The following not only describes a book, but it's an anagram for the title. What is it?

Huge water tale stuns. End had you tense.

A particular inn always offers the same nine dishes on its dinner menu: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H and I. Five foreigners arrive. Nobody tells them which dish corresponds to each letter and so they each select one letter without knowing what they will eat. The innkeeper arrives with the five dishes ordered and puts them in the center of the table so that they can decide who eats what. This goes on for two more nights. The foreigners, who are ...

The following chart is missing its title. What is it a chart of?

African Elephant - 640
Rhinoceros - 560
Giraffe - 450
Cow - 280
Orangutan - 275
Human Being - 267
Reindeer - 246
Panther - 93
Kangaroo - 40
Rabbit - 31
Hamster - 16
Opossum - 13

Someone offers you the following deal:

There is a deck of 100 initially blank cards. The dealer is allowed to write ANY positive integer, one per card, leaving none blank. You are then asked to turn over as many cards as you wish. If the last card you turn over is the highest in the deck, you win; otherwise, you lose.

Winning grants you $50, and losing costs you only the $10 you paid to play.

Would you accept this challenge?