Changes

|author=Catharina Ingelman-SundbergIan Doescher|title=The Little Old Lady Who Struck Lucky Again! William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh|rating=34.5|genre=HumourScience Fiction|summary=Following A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, there was a man called William Shakespeare, who was able to create a series of dramatic histories full of machinations most foul, rulers most evil and rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy. You may or may not have noticed the success cinematic version of his original stage play for ''The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the RulesForce Doth Awaken'', but here at last we get the League of Pensioners are back – actual script, complete with annoying-in-different-ways-to-before droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and this time, they’re people keeping it in Vegas! I haven’t read the first book but family til it was on my list when the opportunity arose to review this onehurts. The idea And if you need further encouragement, don't forget his audience only demanded three parts of Henry VI – here the League of Pensioners marching towards a fairer world through fun and frolics was hugely appealing to me and this series is a stand alone novel so I thought I would dive straight in with popular we're on to part seven – surely making this one.over twice as good…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447274903159474985X</amazonuk>

|author=WinshlussJames Goss and Russell T Davies|title=In God Doctor Who: Now We TrustAre Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who)

|genre=Graphic NovelsChildren's Rhymes and Verse |summary=To start with, a rhetorical testConsider the Doctor. How about God Just how many birthday and Adam playing badminton day in and day Christmas gifts must he have to hand outeach year, until one gets bored and decides were he to create Evekeep in touch with even half of his companions? Or He would certainly need a few novelty gifts for some of them, say, for example, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the defeater life of Goliath a Time Lord and the saviour that of some of the Israelites being one Conan the Barbarian? his friends and enemies. Or this as a test – Jesus Himself failing to As luck would have a successful session of tequila slammers with Gabriel due it, he has the space in his TARDIS to the holes through His hands? I barely need mention that stock up in these pages God does battle with Supermanadvance, for you so my advice to have answered the test and put yourself firmly in one of two camps for this book him – sorry, her – one very much opposed would be to pop along to buying ithis local Earth-based book emporium and get himself ready. And if you're working on a shorter timescale, with a shorter lifespan, and thinking perhaps just one very gift season ahead, well my advice is pretty much in favourthe same.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>08616623501785942719</amazonuk>

|author=David Walliams and Tony RossAnnie Ingram|title=The Queen's Orang-UtanConversations with Kammie|rating=54|genre=For SharingPets|summary=The Queen felt trapped in the palace with all those stuffed animals which she has been given on foreign tours. There are mountains It was something of them a relief when I encountered Annie Ingram and every night she would dream of escaping. When her birthday drew near the family dutifully asked her what she would like as a presentcocker spaniel Kammie. The Prince was thinking of a goldYou see, diamond encrusted stairlift whilst the Duke was considering Annie knows something which has been self-evident to me for a great big bottle long time: dogs are perfectly capable of brandy. The Royal Baby had some decorated thimbles in mind, but the Queen became communicating with humans and not just on a little snappish as she explained that what she really wanted was level of 'One's own orang-utanfood!'. And she didn't mean a stuffed one, either''walk!'' or ''play!''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0008135134</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Jack Sheffield|title=Silent Night|rating=3.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=I read a couple of Jack Sheffield’s books about five years ago You do require extensive training to become fluent, but most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their time to teach you and enjoyed them very muchall you have to do is listen. They were written in a similar style to those popularised by, for instance, James Herriot or [[ Annie has studied hard:Category:Gervase Phinn|Gervase Phinn]], told mostly in Kammie has trained her well and the first person, describing the author’s first couple pair have allowed us to share some of years as Headmaster at a small village primary school in Yorkshire. The village of Ragley is fictional, as are most of the characters, but the incidents and situations encountered are based on the author’s experiencetheir conversations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>05521670451785451995</amazonuk>

