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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreview|authorclass-"wikitable" cellpadding= Gervase Phinn"15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->|title= The Virgin Mary's Got Nits<!-- Hogan -->|rating= 4.5-|genrestyle= Humour"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473669065.jpg|summarylink= 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 homehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473669065/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], last minute dashes [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]] Tilda returns to the shops on Christmas EveBrighton, and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a mere 36 hours. But I do remember to tidy away the feeling remains of Christmas when I was youngerher mother's life after her death. Whilst there, back when it was magicalshe returns to the Paradise hotel, a haven for eccentrics and back when you knew exactly what the season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and Christmas partiesmisfits. This book is an anthology of those momentsA place where people can be themselves, and it took me right back to the let go of thoughts that torment them elsewhere. Little wonder of Christmas that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a child, from this place of wonder.|amazonuk=With the help of Queenie Malone, caring, and gregarious, Tilda begins to pick 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>1444779400</amazonuk!-- van LENTE -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Kieran Crowley"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690346.jpg|titlelink= Shoothttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]|rating= 4|genre= Crime|summarystyle= 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"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star. The result is that what is billed as ''an F.X. Shepherd mystery'' with all the optimism of there being more to come has the poignancy of beingjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], if not the last of [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Comic-Cons are a short line, certainly one place of a few. F.X. Shepherd – he doesn't like his first name wonder and prefers just "Shepherd" issanctuary for many people, technicallyand when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, a columnist. Hehe's been sacked by one New York newspaper looking for both that and sanctuary with other fans and is writing a weekly column for anothercreators, plus the chance of maybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. I don't know much about journalismHowever, but I'm guessing one column a week doesn't pay much as a rule…which explains why Shepherd's soap-washed-foul-mouthed editor (read the bookwhen his rival is found dead, you'll see what I mean) expects him Mike is forced to turn navigate every dark corner of the con in some genuine journalism as well: front page, seat of your pants stufforder to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, in doing so, may just unravel a dark secret behind a legendary industry creator. [[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783296518</amazonuk>Full Review]]}}{{newreview<!-- Coulton -->|author=Gray Jolliffe-|titlestyle=The First Ever Christmas"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: And Who to Blamecenter;"|[[image:1473669588.jpg|ratinglink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473669588/ref=nosim?tag=5thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle=Humour"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|summarylink=If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to tell anyone? Well, I really don't like ChristmasCategory: it{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] Lex Coulton's my least favourite time of year and whilst some people count down to the day itselfdebut novel is a story about mistakes, failures, I look forward to that point when I can say that it's all over for another yearand relationships. It's all too commercialised for meThe main protagonist, Frances Pilgrim, with is a coating sixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with her best friend Jackson, a work colleague, and is grappling with the increasingly eccentric behaviour of faux religionher mother. I've never found it in This relationship is complicated by the least funny - fact that is, until I found Gray JolliffeFrances's ''The First Ever Christmas: And Who's to Blame''father disappeared at sea when she was five years old. Amazingly, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe either, but I'm a convert to his skills as a cartoonist (if not to the idea of Christmas) after reading this collection of Christmas[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton|Full Review]] <!-- van LENTE -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-themed cartoons from his archivealign: center;"|[[image:1683690346.jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>1445663503<http://amazonuk>}}www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] {{newreview|authorstyle=Jonathan Pugh"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title=Pugh's New Year's Resolutions|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary=If there's one thing that's for certain, it's that the world is changing[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star. We're dating online, we're communicating in ways that make email seem redundantjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], and when we're shopping we just tell [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Comic-Cons are a website where place of wonder and when it can be deliveredsanctuary for many people, and how much leeway they have to swap our wishes when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, he's looking for whatever it both that and sanctuary with other fans and creators, plus the chance of maybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. However, when his rival 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 notfound dead, we have Mike is forced to keep up with navigate every dark corner of the latest fads, con in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and we're supposed intrusive fans to prick our ears up zombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and take note when the proverbial 'they' change their minds about what we're supposed to eat, in doing so, may just unravel a dark secret behind a legendary industry creator.