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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]]==Humour==__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreview|authorclass-"wikitable" cellpadding=Zadie Smith"15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--><!-- van LENTE -->|title=White Teeth-|ratingstyle=5"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|genre=Literary Fiction[[image:1683690346.jpg|summarylink=Some books sneak up on youhttp://www. Others are thrown at you from every corner of the media to the extent that you almost make a conscious decision NOT to read them, or at least, not yetamazon. Let the furore die downco. If they're still around in a few years, your subconscious whispers, maybe we'll go see what all the fuss was about. |amazonukuk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=<amazonuk>0241954576</amazonuk>}}thebookbag-21]]

{{newreview|authorstyle=Ludwig Bechstein, Axel Sceffler and Julia Donaldson"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||title===[[The Gloomster|ratingCon Artist by Fred Van Lente]]=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=We've all been there. Finding fault with everything around us, and perhaps picking on one particular irritant that gets us so rattled, tetchy and narked all we can do is invoke "Hell and damnation!" down on all creation - including, of course, ourselves. After all, our lot is so bad it won't make anything much worse.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571274242</amazonuk>}}

[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|author=Stella Gibbons|title=Conference at Cold Comfort Farm|rating=4.5}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|genre=Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|summary=There are no Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm.Humour]]

To those Comic-Cons are a place of you who've not read Stella Gibbons' magnificient [[Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons|original novel]]wonder and sanctuary for many people, this is hardly likely to be a major shock and when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic- to the Gibbons fans amongst usCon, though, this is chilling news indeed. And when RobertPostehe's child Flora returns to the farm - now a modernised monstrosity full of members of the International Thinkers' Group – sixteen years after her original visit, the news get graver looking for both that and sanctuary with other fans and gravercreators, as plus the cows Fecklesschance of maybe, Gracelessjust maybe reuniting with his ex. However, Pointlesswhen his rival is found dead, and Aimless have passed away of shame due Mike is forced to the disgrace navigate every dark corner of the bull Big Business. With the menfolk trying con in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to make their fortunes abroadzombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, and the women strugglingin doing so, it's left to Flora to try to save the day once againmay just unravel a dark secret behind a legendary industry creator.[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099528681</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]

{{newreview<!-- Coulton -->|author=Philip Jose Farmer-|titlestyle=The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"width: The Peerless Peer10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"||rating=4[[image:1473669588.5jpg|genrelink=Crime (Historical)|summary=It's World War One, and Britain has got wind of some brilliant scientific research, that has created a new bacterial weapon capable of wiping out the world's supply of sauerkrauthttp://www. But a dastardly German has stolen the formulaamazon. Before he can give a variant based on boiled meat, cabbage and potatoes to the kaiser, his most recent nemesis - Sherlock Holmes, no less - must be brought out of beekeeping retirementco. Cue an adventure and a half, as he and Watson take to the skies for the first time in their hectic lives, end up in darkest Africa, and encounter a certain yodelling, longuk/dp/1473669588/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-haired nobleman, more than up to the name of King of the Jungle...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857681206</amazonuk>}}21]]

{{newreview|authorstyle=Alain Mabanckou"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title=Memoirs of a Porcupine|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=The protagonist of this novel is an ordinary Congolese porcupine until Papa Kibandi performs an ancient ritual involving a hallucinogenic cocktail called ''mayamvumbi'', and transforms him into his son's harmful double. The insecure younger Kibandi becomes more and more embittered as his life goes on, and sends his porcupine to 'eat' anybody he feels the least bit threatened [[Falling Short by, a process whereby that person's life essence is sucked out, killing them instantly. Over one hundred victims later and following his master's death at the hands of a vengeful baby, our narrator retires to the hollow of a baobab tree where he writes this confessional.|amazonukLex Coulton]]===<amazonuk>1846687675</amazonuk>}}

