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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreview|authorclass-"wikitable" cellpadding=Ryan North"15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->|title=Romeo and/or Juliet<!-- Hogan -->|rating=3.5-|genrestyle=Humour"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473669065.jpg|summarylink=For all those who think tragedy plots are too restricted and prescribed, read onhttp://www.amazon. In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of options en route to hitting the bottleco. Likewise, she could have turned away from her predestined path at no end of junctures. And to what resultuk/dp/1473669065/ref=nosim? Well, happy marriage and a kid called Ben, because the leads have just banged peopletag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Queenie Malone's heads together and stopped the quarrelling, or Death Paradise Hotel by Tybalt (him) or a long life running an establishment curing murderous women, such as a Lady M (her)Ruth Hogan]]=== [[image:5star. jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>0356508536</amazonuk>Category:{{{rating}}}Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]{{newreview|author= Gervase Phinn|title= The Virgin MaryTilda returns to Brighton, to tidy away the remains of her mother's Got Nits|rating= 4life after her death.5|genre= Humour|summary= Christmas in our house is Whilst there, she returns to the time we tend to get on Paradise hotel, a plane haven for eccentrics and head to either sun or snowmisfits. A place where people can be themselves, anywhere and let go of thoughts that torment them elsewhere. Little wonder that is far, far away Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a child, from this place of wonder. With the madness at homehelp of Queenie Malone, caring, and gregarious, last minute dashes Tilda begins to pick apart the shops on Christmas Eve, tricky and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a mere 36 hoursuncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and distant mother. 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[[Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan|Full Review]] <!-- van LENTE -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690346. This book is an anthology of those moments, and it took me right back to the wonder of Christmas as a child.jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>1444779400<http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690346/amazonuk>ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{newreview|authorstyle= Kieran Crowley"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title= Shoot|rating= 4|genre= Crime|summary= I make something of [[The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Comic-Cons are a habit place of being late to discover good writerswonder and sanctuary for many people, and when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, in this case getting to Crowley after he is no longer 's looking for both that and sanctuary with other fans and creators, plus the chance of maybe, just maybe reuniting with ushis ex. The result However, when his rival is that what found dead, Mike is billed as ''an F.X. Shepherd mystery'' with all the optimism of there being more forced to come has the poignancy navigate every dark corner of being, if not the last of a short line, certainly one of a few. F.X. Shepherd con in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to zombie obstacle courses – he doesn't like Mike must prove his first name innocence and prefers just "Shepherd" is, technicallyin doing so, may just unravel a columnistdark secret behind a legendary industry creator. He's been sacked [[The Con Artist by one New York newspaper and is writing a weekly column for another. I don't know much about journalism, but I'm guessing one column a week doesn't pay much as a rule…which explains why Shepherd's soapFred Van Lente|Full Review]]  <!--washedCoulton -foul-mouthed editor (read the book, you'll see what I mean) expects him to turn in some genuine journalism as well: front page, seat of your pants stuff. >|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783296518</amazonuk>}}{{newreview-|authorstyle=Gray Jolliffe"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473669588.jpg|titlelink=The First Ever Christmashttp: And Who to Blame//www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473669588/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]|rating=5|genre=Humour|summarystyle=If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to tell anyone? Well, I really don't like Christmas"vertical-align: top; text-align: it's my least favourite time of year and whilst some people count down to the day itself, I look forward to that point when I can say that it's all over for another yearleft;"|===[[Falling Short by Lex Coulton]]=== [[image:4star. It's all too commercialised for mejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], with a coating of faux religion. I've never found it in the least funny - that is[[:Category:Humour|Humour]], until I found Gray Jolliffe[[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women''The First Ever Christmas: And Whos Fiction]] Lex Coulton's to Blame''debut novel is a story about mistakes, failures, and relationships. AmazinglyThe main protagonist, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe eitherFrances Pilgrim, but I'm is a convert to his skills as sixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with her best friend Jackson, a cartoonist (if not to work colleague, and is grappling with the idea increasingly eccentric behaviour of Christmas) after reading this collection of Christmas-themed cartoons from his archiveher 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|Full Review]]|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445663503</amazonuk>}}{{newreview<!-- van LENTE -->|author=Jonathan Pugh-|titlestyle=Pugh's New Year's Resolutions"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690346.