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[[Category:Humour|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreview|authorclass-"wikitable" cellpadding=Graeme Simsion"15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--><!-- van LENTE -->|title=The Rosie Effect-|ratingstyle=4"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|genre=Humour[[image:1683690346.jpg|summarylink=Following inadvertent success with the Wife Project, Professor Don Tillman and his new bride Rosie have moved from Australia to New York. Although Don's position on the autistic scale is subjective, he still operates on a daily basis of structured procedures, lists and logichttp://www. Rosie can generally handle that but there are choppy waters aheadamazon. With the patter of tiny feet imminent logic goes out the window as she struggles with her PhD while Don struggles to find his place in the baby production processco. At least he has his drinking buddies to support him – an aging rock drummer and a friend whose wife has thrown him out for infidelity. What could possibly go wronguk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?|amazonuktag=<amazonuk>0718179471</amazonuk>}}thebookbag-21]]
{{newreview
|title=Burnt Tongues: An Anthology of Transgressive Short Stories
|author=Chuck Palahniuk, Dennis Widmyer and Richard Thomas
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Saying certain things out loud just don’t sound right. Some things are so disturbing or politically incorrect that you are best off leaving them inside your head, or better yet not thinking of them at all. When these words are spoken they could lead to the sensation of Burnt Tongue; an aftereffect of knowing what you said was wrong. Are you prepared to enter the world of Transgressive Fiction that aims to disturb, alienate, disgust and question?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178329552X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview|authorstyle=Sammy Looker"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title=Something Nasty in the Slushpile|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=I couldn't resist the title - a neat play on [[Cold Comfort Farm The Con Artist by Stella Gibbons|Cold Comfort FarmFred Van Lente]] and I'm sure that you'll understand that I was expecting some examples of the horrors to be found amongst the mountain of unsolicited manuscripts which every publisher accumulates. I'll confess I was expecting to giggle, even to groan - unkind, I know - and I'd mentally shelved the book with the trivia, or (hopefully) the humour. There is that element to the book, but there's also something far more useful. If you're thinking about publishing a book this should be required reading ''before'' you even go near a publisher.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472111028</amazonuk>}}==
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|author=The Queen|title=Still Reigning|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=Anyone who frequents Twitter will know that it's a mixed blessing. It's a mine of wonderful information and supportive camaraderie. It's also - unfortunately - home to a lot of people who take great pleasure in causing pain to others. But in amongst all this are a few gems and one of them is }}} Star Reviews]] [[https://twitter.com/Queen_UK @Queen_UKCategory:Crime|Crime]], a delightful satire on members of the royal family, celebrities, the political classes and the state of Her Majesty's nation. Or, ''one's nation'' as Ma'am would say. ''Still Reigning'' is her second book, after ''Gin O'Clock'' and it's the sort of parody which leaves you wondering if the writer might not be someone ''very'' close to the original.[[:Category:Humour|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715649132</amazonuk>}}Humour]]
{{newreview|title=Last Days of the Bus Club|author=Chris Stewart|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=I could well have been Comic-Cons are a near-neighbour place of Chris Stewart. Notwonder and sanctuary for many people, of courseand when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, near his current primary occupancyhe's looking for both that and sanctuary with other fans and creators, an ecological farmstead just beyond the turning off from plus the back end chance of nowhere in the most rural of corners of southern Spainmaybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. However, but back when he lived in the south-east of Englandhis rival is found dead, being Genesis' first ever drummer, and building bridges in the North Downs. The fact I learnt the latter from this book shows up several Mike is forced to navigate every dark corner of the features of this warm-hearted 'travelogue' con in order to clear his name the fact that Stewart is never shy about portraying family details from cosplay flash mobs and history intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses given a good map and a prevailing wind one could find where he lives Mike must prove his innocence and descend on the farm, if one wished; and that while this might be on the travel shelvesin doing so, the narrative is so fragmented it actually moves may just unravel a dark secret behind a lot more than any of the characters dolegendary industry creator.[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908745436</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]
