Changes

From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to search
3,908 bytes removed ,  12:55, 7 February 2018
no edit summary
[[image:ZIFFIT.png|center|link=https://www.ziffit.com/24-hours?utm_source=TheBookBag&utm_medium=Banner&utm_campaign=Promo&MCUnIdTheBookBag=Banner]]
<hr/>
[[Category:Humour|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->*[[image:Jester_Forever.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1510704361]] ===[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], [[:Category:Horror|Horror]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fasntasy]] Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, a grim reaper and his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a stoner in the records department) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clean surface to sit on in their flat. [[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester|Full Review]]<br> <!-- Stibbe -->*[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0241309824]] ===[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Christmas – the time of traditional trauma. You only have to think about the turkey for that – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the downstairs loo to defrost overnight, and if that failed the hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays it's all having to make sure it's suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it, and get too friendly with it to want to eat it. Christmas, though, is of course also a time of great boons. It's cash in hand for a lot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, it was always a godsend for postmen with all the thank-you letters to aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a child, and as for the makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any other time of the year? [[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe|Full Review]]<br> <!-- Doescher -->*[[image:Doescher_Will.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/159474985X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=159474985X]] ===[[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] 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 cinematic version of his original stage play for ''The Force Doth Awaken'', but here at last we get the actual script, complete with annoying-in-different-ways-to-before droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and people keeping it in the family til it hurts. And if you need further encouragement, don't forget his audience only demanded three parts of Henry VI – here the series is so popular we're on to part seven – surely making this over twice as good… [[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher|Full Review]]<br> <!-- Goss -->*[[image:Goss_600.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785942719]] ===[[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Consider the Doctor. Just how many birthday and Christmas gifts must he have to hand out each year, were he to keep in touch with even half of his companions? He would certainly need a few novelty gifts for some of them, say, for example, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the life of a Time Lord and that of some of his friends and enemies. As luck would have it, he has the space in his TARDIS to stock up in advance, so my advice to him – sorry, her – would be to pop along to his 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 gift season ahead, well my advice is pretty much the same. [[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies|Full Review]]<br> <!-- Ingram -->*[[image:Ingram_Kammie.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785451995?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785451995]] ===[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|Pets]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It was something of a relief when I encountered Annie Ingram and her cocker spaniel Kammie. You see, Annie knows something which has been self-evident to me for a long time: dogs are perfectly capable of communicating with humans and not just on a level of food!, walk! or play!. You do require extensive training to become fluent, but most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their time to teach you and all you have to do is listen. Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her well and the pair have allowed us to share some of their conversations. [[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram|Full Review]]<br> 
{{newreview
|author=Rob TempleCharles Harris|title=Very British Problems Abroad|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=Meet, if you haven't already, the phenomenon of the Very British Problem. In this format they're in pithy little comments (of, ooh, about 140 characters in length, for some reason…) and detail the minor things in life that we like nothing more than to inflate to a major factor The Breaking of life. They can involve manners, staring at things until they mend themselves, hitting things ditto, or the fact that nobody apart from you and I know how to queue properly. And if the idea hits the world outside our shores, then – well, you certainly have a book full of content regarding our attitude and ineptitude abroad.