Funny Girl

Poziom 4 - 1700 słów. Will Freeman wiedzie kawalerskie życie bez zobowiązań. Pewnego dnia spotyka Marcusa - niezwykłego dwunastolatka z poważnymi problemami. Autor z dużą dawką humoru porusza poważną kwestię, jaką jest miłość. W adaptacji filmowej powieści główną rolę zagrał Hugh Grant.

'How cool was Will Freeman?' Too cool! At thirty-six, he's as hip as a teenager. He's single, child-free, goes to the right clubs and knows which trainers to wear. He's also found a great way to score with women: attend single parents' groups full of available (and grateful) mothers, all hoping to meet a Nice Guy. Which is how Will meets Marcus, the oldest twelve-year-old on the planet. Marcus is a bit strange: he listens to Joni Mitchell and Mozart, looks after his mum and has never owned a pair of trainers. But Marcus latches on to Will - and won't let go. Can Will teach Marcus how to grow up cool? And can Marcus help Will just to grow up? This astonishing novel, now a modern classic, was adapted for the acclaimed 2002 film About A Boy, starring Hugh Grant and Nicholas Hoult. Fans of One...

Make them laugh, and they're yours forever... Barbara Parker is Miss Blackpool of 1964, but she doesn't want to be a beauty queen. She wants to make people laugh. So she leaves her hometown behind, takes herself to London, and overnight she becomes the lead in a new BBC comedy, Sophie Straw: charming, gorgeous, destined to win the nation's hearts. Funny Girl is the story of a smash-hit TV show and the people behind the scenes. But when life starts imitating art, they all face a choice. How long can they keep going before it's time to change the channel?

'Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?' For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: he has, in his own words, 'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve he's going to end it all . . . but not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons. Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices if cold pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living? Shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, A Lo...

Lucy married just the sort of man you might expect: a university graduate who runs his own business. Unfortunately he turned out to have serious dependency issues. Joseph is shaking off the memory of his last date, a girl who ticked all the right boxes and also drove him up the wall. On an average Saturday morning in a butcher's shop in North London, Lucy and Joseph meet on opposite sides of the counter. She is a teacher and mother of two, with a past she is trying to forget; he is an aspiring DJ with a wide-open future that maybe needs to start becoming more focused. Lucy and Joseph are opposites in almost all ways. Can something life-changing grow from uncommon ground? Nick Hornby's brilliantly observed, tender and brutally funny new novel gets to the heart of what it means to fall headl...

'There was this time when everything seemed to have come together. And so obviously it was time to go and screw it all up.' Sam is sixteen and a skater. Just so there are no terrible misunderstandings: skating = skateboarding. There's no ice. Life is ticking along nicely for Sam; his Mum's got rid of her rubbish boyfriend, he's thinking about college and he's met someone. Alicia. Then a little accident happens. One with big consequences for someone just finding his way in life. Sam can't run (let alone skate) away from this one. He's a boy facing a man's problems and the question is - has he got what it takes to confront them? Slam is a novel about a boy who has to grow up in big, big hurry. It is The Catcher in the Rye for the 21st century.

Thirty-six-year-old Londoner Will loves his life. Living carefree off the royalties of his dad's Christmas song, he's rich, unattached and has zero responsibilities - just the way he likes it. But when Will meets Marcus, an awkward twelve-year-old who listens to Joni Mitchell and accidentally kills ducks with loaves of bread, an unlikely friendship starts to bloom. Can this odd duo teach each another how to finally act their age? Hugely funny and equally heartfelt, Nick Hornby's classic proves you're never too old to grow up. Perfect for fans of David Nicholls and Mike Gayle.

In 1986, legendary musician Tucker Crowe disappeared from the public eye and for 20 years, his rabid fans have speculated his whereabouts. Annie lives in Gooleness, the north's answer to a question nobody asked, and has put fifteen years into a safe relationship with one such "Crowe-ologist", Duncan. And she wants her money back, please. Then Tucker releases new material. Duncan thinks it's genius, Annie does not, and when she dares to go public with her dislike, there are unexpected, life-changing consequences for all three . . . Juliet, Naked is a humblingly humorous novel about music, love, loneliness, and the struggle to live up to our own potential. If you like David Nicholls, David Sedaris and Jonathan Coe, you will love this book.

Hornby never seems quite at his ease with his subject. Having raised the issues of depression and suicide, he then devotes much of the book to backing away from them, attempting to retreat to the arenas of social comedy where he feels secure. This is a shame because he is capable of great empathy: `A man who wants to die feels angry and full of life and desperate and bored and exhausted, all at the same time,` JJ the disillusioned guitarist tells us. `He wants to fight everyone, and he wants to curl up in a ball and hide in a cupboard somewhere. He wants to say sorry to everyone, and he wants everyone to know just how badly they`ve all let him down.` But the only real moment of darkness that is allowed to enter the narrative comes from a taxi driver from an unnamed African country whose fa...

Katie Carr is a good person. She recycles. She's against racism. She's a good doctor, a good mom, a good wife....well, maybe not that last one, considering she's having an affair and has just requested a divorce via cell phone. But who could blame her? For years her husband's been selfish, sarcastic, and underemployed, writing the "Angriest Man in Holloway" column for their local paper.

It is autobiographical, telling the story of the author`s relationship with football (soccer) and with Arsenal F.C. in particular. It consists of a large number of short essays, each focused on a single match between 1968 and 1992. It has been seen as something of a turning point in the public perception of football, making an interest in the game acceptable, even fashionable, in educated and literary circles.