{{newreview
|title=Summer Half
|author=Angela Thirkell
|rating=4
|genre=Humour
|summary=If one didn’t know of Angela Thirkell’s distinguished background as a granddaughter of Sir Edward Burne-Jones and daughter of a classicist, it would be tempting to describe her as a kind of country cousin of [[:Category:P G Wodehouse|P.G. Wodehouse’s]]. An unaffected and intelligent one, whose humour is less sophisticated but bubbles over with just as much glee. The middle-class world she has created, where young men come from families that are comfortably wealthy rather than outrageously so, offers a counterpoint to the Mitford or Wodehouse worlds with their aristocratic characters who travel the world and mingle with more louche, bohemian ones.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184408969X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview<!-- Coulton -->|title=The Bojeffries Saga-|authorstyle=Alan Moore and Steve Parkhouse"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=5|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=A very truncated history of comics will start with the idea that they should be funny strips – one jape then you're out; then that they should have more – perhaps a superhero; then that you can have so much more than just a superhero – witness the works of [[image:Category1473669588.jpg|link=http:Alan Moore|Alan Moore]]//www. But you mustn't be too surprised to see the whole thing come around in a full cycleamazon. Because Alan Moore has, with this volume, concluded his own funny strip japery, and whatever history or greater opinions about the canon of comix might say, it's just about his best ever bookco.|amazonukuk/dp/1473669588/ref=nosim?tag=<amazonuk>0861662318</amazonuk>}}thebookbag-21]]
{{newreview
|author=Reverend Adam Smallbone
|title=The Rev Diaries
|rating=4.5
|genre=Humour
|summary=Adam Smallbone wasn’t always a vicar. He used to work for the Bristol Housing Department, enabling his father-in-law to tell everyone he worked 'in property'. From there, his initial calling was to a rural church in Suffolk which did nothing to prepare him for this, his current London inner city parish. Indeed, he's not prepared for Adoha (the Nigerian parishioner with 19 grandchildren and 'the bottom of God') or Colin, the homeless alcoholic who has adopted Adam and his wife Alex (Mrs Vicarage to Colin). But then Alex also has a lot to get used to; after all, she didn't actually marry a vicar.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718178394</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview|titlestyle=Look Who's Back"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||author=Timur Vermes|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton]]==''Hitler Youth Ronaldo! Which way to the street?'' With these words a very misguided Nazi Fuhrer asks for his first directions in the Berlin of 2011. Mistakenly believing the lad to be a party junior member with his own name on his football shirt, he also thinks for a while it is still 1945. He's soon informed of the truth, but still makes some unfortunate conclusions – that the street kiosks selling Turkish language newspapers are a sign of a Soviet-beating alliance between the two countries, that people eat granola bars because the war still leads to a bread shortage, and that people making an ironic speech bubble with their fingers in the air is all that is left of the Hitler salute. But yes, after a long hiatus neither he nor our author is particularly concerned with explaining, ''that man'' is back – and if he has his way he's going to be just as popular this time round…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857052926</amazonuk>}}
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|author=Adam Ruck|title=The Bluffer's Guide to Golf (Bluffer's Guides)|rating=4.5}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|genre=SportGeneral Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|summary=The fly leaf suggests that this Bluffer's Guide is the way to instantly acquire all the knowledge which you need to pass as an expert in the ''arcane and labyrinthine'' world of golf. There's quite a bit there that I'd agree on - the rules (and to an unfortunate extent the ''attitudes'') are arcane and they seem to take a lifetime to masterHumour]], but there[[:Category:Women's a surprising amount of information tucked away inside this little book. What I might quibble with is whether or not you would ''pass as an expert'' (which suggests that you're something of a con man): thereFiction|Women's enough detail here to give you a solid grounding without needing to bluff.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909365327</amazonuk>}}Fiction]]
