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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreview|titleclass-"wikitable" cellpadding=Mapp and Lucia Omnibus"15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--><!-- van LENTE -->|author=E F Benson-|ratingstyle=3.5"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|genre=Humour[[image:1683690346.jpg|summarylink=Miss Elizabeth Mapp rules the town of Tilling - she is the centre of the social life, and spends her days enjoying bridge, polite conversation and civilised paintinghttp://www.amazon. When Mrs Emmeline Lucas arrives in town (known to all as Lucia), Miss Mapp finds her life truly shaken up, as the cultured, fashionable and progressive Lucia makes her home in the town, and swiftly rises to the top of the ranks amongst the social scene in Tillingco.|amazonukuk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=<amazonuk>1849908478</amazonuk>}}thebookbag-21]]

{{newreview|titlestyle=Diary of a Mad Diva"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|author=Joan Rivers|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=[[The late Joan Rivers was, without a doubt, a character. Actress, comedian, writer, director, presenter, she was well known in the USA and beyond for her sharp tongue and no holds barred persona. This was the last of the dozen books she published, her final title before her death in September 2014.|amazonukCon Artist by Fred Van Lente]]===<amazonuk>0425269027</amazonuk>}}

[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|title=The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - The Nearly Definitive Edition|author=Douglas Adams|rating=5}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|genre=General Fiction|summary=There are few series that have garnered such a cult following as 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'. Whether the fans have come from the radio series, the (impossibly hard) computer game, or the (well intentioned but not particularly good) film, they are everywhere. Ask a room of people what the meaning of life isCrime]], and you can be pretty sure a good few will pipe up with '42' as the answer.[[:Category:Humour|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434023396</amazonuk>}}Humour]]

{{newreview|title=Quick Pint After Work|author=Luke Lewis|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=BuzzFeed is one Comic-Cons are a place of the world’s best time suckswonder 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 I’m regularly directed to the site by links from Facebook sanctuary with other fans and Twittercreators, in between browsing plus the app on my phonechance of maybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. According to the author bio on this bookHowever, BuzzFeed when his rival is 'a social news and entertainment company'found dead, which Mike is a fancy way forced to navigate every dark corner of describing lots of fun lists that speak to the readership (20 words that have a completely different meaning con in Manchester, 30 Things all ex-gymnasts know order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to be truezombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, 40 Very British problemsin doing so, yadda yadda yadda). These list work well on line when you want may just unravel a dark secret behind a quick distraction, and they’re easy to flip through, looking at the attached photos or video clipslegendary industry creator. [[The question then, is whether or not BuzzFeed the book will have the same appeal.Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751557730</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]

{{newreview<!-- Coulton -->|title=Burnt Tongues: An Anthology of Transgressive Short Stories-|authorstyle=Chuck Palahniuk, Dennis Widmyer and Richard Thomas"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=4[[image:1473669588.jpg|genrelink=Short Stories|summary=Saying certain things out loud just don’t sound righthttp://www. 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 allamazon. When these words are spoken they could lead to the sensation of Burnt Tongue; an aftereffect of knowing what you said was wrongco. Are you prepared to enter the world of Transgressive Fiction that aims to disturb, alienate, disgust and questionuk/dp/1473669588/ref=nosim?|amazonuktag=<amazonuk>178329552X</amazonuk>}}thebookbag-21]]

{{newreview|authorstyle=The Queen"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|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 [https://twitter.com/Queen_UK @Queen_UK[Falling Short by Lex Coulton]], 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715649132</amazonuk>}}==

[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|title=Last Days of the Bus Club|author=Chris Stewart|rating=4}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|genre=General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|summary=I could well have been a near-neighbour of Chris Stewart. Not, of course, near his current primary occupancy, an ecological farmstead just beyond the turning off from the back end of nowhere in the most rural of corners of southern Spain, but back when he lived in the south-east of EnglandHumour]], being Genesis[[:Category:Women' first ever drummer, and building bridges in the North Downs. The fact I learnt the latter from this book shows up several of the features of this warm-hearted 'travelogues Fiction|Women' – the fact that Stewart is never shy about portraying family details and history – given a good map and a prevailing wind one could find where he lives and descend on the farm, if one wished; and that while this might be on the travel shelves, the narrative is so fragmented it actually moves a lot more than any of the characters do.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908745436</amazonuk>}}s Fiction]]

