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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreview|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> <!-- Coulton -->|author=Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees-|titlestyle='Twas the Fight Before Christmas"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: A Parodycenter;"|[[image:1473669588.jpg|ratinglink=3http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1473669588/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genre=Humour|summarystyle=It's Christmas Eve and Mum has arranged everything"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton]]=== [[image:4star. All she now has to do is await the arrival of the relatives and the food shopping delivery. Little does Mum know that those two elements alone have the potential to ruin everything.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472125118</amazonuk>jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}}{{newreviewStar Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|author=Ryan NorthGeneral Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|title=Romeo and/or JulietHumour]], [[:Category:Women's Fiction|rating=3.5Women's Fiction]]|genre=Humour|summary=For all those who think tragedy plots are too restricted Lex Coulton's debut novel is a story about mistakes, failures, and prescribedrelationships. The main protagonist, Frances Pilgrim, read on. In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots is a sixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with her best friend Jackson, a work colleague, and is grappling with the increasingly eccentric behaviour of options en route to hitting the bottleher mother. Likewise, she could have turned away from her predestined path This relationship is complicated by the fact that Frances's father disappeared at no end of juncturessea when she was five years old. And to what result? Well, happy marriage and a kid called Ben, because the leads 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)[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton|Full Review]] <!-- van LENTE -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690346. jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>0356508536<http://amazonuk>}}www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] {{newreview|authorstyle= Gervase Phinn"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||title= ==[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits|ratingCon Artist by Fred Van Lente]]= 4== [[image:4star.5jpg|genrelink= Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] |summary= Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on a plane Comic-Cons are a place of wonder and sanctuary for many people, and head to either sun or snowwhen Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, anywhere he's looking for both that is farand sanctuary with other fans and creators, far away from plus the madness at homechance of maybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. However, when his rival is found dead, last minute dashes Mike is forced to navigate every dark corner of the shops on Christmas Eve, con in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, in doing so, may just unravel a month, nor dark secret behind a mere 36 hourslegendary industry creator. 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[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] <!-- Curran -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690133.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co. This book is an anthology of those moments, and it took me right back to the wonder of Christmas as a child.|amazonukuk/dp/1683690133/ref=nosim?tag=<amazonuk>1444779400</amazonuk>thebookbag-21]]}}{{newreview|authorstyle= Kieran Crowley"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||title= Shoot|rating= 4=[[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris]]===|genre= Crime[[image:4star.jpg|summarylink= I make something of a habit of being late to discover good writersCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] You are a lass of twenty eight. Plucky, penniless and in this case getting Regency era London the race is on to Crowley after he is no longer with us. The result is that what is billed find a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to life as ''an Feternal spinster.X. Shepherd mysteryAlong your journey you'' with all the optimism of there being more to come has the poignancy of being, if not the last of ll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to save you from a short linelife alone, certainly one of and fired by a fewrogueish sense for adventure. F.X. Shepherd – he doesnWhen it comes to suitors though, you't like his first name ll have to make the ultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, wholesome, rugged and prefers just "Shepherd" iscaring Captain Angus MacTaggart, technicallyor the mad, a columnistbad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. He's been sacked by one New York newspaper and is writing a weekly column for another. I don't know much about journalismWith orphans, werewolves, long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the way, but Iit'm guessing one column a week doesns clear this isn't pay much as a rule…which explains why Shepherd's soap-washed-foul-mouthed editor (read the book, yougoing to be an easy decision... [[My Lady'll see what I mean) expects him to turn in some genuine journalism as well: front page, seat of your pants stuff. s Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783296518</amazonuk!