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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreview|authorclass-"wikitable" cellpadding= Kieran Crowley"15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->|title= Shoot<!-- Hogan -->|rating= 4-|genrestyle= Crime|summary= I make something of a habit of being late to discover good writers, in this case getting to Crowley after he is no longer with us"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473669065.jpg|link=http://www. The result is that what is billed as ''an Famazon.Xco. Shepherd mysteryuk/dp/1473669065/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Queenie Malone'' with all the optimism of there being more to come has the poignancy of being, if not the last of a short line, certainly one of a fews Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan]]=== [[image:5star. F.X. Shepherd – he doesn't like his first name and prefers just "Shepherd" isjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], technically[[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]] Tilda returns to Brighton, a columnist. Heto tidy away the remains of her mother's been sacked by one New York newspaper and is writing life after her death. Whilst there, she returns to the Paradise hotel, a weekly column haven for anothereccentrics and misfits. I don't know much about journalismA place where people can be themselves, but I'm guessing one column a week doesn't pay much and let go of thoughts that torment them elsewhere. Little wonder that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a rule…which explains why Shepherd's soap-washed-foul-mouthed editor (read child, from this place of wonder. With the bookhelp of Queenie Malone, caring, and gregarious, you'll see what I mean) expects him Tilda begins to turn in some genuine journalism as well: front page, seat of your pants stuffpick apart the tricky and uncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and distant mother. [[Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783296518</amazonuk!-- van LENTE -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Gray Jolliffe"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690346.jpg|titlelink=The First Ever Christmashttp: And Who to Blame//www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |ratingstyle=5"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||genre=Humour==[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=If I tell you a secretCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], will you promise not to tell anyone? Well, I really don't like Christmas[[:Category: it's my least favourite time Humour|Humour]] Comic-Cons are a place of year wonder and whilst some sanctuary for many people count down to the day itself, I look forward to that point and when I can say that itComic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, he's all over looking for another year. It's all too commercialised for meboth that and sanctuary with other fans and creators, with a coating plus the chance of faux religionmaybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. I've never However, when his rival is found it in the least funny - that dead, Mike is, until I found Gray Jolliffe's ''The First Ever Christmas: And Who's forced to Blame''. Amazinglynavigate every dark corner of the con in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe eitherin doing so, but I'm may just unravel a convert to his skills as dark secret behind a cartoonist (if not to the idea of Christmas) after reading this collection of Christmas-themed cartoons from his archive.legendary industry creator. [[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445663503</amazonuk>Full Review]]}}{{newreview|author=Jonathan Pugh<!-- Coulton -->|title=Pugh's New Year's Resolutions-|ratingstyle=4"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473669588.5jpg|genrelink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473669588/ref=Humournosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle=If there's one thing that's for certain, it's that the world is changing"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton]]=== [[image:4star. We're dating onlinejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], we[[:Category:Women're communicating in ways that make email seem redundant, and when wes Fiction|Women're shopping we just tell a website where s Fiction]] Lex Coulton's debut novel is a story about mistakes, failures, and when it can be deliveredrelationships. The main protagonist, Frances Pilgrim, and how much leeway they have to swap our wishes for whatever it is they do bring us. But those changes are also supposed to be affecting us – we're supposed to use a smart watch to tell us if we're moving or notsixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with her best friend Jackson, a work colleague, we have to keep up and is grappling with the latest fads, and weincreasingly eccentric behaviour of her mother. This relationship is complicated by the fact that Frances're supposed to prick our ears up and take note s father disappeared at sea when the proverbial 'they' change their minds about what we're supposed to eatshe was five years old.[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722885</amazonuk!