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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreview|authorclass-"wikitable" cellpadding=Gray Jolliffe"15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->|title=The First Ever Christmas: And Who to Blame|rating=5<!-- Coulton -->|genre=Humour-|summarystyle=If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to tell anyone? Well, I really don't like Christmas"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473669588.jpg|link=http: it's my least favourite time of year and whilst some people count down to the day itself, I look forward to that point when I can say that it's all over for another year//www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473669588/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton]]=== [[image:4star. It's all too commercialised for me, with a coating of faux religion. I've never found it in the least funny - that isjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], until I found Gray Jolliffe[[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women''The First Ever Christmas: And Whos Fiction]] Lex Coulton's to Blame''debut novel is a story about mistakes, failures, and relationships. AmazinglyThe main protagonist, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe eitherFrances Pilgrim, but I'm is a convert to his skills as sixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with her best friend Jackson, a cartoonist (if not to work colleague, and is grappling with the idea increasingly eccentric behaviour of Christmas) after reading this collection of Christmas-themed cartoons from his archiveher mother. This relationship is complicated by the fact that Frances's father disappeared at sea when she was five years old.[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445663503</amazonuk!-- van LENTE -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Jonathan Pugh"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=Pugh's New Year's Resolutions[[image:1683690346.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.5|genre=Humouramazon.co.uk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|=If there's one thing that's for certain, it's that the world is changing==[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star. We're dating onlinejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], we're communicating in ways that make email seem redundant[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Comic-Cons are a place of wonder and sanctuary for many people, and when weComic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, he're shopping we just tell a website where s looking for both that and sanctuary with other fans and when it can be deliveredcreators, and how much leeway they have to swap our wishes for whatever it plus the chance of maybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. However, when his rival is found dead, Mike is they do bring us. But those changes are also supposed forced to be affecting us navigate every dark corner of the con in order to clear his name – we're supposed from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to use a smart watch to tell us if we're moving or notzombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, we have to keep up with the latest fadsin doing so, and we're supposed to prick our ears up and take note when the proverbial 'they' change their minds about what we're supposed to eatmay just unravel a dark secret behind a legendary industry creator.[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722885</amazonuk!-- Curran -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Luke Rhinehart"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= Invasion[[image:1683690133.jpg|ratinglink= 4http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1683690133/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genre= Humour |summarystyle=Super"vertical-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universe. And theyalign: top; text-align: left;"|===[[My Lady've come to earth to have fun. Alien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one day, s Choosing by Kitty Curran and he and his family quickly come to love the playful alienLarissa Zageris]]=== [[image:4star. But when Louie starts using their computer to hack into government and corporate networksjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], stealing millions from banks to give to others[[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] You are a lass of twenty eight. Plucky, they realise that Louie penniless and his friends mean trouble. As Billy and his family begin in Regency era London the race is on to find a roller coaster ride of fame and fortune, as well suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to life as an eternal spinster. Along your journey you'll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a ranking high on the FBI's most wanted list, the Government soon decides that these aliens are terroristsfiesty noble eager to save you from a life alone, and must be eliminatedfired by a rogueish sense for adventure. Whilst the aliens are playing games they hope will help humans When it comes to see the insanity of the American politicalsuitors though, economic and military systems, they soon come to realise that you'll have to make the ultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, wholesome, rugged and caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, or the mad, bad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. With orphans, werewolves, long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the Powers that Be donway, it's clear this isn't play games: they make wargoing to be an easy decision... [[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|amazonuk=Full Review]] <amazonuk>1785651757</amazonuk!