-- Jester -->}}{{newreview|author=Gray Jolliffe-|titlestyle=The First Ever Christmas"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: And Who to Blamecenter;"|rating=5[[image:Jester_Forever.jpg|genre=Humourleft|summarylink=If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to tell anyonehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1510704361? Well, I really don't like Christmasie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1510704361]]  | style="vertical-align: 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 yeartop; text-align: left;"|===[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester]]=== [[image:4star. It's all too commercialised for mejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], with a coating [[:Category:Horror|Horror]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fasntasy]] Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of faux religionhis lifetime; immortality. I've never found it We follow Michael, a grim reaper and his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a stoner in the least funny - that is, until I found Gray Jolliffe's ''The First Ever Christmas: And Who's records department) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clean surface to Blame''sit on in their flat. Amazingly, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe either, but I'm a convert to his skills as a cartoonist (if not to the idea of Christmas) after reading this collection of Christmas[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester|Full Review]] <!-- Stibbe -->|-themed cartoons from his archive.|amazonukstyle=<amazonuk>1445663503</amazonuk>}}{{newreview"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|author=Jonathan Pugh[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|title=Pugh's New Year's Resolutionsleft|ratinglink=4https://www.amazon.co.5|genre=Humouruk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0241309824]]  |summarystyle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|=If there's one thing that's for certain, it's that the world is changing==[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe]]=== [[image:4.5star. We're dating onlinejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], we're communicating in ways [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Christmas – the time of traditional trauma. You only have to think about the turkey for that make email seem redundant– once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the downstairs loo to defrost overnight, and when we're shopping we just tell a website where 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 when visit it can be delivered, and how much leeway they have get too friendly with it to want to swap our wishes for whatever eat it . Christmas, though, is they do bring usof course also a time of great boons. But those changes are also supposed to be affecting us – weIt're supposed to use s cash in hand for a smart watch to tell us if we're moving or notlot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, we have to keep up it was always a godsend for postmen with all the latest fads, and we're supposed thank-you letters to prick our ears up and take note when aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a child, and as for the proverbial 'makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they' change their minds about what we're supposed to eat.even try and sell them any other time of the year? [[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722885</amazonuk!-- Doescher -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Luke Rhinehart"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Doescher_Will.jpg|title= Invasionleft|ratinglink= 4https://www.5amazon.co.uk/gp/product/159474985X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=159474985X]]  |genrestyle= Humour "vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary=Super-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universe. And they==[[William Shakespeare've come to earth to have funs the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher]]=== [[image:4. Alien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one day, and he and his family quickly come to love the playful alien5star. But when Louie starts using their computer to hack into government and corporate networksjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], stealing millions from banks to give to others[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] A long time ago, they realise that Louie and his friends mean trouble. As Billy and his family begin in a roller coaster ride of fame and fortunegalaxy far away, as well as there was a man called William Shakespeare, who was able to create a ranking high on the FBI's series of dramatic histories full of machinations most wanted list, the Government soon decides that these aliens are terroristsfoul, rulers most evil and rebellious heroes and must be eliminatedheroines most sturdy. Whilst You may or may not have noticed the aliens are playing games they hope will help humans to see the insanity cinematic version of his original stage play for ''The Force Doth Awaken'', but here at last we get the American politicalactual script, complete with annoying-in-different-ways-to-before droids anew, economic and military systemsreturning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, they soon come to realise that and people keeping it in the Powers that Be family til it hurts. And if you need further encouragement, don't play gamesforget 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: they make war. Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher|amazonuk=Full Review]] <amazonuk>1785651757</amazonuk!