-- van LENTE -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Luke Rhinehart"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= Invasion[[image:1683690346.jpg|ratinglink= 4http://www.5|genre= Humour amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle=Super"vertical-align: top; text-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universealign: left;"|===[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star. And they've come to earth to have fun. Alien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one dayjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Comic-Cons are a place of wonder and he sanctuary for many people, and his family quickly come to love the playful alien. But when Louie starts using their computer to hack into government and corporate networkswhen Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, stealing millions from banks to give to others, they realise he's looking for both that Louie and his friends mean trouble. As Billy sanctuary with other fans and his family begin a roller coaster ride creators, plus the chance of fame and fortunemaybe, as well as a ranking high on the FBI's most wanted listjust maybe reuniting with his ex. However, the Government soon decides that these aliens are terroristswhen his rival is found dead, and must be eliminated. Whilst the aliens are playing games they hope will help humans Mike is forced to see the insanity navigate every dark corner of the American politicalcon in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, economic and military systemsin doing so, they soon come to realise that the Powers that Be don't play games: they make warmay just unravel a dark secret behind a legendary industry creator. [[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|amazonuk=Full Review]] <amazonuk>1785651757</amazonuk!-- Curran -->}}{{newreview|author=Rod Green-|titlestyle=Only Fools and Horses"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: The Peckham Archivescenter;"|rating=4[[image:1683690133.jpg|genrelink=Entertainment http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690133/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|summary=We are in the world of one of the country==[[My Lady's most famous Choosing by Kitty Curran and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003Larissa Zageris]]=== [[image:4star. Yesjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], there have been specials since[[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] You are a lass of twenty eight. Plucky, penniless and more repeats to clog up in Regency era London the BBC schedules than race is really pukka, but very few people failed on to succumb find a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to its charms at one time or anotherlife as an eternal spinster. IAlong your journey you'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stonyll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood -faced reception of ''that'' drop through the open bar hatcha fiesty noble eager to save you from a life alone, and ''that'' chandelier scenefired by a rogueish sense for adventure. When it comes to suitors though, but this is much more meaty. Purporting you'll have to be make the family archivesultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, wholesome, found dumped in Nelson Mandela Houserugged and caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, or the documents here were passed from pillar to postmad, from one council worker in a department with a clumsy acronym to anotherbad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. With orphans, werewolves, from them to long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the police – and now here they are being published for their social history worth. Will enough readers find them of worthway, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?it's clear this isn't going to be an easy decision... [[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- Jester -->1849909245</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Mara Wilson-|titlestyle= Where Am I Now?"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Famecenter;"|[[image:Jester_Forever.jpg|ratingleft|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN= 51510704361]] |genre= Autobiography|summarystyle= Mara Wilson has always felt a little young and a little out of place"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Forever After: as the only child on a film set full of adultsdark comedy by David Jester]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], the first daughter in a house full of boys[[:Category:Horror|Horror]], the sole clinically depressed member of [[:Category:Fantasy|Fasntasy]] Michael Holland is a cheerleading squad, a valley girl in New York cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, a grim reaper and his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a neurotic stoner in California, and an adult the world still remembers records department) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a little girlclean surface to sit on in their flat. Tackling everything from how she first learned about sex on the set of ''Melrose Place,'' to losing her mother at [[Forever After: a young age, to getting her first kiss (or was it kisses?) on a celebrity canoe trip, to not being cute enough to make it in Hollywood, these essays tell the story of one young woman's journey from accidental fame to relative obscurity, but also illuminate a universal struggledark comedy by David Jester|Full Review]] <!-- Stibbe -->|-| style="width: learning to accept yourself, and figuring out who you are and where you belong. 