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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreview|authorclass-"wikitable" cellpadding= Gervase Phinn"15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> |title= The Virgin Mary's Got Nits<!-- Coulton -->|rating= 4.5-|genrestyle= Humour"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473669588.jpg|summarylink= 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 homehttp://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.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], last minute dashes to the shops on Christmas Eve[[:Category:Humour|Humour]], and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] Lex Coulton's debut novel is a monthstory about mistakes, failures, and relationships. The main protagonist, Frances Pilgrim, nor is a mere 36 hours. But I do remember the feeling of Christmas when I was youngersixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with her best friend Jackson, back when it was magicala work colleague, and back when you knew exactly what is grappling with the season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and Christmas parties. increasingly eccentric behaviour of her mother. This book relationship is an anthology of those moments, and it took me right back to complicated by the wonder of Christmas as a childfact that Frances's father disappeared at sea when she was five years old.[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444779400</amazonuk!-- van LENTE -->}}{{newreview|author= Kieran Crowley-|titlestyle= Shoot|rating= 4"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690346.jpg|genrelink= Crimehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle= I 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"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star. The result is that what is billed as ''an F.X. Shepherd mystery'' with all the optimism of there being more to come has the poignancy jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Comic-Cons are a place of beingwonder and sanctuary for many people, and when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, he's looking for both that and sanctuary with other fans and creators, if not plus the last chance of a short linemaybe, certainly one of a fewjust maybe reuniting with his ex. F.X. Shepherd – he doesn't like However, when his first name and prefers just "Shepherd" rival isfound dead, technically, a columnist. He's been sacked by one New York newspaper Mike is forced to navigate every dark corner of the con in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and is writing , in doing so, may just unravel a dark secret behind a weekly column for anotherlegendary industry creator. I don't know much about journalism, but I'm guessing one column a week doesn't pay much as a rule…which explains why Shepherd's soap[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] <!-- Curran -washed-foul>|-mouthed editor (read the book, you'll see what I mean) expects him to turn in some genuine journalism as well| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image: front page, seat of your pants stuff1683690133. jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>1783296518<http://amazonuk>}}{{newreviewwww.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690133/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |author=Gray Jolliffe|titlestyle=The First Ever Christmas"vertical-align: top; text-align: And Who to Blameleft;"||rating=5|genre=Humour|summary=If I tell you a secret[[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], will you promise not to tell anyone? Well, I really don't like Christmas[[:Category: it's my least favourite time Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] You are a lass of year twenty eight. Plucky, penniless and whilst some people count down to in Regency era London the day itself, I look forward race is on to that point when I can say that it's all over for another yearfind a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to life as an eternal spinster. ItAlong your journey you's all too commercialised for mell be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to save you from a life alone, with and fired by a coating of faux religionrogueish sense for adventure. I've never found When it in the least funny - that iscomes to suitors though, until I found Gray Jolliffeyou's ''The First Ever Christmas: And Who's ll have to Blame''. Amazinglymake the ultimate decision between witty, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe eitherpretty 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 way, but Iit'm a convert to his skills as a cartoonist (if not to the idea of Christmas) after reading s clear this collection of Christmas-themed cartoons from his archiveisn't going to be an easy decision...[[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- Jester -->1445663503</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Jonathan Pugh-|titlestyle=Pugh's New Year's Resolutions"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jester_Forever.jpg|left|ratinglink=4https://www.amazon.co.5uk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1510704361]] |genre=Humour|summarystyle=If there's one thing that's for certain, it's that the world is changing"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester]]=== [[image:4star. We're dating onlinejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], we're communicating in ways that make email seem redundant[[:Category:Horror|Horror]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fasntasy]] Michael Holland is a cocky and when we're shopping we just tell brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, a website where grim reaper and when it can be delivered, his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and how much leeway Naff (a stoner in the records department) as they have grapple with their long lives and finding a clean surface to swap our wishes for whatever it is they do bring ussit on in their flat. But those changes are also supposed to be affecting us – we're supposed to use [[Forever After: a smart watch to tell us if we're moving or not, we have to keep up with the latest fads, 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 eat.dark comedy by David Jester|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722885</amazonuk!