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1683690346/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle=Humour"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||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 onlinejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], we're communicating in ways that make email seem redundant[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Comic-Cons are a place of wonder and sanctuary for many people, and when weComic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, he're shopping we s looking for both that and sanctuary with other fans and creators, plus the chance of maybe, just tell a website where and maybe reuniting with his ex. However, when it can be deliveredhis rival is found dead, and how much leeway they have Mike is forced to swap our wishes for whatever it is they do bring us. But those changes are also supposed navigate every dark corner of the con in order to be affecting us clear his name – we're supposed from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to use zombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, in doing so, may just unravel a smart watch to tell us if we're moving or not, we have to keep up with the latest fads, and we're supposed to prick our ears up and take note when the proverbial 'they' change their minds about what we're supposed to eatdark 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.5amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690133/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle= Humour "vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary=Super-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universe. And they==[[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 dayjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], and he and his family quickly come to love the playful alien[[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] You are a lass of twenty eight. But when Louie starts using their computer to hack into government Plucky, penniless and corporate networks, stealing millions from banks in Regency era London the race is on to give find a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to others, they realise that Louie and his friends mean troublelife as an eternal spinster. As Billy and his family begin Along your journey you'll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a roller coaster ride of fame and fortune, as well as fiesty noble eager to save you from a ranking high on the FBI's most wanted list, the Government soon decides that these aliens are terroristslife alone, and must be eliminated. Whilst the aliens are playing games they hope will help humans fired by a rogueish sense for adventure. When it comes to suitors though, you'll have to see make the insanity of the American politicalultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, wholesome, economic rugged and military systemscaring Captain Angus MacTaggart, they soon come to realise that or the Powers that Be donmad, bad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. With orphans, werewolves, long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the way, 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: top; text-align: The Peckham Archivescenter;"|rating=4[[image:Jester_Forever.jpg|genre=Entertainment left|summarylink=We are in the world of one of the country's most famous and wellhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1510704361]]  | style="vertical-of killed off for Christmas 2003align: 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 more repeats to clog up brash young man who dies and gets made the BBC schedules than is really pukkaoffer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, but very few people failed a grim reaper and his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a stoner in the records department) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clean surface to succumb to its charms at one time or anothersit on in their flat. I'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stony[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester|Full Review]] <!-- Stibbe -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-faced reception of ''that'' drop through the open bar hatch, and ''that'' chandelier scene, but this is much more meatyalign: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co. Purporting to be the family archives, found dumped in Nelson Mandela House, the documents here were passed from pillar to post, from one council worker in a department with a clumsy acronym to another, from them to the police – and now here they are being published for their social history worth. Will enough readers find them of worth, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?uk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0241309824]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849909245</amazonuk>==[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe]]===}}{{newreview[[image:4.5star.jpg|authorlink= Mara WilsonCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|title= Where Am I Now?Humour]], [[:Category: True Short Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame|rating= 5Short Stories]]|genre= Autobiography|summary= Mara Wilson has always felt a little young and a little out Christmas – the time of place: as the traditional trauma. You only child on a film set full of adults, have to think about the first daughter in turkey for that – once upon a house full of boys, time it was leaving it sat on the sole clinically depressed member of a cheerleading squaddownstairs loo to defrost overnight, a valley girl in New York and a neurotic in California, 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 Nowadays it''Melrose Place,'' to losing her mother at a young age, to getting her first kiss (or was it kisses?) on a celebrity canoe trip, to not being cute enough s all having to make sure it in Hollywood, these essays tell the story of one young woman's journey from accidental fame 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 relative obscurityeat it. Christmas, but though, is of course also illuminate a universal struggle: learning to accept yourself, and figuring out 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 are and where letters to aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you belong. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0143128221</amazonuk>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]]}}{{newreview<!-- Doescher -->|author= Tony Stuart-|titlestyle= Writing Lines"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Doescher_Will.jpg|ratingleft|link= 4https://www.amazon.co.5uk/gp/product/159474985X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=159474985X]] |genre=Humour|summarystyle= George Gordon Wentworth (1946"vertical-align: top; text-2011) lived a humdrum lifealign: left;"|===[[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher]]=== [[image:4.5star. He was a barely adequate teacher jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] A long time ago, in a fairly world renowned independent school in Kent and kept galaxy far away, there was a copious diary of his quotidian existence. Most man called William Shakespeare, who was able to create a series of dramatic histories full of what he recorded was drossmachinations most foul, rulers most evil and rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy. However, amongst all You may or may not have noticed the utterly uninteresting tailings cinematic version of his life there were some nuggets and grains to catch original stage play for ''The Force Doth Awaken'', but here at last we get the attention. Author Tony Stuart has created these amusing anecdotesactual script, panning them out over twenty six episodes which give us the best of Wentworth – comedy gold. From losing all the pupils complete with annoying-in his charge on a school trip -different-ways-to being arrested on suspicion of terrorism; from waking up in bed between the married couple the morning after their wedding-before droids anew, to destroying a ski run; returning heroes from appearing full-frontal naked elsewhere in a sheep-farmers' gazette to triggering an air-sea rescue; Wentworth washis oeuvre, blinkered and befuddled, people keeping it in the subject – of these and so many more unlikely but highly amusing eventsfamily til it hurts.