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[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]]__NOTOC__ {{Frontpage|author=Stephen Clarke|title=The Spy Who Inspired Me|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=This is a spoof spy story, that isn't about James Bond. <Or Ian Fleming. But it features a man called Ian Lemming, who dresses well and 'likes the ladies' and who works for the secret service, but in the planning side of things more than the active service. Lemming finds himself put on a mission with a female spy called Margaux, and the pair end up stranded in Normandy, with Margaux on a desperate mission to unearth traitors in the resistance network, and Lemming desperately trying to keep up with her!|isbn=2952163855}}{{Frontpage|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)|title=Kokoschka's Doll|rating=2.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Well, this looked very much like a book I could love from the get-- Remove -->go, which is why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of it. I found things to potentially delight me each time – a weird section in the middle on darker stock paper, a chapter whose number was in the 20,000s, letters used as narrative form, and so on. It intrigued with the subterranean voice a man hears in wartorn Dresden that what little I knew of it mentioned, too. But you've seen the star rating that comes with this review, and can tell that if love was on these pages, it was not actually caused by them. So what happened?|isbn=1529402697}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B08KKQ85FN|title=But Never For Lunch|author=Sandra Aragona|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingrating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->''If a woman approaching the menopause can be likened to a Rottweiler in lipstick, an Ambassador nearing retirement resembles a pampered peacock about to be released into the company of carrion crows or, more to the point, about to discover the real world of bus timetables and paying his own gas bills.''
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=As predicted by Caroline George Jackson is thirty-three years old, absolutely gorgeous to look at - and Janicesingle. She's mother on Caroline not had sex for eight months and Henryshe's wedding day, their marriage stuck in the karma trap: an awful lot of bad luck is over, albeit 15 years being visited on her and two daughters further along than predicted. Indeed, this is definitely not she has a good weekend real talent for Janice to be babysitting at Caroline's houseattracting drama. ThereHer life's chaotic: she dealt with the split and leak from the shower by putting something down at the awkwardness bottom of the girlsstairs to absorb the water - then the shower fell through the roof whilst she was in it and left her, stark naked, staring at the pervy postman. She only has to take her mother' schoolteacher s dog out for a walk for her to end up with dog poo spattered across her face - and a photo being taken by someone who shares it around the other woman for a startoffice. Then there}} {{Frontpage|author=David C Mason|title=Pandora's that mistaken identity moment involving the neighboursGardener|rating=3|genre=Crime|summary= John Cranston is a gardener, although what he did before he became a gardener, he claims, is classified. At least Janice That is just as well adjusted because he is about to be caught up in a criminal / spy / terrorist plot, where only he can save the day. |isbn=0956180523}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Jester_Forever|title=Forever After: a dark comedy|author=David Jester|rating=4|genre=Horror|summary=Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and over her ex-husband Alecgets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. She still dreams of himWe follow Michael, yesa grim reaper and his friends, but itChip (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 sit on in their flat.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1683691172|title=William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Mean Girls|author=Ian Doescher|rating=2.5|genre=Humour|summary=A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, all the Star Wars films were crunched up against Shakespeare, and the marriage seemed a perfectly suitable one. So much so – so overeasily did the plots and characters converse in Shakespearean dialogue, and behave with Shakespearean stage directions – that the producers tried again, with [[William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future! Just as well really… guess whoby Ian Doescher|Back to the Future]] no less. And that worked. But simultaneously they put a real test out. A film I can's at t even really remember seeing was transcribed into the original Elizabethan lingo. A cult following I had never followed whatsoever was given the brand new, yet oh so ancient, dressing. Here was the doortrue challenge – would I manage to enjoy this, based on little foreknowledge?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1760293814</amazonuk>Oh damn those shiny gold stars for letting the game away…
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Colin Taylor168369094X|title=The Life of a Scilly SergeantWilliam Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future!|author=Ian Doescher
|rating=4.5
|genre=TravelHumour|summary=Meet A long time ago, in a publishing house far away, [[:Category:Ian Doescher|someone]] thought it wonderfully wacky to rewrite the Isles story of ScillyStar Wars in Shakespearean pentameter, colliding two entirely different genres and styles in such a clever way they seemed perfectly suited. (I know they should be called that – It was then duly repeated for all the author provides a handy guide to other films in the etiquette of their namemain Star Wars cycle, and clearly someone's buffing their nature and locationquills ready for Episode Nine, etcthe title of which became public knowledge the day before I write.) For our more distant readers, they're several chunks of granite rock out in In the Atlantichiatus, where Cornwall is pointinghowever, the effort has been made to see if the same shtick works with just 2other texts,200 permanent residentsand to riff on other seemingly unlikely source materials in iambs. They're big on tourismAnd could we have anything more suitably unsuitable-seeming than Back to the Future, with its tales of time travel, bullying, and big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough parent/child strife like no other?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1473669065|title=Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel|author=Ruth Hogan|rating=5|genre=Humour|summary=Tilda returns to turn any car Brighton, to a rust bucket within yearstidy away the remains of her mother's life after her death. They're so weeWhilst there, she returns to the Paradise hotel, a haven for eccentrics and so idyllic-seeming, especially at night, you misfits. A place where people can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need themselves, and let go of thoughts that torment them elsewhere. Little wonder that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a police presencechild, from this place of wonder. But there is – at least two working at any one time. And one With the help of them in recent years has been Colin TaylorQueenie Malone, caring, who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a well-known online existenceand gregarious, which has brought Tilda begins to life all pick apart the whimsical comedy of his worktricky and uncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and distant mother.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178475515X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees1683690346|title='Twas the Fight Before Christmas: A ParodyThe Con Artist|author=Fred Van Lente|rating=3.54