-- Stibbe -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Luke Rhinehart"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= Invasion|rating= 4[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.5jpg|genre= Humour left|summarylink=Super-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universehttps://www.amazon. And they've come to earth to have funco. Alien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one day, and he and his family quickly come to love the playful alien. But when Louie starts using their computer to hack into government and corporate networks, stealing millions from banks to give to others, they realise that Louie and his friends mean troubleuk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0241309824]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe]]=== [[image:4.5star. As Billy and his family begin a roller coaster ride of fame and fortunejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], as well as a ranking high on [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Christmas – the FBI's most wanted list, time of traditional trauma. You only have to think about the Government soon decides turkey for that these aliens are terrorists, and must be eliminated. Whilst – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the aliens are playing games they hope will help humans downstairs loo to see the insanity of the American politicaldefrost overnight, economic and military systems, they soon come to realise if that failed the Powers that Be donhair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays it't play games: they s all having to make war. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785651757</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Rod Green|title=Only Fools sure it's suitably free-range and Horses: The Peckham Archives|rating=4|genre=Entertainment |summary=We are in the world of one of the country's most famous organic – but not too organic that you can go and well-loved sitcoms – even if visit it was sort-of killed off for , and get too friendly with it to want to eat it. Christmas 2003. Yes, there have been specials sincethough, and more repeats to clog up the BBC schedules than is really pukka, but very few people failed to succumb to its charms at one of course also a time or anotherof great boons. IIt'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stony-faced reception s cash in hand for a lot of ''that'' drop through the open bar hatch, plump people who can hire red suits and ''that'' chandelier scenebeards, but this is much more meaty. Purporting it was always a godsend for postmen with all the thank-you letters to be the family archives, found dumped aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in Nelson Mandela Houselong-hand as a child, and as for the documents here were passed from pillar to postmakers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, from one council worker in a department with a clumsy acronym to another, from them to the police – did they even try and now here they are being published for their social history worth. Will enough readers find sell them any other time of worth, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthdayyear?[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849909245</amazonuk!-- Doescher -->}}{{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:Doescher_Will.jpg|genre= Autobiographyleft|summarylink= Mara Wilson has always felt a little young and a little out of placehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/159474985X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=159474985X]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: as the only child on a film set full of adults, left;"|===[[William Shakespeare's the first daughter in a house full of boys, Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the sole clinically depressed member of a cheerleading squad, a valley girl in New York and a neurotic 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 Californiaa galaxy far away, and an adult the world still remembers as there was a little girl. Tackling everything from how she first learned about sex on the set of ''Melrose Placeman called William Shakespeare,'' who was able to losing her mother at create a young ageseries of dramatic histories full of machinations most foul, to getting her first kiss (rulers most evil and rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy. You may or was it kisses?) on a celebrity canoe trip, to may not being cute enough to make it in Hollywood, these essays tell have noticed the story cinematic version of one young womanhis original stage play for ''The Force Doth Awaken''s journey from accidental fame to relative obscurity, but also illuminate a universal struggle: learning here at last we get the actual script, complete with annoying-in-different-ways-to accept yourself-before droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and figuring out who people keeping it in the family til it hurts. And if you are and where you belong. 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]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0143128221</amazonuk!