|author=J Robert LennonCharles Harris|title=See You In ParadiseThe Breaking of Liam Glass|rating=3|genre=Short StoriesCrime|summary=Lennon writes with a relaxed, easy style and his characters are instantly recognisable as people from everyday walks of life, without being in any way stereotypicalA flawed but reasonably entertaining swipe at modern media. Many of the people in these stories are dealing with normal frustrationsThere's plenty here to like, and Lennon is cleverly detached enough plenty not to make them individuals that you're obviously supposed to root for (the only exception is the industrialist in the eponymous tale, who is an archetypal capitalist fat cat). There are some very clever characterisations – in ''Weber’s Head'', for example, the narrator is a flawed individual whose opinions of his housemate are gradually revealed But good structure and scramjet pace keep this one flying to be unreliable and unfair. For me, the most unsettling story is ''No Life'', because it portrays a decent couple at the mercy of people more powerful and influential than them. There is no supernatural or bizarre element at work here, just ordinary characters at the mercy of social powerfinal page.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17812533581908943823</amazonuk>

|author=Lynne TrussFred Van Lente|title=Cat out of HellTen Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery|rating=34|genre=HorrorHumour|summary=Meet Alec Charlesworth. He's retired and decamped Nine comedians are invited to an isolated coastal cottage a remote Caribbean island under the guise of working with just his dog and loving memories Dustin Walker, a comedic legend. Each fits neatly into one of the archetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, the washed-up has-been who has fallen far from his colleague wifeearly days; Zoe, the rising female star with a new stand-up special coming soon; Dante, now that she has died before her time. But who went from being a kid on the streets to the fusty librarian cannot rest too long before engaging hardest working road comic in exploring some unusual computer files that were pinged across by someone at the college he worked atbusiness; Oliver, the child-like prop comic who can't get any respect from his peers; Janet, just before he left. the insult comic who is past her prime; Bizarrely they TJ, the nightly variety show photographic host with a reputation for harassing his female colleagues and audio evidence of a talking cat called Rogerguest acts; Ruby, replete the ultra-feminist YouTuber and Blogger with Vincent Price voice – although they are also damaged by being included alongside some bad screenplay attempts about said cat. Worryinglya chip on her shoulder; and William, we soon see what at whose redneck character ''Billy the most only Contractor'' is a far cry from his real personality as a few of the characters canposh millionaire. Of course, that this cat is being accompanied by unusual and unexpected death – much like Alecall nine agree because 's wife. It's only when Roger testifies to having been pushed through the ends God almighty walks down on a beam of endurance light and out asks for your help, what the other side that we begin hell else are you going to doubt where the true evil in this story lies…say?''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>00995853401594749744</amazonuk>

|author=Jimmy Hansen and Mychailo KazybirdS Lynn Scott|title=Wallace & Gromit : The Complete Newspaper Strips Collection Vol 2Elizabeth, William... and Me|rating=4.5