{{newreview|title=The Collected Works of A J Fikry|author=Gabrielle Zevin|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=A J Fikry is not having a good time. HeLex Coulton's lost his wife to debut novel is a car crashstory about mistakes, failures, and he's not making that much moneyrelationships. The book store he runsmain protagonist, stuck out on a limb on a quiet island communityFrances Pilgrim, is too remote to turn a profit year-round, and he sixth form English teacher who has just dismissed the latest publisher's rep to turn up at his door, partly because recently fallen out with her previous counterpartbest friend Jackson, an inconsequential part of A J's life when all is said and donea work colleague, had died and he didn't know about itis grappling with the increasingly eccentric behaviour of her mother. But his bad time This relationship is about to get a lot worse, as complicated by the one thing he owns worth the most – a rare book, more valuable than his house, his business, anything – is about to vanishfact that Frances's father disappeared at sea when she was five years old. Which bizarrely will cause several major changes to his one-person household…[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408704617</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]
{{newreview<!-- van LENTE -->|author=William Hanson-|titlestyle=The Bluffer's Guide to Etiquette (Bluffer's Guides)"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=5[[image:1683690346.jpg|genrelink=Lifestyle|summary=If you ask people what they fear most in any social situation most will tell you that it's not knowing how to behavehttp://www. They'll be fine about the basics, but it's those little niceties - how to introduce yourself, what to ask for as an aperitif, how to address someone, for instance which can suddenly reveal you as a parvenuamazon. William Hanson gives us a quick trip through the essentials in a book which is very readable and - in places - hilariously funnyco.|amazonukuk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=<amazonuk>1909937002</amazonuk>}}thebookbag-21]]
{{newreview
|title=Horrid Henry's Biggest and Best Ever Joke Book - 3-in-1
|author=Francesca Simon and Tony Ross
|rating=4.5
|genre=Humour
|summary=It is easy to see why Horrid Henry remains such an enduring and well-liked children’s character. The adventures of this cheeky, irreverent schoolboy and a cast of extreme characters including Miss Battle Axe, The Demon Dinner Lady, Rabid Rebecca and arch-nemesis Moody Margaret are incredibly funny and a perfect way to encourage reluctant young readers to cultivate a love of reading. It is no surprise then, that the series has spawned a set of three spin-off joke books, which have now been combined to create a single volume: ''Horrid Henry’s Biggest and Best Ever Joke Book''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144401174X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview|titlestyle=Let Me Off at the Top!"vertical-align: My Classy Life and Other Musingstop; text-align: left;"|author=Ron Burgundy|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=''This book is a testament to my giant balls.'' But it's also a lot more. [[The story we've never been able to discern from either of the ''Anchorman'' films is one of surprising hardship, unsurprising hardness, and great hair. It's a rags-to-riches tale, as Ron Burgundy comes from a Hicksville town in the middle of the outskirts of somewhere the arse end of nowhere (a town perpetually on fire due to the accidents in the mines underneath) and struggles against all the odds – and many of the evens in the shape of women's legs – to get where he is today, thrusting himself and his news at us nightly.|amazonukCon Artist by Fred Van Lente]]===<amazonuk>1780892241</amazonuk>}}
{{newreview[[image:4star.jpg|titlelink=Outraged of Tunbridge WellsCategory: Original Complaints from Middle England|author=Nigel Cawthorne|{{{rating=4}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|genre=Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|summary=It was ever thus… cyclists go too fast, without using a hooter or lights; there are hoodlums everywhere one looks, and no public conveniences; people pretend to have qualifications and degrees they haven't rightfully earned; buses are too busy with shopping women who should be indoors already, cooking for their working menfolk… It's a very clever idea to show exactly what is behind the 'disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' tag, and as a book to be shelved alongside those with the wackier letters sent to the ''Daily Telegraph'', these selections from the Royal town's press itself make a great eye-opener to the complaints and complainants of Kent.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908096918</amazonuk>}}Humour]]
{{newreview|author=Charlie Hill|title=Books|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary=Neurology professor Lauren Furrows witnesses the sudden untimelydeath Comic-Cons are a place of two tourists in a bar while on holiday. Birmingham bookshop ownerRichard Anger happens to be in the same bar so together our single holidaymakers decide to team up as an investigatory force to be reckoned with.(Wellwonder and sanctuary for many people, and when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, Lauren teams up he's looking for both that. Richard's reasons are more physical thanintellectual to begin and sanctuary with other fans and creators, plus the chance of maybe, just maybe reuniting withhis ex.) The murders seem to emanate from author GarySaylesHowever, a legend in when his own mind and, apparentlyrival is found dead, fatal Mike is forced to read. Elsewherehippy exhibitionists (navigate every dark corner of the con in an over-18 way) Zeke order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and Pippa, are planning theart installation intrusive fans to end all art installations zombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, are determined to makeGary the centrepiecein doing so, whether he realises it or notmay just unravel a dark secret behind a legendary industry creator.[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781251630</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]