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0143128221</amazonuk>}}{{newreview[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|author= Tony Stuartleft|titlelink= Writing Lines|ratinghttps://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN= 4.50241309824]]  |genrestyle=Humour"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary= George Gordon Wentworth (1946-2011) lived a humdrum life. He was a barely adequate teacher in a fairly world renowned independent school in Kent and kept a copious diary of his quotidian existence==[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe]]=== [[image:4. Most of what he recorded was dross5star. However, amongst all the utterly uninteresting tailings of his life there were some nuggets and grains to catch the attention. Author Tony Stuart has created these amusing anecdotesjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], panning them out over twenty six episodes which give us [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Christmas – the best time of Wentworth – comedy goldtraditional trauma. From losing all You only have to think about the pupils in his charge on turkey for that – once upon a school trip to being arrested time it was leaving it sat on suspicion of terrorism; from waking up in bed between the married couple downstairs loo to defrost overnight, and if that failed the morning after their wedding, to destroying a ski run; from appearing fullhair-frontal naked in a sheep-farmersdryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays it' gazette s all having to triggering an airmake sure it's suitably free-sea rescue; Wentworth was, blinkered range and befuddled, the subject organic – of these but not too organic that you can go and so many more unlikely but highly amusing events.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524634441</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Graham Fulbright|title=Driving Mad: Maniacsvisit it, Morons and the Advanced Motorist's Club|rating=3get too friendly with it to want to eat it.5|genre=Humour|summary=I passed my driving test when John F Kennedy was Christmas, though, is of course also a time of great boons. It's cash in the White House and I've recently had to reapply hand for my driving licence having achieved a venerable age. When I started driving lot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, it was always a godsend for postmen with all the roads were kinder, more forgiving places thank-you letters to aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long- or put another wayhand as a child, and as for the idiots were fewer and further between. I don't know how long Graham Fulbright has been drivingmakers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, but he certainly knows his motoring morons did they even try and in ''Driving Mad'' he brings us a fictional sample sell them any other time of their eccentricities. Well, I'm pretty certain that they're fictional - but these days you never know...the year? [[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783062584</amazonuk!-- Doescher -->}}{{newreview|author=Mario Giordano-|titlestyle=Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Doescher_Will.jpg|ratingleft|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/159474985X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=4159474985X]] |genre=Crime|summarystyle=Poldi had not long been widowed when she decided to move from Bavaria to Sicily with "vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the intention of drinking herself to death. She could, of course, have done this in Germany, but she felt that a sea view was essentialSeventh by Ian Doescher]]=== [[image:4.5star. Once therejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], new friends[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] A long time ago, family already resident on the island and the corpse of in a young mangalaxy far away, his face blown off by there was a shotgunman called William Shakespeare, whom she found on the local beach, intervened who was able to give her life some meaning. For create a while she was a suspectseries of dramatic histories full of machinations most foul, but that (rulers most evil and rebellious heroes and her wig) were no obstacle to her falling for Commissario Vito Montana who was assigned to investigate the caseheroines most sturdy. Assisting him (You may or having him assist her) came naturally 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 Poldi and -before long there was an investigative droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and personal partnershippeople keeping it in the family til it hurts. At least And if you need further encouragement, don't forget his audience only demanded three parts of Henry VI – here the series is so far popular we're on to part seven – surely making this over twice as Poldi was concerned.good… [[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908524693</amazonuk!-- Goss -->}}|-{{newreview|author| style= Grady Hendrix|title= My Best Friend's Exorcism"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating= 5[[image:Goss_600.jpg|genre= Horrorleft|summarylink=1988, Charleston, South Carolinahttps://www.amazon.co. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinnyuk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785942719]]  | style="vertical-dipping goes disatrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act...different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries align: top; text- and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single questionalign: Is their friendship enough to beat the devil?left;"||amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594748624</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Kevin MacNeil=[[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies]]===|title=The Brilliant and Forever[[image:4.5star.jpg|ratinglink= 3.5Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|genre= Humour]]|summary= You know sometimes when someone tells 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 jokefew novelty gifts for some of them, say, everyone else laughsfor example, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the life of a Time Lord and you're sat there wondering what was so funny?