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751558494</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Fraser McAlpine|title=Stuff Brits LikeLiam Glass|rating=43|genre=HumourCrime|summary= With over 100 chapters on different aspects of Britain and Britishness, this book is both fascinating and hilarious. Just looking A flawed but reasonably entertaining swipe at the list of subjects is enough to produce a sardonic twist of that stiff upper lip: the chapters cover topics that range from offal to curry, from pedantry to banter, from conkers to rugbymodern media. There may be many chapters but this is no academic tome - each chapter is just two to three pages long, each is written with endearing affection, each is easy and satisfying - and quirkily funny - to read.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1857886348</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= John Samuel|title= What I Tell You in the Dark|rating= 3.5|genre= Humour|summary=A man called Will is fighting fiercely against corruption – desperate to expose his company's dodgy dealings plenty here to the press. Overcome with doubt like, and fear, he goes plenty not to kill himself. But, at the exact moment he attaches his noose to the back of the door, he is saved. By a curious housemate or a concerned girlfriend? No, by an Angel. Not the white-feathered guardian Angel you may expect, but good structure and scramjet pace keep this one who wishes flying to help Will achieve his ends, and so possess the body of the hapless Will in order to finish what he startedfinal page. It goes without saying that the Angel is hoping things go better than they did with the last guy he possessed – a hapless young man from Galilee called Jesus…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07156505051908943823</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author= John NivenFred Van Lente|title= The Sunshine Cruise CompanyTen Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery|rating= 4.5
|genre= Humour
|summary= Susan Frobisher and Julie Wickham live in Nine comedians are invited to a remote Caribbean island under the guise of working with Dustin Walker, a small Dorset towncomedic legend. Friends since schoolEach fits neatly into one of the archetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, they live fairly uneventful lives – Susan the washed-up has -been who has fallen far from his early days; Zoe, the rising female star with a lovely house and new stand-up special coming soon; Dante, who went from being a lengthy marriage kid on the streets to accountant Barry, whereas Julie is doing slightly less well – living in a council flat and the hardest working road comic in an old peoplethe business; Oliver, the child-like prop comic who can's home. When Barry t get any respect from his peers; Janet, the insult comic who is found dead trussed up in a sex dungeonpast her prime; TJ, it transpires that he has been leading the nightly variety show host with a hidden life reputation for yearsharassing his female colleagues and guest acts; Ruby, the ultra-feminist YouTuber and his expensive fetishes lead to Blogger with a chip on her shoulder; and William, whose redneck character ''Billy the bank moving to take SusanContractor''s home. Struck by both desperation and is a sense of injustice, Sue and Julie conspire to rob far cry from his real personality as a bankposh millionaire. Of course, taking along their friend Jill – all nine agree because ''when God almighty walks down on a devout Christian conflicted due to lack beam of money light and a terminally ill grandsonasks for your help, and Ethel – a foul mouthed resident of what the nursing home longing for adventure.hell else are you going to say?''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>04340231831594749744</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Marie PhillipsS Lynn Scott|title=The Table Of Less Valued KnightsElizabeth, William... and Me
|rating=4.5
|genre=FantasyHumour|summary=Sir Humphrey has been demoted from King Arthur's Round Table to the Table of Lesser Valued Knights. The only way to get his comfier seat back Ally is to redeem himself via an ordinary woman with teenage children, a husband and a questjob. Therefore Then comes the day when damsel Elaine seeks help to find her kidnapped fiancé, Humphrey and his ward, ordinariness flies out of the teenage giant Conrad, eagerly set forthwindow. Meanwhile It's not a coincidence that it's the same day she finds Queen Elizabeth I in the kingdom pantry and the Bard of Tuft, new Queen Martha has run away after a disastrous wedding to… a… well… disastrous Prince EdwinAvon in her bath. She may not realise it yetWhat's she going to do? Well, but she too will Elizabeth and Will have a job for Humphreytheir own ideas about that!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>00995558751788037006</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Tim FlanneryE G Rodford|title=The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery of the Venus Island Fetish2|rating=34|genre=Historical FictionCrime |summary=Meet Archie Meek. He's about to leave In the Venus Islandssecond instalment of this series, where he's lived for the last five years, and return Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a well-known local man to Sydneytrack down some missing valuables. Bill Galbraith, where he'll take his office in the museum and fill it with all the cultural artefacts hea world-famous surgeon at Cambridge's found and wildlife heAddenbrooke's plucked or pickled. That's not to ignore the fact he'll count as something quite alien himselfHospital who hosts a popular medical television programme, with has had his briefcase stolen by his filledlive-out framein domestic servant, nearly all-over suntan and totemic tattooAurora. According to Galbraith, in amongst other changes to his body. But what's this? When he gets back, he finds one briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of his at the main Venus Islands artefacts that caused him hospital. George agrees to go there in look into the first placetheft, assuming it will be a hugerelatively easy and straightforward case – little does he know, macabre ceremonial fetish mask, purloined as corporate artwork. And some of the curators he wishes to work alongside have vanished. Is the weird society of the museum he's returning about to, perchance, even weirder, stranger enter a world of deceit and more violent than the cannibalistic society he's waving farewell to?dysfunction.