-- Goss -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Tony Stuart"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= Writing Lines|rating= 4[[image:Goss_600.5jpg|genre=Humourleft|summarylink= George Gordon Wentworth (1946-2011) lived a humdrum lifehttps://www. He was a barely adequate teacher in a fairly world renowned independent school in Kent and kept a copious diary of his quotidian existenceamazon. Most of what he recorded was drossco. However, amongst all the utterly uninteresting tailings of his life there were some nuggets uk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785942719]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and grains to catch the attentionRussell T Davies]]=== [[image:4. Author Tony Stuart has created these amusing anecdotes, panning them out over twenty six episodes which give us the best of Wentworth – comedy gold5star. From losing all the pupils in his charge on a school trip to being arrested on suspicion of terrorism; from waking up in bed between the married couple the morning after their wedding, to destroying a ski run; from appearing full-frontal naked in a sheep-farmersjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children' gazette to triggering an air-sea rescue; Wentworth was, blinkered s Rhymes and befuddledVerse]], the subject – of these and so many more unlikely but highly amusing events.[[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524634441</amazonuk>}}Humour]]{{newreview|author=Graham Fulbright|title=Driving Mad: Maniacs, Morons and Consider the Advanced Motorist's Club|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=I passed my driving test when John F Kennedy was in the White House Doctor. Just how many birthday and I've recently had Christmas gifts must he have to reapply for my driving licence having achieved a venerable age. When I started driving the roads were kinderhand 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, more forgiving places - or put another wayfor example, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the idiots were fewer life of a Time Lord and further betweenthat of some of his friends and enemies. I don't know how long Graham Fulbright has been drivingAs luck would have it, but he certainly knows has the space in his motoring morons and TARDIS to stock up in ''Driving Mad'' he brings us a fictional sample of their eccentricitiesadvance, so my advice to him – sorry, her – would be to pop along to his local Earth-based book emporium and get himself ready. Well, I'm pretty certain that theyAnd if you're fictional - but these days you never know..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]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- Ingram -->1783062584</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Mario Giordano-|titlestyle=Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=4[[image:Ingram_Kammie.jpg|genre=Crimeleft|summarylink=Poldi had not long been widowed when she decided to move from Bavaria to Sicily with the intention of drinking herself to deathhttps://www.amazon.co. She could, of course, have done this in Germany, but she felt that a sea view was essentialuk/gp/product/1785451995?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785451995]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram]]=== [[image:4star. Once therejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|Pets]], new friends, family already resident on the island and the corpse [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It was something of a young manrelief when I encountered Annie Ingram and her cocker spaniel Kammie. You see, his face blown off by Annie knows something which has been self-evident to me for a shotgun, whom she found long time: dogs are perfectly capable of communicating with humans and not just on the local beacha level of food!, intervened walk! or play!. You do require extensive training to give her life some meaning. For a while she was a suspectbecome fluent, but that (most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their time to teach you and her wig) were no obstacle all you have to do is listen. Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her falling for Commissario Vito Montana who was assigned well and the pair have allowed us to investigate the case. Assisting him (or having him assist her) came naturally to Poldi and before long there was an investigative and personal partnership. At least so far as Poldi was concernedshare some of their conversations.[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908524693</amazonuk!-- Harris -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Grady Hendrix"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Harris_Glass.jpg|titlelink= My Best Friend's Exorcismhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1908943823/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]|rating= 5|genre= Horror|summarystyle=1988, Charleston, South Carolina. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening "vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Breaking of skinny-dipping goes disatrously wrong, Gretchen begins to actLiam Glass by Charles Harris]]=== [[image:3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Teenager Liam Glass is mugged and stabbed yards from his Camden flat..different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads As the boy lies comatose, desperate journalist Jason Worthington scrabbles for the inside scoop, tired police officer Andy Rockham searches for a missing tape, harried politician Jamila Hasan fights for re-election, distraught mother Katrina Glass waits by her to some startling discoveries son, and gym- and by owner Royland simply finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate . We follow this host of Abby and Gretchen will be determined ensemble characters in a bleak, kaleidoscopic satire of modern media. [[The Breaking of Liam Glass by a single question: Is their friendship enough to beat the devil?Charles Harris|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- LENTE -->1594748624</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Kevin MacNeil-|titlestyle=The Brilliant and Forever"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lente_10.jpg|ratinglink= 3http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1683690222/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genre= Humour|summarystyle= You know sometimes when someone tells a joke, everyone else laughs, and you're sat there wondering what was so funny?"