[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{newreview|author=Tom Holt{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|title=LifeGeneral Fiction]], Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages[[:Category:Humour|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|summary=Imagine a world where pigs can do quantum mechanicsHumour]], and where female solicitors turn into chickens. Add a dry cleaner that moves (literally, from the roof tiles to the basement) from town to town every forty-eight hours, a couple of medieval knights who[[:Category:Women've fought every day for centuries, and a magical ring (or pencil sharpener, depending on the mood its Fiction|Women's in). Stir in a bit of property developing, a thaumaturgical detective and an old man who lives in a cloud. Result? You haven't even begun to probe the depths of this crazy, absurd, complex and hilarious book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841495077</amazonuk>}}Fiction]]

{{newreview|author=Steve Hely|title=How I Became a Famous Novelist|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=With an uncompromising title like Lex Coulton'How I Became s debut novel is a Famous Novelist'story about mistakes, failures, and relationships. The main protagonist, Frances Pilgrim, this clearly isn't intended to be is a subtle book. So I can hardly complain when sixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with her best friend Jackson, a cynical look at work colleague, and is grappling with the writing industry swings raw punches in every directionincreasingly eccentric behaviour of her mother. It just isn This relationship is complicated by the fact that Frances't my sort of humour, but equally, if you rave about 'The Office' you will likely enjoy this book far more than I have dones father disappeared at sea when she was five years old.[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849015724</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]

{{newreview<!-- van LENTE -->|author=Charles Lamb-|titlestyle=Great Food"width: A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig and Other Essays10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=4[[image:1683690346.jpg|genrelink=Cookery|summary=''A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig'' is a collection of food-related essays from the early 19th century, with a humorous benthttp://www.amazon. They're but a few pages each - a light read to bring a smile to your face, then on to the next little foodie treatco.|amazonukuk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=<amazonuk>0241951003</amazonuk>}}thebookbag-21]]

{{newreview|authorstyle=Manu Joseph"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||title=Serious Men|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente]]==Ayyan Mani is a Dalit, an untouchable, stuck in a flat in Mumbai's slums but hoping, somehow, for a better future for his son. Working at the Insitute of Theory and Research he uses all his cunning and wiles to stay ahead of the game amongst the Brahmin scientists. Does he have the intelligence, and nerves, to convince everyone that his son, against all odds, is a genius?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848543085</amazonuk>}}

[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|author=John Saunders|title=The Vernham Chronicles|rating=4}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|genre=Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|summary=Set amidst the rolling British countryside around Vernbury Vale is the little village of Vernham. Anyone who lives in a village will recognise it immediately, with its cobbled streets and Tudor buildings. There was some damage during the war (which might, or might not have been down to a lighthouse folly constructed by a local landowner on his lake) but the gaps have been filled with some beautiful, er, mock Tudor buildings. Almost unique and nearly beautiful as the village is, it's not the star of The Vernham Chronicles. The stars are the people who live in Vernham.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907499598</amazonuk>}}Humour]]

{{newreview|author=Martin Millar|title=The Good Fairies Comic-Cons are a place of New York|rating=4|genre=Fantasy|summary=In this fairytale of New Yorkwonder and sanctuary for many people, and when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, the Cornish fairy Kinghe's children are living in exile, hiding in Central Park from a nasty industrial revolution back home. They have friends from Ireland looking for both that and sanctuary with themother fans and creators, and all have plus the ability to startle the local squirrelschance of maybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. Elsewhere two innocent scallywag fairies fleeing Scotland have arrivedHowever, and adopted a human each. Heather has joined up with Dinniewhen his rival is found dead, Mike is forced to navigate every dark corner of the city's worst busker, a fat, alcoholic con in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and lonely fan of TV ads for phone sex, while Morag befriends Kerryin doing so, may just unravel a dark secret behind a dying kleptomaniac beauty, just as alone for different reasonslegendary industry creator.[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749954205</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]