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1922079308178565005X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Roman DirgeToni Jordan|title=The Cat with a Really Big HeadOur Tiny, Useless Hearts|rating=3.5|genre=Graphic NovelsWomen's Fiction|summary= How many picture books are there about cats? And how many do you know that you would really NOT prefer your children to see? If the answer to the second question is As predicted by Caroline and Janice'none – yets mother on Caroline and Henry's wedding day, scratch that last wordtheir marriage is over, albeit 15 years and two daughters further along than predicted. The title piece in Indeed, this collection is, by the authordefinitely not a good weekend for Janice to be babysitting at Caroline's house. There's own admission, his imagining of the Joseph Merrick (split and the 'Elephant Man') awkwardness of the feline world – who struggles to sneak up behind a mouse when girls' schoolteacher being the shadow of his head is other woman for a total giveaway, and who can hardly even eat with dignity as bending down to his bowl would break his neckstart. If thatThen there's too dark or oddball for you, try that mistaken identity moment involving the second major piece, which has a most revealing foreword – ''Dedicated to a certain girl… I hope your life neighbours. At least Janice is filled with wonderful accomplishments, love well adjusted and all the magic you desire… over her ex- But I hope your death is slow and horriblehusband Alec. She still dreams of him, yes, but it's so over! Just as well really… guess who's at the door?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17827628761760293814</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Val HennessyColin Taylor|title=Not Far From DreamlandThe Life of a Scilly Sergeant
|rating=4.5
|genre=General FictionTravel|summary=Ronald Tonks has reached that stage in life which I call upper middle age: you've qualified for your pension but not yet got to Meet the free television licence barrierIsles of Scilly. What Ronald ''has'' got is a roof that leaks (there's good reason why his home is I know they should be called 'that – the author provides a handy guide to the shack'etiquette of their name, their nature and location, etc.) For our more distant readers, a dog who is going bald (in patches) and money thatthey's re several chunks of granite rock out in very short supplythe Atlantic, where Cornwall is pointing, with just 2,200 permanent residents. On the plus side he has friendsThey're big on tourism, mostly platonic and usually big on growing flowers in much the same boat as Ronaldtropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough to turn any car to a rust bucket within years. But are they downhearted? Well, they are occasionally, but mostly theyThey're generously optimistic so wee, and out to make the most of what they've gotso idyllic-seeming, especially at night, usually bought from charity shops and jumble salesyou can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presence. ''Not Far From Dreamland'' But there is the story – at least two working at any one time. And one of them in recent years has been Colin Taylor, who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a year (2012) in well-known online existence, which has brought to life all the life whimsical comedy of Ronald Tonks, his friends and relativeswork.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704373874178475515X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Harry HarrisonJosie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees|title=Bill, 'Twas the Galactic HeroFight Before Christmas: A Parody
|rating=3.5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Meet Bill. He's a simple farmer – well, he ''is'' taking a correspondence course in being a Technical Fertiliser Operator – but fate has something else in store. And so does the mechanised, technological, industrial military, which needs several billion grunts to fight the Chingers, in mankind's first inter-galactic war. Still, at least he gets medals just for signing up. After that it's all downhill, and the likes of Petty Chief Officer Deathwish Drang can only make that a straight line down. Really, what hope is there?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147320531X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ian Doescher
|title=William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace
|rating=4.5
|genre=Humour
|summary= Join us, good gentles, for a merry reimagining of `Star Wars Episode 1' as only Shakespeare could have written it. 'Tis a true Shakespearean drama, filled with sword fights, soliloquies and doomed romance…all in glorious iambic pentameter and coupled with gorgeous illustrations. Hold on to your midichlorians: The plays the thing, wherein you'll catch the rise of Anakin!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594748063</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Attaboy
|title=The Book of Hugs