|summary=For me there are two important areas of the cover of this book where three letters are arranged in meaningful ways. The first Ally is an ordinary woman with the S-U-N in their obligatory red teenage children, a husband and white fonta job. No minor paper could hold Wallace and Gromit, their adventures have to be in what is (unfortunately) Then comes the most widely read tabloid in day when ordinariness flies out of the countrywindow. And elsewhere is C-B-E, suggesting It's not a coincidence that even it's the same day she finds Queen Elizabeth I in the storytellers at Aardman Animations who are not household names are feted pantry and revered as artistic experts, raising many laughs and much money for the country courtesy Bard of their creative outputAvon in her bath. Together these short collections of letters show just how much WaG are major creationsWhat's she going to do? Well, Elizabeth and if the proof was needed this much longer collection of Will have their daily comic strips provides it in spades.own ideas about that!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17827608221788037006</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Dear Committee MembersE G Rodford|authortitle=Julie SchumacherThe Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2|rating=4.5|genre=General FictionCrime |summary=Jason Fitger (Jay) is a Professor In the second instalment of creative writing and literature at this series, Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a small university in the American midwell-westknown local man to track down some missing valuables. He is also Bill Galbraith, a frustrated novelist with world-famous surgeon at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital who hosts a colourful personal historypopular medical television programme, has had his briefcase stolen by his live-in domestic servant, much Aurora. According to Galbraith, this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of which bleeds his at the hospital. George agrees to look into his professional lifethe theft, assuming it will be a relatively easy and straightforward case – little does he know, with interesting resultshe's about to enter a world of deceit and dysfunction.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007586345178565005X</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Mapp and Lucia OmnibusToni Jordan|authortitle=E F BensonOur Tiny, Useless Hearts|rating=3.5|genre=HumourWomen's Fiction|summary=Miss Elizabeth Mapp rules the town of Tilling - she As predicted by Caroline and Janice's mother on Caroline and Henry's wedding day, their marriage is the centre of the social lifeover, albeit 15 years and spends her days enjoying bridgetwo daughters further along than predicted. Indeed, polite conversation and civilised paintingthis is definitely not a good weekend for Janice to be babysitting at Caroline's house. When Mrs Emmeline Lucas arrives in town (known to all as Lucia), Miss Mapp finds her life truly shaken up, as There's the cultured, fashionable split and progressive Lucia makes her home in the town, and swiftly rises to awkwardness of the top of girls' schoolteacher being the ranks amongst other woman for a start. Then there's that mistaken identity moment involving the social scene in Tillingneighbours. At least Janice is well adjusted and over her ex-husband Alec. She still dreams of him, yes, but it's so over! Just as well really… guess who's at the door?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>18499084781760293814</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Encyclopedia ParanoiacaColin Taylor|authortitle=Henry Beard and Christopher CerfThe Life of a Scilly Sergeant|rating=4.5|genre=Popular ScienceTravel|summary=We're screwedMeet the Isles of Scilly. Wherever we look(I know they should be called that – the author provides a handy guide to the etiquette of their name, their nature and location, whatever we think etc.) For our more distant readers, they're several chunks of doinggranite rock out in the Atlantic, there where Cornwall is a reason why we shouldnpointing, with just 2,200 permanent residents. They't be doing itre big on tourism, and people big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough to turn any car to back that reason up with scientific dataa rust bucket within years. Take any aspect of your daily life – what you eatThey're so wee, how you workand so idyllic-seeming, how you rest evenespecially at night, what you touch – all have problems that could provoke can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a serious illness or worsepolice presence. And outside that daily sphere But there are economic disasters, nuclear meltdowns, errant AI scientists and passing comets that could turn our world upside down is – at least two working at the blink of an eyeany one time. Perhaps then you better read this book first And one of them in recent years has been Colin Taylor, who has done his official duty – for it may alongside maintaining a well turn out -known online existence, which has brought to be your last…life all the whimsical comedy of his work.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715649213178475515X</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Diary of a Mad DivaJosie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees|authortitle=Joan Rivers'Twas the Fight Before Christmas: A Parody

|summary=The late Joan Rivers was, without a doubt, a characterIt's Christmas Eve and Mum has arranged everything. Actress, comedian, writer, director, presenter, All she was well known in now has to do is await the arrival of the USA relatives and beyond for her sharp tongue and no holds barred personathe food shopping delivery. This was the last of Little does Mum know that those two elements alone have the dozen books she published, her final title before her death in September 2014potential to ruin everything.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>04252690271472125118</amazonuk>

|title=The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - The Nearly Definitive Edition|author=Douglas AdamsRyan North|ratingtitle=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=There are few series that have garnered such a cult following as 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'. Whether the fans have come from the radio series, the (impossibly hard) computer game, or the (well intentioned but not particularly good) film, they are everywhere. Ask a room of people what the meaning of life is, Romeo and you can be pretty sure a good few will pipe up with '42' as the answer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434023396</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Quick Pint After Work|author=Luke Lewisor Juliet|rating=43.5

|summary=BuzzFeed is one of the world’s best time sucks, and I’m regularly directed to the site by links from Facebook For all those who think tragedy plots are too restricted and Twitterprescribed, in between browsing the app read on my phone. According to the author bio on this book, BuzzFeed is 'a social news and entertainment company', which is a fancy way of describing In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of fun lists that speak options en route to hitting the readership (20 words that bottle. Likewise, she could have a completely different meaning in Manchester, 30 Things all ex-gymnasts know turned away from her predestined path at no end of junctures. And to be truewhat result? Well, 40 Very British problems, yadda yadda yadda). These list work well on line when you want happy marriage and a quick distractionkid called Ben, because the leads have just banged people's heads together and they’re easy to flip throughstopped the quarrelling, looking at the attached photos or video clips. The question thenDeath by Tybalt (him) or a long life running an establishment curing murderous women, is whether or not BuzzFeed the book will have the same appealsuch as a Lady M (her).|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07515577300356508536</amazonuk>

