Лучшие книги Джона О`Фаррелла

Жил на свете обыкновенной человек, были у него работа, жена, двое детей, друзья и немало проблем. Словом, все как у всех. Но однажды он ехал в метро по обычным своим делам, посмотрел в окно и вдруг понял, что не знает, где и куда едет, не знает, как его зовут, не знает, кто он такой. Вот так здорового мужчину средних лет поразила амнезия. Правда, забыл он исключительно то, что было связано лично с ним. И вот лежит он в больнице и гадает, а хороший ли он был человек или так себе, и была ли у него семья, а если была, то отчего же они не ищут его. Но жизнь продолжается, пусть и беспамятная, и надо как-то собирать ее по кусочкам, складывать…

Майкл Адамс снимает квартиру на паях с тремя соседями-бездельниками. Свои дни он проводит в постели, играя в компьютерные игры, листая газеты или предаваясь наивным размышлениям. А когда эти занятия ему приедаются, Майкл переезжает на другой берег Темзы и становится любящим мужем и нежным отцом. Ибо добропорядочный Майкл живет двойной жизнью: одну половину недели он примерный семьянин, а другую - холостяк, шарахающийся от семейных радостей. Он счастлив, считая, что нашел золотую середину между долгом и наслаждением. Но однажды обман раскрывается, и жизнь Майкла превращается в настоящий ад.

Джон О'Фаррелл умеет выворачивать наизнанку мужскую суть, не прибегая к учению доктора Фрейда. И делает это удивительно смешно. "Лучше для мужчины нет" - исповедь, полная мрачноватого юмора, тонких наблюдений и сдержанного лиризма.

Джимми Конвей всегда мечтал стать знаменитым, богатым и удачливым. В детстве он даже писал письма - самому себе, но только повзрослевшему - о том, как полагается вести себя истинной звезде. И вот эти письма дошли до Джимми - ему уже тридцать пять, и ни славой, ни богатством он похвастать не может. И никаких перемен в своей жизни Джимми не ждет. Но однажды судьба подкидывает ему роскошный шанс. Как-то вечером, выгуливая собаку, Джимми перекинулся парой слов со знаменитым комиком Билли Скривенсом, а на следующее утро выяснилось, что Билли умер. С этого дня Джимми раздает интервью, выступает в телевизионных шоу, снимается в рекламе и держится…

Lots of husbands forget things: they forget that their wife had an important meeting that morning; they forget to pick up the dry cleaning; some of them even forget their wedding anniversary. But Vaughan has forgotten he even has a wife. Her name,her face, their history together, everything she has ever told him, everything he has said to her - it has all gone, mysteriously wiped in one catastrophic moment of memory loss. And now he has rediscovered her - only to find out that they are getting divorced. The Man Who Forgot His Wife is the funny, moving and poignant story of a man who has done just that. And who will try anything to turn…

Уилл, киллер на службе правительства США, должен убить агента-перебежчика ("Заговор").
Представьте, вы не помните, кто вы, а ваши друзья и жена пытаются вернуть ваши воспоминания ("Человек, который забыл свою жену").
После загадочного исчезновения матери Оша и Лиз отправляются в странное поместье "Мейфилд" ("Серебряная звезда").
По следам покойного отца братья уезжают в Африку ("Странствие из тьмы").

From 55 BC to 1945, An Utterly Impartial History of Britain informs, explains, but most of all laughs at the seemingly incomprehensible rollercoaster of events that make up the story of Great Britain. Packed with great characters trapped in impossible dilemmas, this true-life drama will have you on the edge of your seats thinking "I wonder which of them dies at the end?" (Well, they all do, obviously. It was ages ago.) As entertaining as a witch burning and a lot more laughs. "Mum, Dad, the Second Crusade is starting! Can we put a St George's flag on the cart?" "No dear, we don't want everyone to think Daddy is a builder."

Following his hugely popular account of the previous 2000 years, John O'Farrell now comes bang up to date with a hilarious modern history asking "How the hell did we end up here?". "An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain" informs, elucidates and laughs at all the bizarre events, ridiculous characters and stupid decisions that have shaped Britain's story since 1945; leaving the Twenty-First Century reader feeling fantastically smug for having the benefit of hindsight.

John O'Farrell's first collection of columns "Global Village Idiot" was a huge success prompting fulsome praise from such major public figures as the Queen Mother, Roy Jenkins and Cardinal Hume. Sadly, since their deaths, their glowing endorsements cannot be officially verified. So here instead is another collection of funny, satirical essays on a hundred and one 21st century subjects.

Ever wasted hours debating your ‘All Time England XI’?
Well now it’s 2022 and the discussion is finally over, England have eleven players as good as any of them. The unbeatable national team have reached the final of the Qatar World Cup. But one journalist is convinced there is a scandalous secret behind England’s incredible form. His lifetime’s dream is to see the Three Lions win the World Cup. But if he pursues and exposes the shocking truth, his beloved England could be sent home in disgrace.

Suddenly this is much more than England vs Germany; it’s Love vs Duty, it’s Truth vs Happiness.
The pressure of the penalty shoot-out is nothing compared to this.

There’s Only Two David Beckhams is John O’Farrell’s love-letter to football; part-detective story, part-sports memoir, part-satire on the whole corrupt FIFA circus; it just made the final for the funniest football fiction ever written...

Alice never imagined she would end up like this, so anxious after hearing about the dangers of meteorites that she makes her children wear bike helmets in the wading pool. Her husband, David, has taught their four-year-old to list every animal represented in Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. But the more they push their children, the more things there are to worry about. It seems no amount of gluten rationing or herbal teas can improve their children’s intellectual development, and as Alice’s eldest child looks set to fail her entrance exam for the exclusive private school on which her parents have pinned all their hopes, Alice decides to take matters into her own hands. With a baseball cap pulled low over her face, Alice shuffles into a hall of two hundred kids and takes the test in place of her daughter, her first examination in twenty years. With a comic eye for detail that has sent his books to the top of the British best-seller lists, May Contain Nuts is a funny, compelling, and provocative satire of the manic world of today’s overcompetitive, overprotective families.

Like bubonic plague and stone cladding, no-one took Margaret Thatcher seriously until it was too late. Her first act as leader was to appear before the cameras and do a V for Victory sign the wrong way round. She was smiling and telling the British people to f*** off at the same time. It was something we would have to get used to.'

Things Can Only Get Better is the personal account of a Labour supporter who survived eighteen miserable years of Conservative government. It is the heartbreaking and hilarious confessions of someone who has been actively involved in helping the Labour party lose elections at every level: school candidate: door-to-door canvasser: working for a Labour MP in the House of Commons; standing as a council candidate; and eventually writing jokes for a shadow cabinet minister.

Along the way he slowly came to realise that Michael Foot would never be Prime Minister, that vegetable quiche was not as tasty as chicken tikki masala and that the nuclear arms race was never going to be stopped by face painting alone.