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524634441</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Graham Fulbright|title=Driving Mad: Maniacs And if you need further encouragement, Morons and the Advanced Motoristdon's Clubt 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|rating=3.5Full Review]]|genre=Humour|summary=I passed my driving test when John F Kennedy was in the White House and I've recently had to reapply for my driving licence having achieved a venerable age. When I started driving the roads were kinder, more forgiving places <!-- Goss -->|- or put another way, the idiots were fewer and further between| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Goss_600. I don't know how long Graham Fulbright has been driving, but he certainly knows his motoring morons and in ''Driving Mad'' he brings us a fictional sample of their eccentricities. Well, I'm pretty certain that they're fictional jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag- but these days you never know...|amazonuk21&linkCode=as2&camp=<amazonuk>1783062584</amazonuk>1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785942719]]}}{{newreview|authorstyle=Mario Giordano"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|title=Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions|rating=4|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 Poldi pop along to 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>1908524693</amazonuk!-- Ingram -->}}{{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-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785451995]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-dipping goes disatrously wrong, Gretchen begins to actalign: left;"|===[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|Pets]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It was something of a relief when I encountered Annie Ingram and her cocker spaniel Kammie..different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her You see, Annie knows something which has been self-evident to some startling discoveries - and by the me for a long time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate : dogs are perfectly capable of Abby communicating with humans and Gretchen not just on a level of food!, walk! or play!. You do require extensive training to become fluent, but most dogs will be determined by a single question: Is perfectly willing to give their friendship enough time to teach you and all you have to beat the devil?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594748624do is listen. Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her well and the pair have allowed us to share some of their conversations. [[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram|Full Review]] </amazonuk!-- Harris -->}}{{newreview|author= Kevin MacNeil-|titlestyle=The Brilliant and Forever"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Harris_Glass.jpg|ratinglink= 3http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1908943823/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genre= Humour|summarystyle= You know sometimes when someone tells a joke, everyone else laughs, and you're sat there wondering what was so funny?"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973376</amazonuk>==[[The Breaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris]]=== [[image:3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}}{{newreviewStar Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|author= Christopher Fowler|title= Bryant and MayCrime]], [[:Category: Strange TideHumour|rating= 3.5Humour]]|genre= Crime|summary= The thirteenth outing for Bryant Teenager Liam Glass is mugged and May is looking very much like it will be their laststabbed yards from his Camden flat. Arthur Bryant is on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuingAs the boy lies comatose, which are likely to confirm that he is suffering from Alzheimer's. His condition is worsening almost by desperate journalist Jason Worthington scrabbles for the dayinside scoop, memory lapses are morphing into fulltired 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-scale hallucinationsowner 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]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- LENTE -->0857523422</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Kevin Smith-|titlestyle=The Voyage of the Dolphin"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating=5[[image:Lente_10.jpg|genrelink=Historical Fictionhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690222/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle=Dublin 1916"vertical-align: Among the unrest and antitop; text-British feeling worsened align: left;"|===[[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by the threat of conscription into Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Nine comedians are invited to a war seen as nothing to do remote Caribbean island under the guise of working with the IrishDustin Walker, Trinity College faculty has other distractionsa comedic legend. They'd like a trophy; the skeleton Each fits neatly into one of an Irish 'giant' to be precise. The only glitch is that the main trophy contenderarchetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, Bernard MacNeill's skeletonthe washed-up has-been who has fallen far from his early days; Zoe, is somewhere difficult to access and all seasoned explorers are otherwise engaged. There may be hope though. They turn to Fitzmauricethe rising female star with a new stand-up special coming soon; Dante, who went from being a student not good enough for anything else. Fitzmaurice agrees, picking his friends Crozier and Rafferty kid on the streets to go with him. So… ''Gentlementhe hardest working road comic in the business; Oliver, lace up your strongest boots and pack your warmest underwear – we're all off to the bloody Arctic!child-like prop comic who can'' Whether battle cry or epitapht get any respect from his peers; Janet, three men the insult comic who is past her prime; TJ, the nightly variety show host with a reputation for harassing his female colleagues and guest acts; Ruby, the ultra-feminist YouTuber and Blogger with a dog… chip on her shoulder; and an iguana… are going anywayWilliam, whose redneck character ''Billy the Contractor'' is a far cry from his real personality as a posh millionaire.Of course, all nine agree because ''when God almighty walks down on a beam of light and asks for your help, what the hell else are you going to say?'' [[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente|amazonuk=Full Review]] <amazonuk>1910124826</amazonuk!