|author=Graeme SimsionGervase Phinn|title=The Rosie EffectVirgin Mary's Got Nits|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary=Following inadvertent success with Christmas in our house is the Wife Projecttime we tend to get on a plane and head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, Professor Don Tillman and his new bride Rosie have moved far away from Australia the madness at home, last minute dashes to New York. Although Don's position on the autistic scale is subjective, he still operates shops on a daily basis of structured proceduresChristmas Eve, lists and logic. Rosie can generally handle food cupboard stockpiles that but there would imply supermarkets are choppy waters aheadshutting for a month, nor a mere 36 hours. With But I do remember the patter feeling of tiny feet imminent logic goes out Christmas when I was younger, back when it was magical, and back when you knew exactly what the window as she struggles season would bring with her PhD while Don struggles to find his place in the baby production processcarol concerts and school nativities and Christmas parties. At least he has his drinking buddies to support him – This book is an aging rock drummer anthology of those moments, and it took me right back to the wonder of Christmas as a friend whose wife has thrown him out for infidelitychild. What could possibly go wrong?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07181794711444779400</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Burnt Tongues: An Anthology of Transgressive Short StoriesKieran Crowley|authortitle=Chuck Palahniuk, Dennis Widmyer and Richard ThomasShoot|rating=4|genre=Short StoriesCrime|summary=Saying certain things out loud just don’t sound rightI make something of a habit of being late to discover good writers, in this case getting to Crowley after he is no longer with us. Some things are so disturbing or politically incorrect The result is that you are best off leaving them inside your headwhat is billed as ''an F.X. Shepherd mystery'' with all the optimism of there being more to come has the poignancy of being, or better yet if not thinking the last of them at alla short line, certainly one of a few. When these words are spoken they could lead to the sensation of Burnt Tongue; an aftereffect of knowing what you said was wrongF.X. Shepherd – he doesn't like his first name and prefers just "Shepherd" is, technically, a columnist. He's been sacked by one New York newspaper and is writing a weekly column for another. Are I don't know much about journalism, but I'm guessing one column a week doesn't pay much as a rule…which explains why Shepherd's soap-washed-foul-mouthed editor (read the book, you prepared 'll see what I mean) expects him to enter the world turn in some genuine journalism as well: front page, seat of Transgressive Fiction that aims to disturb, alienate, disgust and question?your pants stuff. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>178329552X1783296518</amazonuk>

|author=Sammy LookerGray Jolliffe|title=Something Nasty in the SlushpileThe First Ever Christmas: And Who to Blame|rating=45

|summary=If I couldn't resist the title - tell you a neat play on [[Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons|Cold Comfort Farm]] and secret, will you promise not to tell anyone? Well, Ireally don'm sure that yout like Christmas: it'll understand that I was expecting s my least favourite time of year and whilst some examples of people count down to the horrors day itself, I look forward to be found amongst the mountain of unsolicited manuscripts which every publisher accumulatesthat point when I can say that it's all over for another year. IIt'll confess I was expecting to giggles all too commercialised for me, even to groan - unkind, I know - and with a coating of faux religion. I'd mentally shelved ve never found it in the book with the trivia, or (hopefully) the humour. There least funny - that is that element to the book, but thereuntil I found Gray Jolliffe's also something far more useful. If you're thinking about publishing a book this should be required reading 'The First Ever Christmas: And Who's to Blame''before. Amazingly, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe either, but I' you even go near m a convert to his skills as a publishercartoonist (if not to the idea of Christmas) after reading this collection of Christmas-themed cartoons from his archive.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14721110281445663503</amazonuk>

|author=The QueenJonathan Pugh|title=Still ReigningPugh's New Year's Resolutions|rating=4.5