{{newreview<!-- Curran -->|title-| style=The Facebook Diet"width: 50 Funny Signs of Facebook Addiction and Ways to Unplug With a Digital Detox10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|author=Gemini Adams|rating=3[[image:1683690133.5jpg|genrelink=Humour|summary=Everywhere you look and question this book, it is a success – more or lesshttp://www. Does it do what it purports to – show evidence of a Facebook addiction and provide a dietary way out? Yes, more or lessamazon. Does it engage with its combination of cartoon images and captions? Yes, more or lessco. Does it have some cult Internet pedigree to make it a hit gift book for the techie? Yes, more or less – it might not have been borne from a webpage somewhere online, but the Kindle version was launched several months before the paperback. Is it then a worthwhile addition to your comedy book shelvesuk/dp/1683690133/ref=nosim? Yes – more or less.|amazonuktag=<amazonuk>095546563X</amazonuk>}}thebookbag-21]]
{{newreview
|title=Sad Monsters
|author=Frank Lesser
|rating=4
|genre=Humour
|summary=
If you thought you had it bad… Here is the chupacabra writing to the newspapers for better press – notices that don't universally mention his goat-sucking habits before his chess-playing, dancing or debating record. Here is a banshee struggling with high school life, knowing the end of everyone that comes across her path. Here is King Kong, being defended in court by a lawyer with a revelation to the jury about his bipolarity and how wrong it was to get his hopes up with a Broadway show in a strange city. Did you honestly think Godzilla enjoyed the way his life ended up?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0285642324</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview|authorstyle=Michael Cameron"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title=The Brinkmeyers|rating=5|genre=Humour|summary=Hymie Brinkmeyer, New Yorker transplanted in the UK is 50 years old ''on a good day''. He lives with his wife Maggie and teenage children Kevin and Karrie. Hymie thinks Kevin is great, while given that, if he gets picked up for drug possession once more, Hymie will have to admit that Kevin may have a problem. Karrie, a burgeoning poet, is also wonderful in her dad[[My Lady's eyes Choosing by Kitty Curran and is about to give birth to her second child outside a relationship. It's her body so she has the right... hasn't she? Everything is fine and life is great. Ok, Kevin's plotting to kill his mother and Hymie's leather-clad secretary seems to have a crush on her boss and Hymie seems to have a lump somewhere delicately crucial but everything's just fine.|amazonukLarissa Zageris]]===<amazonuk>0957319134</amazonuk>}}
{{newreview[[image:4star.jpg|titlelink=Dedicated to...Category: The Forgotten Friendships, Hidden Stories and Lost Loves found in Second-hand Books|author=W B Gooderham|{{{rating=4.5|genre=Entertainment}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|summary=I have found many strange and unusual things in second-hand bookshops. I have done one or two strange and unusual things in them as wellHumour]], but that's a different story. Twice now I have managed to find a second-hand book, completely signed and dedicated by the author, yet discarded by the recipient, and have been able to present the author with the edition at hand and get it re-dedicated. (If I'm not mistaken, the discarders were a neighbouring babysitter, and a teacher of the author's children.) I'll admit that's rarefied, however, and on the whole the scribble you find in second-hand books is from the person who bought it, and gave it as a gift, not the person who wrote it. But even so, the dedication of the donor can be immensely fascinating and open to all kinds of interpretation, as these examples show perfectly clear.[[:Category:Historical Fiction|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593072847</amazonuk>}}Historical Fiction]]
{{newreview|title=Wallace You are a lass of twenty eight. Plucky, penniless and Gromit in Regency era London the race is on to find a suitable suitor - The Complete Newspaper Strips or else doom yourself to life as an eternal spinster. Along your journey you'll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - Volume 1|author=Nick Park|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=One man a fiesty noble eager to save you from a life alone, and his dog never had such fired by a famous theme tunerogueish sense for adventure. When it comes to suitors though, you''One Man ll have to make the ultimate decision between witty, pretty and His Dog'' had a piddly little melodywealthy Sir Benedict Granville, but the triumphalwholesome, old-fashioned rugged and charming parp of caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, or the theme tune to Wallace mad, bad and Gromit has resounded out for decades nowterrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. While Aardman moved away from the near-silent classic animations the series first gave usWith orphans, werewolves, long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the plasticine creations mutated into incredibly popular charactersway, which included a daily strip in the nationit's biggest-selling tabloidclear this isn't going to be an easy decision.. Here is the first lump of them, 312 daily doses of tomfoolery, collected for everyone to enjoy. Even if you thought the franchise had travelled its course a long time ago…[[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782760326</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]