{{newreview<!-- Curran -->|author=Gervase Phinn-|titlestyle=Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Stars"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=4[[image:1683690133.jpg|genrelink=Humour|summary=I spent many of my teenage years reading James Herriot's books, and I found that this collection of anecdotes and poems by Gervase Phinn had a real flavour of Herriot about ithttp://www. Perhaps it was just the setting, for Phinn was a school inspector in the Dales for many years, but I think he also has that knack of capturing a situation, and a character, and bringing out the humour without making the person appear ridiculousamazon. Here he collates stories from his other books, some Christmassy and others not, and he relates them with several of his own poems interspersed betweenco.|amazonukuk/dp/1683690133/ref=nosim?tag=<amazonuk>0141036435</amazonuk>}}thebookbag-21]]

{{newreview|authorstyle=Bob Servant and Neil Forsyth"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title=Bob Servant: Hero of Dundee|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=After [[Delete This at Your Peril: One ManMy Lady's Fearless Exchanges with the Internet Spammers Choosing by Bob Servant|bursting into public consciousnessKitty Curran and Larissa Zageris]] as the scourge of email spammers, Broughty Ferry's resident polymath Bob Servant has returned. This time, he expands upon the colourful life only hinted at in his previous oeuvre, Delete this at Your Peril. And what a life it has been. He steers us from his humble beginnings, his broken family and traumatic schooldays, through the rise and fall of his window cleaning empire, and his role in Dundee's brutal cheeseburger wars. Along the way, we witness his struggles with, respectively, women ('skirt'), his simpleton sidekick Frank, and the demon drink.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841589209</amazonuk>}}==

[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|author=P K Munroe|title=You Can Stick It|rating=3.5}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|genre=Humour]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|summary=Literary merit? Absolutely none!Historical Fiction]]

PlotYou are a lass of twenty eight. Plucky, penniless and in Regency era London the race is on to find a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to life as an eternal spinster. Along your journey you'll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to save you from a life alone, characterisation and all that other stuff fired by a rogueish sense for adventure. When it comes to suitors though, you usually talk about? Nope – there'll have to make the ultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, wholesome, rugged and caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, or the mad, bad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. With orphans, werewolves, long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the way, it's none of that, eitherclear this isn't going to be an easy decision...[[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|Full Review]]

Ah, so it's non<!-fiction? Well, calling it ''fact'' would be stretching things a little too far- Jester -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jester_Forever.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1510704361]]

{{newreview|authorstyle=Axel Scheffler"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title=How to Keep a Pet Squirrel|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=So, how do you keep [[Forever After: a pet squirrel? Well, the simple answer is that you don't. They're wild animals and not at all suitable for keeping in captivity, but accepted thinking didn't always run that way. It was whilst he was dipping into ''The Children's Encyclopaedia'' of 1910 that Axel Scheffler came across a small but indispensible guide to obtaining and caring for your pet squirrel. His inventive mind came up with these beautiful illustrations to accompany the text and if you're looking for an amusing gift for an animal-loving adult then this book could well be the answer.|amazonukdark comedy by David Jester]]===<amazonuk>0571255981</amazonuk>}}

[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|author=PJ Vanston|title=Crump|rating=3}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|genre=General FictionParanormal]], [[:Category:Horror|summary=It's Kevin Crump's first day as a lecturer at Thames Metropolitan University - an ex-polytechnic. It's the happiest day of his lifeHorror]], and he can't wait to see all that it holds, and make a difference to all his students. And then it hits him[[:Category: the relentless pettiness of authority figures, the students who can't string two sentences together, the lowering of standards in search of higher test scores, so more money from foreign students, and political correctness gone (as I believe the saying goes) mad.Fantasy|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848762852</amazonuk>}}Fasntasy]]

{{newreview|author=John Lennon|title=In His Own Write Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and A Spaniard in gets made the Works|rating=3|genre=Humour|summary=During the height offer of Beatlemaniahis lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, John Lennon used to doodle or write short poems or nonsense stories to pass a grim reaper and his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a stoner in the time (records department) as they grapple with their long lives and there must have been finding a good deal of time clean surface to pass away sit on tour, if only waiting for screaming fans to leave them alone and go back home)in their flat. Some of them were seen [[Forever After: a dark comedy by Tom Maschler, literary editor at Jonathan Cape, who encouraged him to produce more. The results were published in two very successful short books in 1964 and 1965.David Jester|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099530422</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]

