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|author=Dido Butterworth and Tim FlanneryIan Doescher|title=The Mystery of William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Venus Island FetishSeventh|rating=34.5|genre=Historical Science Fiction|summary=Meet Archie Meek. He's about to leave the Venus IslandsA long time ago, in a galaxy far away, where he's lived for the last five yearsthere was a man called William Shakespeare, and return who was able to Sydneycreate a series of dramatic histories full of machinations most foul, where he'll take his office in the museum rulers most evil and fill it with all the cultural artefacts he's found rebellious heroes and wildlife he's plucked or pickledheroines most sturdy. That's You may or may not to ignore have noticed the fact hecinematic version of his original stage play for 'll count as something quite alien himself'The Force Doth Awaken'', but here at last we get the actual script, complete with his filledannoying-in-different-ways-out frame, nearly allto-over suntan and totemic tattoobefore droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in amongst other changes to his body. But what's this? When he gets backoeuvre, he finds one of the main Venus Islands artefacts that caused him to go there and people keeping it in the first place, a huge, macabre ceremonial fetish mask, purloined as corporate artworkfamily til it hurts. And some of the curators he wishes to work alongside have vanished. Is the weird society if you need further encouragement, don't forget his audience only demanded three parts of Henry VI – here the museum heseries is so popular we's returning re on to, perchance, even weirder, stranger and more violent than the cannibalistic society he's waving farewell to?part seven – surely making this over twice as good…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1922079308159474985X</amazonuk>

|author=Tim FlanneryJames Goss and Russell T Davies|title=The Mystery Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of the Venus Island FetishTime Lord Verse (Dr Who)|rating=34.5|genre=Historical FictionChildren's Rhymes and Verse |summary=Meet Archie MeekConsider the Doctor. He's about Just how many birthday and Christmas gifts must he have to leave the Venus Islandshand out each year, where were he's lived for the last five years, and return to Sydney, where he'll take his office keep in the museum and fill it touch with all the cultural artefacts he's found and wildlife he's plucked or pickled. even half of his companions? That's not to ignore the fact he'll count as something quite alien himselfHe would certainly need a few novelty gifts for some of them, say, with his filled-out framefor example, nearly all-over suntan whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the life of a Time Lord and totemic tattoo, in amongst other changes to that of some of his bodyfriends and enemies. But what's this? When he gets backAs luck would have it, he finds one of has the main Venus Islands artefacts that caused him space in his TARDIS to go there stock up in the first placeadvance, a hugeso my advice to him – sorry, macabre ceremonial fetish mask, purloined as corporate artworkher – would be to pop along to his local Earth-based book emporium and get himself ready. And some of the curators he wishes to work alongside have vanished. Is the weird society of the museum heif you's returning tore working on a shorter timescale, perchancewith a shorter lifespan, even weirderand thinking perhaps just one gift season ahead, stranger and more violent than well my advice is pretty much the cannibalistic society he's waving farewell to?same.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>19220793081785942719</amazonuk>

|author=Roman DirgeAnnie Ingram|title=The Cat Conversations with a Really Big HeadKammie|rating=3.54|genre=Graphic NovelsPets|summary= How many picture books are there about cats? It was something of a relief when I encountered Annie Ingram and her cocker spaniel Kammie. And how many do you know that you would really NOT prefer your children to You see? If the answer , Annie knows something which has been self-evident to the second question is me for a long time: dogs are perfectly capable of communicating with humans and not just on a level of ''food!'none – yet', scratch that last word. The title piece in this collection is, by the author's own admission, his imagining of the Joseph Merrick (the 'Elephant Manwalk!') of the feline world – who struggles to sneak up behind a mouse when the shadow of his head is a total giveaway, and who can hardly even eat with dignity as bending down to his bowl would break his neck. If that's too dark or oddball for you, try the second major piece, which has a most revealing foreword – ''Dedicated play!''. You do require extensive training to a certain girl… I hope your life is filled with wonderful accomplishmentsbecome fluent, love but most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their time to teach you and all the magic you desire… - But I hope your death have to do is slow listen. Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her well and horriblethe pair have allowed us to share some of their conversations.''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17827628761785451995</amazonuk>