|rating=4
|genre=Humour
|summary=A hugIt's a hug, OK? Christmas Eve and Mum has arranged everything. You either All she now has to do, or you don't. Some people might be a little more enthusiastic about is await the process whilst others are more elegant in the execution arrival of the hug, but basically you just get on relatives and do it and then forget about it, right?the food shopping delivery. Little does Mum know that those two elements alone have the potential to ruin everything.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>08671979781472125118</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author= Christopher FowlerRyan North|title= Bryant Romeo and May – The Burning Man|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary= The Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) has a new set of overlords. For reasons that were explored in the previous couple of outings they have been transferred to the City Of London Police. The Met are still the big players in the area. City of London Police only police the old city, the square mile, the financial district in other words, that has very little in the way of street crime, because no-one lives there anymore and the people who work there are, by and large, either too rich to need to steal, /or too smart to have to do so on the streets.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857522043</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg|title=The Little Old Lady Who Struck Lucky Again! Juliet
|rating=3.5
|genre=Humour
|summary=Following the success of ''The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules'', the League of Pensioners For all those who think tragedy plots are back – too restricted and this timeprescribed, 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 In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of options en route to hitting the League bottle. Likewise, she could have turned away from her predestined path at no end of Pensioners marching towards junctures. And to what result? Well, happy marriage and a fairer world through fun kid called Ben, because the leads have just banged people's heads together and frolics was hugely appealing to me and this is stopped the quarrelling, or Death by Tybalt (him) or a long life running an establishment curing murderous women, such as a stand alone novel so I thought I would dive straight in with this oneLady M (her).|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14472749030356508536</amazonuk>
}}
 
<!-- Phinn -->
*[[image:Phinn_Virgin.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444779400/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
===[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn]]===
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]]
 
Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on a plane and head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, far away from the madness at home, last minute dashes to the shops on Christmas Eve, and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a mere 36 hours. But I do remember the feeling of Christmas when I was younger, back when it was magical, and back when you knew exactly what the season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and Christmas parties. This book is an anthology of those moments, and it took me right back to the wonder of Christmas as a child. [[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn|Full Review]]
<br>
 
{{newreview
|author=WinshlussKieran Crowley|title=In God We TrustShoot|rating=4.5|genre=Graphic NovelsCrime|summary=To start withI make something of a habit of being late to discover good writers, a rhetorical test. How about God and Adam playing badminton day in and day out, until one gets bored and decides this case getting to create Eve? Crowley after he is no longer with us. Or The result is that what is billed as ''an F.X. Shepherd mystery'' with all the defeater optimism of Goliath and there being more to come has the saviour poignancy of the Israelites being one Conan , if not the Barbarian? Or this as last of a test – Jesus Himself failing to have short line, certainly one of a successful session of tequila slammers with Gabriel due to the holes through His hands? few. I barely need mention that in these pages God does battle with SupermanF.X. Shepherd – he doesn't like his first name and prefers just "Shepherd" is, technically, for you to have answered the test a columnist. He's been sacked by one New York newspaper and put yourself firmly in one of two camps is writing a weekly column for this book – one very another. I don't know much opposed to buying itabout journalism, and but I'm guessing one very column a week doesn't pay much as a rule…which explains why Shepherd's soap-washed-foul-mouthed editor (read the book, you'll see what I mean) expects him to turn in favoursome genuine journalism as well: front page, seat of your pants stuff.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>08616623501783296518</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Walliams and Tony RossGray Jolliffe|title=The Queen's Orang-UtanFirst Ever Christmas: And Who to Blame
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=The Queen felt trapped in the palace with all those stuffed animals which she has been given on foreign tours. There are mountains of them and every night she would dream 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 the Duke was considering a great big bottle of brandy. The Royal Baby had some decorated thimbles in mind, but 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, either.