-- Scott -->|amazonus=<amazonus>1910124826</amazonus>}}{{newreview-|authorstyle=Tony Hawks"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=Once Upon a Time in the West… Country[[image:Scott_Eliz.jpg|ratinglink=3http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788037006/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |genrestyle=Travel"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary=I have often complained in a jokey voice to my partner about life in the sticks==[[Elizabeth, William... and the way she moved me from Me by S Lynn Scott]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Ally is an inner-city flat to slumming it in the suburbs with fewer busses, no takeaways within walking-and-keeping-food-hot distanceordinary woman with teenage children, a husband and no 'Polish' shops for a can job. Then comes the day when ordinariness flies out of beer whenever you fancy onethe window. Things are different with Tony Hawks, as here he has purposefully decided to up sticks from London to Somewhere, Devon – It's not a tiny village where coincidence that it's the people who built their own homes decades ago still live same day she finds Queen Elizabeth I in them, where slugs are a lot more of a problem for the wannabe lettuce-grower than they are for the metropolitan commuterthe pantry and the Bard of Avon in her bath. What's she going to do? Well, Elizabeth and where village halls Will have the power to turn you into both a Pol Pot dictator if you get on their committee own ideas about that! [[Elizabeth, William... and into a quivering, bruise-inducing wreck if you're the wrong gender at a Zumba class…Me by S Lynn Scott|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444794809</amazonuk!-- Rodford -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Marian Keyes"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title=Making It Up As I Go Along[[image:Rodford_Surgeon.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/178565005X/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 of journalism by the wonderful Marian Keyes – but it"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Surgeon's a proof copy, so there's no photo of the authorCase: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford]]=== [[image:4star. Even if over the years I have stopped reading her novelsjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], I have always turned to [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] In the author picture to remind myself such sights exist in second instalment of this world. Himself is series, Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a lucky well-known local manto track down some missing valuables. Bill Galbraith, for surea 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. But beyond sounding like a letchAccording to Galbraith, what can I say about this – the beauty's third large dose briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of essays, web columns and other journalism? I can start with agreeing that I am not his at the hospital. George agrees to look into the target audiencetheft, but assuming itwill be a relatively easy and straightforward case – little does he know, he's easy enough about to see from these pages exactly what the target is. So much like that test you do – you know the one, that formulates decisions about the age and commonality 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 numberenter a world of deceit and dysfunction.[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford|Full Review]] <!-- Jordan -->|-|amazonukstyle=<amazonuk>0718182529</amazonuk>}}{{newreview"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jordan_Tiny.jpg|authorlink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1760293814/ref=nosim?tag= Jeanthebookbag-Yves Ferri21]]|title= Asterix and the Missing Scroll (Album 36)|rating= 5|genrestyle= For Sharing"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|summarylink=Asterix is those rarest of book series; one designed for kids which is actually even funnier when you are an adult. I used to love Asterix as a child, but now that I reread them I canCategory:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women't help but wonder whys Fiction]], because they are so full of hilarious jokes that I definitely wouldn[[:Category:Humour|Humour]] As predicted by Caroline and Janice't have understood when I was younger. I laughed loud s mother on Caroline and hard to myself twice within the first two pages of Asterix and the Missing Scroll, so IHenry'd s wedding day, their marriage is over, albeit 15 years and two daughters further along than predicted. Indeed, this is definitely say that this was not a hitgood weekend for Janice to be babysitting at Caroline's house.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1510100458</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Spadge Whittaker|title=Braver Than Britain, Occasionally|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=In which Spadge researches BritainThere's the split and the awkwardness of the girls's top ten fears and faces them all over the course of schoolteacher being the other woman for a yearstart. WeThen there're quite a fearful society, you knows that mistaken identity moment involving the neighbours. At least Janice is well adjusted and over her ex-husband Alec. And the things we fear most areShe still dreams of him, in order: heights (acrophobia)yes, snakes (ophidiophobia)but it's so over! Just as well really… guess who's at the door? [[Our Tiny, public speaking (glossophobia), spiders (arachnophobia), small spaces (claustrophobia), mice (musophobia), needles (trypanophobia), flying (pteromerhanophobia), crowds (agoraphobia) and clowns (coulrophobia).|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993429904</amazonukUseless Hearts by Toni Jordan|Full Review]] <!