[[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722885</amazonuk!-- Curran -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Luke Rhinehart"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= Invasion[[image:1683690133.jpg|ratinglink= 4http://www.amazon.co.5|genreuk/dp/1683690133/ref= Humour nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle=Super"vertical-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universe. And theyalign: top; text-align: left;"|===[[My Lady've come to earth to have funs Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris]]=== [[image:4star. Alien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one day, and he jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] You are a lass of twenty eight. Plucky, penniless and his family quickly come to love in Regency era London the playful alienrace is on to find a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to life as an eternal spinster. But when Louie starts using their computer Along your journey you'll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to hack into government and corporate networks, stealing millions save you from banks to give to othersa life alone, they realise that Louie and his friends mean trouble. As Billy and his family begin a roller coaster ride of fame and fortunefired by a rogueish sense for adventure. When it comes to suitors though, as well as a ranking high on you'll have to make the FBI's most wanted listultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, the Government soon decides that these aliens are terroristswholesome, rugged and must be eliminated. Whilst caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, or the aliens are playing games they hope will help humans to see the insanity of the American politicalmad, economic bad and military systemsterrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. With orphans, they soon come to realise that werewolves, long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the Powers that Be donway, it's clear this isn't play games: they make wargoing to be an easy decision... [[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|amazonuk=Full Review]] <amazonuk>1785651757</amazonuk!-- Jester -->}}{{newreview|author=Rod Green-|titlestyle=Only Fools and Horses"width: 10%; vertical-align: The Peckham Archives|rating=4top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jester_Forever.jpg|genreleft|link=Entertainment https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1510704361]]  |summarystyle=We are in the world of one of the country's most famous and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester]]=== [[image:4star. Yesjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], there have been specials since[[:Category:Horror|Horror]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fasntasy]] Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and more repeats to clog up gets made the BBC schedules than is really pukka, but very few people failed to succumb to its charms at one time or anotheroffer of his lifetime; immortality. I'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stony-faced reception of ''that'' drop through the open bar hatchWe follow Michael, a grim reaper and ''that'' chandelier scene, but this is much more meaty. Purporting to be the family archives, found dumped his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a stoner in Nelson Mandela House, the documents here were passed from pillar to post, from one council worker in a records department ) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clumsy acronym clean surface to another, from them to the police – and now here they are being published for sit on in their social history worthflat. Will enough readers find them of worth, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849909245</amazonuk!-- Stibbe -->}}{{newreview|author= Mara Wilson-|titlestyle= Where Am I Now?"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Famecenter;"|rating= 5[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|genre= Autobiographyleft|summarylink= Mara Wilson has always felt a little young and a little out of placehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0241309824]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: as the only child on a film set full of adultsleft;"|===[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], the first daughter in a house full [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Christmas – the time of boys, traditional trauma. You only have to think about the sole clinically depressed member of turkey for that – once upon a cheerleading squad, a valley girl in New York and a neurotic in Californiatime it was leaving it sat on the downstairs loo to defrost overnight, and an adult if that failed the world still remembers as a little girlhair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Tackling everything from how she first learned about sex on the set of ''Melrose Place,'Nowadays it' s all having to losing her mother at a young age, to getting her first kiss (or was make sure it's suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it kisses?) on a celebrity canoe trip, and get too friendly with it to not being cute enough want to make eat it in Hollywood. Christmas, though, these essays tell the story is of one young womancourse also a time of great boons. It's journey from accidental fame to relative obscuritycash in hand for a lot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, but also illuminate it was always a universal struggle: learning godsend for postmen with all the thank-you letters to accept yourself, and figuring out who aunties you are and where saw twice a decade that your parents made you belong. 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|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0143128221</amazonuk>Full Review]]}}{{newreview<!