-- Jester -->}}{{newreview|author=Rod Green-|titlestyle=Only Fools and Horses"width: 10%; vertical-align: The Peckham Archivestop; text-align: center;"|rating=4[[image:Jester_Forever.jpg|left|genrelink=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=Entertainment 1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1510704361]]  |summarystyle=We are in the world of one of the country's most famous and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester]]=== [[image:4star. Yesjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], there have been specials since[[:Category:Horror|Horror]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fasntasy]] Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and more repeats to clog up gets made the BBC schedules than is really pukka, but very few people failed to succumb to its charms at one time or anotheroffer of his lifetime; immortality. I'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stony-faced reception of ''that'' drop through the open bar hatchWe follow Michael, a grim reaper and ''that'' chandelier scene, but this is much more meaty. Purporting to be the family archives, found dumped his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a stoner in Nelson Mandela House, the documents here were passed from pillar to post, from one council worker in a records department ) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clumsy acronym clean surface to another, from them to the police – and now here they are being published for sit on in their social history worthflat. Will enough readers find them of worth, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- Stibbe -->1849909245</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Mara Wilson-|titlestyle= Where Am I Now?"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Famecenter;"|rating= 5[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|genre= Autobiographyleft|summarylink= Mara Wilson has always felt a little young and a little out of placehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0241309824]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: as the only child on a film set full of adultsleft;"|===[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], the first daughter in a house full [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Christmas – the time of boys, traditional trauma. You only have to think about the sole clinically depressed member of turkey for that – once upon a cheerleading squadtime it was leaving it sat on the downstairs loo to defrost overnight, a valley girl in New York and a neurotic in California, and an adult if that failed the world still remembers as a little girlhair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Tackling everything from how she first learned about sex on the set of Nowadays it's all having to make sure it'Melrose Place,'' to losing her mother at a young ages suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it, to getting her first kiss (or was and get too friendly with it kisses?) on a celebrity canoe trip, to not being cute enough want to make eat it in Hollywood. Christmas, though, these essays tell the story is of course also a time of one young womangreat boons. It's journey from accidental fame to relative obscurity, but also illuminate cash in hand for a universal struggle: learning to accept yourself, and figuring out lot of plump people who you are can hire red suits and where 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 belong. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0143128221</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Tony Stuartwrite 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]]|title= Writing Lines|rating= 4.5<!-- Doescher -->|genre=Humour-|summarystyle= George Gordon Wentworth (1946"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-2011) lived a humdrum lifealign: center;"|[[image:Doescher_Will. He was a barely adequate teacher in a fairly world renowned independent school in Kent and kept a copious diary of his quotidian existencejpg|left|link=https://www. Most of what he recorded was drossamazon. However, amongst all the utterly uninteresting tailings of his life there were some nuggets and grains to catch the attentionco. Author Tony Stuart has created these amusing anecdotes, panning them out over twenty six episodes which give us the best of Wentworth – comedy gold. From losing all the pupils in his charge on a school trip to being arrested on suspicion of terrorismuk/gp/product/159474985X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=159474985X]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left; from waking up in bed between "|===[[William Shakespeare's the married couple Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the morning after their weddingSeventh by Ian Doescher]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], to destroying a ski run; from appearing full-frontal naked in a sheep-farmers' gazette to triggering an air-sea rescue; Wentworth was, blinkered and befuddled, the subject – of these and so many more unlikely but highly amusing events.[[:Category:Humour|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524634441</amazonuk>Humour]]}}{{newreview|author=Graham Fulbright|title=Driving Mad: ManiacsA 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, Morons rulers most evil and the Advanced Motorist's Club|rating=3rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy.5|genre=Humour|summary=I passed my driving test when John F Kennedy was in You may or may not have noticed the White House and Icinematic version of his original stage play for ''ve recently had to reapply for my driving licence having achieved a venerable age. When I started driving The Force Doth Awaken'', but here at last we get the roads were kinderactual script, more forgiving places complete with annoying-in-different-ways-to- or put another waybefore droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and people keeping it in the idiots were fewer and further between. family til it hurts. I And if you need further encouragement, don't know how long Graham Fulbright has been driving, but he certainly knows forget his motoring morons and in ''Driving Mad'' he brings us a fictional sample audience only demanded three parts of their eccentricities. Well, IHenry VI – here the series is so popular we'm pretty certain that theyre on to part seven – surely making this over twice as good… [[William Shakespeare're fictional s the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher|Full Review]] <!-- Goss - but these days you never know...