-- Goss -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Rod Green"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Goss_600.jpg|titleleft|link=Only Fools and Horseshttps: The Peckham Archives//www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785942719]]  |ratingstyle=4"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||genre=Entertainment |summary==[[Doctor Who: Now We are in the world Are Six Hundred: A Collection of one of the countryTime Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's most famous Rhymes and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003. YesVerse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]], there have been specials since[[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Consider the Doctor. Just how many birthday and more repeats Christmas gifts must he have to clog up the BBC schedules than is really pukkahand out each year, but very few people failed were he to succumb to its charms at one time or another. I'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stony-faced reception keep in touch with even half of ''that'' drop through 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 open bar hatch, life of a Time Lord and ''that'' chandelier scene, but this is much more meatyof some of his friends and enemies. Purporting to be As luck would have it, he has the family archives, found dumped space in Nelson Mandela House, the documents here were passed from pillar his TARDIS to poststock up in advance, from one council worker in a department with a clumsy acronym so my advice to anotherhim – sorry, from them to the police her – and now here they are being published for their social history worthwould be to pop along to his local Earth-based book emporium and get himself ready. Will enough readers find them of worthAnd if you're working on a shorter timescale, with a shorter lifespan, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?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>1849909245</amazonuk!-- Ingram -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Mara Wilson|title= Where Am I Now?"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Famecenter;"|rating= 5[[image:Ingram_Kammie.jpg|genre= Autobiographyleft|summarylink= Mara Wilson has always felt a little young and a little out of placehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785451995?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785451995]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: as the only child on a film set full of adultsleft;"|===[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|Pets]], the first daughter in a house full of boys, the sole clinically depressed member [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It was something of a cheerleading squadrelief when I encountered Annie Ingram and her cocker spaniel Kammie. You see, Annie knows something which has been self-evident to me for a valley girl in New York long time: dogs are perfectly capable of communicating with humans and not just on a neurotic in Californialevel of food!, and an adult the world still remembers as a little girlwalk! or play!. Tackling everything from how she first learned about sex on the set of ''Melrose Place,'' You do require extensive training to losing her mother at a young agebecome fluent, but most dogs will be perfectly willing to getting her first kiss (or was it kisses?) on a celebrity canoe trip, give their time to not being cute enough teach you and all you have to make it in Hollywood, these essays tell do is listen. Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her well and the story pair have allowed us to share some of one young woman's journey from accidental fame to relative obscurity, but also illuminate a universal struggle: learning to accept yourself, and figuring out who you are and where you belongtheir conversations. [[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0143128221</amazonuk!-- Harris -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Tony Stuart"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= Writing Lines[[image:Harris_Glass.jpg|ratinglink= 4http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1908943823/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genre=Humour|summarystyle= George Gordon Wentworth (1946"vertical-align: top; text-2011) lived a humdrum life. He was a barely adequate teacher in a fairly world renowned independent school in Kent and kept a copious diary align: left;"|===[[The Breaking of his quotidian existenceLiam Glass by Charles Harris]]=== [[image:3star. Most of what he recorded was drossjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Teenager Liam Glass is mugged and stabbed yards from his Camden flat. HoweverAs the boy lies comatose, amongst all desperate journalist Jason Worthington scrabbles for the utterly uninteresting tailings of his life there were some nuggets 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 son, and grains to catch gym-owner Royland simply finds himself in the wrong place at the attentionwrong time. Author Tony Stuart has created these amusing anecdotesWe follow this host of ensemble characters in a bleak, panning them out over twenty six episodes which give us the best kaleidoscopic satire of modern media. [[The Breaking of Wentworth – comedy goldLiam Glass by Charles Harris|Full Review]] <!-- LENTE -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lente_10. From losing all the pupils in his charge on a school trip to being arrested on suspicion of terrorismjpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690222/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left; 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-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."||amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524634441</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Graham Fulbright|title=Driving Mad: Maniacs, Morons and the Advanced Motorist's Club|rating[[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente]]===3.5|genre=Humour[[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=I passed my driving test when John F Kennedy was in the White House and I've recently had Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Nine comedians are invited to reapply for my driving licence having achieved a venerable age. When I started driving remote Caribbean island under the roads were kinderguise of working with Dustin Walker, more forgiving places - or put another waya comedic legend. Each fits neatly into one of the archetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, the idiots were fewer and further between. I don't know how long Graham Fulbright washed-up has -been drivingwho has fallen far from his early days; Zoe, but he certainly knows his motoring morons and the rising female star with a new stand-up special coming soon; Dante, who went from being a kid on the streets to the hardest working road comic in ''Driving Mad'' he brings us a fictional sample of their eccentricities. Wellthe business; Oliver, Ithe child-like prop comic who can'm pretty certain that they're fictional t get any respect from his peers; Janet, the insult comic who is past her prime; TJ, the nightly variety show host with a reputation for harassing his female colleagues and guest acts; Ruby, the ultra- but these days you never know.feminist YouTuber and Blogger with a chip on her shoulder; and William, whose redneck character ''Billy the Contractor'' is a far cry from his real personality as a posh millionaire..|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783062584</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Mario Giordano|title=Auntie Poldi Of course, all nine agree because ''when God almighty walks down on a beam of light and asks for your help, what the Sicilian Lionshell else are you going to say?'' [[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] <!-- Scott -->|rating=4-|genrestyle=Crime"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Scott_Eliz.jpg|summarylink=Poldi had not long been widowed when she decided to move from Bavaria to Sicily with the intention of drinking herself to deathhttp://www.amazon.co. She could, of courseuk/dp/1788037006/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Elizabeth, have done this in Germany, but she felt that a sea view was essentialWilliam... Once there, new friends, family already resident on the island and the corpse of a young man, his face blown off Me by a shotgun, whom she found on the local beach, intervened to give her life some meaningS Lynn Scott]]=== [[image:4.5star. For jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Ally is an ordinary woman with teenage children, a while she was husband and a job. Then comes the day when ordinariness flies out of the window. It's not a suspect, but coincidence that (it's the same day she finds Queen Elizabeth I in the pantry and the Bard of Avon in her wig) were no obstacle to her falling for Commissario Vito Montana who was assigned to investigate the casebath. Assisting him (or having him assist her) came naturally What's she going to Poldi do? Well, Elizabeth and before long there was an investigative and personal partnershipWill have their own ideas about that! [[Elizabeth, William.. At least so far as Poldi was concerned.and Me by S Lynn Scott|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908524693</amazonuk!-- Rodford -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Grady Hendrix"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Rodford_Surgeon.jpg|titlelink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178565005X/ref= My Best Friend's Exorcismnosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |ratingstyle= 5"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||genre= Horror==[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=1988Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], Charleston[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] In the second instalment of this series, South Carolina. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinnyhired by a well-dipping goes disatrously wrong, Gretchen begins known local man to acttrack down some missing valuables...different. SheBill Galbraith, a world-famous surgeon at Cambridge's moody. SheAddenbrooke's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearbyHospital who hosts a popular medical television programme, has had his briefcase stolen by his live-in domestic servant, Aurora. Abby's investigation leads her According to some startling discoveries - and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusionGalbraith, the fate this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of Abby and Gretchen his at the hospital. George agrees to look into the theft, assuming it will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship enough relatively easy and straightforward case – little does he know, he's about to beat the devil?|amazonuk=enter a world of deceit and dysfunction. [[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford|Full Review]] <amazonuk>1594748624</amazonuk!-- Jordan -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Kevin MacNeil"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jordan_Tiny.jpg|titlelink=The Brilliant and Foreverhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1760293814/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |ratingstyle= 3.5"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||genre= Humour|summary= You know sometimes when someone tells a joke=[[Our Tiny, everyone else laughs, and you're sat there wondering what was so funny?