have is family.

Fifteen years ago in the colourful bustle of Vietnam, Celine and Patrick met and shared four blissful days together. It felt like true love, but soon reality tore them apart and Celine moved on. But now, when she sees him unexpectedly on a busy London street, suddenly nothing else matters. As she deals with the mixed emotions of an amicable divorce, Celine becomes preoccupied with her daughter and the dating agency she founded - not least when her ex-husband, Mike, asks her to find him someone new.

In the picturesque village of Upper Sisley, everyone thinks they know their neighbors, but nobody knows what scandalous surprise is going to happen next. An unexpected reunion between two former lovers changes both their families forever. Old friendships fade and new ones blossom as neighbors begin to see one another in a new light. A young woman finally asks for what she really wants, a young man atones for bad behavior, and both find that courage brings its own rewards.

From the bestselling author of The Mouse That Roared comes a witty tale of a leprechaun in New York. Timothy Patrick Fergus Kevin Sean Desmond McGillicuddy (for short) is a leprechaun diplomat on a mission to convince the President of the United States to halt the construction of a new U.S.-owned airport on a tract of Little People land in Ireland. With the belief “mischief is me nature” and the help of a 10-year-old American boy, he proves wee folk a big force to be reckoned with. This special 60th Anniversary edition features a new introduction by journalist and author Quentin ...

While marooned at his banking job in the bewilderingly damp and insular realm known as Ireland, Claude Martingale, is approached by a down-on-his-luck author, Paul, looking for his next great subject. Claude finds that his life gets steadily more exciting under Paul's fictionalizing influence; he even falls in love with a beautiful waitress. But Paul's plan is not what it seems-and neither is Claude's employer, the Bank of Torabundo, which inflates through dodgy takeovers and derivatives-trading until-well, you can probably guess how that shakes out.

Lisa’s dated a series of disastrous men; Simon’s loved and lost the girl of his dreams. She’s hoping fate might intervene in her love life; he’d prefer that it stopped meddling with his. Today, they’re meeting, courtesy of the local paper’s ‘Blind Date’ feature - but while Lisa’s looking for that elusive ‘spark’, Simon’s sure lightning doesn’t strike twice. Will theirs be a love that’s written in the stars, or merely another mismatch written up in the Gazette?

1721. The slave trade ravages the West Coast of Africa. With his world turned upside down, and disillusioned with family and society, Dan Leake, now 16, gets together a disparate group of ex-pirates and runaway slaves. With this motley crew, Dan steals a ship and they flee from Jamaica. They sail to the coast of Africa where they plan to disrupt the African slave trade and get rich at the same time. Pursued by the navies of the powerful slaving nations, and hunted by vengeful pirates, Dan and his followers are forced from the Atlantic. Rounding the stormy Cape of Good Hope, they sail into ...

Kate and Scott’s marriage has always been a lot of fun, with alcohol at the heart of it. After all, what’s more entertaining than a good laugh and a large drink…or six? But recently, those relaxing drinks have become more crutch than comfort - and the couple have almost forgotten how to talk to each other sober. Then their teenage daughter Holly uploads a video of their humiliating drunken escapades, which gets picked up by YouTube superstar PinkyPud - and goes horrifyingly viral.

A prequel to the bestselling classic The Mouse That Roared. Set in the year 1450, the tiny Duchy of Grand Fenwick, ruled by the benevolent and noble Sir Roger and armed with its army of expert longbowmen, had existed peacefully without threat of invasion for decades. But when a rascally Irish Knight stumbles across its borders with news that the French were set to attack and that they had a new weapon of mass destruction called "the cannon," the Irishman and Sir Roger must find a way to drop their differences and fight together, a feat made even more difficult when Sir Roger's daughter, the...

May Rosevere has reached the grand old age of 110, thanks to several slices of toast with butter every morning, a glass (or two) of port, and the wonders of the Cornish sea air - or so she tells everyone. But there’s much more to May than her remarkable age. She has a secret. One that no one has ever discovered....

At the Orchestra School of Music in Waterford, with the help of Tommy, Tina is getting her students ready for an Easter concert that is to take place in a local castle. Tommy, having suggested an Easter egg hunt for afterwards, wants to help Tina with the hiding. But she's having none of it and hides them herself. However, the following morning, when she returns to the castle, the eggs have disappeared. With Tommy again by her side, the pair follow a trail of tin foil which leads them to the culprit, Hugo, a chocolate eating, music loving bunny. Hugo's Easter Concert is another delightful ...

Bernie is in search of all the things he missed out on by leaving Florida when he was young. He’d been too young for a fishing license then and was too old to need one now; what had he done all his life? The Irish determination in his blood has him methodically correcting the error of his ways. He buys a boat, hires a guide, gets mixed up in another murder… Yes, you heard right, another murder. Is there anything worse than finding a boy? Maybe finding part of one... Does Bernie regret taking up freshwater fishing? What is it about the steamy-semi-tropical lakes of west-central-Florida ...

"Best Served Frozen is a chick flick with the meddlesome mothers-in-law played not by Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton but more like...if the Kray Brothers were women."--Colin Quinn Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but hardened mother of seven Fionnuala Flood plans on serving hers up frozen. Or so she thinks. The bells are ringing out in Derry, Northern Ireland, as the dirt-poor Floods and the rich and entitled Riddells prepare for the pairing in matrimony of their families and a bridging of the gap between the two sniping communities. But some are not best pleased, and it might be more ...

He’s going to teach her how to go wild…with him. Ewan has had the hots for Natalie for years but she continually rebuffs him. So when she comes to stay with the Collins family for a week, he decides it’s time to make his move in a serious way. Natalie’s been in a funk since celebrating another birthday alone. When Ewan proposes to help her “get a life”—seven lessons in seven days—she figures, what the hell does she have to lose? Ewan’s plans include tequila shots, fishing, karaoke…and other, more wicked, sensual, hands-on, clothes-off demonstrations. But Nat’s ...

"Continued brilliance. The characters will make you laugh and cry and fume while you're reading. Comic Irish writing at its best." Colin Quinn Desperate mother of seven, Fionnuala Flood, thinks her new get-rich-quick scheme will pay the bills, but instead it threatens to tear her family apart. The case of canned vegetables she bought contains not spuds but explosives, and a defunct IRA branch will stop at nothing to get them back. Meanwhile, her two oldest sons are in prison, her husband's hands are fondling more than frozen fish at work, and her lesbian daughter has published a tell-all ...

Dame Edith Evans, Sir John Gielgud and Anthony Quayle perform a selection of 18th-century comedy.

It was my father’s arrest that brought me here, although you could certainly say that I took the scenic route. Here is rehab, where Ben - the only son of a rich South Dublin banker - is piecing together the shattered remains of his life. Abruptly cut off, at the age of 27, from a life of heedless privilege, Ben flounders through a world of drugs and dead-end jobs, his self-esteem at rock bottom. Even his once-adoring girlfriend, Clio, is at the end of her tether. Then Ben runs into an old school friend who wants to cut him in on a scam.

"Three Men on the Bummel" (1900) is a comical travelogue by Jerome K. Jerome. The three companions are on a bicycle tour through the German Black Forest. What does Bummel mean? D. C. Browning writes: "The title must be puzzling to many readers, for 'bummel' will not be found in English dictionaries." You can learn its meaning at the last chapter of the book, which is a series of humorous vignettes, each of which builds slowly, through accumulation of layer on layer of detail, through several pages.