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973376</amazonuk>==[[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente]]===}}[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{newreview{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|author= Christopher FowlerHumour]]|title= Bryant and May: Strange Tide|rating= 3Nine comedians are invited to a remote Caribbean island under the guise of working with Dustin Walker, a comedic legend.5|genre= Crime|summary= The thirteenth outing for Bryant and May is looking very much like it will be their last. Arthur Bryant is on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuingEach fits neatly into one of the archetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, which are likely to confirm that he is suffering from Alzheimer's. His condition is worsening almost by the day, memory lapses are morphing into fullwashed-scale hallucinations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857523422</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Kevin Smith|title=The Voyage of up has-been who has fallen far from his early days; Zoe, the Dolphin|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Dublin 1916: Among the unrest and antirising female star with a new stand-British feeling worsened by up special coming soon; Dante, who went from being a kid on the threat of conscription into a war seen as nothing streets to do with the Irishhardest working road comic in the business; Oliver, Trinity College faculty has other distractions. They'd the child-like a trophyprop comic who can't get any respect from his peers; Janet, the skeleton of an Irish 'giant' to be precise. insult comic who is past her prime; The only glitch is that TJ, the main trophy contendernightly variety show host with a reputation for harassing his female colleagues and guest acts; Ruby, Bernard MacNeill's skeleton, is somewhere difficult to access the ultra-feminist YouTuber and all seasoned explorers are otherwise engaged. There may be hope though. They turn to Fitzmaurice, Blogger with a student not good enough for anything else. Fitzmaurice agreeschip on her shoulder; and William, picking his friends Crozier and Rafferty to go with him. So… whose redneck character ''Billy the Contractor'Gentlemen, lace up your strongest boots and pack your warmest underwear – we're is a far cry from his real personality as a posh millionaire. Of course, all off to the bloody Arctic!nine agree because '' Whether battle cry or epitaph, three men and 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>|amazonus=<amazonus!-- Scott -->1910124826</amazonus>}}{{newreview|author=Tony Hawks-|titlestyle=Once Upon a Time in the West… Country"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Scott_Eliz.jpg|ratinglink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788037006/ref=nosim?tag=3thebookbag-21]] |genre=Travel|summarystyle=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"vertical-align: top; text-city flat to slumming it in the suburbs with fewer bussesalign: left;"|===[[Elizabeth, no takeaways within walking-William... and-keeping-food-hot distanceMe 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 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 of a problem for the wannabe lettuce-grower than they are for pantry and the metropolitan commuterBard of Avon 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…>|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444794809</amazonuk>}}{{newreview-|authorstyle=Marian Keyes"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=Making It Up As I Go Along[[image:Rodford_Surgeon.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.5|genre=Entertainmentamazon.co.uk/dp/178565005X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle=Oh, how the book reviewing gods like to give, and equally like to take away. Here before me is a brand, spanking new collection of journalism by the wonderful Marian Keyes – but it"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Surgeon's a proof copy, so there's no photo of the authorCase: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford]]=== [[image:4star. Even if over the years I have stopped reading her novelsjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], I have always turned to [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] In the author picture to remind myself such sights exist in second instalment of this world. Himself is series, Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a lucky well-known local manto track down some missing valuables. Bill Galbraith, for sure. But beyond sounding like a letch, what can I say about this – the beautyworld-famous surgeon at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's third large dose of essaysHospital who hosts a popular medical television programme, web columns and other journalism? I can start with agreeing that I am not the target audiencehas had his briefcase stolen by his live-in domestic servant, but it's easy enough Aurora. According to see from these pages exactly what Galbraith, this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of his at the target ishospital. So much like that test you do George agrees to look into the theft, assuming it will be a relatively easy and straightforward case – you little does he know the one, that formulates decisions he's about the age and commonality of all things in space to come up with how many billions enter a world of planets are likely to have alien life on – you can narrow things down quite readily here, and still come up with a huge numberdeceit and dysfunction.[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718182529</amazonuk!