|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, and enjoyed them very much. They were written in a similar style to those popularised by, for instance, James Herriot or [[:Category:Gervase Phinn|Gervase Phinn]], told mostly in the first person, describing the author’s first couple 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 experience.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552167045</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=J Robert Lennon
|title=See You In Paradise
|rating=3
|genre=Short Stories
|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 stereotypical. Many of the people in these stories are dealing with normal frustrations, and Lennon is cleverly detached enough 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 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 power.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781253358</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lynne Truss
|title=Cat out of Hell
|rating=3
|genre=Horror
|summary=Meet Alec Charlesworth. He's retired and decamped to an isolated coastal cottage with just his dog and loving memories of his colleague wife, now that she 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 the college he worked at, just before he left. Bizarrely they show photographic and audio evidence of 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 cat. Worryingly, we soon see what at the most only a few of the characters can, that this cat is being accompanied by unusual and unexpected death – much like Alec's wife. It's only when Roger testifies to having been pushed through the ends of endurance and out the other side that we begin to doubt where the true evil in this story lies…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099585340</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jimmy Hansen and Mychailo Kazybird
|title=Wallace & Gromit : The Complete Newspaper Strips Collection Vol 2
|rating=4
|genre=Humour
|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>
}}
{{newreview
|titleauthor=Dear Committee MembersJonathan Pugh|authortitle=Julie SchumacherPugh's New Year's Resolutions
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Jason Fitger (Jay) is a Professor of creative writing and literature at a small university in the American mid-west. He is also a frustrated novelist with a colourful personal history, much of which bleeds into his professional life, with interesting results.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007586345</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|title=Mapp and Lucia Omnibus
|author=E F Benson
|rating=3.5
|genre=Humour
|summary=Miss Elizabeth Mapp rules If there's one thing that's for certain, it's that the town of Tilling - she world is the centre of the social lifechanging. We're dating online, we're communicating in ways that make email seem redundant, and spends her days enjoying bridgewhen we're shopping we just tell a website where and when it can be delivered, polite conversation and civilised paintinghow much leeway they have to swap our wishes for whatever it is they do bring us. When Mrs Emmeline Lucas arrives in town (known But those changes are also supposed to be affecting us – we're supposed to use a smart watch to all as Lucia)tell us if we're moving or not, Miss Mapp finds her life truly shaken we have to keep up, as with the culturedlatest fads, fashionable and progressive Lucia makes her home in we're supposed to prick our ears up and take note when the town, and swiftly rises proverbial 'they' change their minds about what we're supposed to the top of the ranks amongst the social scene in Tillingeat.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>18499084781780722885</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|titleauthor=Encyclopedia ParanoiacaLuke Rhinehart|authortitle=Henry Beard and Christopher CerfInvasion|rating=4.5|genre=Popular ScienceHumour |summary=WeSuper-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universe. And they're screwedve come to earth to have fun. Wherever we look, whatever we think of doing, there is a reason why we shouldn't be doing itAlien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one day, and people he and his family quickly come to back that reason up with scientific datalove the playful alien. Take any aspect of your daily life – what you eatBut when Louie starts using their computer to hack into government and corporate networks, how you workstealing millions from banks to give to others, how you rest even, what you touch – all have problems they realise that could provoke a serious illness or worseLouie and his friends mean trouble. And outside that daily sphere there are economic disasters, nuclear meltdowns, errant AI scientists As Billy and passing comets that could turn our world upside down at the blink his family begin a roller coaster ride of an eye. Perhaps then you better read this book first – for it may fame and fortune, as well turn out to be your last…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715649213</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|title=Diary of as a Mad Diva|author=Joan Rivers|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=The late Joan Rivers wasranking high on the FBI's most wanted list, without a doubtthe Government soon decides that these aliens are terrorists, a characterand must be eliminated. Actress, comedian, writer, director, presenter, she was well known in Whilst the USA and beyond for her sharp tongue and no holds barred persona. This was aliens are playing games they hope will help humans to see the last insanity of the dozen books she publishedAmerican political, her final title before her death in September 2014economic and military systems, they soon come to realise that the Powers that Be don't play games: they make war.