My Life in Smiley


Book Description

Eleven-year-old Max is a middle-schooler who's written a personal journal that covers every noteworthy event of his life; however, he doesn't want it read before 2126.




Stand by Your Truth


Book Description

Part memoir, part testimonial, and part life guide, Stand by Your Truth mixes Rickey Smiley’s down-home humor with the values he learned from being raised by three generations of elders, steeped in the Baptist church, and mentored by some of the most celebrated comics in the entertainment industry today. “I’m very passionate about everything that I do and I don’t play any games. I just keep it honest. I don’t put on airs. That’s the only way you can be. If you tell one lie, you’ve got to tell another lie. I’m cool with who I am. What you see is what you get.” Stand-up comic. Single dad. Radio personality. TV star. Prankster. Producer. Community activist. Man of faith. Visit a church, comedy club, college campus, or barber shop, and you’ll find few people who aren’t familiar with, or fans of, Rickey Smiley. At least four million listeners in more than seventy markets tune in every weekday morning to hear him banter with his radio show crew, hilariously prank call an unsuspecting listener, and perform skits featuring his one-man cast of characters, including “Lil Darryl,” “Beauford,” and “Joe Willie.” But in between the rapid-fire jokes and celebrity dish are flashes of how Rickey views the world, from the challenges of raising children, to the importance of education, to the need to always stand by your own truth. After more than two decades in the spotlight, Rickey is finally ready to delve more deeply into the opinions he voices on the air, riffing on those issues that his listeners, viewers, and fans find most important. This collection of personal and powerful essays will speak to readers from all walks of life, and is sure to inspire you to Stand by Your Truth.




My Life in Smiley (Book 3 in Smiley Series)


Book Description

Max is off to summer camp and ready to fill his journal with hilarious middle-school wisdom in this third installment of the My Life in Smiley series that is illustrated with the internationally recognized emoticons of the SmileyWorld brand. Age Level: 8-12 Grade Level: 3rd and up Max is in trouble, SOS trouble, he's a prisoner in the middle of nowhere. His journal is the conclusive evidence that the next two weeks at summer camp are going to be absolutely miserable . . . or not! His parents signed him up to give him some "independence," but all it's given him so far is bug bites! It's super hot, he's got no video games, no salt and vinegar chips, and--worst of all--no friends. He even has to pretend to have fun and participate in activities! But despite all that, his roomies are cool, this girl Clara is kinda pretty, and he found a mysterious diary. . . .




Cover Your Assets


Book Description

Tucker Sinclair's life has returned to normal after her first misadventure with murder in FALSE PROFITS. But that's about to change when her old college flame, Evan Brice, strolls back into her life after a 10-year estrangement that began when he dumped Tucker to marry her closest friend. Evan is now a successful Hollywood agent who has acquired many mistresses and a love affair with drugs. When Evan is found brutally murdered, the police quickly close in on the victim's widow, who turns to ex-best friend Tucker for help. Soon, Tucker runs afoul of the detective in charge of the case and finds herself at odds with a biker gang and a narcissistic soap opera star in a race to sort the innocent from the guilty.




Moo


Book Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres comes “an uproariously funny and at the same time hauntingly melancholy portrait of a college community in the Midwest" (The New York Times). In this darkly satirical send-up of academia and the Midwest, we are introduced to Moo University, a distinguished institution devoted to the study of agriculture. Amid cow pastures and waving fields of grain, Moo’s campus churns with devious plots, mischievous intrigue, lusty liaisons, and academic one-upmanship, Chairman X of the Horticulture Department harbors a secret fantasy to kill the dean; Mrs. Walker, the provost's right hand and campus information queen, knows where all the bodies are buried; Timothy Monahan, associate professor of English, advocates eavesdropping for his creative writing assignments; and Bob Carlson, a sophomore, feeds and maintains his only friend: a hog named Earl Butz. Wonderfully written and masterfully plotted, Moo gives us a wickedly funny slice of life.




Smiley


Book Description

Vanni is furious when her fiance tricks her into attending a conference where his father's church is protesting the New Species Organization. She hates everything those vile bigots stand for. Vanni goes to the bar to cool off and ends up seated next to a handsome New Species. Things heat up fast when they are both drugged. Smiley doesn't want to believe the sweet human would dose them with the breeding drug. He's willing to trust her and determined to save her life. He'll hold her. Protect her. Offer up his body to distract them both from the pain. She is his female, even if she doesn't realize it yet.




Private Life


Book Description

Margaret Mayfield is nearly an old maid at twenty-seven when she marries Captain Andrew Jackson Jefferson Early. He's the most famous man their Missouri town has ever produced: a naval officer and an astronomer-a genius who, according to the local paper, has changed the universe. Margaret's mother calls the match "a piece of luck." Yet Andrew confounds Margaret's expectations from the moment their train leaves for his naval base in San Francisco, and soon she realizes that his devotion to science leaves little room for anything, or anyone, else. She stands by him through tragedies both personal and those they share with the nation. But as World War II approaches, Andrew's obsessions take a darker turn, forcing Margaret to reconsider the life she'd so carefully constructed.




A Murder of Quality


Book Description

A murder mystery in the finest tradition of English detective novels, John le Carré's A Murder of Quality is an ingenious puzzle featuring his best-loved character George Smiley. Stella Rode has twice disturbed the ancient cloisters of Carne School: firstly by being the wrong sort, with her doilies and china ducks, and secondly by being murdered. George Smiley, who has his own connection with the school, is asked by an old Service friend to investigate. Smiley knows that Stella feared her husband would murder her, but as he probes further beneath Carne's respectable veneer, he uncovers far more than a simple crime of passion. In his second George Smiley novel, le Carré moves outside the world of espionage to reveal the secrets at the heart of another particularly English institution. The result is a pitch-perfect murder mystery, with Smiley as master detective. If you enjoyed A Murder of Quality, you might like le Carré's Call for the Dead, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'Beautifully intelligent, satiric and witty' Daily Telegraph




Mr. Smiley


Book Description

Howard Marks has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But determined not to go quietly into the night, he has decided that it is time to release Mr Smiley, the story of his last, and arguably his biggest ever, drug scam at the height of the '90s ecstasy frenzy. On his release from prison in 1995, Howard had made a promise to himself and family that this time he was going to go straight...But some people are just born for the life, and it is not long before Howard finds himself trying ecstasy and rubbing shoulders with some of the king-pins of the pill trade that has set the Ibiza scene ablaze. Incredibly funny, moving and scabrous, Mr Smiley is a free-standing follow up to Mr Nice, which follows a journey to the heartland of the clubbing scene and British crime. It is also a fitting last word from one of Britain's best loved bad boys.




My Life in Smiley (Book 2 in Smiley series)


Book Description

After summer vacation, Max is back at school in France to tackle seventh grade, which turns out to be even harder than sixth grade. In his journal, he recounts his over-the-top crush, fighting with his best friend Tom, his mom losing her mind with yoga and new-age parenting, and his friends’ attempt at making smiley-themed clothing with unique illustrations and plentiful smileys.