->|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783062584</amazonuk>}}{{newreview-|authorstyle=Mario Giordano"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions[[image:Goss_600.jpg|rating=4left|genrelink=Crimehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785942719]]  |summarystyle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|==Poldi had not long been widowed when she decided to move from Bavaria to Sicily with the intention =[[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of drinking herself to deathTime Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies]]=== [[image:4. She could, of course, have done this in Germany, but she felt that a sea view was essential5star. Once therejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]], new friends[[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], family already resident on [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Consider the island Doctor. Just how many birthday and the corpse Christmas gifts must he have to hand out each year, were he to keep in touch with even half of a young man, his face blown off by companions? He would certainly need a shotgunfew novelty gifts for some of them, whom she found on say, for example, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the local beach, intervened to give her life of a Time Lord and that of some meaningof his friends and enemies. For a while she was a suspectAs luck would have it, but that (and her wig) were no obstacle he has the space in his TARDIS to her falling for Commissario Vito Montana who was assigned stock up in advance, so my advice to investigate the case. Assisting him (or having him assist – sorry, her) came naturally – would be to pop along to Poldi his local Earth-based book emporium and before long there was an investigative get himself ready. And if you're working on a shorter timescale, with a shorter lifespan, and personal partnership. At least so far as Poldi was concernedthinking 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]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908524693</amazonuk!-- Ingram -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Grady Hendrix"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Ingram_Kammie.jpg|titleleft|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785451995?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp= My Best Friend's Exorcism1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785451995]]  |ratingstyle= 5"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||genre= Horror|summary=1988, Charleston, South Carolina=[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram]]=== [[image:4star. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disatrously wrongjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|Pets]], Gretchen begins to act[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It was something of a relief when I encountered Annie Ingram and her cocker spaniel Kammie...different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries - and by the You see, Annie knows something which has been self-evident to me for a long time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate : dogs are perfectly capable of Abby communicating with humans and Gretchen will be determined by not just on a single question: Is their friendship enough to beat the devil?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594748624</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Kevin MacNeil|title=The Brilliant and Forever|rating= 3level of food!, walk! or play!.5|genre= Humour|summary= You know sometimes when someone tells a joke, everyone else laughsdo require extensive training to become fluent, but most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their time to teach you and all you're sat there wondering what was so funny?|amazonuk=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]] <amazonuk>1846973376</amazonuk!-- Harris -->}}{{newreview|author= Christopher Fowler-|titlestyle= Bryant and May"width: 10%; vertical-align: Strange Tide|rating= 3top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Harris_Glass.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1908943823/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle= Crime"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary= ==[[The thirteenth outing for Bryant and May is looking very much like it will be their lastBreaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris]]=== [[image:3star. Arthur Bryant is on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuingjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], which are likely to confirm that he [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Teenager Liam Glass is suffering mugged and stabbed yards from Alzheimer'shis Camden flat. His condition is worsening almost by As the boy lies comatose, desperate journalist Jason Worthington scrabbles for the dayinside scoop, tired police officer Andy Rockham searches for a missing tape, memory lapses are morphing into fullharried politician Jamila Hasan fights for re-scale hallucinations.|amazonuk=election, distraught mother Katrina Glass waits by her son, and gym-owner Royland simply finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. We follow this host of ensemble characters in a bleak, kaleidoscopic satire of modern media. [[The Breaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris|Full Review]] <amazonuk>0857523422</amazonuk!-- LENTE -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Kevin Smith"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lente_10.jpg|titlelink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690222/ref=nosim?tag=The Voyage of the Dolphinthebookbag-21]] |rating=5|genrestyle=Historical Fiction"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary=Dublin 1916==[[Ten Dead Comedians: Among the unrest and anti-British feeling worsened A Murder Mystery by the threat of conscription into a war seen as nothing to do with the Irish, Trinity College faculty has other distractionsFred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star. They'd like jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Nine comedians are invited to a trophy; remote Caribbean island under the skeleton guise of an Irish 'giant' to be preciseworking with Dustin Walker, a comedic legend. The only glitch is that Each fits neatly into one of the main trophy contenderarchetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, Bernard MacNeill's skeletonthe washed-up has-been who has fallen far from his early days; Zoe, the rising female star with a new stand-up special coming soon; Dante, is somewhere difficult who went from being a kid on the streets to access and all seasoned explorers are otherwise engaged. There may be hope though. the hardest working road comic in the business; Oliver, the child-like prop comic who can't get any respect from his peers; Janet, the insult comic who is past her prime; They turn to FitzmauriceTJ, the nightly variety show host with a student not good enough reputation for anything else. Fitzmaurice agreesharassing his female colleagues and guest acts; Ruby, picking his friends Crozier the ultra-feminist YouTuber and Rafferty to go Blogger with him. So… a chip on her shoulder; and William, whose redneck character ''Gentlemen, lace up your strongest boots and pack your warmest underwear – we're all off to Billy the bloody Arctic!Contractor'' Whether battle is a far cry or epitaph, three men and from his real personality as a posh millionaire. Of course, all nine agree because ''when God almighty walks down on a dog… beam of light and an iguana… asks for your help, what the hell else are you going anyway.to say?'' [[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910124826</amazonuk!