{{newreview<!-- Stibbe -->|author=John Lindsay-|titlestyle=Emails From An Asshole"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=4[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|genre=Humourleft|summarylink=Some classified ads are crying out for trollinghttps://www. John Lindsay replies to them, spins them a yarn, and strings them along for as long as possibleamazon. Sometimes the advert is fairly innocuous and he emails them anywayco. These are emails from an asshole, after all.|amazonukuk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=<amazonuk>1402778279</amazonuk>}}0241309824]]

{{newreview|authorstyle=A J Jacobs"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||title=My Experimental Life|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe]]==A J Jacobs has a reputation for setting himself onerous tasks. His first book was about reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica; his second detailed a year spent according to the Biblical precepts. In My Experimental Life, he recounts nine briefer episodes of living outside his comfort zone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099547422</amazonuk>}}

[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|author=Seth Grahame-Smith|title=Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter|rating=3.5}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|genre=Humour|summary='Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.' That quote, on the Statue of Liberty, was probably not designed with the inclusion of vampires in mind. But by some means or another North America is rife with the things – hiding in plain sight, as the older ones can bear sunlight, with the help of darkened glasses. It might just come down to one eager young man to rid his new country of such things]], on his way to something he’s a bit more known for.[[:Category:Short Stories|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849014086</amazonuk>}}Short Stories]]

{{newreview|author=Jane AustenChristmas – the time of traditional trauma. You only have to think about the turkey for that – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the downstairs loo to defrost overnight, Seth Grahameand 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-Smith range and Tony Lee|title=Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel|rating=3|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=It is a truth universally acknowledged organic – but not too organic that a zombie story of any renown will not remain simply a zombie story. Before you can say ''the risen undead'' go and visit it will become a series of books, inspiring others, and/or lead get too friendly with it to want to the same story being published in many different guiseseat it. Here, thenChristmas, on its way to Hollywoodthough, is Jane Austen’s story of Lizzie Bennetcourse also a time of great boons. It's cash in hand for a lot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, it was always a godsend for postmen with all the feisty young woman trying thank-you letters to ignore Mr Darcy while fighting off the ''manky unmentionables'' – at least she is until the hidden truths open up to heraunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a child, just and as for the soft soils makers of Hertfordshire do to yield their once-human remains. And this Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any other time it’s in graphic novel form.of the year? [[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848566948</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]

{{newreview<!-- Doescher -->|author=Carl McInerney-|titlestyle=The Funniest Football Joke Book Ever"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"||rating=3[[image:Doescher_Will.5jpg|genre=Confident Readersleft|summarylink=Who scored the most goals in the Greek Mythology League? The centaur forwardhttps://www. Badoom boom tshhhhamazon. It's a football joke book, packed to the gills with all sorts of cheesiness and sillinessco. Funniest everuk/gp/product/159474985X? Perhaps not, but it's not too bad.|amazonukie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=<amazonuk>1849391114</amazonuk>}}159474985X]]

{{newreview|authorstyle=Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title=Winnie's Jokes|rating=2.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Who turns off the lights at Halloween? The lights witch. What does an Australian witch ride on? A broomerang. Yep, it[[William Shakespeare's a joke book.|amazonukthe Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher]]===<amazonuk>0192729063</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Nick Wadley|title=Man + Dog|rating=[[image:4.55star.jpg|genrelink=HumourCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|summary=Throughout my life I've lived with dogs or deeply regretted the fact that I lacked a canine companion. Watching a dog – or better stillScience Fiction]], the interaction between dogs – is infinitely better than anything on television and it's sheer joy to see how man and dog interacts and how, so often, they hold a mirror up to each other.[[:Category:Humour|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1564785521</amazonuk>}}Humour]]