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>04252690271785651757</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|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>}}{{newreviewRod Green|title=Quick Pint After Work|author=Luke Lewis|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=BuzzFeed is one of the world’s best time sucks, and I’m regularly directed to the site by links from Facebook Only Fools and Twitter, in between browsing the app 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 lots of fun lists that speak to the readership (20 words that have a completely different meaning in Manchester, 30 Things all ex-gymnasts know to be true, 40 Very British problems, yadda yadda yadda). These list work well on line when you want a quick distraction, and they’re easy to flip through, looking at the attached photos or video clips. The question then, is whether or not BuzzFeed the book will have the same appeal.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751557730</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Graeme Simsion|title=Horses: The Rosie EffectPeckham Archives
|rating=4
|genre=HumourEntertainment |summary=Following inadvertent success with We are in the world of one of the Wife Projectcountry's most famous and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003. Yes, there have been specials since, Professor Don Tillman and his new bride Rosie have moved from Australia more repeats to clog up the BBC schedules than is really pukka, but very few people failed to succumb to New Yorkits charms at one time or another. Although DonI's position on m sure there have been books before now celebrating the autistic scale is subjective, he still operates on a daily basis stony-faced reception of structured procedures''that'' drop through the open bar hatch, lists and logic. Rosie can generally handle ''that '' chandelier scene, but there are choppy waters aheadthis is much more meaty. With Purporting to be the patter of tiny feet imminent logic goes out family archives, found dumped in Nelson Mandela House, the window as she struggles documents here were passed from pillar to post, from one council worker in a department with her PhD while Don struggles a clumsy acronym to another, from them to find his place in the baby production process. At least he has his drinking buddies to support him police an aging rock drummer and a friend whose wife has thrown him out now here they are being published for infidelitytheir social history worth. What could possibly go wrongWill enough readers find them of worth, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07181794711849909245</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author= Mara Wilson|title=Burnt TonguesWhere Am I Now?: An Anthology True Stories of Transgressive Short Stories|author=Chuck Palahniuk, Dennis Widmyer Girlhood and Richard ThomasAccidental Fame|rating=45|genre=Short StoriesAutobiography|summary=Saying certain things Mara Wilson has always felt a little young and a little out loud just don’t sound right. Some things are so disturbing or politically incorrect that you are best off leaving them inside your head, or better yet not thinking of them at all. When these words are spoken they could lead to place: as the sensation only child on a film set full of Burnt Tongue; an aftereffect adults, the first daughter in a house full of knowing what you said was wrong. Are you prepared to enter boys, the world sole clinically depressed member of Transgressive Fiction that aims to disturba cheerleading squad, alienatea valley girl in New York and a neurotic in California, disgust and question?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178329552X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Sammy Looker|title=Something Nasty in an adult the Slushpile|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=I couldn't resist the title - world still remembers as a neat play little girl. Tackling everything from how she first learned about sex on [[Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons|Cold Comfort Farm]] and I'm sure that you'll understand that I was expecting some examples of the horrors to be found amongst the mountain set of unsolicited manuscripts which every publisher accumulates. I'll confess I was expecting to giggle, even to groan - unkind, I know - and I'd mentally shelved the book with the trivia, or (hopefully) the humour. There is that element to the bookMelrose Place, but there's also something far more useful. If you're thinking about publishing to losing her mother at a book this should be required reading ''before'' you even go near a publisher.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472111028</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=The Queen|title=Still Reigning|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=Anyone who frequents Twitter will know that young age, to getting her first kiss (or was it's kisses?) on a mixed blessing. It's a mine of wonderful information and supportive camaraderie. It's also - unfortunately - home celebrity canoe trip, to a lot of people who take great pleasure in causing pain not being cute enough to others. But make it in amongst all this are a few gems and one of them is [https://twitter.com/Queen_UK @Queen_UK]Hollywood, a delightful satire on members of the royal family, celebrities, these essays tell the political classes and the state story of Her Majestyone young woman's nation. Orjourney from accidental fame to relative obscurity, ''one's nation'' as Ma'am would say. ''Still Reigning'' is her second bookbut also illuminate a universal struggle: learning to accept yourself, after ''Gin O'Clock'' and it's the sort of parody which leaves figuring out who you are and where you wondering if the writer might not be someone ''very'' close to the originalbelong.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07156491320143128221</amazonuk>
}}

Navigation menu