-- Scott -->|amazonus=<amazonus>1910124826</amazonus>}}{{newreview-|authorstyle=Tony Hawks"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=Once Upon a Time in the West… Country[[image:Scott_Eliz.jpg|ratinglink=3http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788037006/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle=Travel"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary=I have often complained in a jokey voice to my partner about life in the sticks==[[Elizabeth, William... and Me by S Lynn Scott]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Ally is an ordinary woman with teenage children, a husband and the way she moved me from an inner-city flat to slumming it in the suburbs with fewer busses, no takeaways within walking-and-keeping-food-hot distance, and no 'Polish' shops for a can job. Then comes the day when ordinariness flies out of beer whenever you fancy onethe window. Things are different with Tony Hawks, as here he has purposefully decided to up sticks from London to Somewhere, Devon – It's not a tiny village where coincidence that it's the people who built their own homes decades ago still live same day she finds Queen Elizabeth I in them, where slugs are a lot more the pantry and the Bard of a problem for the wannabe lettuce-grower than they are for the metropolitan commuterAvon in her bath. What's she going to do? Well, Elizabeth and where village halls Will have the power to turn you into both a Pol Pot dictator if you get on their committee their own ideas about that! [[Elizabeth, William... and into a quivering, bruiseMe by S Lynn Scott|Full Review]] <!-- Rodford -->|-inducing wreck if you're the wrong gender at a Zumba class…|amazonukstyle=<amazonuk>1444794809</amazonuk>"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|}}[[image:Rodford_Surgeon.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178565005X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]{{newreview|author=Marian Keyes|titlestyle=Making It Up As I Go Along"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||rating=4.5==[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford]]===|genre=Entertainment[[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=Oh, how the book reviewing gods like to giveCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], and equally like to take away. Here before me is a brand[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] In the second instalment of this series, spanking new collection of journalism Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by the wonderful Marian Keyes – but ita 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 proof copypopular medical television programme, has had his briefcase stolen by his live-in domestic servant, so there's no photo of the authorAurora. Even if over According to Galbraith, this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of his at the years I have stopped reading her novels, I have always turned hospital. George agrees to look into the author picture to remind myself such sights exist in this world. Himself is theft, assuming it will be a lucky man, for sure. But beyond sounding like a letchrelatively easy and straightforward case – little does he know, what can I say about this – the beautyhe's third large dose about to enter a world of essays, web columns deceit and other journalism? I can start with agreeing that I am not the target audience, but it's easy enough to see from these pages exactly what the target is. So much like that test you do – you know the one, that formulates decisions about the age and commonality of all things in space to come up with how many billions of planets are likely to have alien life on – you can narrow things down quite readily here, and still come up with a huge numberdysfunction. [[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford|Full Review]] <!-- Jordan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jordan_Tiny.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1760293814/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |amazonukstyle=<amazonuk>0718182529</amazonuk>"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|}}{{newreview|author= Jean-Yves Ferri|title= Asterix and the Missing Scroll (Album 36)|rating= 5[[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan]]===|genre= For Sharing[[image:5star.jpg|summarylink=Asterix is those rarest of book series; one designed for kids which is actually even funnier when you are an adult. I used to love Asterix as a childCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]], but now that I reread them I can[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] As predicted by Caroline and Janice's mother on Caroline and Henry't help but wonder whys wedding day, their marriage is over, because they are so full of hilarious jokes that I definitely wouldn't have understood when I was youngeralbeit 15 years and two daughters further along than predicted. Indeed, this is definitely not a good weekend for Janice to be babysitting at Caroline's house. I laughed loud There's the split and hard to myself twice within the first two pages awkwardness of Asterix and the Missing Scroll, so Igirls'd definitely say schoolteacher being the other woman for a start. Then there's that this was a hitmistaken identity moment involving the neighbours.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? [[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan|Full Review]] <!