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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreview|authorclass-"wikitable" cellpadding=Colin Taylor"15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> |title=The Life of a Scilly Sergeant<!-- Coulton -->|rating=4.5-|genrestyle=Travel"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473669588.jpg|summarylink=Meet the Isles of Scillyhttp://www.amazon.co. (I know they should be called that – the author provides a handy guide to the etiquette of their name, their nature and location, etcuk/dp/1473669588/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton]]=== [[image:4star.) For our more distant readersjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], they[[:Category:Women're several chunks of granite rock out in the Atlantic, where Cornwall s Fiction|Women's Fiction]] Lex Coulton's debut novel is pointinga story about mistakes, with just 2failures,200 permanent residentsand relationships. They're big on tourismThe main protagonist, Frances Pilgrim, is a sixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with her best friend Jackson, a work colleague, and big on growing flowers in is grappling with the tropical climate increasingly eccentric behaviour of her mother. This relationship is complicated by the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough to turn any car to a rust bucket within fact that Frances's father disappeared at sea when she was five yearsold. They're so wee, and so idyllic[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton|Full Review]] <!-- van LENTE -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-seeming, especially at night, you can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presencealign: center;"|[[image:1683690346.jpg|link=http://www.amazon. But there is – at least two working at any one timeco. And one of them in recent years has been Colin Taylor, who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a welluk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-known online existence, which has brought to life all the whimsical comedy of his work.21]]  |amazonukstyle=<amazonuk>178475515X</amazonuk>"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|}}===[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente]]==={{newreview[[image:4star.jpg|authorlink=Josie Lloyd and Emlyn ReesCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|title='Twas the Fight Before ChristmasCrime]], [[:Category: A ParodyHumour|rating=3.5Humour]]|genre=Humour|summary=It's Christmas Eve Comic-Cons are a place of wonder 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 Mum has arranged everything. All she now has to do is await creators, plus the arrival chance of the relatives and the food shopping deliverymaybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. Little does Mum know that those two elements alone have However, when his rival is found dead, Mike is forced to navigate every dark corner of the potential con in order to ruin everythingclear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, in doing so, may just unravel a dark secret behind a legendary industry creator.[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472125118</amazonuk!-- Curran -->}}{{newreview|-|author=Ryan Northstyle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690133.jpg|titlelink=Romeo andhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690133/or Julietref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |ratingstyle=3.5"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||genre=Humour==[[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=For all those who think tragedy plots Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] You are too restricted a lass of twenty eight. Plucky, penniless and prescribed, read in Regency era London the race is on. In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of options en route to hitting the bottlefind a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to life as an eternal spinster. Likewise, she could have turned away Along your journey you'll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to save you from her predestined path at no end of junctures. And to what result? Wella life alone, happy marriage and fired by a kid called Benrogueish sense for adventure. When it comes to suitors though, because you'll have to make the leads have just banged people's heads together ultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, wholesome, rugged and stopped caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, or the quarrellingmad, bad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. With orphans, werewolves, or Death by Tybalt (him) or a long life running lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the way, it's clear this isn't going to be an establishment curing murderous women, such as a easy decision... [[My Lady M (her). 's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|amazonuk=Full Review]] <amazonuk>0356508536</amazonuk!-- Jester -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Gervase Phinn"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jester_Forever.jpg|titleleft|link= The Virgin Mary's Got Nitshttps://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1510704361]]  |ratingstyle= 4.5"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|genre= Humour|summary= Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on ==[[Forever After: a plane and head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is fardark comedy by David Jester]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], far away from the madness at home[[:Category:Horror|Horror]], last minute dashes to [[:Category:Fantasy|Fasntasy]] Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the shops on Christmas Eveoffer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, a grim reaper and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for his friends Chip (a month, nor stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a mere 36 hours. But I do remember stoner in the feeling of Christmas when I was younger, back when it was magical, and back when you knew exactly what the season would bring records department) as they grapple with carol concerts their long lives and school nativities and Christmas partiesfinding a clean surface to sit on in their flat. This book is an anthology of those moments, and it took me right back to the wonder of Christmas as [[Forever After: a child.dark comedy by David Jester|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- Stibbe -->1444779400</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Kieran Crowley-|titlestyle= Shoot"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating= 4[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|genre= Crimeleft|summarylink= 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 ushttps://www. The result is that what is billed as ''an Famazon.Xco. Shepherd mystery'' with all the optimism of there being more to come has the poignancy of being, if not the last of a short line, certainly one