-- Doescher -->|author= Tony Stuart-|titlestyle= Writing Lines"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"||rating= 4[[image:Doescher_Will.5jpg|genre=Humourleft|summarylink= George Gordon Wentworth (1946-2011) lived a humdrum lifehttps://www.amazon.co. He was a barely adequate teacher in a fairly world renowned independent school in Kent and kept a copious diary of his quotidian existence. Most of what he recorded was dross. However, amongst all 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 utterly uninteresting tailings of his life there were some nuggets and grains to catch Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the attentionSeventh by Ian Doescher]]=== [[image:4. Author Tony Stuart has created these amusing anecdotes5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] A long time ago, panning them out over twenty six episodes which give us the best of Wentworth – comedy gold. From losing all the pupils in his charge on a school trip to being arrested on suspicion of terrorism; from waking up in bed between the married couple the morning after their weddinggalaxy far away, there was a man called William Shakespeare, who was able to destroying create a ski run; from appearing series of dramatic histories full-frontal naked in a sheep-farmers' gazette to triggering an air-sea rescue; Wentworth wasof machinations most foul, blinkered rulers most evil and befuddled, rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy. You may or may not have noticed the subject – cinematic version of these and so many more unlikely his original stage play for ''The Force Doth Awaken'', but highly amusing events.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524634441</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Graham Fulbright|title=Driving Mad: Maniacshere at last we get the actual script, Morons and the Advanced Motorist's Club|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=I passed my driving test when John F Kennedy was complete with annoying-in-different-ways-to-before droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and people keeping it in the White House and I've recently had to reapply for my driving licence having achieved a venerable agefamily til it hurts. When I started driving the roads were kinderAnd if you need further encouragement, more forgiving places - or put another way, the idiots were fewer and further between. I don't know how long Graham Fulbright has been driving, but he certainly knows forget his motoring morons and in ''Driving Mad'' he brings us a fictional sample audience only demanded three parts of their eccentricities. Well, IHenry VI – here the series is so popular we'm pretty certain that theyre on to part seven – surely making this over twice as good… [[William Shakespeare're fictional s the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher|Full Review]] <!- but these days you never know...- Goss -->|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783062584</amazonuk>}}{{newreview-|authorstyle=Mario Giordano"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Goss_600.jpg|titleleft|link=Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lionshttps://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785942719]]  |ratingstyle=4"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||genre=Crime|summary=Poldi had not long been widowed when she decided to move from Bavaria to Sicily with the intention =[[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of drinking herself to deathTime Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies]]=== [[image:4.5star. She could, of course, have done this in Germanyjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]], but she felt that a sea view was essential. Once there[[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], new friends, family already resident on [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Consider the island Doctor. Just how many birthday and the corpse Christmas gifts must he have to hand out each year, were he to keep in touch with even half of a young man, his face blown off by companions? He would certainly need a shotgun, whom she found on few novelty gifts for some of them, say, for example, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the local beach, intervened to give her life some meaning. For of a while she was a suspect, but Time Lord and that (of some of his friends and her wig) were no obstacle enemies. As luck would have it, he has the space in his TARDIS to her falling for Commissario Vito Montana who was assigned stock up in advance, so my advice to investigate the case. Assisting him (or having him assist – sorry, her) came naturally – would be to pop along to Poldi his local Earth-based book emporium and before long there was an investigative get himself ready. And if you're working on a shorter timescale, with a shorter lifespan, and personal partnership. At least so far as Poldi was concernedthinking 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]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- Ingram -->1908524693</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Grady Hendrix-|titlestyle= My Best Friend's Exorcism"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating= 5[[image:Ingram_Kammie.jpg|genre= Horrorleft|summarylink=1988, Charleston, South Carolinahttps://www.amazon. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth gradeco. But after an evening of skinnyuk/gp/product/1785451995?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-dipping goes disatrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act...different. She's moody21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785451995]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram]]=== [[image:4star. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries - and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship enough to beat the devil?jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>1594748624</amazonuk>Category:{{{rating}}}{{newreviewStar Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|author= Kevin MacNeilPets]], [[:Category:Humour|title=The Brilliant and ForeverHumour]]|rating= 3.5|genre= Humour|summary= It was something of a relief when I encountered Annie Ingram and her cocker spaniel Kammie. You know sometimes when someone tells 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 joke, everyone else laughslevel of food!, 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= 3walk! or play!.5|genre= Crime|summary= The thirteenth outing for Bryant and May is looking very much like it You do require extensive training to become fluent, but most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their last. Arthur Bryant is on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuing, which are likely time to teach you and all you have to confirm that he do is suffering from Alzheimer'slisten. His condition is worsening almost by Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her well and the day, memory lapses are morphing into full-scale hallucinationspair have allowed us to share some of their conversations.[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857523422</amazonuk!-- Harris -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Kevin Smith"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Harris_Glass.jpg|titlelink=The Voyage of the Dolphinhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1908943823/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summarystyle=Dublin 1916"vertical-align: Among the unrest and antitop; text-British feeling worsened align: left;"|===[[The Breaking of Liam Glass by the threat of conscription into a war seen as nothing to do with the Irish, Trinity College faculty has other distractionsCharles Harris]]=== [[image:3star. They'd like a trophy; the skeleton of an Irish 'giant' to be precise. The only glitch is that the main trophy contender, Bernard MacNeill's skeletonjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Teenager Liam Glass is somewhere difficult to access mugged and all seasoned explorers are otherwise engagedstabbed yards from his Camden flat. There may be hope though. They turn to FitzmauriceAs the boy lies comatose, desperate journalist Jason Worthington scrabbles for the inside scoop, tired police officer Andy Rockham searches for a student not good enough missing tape, harried politician Jamila Hasan fights for anything else. Fitzmaurice agreesre-election, picking his friends Crozier and Rafferty to go with him. So… ''Gentlemendistraught mother Katrina Glass waits by her son, lace up your strongest boots and pack your warmest underwear – we're all off to gym-owner Royland simply finds himself in the wrong place at the bloody Arctic!'' Whether battle cry or epitaphwrong time. We follow this host of ensemble characters in a bleak, three men and a dog… and an iguana… are going anywaykaleidoscopic satire of modern media.[[The Breaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris|Full Review]]|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910124826</amazonuk>|amazonus=<amazonus!-- LENTE -->1910124826</amazonus>}}{{newreview|author=Tony Hawks-|titlestyle=Once Upon a Time in the West… Country"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lente_10.jpg|ratinglink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690222/ref=nosim?tag=3thebookbag-21]] |genre=Travel|summarystyle=I have often complained in a jokey voice to my partner about life in the sticks, and the way she moved me from an inner"vertical-align: top; text-city flat to slumming it in the suburbs with fewer busses, no takeaways within walking-and-keeping-food-hot distance, and no 'Polish' shops for 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 can remote Caribbean island under the guise of beer whenever you fancy one. Things are different working with Tony HawksDustin Walker, as here he has purposefully decided to up sticks from London to Somewhere, Devon – a tiny village where comedic legend. Each fits neatly into one of the people who built their own homes decades ago still live in themarchetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, where slugs are a lot more of a problem for the wannabe lettucewashed-grower than they are for up has-been who has fallen far from his early days; Zoe, the metropolitan commuterrising female star with a new stand-up special coming soon; Dante, and where village halls have who went from being a kid on the power streets to turn you into both a Pol Pot dictator if you get on their committee and into a quiveringthe hardest working road comic in the business; Oliver, bruisethe child-inducing wreck if youlike prop comic who can're t get any respect from his peers; Janet, the insult comic who is past her prime; TJ, the wrong gender at nightly variety show host with a Zumba class…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444794809</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Marian Keyes|title=Making It Up As I Go Along|rating=4.5|genre=Entertainment|summary=Ohreputation for harassing his female colleagues and guest acts; Ruby, how the book reviewing gods like to give, ultra-feminist YouTuber and equally like to take away. Here before me is Blogger with a brandchip on her shoulder; and William, spanking new collection of journalism by whose redneck character ''Billy the wonderful Marian Keyes – but itContractor''s is a far cry from his real personality as a proof copyposh millionaire. Of course, so thereall nine agree because ''s no photo when God almighty walks down on a beam of the author. Even if over the years I have stopped reading her novelslight and asks for your help, I have always turned to what the author picture hell else are you going to remind myself such sights exist in this world. Himself is a lucky man, for suresay?'' [[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. But beyond sounding like a letch, what can I say about this – the beauty's third large dose of essays, web columns and other journalismjpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788037006/ref=nosim? I can start with agreeing that I am not the target audiencetag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Elizabeth, but it's easy enough to see from these pages exactly what the target isWilliam... So much like that test you do – you know the oneand 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, that formulates decisions about 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 age pantry and commonality the Bard of all things Avon in space to come up with how many billions of planets are likely her bath. What's she going to do? Well, Elizabeth and Will have alien life on – you can narrow things down quite readily heretheir own ideas about that! [[Elizabeth, William... and still come up with a huge number.Me by S Lynn Scott|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718182529</amazonuk!