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973376</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Christopher Fowler|title= Bryant and May: Strange Tide|rating= 3that of some of his friends and enemies.5|genre= Crime|summary= The thirteenth outing for Bryant and May is looking very much like As luck would have it will be their last. Arthur Bryant is on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuing, which are likely he has the space in his TARDIS to stock up in advance, so my advice to confirm that he is suffering from Alzheimer's. His condition is worsening almost by the dayhim – sorry, memory lapses are morphing into fullher – would be to pop along to his local Earth-scale hallucinations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857523422</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Kevin Smith|title=The Voyage 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 the DolphinTime Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies|Full Review]] |rating=5<!-- Ingram -->|genre=Historical Fiction-|summarystyle=Dublin 1916"width: Among the unrest and anti10%; vertical-align: top; text-British feeling worsened by the threat of conscription into a war seen as nothing to do with the Irish, Trinity College faculty has other distractions. They'd like a trophyalign: center; the skeleton of an Irish 'giant' to be precise"|[[image:Ingram_Kammie. The only glitch is that the main trophy contender, Bernard MacNeill's skeleton, is somewhere difficult to access and all seasoned explorers are otherwise engagedjpg|left|link=https://www. There may be hope thoughamazon. They turn to Fitzmaurice, a student not good enough for anything elseco. Fitzmaurice agrees, picking his friends Crozier and Rafferty to go 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 him. So… ''Gentlemen, lace up your strongest boots and pack your warmest underwear – we're all off to the bloody Arctic!'' Whether battle cry or epitaph, three men and a dog… and an iguana… are going anyway.Kammie by Annie Ingram]]===|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910124826</amazonuk>[[image:4star.jpg|amazonuslink=<amazonus>1910124826</amazonus>Category:{{{rating}}}{{newreviewStar Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|author=Tony HawksPets]], [[:Category:Humour|title=Once Upon a Time in the West… CountryHumour]]|rating=3|genre=Travel|summary=It was something of a relief when I have often complained in a jokey voice to my partner about life in the sticksencountered Annie Ingram and her cocker spaniel Kammie. You see, and the way she moved me from an innerAnnie knows something which has been self-city flat evident to slumming it in the suburbs me for a long time: dogs are perfectly capable of communicating with fewer busses, no takeaways within walking-humans and-keeping-not just on a level of food-hot distance!, and no 'Polish' shops for a can of beer whenever you fancy onewalk! or play!. Things are different with Tony HawksYou do require extensive training to become fluent, as here he has purposefully decided but most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their time to up sticks from London teach you and all you have to Somewhere, Devon – a tiny village where do is listen. Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her well and the people who built their own homes decades ago still live in them, where slugs are a lot more of a problem for the wannabe lettuce-grower than they are for the metropolitan commuter, and where village halls pair have the power allowed us to turn you into both a Pol Pot dictator if you get on share some of their committee and into a quivering, bruise-inducing wreck if you're the wrong gender at a Zumba class…conversations. [[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- Harris -->1444794809</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Marian Keyes-|titlestyle=Making It Up As I Go Along"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Harris_Glass.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1908943823/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genre=Entertainment|summarystyle=Oh, how the book reviewing gods like to give, and equally like to take away. Here before me is a brand, spanking new collection "vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Breaking of journalism Liam Glass by the wonderful Marian Keyes – but it's a proof copyCharles Harris]]=== [[image:3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], so there's no photo of [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Teenager Liam Glass is mugged and stabbed yards from his Camden flat. As the author. Even if over boy lies comatose, desperate journalist Jason Worthington scrabbles for the years I have stopped reading her novelsinside scoop, I have always turned to the author picture to remind myself such sights exist in this world. Himself is tired police officer Andy Rockham searches for a lucky manmissing tape, harried politician Jamila Hasan fights for sure. But beyond sounding like a letchre-election, what can I say about this – the beauty's third large dose of essaysdistraught mother Katrina Glass waits by her son, web columns and other journalism? I can start with agreeing that I am not gym-owner Royland simply finds himself in the wrong place at the target audiencewrong time. We follow this host of ensemble characters in a bleak, but it's easy enough to see from these pages exactly what the target iskaleidoscopic satire of modern media. So much like that test you do – you know the one, that formulates decisions about the age and commonality [[The Breaking of all things in space to come up with how many billions of planets are likely to have alien life on – you can narrow things down quite readily here, and still come up with a huge number.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718182529</amazonukLiam Glass by Charles Harris|Full Review]] <!