-- Taylor -->}}{{newreview|author= Mike Bullen-|titlestyle= Trust"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Taylor_Scilly.jpg|ratinglink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178475515X/ref=nosim?tag= 4thebookbag-21]] |genre= General Fiction|summarystyle= Greg and Amanda are happy"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor]]=== [[image:4. Unmarried, but together thirteen years and with two young daughters, they are very much in love5star. Dan and Sarah aren't so fortunate. Their marriage is going through the motionsjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], and they're staying together for [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Meet the sake Isles of their troubled teenage sonScilly. Following a business conference away from home, one bad decision sends (I know they should be called that – the author provides a happy couple into turmoilhandy guide to the etiquette of their name, their nature and turns an unhappy couple into love's young dreamlocation, etc. As secrets and betrayals threaten to send both relationships ) For our more distant readers, they're several chunks of granite rock out of controlin the Atlantic, where Cornwall is pointing, with just 2, there200 permanent residents. They'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 the Snow|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary= Two people are on a train on their way tore 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 so idyllic-seeming, of all thingsespecially at night, a WI meeting where the ladies of All Bottoms will you can be lectured on the non-existence of Godmistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presence. But there is – at least two working at any one time. One And one of the two people is Professor Richard Dawkinsthem in recent years has been Colin Taylor, rampant atheistwho has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a well-known online existence, hectoring scientist chappie, and which has brought to life all-round devotee the whimsical comedy of ''Deal or No Deal''his work. [[The other is Smee, his mono-named assistant, amanuensis or 'male secretary'Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor|Full Review]] <!-- Lloyd -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lloyd_Twas. Smee will come to the fore when jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472125118/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[['Twas the weather sets in Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and the train journey has to be abandoned some way short of its ultimate destination, Upper BottomEmlyn Rees]]=== [[image:3.5star. Instead the pair fetch up at the isolated yet friendly community of Market Horton, jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It's Christmas Eve and the only option for accommodation Mum has arranged everything. All she now has to do is taken – yes, await the died-in-arrival of the-wool non-believer has to be housed by a retired vicar relatives and his wife. the food shopping delivery. This clash of titanic opinions, peppered with social faux pas aplenty will provide for a particularly English kind of farcical comedy, but one with Little does Mum know that those two elements alone have the legs potential to go as far as any other Good Books have reached in ruin everything. [['Twas the past…Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910709018</amazonuk!-- Phinn -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle=Rob Temple"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Phinn_Virgin.jpg|title=Very British Problems Abroadleft|ratinglink=4http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444779400/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genrestyle=Humour"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||summary=Meet, if you haven==[[The Virgin Mary't alreadys 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 phenomenon of the Very British Problem. In this format they're in pithy little comments (of, ooh, about 140 characters in length, for some reason…) and detail the minor things in life that time we like nothing more than to inflate tend to get on a major factor of life. They can involve mannersplane and head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, staring far away from the madness at things until they mend themselveshome, hitting things dittolast minute dashes to the shops on Christmas Eve, or the fact and food cupboard stockpiles that nobody apart from you and would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a mere 36 hours. But I know how to queue properly. And if do remember the idea hits the world outside our shoresfeeling of Christmas when I was younger, then – wellback when it was magical, and back when you certainly have a knew exactly what the season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and Christmas parties. This book full is an anthology of content regarding our attitude those moments, and ineptitude abroadit took me right back to the wonder of Christmas as a child.[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751558494</amazonuk>Full Review]]}}{{newreview|author=Fraser McAlpine|title=Stuff Brits Like|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary= With over 100 chapters on different aspects of Britain and Britishness, this book is both fascinating and hilarious. Just looking at the list of subjects is enough to produce a sardonic twist of that stiff upper lip: the chapters cover topics that range from offal to curry, from pedantry to banter, from conkers to rugby. There may be many chapters but this is no academic tome - 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1857886348</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= John Samuel|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's dodgy dealings to the press. Overcome with doubt and fear, he goes to kill himself. But, at the exact moment he attaches his noose to the back of the door, he is saved. By a curious housemate or a concerned girlfriend? No, by an Angel. Not the white-feathered guardian Angel you may expect, but one who wishes to help Will achieve his ends, and so possess the body of the hapless Will in order to finish what he started. It goes without saying that 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 school, they live fairly uneventful lives – Susan has a lovely house and a lengthy marriage to accountant Barry, whereas Julie 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 dungeon, it transpires that he has been leading a hidden life for years, and his expensive fetishes lead to the bank moving to take Susan's home. Struck 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434023183</amazonuk>}}{{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?<!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1922079308</amazonuk>}}