"Franny Steinberg knows there's powerful magic in laughter. She's witnessed it. With the men of Chicago off fighting WWII on distant shores, Franny has watched the women of the city taking charge of the war effort. But amidst the war bond sales and factory shifts, something surprising has emerged, something Franny could never have expected. A new marvel that has women flocking to comedy clubs across the nation: the Showstopper. When Franny steps into...

The final, previously unpublished novel from the legendary Westlake. The year is 1977, and America is finally getting over the nightmares of Watergate and Vietnam. But not everyone is ready to let it go. Not aging comedian Koo Davis, and not the five remaining members of the self-proclaimed People's Revolutionary Army, who've decided that kidnapping Davis would be the perfect way to bring their cause back to life.

When Nora Bridge left her husband and her two daughters 10 years ago, she took the only route she could see, and assumed she still had her daughters' love. Now, though she is distant from her own daughters, Nora is the hostess of a radio advice show, where she advises listeners that "family comes first." When a scandal breaks and Nora hits rock bottom, she finds she has to rely on the two people she has betrayed most deeply: her daughters, Ruby and...

"Jen has dumped Andy, and he's handling the breakup in exactly the way all his friends and family might have expected: very, very badly. Crashing at his mother's house and obsessively photographing his hairline, Andy embraces the rites and rituals of every breakup-the ill-advised decision to move onto a houseboat, the forced merriment of a lads' night out, the accidental late-night text to the ex-all resulting in a never-ending shame spiral. Even...

"When Ari and Josh meet the first time, the wrong kind of sparks fly. They hate each other. Instantly. A free-spirited, struggling comedian who likes to keep things casual, Ari sublets, takes gigs, and lives by a code that ensures her friends-with-benefits stay firmly in the friendzone. She doesn't believe in morning sex because she never sleeps over. Born-and-bred Manhattanite Josh has ambitious plans: he'll take the culinary world by storm, find...

"A bridesmaid and groomsman put their differences aside to get their best friends down the aisle in this steamy opposites-attract romantic comedy. They say to never meet your heroes, but when Vivian Liao's roommate gets engaged to her favorite actor's costar, she has no choice but to come face-to-face with Melvin Lee again. He's just as funny and handsome as he is on-screen...but he thinks she's an ice queen and a corporate sellout. It's none of his...

From the internationally bestselling author of 4 3 2 1 and The New York Trilogy comes The Book of Illusions, "an enthralling new summit in Paul Auster's art." —Jonathan Lethem
A man's obsession with a silent-film star sends him on a journey into a shadow world of lies, illusions, and unexpected love.

Six months after losing his wife and two young sons in an airplane crash, Vermont professor David

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The third book by New York Times bestselling author Meg Wolitzer (originally published as This Is Your Life ), is a smart, witty and perceptive novel about the daughters of a female stand-up comic who watch as their mother struggles to balance her career with the needs of her children. Dottie Engels, comedienne extraordinaire, performs her act in Vegas and on late-night TV. Her two daughters, Opal and Erica, live on the periphery of her glittering...

"When falling in love is the punchline... Farley Jones is a loud, chaotic, and hilariously clever standup comedian on the way to stardom. The only thing she loves more than the rush of telling jokes in front of a revved-up audience is her hot older manager Meyer, though he doesn't have a clue. Keeping her feelings hidden from him is agony (a tragedy, even-in lieu of flowers, please send cash...) but Meyer has been Farley's closest and most treasured...

Bill Maher, the hilarious, irreverent star of the hit ABC talk show Politically Incorrect, is one of America's hottest comics. But like many of today's late-night humor kings, Maher began his career navigating New York City's seedy stand-up comedy circuit. He was there back in the Golden Age of comedy, when everybody wanted to be Eddie Murphy, and even the laundromat had its own open-mike night. True Story is Maher's debut novel about the wild and...