|author=Val HennessyCharles Harris|title=Not Far From DreamlandThe Breaking of Liam Glass|rating=4.53|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=Ronald Tonks has reached that stage in life which I call upper middle age: you've qualified for your pension A flawed but not yet got to the free television licence barrierreasonably entertaining swipe at modern media. What Ronald ''has'' got is a roof that leaks (thereThere's good reason why his home is called 'the shack')plenty here to like, a dog who is going bald (in patches) and money that's in very short supply. On the plus side he has friends, mostly platonic and usually in much the same boat as Ronaldplenty not to. But are they downhearted? Well, they are occasionally, but mostly they're generously optimistic good structure and out scramjet pace keep this one flying to make the most of what they've got, usually bought from charity shops and jumble sales. ''Not Far From Dreamland'' is the story of a year (2012) in the life of Ronald Tonks, his friends and relativesfinal page.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07043738741908943823</amazonuk>

|author=Harry HarrisonFred Van Lente|title=Bill, the Galactic HeroTen Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery|rating=3.54|genre=Science FictionHumour|summary=Meet Bill. He's Nine comedians are invited to a simple farmer – wellremote Caribbean island under the guise of working with Dustin Walker, he ''is'' taking a correspondence course in being a Technical Fertiliser Operator – but fate has something else in storecomedic legend. And so does Each fits neatly into one of the mechanisedarchetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, technologicalthe washed-up has-been who has fallen far from his early days; Zoe, industrial militarythe rising female star with a new stand-up special coming soon; Dante, which needs several billion grunts who went from being a kid on the streets to fight the Chingershardest working road comic in the business; Oliver, in mankindthe child-like prop comic who can's first inter-galactic war. t get any respect from his peers; Janet, the insult comic who is past her prime; StillTJ, at least he gets medals just the nightly variety show host with a reputation for signing up. After that it's all downhillharassing his female colleagues and guest acts; Ruby, the ultra-feminist YouTuber and Blogger with a chip on her shoulder; and William, whose redneck character ''Billy the likes of Petty Chief Officer Deathwish Drang can only make that Contractor'' is a far cry from his real personality as a straight line posh millionaire. Of course, all nine agree because ''when God almighty walks down. Reallyon a beam of light and asks for your help, what hope is therethe hell else are you going to say?''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147320531X1594749744</amazonuk>

|author=Ian DoescherS Lynn Scott|title=Elizabeth, William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace... and Me

|summary= Join usAlly is an ordinary woman with teenage children, good gentles, for a merry reimagining husband and a job. Then comes the day when ordinariness flies out of `Star Wars Episode 1the window. It' as only Shakespeare could have written s not a coincidence that it. 'Tis a true Shakespearean drama, filled with sword fights, soliloquies s the same day she finds Queen Elizabeth I in the pantry and doomed romance…all the Bard of Avon in glorious iambic pentameter and coupled with gorgeous illustrationsher bath. Hold on What's she going to your midichlorians: The plays the thingdo? Well, wherein you'll catch the rise of AnakinElizabeth and Will have their own ideas about that!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>15947480631788037006</amazonuk>

|author=AttaboyE G Rodford|title=The Book of HugsSurgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2|rating=4|genre=HumourCrime |summary=A hugIn the second instalment of this series, Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a well-known local man to track down some missing valuables. Bill Galbraith, a world-famous surgeon at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital who hosts a hugpopular medical television programme, OK? You either dohas had his briefcase stolen by his live-in domestic servant, or you don'tAurora. According to Galbraith, this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of his at the hospital. Some people might George agrees to look into the theft, assuming it will be a relatively easy and straightforward case – little more enthusiastic does he know, he's about the process whilst others are more elegant in the execution to enter a world of the hug, but basically you just get on deceit and do it and then forget about it, right?dysfunction.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0867197978178565005X</amazonuk>