of a fewuk/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. F5star.X. Shepherd jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Christmas – he doesn't like his first name and prefers just "Shepherd" is, technically, a columnistthe time of traditional trauma. He's been sacked by one New York newspaper You only have to think about the turkey for that – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the downstairs loo to defrost overnight, and is writing a weekly column for anotherif that failed the hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. I donNowadays it't know much about journalism, but I'm guessing one column a week doesn't pay much as a rule…which explains why Shepherds all having to make sure it's soapsuitably free-washed-foul-mouthed editor (read the book, range and organic – but not too organic that you'll see what I mean) expects him can go and visit it, and get too friendly with it to want to turn in some genuine journalism as well: front pageeat it. Christmas, though, seat is of course also a time of your pants stuffgreat boons. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783296518</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Gray Jolliffe|title=The First Ever Christmas: And Who It's cash in hand for a lot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, it was always a godsend for postmen with all the thank-you letters to Blame|rating=5|genre=Humour|summary=If I tell aunties you saw twice a secret, will decade that your parents made you promise not to tell anyone? Wellwrite out in long-hand as a child, I really don't like Christmas: it's my least favourite and as for the makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any other time of the 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. It's all too commercialised for me, with a coating of faux religion. I've never found it in the least funny ? [[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe|Full Review]] <!-- that is, until I found Gray Jolliffe's ''The First Ever ChristmasDoescher -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image: And Who's to Blame''Doescher_Will. 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-themed cartoons from his archive.jpg|left|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>1445663503<https://amazonuk>www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/159474985X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=159474985X]]}}{{newreview|authorstyle=Jonathan Pugh"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||title=Pugh==[[William Shakespeare's New Year's Resolutionsthe Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher]]===|rating=[[image:4.55star.jpg|genrelink=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] |summary=If A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, there's one thing that's for certainwas a man called William Shakespeare, who was able to create a series of dramatic histories full of machinations most foul, it's that the world is changingrulers most evil and rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy. We're dating onlineYou may or may not have noticed the cinematic version of his original stage play for ''The Force Doth Awaken'', but here at last we're communicating get the actual script, complete with annoying-in -different-ways that make email seem redundant-to-before droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and when we're shopping we just tell a website where and when people keeping it can be delivered, and how much leeway they have to swap our wishes for whatever in the family til it is they do bring ushurts. But those changes are also supposed to be affecting us And if you need further encouragement, don't forget his audience only demanded three parts of Henry VI – here the series is so popular we're supposed on to use a smart watch to tell us if wepart seven – surely making this over twice as good… [[William Shakespeare're moving or not, we have to keep up with s the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part 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.Seventh by Ian Doescher|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722885</amazonuk!-- Goss -->}}{{newreview|-|author= Luke Rhinehartstyle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Goss_600.jpg|title= Invasionleft|ratinglink= 4https://www.amazon.co.5|genreuk/gp/product/1785942719?ie= Humour |summaryUTF8&tag=Superthebookbag-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universe. And they've come to earth to have fun. Alien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one day, and he and his family quickly come to love the playful alien. But when Louie starts using their computer to hack into government 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 corporate networks, stealing millions from banks to give to others, they realise that Louie and his friends mean troubleRussell T Davies]]=== [[image:4. As Billy 5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and his family begin a roller coaster ride of fame and fortune, as well as a ranking high on the FBIVerse|Children's most wanted listRhymes and Verse]], the Government soon decides that these aliens are terrorists[[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Consider the Doctor. Just how many birthday and Christmas gifts must be eliminated. Whilst the aliens are playing games they hope will help humans he have to see the insanity of the American politicalhand out each year, economic and military systems, they soon come were he to realise that keep in touch with even half of his companions? He would certainly need a few novelty gifts for some of them, say, for example, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the Powers life of a Time Lord and that Be don't play games: they make warof some of his friends and enemies. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785651757</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Rod Green|title=Only Fools As luck would have it, he has the space in his TARDIS to stock up in advance, so my advice to him – sorry, her – would be to pop along to his local Earth-based book emporium and Horses: The Peckham Archives|rating=4|genre=Entertainment |summary=We are in the world of get himself ready. And if you're working on a shorter timescale, with a shorter lifespan, and thinking perhaps just one of gift season ahead, well my advice is pretty much the country's most famous and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003same. Yes, there have been specials since, [[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss 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 time or anotherRussell T Davies|Full Review]] <!