Kirjahaku

"One of 2012's most enjoyable novels." --Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times"This is a dark, sharp, very funny novel about imprisonment, torture and the dangerous pleasures of stories." --Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal"Seth Kaufman's novel is a hoot and a boot, a zany, unsettling, satisfying, post post-modern, tragic-comic tour of prisons around the world and pain in the human heart. Start it and you won't stop. If you're a claustrophobe, read it out-of-doors." --John Darnton, Neaderthal A riotously funny portrait of an out-of-control entertainment mogul and a devastating look at torture and imprisonment, The King of Pain is part Jennifer Egan, part Italo Calvino, part "Entourage," and 100% marvelous. Rick Salter expects to be hated; after all, he's the mind behind the outrageous-and outrageously successful-reality TV show about torture, "The King of Pain." What he finds much more worrisome than the ire of cultural critics is that when he wakes up one Saturday morning, he's trapped underneath his gigantic home entertainment system with no idea how he got there. Rick has 48 long hours ahead of him until his housekeeper will come to his rescue and nothing to pass the time except pain, bad memories-and a strange book he finds lying beside him. Called "A History of Prisons," it is written by one Seth Kaufman, and it seems mysteriously relevant to Rick's predicament...

The Most Hilarious Man in Hollywood Is Unarmed and Dangerous "A smart, witty and engrossing satire Kaufman is a wonderfully sharp-eyed observer of modern American lunacies." -Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal"Literary gold " The year's best new reality show concept is actually a book... It's as hilarious as it sounds "-RadarOnLine.com"Rick is a charismatic antihero bolstered by credible side characters, and in the midst of Kaufman's sardonic humor, there rings out an earnest outcry for gun reform." - Publishers Weekly Out-of-control producer Rick Salter wants to leave reality TV behind, get married and make movies. But it's not easy. When a senseless murder touches his life, Rick knows exactly what to do - enlist his pal Sister Rosemarie to make a TV series called Nuns with Guns, about four nuns competing to collect the most firearms. Protests and death threats pile up as the sisters travel the country running gun exchanges. Propelled by the show's spirited stars and crazy stunts - and the shadow of death that looms over every episode - the series becomes a smash hit. As Rick pushes the envelope, trying to save America from itself, a question emerges: Who will save Rick? Laugh-out-loud funny, Nuns with Guns is sure to appeal to fans of Carl Hiaasen and Kurt Vonnegut. Seth Kaufman explores deadly national issues by deftly balancing satire with anxiety and insight. The result is a riotous and disturbing must-read "Kaufman has done the impossible: he's turned a foul-mouthed, PR-savvy, manipulative, selfish, and occasionally self-righteous reality show producer into a heroic figure. Highly, highly recommended."-Chicago Center for Literature and Photography"A hilarious, moving sequel...one of the most relevant, timely novels you'll read this year."--Downtown Magazine"Kaufman's humor and scope in Nuns with Guns is more vibrant than the pure satire of The King of Pain. He's not making fun of America here so much as trying to improve it."--Tom Rayfiel, In Pinelight

"Great fun "-Ben Schott, author of Schott's Original Miscellany"Sharp satire with a poetic heart"-The B&N Review "Seth Kaufman's War Against Boredom is a great antidote to this Kardashianized landscape of selfie-sticks, ISIS attacks, and billionaire presidential wannabes. With lacerating satire, these short stories, riffs, and other insanities will make you laugh. Only our hashtags and Instagram pics can save us now." -- Karl Wolff, The Driftless Area Review The War Against Boredom, by newyorker.com humor contributor Seth Kaufman, is a hilarious and wildly inventive assault on the mind-numbing effects of the modern world. Reverse-engineering obsessions with Big Data, the Internet, movies, coffee shops, pot, spying, rock stars, relationships and sex scandals, Kaufman morphs reality into comedy with 21 short stories and satirical columns. It's a must-read for fans of the author's acclaimed novel The King of Pain and anyone who likes adventurous humor writing. Notable skirmishes in The War Against Boredom: -A husband hires a business consultant to help improve his marriage. -An assistant engineer recalls working with Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury and a llama. -An insurance actuary becomes a star by decoding the odds for the Academy Awards. -A caustic National Security Administration advice columnist answers questions and exposes employees. -Cheech and Chong reunite over a golden hookah. -A hardcore techie conducts a bizarre old school search for love in "Segway in Overdrive."

A hilarious, multi-layered, modern mashup of Don Quixote, Cold Comfort Farm, and The Thirteenth Tale, The Seductive Lady Vanessa of Manhattanshire is an ingenious must-read for fans of romantic fiction, literary satire, and books about books. Famous Arabic translator Oona Noor receives a mysterious manuscript from Cairo entitled The Seductive Lady Vanessa of Manhattanshire and realizes she has discovered a masterpiece. The book, written by an unknown author named Aisha Benengeli, spins the tale of Maxine More, a divorced, romance novel-obsessed New Yorker who envisions herself as a Georgian Lady and sees the world entirely through the prism of her beloved books. Designating her cleaning lady Magdalena Cruz as her lady-in-waiting, Lady Vee embarks on a series of misadventures. She mistakes a plumber for a famous alpha male; pursues her poodle-owning crush, Nelson Dodge; dispenses misguided advice to the lovelorn and goes man-hunting on New York's Upper East Side. Heartbroken when the manuscript ends abruptly, translator Noor journeys to Cairo, hunts for the concluding pages, and uncovers a stunning confession from Lady Vee's creator Benengeli about her own romantic troubles. As the author struggles to find happiness for her crazed character and herself, the translator desperately searches for the elusive writer. In the end, this delightfully inventive novel unspools three tales about three very different women, each on a quest for a perfect love story.

A provocative, entertaining but ultimately serious examination of rock's most essential questions: Beatles or Stones? Which is the best air guitar to play? Does Rush suck? And what is the meaning of Billy Joel? Metaphysical Graffiti is a book for music fans, humor fans, and, if a meaningful ontological category, fans of philosophy too. It is a provocative, inflammatory, hilarious, but ultimately serious book about the essential questions of rock--Beatles or Stones? What Kind of Air Guitar Do You Play? Does Rush Suck? and, of course, The Meaning of Billy Joel. In a rich mix of original pieces, Kaufman not only examines the essential issues facing all rock fans, but delves into the deeper, metaphysical roots of these questions. The book's title is a riff on the classic Led Zeppelin album, Physical Graffiti, while the book itself is an innovative, critical work that in many ways mirrors the best rock 'n' roll. Funny, audacious, irreverent, and relentlessly creative, it stretches the parameters of traditional criticism by incorporating short fiction, "Moronic Dialogues," and even a short mini-play, "Godot, The Musical," in order to explore philosophical concepts of Reality, Authenticity, Hype, and, ultimately, the purpose of music criticism itself.