{{newreview|author=The Harvard Lampoon|title=Nightlight: A Parody long time ago, in a galaxy far away, there was a man called William Shakespeare, who was able to create a series of Twilight |rating=3dramatic histories full of machinations most foul, rulers most evil and rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy.5|genre=Humour|summary=Most You may or may not have noticed the cinematic version of his original stage play for ''The Force Doth Awaken'', but here at last we get the actual script, complete with annoying-in-different-ways-to-before droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and people will have heard keeping it in the family til it hurts. And if you need further encouragement, don't forget his audience only demanded three parts of Henry VI – here the worldwide phenomenon that series is so popular we're on to part seven – surely making this over twice as good… [[Twilight William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Stephenie MeyerIan Doescher|TwilightFull Review]]. The books by Stephenie Meyer and the film have made a legend of the romance between vampire Edward Mullen (Robert Pattinson plays the movie role) and teenage schoolgirl Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart).|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849013330</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview<!-- Goss -->|author=Steven Lowe and Alan McArthur -|titlestyle=Is it Just Me or Has the Shit Hit the Fan?"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: Your Hilarious New Guide to Unremitting Global Miserycenter;"|rating=3[[image:Goss_600.jpg|genre=Humourleft|summarylink=''The banks fell over like fat Labradors running over a wet kitchen floorhttps://www.'' Surely that is the wackiest, most inappropriate simile for the credit crunch and all it has done for the worldamazon. You won't get any such namby-pamby animal likenesses from these authors, instead with quite a potty mouth on them they will lambast the modern world, the entire banking system, all those who failed to see it coming, and those millions just seemingly waiting for us all to revert to high-interest, high-risk, high-lending capitalism, so they can get back on the expenses train, and back up the rich listsco.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847443656<uk/gp/product/amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author1785942719?ie=Eoin Colfer|titleUTF8&tag=And Another Thing ... Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Part Six of Three (Hitchhikers Guide 6) |ratingthebookbag-21&linkCode=3.5|genreas2&camp=Science Fiction|summary1634&creative=Of all the big books announced for this year, this one must have raised more eyebrows than many. Why try and write a new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book, when way before the end, its creator Douglas Adams was proving quite hopeless at such a task? And why approach an Irishman, Eoin Colfer, when the originals - tempered with their humour which could only be described as Monty Python doing a sci-fi Terry Pratchett, and with their cups of tea and dressing gowns, could only be described as very English? Well the answer is most evident - Colfer is a world-beater when it comes to knocking up a story.|amazonuk6738&creativeASIN=<amazonuk>0718155149</amazonuk>}}1785942719]]

{{newreview|authorstyle=David O'Doherty, Claudia O'Doherty and Mike Ahern"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title=100 Facts About Pandas|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=Sometimes the title says it all - this is a book with 100 facts about pandas. Sometimes you need to note the author too - David O'Doherty won an Edinburgh Comedy Award, so this is a book [[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of a 100 silly Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and untrue facts about pandas.|amazonukRussell T Davies]]===<amazonuk>0224086324</amazonuk>}}

[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|author=Richard Horne |title=A is for Armageddon|rating=2.5}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|genre=Humour|summary=The world is definitely going to hell in a handcart. WeChildren're only just preventing lethal global warming by having a credit crunch that has prevented a lot of big buildings Rhymes and Verse]], air travel[[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], and consumerism. The population is getting so obese there is no room for any more of us - and add that to the exploding population statistics, and it's never going to look better. And don't get me started on where all the bees have gone...[[:Category:Humour|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224086197</amazonuk>}}Humour]]