|summary=Anyone who frequents Twitter will know If there's one thing that 's for certain, it's a mixed blessingthat the world is changing. ItWe're dating online, we're communicating in ways that make email seem redundant, and when we's re shopping we just tell a mine of wonderful information website where and when it can be delivered, and supportive camaraderiehow much leeway they have to swap our wishes for whatever it is they do bring us. ItBut those changes are also supposed to be affecting us – we's also - unfortunately - home re supposed to use a lot of people who take great pleasure in causing pain smart watch to others. But in amongst all this are a few gems and one of them is [https://twitter.com/Queen_UK @Queen_UK]tell us if we're moving or not, a delightful satire on members of we have to keep up with the royal familylatest fads, celebrities, the political classes and the state of Her Majesty's nation. Or, ''one's nation'' as Ma'am would say. ''Still Reigning'' is her second book, after ''Gin O'Clock'we' re supposed to prick our ears up and it's take note when the sort of parody which leaves you wondering if the writer might not be someone proverbial 'they'verychange their minds about what we'' close re supposed to the originaleat.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07156491321780722885</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Last Days of the Bus ClubLuke Rhinehart|authortitle=Chris StewartInvasion|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary=I could well Super-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universe. And they've come to earth to have been a near-neighbour of Chris Stewartfun. NotAlien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one day, of course, near and he and his current primary occupancy, an ecological farmstead just beyond family quickly come to love the turning off from the back end of nowhere in the most rural of corners of southern Spain, but back playful alien. But when he lived in the south-east of EnglandLouie starts using their computer to hack into government and corporate networks, being Genesis' first ever drummerstealing millions from banks to give to others, they realise that Louie and building bridges in the North Downshis friends mean trouble. The fact I learnt the latter from this book shows up several of the features of this warm-hearted 'travelogue' – the fact that Stewart is never shy about portraying As Billy and his family details and history – given begin a good map roller coaster ride of fame and fortune, as well as a prevailing wind one could find where he lives and descend ranking high on the farmFBI's most wanted list, the Government soon decides that these aliens are terrorists, if one wished; and that while this might must be on eliminated. Whilst the travel shelves, aliens are playing games they hope will help humans to see the narrative is so fragmented it actually moves a lot more than any insanity of the characters doAmerican political, economic and military systems, they soon come to realise that the Powers that Be don't play games: they make war.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>19087454361785651757</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Summer HalfRod Green|authortitle=Angela ThirkellOnly Fools and Horses: The Peckham Archives

|genre=HumourEntertainment |summary=If We are in the world of one didn’t know of Angela Thirkell’s distinguished background as a granddaughter the country's most famous and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of Sir Edward Burne-Jones killed off for Christmas 2003. Yes, there have been specials since, and daughter of a classicistmore repeats to clog up the BBC schedules than is really pukka, it would be tempting but very few people failed to succumb to describe her as a kind its charms at one time or another. I'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stony-faced reception of country cousin of [[:Category:P G Wodehouse|P.G. Wodehouse’s]]. An unaffected ''that'' drop through the open bar hatch, and intelligent one''that'' chandelier scene, whose humour but this is less sophisticated but bubbles over with just as much gleemore meaty. The middle-class world she has created Purporting to be the family archives, found dumped in Nelson Mandela House, where young men come the documents here were passed from families that are comfortably wealthy rather than outrageously sopillar to post, offers from one council worker in a counterpoint department with a clumsy acronym to another, from them to the Mitford or Wodehouse worlds with police – and now here they are being published for their aristocratic characters who travel social history worth. Will enough readers find them of worth, as the world and mingle with more louche, bohemian ones.series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184408969X1849909245</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=The Bojeffries SagaMara Wilson|authortitle=Alan Moore Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Steve ParkhouseAccidental Fame|rating=5|genre=Graphic NovelsAutobiography|summary=A very truncated history Mara Wilson has always felt a little young and a little out of comics will start with place: as the idea that they should be funny strips – one jape then you're out; then that they should have more – perhaps only child on a superhero; then that you can have so much more than just a superhero – witness the works film set full of [[:Category:Alan Moore|Alan Moore]]. But you mustn't be too surprised to see adults, the whole thing come around first daughter in a house full cycle. Because Alan Moore hasof boys, with this volumethe sole clinically depressed member of a cheerleading squad, concluded his own funny strip japerya valley girl in New York and a neurotic in California, and whatever history or greater opinions an adult the world still remembers as a little girl. Tackling everything from how she first learned about sex on the canon set of comix might say''Melrose Place, '' to losing her mother at a young age, to getting her first kiss (or was itkisses?) on a celebrity canoe trip, to not being cute enough to make it in Hollywood, these essays tell the story of one young woman's just about his best ever bookjourney from accidental fame to relative obscurity, but also illuminate a universal struggle: learning to accept yourself, and figuring out who you are and where you belong.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>08616623180143128221</amazonuk>