{{newreview|title=Summer Half|author=Angela Thirkell|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=If one didn’t know of Angela Thirkell’s distinguished background as Lex Coulton's debut novel is a granddaughter of Sir Edward Burne-Jones and daughter of a classiciststory about mistakes, failures, 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 gleerelationships. The middle-class world she has createdmain protagonist, where young men come from families that are comfortably wealthy rather than outrageously soFrances Pilgrim, offers is a counterpoint to the Mitford or Wodehouse worlds sixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with their aristocratic characters who travel the world her best friend Jackson, a work colleague, and mingle is grappling with more louche, bohemian onesthe increasingly eccentric behaviour of her mother. This relationship is complicated by the fact that Frances's father disappeared at sea when she was five years old.[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184408969X</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]

{{newreview<!-- van LENTE -->|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:Category1683690346.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/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=<amazonuk>0861662318</amazonuk>}}thebookbag-21]]

{{newreview|titlestyle=Look Who's Back"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||author=Timur Vermes|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente]]==''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:Crime|genre=Sport|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 masterCrime]], but there'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)[[:Category: there's enough detail here to give you a solid grounding without needing to bluff.Humour|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909365327</amazonuk>}}Humour]]

{{newreview|title=The Collected Works Comic-Cons are a place of A J Fikry|author=Gabrielle Zevin|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=A J Fikry is not having a good time. He's lost his wife to a car crashwonder and sanctuary for many people, and when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, he's not making looking for both that much money. The book store he runsand sanctuary with other fans and creators, stuck out on a limb on a quiet island community, is too remote to turn a profit year-roundplus the chance of maybe, and he has just dismissed the latest publisher's rep to turn up at maybe reuniting with his door, partly because her previous counterpartex. However, an inconsequential part of A J's life when all his rival is said and donefound dead, had died and he didn't know about it. But his bad time Mike is about forced to get a lot worse, as navigate every dark corner of the one thing he owns worth the most con in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses – a rare book, more valuable than Mike must prove his houseinnocence and, his businessin doing so, anything – is about to vanishmay just unravel a dark secret behind a legendary industry creator. Which bizarrely will cause several major changes to his one-person household…[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408704617</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]

{{newreview<!-- Curran -->|author=William Hanson-|titlestyle=The Bluffer's Guide to Etiquette (Bluffer's Guides)"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=5[[image:1683690133.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/1683690133/ref=nosim?tag=<amazonuk>1909937002</amazonuk>}}thebookbag-21]]

{{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[[My Lady'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, Choosing by Kitty Curran 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.|amazonukLarissa Zageris]]===<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:Humour|genre=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.[[:Category:Historical Fiction|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908096918</amazonuk>}}Historical Fiction]]

{{newreview|author=Charlie Hill|title=Books|rating=4You are a lass of twenty eight.5|genre=Humour|summary=Neurology professor Lauren Furrows witnesses Plucky, penniless and in Regency era London the sudden untimelydeath of two tourists in a bar while race is on holiday. Birmingham bookshop ownerRichard Anger happens to be in the same bar so together our single holidaymakers decide find a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to team up life as an investigatory force eternal spinster. Along your journey you'll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to be reckoned with.(Wellsave you from a life alone, Lauren teams up and fired by a rogueish sense for thatadventure. RichardWhen it comes to suitors though, you's reasons are more physical thanintellectual ll have to begin with.) The murders seem to emanate from author GarySaylesmake the ultimate decision between witty, a legend in his own mind pretty andwealthy Sir Benedict Granville, apparentlywholesome, fatal to read. Elsewherehippy exhibitionists (in an over-18 way) Zeke rugged and Pippacaring Captain Angus MacTaggart, are planning or theart installation to end all art installations mad, bad andterrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. With orphans, werewolves, are determined to makeGary long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the centrepieceway, whether he realises it or not's clear this isn't going to be an easy decision...[[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781251630</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]