|author= Christopher FowlerToni Jordan|title= Bryant and May – The Burning ManOur Tiny, Useless Hearts|rating=45|genre=CrimeWomen's Fiction|summary= The Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) has a new set of overlordsAs predicted by Caroline and Janice's mother on Caroline and Henry's wedding day, their marriage is over, albeit 15 years and two daughters further along than predicted. For reasons that were explored in the previous couple of outings they have been transferred Indeed, this is definitely not a good weekend for Janice to the City Of London Policebe babysitting at Caroline's house. The Met are still There's the big players in split and the area. City awkwardness of London Police only police the old city, the square mile, girls' schoolteacher being the financial district in other words, woman for a start. Then there's that has very little in mistaken identity moment involving the way neighbours. At least Janice is well adjusted and over her ex-husband Alec. She still dreams of street crimehim, because no-one lives there anymore and the people who work there are, by and largeyes, either too rich to need to steal, or too smart to have to do but it's so on over! Just as well really… guess who's at the streets.door?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>08575220431760293814</amazonuk>

|author=Catharina Ingelman-SundbergColin Taylor|title=The Little Old Lady Who Struck Lucky Again! |rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=Following the success of ''The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules'', the League Life of Pensioners are back – and this time, they’re in Vegas! I haven’t read the first book but it was on my list when the opportunity arose to review this one. The idea of the League of Pensioners marching towards a fairer world through fun and frolics was hugely appealing to me and this is a stand alone novel so I thought I would dive straight in with this one.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447274903</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Winshluss|title=In God We TrustScilly Sergeant

|genre=Graphic NovelsTravel|summary=To start withMeet the Isles of Scilly. (I know they should be called that – the author provides a handy guide to the etiquette of their name, their nature and location, a rhetorical testetc. ) How about God and Adam playing badminton day For our more distant readers, they're several chunks of granite rock out in and day outthe Atlantic, where Cornwall is pointing, with just 2, until one gets bored and decides to create Eve? 200 permanent residents. Or the defeater of Goliath They're big on tourism, and big on growing flowers in the saviour of tropical climate the Israelites being one Conan Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the Barbarian? Or this as a test – Jesus Himself failing weather is bad enough to turn any car to have a successful session of tequila slammers with Gabriel due to the holes through His hands? rust bucket within years. I barely need mention that in these pages God does battle with SupermanThey're so wee, and so idyllic-seeming, especially at night, you can be mistaken for you to have answered the test and put yourself firmly in one of two camps thinking there would be no need for this book a police presence. But there is – at least two working at any one very much opposed to buying it, and time. And one very much of them in favourrecent years has been Colin Taylor, who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a well-known online existence, which has brought to life all the whimsical comedy of his work.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0861662350178475515X</amazonuk>

|author=David Walliams Josie Lloyd and Tony RossEmlyn Rees|title=The Queen's Orang-UtanTwas the Fight Before Christmas: A Parody|rating=3.5|genre=For SharingHumour|summary=The Queen felt trapped in the palace with all those stuffed animals which she It's Christmas Eve and Mum has been given on foreign toursarranged everything. There are mountains of them and every night All she would dream now has to do is await the arrival of escaping. When her birthday drew near the family dutifully asked her what she would like as a present. The Prince was thinking of a gold, diamond encrusted stairlift whilst relatives and the Duke was considering a great big bottle of brandyfood shopping delivery. The Royal Baby had some decorated thimbles in mind, but Little does Mum know that those two elements alone have the Queen became just a little snappish as she explained that what she really wanted was 'One's own orang-utan'. And she didn't mean a stuffed one, eitherpotential to ruin everything.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>00081351341472125118</amazonuk>

|author=Jack SheffieldRyan North|title=Silent NightRomeo and/or Juliet

|genre=General FictionHumour|summary=I For all those who think tragedy plots are too restricted and prescribed, read a couple on. In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of Jack Sheffield’s books about five years agooptions en route to hitting the bottle. Likewise, and enjoyed them very muchshe could have turned away from her predestined path at no end of junctures. They were written in a similar style And to those popularised bywhat result? Well, for instancehappy marriage and a kid called Ben, James Herriot or [[:Category:Gervase Phinn|Gervase Phinn]], told mostly in because the leads have just banged people's heads together and stopped the first personquarrelling, describing the author’s first couple of years as Headmaster at or Death by Tybalt (him) or a small village primary school in Yorkshire. The village of Ragley is fictionallong life running an establishment curing murderous women, such as are most of the characters, but the incidents and situations encountered are based on the author’s experiencea Lady M (her).|amazonuk=<amazonuk>05521670450356508536</amazonuk>