-- Jordan -->}}|-{{newreview|author| style= Jean"width: 10%; vertical-Yves Ferrialign: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jordan_Tiny.jpg|titlelink= Asterix and the Missing Scroll (Album 36)http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1760293814/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]|rating= 5|genre= For Sharing|summarystyle=Asterix is those rarest of book series"vertical-align: top; text-align: left; one designed for kids which is actually even funnier when you are an adult. I used to love Asterix as a child"|===[[Our Tiny, but now that I reread them I canUseless Hearts by Toni Jordan]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women't help but wonder whys Fiction]], because they are so full of hilarious jokes that I definitely wouldn[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] As predicted by Caroline and Janice't have understood when I was younger. I laughed loud s mother on Caroline and hard to myself twice within the first two pages of Asterix and the Missing ScrollHenry's wedding day, their marriage is over, so I'd albeit 15 years and two daughters further along than predicted. Indeed, this is definitely say that this was not a hitgood weekend for Janice to be babysitting at Caroline's house.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1510100458</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Spadge Whittaker|title=Braver Than Britain, Occasionally|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=In which Spadge researches BritainThere's the split and the awkwardness of the girls' schoolteacher being the other woman for a start. Then there's top ten fears and faces them all over that mistaken identity moment involving the course of a yearneighbours. We're quite a fearful society, you knowAt least Janice is well adjusted and over her ex-husband Alec. And the things we fear most areShe still dreams of him, in order: heights (acrophobia)yes, snakes (ophidiophobia)but it's so over! Just as well really… guess who's at the door? [[Our Tiny, public speaking (glossophobia), spiders (arachnophobia), small spaces (claustrophobia), mice (musophobia), needles (trypanophobia), flying (pteromerhanophobia), crowds (agoraphobia) and clowns (coulrophobia).Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993429904</amazonuk!-- Taylor -->}}{{newreview|author= Mike Bullen-|titlestyle= Trust"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating= 4[[image:Taylor_Scilly.jpg|genrelink= General Fictionhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178475515X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle= Greg and Amanda are happy. Unmarried, but together thirteen years and with two young daughters, they are very much in love. Dan and Sarah aren't so fortunate. Their marriage is going through the motions, and they're staying together for the sake "vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Life of their troubled teenage son. Following a business conference away from home, one bad decision sends a happy couple into turmoil, and turns an unhappy couple into love's young dreamScilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor]]=== [[image:4.5star. As secrets and betrayals threaten to send both relationships out of control, there's only one thing that can keep everything from falling apart: Trustjpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>0751559253</amazonuk>Category:{{{rating}}}Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]]{{newreview|author=Dan Rhodes|title=When Meet the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow|rating=4Isles of Scilly.5|genre=General Fiction|summary= Two people are on (I know they should be called that – the author provides a train on handy guide to the etiquette of their name, their way tonature and location, of all thingsetc.) For our more distant readers, a WI meeting where the ladies they're several chunks of All Bottoms will be lectured on granite rock out in the non-existence of God. One of the two people Atlantic, where Cornwall is Professor Richard Dawkinspointing, rampant atheistwith just 2, hectoring scientist chappie200 permanent residents. They're big on tourism, and all-round devotee of ''Deal or No Deal''. The other big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is Smeebad enough to turn any car to a rust bucket within years. They're so wee, his monoand so idyllic-named assistantseeming, amanuensis or 'male secretary'especially at night, you can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presence. Smee will come to the fore when the weather sets But there is – at least two working at any one time. And one of them in and the train journey recent years has to be abandoned some way short of its ultimate destinationbeen Colin Taylor, Upper Bottom. Instead the pair fetch up at who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a well-known online existence, which has brought to life all the isolated yet friendly community whimsical comedy of his work. [[The Life of Market Horton, and the only option for accommodation is taken – yes, the dieda Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor|Full Review]] <!-in-theLloyd -wool non-believer has to be housed by a retired vicar and his wife. 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…>|-|amazonukstyle=<amazonuk>1910709018</amazonuk>}}{{newreview"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lloyd_Twas.jpg|authorlink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472125118/ref=nosim?tag=Rob Templethebookbag-21]] |title=Very British Problems Abroad|ratingstyle=4"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||genre=Humour|summary=Meet, if you haven=[['t already, Twas the phenomenon of the Very British ProblemFight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees]]=== [[image:3.5star. In this format theyjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It're in pithy little comments (of, ooh, about 140 characters in length, for some reason…) s Christmas Eve and detail the minor things in life that we like nothing more than Mum has arranged everything. All she now has to inflate to a major factor do is await the arrival of life. They can involve manners, staring at things until they mend themselves, hitting things ditto, or the fact that nobody apart from you relatives and I know how to queue properlythe food shopping delivery. And if Little does Mum know that those two elements alone have the idea hits potential to ruin everything. [['Twas the world outside our shores, then – well, you certainly have a book full of content regarding our attitude Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and ineptitude abroad.Emlyn Rees|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751558494</amazonuk>Full Review]]}}{{newreview<!