-- Rodford -->}}{{newreview|author= Jean-Yves Ferri|titlestyle= Asterix and the Missing Scroll (Album 36)"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating= 5[[image:Rodford_Surgeon.jpg|genrelink= For Sharing|summaryhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178565005X/ref=Asterix is those rarest of book seriesnosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left; one designed for kids which is actually even funnier when you are an adult"|===[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford]]=== [[image:4star. I used to love Asterix as a childjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], but now that I reread them I can't help but wonder why, 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 [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] In the first two pages second instalment of Asterix and the Missing Scrollthis series, so I'd definitely say that this was Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a hitwell-known local man to track down some missing valuables.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1510100458</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Spadge Whittaker|title=Braver Than BritainBill 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, Occasionally|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=In which Spadge researches Britain's top ten fears and faces them all over this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of his at the course of a yearhospital. We're quite a fearful society, you know. And George agrees to look into the things we fear most aretheft, in order: heights (acrophobia)assuming it will be a relatively easy and straightforward case – little does he know, snakes (ophidiophobia), public speaking (glossophobia), spiders (arachnophobia), small spaces (claustrophobia), mice (musophobia), needles (trypanophobia), flying (pteromerhanophobia), crowds (agoraphobia) he's about to enter a world of deceit and clowns (coulrophobia)dysfunction.[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993429904</amazonuk!-- Jordan -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Mike Bullen"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= Trust[[image:Jordan_Tiny.jpg|ratinglink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1760293814/ref=nosim?tag= 4thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle= General Fiction"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary= Greg and Amanda are happy. Unmarried==[[Our Tiny, but together thirteen years and with two young daughters, they are very much in loveUseless Hearts by Toni Jordan]]=== [[image:5star. Dan and Sarah arenjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women't so fortunate. Their marriage is going through the motionss Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] As predicted by Caroline and theyJanice're staying together for the sake of their troubled teenage son. Following a business conference away from home, one bad decision sends a happy couple into turmoil, s mother on Caroline and turns an unhappy couple into loveHenry's young dream. As secrets wedding day, their marriage is over, albeit 15 years and betrayals threaten two daughters further along than predicted. Indeed, this is definitely not a good weekend for Janice to send both relationships out of control, therebe babysitting at Caroline's house. There's only one thing that can keep everything from falling apart: Trust|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751559253</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Dan Rhodes|title=When the Professor Got Stuck in split and the awkwardness of the girls' schoolteacher being the Snow|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary= Two people are on other woman for a train on their way to, of all things, a WI meeting where start. Then there's that mistaken identity moment involving the ladies neighbours. At least Janice is well adjusted and over her ex-husband Alec. She still dreams of All Bottoms will be lectured on the non-existence of God. One of the two people is Professor Richard Dawkinshim, rampant atheistyes, hectoring scientist chappie, and all-round devotee of but it's so over! Just as well really… guess who'Deal or No Deal''. The other is Smees at the door? [[Our Tiny, his monoUseless Hearts by Toni Jordan|Full Review]] <!-- Taylor -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-named assistant, amanuensis or 'male secretary'align: center;"|[[image:Taylor_Scilly. Smee will come to the fore when the weather sets in and the train journey has to be abandoned some way short of its ultimate destination, Upper Bottomjpg|link=http://www.amazon.co. Instead the pair fetch up at the isolated yet friendly community of Market Horton, and the only option for accommodation is taken – yes, the dieduk/dp/178475515X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-inalign: top; text-the-wool non-believer has to be housed align: left;"|===[[The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by a retired vicar and his wife. This clash of titanic opinions, peppered with social faux pas aplenty will provide for a particularly English kind of farcical comedy, but one with the legs to go as far as any other Good Books have reached in the past…Colin Taylor]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>1910709018</amazonuk>}}Category:{{{newreviewrating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|author=Rob TempleTravel]], [[:Category:Humour|title=Very British Problems AbroadHumour]]|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=Meet, if you haven't already, the phenomenon Isles of the Very British ProblemScilly. In this format (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 in pithy little comments (several chunks of, ooh, about 140 characters granite rock out in lengththe Atlantic, where Cornwall is pointing, with just 2,200 permanent residents. They're big on tourism, for some reason…) and detail big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the minor things in life that we like nothing more than weather is bad enough to inflate turn any car to a major factor of liferust bucket within years. They can involve manners're so wee, staring and so idyllic-seeming, especially at things until they mend themselvesnight, hitting things ditto, or the fact that nobody apart from you and I know how to queue properlycan be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presence. And if the idea hits the world outside our shores, then But there is – wellat least two working at any one time. And one of them in recent years has been Colin Taylor, you certainly have who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a book full well-known online existence, which has brought to life all the whimsical comedy of content regarding our attitude and ineptitude abroadhis work.