|author=J Robert LennonGervase Phinn|title=See You In ParadiseThe Virgin Mary's Got Nits|rating=34.5|genre=Short StoriesHumour|summary=Lennon writes with a relaxed, easy style and his characters are instantly recognisable as people from everyday walks of life, without being Christmas in any way stereotypical. Many of our house is the people in these stories are dealing with normal frustrations, time we tend to get on a plane and Lennon is cleverly detached enough not head to make them individuals either sun or snow, anywhere that you're obviously supposed to root for (the only exception is far, far away from the industrialist in madness at home, last minute dashes to the eponymous taleshops on Christmas Eve, who is an archetypal capitalist fat cat). There and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are some very clever characterisations – in ''Weber’s Head'', shutting for examplea month, the narrator is nor a flawed individual whose opinions of his housemate are gradually revealed to be unreliable and unfairmere 36 hours. For me, But I do remember the most unsettling story is ''No Life''feeling of Christmas when I was younger, because back when it portrays a decent couple at was magical, and back when you knew exactly what the mercy of people more powerful season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and influential than themChristmas parties. There This book is no supernatural or bizarre element at work herean anthology of those moments, just ordinary characters at and it took me right back to the mercy wonder of social powerChristmas as a child.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17812533581444779400</amazonuk>

|author=Lynne TrussKieran Crowley|title=Cat out of HellShoot|rating=34|genre=HorrorCrime|summary=Meet Alec CharlesworthI 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. HeThe result is that what is billed as ''s retired and decamped to an isolated coastal cottage F.X. Shepherd mystery'' with just his dog and loving memories all the optimism of his colleague wife, now that she there being more to come has died before her time. But the fusty librarian cannot rest too long before engaging in exploring some unusual computer files that were pinged across by someone at poignancy of being, if not the college he worked atlast of a short line, just before he leftcertainly one of a few. Bizarrely they show photographic F.X. Shepherd – he doesn't like his first name and audio evidence of prefers just "Shepherd" is, technically, a talking cat called Roger, replete with Vincent Price voice – although they are also damaged by being included alongside some bad screenplay attempts about said catcolumnist. Worryingly, we soon see what at the most only a few of the characters can, that this cat is being accompanied He's been sacked by unusual one New York newspaper and unexpected death – is writing a weekly column for another. I don't know much like Alecabout journalism, but I'm guessing one column a week doesn's wife. Itt pay much as a rule…which explains why Shepherd's only when Roger testifies to having been pushed through soap-washed-foul-mouthed editor (read the ends of endurance and out the other side that we begin book, you'll see what I mean) expects him to doubt where the true evil turn in this story lies…some genuine journalism as well: front page, seat of your pants stuff. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>00995853401783296518</amazonuk>

|author=Jimmy Hansen and Mychailo KazybirdGray Jolliffe|title=Wallace & Gromit The First Ever Christmas: The Complete Newspaper Strips Collection Vol 2And Who to Blame|rating=45

|summary=For me there are two important areas If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to tell anyone? Well, I really don't like Christmas: it's my least favourite time of year and whilst some people count down to the cover of this book where three letters are arranged in meaningful waysday itself, I look forward to that point when I can say that it's all over for another year. The first is It's all too commercialised for me, with the S-U-N in their obligatory red and white fonta coating of faux religion. No minor paper could hold Wallace and Gromit, their adventures have to be I've never found it in what is (unfortunately) the most widely read tabloid in the country. And elsewhere is C-Bleast funny -E, suggesting that even the storytellers at Aardman Animations who are not household names are feted and revered as artistic expertsis, raising many laughs and much money for the country courtesy of their creative outputuntil I found Gray Jolliffe's ''The First Ever Christmas: And Who's to Blame''. Together these short collections of letters show just how much WaG are major creationsAmazingly, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe either, and but I'm a convert to his skills as a cartoonist (if not to the proof was needed idea of Christmas) after reading this much longer collection of their daily comic strips provides it in spadesChristmas-themed cartoons from his archive.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17827608221445663503</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Dear Committee MembersJonathan Pugh|authortitle=Julie SchumacherPugh's New Year's Resolutions