-- LENTE -->}}{{newreview|author= Jean-Yves Ferri|titlestyle= Asterix and the Missing Scroll (Album 36)"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lente_10.jpg|ratinglink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690222/ref=nosim?tag= 5thebookbag-21]] |genre= For Sharing|summarystyle=Asterix is those rarest of book series"vertical-align: top; text-align: left; one designed for kids which is actually even funnier when you are an adult"|===[[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star. I used to love Asterix as 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 childcomedic legend. Each fits neatly into one of the archetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, but now that I reread them I can't help but wonder whythe washed-up has-been who has fallen far from his early days; Zoe, because they are so full of hilarious jokes that I definitely wouldn't have understood when I was younger. I laughed loud and hard to myself twice within the first two pages of Asterix and 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 Missing Scrollbusiness; Oliver, so Ithe child-like prop comic who can'd definitely say that this was t get any respect from his peers; Janet, the insult comic who is past her prime; TJ, the nightly variety show host with a hit.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1510100458</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Spadge Whittaker|title=Braver Than Britainreputation for harassing his female colleagues and guest acts; Ruby, Occasionally|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=In which Spadge researches Britainthe ultra-feminist YouTuber and Blogger with a chip on her shoulder; and William, whose redneck character ''s top ten fears and faces them all over Billy the course of a year. WeContractor''re quite is a fearful societyfar 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, you know. And what the things we fear most hell else are, in order: heights (acrophobia), snakes (ophidiophobia), public speaking (glossophobia), spiders (arachnophobia), small spaces (claustrophobia), mice (musophobia), needles (trypanophobia), flying (pteromerhanophobia), crowds (agoraphobia) and clowns (coulrophobia).you going to say?'' [[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- Scott -->0993429904</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Mike Bullen-|titlestyle= Trust"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating= 4[[image:Scott_Eliz.jpg|genrelink= General Fictionhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788037006/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|summary=== Greg and Amanda are happy[[Elizabeth, William... Unmarried, but together thirteen years and with two young daughters, they are very much in loveMe by S Lynn Scott]]=== [[image:4. Dan and Sarah aren't so fortunate5star. Their marriage jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Ally is going through the motionsan ordinary woman with teenage children, a husband and they're staying together for a job. Then comes the sake day when ordinariness flies out of their troubled teenage sonthe window. Following It's not a business conference away from home, one bad decision sends a happy couple into turmoil, and turns an unhappy couple into lovecoincidence that it's young dream. As secrets the same day she finds Queen Elizabeth I in the pantry and betrayals threaten to send both relationships out the Bard of control, thereAvon in her bath. What's only one thing she going to do? Well, Elizabeth and Will have their own ideas about that can keep everything from falling apart: Trust! [[Elizabeth, William... and Me by S Lynn Scott|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751559253</amazonuk!-- Rodford -->}}{{newreview|author=Dan Rhodes-|titlestyle=When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Rodford_Surgeon.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/178565005X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle=General Fiction"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary= Two people are on a train on their way to, of all things, a WI meeting where the ladies of All Bottoms will be lectured on the non-existence of God==[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford]]=== [[image:4star. One jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] In the second instalment of the two people is Professor Richard Dawkinsthis series, rampant atheist, hectoring scientist chappie, and all-round devotee of 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'Deal or No Deal''. The other is Smees Hospital who hosts a popular medical television programme, has had his briefcase stolen by his monolive-named assistantin domestic servant, amanuensis or 'male secretary'Aurora. Smee will come According to Galbraith, this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of his at the fore when the weather sets in and the train journey has hospital. George agrees to be abandoned some way short of its ultimate destination, Upper Bottom. Instead the pair fetch up at look into the isolated yet friendly community of Market Hortontheft, assuming it will be a relatively easy and the only option for accommodation is taken straightforward case – yeslittle does he know, the died-in-the-wool non-believer has he's about to be housed by enter a retired vicar world of deceit and his wifedysfunction. This clash of titanic opinions, peppered with social faux pas aplenty will provide for a particularly English kind of farcical comedy, but one with the legs to go as far as any other Good Books have reached in the past…|amazonuk=[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford|Full Review]] <amazonuk>1910709018</amazonuk!