-- Taylor -->|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1510100458</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Spadge Whittaker-|titlestyle=Braver Than Britain, Occasionally"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Taylor_Scilly.jpg|ratinglink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178475515X/ref=nosim?tag=4thebookbag-21]] |genre=Humour|summarystyle=In which Spadge researches Britain's "vertical-align: top ten fears and faces them all over the course ; text-align: left;"|===[[The Life of a yearScilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor]]=== [[image:4. We're quite a fearful society, you know5star. And the things we fear most are, in orderjpg|link=Category: heights (acrophobia){{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], snakes [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Meet the Isles of Scilly. (ophidiophobia), public speaking (glossophobia), spiders (arachnophobia)I know they should be called that – the author provides a handy guide to the etiquette of their name, their nature and location, small spaces (claustrophobiaetc.)For our more distant readers, mice (musophobia)they're several chunks of granite rock out in the Atlantic, needles (trypanophobia)where Cornwall is pointing, flying (pteromerhanophobia)with just 2, crowds (agoraphobia) and clowns (coulrophobia)200 permanent residents.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993429904</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Mike Bullen|title= Trust|rating= 4|genre= General Fiction|summary= Greg They're big on tourism, and Amanda are happybig on growing flowers in the tropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough to turn any car to a rust bucket within years. UnmarriedThey're so wee, but together thirteen years and with two young daughtersso idyllic-seeming, especially at night, they are very much in loveyou can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presence. Dan and Sarah aren't so fortunateBut there is – at least two working at any one time. Their marriage is going through the motionsAnd one of them in recent years has been Colin Taylor, and they're staying together for who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a well-known online existence, which has brought to life all the sake whimsical comedy of their troubled teenage sonhis work. Following [[The Life of a business conference away from home, one bad decision sends a happy couple into turmoil, and turns an unhappy couple into love's young dream. As secrets and betrayals threaten to send both relationships out of control, there's only one thing that can keep everything from falling apart: TrustScilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor|Full Review]] <!-- Lloyd -->|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751559253</amazonuk>}}{{newreview-|authorstyle=Dan Rhodes"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow[[image:Lloyd_Twas.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.5|genre=General Fictionamazon.co.uk/dp/1472125118/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle= Two people are on a train on their way to, of all things, a WI meeting where the ladies of All Bottoms will be lectured on the non"vertical-align: top; text-existence of God. One of align: left;"|===[['Twas the two people is Professor Richard Dawkins, rampant atheist, hectoring scientist chappie, Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and all-round devotee of ''Deal or No Deal''Emlyn Rees]]=== [[image:3.5star. The other is Smee, his mono-named assistant, amanuensis or 'male secretaryjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It's Christmas Eve and Mum has arranged everything. Smee will come All she now has to do is await the fore when arrival of the weather sets in relatives and the train journey has to be abandoned some way short of its ultimate destination, Upper Bottomfood shopping delivery. Instead Little does Mum know that those two elements alone have the pair fetch up at potential to ruin everything. [['Twas the isolated yet friendly community of Market Horton, Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and the only option for accommodation is taken – yes, the diedEmlyn Rees|Full Review]] <!-- Phinn --in>|-the| style="width: 10%; vertical-wool nonalign: top; text-believer has to be housed by a retired vicar and his wifealign: center;"|[[image:Phinn_Virgin. This clash of titanic opinions, peppered with social faux pas aplenty will provide for a particularly English kind of farcical comedy, but one with the legs to go as far as any other Good Books have reached in the past…jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444779400/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |amazonukstyle=<amazonuk>1910709018</amazonuk>"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|}}{{newreview|author=Rob Temple==[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn]]===|title=Very British Problems Abroad|rating=[[image:4.5star.jpg|genrelink=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|summary=Meet, if you haven't alreadyHumour]], [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] Christmas in our house is the phenomenon of the Very British Problem. In this format they're in pithy little comments (oftime we tend to get on a plane and head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, oohfar away from the madness at home, about 140 characters in lengthlast minute dashes to the shops on Christmas Eve, for some reason…) and detail the minor things in life food cupboard stockpiles that we like nothing more than to inflate to would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a major factor mere 36 hours. But I do remember the feeling of life. They can involve mannersChristmas when I was younger, staring at things until they mend themselves, hitting things dittoback when it was magical, or the fact that nobody apart from and back when you knew exactly what the season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and I know how to queue properlyChristmas parties. And if the idea hits the world outside our shores, then – well, you certainly have a This book full is an anthology of content regarding our attitude those moments, and ineptitude abroadit took me right back to the wonder of Christmas as a child.