|author=Reverend Adam SmallboneTony Stuart|title=The Rev DiariesWriting Lines|rating=4.5

|summary=Adam Smallbone wasn’t always George Gordon Wentworth (1946-2011) lived a vicarhumdrum life. He used to work for the Bristol Housing Department, enabling was a barely adequate teacher in a fairly world renowned independent school in Kent and kept a copious diary of his father-in-law to tell everyone quotidian existence. Most of what he worked 'in property'recorded was dross. From thereHowever, amongst all the utterly uninteresting tailings of his initial calling was life there were some nuggets and grains to a rural church in Suffolk which did nothing to prepare him for this, his current London inner city parishcatch the attention. IndeedAuthor Tony Stuart has created these amusing anecdotes, he's not prepared for Adoha (the Nigerian parishioner with 19 grandchildren and 'panning them out over twenty six episodes which give us the bottom best of God') or Colin, Wentworth – comedy gold. From losing all the homeless alcoholic who has adopted Adam and pupils in his wife Alex (Mrs Vicarage to Colin). But then Alex also has charge on a lot to get used school trip tobeing arrested on suspicion of terrorism; from waking up in bed between the married couple the morning after alltheir wedding, she didnto destroying a ski run; from appearing full-frontal naked in a sheep-farmers't actually marry a vicargazette to triggering an air-sea rescue; Wentworth was, blinkered and befuddled, the subject – of these and so many more unlikely but highly amusing events.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07181783941524634441</amazonuk>

|author=Graham Fulbright|title=Look WhoDriving Mad: Maniacs, Morons and the Advanced Motorist's Back|author=Timur VermesClub|rating=3.5|genre=General FictionHumour|summary=''Hitler Youth Ronaldo! Which way to I passed my driving test when John F Kennedy was in the street?White House and I'' With these words a very misguided Nazi Fuhrer asks for his first directions in the Berlin of 2011. Mistakenly believing the lad ve recently had to be a party junior member with his own name on his football shirt, he also thinks reapply for my driving licence having achieved a while it is still 1945venerable age. He's soon informed of When I started driving the truthroads were kinder, but still makes some unfortunate conclusions – that the street kiosks selling Turkish language newspapers are a sign of a Sovietmore forgiving places -beating alliance between the two countriesor put another way, that people eat granola bars because the war still leads to a bread shortage, idiots were fewer and that people making an ironic speech bubble with their fingers in the air is all that is left of the Hitler salutefurther between. But yesI don't know how long Graham Fulbright has been driving, after a long hiatus neither but he nor our author is particularly concerned with explaining, certainly knows his motoring morons and in ''that manDriving Mad'' is back – and if he has his way hebrings us a fictional sample of their eccentricities. Well, I'm pretty certain that they's going to be just as popular this time round…re fictional - but these days you never know...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>08570529261783062584</amazonuk>