|amazonukUseless Hearts by Toni Jordan]]===<amazonuk>1846973376</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Christopher Fowler[[image:5star.jpg|titlelink= Bryant and MayCategory: Strange Tide|{{{rating= 3.5}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]]|genre= Crime|summary= The thirteenth outing for Bryant As predicted by Caroline and Janice's mother on Caroline and May Henry's wedding day, their marriage is looking very much like it will be their lastover, albeit 15 years and two daughters further along than predicted. Arthur Bryant Indeed, this is on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuing, which are likely definitely not a good weekend for Janice to confirm that he is suffering from Alzheimerbe babysitting at Caroline'shouse. His condition is worsening almost by There's the split and the day, memory lapses are morphing into full-scale hallucinations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857523422</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Kevin Smith|title=The Voyage awkwardness of the Dolphin|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Dublin 1916: Among girls' schoolteacher being the other woman for a start. Then there's that mistaken identity moment involving the unrest neighbours. At least Janice is well adjusted and antiover her ex-British feeling worsened by the threat husband Alec. She still dreams of conscription into a war seen as nothing to do with the Irish, Trinity College faculty has other distractions. Theyhim, yes, but it'd like a trophy; the skeleton of an Irish s so over! Just as well really… guess who'giant' to be precise. The only glitch is that s at the main trophy contenderdoor? [[Our Tiny, Bernard MacNeill's skeleton, is somewhere difficult to access and all seasoned explorers are otherwise engagedUseless Hearts by Toni Jordan|Full Review]] <!-- Taylor -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Taylor_Scilly. There may be hope thoughjpg|link=http://www. They turn to Fitzmaurice, a student not good enough for anything elseamazon. Fitzmaurice agrees, picking his friends Crozier and Rafferty to go with him. So… ''Gentlemen, lace up your strongest boots and pack your warmest underwear – we're all off to the bloody Arctic!'' Whether battle cry or epitaph, three men and a dog… and an iguana… are going anywayco.uk/dp/178475515X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910124826</amazonuk>|amazonusstyle=<amazonus>1910124826</amazonus>"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|}}{{newreview|author=Tony Hawks|title=Once Upon =[[The Life of a Time in the West… Country|ratingScilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor]]===3|genre=Travel[[image:4.5star.jpg|summarylink=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Meet the Isles of Scilly. (I have often complained in know they should be called that – the author provides a jokey voice handy guide to my partner about life in the sticksetiquette of their name, their nature and the way she moved me from an inner-city flat to slumming it location, etc.) For our more distant readers, they're several chunks of granite rock out in the suburbs Atlantic, where Cornwall is pointing, with fewer bussesjust 2, no takeaways within walking-and-keeping-food-hot distance200 permanent residents. They're big on tourism, and no 'Polish' shops for big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough to turn any car to a can of beer whenever you fancy onerust bucket within years. Things are different with Tony HawksThey're so wee, as here he has purposefully decided to up sticks from London to Somewhereand so idyllic-seeming, Devon – a tiny village where the people who built their own homes decades ago still live in themespecially at night, where slugs are a lot more of a problem you can be mistaken for the wannabe lettuce-grower than they are thinking there would be no need for the metropolitan commuter, and where village halls have the power to turn you into both a Pol Pot dictator if you get on their committee and into a quivering, bruise-inducing wreck if you're the wrong gender police presence. But there is – at a Zumba class…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444794809</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Marian Keyes|title=Making It Up As I Go Along|rating=4least two working at any one time.5|genre=Entertainment|summary=OhAnd one of them in recent years has been Colin Taylor, how the book reviewing gods like to givewho has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a well-known online existence, and equally like which has brought to take awaylife all the whimsical comedy of his work. Here before me is [[The Life of a brand, spanking new collection of journalism Scilly Sergeant by the wonderful Marian Keyes – but it's a proof copy, so there's no photo of the author. Even if over the years I have stopped reading her novels, I have always turned to the author picture to remind myself such sights exist in this worldColin Taylor|Full Review]] <!-- Lloyd -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lloyd_Twas. Himself is a lucky man, for surejpg|link=http://www.amazon.co. But beyond sounding like a letch, what can I say about this – the beauty's third large dose of essays, web columns and other journalismuk/dp/1472125118/ref=nosim? I can start with agreeing that I am not the target audience, but ittag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[['s easy enough to see from these pages exactly what Twas the target isFight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees]]=== [[image:3.5star. So much like that test you do – you know the one, that formulates decisions about the age jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It's Christmas Eve and commonality Mum has arranged everything. All she now has to do is await the arrival 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, the relatives and still come up with a huge numberthe food shopping delivery. Little does Mum know that those two elements alone have the potential to ruin everything. [['Twas the Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees|Full Review]]|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718182529</amazonuk>}}{{newreview<!