|genre=General FictionHumour|summary=Jason Fitger (Jay) If there's one thing that's for certain, it's that the world is changing. We're dating online, we're communicating in ways that make email seem redundant, and when we're shopping we just tell a Professor of creative writing website where and when it can be delivered, and literature at a small university in the American mid-westhow much leeway they have to swap our wishes for whatever it is they do bring us. He is But those changes are also supposed to be affecting us – we're supposed to use a frustrated novelist smart watch to tell us if we're moving or not, we have to keep up with a colourful personal historythe latest fads, much of which bleeds into his professional life, with interesting resultsand we're supposed to prick our ears up and take note when the proverbial 'they' change their minds about what we're supposed to eat.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>00075863451780722885</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Mapp and Lucia OmnibusLuke Rhinehart|authortitle=E F BensonInvasion|rating=34.5|genre=Humour|summary=Miss Elizabeth Mapp rules the town of Tilling Super- she is the centre of the social lifeintelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universe. And they've come to earth to have fun. Alien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one day, and spends her days enjoying bridge, polite conversation he and civilised paintinghis family quickly come to love the playful alien. When Mrs Emmeline Lucas arrives in town (known But when Louie starts using their computer to hack into government and corporate networks, stealing millions from banks to all as Lucia)give to others, Miss Mapp finds her life truly shaken upthey realise that Louie and his friends mean trouble. As Billy and his family begin a roller coaster ride of fame and fortune, as well as a ranking high on the culturedFBI's most wanted list, fashionable and progressive Lucia makes her home in the townGovernment soon decides that these aliens are terrorists, and swiftly rises must be eliminated. Whilst the aliens are playing games they hope will help humans to see the top insanity of the ranks amongst American political, economic and military systems, they soon come to realise that the social scene in TillingPowers that Be don't play games: they make war.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>18499084781785651757</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Encyclopedia ParanoiacaRod Green|authortitle=Henry Beard Only Fools and Christopher CerfHorses: The Peckham Archives

|genre=Popular ScienceEntertainment |summary=Weare in the world of one of the country're screweds most famous and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003. Wherever we lookYes, whatever we think of doingthere have been specials since, there and more repeats to clog up the BBC schedules than is a reason why we shouldn't be doing itreally pukka, and but very few people failed to succumb to back that reason up with scientific dataits charms at one time or another. Take any aspect I'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stony-faced reception of your daily life – what you eat''that'' drop through the open bar hatch, how you workand ''that'' chandelier scene, how you rest even, what you touch – all have problems that could provoke a serious illness or worsebut this is much more meaty. And outside that daily sphere there are economic disastersPurporting to be the family archives, found dumped in Nelson Mandela House, the documents here were passed from pillar to post, nuclear meltdownsfrom one council worker in a department with a clumsy acronym to another, errant AI scientists from them to the police – and passing comets that could turn our world upside down at the blink of an eyenow here they are being published for their social history worth. Perhaps then you better read this book first – for it may well turn out to be your last…Will enough readers find them of worth, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07156492131849909245</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Diary of a Mad DivaMara Wilson|authortitle=Joan RiversWhere Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame|rating=3.5|genre=HumourAutobiography|summary=The late Joan Rivers wasMara Wilson has always felt a little young and a little out of place: as the only child on a film set full of adults, without the first daughter in a doubthouse full of boys, the sole clinically depressed member of a character. Actresscheerleading squad, comedian, writer, director, presenter, she was well known a valley girl in the USA New York and beyond for her sharp tongue a neurotic in California, and no holds barred personaan adult the world still remembers as a little girl. This was Tackling everything from how she first learned about sex on the last set of the dozen books she published''Melrose Place, '' to losing her final title before mother at a young age, to getting her death first kiss (or was it kisses?) on a celebrity canoe trip, to not being cute enough to make it in September 2014Hollywood, these essays tell the story of one young woman's journey 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>04252690270143128221</amazonuk>