|author=Adam RuckMario Giordano|title=The Bluffer's Guide to Golf (Bluffer's Guides)Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions|rating=4.5|genre=SportCrime|summary=The fly leaf suggests that this Bluffer's Guide is the way Poldi had not long been widowed when she decided to move from Bavaria to instantly acquire all Sicily with the knowledge which you need intention of drinking herself to pass as an expert death. She could, of course, have done this in Germany, but she felt that a sea view was essential. Once there, new friends, family already resident on the ''arcane island and labyrinthine'' world the corpse of golfa young man, his face blown off by a shotgun, whom she found on the local beach, intervened to give her life some meaning. There's quite For a bit there while she was a suspect, but that I'd agree on - the rules (and her wig) were no obstacle to an unfortunate extent her falling for Commissario Vito Montana who was assigned to investigate the ''attitudes''case. Assisting him (or having him assist her) are arcane came naturally to Poldi and they seem to take a lifetime to master, but before long there's a surprising amount of information tucked away inside this little bookwas an investigative and personal partnership. What I might quibble with is whether or not you would ''pass At least so far as an expert'' (which suggests that you're something of a con man): there's enough detail here to give you a solid grounding without needing to bluffPoldi was concerned.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>19093653271908524693</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=The Collected Works of A J FikryGrady Hendrix|authortitle=Gabrielle ZevinMy Best Friend's Exorcism|rating=45|genre=General FictionHorror|summary=A J Fikry is not having a good time1988, Charleston, South Carolina. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disatrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act...different. HeShe's lost his wife to a car crash, and hemoody. She's not making that much moneyirritable. The book store he runs, stuck out on a limb on a quiet island community, is too remote to turn a profit year-round, and he has just dismissed the latest publisherAnd bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's rep to turn up at his door, partly because her previous counterpart, an inconsequential part of A Jnearby. Abby's life when all is said investigation leads her to some startling discoveries - and done, had died and he didn't know about it. But his bad by the time is about to get a lot worsetheir story reaches its terrifying conclusion, as the one thing he owns worth the most – fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a rare book, more valuable than his house, his business, anything – is about single question: Is their friendship enough to vanish. Which bizarrely will cause several major changes to his one-person household…beat the devil?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14087046171594748624</amazonuk>

|author=William HansonKevin MacNeil|title=The Bluffer's Guide to Etiquette (Bluffer's Guides)Brilliant and Forever|rating=3.5|genre=LifestyleHumour|summary=If you ask people what they fear most in any social situation most will tell You know sometimes when someone tells a joke, everyone else laughs, and you that it's not knowing how to behave. They'll be fine about the basics, but it's those little niceties - how to introduce yourself, re sat there wondering what to ask for as an aperitif, how to address someone, for instance which can suddenly reveal you as a parvenu. William Hanson gives us a quick trip through the essentials in a book which is very readable and - in places - hilariously was so funny.?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>19099370021846973376</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Horrid Henry's Biggest and Best Ever Joke Book - 3-in-1Christopher Fowler|authortitle=Francesca Simon Bryant and Tony RossMay: Strange Tide|rating=43.5|genre=HumourCrime|summary=It The thirteenth outing for Bryant and May is easy to see why Horrid Henry remains such an enduring and well-liked children’s characterlooking very much like it will be their last. The adventures of this cheeky Arthur Bryant is on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuing, irreverent schoolboy and a cast of extreme characters including Miss Battle Axe, The Demon Dinner Lady, Rabid Rebecca and arch-nemesis Moody Margaret which are incredibly funny and a perfect way likely to encourage reluctant young readers to cultivate a love of readingconfirm that he is suffering from Alzheimer's. It His condition is no surprise thenworsening almost by the day, that the series has spawned a set of three spinmemory lapses are morphing into full-off joke books, which have now been combined to create a single volume: ''Horrid Henry’s Biggest and Best Ever Joke Book''scale hallucinations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144401174X0857523422</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Let Me Off at the Top!: My Classy Life and Other MusingsKevin Smith|authortitle=Ron BurgundyThe Voyage of the Dolphin|rating=45|genre=HumourHistorical Fiction|summary=''This book is Dublin 1916: Among the unrest and anti-British feeling worsened by the threat of conscription into a testament war seen as nothing to my giant ballsdo with the Irish, Trinity College faculty has other distractions.'' But itThey's also d like a lot more. The story we've never been able to discern from either trophy; the skeleton of the an Irish 'giant'Anchorman'' films to be precise. The only glitch is one of surprising hardshipthat the main trophy contender, unsurprising hardnessBernard MacNeill's skeleton, is somewhere difficult to access and great hairall seasoned explorers are otherwise engaged. There may be hope though. It's a rags-They turn to-riches taleFitzmaurice, as Ron Burgundy comes from a Hicksville town in the middle of the outskirts of somewhere the arse end of nowhere (a town perpetually on fire due student not good enough for anything else. Fitzmaurice agrees, picking his friends Crozier and Rafferty to the accidents in the mines underneath) go with him. So… ''Gentlemen, lace up your strongest boots and struggles against pack your warmest underwear – we're all off to the odds – and many of the evens in the shape of womenbloody Arctic!''s legs – to get where he is today Whether battle cry or epitaph, thrusting himself three men and a dog… and his news at us nightlyan iguana… are going anyway.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17808922411910124826</amazonuk>|amazonus=<amazonus>1910124826</amazonus>