|genre=Humour
|summary=ItComic-Cons are a place of wonder and sanctuary for many people, and when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, he's Christmas Eve looking for both that and Mum has arranged everythingsanctuary with other fans and creators, plus the chance of maybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. All she now has However, when his rival is found dead, Mike is forced to do is await the arrival navigate every dark corner of the relatives con in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and the food shopping delivery. Little does Mum know that those two elements alone have the potential intrusive fans to ruin everythingzombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, in doing so, may just unravel a dark secret behind a legendary industry creator.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472125118</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ryan North1473669588|title=Romeo and/or JulietFalling Short|author=Lex Coulton|rating=3.54
|genre=Humour
|summary=For all those who think tragedy plots are too restricted Lex Coulton's debut novel is a story about mistakes, failures, and prescribedrelationships. The main protagonist, read on. In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of options en route to hitting the bottle. LikewiseFrances Pilgrim, she could have turned away from is a sixth form English teacher who has recently fallen out with her predestined path at no end best friend Jackson, a work colleague and is grappling with the increasingly eccentric behaviour of juncturesher mother. And to what result? Well, happy marriage and a kid called Ben, because This relationship is complicated by the leads have just banged peoplefact that Frances's heads together and stopped the quarrelling, or Death by Tybalt (him) or a long life running an establishment curing murderous women, such as a Lady M (her)father disappeared at sea when she was five years old. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356508536</amazonuk>
}}
{{Frontpage<!-- Phinn -->*[[image:Phinn_Virgin.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444779400/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] ===[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn]]==isbn=1683690133 [[image:4.5star.jpg|linktitle=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on a plane and head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, far away from the madness at home, last minute dashes to the shops on Christmas Eve, and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a mere 36 hours. But I do remember the feeling of Christmas when I was younger, back when it was magical, and back when you knew exactly what the season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and Christmas parties. This book is an anthology of those moments, and it took me right back to the wonder of Christmas as a child. [[The Virgin MaryMy Lady's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn|Full Review]]<br> {{newreviewChoosing|author= Kieran Crowley|title= ShootKitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|rating= 4|genre= CrimeHumour|summary= I make something of You are a habit lass of being late to discover good writerstwenty-eight. Plucky, penniless and in this case getting Regency-era London the race is on to find a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to Crowley after he is no longer with us. The result is that what is billed life as ''an Feternal spinster.X. Shepherd mysteryAlong your journey, you'' with all the optimism of there being more ll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to come has the poignancy of being, if not the last of save you from a short linelife alone, certainly one of and fired by a fewrogueish sense for adventure. F.X. Shepherd – he doesnWhen it comes to suitors though, you't like his first name ll have to make the ultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, wholesome, rugged and prefers just "Shepherd" iscaring Captain Angus MacTaggart, technicallyor the mad, a columnistbad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. He's been sacked by one New York newspaper With orphans, werewolves, long lost lovers and is writing a weekly column for another. I don't know much about journalismancient Egyptian artefacts along the way, but Iit'm guessing one column a week doesns clear this isn't pay much as a rule…which explains why Shepherd's soap-washed-foul-mouthed editor (read the book, you'll see what I mean) expects him going to turn in some genuine journalism as well: front page, seat of your pants stuffbe an easy decision... |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783296518</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Gray JolliffeStibbe_Xmas|title=The First Ever An Almost Perfect Christmas: And Who to Blame|author=Nina Stibbe|rating=4.5
|genre=Humour
|summary=If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to tell anyone? Well, I really don't like Christmas: it's my least favourite – the time of year and whilst some people count down traditional trauma. You only have to think about the turkey for that – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the day itselfdownstairs loo to defrost overnight, I look forward to that point when I can say and if that failed the hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays it's all over for another year. Ithaving to make sure it's all suitably free-range and organic – but not too commercialised for meorganic that you can go and visit it, and get too friendly with it to want to eat it. Christmas, though, is of course also a coating time of faux religiongreat boons. IIt've never found s cash in hand for a lot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, it in was always a godsend for postmen with all the least funny thank- that is, until I found Gray Jolliffe's ''The First Ever Christmas: And Who's you letters to Blame''. Amazingly, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe either, but I'm aunties you saw twice a convert to his skills decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a cartoonist (if not to child, and as for the idea makers of Christmas) after reading this collection Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any other time of Christmas-themed cartoons from his archive.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445663503</amazonuk>the year?