-- Phinn -->|author= Jean-Yves Ferri|titlestyle= Asterix and the Missing Scroll (Album 36)"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Phinn_Virgin.jpg|left|ratinglink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444779400/ref=nosim?tag= 5thebookbag-21]]|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, but now that I reread them I can't help but wonder why"|===[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], because they are so full of hilarious jokes that I definitely wouldn't have understood when I was younger. I laughed loud [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on a plane and hard head to myself twice within either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, far away from the first two pages of Asterix and madness at home, last minute dashes to the Missing Scrollshops on Christmas Eve, so I'd definitely say and food cupboard stockpiles that this was would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a hitmere 36 hours.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1510100458</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Spadge Whittaker|title=Braver Than BritainBut I do remember the feeling of Christmas when I was younger, back when it was magical, Occasionally|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=In which Spadge researches Britain's top ten fears and faces them all over back when you knew exactly what the course 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 yearchild. We[[The Virgin Mary're quite a fearful society, you know. And the things we fear most are, in orders Got Nits by Gervase Phinn|Full Review]] <!-- North -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: heights (acrophobia), snakes (ophidiophobia), public speaking (glossophobia), spiders (arachnophobia), small spaces (claustrophobia), mice (musophobia), needles (trypanophobia), flying (pteromerhanophobia), crowds (agoraphobia) and clowns (coulrophobia)top; text-align: center;"|[[image:North_Romeo.jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>0993429904<http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356508536/amazonuk>ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{newreview|authorstyle= Mike Bullen"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||title= Trust|rating= 4|genre= General Fiction[[Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|summarylink= Greg and Amanda Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] For all those who think tragedy plots are happy. Unmarried, but together thirteen years too restricted and with two young daughtersprescribed, they are very much in loveread on. Dan and Sarah aren't so fortunate. Their marriage is going through the motions, and they're staying together for In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of options en route to hitting the sake of their troubled teenage sonbottle. Following a business conference Likewise, she could have turned away from homeher predestined path at no end of junctures. And to what result? Well, one bad decision sends happy marriage and a happy couple into turmoilkid called Ben, and turns an unhappy couple into lovebecause the leads have just banged people's young dream. As secrets heads together and betrayals threaten to send both relationships out of controlstopped the quarrelling, there's only one thing that can keep everything from falling apart: Trust|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751559253<or Death by Tybalt (him) or a long life running an establishment curing murderous women, such as a Lady M (her). [[Romeo and/amazonuk>or Juliet by Ryan North|Full Review]]}}{{newreview<!-- Crowley -->|author=Dan Rhodes-|titlestyle=When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Crowley_Shoot.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1783296518/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle=General Fiction"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary= Two people are on a train on their way to==[[Shoot by Kieran Crowley]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] I make something of all things, a WI meeting where the ladies habit of All Bottoms will be lectured on the non-existence of Godbeing late to discover good writers, in this case getting to Crowley after he is no longer with us. One of the two people The result is Professor Richard Dawkins, rampant atheist, hectoring scientist chappie, and all-round devotee of ''Deal or No Dealthat what is billed as ''an F.X. The other is Smee, his mono-named assistant, amanuensis or Shepherd mystery'male secretary'. Smee will come to with all the fore when the weather sets in and optimism of there being more to come has the train journey has to be abandoned some way short poignancy of its ultimate destinationbeing, Upper Bottom. Instead if not the pair fetch up at the isolated yet friendly community last of Market Hortona short line, and the only option for accommodation is taken – yes, the diedcertainly one of a few. [[Shoot by Kieran Crowley|Full Review]] <!-in-theDO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -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…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910709018</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Rob Temple|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 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 Like|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary= With over 100 chapters on different aspects of Britain and Britishness, this book is both fascinating and hilarious. Just looking 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 rugby. 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 to the press. Overcome with doubt and fear, he goes 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 one who wishes to help Will achieve his ends, and so possess the body of the hapless Will in order to finish what he started. 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>0715650505</amazonuk>}}{{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>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>}}