{{newreview|author=James May|title=Car Fever: Dispatches From Behind The Wheel|rating=4|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Now, way back when I was younger, Consider the Doctor. Just how many birthday and watched TV a lotChristmas gifts must he have to hand out each year, I am sure I remember Top Gear as being were he to keep in touch with even half of his companions? He would certainly need a consumer programme. How times change. These days I am sure they destroy more cars than they reviewfew novelty gifts for some of them, and the three main people from the show are approaching superstar statussay, with their amenable personalitiesfor example, awkward wardrobe choices and trenchant laddish charms. They've sprung their media entities from out whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the studio, into other TV programmes, life of a Time Lord and the world that of some of journalismhis friends and enemies. As luck would have it, with chatty columns he has the space in his TARDIS to stock up in the broadsheets allowing them free rein advance, so my advice to him – sorry, her – would be to witter pop along to their heart's desirehis local Earth-based book emporium and get himself ready. And hereif you're working on a shorter timescale, in one grandiloquent volumewith a shorter lifespan, and in time for Christmasthinking perhaps just one gift season ahead, are many 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 May's desires.Goss and Russell T Davies|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340994533</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]

{{newreview<!-- Ingram -->|author=Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith |titlestyle=Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"||rating=4[[image:Ingram_Kammie.5jpg|genre=Humourleft|summarylink=Ah, the benefits to a good book of a classic first linehttps://www. 'Call me Ishmaelamazon.' 'It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteenco.' Who can forget Iain Banks' 'It was the day my grandmother exploded'uk/gp/product/1785451995? Or those timeless words by Jane Austen, 'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.'|amazonukie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=<amazonuk>1594743347</amazonuk>}}1785451995]]

{{newreview|authorstyle=Spike Milligan"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||title=The Magical World of Milligan|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram]]==Some people you just have to love. It's the law. Spike Milligan was always fantastic, and he's much missed. He's got the perfect mix of nonsense, heart, and surreal humour. He speaks to people of all ages, and he's just plain lovely. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905264844</amazonuk>}}

[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|author=Sam Savage|title=The Cry of the Sloth|rating=3.5}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|genre=General Fiction|summary=Meet Andrew Whittaker. In some untold time of recent American history, he is forced through a failed marriage and an artistic temperament at odds with so many other people, to let properties to tenants he does not like, for $120 a month. The lodgers might not like the state of the buildings - ceilings falling through and so on - but that's another matter. He would much prefer to be left alone in front of his little Olivetti typewriter and create art. He runs a literary journal, of a kind, called "Soap", which no-one likes, no-one reads (and oftenPets]], with dodgy, cheap printing, no-one could physically read it anyway), and which makes him poorer in time, money and spirit.[[:Category:Humour|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0297856499</amazonuk>}}Humour]]

{{newreview|author=Christopher Moore|title=It was something of a relief when I encountered Annie Ingram and her cocker spaniel Kammie. You Suck|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=You know that old adage about books see, Annie knows something which has been self-evident to me for a long time: dogs are perfectly capable of communicating with humans and covers? Well this is not just on a case in pointlevel of food!, walk! or play!. The title isn't greatYou do require extensive training to become fluent, but the cover design for the paperback imprint most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their time to teach you and all you have to do is, like, duh!, listen. Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her well and the pits. It is so uncool…so unrep-resent-ative pair have allowed us to share some of the book. This is not a cocktail thing. Not even a "Bloody Mary" thingtheir conversations. [[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram|Full Review]]

Well, except for the tiny bit that is, but you'll discover that in due course<!-- Harris -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Harris_Glass.jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>1841498092<http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1908943823/amazonuk>}}ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]

{{newreview|authorstyle=Tim Fitzhigham |title=All at Sea"vertical-align: One Man. One Bathtub. One Very Bad Ideatop; text-align: Conquering the Channel in a Piece of Plumbingleft;"||rating=4.5|genre=Travel|summary=Once more my life is made easy [[The Breaking of Liam Glass by saying this book does just what it claims on the cover - takes a narrator of zesty, wacky humour, throws him into an unlikely situation (a bath) and gets him to do something unusual (row it across the Channel - and then beyond). This despite the fact he was the world's worst sculler at University.|amazonukCharles Harris]]===<amazonuk>1848090269</amazonuk>}}