-- Ingram -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Ingram_Kammie. I'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stony-faced reception of ''that'' drop through the open bar hatch, and ''that'' chandelier scene, but this is much more meatyjpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co. Purporting to be the family archives, found dumped in Nelson Mandela House, the documents here were passed from pillar to post, from one council worker in a department uk/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 a clumsy acronym to another, from them to the police – and now here they are being published for their social history worthKammie by Annie Ingram]]=== [[image:4star. Will enough readers find them of worth, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>1849909245</amazonuk>}}Category:{{{newreviewrating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|author= Mara Wilson|title= Where Am I Now?Pets]], [[:Category: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental FameHumour|rating= 5Humour]]|genre= Autobiography|summary= Mara Wilson has always felt It was something of a little young relief when I encountered Annie Ingram and her cocker spaniel Kammie. You see, Annie knows something which has been self-evident to me for a little out long time: dogs are perfectly capable of place: as the only child communicating with humans and not just on a film set full level of adultsfood!, the first daughter in a house full of boyswalk! or play!. You do require extensive training to become fluent, but most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their time to teach you and all you have to do is listen. Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her well and the sole clinically depressed member pair have allowed us to share some of a cheerleading squad, a valley girl in New York and a neurotic in California, and an adult the world still remembers as a little girltheir conversations. Tackling everything from how she first learned about sex on the set of ''Melrose Place,'' to losing her mother at a young age, to getting her first kiss (or was it kisses?) on a celebrity canoe trip, to not being cute enough to make it in Hollywood, these essays tell the story of one young woman's journey from accidental fame to relative obscurity, but also illuminate a universal struggle: learning to accept yourself, and figuring out who you are and where you belong[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram|Full Review]] <!-- Harris -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Harris_Glass. jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>0143128221<http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1908943823/amazonuk>ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{newreview|authorstyle= Tony Stuart"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title= Writing Lines|rating= 4.5|genre=Humour|summary= George Gordon Wentworth (1946-2011) lived a humdrum life. He was a barely adequate teacher in a fairly world renowned independent school in Kent and kept a copious diary [[The Breaking of his quotidian existenceLiam Glass by Charles Harris]]=== [[image:3star. Most of what he recorded was dross. Howeverjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], amongst all the utterly uninteresting tailings of [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Teenager Liam Glass is mugged and stabbed yards from his life there were some nuggets and grains to catch Camden flat. As the attention. Author Tony Stuart has created these amusing anecdotesboy lies comatose, panning them out over twenty six episodes which give us 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 son, and gym-owner Royland simply finds himself in the wrong place at the best wrong time. We follow this host of Wentworth – comedy gold. From losing all the pupils ensemble characters in his charge on a school trip to being arrested on suspicion bleak, kaleidoscopic satire of modern media. [[The Breaking of terrorism; from waking up in bed between the married couple the morning after their wedding, to destroying a ski run; from appearing fullLiam Glass by Charles Harris|Full Review]] <!--frontal naked in a sheepLENTE -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-|authorstyle=Graham Fulbright|title=Driving Mad"width: 10%; vertical-align: Maniacs, Morons and the Advanced Motorist's Clubtop; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lente_10.jpg|ratinglink=3http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1683690222/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle=Humour"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary=I passed my driving test when John F Kennedy was in the White House and I've recently had to reapply for my driving licence having achieved a venerable age==[[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star. When I started driving the roads were kinderjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Nine comedians are invited to a remote Caribbean island under the guise of working with Dustin Walker, a comedic legend. Each fits neatly into one of the archetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, more forgiving places the washed-up has- or put another waybeen who has fallen far from his early days; Zoe, the idiots were fewer and further between. I don't know how long Graham Fulbright has been drivingrising female star with a new stand-up special coming soon; Dante, but he certainly knows his motoring morons and who went from being a kid on the streets to the hardest working road comic in the business; Oliver, the child-like prop comic who can''Driving Mad'' he brings us a fictional sample of their eccentricities. t get any respect from his peers; Janet, the insult comic who is past her prime; WellTJ, I'm pretty certain that theythe nightly variety show host with a reputation for harassing his female colleagues and guest acts; Ruby, the ultra-feminist YouTuber and Blogger with a chip on her shoulder; and William, whose redneck character ''Billy the Contractor're fictional - but these days you never know' is a far cry from his real personality as a posh millionaire...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783062584Of course, all nine agree because ''when God almighty walks down on a beam of light and asks for your help, what the hell else are you going to say?'' [[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] </amazonuk!-- Scott -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Mario Giordano"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Scott_Eliz.jpg|titlelink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788037006/ref=Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lionsnosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |ratingstyle=4"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||genre=Crime==[[Elizabeth, William... and Me by S Lynn Scott]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|summarylink=Poldi had not long been widowed when she decided to move from Bavaria to Sicily Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Ally is an ordinary woman with teenage children, a husband and a job. Then comes the intention day when ordinariness flies out of drinking herself to deaththe window. She could, of course, have done this It's not a coincidence that it's the same day she finds Queen Elizabeth I in Germany, but she felt that a sea view was essential. Once there, new friends, family already resident on the island pantry and the corpse Bard of a young man, his face blown off by a shotgun, whom Avon in her bath. What's she found on the local beach, intervened going to give her life some meaning. For a while she was a suspectdo? Well, but Elizabeth and Will have their own ideas about that (! [[Elizabeth, William... and her wig) were no obstacle to her falling for Commissario Vito Montana who was assigned to investigate the caseMe by S Lynn Scott|Full Review]] <!