|title=The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - The Nearly Definitive Edition|author=Douglas Adams|rating=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, and you can be pretty sure a good few will pipe up with '42' as the answer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434023396</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewTony Stuart|title=Quick Pint After Work|author=Luke LewisWriting Lines|rating=4.5

|summary=BuzzFeed is one George Gordon Wentworth (1946-2011) lived a humdrum life. He was a barely adequate teacher in a fairly world renowned independent school in Kent and kept a copious diary of his quotidian existence. Most of what he recorded was dross. However, amongst all the world’s best time sucks, utterly uninteresting tailings of his life there were some nuggets and I’m regularly directed grains to catch the site by links from Facebook and Twitterattention. Author Tony Stuart has created these amusing anecdotes, in between browsing panning them out over twenty six episodes which give us the app on my phonebest of Wentworth – comedy gold. According to From losing all the author bio pupils in his charge on this book, BuzzFeed is 'a social news and entertainment company'school trip to being arrested on suspicion of terrorism; from waking up in bed between the married couple the morning after their wedding, which is a fancy way of describing lots of fun lists that speak to the readership (20 words that have destroying a completely different meaning ski run; from appearing full-frontal naked in Manchester, 30 Things all exa sheep-gymnasts know farmers' gazette to be true, 40 Very British problems, yadda yadda yadda). These list work well on line when you want a quick distractiontriggering an air-sea rescue; Wentworth was, blinkered and they’re easy to flip throughbefuddled, looking at the attached photos or video clips. The question then, is whether or not BuzzFeed the book will have the same appealsubject – of these and so many more unlikely but highly amusing events.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07515577301524634441</amazonuk>

|author=Graeme SimsionGraham Fulbright|title=The Rosie EffectDriving Mad: Maniacs, Morons and the Advanced Motorist's Club|rating=43.5

|summary=Following inadvertent success with I passed my driving test when John F Kennedy was in the Wife Project, Professor Don Tillman White House and his new bride Rosie have moved from Australia I've recently had to New Yorkreapply for my driving licence having achieved a venerable age. Although Don's position on When I started driving the autistic scale is subjectiveroads were kinder, he still operates on a daily basis of structured proceduresmore forgiving places - or put another way, lists the idiots were fewer and logicfurther between. Rosie can generally handle that I don't know how long Graham Fulbright has been driving, but there are choppy waters ahead. With the patter of tiny feet imminent logic goes out the window as she struggles with her PhD while Don struggles to find he certainly knows his place motoring morons and in the baby production process. At least ''Driving Mad'' he has his drinking buddies to support him – an aging rock drummer and brings us a friend whose wife has thrown him out for infidelityfictional sample of their eccentricities. What could possibly go wrong?Well, I'm pretty certain that they're fictional - but these days you never know...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07181794711783062584</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Burnt Tongues: An Anthology of Transgressive Short StoriesMario Giordano|authortitle=Chuck Palahniuk, Dennis Widmyer Auntie Poldi and Richard Thomasthe Sicilian Lions

|genre=Short StoriesCrime|summary=Saying certain things out loud just don’t sound rightPoldi had not long been widowed when she decided to move from Bavaria to Sicily with the intention of drinking herself to death. Some things are so disturbing or politically incorrect that you are best off leaving them inside your headShe could, or better yet not thinking of them at allcourse, have done this in Germany, but she felt that a sea view was essential. When these words are spoken they could lead to Once there, new friends, family already resident on the island and the sensation corpse of Burnt Tongue; an aftereffect of knowing what you said was wronga young man, his face blown off by a shotgun, whom she found on the local beach, intervened to give her life some meaning. Are you prepared For a while she was a suspect, but that (and her wig) were no obstacle to her falling for Commissario Vito Montana who was assigned to enter investigate the world of Transgressive Fiction that aims case. Assisting him (or having him assist her) came naturally to disturb, alienate, disgust Poldi and before long there was an investigative and question?personal partnership. At least so far as Poldi was concerned.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178329552X1908524693</amazonuk>