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jonathan PughDoescher_Will|title=PughWilliam Shakespeare's New Year's Resolutionsthe Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh|author=Ian Doescher
|rating=4.5
|genre=Humour
|summary=If A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, therewas a man called William Shakespeare, who was able to create a series of dramatic histories full of machinations most foul, rulers most evil and rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy. You may or may not have noticed the cinematic version of his original stage play for 's one thing that's for certain, itThe Force Doth Awaken's that the world is changing. We're dating online, but here at last we're communicating get the actual script, complete with annoying-in -different-ways that make email seem redundant-to-before droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and when we're shopping we just tell a website where and when people keeping it can be delivered, and how much leeway they have to swap our wishes for whatever in the family til it is they do bring ushurts. But those changes are also supposed to be affecting us – we're supposed to use a smart watch to tell us And if we're moving or not, we have to keep up with the latest fadsyou need further encouragement, and wedon're supposed to prick our ears up and take note when t forget his audience only demanded three parts of Henry VI – here the proverbial 'they' change their minds about what series is so popular we're supposed on to eat.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722885</amazonuk>part seven – surely making this over twice as good…
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Luke RhinehartGoss_600|title= InvasionDoctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who)|author=James Goss and Russell T Davies|rating= 4.5|genre= Humour |summary=Super-intelligent furry aliens suddenly appear from another universeConsider the Doctor. And they've come Just how many birthday and Christmas gifts must he have to earth to have fun. Alien Louie follows fisherman Billy Morton home one dayhand out each year, and were he and to keep in touch with even half of his family quickly come to love the playful alien. But when Louie starts using their computer to hack into government and corporate networkscompanions? He would certainly need a few novelty gifts for some of them, say, stealing millions from banks to give to othersfor example, they realise whimsical books of verse that Louie pithily encapsulate the life of a Time Lord and that of some of his friends mean troubleand enemies. As Billy and his family begin a roller coaster ride of fame and fortuneluck would have it, as well as a ranking high on he has the FBI's most wanted listspace in his TARDIS to stock up in advance, the Government soon decides that these aliens are terroristsso my advice to him – sorry, her – would be to pop along to his local Earth-based book emporium and must be eliminatedget himself ready. Whilst the aliens are playing games they hope will help humans to see the insanity of the American politicalAnd if you're working on a shorter timescale, with a shorter lifespan, economic and military systemsthinking perhaps just one gift season ahead, they soon come to realise that well my advice is pretty much the Powers that Be don't play games: they make warsame. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785651757</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rod GreenIngram_Kammie|title=Only Fools and Horses: The Peckham ArchivesConversations with Kammie|author=Annie Ingram
|rating=4
|genre=Entertainment Humour|summary=We are in the world It was something of one of the country's most famous a relief when I encountered Annie Ingram and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003her cocker spaniel Kammie. YesYou see, there have Annie knows something which has been specials since, self-evident to me for a long time: dogs are perfectly capable of communicating with humans and more repeats not just on a level of food! walk! or play!. You do require extensive training to clog up the BBC schedules than is really pukkabecome fluent, but very few people failed most dogs will be perfectly willing to succumb give their time to its charms at one time or another. I'm sure there teach you and all you have been books before now celebrating the stony-faced reception of ''that'' drop through the open bar hatch, and ''that'' chandelier scene, but this to do is much more meatylisten. Purporting to be Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her well and the family archives, found dumped in Nelson Mandela House, the documents here were passed from pillar pair have allowed us 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 share some of their social history worthconversations. Will enough readers find them of worth, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849909245</amazonuk>
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Harris_Glass
|title=The Breaking of Liam Glass
|author=Charles Harris
|rating=3
|genre=Humour
|summary=Teenager Liam Glass is mugged and stabbed yards from his Camden flat. As the boy lies comatose, desperate journalist Jason Worthington scrabbles for the inside scoop, tired police officer Andy Rockham searches for a missing tape, harried politician Jamila Hasan fights for re-election, distraught mother Katrina Glass waits by her son, and gym-owner Royland simply finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. We follow this host of ensemble characters in a bleak, kaleidoscopic satire of modern media.
}}
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