{{newreview<!-- Jester -->|title=Demon Dentist-|authorstyle=David Walliams"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"||rating=4[[image:Jester_Forever.5jpg|genre=Confident Readersleft|summarylink=He ought to have realised she was evil from the starthttps://www. After all, how many dentists do you know who love — yes, really love — rotten teeth? Brown, yellow, cracked, full of cavities, diseased, covered in plaque amazon. co. . you get the picture. And for Alfie, a boy who loathes dentists from the bottom of his heart and whose teeth are so rotten they ought to be a tourist attraction, danger definitely looms. You can practically hear the background music when the two meet at a school assembly: dumuk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-dum-DUUUUMMMMMM!!!!|amazonuk21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=<amazonuk>0007453566</amazonuk>}}1510704361]]
{{newreview
|title=Peas and Queues: The Minefield of Modern Manners
|author=Sandi Toksvig
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=Dear Sandi
You are my all time favourite celebrity lesbadyke, and one of the reasons I’m so very excited to be heading to Denmark this coming weekend (are all people there like you? Please say yes). For this alone, I had to get my mitts on your latest offering. I wasn’t that fussed about obtaining a book on manners previously, having always thought mine were quite ok, but I knew your take on the matter would be suitably hilarious and well worth a read. I was not wrong.|amazonukstyle=<amazonuk>1781250324</amazonuk>"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|}}===[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|title=Deaf at Spiral Park|author=Kieran Devaney|rating=2.5}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|genre=HumourParanormal]], [[:Category:Horror|summary=''Deaf at Spiral Park'' is a bizarre take on the philosophy of what it is to be humanHorror]], attempted through the portrayal of a bear who shaves of his fur to appear as a human. The story combines philosophy with comedy using a range of stock characters including a clown and a farmer to show the world of the bear and to consider how his humanity may be more than that of the humans themselves.[[:Category:Fantasy|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773169</amazonuk>}}Fasntasy]]
{{newreview|title=Very British Problems: Making Life Awkward for OurselvesMichael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, One Rainy Day at a Time|author=Rob Temple|rating=3|genre=Humour|summary=Are you compelled to apologise multiple times grim reaper and his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a day – even when you are not at fault, or even to inanimate objects? Would you subject yourself to great inconvenience rather than confront someone who is sitting stoner in your reserved seat on the records department) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a train? Have you been known clean surface to commit desperate acts sit on in the search for your next cup of tea? If so, you may be suffering from Very British Problemstheir flat.[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751552593</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]
{{newreview<!-- Stibbe -->|title=The Reluctant Cannibals-|authorstyle=Ian Flitcroft"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=4[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|genre=General Fictionleft|summarylink=Over a truffled turkey at their college Christmas dinner in 1964, a group of Oxford dons decide to join their love of fine food and drink with their mutual appreciation for nineteenth-century French philosopher of food Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (author of the 1825 classic ''La Physiologie du Goût'', or ''The Physiology of Taste'') by forming a secret dining societyhttps://www.amazon. Together these fellows of St Jerome's College form the Shadow Faculty of Gastronomic Science, a group that will continue meeting to share new and daring culinary experiences until Oxford agrees to set up a proper gastronomic school of its ownco.|amazonukuk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=<amazonuk>1909593591</amazonuk>}}0241309824]]
{{newreview
|author=Peter Stjernstrom and Rod Bradbury (translator)
|title=The Best Book in the World