[[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. 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 son, and gym-owner Royland simply finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. We follow this host of ensemble characters in a bleak, kaleidoscopic satire of modern media. [[The Breaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris|Full Review]] <!-- LENTE -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lente_10.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690222/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreviewrating}}} 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, the washed-up has-been who has fallen far from his early days; Zoe, the rising female star with a new stand-up special coming soon; Dante, 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'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-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. Of 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]] <!-- Scott -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Scott_Eliz.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788037006/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |authorstyle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Elizabeth, William... and Me by S Lynn Scott]]===Simon Brett [[image:4.5star.jpg|titlelink=BlottoCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Ally is an ordinary woman with teenage children, Twinks a husband and a job. Then comes the day when ordinariness flies out of the window. It's not a coincidence that it's the Exsame day she finds Queen Elizabeth I in the pantry and the Bard of Avon in her bath. What's she going to do? Well, Elizabeth and Will have their own ideas about that! [[Elizabeth, William... and Me by S Lynn Scott|Full Review]] <!-- Rodford -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Rodford_Surgeon.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178565005X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-Kingalign: left;"|===[[The Surgeon's DaughterCase: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] In the second instalment of this series, Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a well-known local man to track down some missing valuables. Bill Galbraith, a world-famous surgeon at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital who hosts a popular medical television programme, has had his briefcase stolen by his live-in domestic servant, Aurora. According to Galbraith, this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of his at the hospital. George agrees to look into the theft, assuming it will be a 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]] <!-- Jordan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jordan_Tiny.jpg|link=4http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1760293814/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan]]===Humour [[image:5star.jpg|summarylink=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] As predicted by Caroline and Janice's mother on Caroline and Henry's wedding day, their marriage is over, albeit 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. There can be few people who have written eighty books without me even having picked up one 's the split and the awkwardness of themthe girls' schoolteacher being the other woman for a start. Then there's that mistaken identity moment involving the neighbours. At leastJanice is well adjusted and over her ex-husband Alec. She still dreams of him, and yes, but it's so over! Just as well really… guess who's at lastthe door? [[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan|Full Review]] <!-- Taylor -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Taylor_Scilly.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178475515X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Meet the Isles of Scilly. (I have redressed know they should be called that fault – the author provides a handy guide to the etiquette of their name, their nature and location, etc.) For our more distant readers, they're several chunks of granite rock out in the Atlantic, where Cornwall is pointing, with just 2,200 permanent residents. They're big on tourism, and big on growing flowers in the case tropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough to turn any car to a rust bucket within years. They're so wee, and so idyllic-seeming, especially at night, you can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presence. But there is – at least two working at any one time. And one of Simon Brettthem in recent years has been Colin Taylor, who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a well-known online existence, which has brought to life all the whimsical comedy of his work. [[The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor|Full Review]] <!-- Lloyd -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lloyd_Twas.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472125118/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[['Twas the Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It's Christmas Eve and Mum has arranged everything. 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 come the potential to ruin everything. [['Twas the conclusion there are 79 more that will be worth investigatingFight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees|Full Review]] <!-- Phinn -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Phinn_Virgin.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444779400/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn]]=== [[image:4.5star. Here jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] Christmas in our house is the time we meet tend to get on a plane and head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, far away from the madness at home, last minute dashes to the shops on Christmas Eve, and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a mere 36 hours. But I do remember the feeling of Christmas when I was younger, back when it was magical, and back when you knew exactly what the season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and Christmas parties. This book is an anthology of those moments, and it took me right back to the first time Blotto (posh idiotic son wonder of Christmas as a dowager duchess) child. [[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn|Full Review]] <!-- North -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:North_Romeo.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356508536/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] For all those who think tragedy plots are too restricted and Twinks (posh brilliant genius sister prescribed, read on. In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of options en route to Blotto)hitting the bottle. Likewise, their familyshe could have turned away from her predestined path at no end of junctures. And to what result? Well, their surroundingshappy marriage and a kid called Ben, because the leads have just banged people's heads together and stopped the corpse inconveniently disturbing quarrelling, or Death by Tybalt (him) or a long life running an establishment curing murderous women, such as a dinner partyLady M (her).[[Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845299353</amazonuk!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->}|}