Melissa Bank Boeken

Learn how to keep your houseplants healthy, happy and looking stylish in this contemporary reference and project book for plant parents. YOUR #1 RESOURCE FOR PLANT PARENTHOOD

An epic, powerful and intensely personal debut about war, migration, family, and the search for a place to call home. For fans of PACHINKO, WILD SWANS and ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE

When Penguin published Melissa Bank's debut The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing in 1999, it was an immediate bestseller and was garlanded with praise by critics for its unique, honest and appealing voice. In this piece, Jane tells us about her relationship with a man who will never use her name.

Meet Sophie Applebaum - as enchanting a heroine as Jane in The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing. Sophie is an outsider and an inventor of rules, simply because she does not fit into any neat description of who she might be: she's Jewish, but lacks religious feeling; a book-lover but a mediocre student; a loyal friend often unpleasantly surprised and a less-than-devoted employee. She falls in love precipitously but isn't sure whom she should marry - or if she wants to marry at all despite all the family pressures and social clamour on this subject. We follow the life cycle of her family, and we follow her to school, through college, to her first job with terrible typing skills, through to the realisation that work isn't fulfilment, that your parents aren't quite what you thought and that Mr. Right is sometimes only all right... Readers who loved The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing won't be disappointed; this is a sparkling, heartfelt, deeply explorative book characterized, as always, by Melissa Bank's light touch, signature humour, and her vast talent for capturing a moment, taking it to heart, and giving it back to her readers.

The New York Times bestselling classic of a young woman’s journey in work, love, and life “In this swinging, funny, and tender study of contemporary relationships, Bank refutes once and for all the popular notions of neurotic thirtysomething women.” —Entertainment Weekly “Truly poignant.” —Time Generous-hearted and wickedly insightful, The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing maps the progress of Jane Rosenal as she sets out on a personal and spirited expedition through the perilous terrain of sex, love, relationships, and the treacherous waters of the workplace. Soon Jane is swept off her feet by an older man and into a Fitzgeraldesque whirl of cocktail parties, country houses, and rules that were made to be broken, but comes to realize that it’s a world where the stakes are much too high for comfort. With an unforgettable comic touch, Bank skillfully teases out universal issues, puts a clever new spin on the mating dance, and captures in perfect pitch what it’s like to come of age as a young woman.

Rien ne va de soi pour Sophie Applebaum, la nouvelle héroïne terriblement attendrissante de Melissa Bank. Enfant espiègle, elle s'applique à faire plaisir ; jeune diplômée fascinée par New York, elle peine à trouver un emploi ; amie fidèle, elle découvre que la loyauté n'est pas forcément la chose la mieux partagée au monde ; amoureuse impétueuse, elle rompt aussi souvent ou presque qu'elle s'éprend. D'un médecin, père de famille et divorcé ; d'un serveur, poète à ses heures et en rupture de ban ou encore d'un musicien à peine sorti de l'enfance. Sophie est ainsi : toujours, elle relève le gant. Avec d'autant plus d'ardeur que sa famille, véritable tribu où l'on rit, s'aime, se chamaille et pleure, n'est jamais loin. Drôle, émouvant, agité, Prochain arrêt, le paradis raconte avec entrain les tribulations d'une fille bien décidée à conquérir le monde ou pour le moins à y trouver sa place.

Six years after her amazingly successful debut, <i>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing</i>, Melissa Bank rewards her fans for their patience with <i>The Wonder Spot</i>, a refreshingly honest interpretation of one young woman's journey into adulthood. As we follow heroine Sophie Applebaum through a comfortable, yet awkward childhood in suburban Pennsylvania to the challenges of finding love and a career in midtown Manhattan, <i>The Wonder Spot</i> is never guilty of the self-indulgent traps set by other members of the Chick Lit genre Bank helped launch. We first meet the Applebaum clan on their way to cousin Rebecca's bat mitzvah in Chappaqua, New York, where Sophie ends up sneaking cigarettes in the woods with a handsome eighth grader one year her senior. Yet even this minor rebellion is more charming than anything else; as with most of her future transgressions, Sophie is less the instigator than the innocent witness. Defining moments in Sophie's life are revealed through her relationships: an almost mythical college roommate named Venice; her charismatic yet capricious older brother; her brilliant younger brother; her unpenetrable father; and her hilarious grandmother, who takes it upon herself to save her "Sophila" from "impending spinsterhood." Of course, no real journey into young womanhood is complete without a series of committment phobic, potentially delinquent, overly nice men whose appearances seem less about love than about demonstrating our heroine's inability to ever truly be comfortable with herself. As Sophie observes during a seventh grade skating party, "I felt sure that everyone was looking at me and then realized that no one was, and I experienced the distinct shame of each. Undeniably clever, occasionally hilarious, and often poignant, <i>The Wonder Spot</i> is captivating enough for readers to forgive Sophie's indecisive, self-destructive tendancies and simply bask in her sincerity. <i>--Gisele Toueg</i>

Hailed by critics as the debut of a major literary voice, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing dazzled and delighted readers and topped bestseller lists nationwide. Generous-hearted and wickedly insightful, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing maps the progress of Jane Rosenal as she sets out on a personal and spirited expedition through the perilous terrain of sex, love, and relationships as well as the treacherous waters of the workplace. With an unforgettable comic touch, Bank skillfully teases out issues of the heart, puts a new spin on the mating dance, and captures in perfect pitch what it's like to be a young woman coming of age in America today.