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Titus Jensen may not have written many great novels for a while (if ever) but his festival readings of others' works are renowned. Why, his rendition of ''The Diseases of the Swedish Monarchs from Gustavas Vasa to Gustav V'' has been compared favourably to his offerings from ''Handbook for Volvo 245''. However, one drunken night he and romantic poet Eddie X agree that their fame on the festival circuit would be insignificant by comparison if they could write the best book in the world; a combination of all genres, appealing to all tastes and making all the best seller categories. They start work on it the next day but, rather than collaborate, each wants the lone glory. The race (or should that be battle?) to the publishing date is on!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843914808</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview|titlestyle=The Complete and Utter History of the World According to Samuel Stewart Aged 9"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|author=Sarah Burton|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=''Nobody knows where history ends'', according to the cover illustration of this little book, but if anybody knows what it involves it is nine year old Samuel Stewart. He captivatingly summarises it all on these pages, bringing us in ninety minutes from the times cavemen didn't write history down as they didn't realise it had started yet, up to the time of his birth. That of course is a time that passed most of us [[An Almost Perfect Christmas by, but heralded the arrival of a very individual, entertaining and amusing voice.|amazonukNina Stibbe]]===<amazonuk>1780721838</amazonuk>}}
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|author=Tony Robinson OBE|title=Freedom from Bosses Forever|rating=4}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|genre=Humour|summary=When we first meet Canadian businesswoman Leonora Soculitherz (don't struggle - it's pronounced 'so cool it hurts') she's on her way from Manchester Airport to Scarborough, the home of her agent]], Tony Robinson OBE. You get the measure of the woman straight away as she lets her irritation show about the problems you find in the First Class carriage on the train. (She is ''so'' right - I was once grateful to spend the journey perched on a luggage rack.) Her mission is a piece of investigative journalism that's going to introduce her to some very superior people as she searches for information about why people in small businesses don't get the help they need.[[:Category:Short Stories|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00CE5BKKI</amazonuk>}}Short Stories]]
Christmas – 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, and 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 visit it, and get too friendly with it to want to eat it. Christmas, though, is of course 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 thank-you letters to aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a child, and as for the makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any other time of the year? [[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe|Full Review]] <!-- Doescher -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Doescher_Will.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/159474985X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=159474985X]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreviewrating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, there was a man called William Shakespeare, who was able to create a series of dramatic histories full of machinations most foul, rulers most evil and rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy. 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 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 series is so popular we're on to part seven – surely making this over twice as good… [[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher|Full Review]] <!-- Goss -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Goss_600.jpg|left|authorlink=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785942719]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies]]===Paul Merrill [[image:4.5star.jpg|titlelink=Muddle Your Way Through Being Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Consider the Doctor. Just how many birthday and Christmas gifts must he have to hand out each year, were he to keep in touch with even half of his companions? He would certainly need a Grandparent: How few novelty gifts for some of them, say, for example, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the life of a Time Lord and that of some of his friends and enemies. 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 Fool People into Thinking Youhis local Earth-based book emporium and get himself ready. And if you're working on a shorter timescale, with a shorter lifespan, and thinking perhaps just one gift season ahead, well my advice is pretty much the same. [[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies|Full Review]] <!-- Ingram -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Ingram_Kammie.jpg|left|link=https://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: left;"|===[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|Pets]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It was something of a 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 long time: dogs are perfectly capable of communicating with humans and not just on a Competent Granny level of food!, walk! or Grandpaplay!. 