National Network for Equitable Library Service

From Mike Pesca, host of the popular Slate podcast The Gist, comes the greatest sports minds imagining how the world would change if a play, trade, injury, or referee's call had just gone the other way. No announcer ever proclaimed: "Up Rises Frazier!" "Havlicek commits the foul, trying to steal the ball!" or "The Giants Lose the Pennant, The Giants Lose The Pennant!" Such moments are indelibly etched upon the mind of every sports fan. Or rather, they would be, had they happened.

Did you know that Muhammad Ali was so terrified of flying on planes that he would bring a parachute? Or that he won the Presidential Medal of Freedom? Bet you didn't know that he had an official sweat-taster to determine how salty his sweat was after each match! Siblings Paige and Turner do?and they've collected some of the most unusual and surprising facts about him, from his childhood and the spark of his boxing career through his time as heavyweight champion of the world. Narrated by the two spirited siblings, Muhammad Ali Was a Chicken!

For fans of Laurie Notaro and Jenny Lawson comes an uproarious and oddly endearing essay collection for anyone trying to survive the holidays in one piece. When it comes to time-honored holiday traditions, Jen Mann pulls no punches In this hilariously irreverent collection of essays, Jen Mann, nationally bestselling author of People I Want to Punch in the Throat, turns her mordant wit on the holidays.

British comedian and novelist Stephen Fry is fascinated with word games like crossword puzzles and Scrabble, so much that he believes them to be an integal part of our culture. With the help of linguists, puzzle makers and psychologists, Fry discovers that English seems to be almost tailor-made for word puzzles, perhaps more than any other language.

Best-selling author and mortician Caitlin Doughty answers real questions from kids about death, dead bodies, and decomposition. Every day, funeral director Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death. The best questions come from kids. What would happen to an astronaut's body if it were pushed out of a space shuttle? Do people poop when they die? Can Grandma have a Viking funeral?

Since the publication of her much-loved first book, Mindy Kaling's life has changed significantly. Back then, she played Kelly Kapoor, a supporting character on the popular series, The Office. Now Mindy is the creator, producer, writer, and star of her own TV show, The Mindy Project. She is, as she puts it, "a tiny bit famous," the perks of which include being three assistants, two phone calls and a really good lie away from obtaining Bradley Cooper's e-mail address and having convicts writing her fan mail from prison.

Sometimes you just have to laugh, even when life is a dumpster fire. With We Are Never Meeting in Real Life., "bitches gotta eat" blogger and comedian Samantha Irby turns the serio-comic essay into an art form.

Casey Wilson has a lot on her mind and she isn't afraid to share. In this dazzling collection, each essay skillfully constructed and brimming with emotion, she shares her thoughts on the joys and vagaries of modern-day womanhood and motherhood, introduces the not-quite-typical family that made her who she is, and persuasively argues that lowbrow pop culture is the perfect lens through which to examine human nature.

With laugh-out-loud observations on the rollercoaster ride that is being a new parent, New York Times bestselling author and award-winning comedian Mike Birbiglia delivers a book that is perfect for anyone who has ever raised a child, been a child, or refuses to stop acting like a child. In 2016 comedian Mike Birbiglia and poet Jennifer Hope Stein took their fourteen-month-old daughter Oona to the Nantucket Film Festival. When the festival director picked them up at the airport she asked Mike if he would perform at the storytelling night.

Since its first show in 2010, The Last Podcast on the Left has barreled headlong into all things horror, as hosts Henry Zebrowski, Ben Kissel, and Marcus Parks cover subjects spanning Jeffrey Dahmer, werewolves, Jonestown, and supernatural phenomena. Deeply researched but with a morbidly humorous bent, the podcast has earned a dedicated and aptly cultlike following for its unique take on all things macabre.