|titleauthor=Outraged of Tunbridge Wells: Original Complaints from Middle EnglandTony Hawks|authortitle=Nigel CawthorneOnce Upon a Time in the West… Country|rating=43|genre=HumourTravel|summary=It was ever thus… cyclists go too fast, without using I have often complained in a hooter or lights; there are hoodlums everywhere one looksjokey voice to my partner about life in the sticks, and the way she moved me from an inner-city flat to slumming it in the suburbs with fewer busses, no public conveniences; people pretend to have qualifications takeaways within walking-and-keeping-food-hot distance, and degrees they havenno 'Polish't rightfully earned; buses shops for a can of beer whenever you fancy one. Things are too busy different with shopping women Tony Hawks, as here he has purposefully decided to up sticks from London to Somewhere, Devon – a tiny village where the people who should be indoors alreadybuilt their own homes decades ago still live in them, cooking for their working menfolk… It's where slugs are a very clever idea to show exactly what is behind the 'disgusted lot more of Tunbridge Wells' tag, and as a book to be shelved alongside those with problem for the wackier letters sent to wannabe lettuce-grower than they are for the ''Daily Telegraph''metropolitan commuter, these selections from and where village halls have the Royal town's press itself make power to turn you into both a Pol Pot dictator if you get on their committee and into a great eyequivering, bruise-opener to inducing wreck if you're the complaints and complainants of Kent.wrong gender at a Zumba class…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>19080969181444794809</amazonuk>

|author=Charlie HillMarian Keyes|title=BooksMaking It Up As I Go Along

|genre=HumourEntertainment|summary=Neurology professor Lauren Furrows witnesses Oh, how the sudden untimelydeath book reviewing gods like to give, and equally like to take away. Here before me is a brand, spanking new collection of two tourists in journalism by the wonderful Marian Keyes – but it's a bar while on holidayproof copy, so there's no photo of the author. Birmingham bookshop ownerRichard Anger happens Even if over the years I have stopped reading her novels, I have always turned to be in the same bar so together our single holidaymakers decide author picture to team up as an investigatory force to be reckoned withremind myself such sights exist in this world.(Well Himself is a lucky man, Lauren teams up for thatsure. RichardBut beyond sounding like a letch, what can I say about this – the beauty's reasons are more physical thanintellectual to begin with.) The murders seem to emanate from author GarySaylesthird large dose of essays, a legend in his own mind web columns andother journalism? I can start with agreeing that I am not the target audience, apparently, fatal but it's easy enough to readsee from these pages exactly what the target is. Elsewherehippy exhibitionists (in an over-18 way) Zeke and PippaSo much like that test you do – you know the one, are planning that formulates decisions about theart installation age and commonality of all things in space to end all art installations and, come up with how many billions of planets are determined likely to makeGary the centrepiecehave alien life on – you can narrow things down quite readily here, whether he realises it or notand still come up with a huge number.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17812516300718182529</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=The Facebook Diet: 50 Funny Signs of Facebook Addiction and Ways to Unplug With a Digital DetoxJean-Yves Ferri|authortitle=Gemini AdamsAsterix and the Missing Scroll (Album 36)|rating=3.5|genre=HumourFor Sharing|summary=Everywhere you look and question this Asterix is those rarest of book, it series; one designed for kids which is a success – more or lessactually even funnier when you are an adult. Does it do what it purports I used to – show evidence of love Asterix as a Facebook addiction and provide a dietary way out? Yeschild, but now that I reread them I can't help but wonder why, more or lessbecause they are so full of hilarious jokes that I definitely wouldn't have understood when I was younger. Does it engage with its combination I laughed loud and hard to myself twice within the first two pages of cartoon images Asterix and captions? Yes, more or less. Does it have some cult Internet pedigree to make it a hit gift book for the techie? YesMissing Scroll, more or less – it might not have been borne from a webpage somewhere online, but the Kindle version so I'd definitely say that this was launched several months before the paperback. Is it then a worthwhile addition to your comedy book shelves? Yes – more or lesshit.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>095546563X1510100458</amazonuk>