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 pair have allowed us to share some of their conversations. [[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram|Full Review]] <!-- Harris -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Harris_Glass.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1908943823/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Breaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris]]=== [[image:3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Teenager Liam Glass is mugged and stabbed yards from his Camden flat. 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=3nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente]]===Humour [[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=It seems Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Nine comedians are invited to be accepted wisdom that 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 grandparent 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 great deal easier than being far cry from his real personality as a posh millionaire. Of course, all nine agree because ''when God almighty walks down on a parentbeam 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]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Elizabeth, William... The trials and tribulations have largely been ignored Me by wrinklies grateful for contact S Lynn Scott]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Ally is an ordinary woman with teenage children, a husband and a job. Then comes the day when ordinariness flies out of the window. It's not a coincidence that it's the same 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 children own ideas about that! [[Elizabeth, William... and grandchildren Me by S Lynn Scott|Full Review]] <!-- Rodford -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text- and align: center;"|[[image:Rodford_Surgeon.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178565005X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] In the children 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 are grateful (or otherwise) for free childcare 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=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1760293814/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text- or so Paul Merrill would have us believealign: left;"|===[[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=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. Published Indeed, this is definitely not a good weekend for GrandparentsJanice to be babysitting at Caroline's house. There' Day his book takes us through s the split and the awkwardness of the girls' schoolteacher being the other woman for a series start. Then there's that mistaken identity moment involving the neighbours. At least Janice is well adjusted and over her ex-husband Alec. She still dreams of scientificallyhim, yes, but it's so over! Just as well really… guess who's at the door? [[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan|Full Review]] <!-- Taylor -->|-| 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-questionable quizzesalign: left;"|===[[The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], flow charts [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Meet the Isles of Scilly. (I know they should be called that– the author provides a handy guide to the etiquette of their name, their nature and location, etc.) For our more distant readers, they's often re several chunks of moneygranite rock out in the Atlantic, where Cornwall is pointing, with just 2,200 permanent residents. They're big on tourism, by and big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the way weather is bad enough to turn any car to a rust bucket within years. They're so wee, and so idyllic- and seeming, especially at night, you can guess 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 them in recent years has been Colin Taylor, who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a well-known online existence, which way ithas 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 the potential to ruin everything. [['Twas the Fight 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 flowing)Got Nits by Gervase Phinn]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], checklists [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on a plane and advice head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, far away from celebritiesthe madness at home, last minute dashes to the shops on Christmas Eve, some 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 whom Christmas when I was younger, back when it was magical, and back when you might even have heard 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 wonder ofChristmas as a child.[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn|Full Review]] <!-- North -->|amazonuk-| 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 prescribed, read on. In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of options en route to hitting the bottle. Likewise, she could have turned away from her predestined path at no end of junctures. 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). [[Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North|Full Review]] <amazonuk>1909609404</amazonuk!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->}|}

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