-- Rodford -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Rodford_Surgeon. Assisting him (or having him assist her) came naturally to Poldi and before long there was an investigative and personal partnershipjpg|link=http://www.amazon. At least so far as Poldi was concernedco.uk/dp/178565005X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |amazonukstyle=<amazonuk>1908524693</amazonuk>"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|}}{{newreview|author= Grady Hendrix|title= My Best Friend=[[The Surgeon's Exorcism|ratingCase: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford]]=== 5|genre= Horror[[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=1988, CharlestonCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], South Carolina. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] In the second instalment of skinny-dipping goes disatrously wrongthis series, Gretchen begins to act.Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a well-known local man to track down some missing valuables..different. SheBill Galbraith, a world-famous surgeon at Cambridge's moody. SheAddenbrooke's irritableHospital who hosts a popular medical television programme, has had his briefcase stolen by his live-in domestic servant, Aurora. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearbyAccording to Galbraith, this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of his at the hospital. Abby's investigation leads her George agrees to some startling discoveries - and by look into the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusiontheft, the fate of Abby and Gretchen assuming it will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship enough to beat the devil?relatively easy and straightforward case – little does he know, he's about to enter a world of deceit and dysfunction. [[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594748624</amazonuk!-- Jordan -->}}{{newreview|author= Kevin MacNeil-|titlestyle=The Brilliant and Forever"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jordan_Tiny.jpg|ratinglink= 3http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1760293814/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genre= Humour|summarystyle= You know sometimes when someone tells a joke"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Our Tiny, everyone else laughs, and you're sat there wondering what was so funny?Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>1846973376</amazonuk>}}Category:{{{newreviewrating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|author= Christopher Fowler|title= Bryant and MayWomen's Fiction]], [[:Category: Strange TideHumour|rating= 3.5Humour]]|genre= Crime|summary= The thirteenth outing for Bryant As predicted by Caroline and May is looking very much like it will be their last. Arthur Bryant is Janice's mother on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuing, which are likely to confirm that he is suffering from AlzheimerCaroline and Henry's. His condition wedding day, their marriage is worsening almost by the dayover, memory lapses are morphing into full-scale hallucinationsalbeit 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857523422</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Kevin Smith|title=The Voyage of the Dolphin|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Dublin 1916: Among There's the unrest split and anti-British feeling worsened by the threat awkwardness of conscription into a war seen as nothing to do with the Irish, Trinity College faculty has girls' schoolteacher being the other distractionswoman for a start. TheyThen there'd like a trophy; s that mistaken identity moment involving the skeleton of an Irish 'giant' to be preciseneighbours. The only glitch At least Janice is that the main trophy contenderwell adjusted and over her ex-husband Alec. She still dreams of him, yes, Bernard MacNeillbut it's skeleton, is somewhere difficult to access and all seasoned explorers are otherwise engaged. There may be hope though. They turn to Fitzmauriceso over! Just as well really… guess who's at the door? [[Our Tiny, a student not good enough for anything elseUseless Hearts by Toni Jordan|Full Review]] <!-- Taylor -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Taylor_Scilly.jpg|link=http://www. Fitzmaurice agrees, picking his friends Crozier and Rafferty to go with himamazon.co. 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 anyway.|amazonukuk/dp/178475515X/ref=<amazonuk>1910124826</amazonuk>|amazonusnosim?tag=<amazonus>1910124826</amazonus>thebookbag-21]]}}{{newreview|authorstyle=Tony Hawks"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||title=Once Upon a Time in the West… Country|rating=3|genre=Travel[[The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|summarylink=I have often complained in a jokey voice to my partner about life in the sticksCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], and [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Meet the Isles of Scilly. (I know they should be called that – the way she moved me from an inner-city flat author provides a handy guide to slumming it in the suburbs with fewer bussesetiquette of their name, no takeaways within walking-their nature and-keeping-food-hot distancelocation, etc.) For our more distant readers, and no they'Polish' shops for a can re several chunks of beer whenever you fancy one. Things are different with Tony Hawksgranite rock out in the Atlantic, as here he has purposefully decided to up sticks from London to Somewherewhere Cornwall is pointing, Devon – a tiny village where the people who built their own homes decades ago still live in themwith just 2, where slugs are a lot more of a problem for the wannabe lettuce-grower than they are for the metropolitan commuter200 permanent residents. They're big on tourism, and where village halls have big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the power to turn you into both a Pol Pot dictator if you get on their committee and into Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough to turn any car to a quiveringrust bucket within years. They're so wee, bruiseand so idyllic-inducing wreck if seeming, especially at night, you're the wrong gender can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presence. But there is – at least two working at a Zumba class…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444794809</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Marian Keyes|title=Making It Up As I Go Along|rating=4any 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>}}