[[The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751558494</amazonuk!-- Lloyd -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Fraser McAlpine"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=Stuff Brits Like[[image:Lloyd_Twas.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472125118/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle=Humour"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary= With over 100 chapters on different aspects of Britain ==[['Twas the Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Britishness, this book is both fascinating Emlyn Rees]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It's Christmas Eve and hilariousMum has arranged everything. Just looking at All she now has to do is await the list of subjects is enough to produce a sardonic twist arrival of the relatives and the food shopping delivery. Little does Mum know that stiff upper lip: those two elements alone have the chapters cover topics that range from offal potential to curry, from pedantry to banter, from conkers to rugbyruin everything. There may be many chapters but this is no academic tome [['Twas the Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees|Full Review]] <!-- Phinn - each chapter is just two to three pages long, each is written with endearing affection, each is easy and satisfying - and quirkily funny >|- to read.|amazonukstyle=<amazonuk>1857886348<"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Phinn_Virgin.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444779400/amazonuk>}}ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]{{newreview|authorstyle= John Samuel"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title= What I Tell You in the Dark|rating= 3.5|genre= Humour|summary=A man called Will is fighting fiercely against corruption – desperate to expose his company[[The Virgin Mary's dodgy dealings to the pressGot Nits by Gervase Phinn]]=== [[image:4. Overcome with doubt and fear, he goes to kill himself5star. Butjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], at the exact moment he attaches his noose [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on a plane and head to the back of the dooreither sun or snow, he anywhere that is saved. By a curious housemate or a concerned girlfriend? Nofar, by an Angel. Not far away from the white-feathered guardian Angel you may expectmadness at home, but one who wishes last minute dashes to help Will achieve his endsthe shops on Christmas Eve, and so possess the body of the hapless Will in order to finish what he started. It goes without saying food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a mere 36 hours. But I do remember the Angel is hoping things go better than they did with the last guy he possessed – a hapless young man from Galilee called Jesus…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715650505</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= John Niven|title= The Sunshine Cruise Company|rating= 4.5|genre= Humour|summary= Susan Frobisher and Julie Wickham live in a small Dorset town. Friends since schoolfeeling of Christmas when I was younger, back when it was magical, they live fairly uneventful lives – Susan has a lovely house and a lengthy marriage to accountant Barry, whereas Julie back when you knew exactly what the season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and Christmas parties. This book is doing slightly less well – living in a council flat and working in an old people's home. When Barry is found dead trussed up in a sex dungeonanthology of those moments, and it transpires that he has been leading a hidden life for years, and his expensive fetishes lead took me right back to the bank moving to take Susan's homewonder of Christmas as a child. Struck [[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by both desperation and a sense of injustice, Sue and Julie conspire to rob a bank, taking along their friend Jill – a devout Christian conflicted due to lack of money and a terminally ill grandson, and Ethel – a foul mouthed resident of the nursing home longing for adventure.Gervase Phinn|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434023183</amazonuk>Full Review]]}}{{newreview|author=Marie Phillips|title=The Table Of Less Valued Knights|rating=4.5|genre=Fantasy|summary=Sir Humphrey has been demoted from King Arthur's Round Table to the Table of Lesser Valued Knights. The only way to get his comfier seat back is to redeem himself via a quest. Therefore when damsel Elaine seeks help to find her kidnapped fiancé, Humphrey and his ward, the teenage giant Conrad, eagerly set forth. Meanwhile in the kingdom of Tuft, new Queen Martha has run away after a disastrous wedding to… a… well… disastrous Prince Edwin. She may not realise it yet, but she too will have a job for Humphrey!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099555875</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Tim Flannery|title=The Mystery of the Venus Island Fetish|rating=3|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Meet Archie Meek. He's about to leave the Venus Islands, where he's lived for the last five years, and return to Sydney, where he'll take his office in the museum and fill it with all the cultural artefacts he'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<!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->}}{{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>}}