-- Jordan -->}}|-{{newreview| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jordan_Tiny.jpg|authorlink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1760293814/ref=Rob Temple|titlenosim?tag=Very British Problems Abroadthebookbag-21]]|rating=4|genre=Humour|summarystyle=Meet"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Our Tiny, if you haven't already, the phenomenon of the Very British ProblemUseless Hearts by Toni Jordan]]=== [[image:5star. In this format theyjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women're in pithy little comments (ofs Fiction]], ooh, about 140 characters in length, for some reason…) [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] As predicted by Caroline and Janice's mother on Caroline and detail the minor things in life that we like nothing more Henry's wedding day, their marriage is over, albeit 15 years and two daughters further along than to inflate to a major factor of lifepredicted. They can involve mannersIndeed, staring this is definitely not a good weekend for Janice to be babysitting at things until they mend themselves, hitting things ditto, or Caroline's house. There's the fact that nobody apart from you split and I know how to queue properly. And if the idea hits awkwardness of the girls' schoolteacher being the world outside our shores, then – well, you certainly have other woman for a book full of content regarding our attitude start. Then there's that mistaken identity moment involving the neighbours. At least Janice is well adjusted and ineptitude abroadover her ex-husband Alec.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751558494</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewShe still dreams of him, yes, but it's so over! Just as well really… guess who's at the door? [[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan|author=Fraser McAlpineFull Review]]|title=Stuff Brits Like|rating=4<!-- Taylor -->|genre=Humour-|summarystyle= With over 100 chapters on different aspects of Britain and Britishness, this book is both fascinating and hilarious"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Taylor_Scilly. Just looking at the list of subjects is enough to produce a sardonic twist of that stiff upper lipjpg|link=http: the chapters cover topics that range from offal to curry, from pedantry to banter, from conkers to rugby//www.amazon.co. There may be many chapters but this is no academic tome uk/dp/178475515X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag- each chapter is just two to three pages long, each is written with endearing affection, each is easy and satisfying 21]]  | style="vertical- and quirkily funny align: top; text- to read.align: left;"||amazonuk=<amazonuk>1857886348</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= John Samuel|title= What I Tell You in the Dark[[The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating= 3.5}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], [[:Category:Humour|genre= Humour]]|summary=A man Meet the Isles of Scilly. (I know they should be called Will is fighting fiercely against corruption that – desperate to expose his company's dodgy dealings the author provides a handy guide to the press. Overcome with doubt etiquette of their name, their nature and fearlocation, he goes to kill himselfetc. But) For our more distant readers, at the exact moment he attaches his noose to the back they're several chunks of granite rock out in the doorAtlantic, he where Cornwall is savedpointing, with just 2,200 permanent residents. By a curious housemate or a concerned girlfriend? NoThey're big on tourism, by an Angel. Not and big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the white-feathered guardian Angel you may expect, but one who wishes Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough to turn any car to help Will achieve his endsa rust bucket within years. They're so wee, and so possess the body of the hapless Will in order to finish what he startedidyllic-seeming, especially at night, you can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presence. It goes without saying that the Angel But there is hoping things go better than they did with the last guy he possessed – a hapless young man from Galilee called Jesus…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715650505</amazonuk>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]]}}{{newreview<!-- Lloyd -->|author= John Niven-|titlestyle= The Sunshine Cruise Company"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lloyd_Twas.jpg|ratinglink= 4http://www.amazon.co.5|genreuk/dp/1472125118/ref= Humournosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|= Susan Frobisher ==[['Twas the Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Julie Wickham live in a small Dorset townEmlyn Rees]]=== [[image:3.5star. Friends since school, they live fairly uneventful lives – Susan jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It's Christmas Eve and Mum has arranged everything. All she now has a lovely house and a lengthy marriage to accountant Barry, whereas Julie do is doing slightly less well – living in a council flat await the arrival of the relatives and working in an old people's homethe food shopping delivery. When Barry is found dead trussed up in a sex dungeon, it transpires Little does Mum know that he has been leading a hidden life for years, and his expensive fetishes lead those two elements alone have the potential to ruin everything. [['Twas the bank moving to take Susan's home. Struck Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by both desperation Josie Lloyd and a sense of injustice, Sue and Julie conspire to rob a bank, taking along their friend Jill – a devout Christian conflicted due to lack of money and a terminally ill grandson, and Ethel – a foul mouthed resident of the nursing home longing for adventure.Emlyn Rees|Full Review]] <!-- Phinn -->|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434023183</amazonuk>}}{{newreview-|authorstyle=Marie Phillips|title=The Table Of Less Valued Knights"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Phinn_Virgin.jpg|left|ratinglink=4http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1444779400/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genrestyle=Fantasy"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary=Sir Humphrey has been demoted from King Arthur==[[The Virgin Mary's Round Table to the Table of Lesser Valued KnightsGot Nits by Gervase Phinn]]=== [[image:4. The only way to get his comfier seat back is to redeem himself via a quest5star. Therefore when damsel Elaine seeks help to find her kidnapped fiancéjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], Humphrey [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on a plane and his wardhead to either sun or snow, the teenage giant Conradanywhere that is far, eagerly set forth. Meanwhile in far away from the madness at home, last minute dashes to the kingdom of Tuftshops on Christmas Eve, new Queen Martha has run away after and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for a disastrous wedding to… a… well… disastrous Prince Edwin. She may not realise it yetmonth, but she too will have nor a job for Humphrey!