-- Phinn -->|author=Fraser McAlpine-|titlestyle=Stuff Brits Like"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=4[[image:Phinn_Virgin.jpg|genre=Humourleft|summarylink= With over 100 chapters on different aspects of Britain and Britishness, this book is both fascinating and hilarioushttp://www.amazon.co. Just looking at the list of subjects is enough to produce a sardonic twist of that stiff upper lipuk/dp/1444779400/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: the chapters cover topics that range from offal to curry, from pedantry to banter, from conkers to rugbyleft;"|===[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn]]=== [[image:4.5star. There may be many chapters but this is no academic tome - each chapter is just two to three pages longjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], each [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] Christmas in our house is written with endearing affection, each is easy the time we tend to get on a plane and satisfying - and quirkily funny - head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, far away from the madness at home, last minute dashes 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 to the press. Overcome with doubt and fearshops on Christmas Eve, and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, he goes to kill himselfnor a mere 36 hours. But, at the exact moment he attaches his noose to I do remember the feeling of Christmas when I was younger, back of the doorwhen it was magical, he is saved. By a curious housemate or a concerned girlfriend? No, by an Angel. Not and back when you knew exactly what the white-feathered guardian Angel you may expectseason would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and Christmas parties. This book is an anthology of those moments, but one who wishes and it took me right back to help Will achieve his ends, and so possess the body wonder of the hapless Will in order to finish what he startedChristmas as a child. 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…[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715650505</amazonuk!-- North -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= John Niven"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= The Sunshine Cruise Company[[image:North_Romeo.jpg|ratinglink= 4http://www.amazon.co.5|genreuk/dp/0356508536/ref=nosim?tag= Humourthebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle= Susan Frobisher "vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Romeo and Julie Wickham live in a small Dorset town/or Juliet by Ryan North]]=== [[image:3.5star. Friends since school, they live fairly uneventful lives – Susan has a lovely house jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] For all those who think tragedy plots are too restricted and a lengthy marriage to accountant Barryprescribed, 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 read on. In these pages you too will see that he has been leading a hidden life for years, and his expensive fetishes lead Romeo had lots of options en route to hitting the bank moving to take Susan's homebottle. Struck by both desperation and a sense Likewise, she could have turned away from her predestined path at no end of injustice, Sue and Julie conspire junctures. And to rob a bankwhat result? Well, taking along their friend Jill – a devout Christian conflicted due to lack of money happy marriage and a terminally ill grandsonkid called Ben, and Ethel – a foul mouthed resident of because the nursing home longing for adventureleads have just banged people's heads together and 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/or Juliet by Ryan North|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434023183</amazonuk>Full Review]]}}{{newreview<!-- Crowley -->|author=Marie Phillips-|titlestyle=The Table Of Less Valued Knights"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Crowley_Shoot.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.amazon.co.5|genre=Fantasyuk/dp/1783296518/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle=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"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Shoot by Kieran Crowley]]=== [[image:4star. Therefore when damsel Elaine seeks help to find her kidnapped fiancéjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], Humphrey and his ward[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] I make something of a habit of being late to discover good writers, the teenage giant Conrad, eagerly set forth. Meanwhile in the kingdom of Tuft, new Queen Martha has run away this case getting to Crowley after a disastrous wedding to… a… well… disastrous Prince Edwinhe is no longer with us. 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 Meekresult is that what is billed as ''an F.X. HeShepherd mystery''s about to leave with all the Venus Islands, where he's lived for optimism of there being more to come has the poignancy of being, if not the last five yearsof a short line, 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 Doeschercertainly one of a few. [[Shoot by Kieran Crowley|title=William Shakespeare's The Phantom of MenaceFull Review]]|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!<!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594748063</amazonuk>}}