[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- North -->0751558494</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Fraser McAlpine-|titlestyle=Stuff Brits Like"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=4[[image:North_Romeo.jpg|genrelink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356508536/ref=Humournosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle= With over 100 chapters on different aspects of Britain and Britishness, this book is both fascinating "vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Romeo and hilarious/or Juliet by Ryan North]]=== [[image:3. Just looking at the list of subjects is enough to produce a sardonic twist of that stiff upper lip5star.jpg|link=Category: the chapters cover topics that range from offal to curry{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] For all those who think tragedy plots are too restricted and prescribed, from pedantry read on. In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of options en route to banterhitting the bottle. Likewise, she could have turned away from conkers to rugbyher predestined path at no end of junctures. There may be many chapters but this is no academic tome - each chapter is just two And to three pages longwhat result? Well, each is written with endearing affectionhappy marriage and a kid called Ben, each is easy because the leads have just banged people's heads together and satisfying - stopped the quarrelling, or Death by Tybalt (him) or a long life running an establishment curing murderous women, such as a Lady M (her). [[Romeo and quirkily funny - to read./or Juliet by Ryan North|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1857886348</amazonuk!-- Crowley -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= John Samuel"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= What I Tell You in the Dark[[image:Crowley_Shoot.jpg|ratinglink= 3http://www.5amazon.co.uk/dp/1783296518/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|genre===[[Shoot by Kieran Crowley]]= Humour== [[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=A man called Will is fighting fiercely against corruption – desperate Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] I make something of a habit of being late to expose his company's dodgy dealings to the press. Overcome with doubt and feardiscover good writers, he goes in this case getting to kill himself. But, at the exact moment he attaches his noose to the back of the door, Crowley after he is savedno longer with us. By a curious housemate or a concerned girlfriend? No, by The result is that what is billed as ''an AngelF. Not X. Shepherd mystery'' with all the white-feathered guardian Angel you may expect, but one who wishes optimism of there being more to help Will achieve his endscome has the poignancy of being, and so possess if not the body last of the hapless Will in order to finish what he starteda short line, certainly one of a few. 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…[[Shoot by Kieran Crowley|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715650505</amazonuk>Full Review]]}}{{newreview|author= John Niven|title= The Sunshine Cruise Company|rating= 4.5|genre= Humour|summary= Susan Frobisher and Julie Wickham live in a small Dorset town. Friends since school, they live fairly uneventful lives – Susan has a lovely house and a lengthy marriage to accountant Barry, whereas Julie is doing slightly less well – living in a council flat and working in an old people's home. When Barry is found dead trussed up in a sex dungeon, it transpires that he has been leading a hidden life for years, and his expensive fetishes lead to the bank moving to take Susan's home. Struck by both desperation and a sense of injustice, Sue and Julie conspire to rob a bank, taking along their friend Jill – a devout Christian conflicted due to lack of money and a terminally ill grandson, and Ethel – a foul mouthed resident of the nursing home longing for adventure.|amazonuk=<amazonuk<!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->0434023183</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Marie Phillips|title=The Table Of Less Valued Knights|rating=4.5|genre=Fantasy|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 is to redeem himself via a quest. Therefore when damsel Elaine seeks help to find her kidnapped fiancé, Humphrey and his ward, the teenage giant Conrad, eagerly set forth. Meanwhile in the kingdom of Tuft, new Queen Martha has run away after a disastrous wedding to… a… well… disastrous Prince Edwin. She may not realise it yet, but she too will have a job for Humphrey!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099555875</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Tim Flannery|title=The Mystery of the Venus Island Fetish|rating=3|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Meet Archie Meek. He's about to leave the Venus Islands, where he's lived for the last five years, and return to Sydney, where he'll take his office in the museum and fill it with all the cultural artefacts he's found and wildlife he's plucked or pickled. That's not to ignore the fact he'll count as something quite alien himself, with his filled-out frame, nearly all-over suntan and totemic tattoo, in amongst other changes to his body. But what's this? When he gets back, he finds one of the main Venus Islands artefacts that caused him to go there in the first place, a huge, 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 to, perchance, even weirder, stranger and more violent than the cannibalistic society he's waving farewell to?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1922079308</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Roman Dirge|title=The Cat with a Really Big Head|rating=3.5|genre=Graphic Novels|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 '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 Man') 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 to a certain girl… I hope your life is filled with wonderful accomplishments, love and all the magic you desire… - But I hope your death is slow and horrible.''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782762876</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Val Hennessy|title=Not Far From Dreamland|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|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 the free television licence barrier. What Ronald ''has'' got is a roof that leaks (there's good reason why his home is called 'the shack'), 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 Ronald. But are they downhearted? Well, they are occasionally, but mostly they're generously optimistic and out 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 relatives.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704373874</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Harry Harrison|title=Bill, the Galactic Hero|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 hug's a hug, OK? You either do, or you don't. Some people might be a little more enthusiastic about the process whilst others are more elegant in the execution of the hug, but basically you just get on and do it and then forget about it, right?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0867197978</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Christopher Fowler|title= Bryant 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>}}