|author=Sammy LookerGrady Hendrix|title=Something Nasty in the SlushpileMy Best Friend's Exorcism|rating=45|genre=HumourHorror|summary=I couldn1988, 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. She't resist the title - a neat play on [[Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons|Cold Comfort Farm]] and Is moody. She'm sure that yous irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she'll understand that I was expecting some examples of the horrors to be found amongst the mountain of unsolicited manuscripts which every publisher accumulatess nearby. IAbby'll confess I was expecting s investigation leads her to giggle, even to groan - unkind, I know some startling discoveries - and I'd mentally shelved the book with by the triviatime their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, or (hopefully) the humour. There is that element fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship enough to beat the book, but there's also something far more useful. If you're thinking about publishing a book this should be required reading ''before'' you even go near a publisher.devil?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14721110281594748624</amazonuk>

|author=The QueenKevin MacNeil|title=Still ReigningThe Brilliant and Forever|rating=43.5|genre=Humour|summary=Anyone who frequents Twitter will You know that it's a mixed blessing. It's a mine of wonderful information and supportive camaraderie. It's also - unfortunately - home to a lot of people who take great pleasure in causing pain to others. But in amongst all this are a few gems and one of them is [https://twitter.com/Queen_UK @Queen_UK], sometimes when someone tells a delightful satire on members of the royal familyjoke, celebritieseveryone else laughs, 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'' and ityou's the sort of parody which leaves you re sat there wondering if the writer might not be someone ''very'' close to the original.what was so funny?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07156491321846973376</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Last Days of the Bus ClubChristopher Fowler|authortitle=Chris StewartBryant and May: Strange Tide|rating=43.5|genre=HumourCrime|summary=I could well have been a near-neighbour of Chris StewartThe thirteenth outing for Bryant and May is looking very much like it will be their last. NotArthur Bryant is on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuing, of course, near his current primary occupancy, an ecological farmstead just beyond the turning off which are likely to confirm that he is suffering from the back end of nowhere in the most rural of corners of southern Spain, but back when he lived in the south-east of England, being GenesisAlzheimer' first ever drummer, and building bridges in the North Downss. The fact I learnt the latter from this book shows up several of the features of this warm-hearted 'travelogue' – the fact that Stewart His condition is never shy about portraying family details and history – given a good map and a prevailing wind one could find where he lives and descend on worsening almost by the farmday, if one wished; and that while this might be on the travel shelves, the narrative is so fragmented it actually moves a lot more than any of the characters domemory lapses are morphing into full-scale hallucinations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>19087454360857523422</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Summer HalfKevin Smith|authortitle=Angela ThirkellThe Voyage of the Dolphin|rating=45|genre=HumourHistorical Fiction|summary=If one didn’t know Dublin 1916: Among the unrest and anti-British feeling worsened by the threat of Angela Thirkell’s distinguished background conscription into a war seen as nothing to do with the Irish, Trinity College faculty has other distractions. They'd like a granddaughter trophy; the skeleton of Sir Edward Burne-Jones an Irish 'giant' to be precise. The only glitch is that the main trophy contender, Bernard MacNeill's skeleton, is somewhere difficult to access and daughter of a classicist, it would all seasoned explorers are otherwise engaged. There may be tempting hope though. They turn to describe her as Fitzmaurice, a kind of country cousin of [[:Category:P G Wodehouse|Pstudent not good enough for anything else.G. Wodehouse’s]]. An unaffected Fitzmaurice agrees, picking his friends Crozier and intelligent one, whose humour is less sophisticated but bubbles over Rafferty to go with just as much gleehim. The middle-class world she has created So… ''Gentlemen, where young men come from families that are comfortably wealthy rather than outrageously so, offers a counterpoint lace up your strongest boots and pack your warmest underwear – we're all off to the Mitford bloody Arctic!'' Whether battle cry or Wodehouse worlds with their aristocratic characters who travel the world epitaph, three men and a dog… and mingle with more louche, bohemian onesan iguana… are going anyway.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184408969X1910124826</amazonuk>|amazonus=<amazonus>1910124826</amazonus>