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099555875</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Tim Flannery|title=The Mystery mere 36 hours. But I do remember the feeling of the Venus Island Fetish|rating=3|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Meet Archie Meek. He's about to leave the Venus IslandsChristmas when I was younger, where he's lived for the last five yearsback when it was magical, and return to Sydney, where he'll take his office in back when you knew exactly what the museum season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and Christmas parties. This book is an anthology of those moments, and fill it with all took me right back to the cultural artefacts hewonder of Christmas as a child. [[The Virgin Mary's found and wildlife he's plucked or pickled. That's not to ignore the fact he'll count as something quite alien himself, with his filled-out frame, nearly all-over suntan and totemic tattoo, in amongst other changes to his body. But what's this? When he gets back, he finds one of the main Venus Islands artefacts that caused him to go there in the first place, a huge, macabre ceremonial fetish mask, purloined as corporate artwork. And some of the curators he wishes to work alongside have vanished. Is the weird society of the museum he's returning to, perchance, even weirder, stranger and more violent than the cannibalistic society he's waving farewell to?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1922079308</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Roman Dirge|title=The Cat with a Really Big Head|rating=3.5|genre=Graphic Novels|summary= How many picture books are there about cats? And how many do you know that you would really NOT prefer your children to see? If the answer to the second question is 'none – yet', scratch that last word. The title piece in this collection is, by the author's own admission, his imagining of the Joseph Merrick (the 'Elephant Man') of the feline world – who struggles to sneak up behind a mouse when the shadow of his head is a total giveaway, and who can hardly even eat with dignity as bending down to his bowl would break his neck. If that's too dark or oddball for you, try the second major piece, which has a most revealing foreword – ''Dedicated to a certain girl… I hope your life is filled with wonderful accomplishments, love and all the magic you desire… - But I hope your death is slow and horrible.''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782762876</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Val Hennessy|title=Not Far From Dreamland|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Ronald Tonks has reached that stage in life which I call upper middle age: you've qualified for your pension but not yet got to the free television licence barrier. What Ronald ''has'' got is a roof that leaks (there's good reason why his home is called 'the shack'), a dog who is going bald (in patches) and money that's in very short supply. On the plus side he has friends, mostly platonic and usually in much the same boat as Ronald. But are they downhearted? Well, they are occasionally, but mostly they're generously optimistic and out to make the most of what they've got, usually bought from charity shops and jumble sales. ''Not Far From Dreamland'' is the story of a year (2012) in the life of Ronald Tonks, his friends and relatives.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704373874</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Harry Harrison|title=Bill, the Galactic Hero|rating=3.5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Meet Bill. He's a simple farmer – well, he ''is'' taking a correspondence course in being a Technical Fertiliser Operator – but fate has something else in store. And so does the mechanised, technological, industrial military, which needs several billion grunts to fight the Chingers, in mankind's first inter-galactic war. Still, at least he gets medals just for signing up. After that it's all downhill, and the likes of Petty Chief Officer Deathwish Drang can only make that a straight line down. Really, what hope is there?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147320531X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Ian Doescher|title=William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary= Join us, good gentles, for a merry reimagining of `Star Wars Episode 1' as only Shakespeare could have written it. 'Tis a true Shakespearean drama, filled with sword fights, soliloquies and doomed romance…all in glorious iambic pentameter and coupled with gorgeous illustrations. Hold on to your midichlorians: The plays the thing, wherein you'll catch the rise of Anakin!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594748063</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewGot Nits by Gervase Phinn|author=AttaboyFull Review]]|title=The Book of Hugs|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=A hug's a hug, OK? You either do, or you don't. Some people might be a little more enthusiastic about the process whilst others are more elegant in the execution of the hug, but basically you just get on and do it and then forget about it, right?<!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0867197978</amazonuk>}}