{{newreview<!-- Jester -->|title-| style=The Facebook Diet"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: 50 Funny Signs of Facebook Addiction and Ways to Unplug With a Digital Detoxcenter;"|author=Gemini Adams|rating=3[[image:Jester_Forever.5jpg|genre=Humourleft|summarylink=Everywhere you look and question this book, it is a success – more or less. Does it do what it purports to – show evidence of a Facebook addiction and provide a dietary way out? Yes, more or lesshttps://www. Does it engage with its combination of cartoon images and captions? Yes, more or lessamazon. 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 paperbackco. Is it then a worthwhile addition to your comedy book shelvesuk/gp/product/1510704361? Yes – more or less.|amazonukie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=<amazonuk>095546563X</amazonuk>}}1510704361]]

{{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 [[Forever After: 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's eyes 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.|amazonukdark comedy by David Jester]]===<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}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|genre=EntertainmentParanormal]], [[:Category:Horror|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 wellHorror]], 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:Fantasy|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593072847</amazonuk>}}Fasntasy]]

{{newreview|title=Wallace Michael Holland is a cocky and Gromit - The Complete Newspaper Strips - Volume 1|author=Nick Park|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=One brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his dog never had such lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, a famous theme tune. ''One Man grim reaper and His Dog'' had his friends Chip (a piddly little melody, but the triumphal, old-fashioned stoner tooth fairy) and charming parp of Naff (a stoner in the theme tune to Wallace records department) as they grapple with their long lives and Gromit has resounded out for decades now. While Aardman moved away from the near-silent classic animations the series first gave us, the plasticine creations mutated into incredibly popular characters, which included finding a daily strip clean surface to sit on in the nation's biggest-selling tabloidtheir flat. 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 [[Forever After: a long time ago…dark comedy by David Jester|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782760326</amazonuk>}}Full Review]]

{{newreview<!-- Stibbe -->|title=Demon Dentist-|authorstyle=David Walliams"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"||rating=4[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.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/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-dum-DUUUUMMMMMM!!!!|amazonuk21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=<amazonuk>0007453566</amazonuk>}}0241309824]]

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;"|}}===[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe]]===

[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{newreview|title=Deaf at Spiral Park|author=Kieran Devaney|rating=2.5}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|genre=Humour|summary=''Deaf at Spiral Park'' is a bizarre take on the philosophy of what it is to be human]], 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:Short Stories|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773169</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:{{newreview{rating}}} 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|link=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]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|titlelink=Very British ProblemsCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]], [[:Category: Making Life Awkward 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 few novelty gifts for some of them, say, for Ourselvesexample, 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 his local Earth-based book emporium and get himself ready. And if you're working on a shorter timescale, One Rainy Day at 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 TimeLord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies|Full Review]] <!-- Ingram -->|author-| style=Rob Temple"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Ingram_Kammie.jpg|left|ratinglink=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785451995?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=31785451995]]  |genrestyle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram]]===Humour [[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=Are you compelled 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 apologise multiple times me for a day – even when you long time: dogs are perfectly capable of communicating with humans and not at faultjust on a level of food!, walk! or even 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 pair have allowed us to inanimate objectsshare 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=nosim? Would you subject yourself 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:{{{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, 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 great inconvenience rather than confront someone 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 sitting in 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 reserved seat on 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... and Me by S Lynn Scott]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Ally is an ordinary woman with teenage children, a husband and a job. Then comes the day when ordinariness flies out of the window. It's not a traincoincidence 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 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? Have you 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 second instalment of this series, Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a well-known local man to commit desperate acts 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=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1760293814/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: 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. Indeed, this is definitely not a good weekend for Janice to be babysitting at Caroline's house. There's the split and the awkwardness of the search girls' schoolteacher being the other woman for your next cup a 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 teahim, 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? If 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 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'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 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 soidyllic-seeming, especially at night, you may can be mistaken for thinking there would be suffering from Very British Problemsno 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 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|amazonuklink=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]] <amazonuk!-- Phinn -->0751552593|-| 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.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on a plane and head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, far away from the madness at 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 wonder of Christmas as a 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 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/amazonukor Juliet by Ryan North|Full Review]] <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->}|}