|titleauthor=The Bojeffries SagaTony Hawks|authortitle=Alan Moore and Steve ParkhouseOnce Upon a Time in the West… Country|rating=53|genre=Graphic NovelsTravel|summary=A very truncated history of comics will start I have often complained in a jokey 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 the idea that they should be funny strips – one jape then youfewer busses, no takeaways within walking-and-keeping-food-hot distance, and no 'Polish're out; then that they should have more – perhaps shops for a superhero; then that you can have so much more than just a superhero – witness the works of [[:Category:Alan Moore|Alan Moore]]beer whenever you fancy one. But you mustn't be too surprised Things are different with Tony Hawks, as here he has purposefully decided to up sticks from London to see Somewhere, Devon – a tiny village where the whole thing come around people who built their own homes decades ago still live in them, where slugs are a full cycle. Because Alan Moore has, with this volume, concluded his own funny strip japerylot more of a problem for the wannabe lettuce-grower than they are for the metropolitan commuter, and whatever history or greater opinions about where village halls have the canon of comix might saypower to turn you into both a Pol Pot dictator if you get on their committee and into a quivering, itbruise-inducing wreck if you's just about his best ever book.re the wrong gender at a Zumba class…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>08616623181444794809</amazonuk>

|author=Reverend Adam SmallboneMarian Keyes|title=The Rev DiariesMaking It Up As I Go Along

|genre=HumourEntertainment|summary=Adam Smallbone wasn’t always a vicarOh, how the book reviewing gods like to give, and equally like to take away. He used to work for Here before me is a brand, spanking new collection of journalism by the Bristol Housing Departmentwonderful Marian Keyes – but it's a proof copy, enabling his father-in-law to tell everyone he worked 'in propertyso there's no photo of the author. From thereEven if over the years I have stopped reading her novels, his initial calling was I have always turned to a rural church the author picture to remind myself such sights exist in Suffolk which did nothing to prepare him for thisworld. Himself is a lucky man, his current London inner city parishfor sure. IndeedBut beyond sounding like a letch, hewhat can I say about this – the beauty's third large dose of essays, web columns and other journalism? I can start with agreeing that I am not prepared for Adoha (the Nigerian parishioner with 19 grandchildren and target audience, but it's easy enough to see from these pages exactly what the bottom of God') or Colintarget is. So much like that test you do – you know the one, that formulates decisions about the homeless alcoholic who has adopted Adam age and his wife Alex (Mrs Vicarage commonality of all things in space to Colin). But then Alex also has a lot to get used come up with how many billions of planets are likely to; after allhave alien life on – you can narrow things down quite readily here, she didn't actually marry and still come up with a vicarhuge number.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07181783940718182529</amazonuk>

|titleauthor=Look Who's BackJean-Yves Ferri|authortitle=Timur VermesAsterix and the Missing Scroll (Album 36)|rating=5|genre=General FictionFor Sharing|summary=''Hitler Youth Ronaldo! Which way to the street?'' With these words a very misguided Nazi Fuhrer asks Asterix is those rarest of book series; one designed for his first directions in the Berlin of 2011kids which is actually even funnier when you are an adult. Mistakenly believing the lad I used to be love Asterix as a party junior member with his own name on his football shirtchild, he also thinks for a while it is still 1945. Hebut now that I reread them I can's soon informed of the trutht help but wonder why, but still makes some unfortunate conclusions – that the street kiosks selling Turkish language newspapers because they are a sign so full of a Soviet-beating alliance between the two countries, hilarious jokes that people eat granola bars because the war still leads I definitely wouldn't have understood when I was younger. I laughed loud and hard to a bread shortage, and that people making an ironic speech bubble with their fingers in myself twice within the air is all that is left first two pages of Asterix and the Hitler salute. But yesMissing Scroll, after a long hiatus neither he nor our author is particularly concerned with explaining, 'so I'd definitely say that man'' is back – and if he has his way he's going to be just as popular this time round…was a hit.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>08570529261510100458</amazonuk>