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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.''

<!-- Curran -->You don't get many better opening sentences than that, do you? We first met His Excellency and The Ambassador's Wife in [[Sorting the Priorities: Ambassadress and Beagle Survive Diplomacy by Sandra Aragona|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690133.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690133/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21Sorting the Priorities]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris]]=== [[image:4starwe learned what it was like to be moved around countries like accompanying baggage by the Italian Government but the time has come for HE to retires and for Sandra Aragona to become The Wife of Former Ambassador...jpg|link=Category:{ They have left The Career and settled in Rome. Well 'settled' rather overstates the situation and their dog, Beagle, has no intention of slowing down any time soon, despite being sixteen and deaf.}}{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:HumourFrontpage|Humour]], [[:Category:Historical Fictionisbn=B08GFSK2WZ|Historical Fiction]]title=The Karma Trap|author=Lisette BoydYou are a lass of twenty eight. Plucky|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=George Jackson is thirty-three years old, penniless absolutely gorgeous to look at - and single. She's not had sex for eight months and she's stuck in Regency era London the race karma trap: an awful lot of bad luck is being visited on to find her and she has a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to real talent for attracting drama. Her life as an eternal spinster. Along your journey you'll be accompanied s chaotic: she dealt with the leak from the shower by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager putting something down at the bottom of the stairs to save you from a life aloneabsorb the water - then the shower fell through the roof whilst she was in it and left her, stark naked, and fired by a rogueish sense for adventurestaring at the pervy postman. When it comes She only has to suitors though, youtake her mother'll have s dog out for a walk for her to make the ultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, wholesome, rugged and caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, or end up with dog poo spattered across her face - and a photo being taken by someone who shares it around the mad, bad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Cravenoffice. With orphans, werewolves, long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the way, it}} {{Frontpage|author=David C Mason|title=Pandora's clear this isn't going to be an easy decision... [[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa ZagerisGardener|rating=3|Full Review]]genre=Crime <!-- Jester -->|-| style|summary="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jester_ForeverJohn Cranston is a gardener, although what he did before he became a gardener, he claims, is classified.jpg|left|link=https: That is just as well because he is about to be caught up in a criminal /spy /wwwterrorist plot, where only he can save the day.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag|isbn=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1510704361]]0956180523}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Jester_Forever|==title=[[Forever After: a dark comedy by |author=David Jester]]|rating=4|genre==Horror[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, [[:Category:Horror|Horror]]a grim reaper and his friends, [[:Category:Fantasy|Fasntasy]] Michael Holland is Chip (a cocky stoner tooth fairy) and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, a grim reaper and his friends Chip Naff (a stoner tooth fairyin the records department) and Naff (a stoner in the records department) as as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clean surface to sit on in their flat. [[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester|Full Review]]}}{{Frontpage<!-- Stibbe -->|isbn=1683691172|-title=William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Mean Girls| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Ian Doescher|rating=2.5[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|left|linkgenre=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0241309824]] Humour| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe]]=== 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 easily did the plots and characters converse in Shakespearean dialogue, and behave with Shakespearean stage directions – that the producers tried again, with [[image:4.5star.jpgWilliam Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future! by Ian Doescher|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star ReviewsBack to the Future]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Christmas – no less. And that worked. But simultaneously they put a real test out. A film I can't even really remember seeing was transcribed into the time of traditional traumaoriginal Elizabethan lingo. You only have to think about A cult following I had never followed whatsoever was given the turkey for that – once upon a time it brand new, yet oh so ancient, dressing. Here was leaving it sat on the downstairs loo true challenge – would I manage to defrost overnightenjoy this, and if that failed based on little foreknowledge? Oh damn those shiny gold stars for letting the hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays itgame away…}}{{Frontpage|isbn=168369094X|title=William Shakespeare's all having Get Thee Back to make sure it's suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit itthe Future!|author=Ian Doescher|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary=A long time ago, and get too friendly with in a publishing house far away, [[:Category:Ian Doescher|someone]] thought it wonderfully wacky to want to eat it. Christmasrewrite the story of Star Wars in Shakespearean pentameter, though, is of course also colliding two entirely different genres and styles in such a time of great boonsclever way they seemed perfectly suited. Itwas then duly repeated for all the other films in the main Star Wars cycle, and clearly someone's cash in hand buffing their quills ready for a lot Episode Nine, the title of plump people who can hire red suits and beardswhich became public knowledge the day before I write. In the hiatus, however, it was always a godsend for postmen with all the thank-you letters effort has been made to aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a childsee if the same shtick works with other texts, and as for to riff on other seemingly unlikely source materials in iambs. And could we have anything more suitably unsuitable-seeming than Back to the makers Future, with its tales of Meltis Newberry Fruits – welltime travel, bullying, did they even try and sell them any parent/child strife like no other time of the year? [[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe|Full Review]]}}<!-- Doescher -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1473669065| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel|author=Ruth Hogan[[image:Doescher_Will.jpg|leftrating=5|linkgenre=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/159474985X?ieHumour|summary=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=159474985X]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[William ShakespeareTilda returns to Brighton, to tidy away the remains of her mother's life after her death. Whilst there, she returns to the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher]]=== [[image:4Paradise hotel, a haven for eccentrics and misfits.5starA place where people can be themselves, and let go of thoughts that torment them elsewhere.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]Little wonder that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a child, from this place of wonder. With the help of Queenie Malone, [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] A long time agocaring, in a galaxy far away, there was a man called William Shakespeareand gregarious, who was able Tilda begins to create a series of dramatic histories full of machinations most foul, rulers most evil pick apart the tricky and rebellious heroes uncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and heroines most sturdydistant mother. You may or may not have noticed the cinematic version of his original stage play for ''}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1683690346|title=The Force Doth Awaken''Con Artist|author=Fred Van Lente|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=Comic-Cons are a place of wonder and sanctuary for many people, but here and when Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at last we get San Diego Comic-Con, he's looking for both that and sanctuary with other fans and creators, plus the actual scriptchance of maybe, complete just maybe reuniting with annoying-in-different-ways-to-before droids anewhis ex. However, returning heroes from elsewhere in when his oeuvrerival is found dead, and people keeping it Mike is forced to navigate every dark corner of the con in the family til it hurts. And if you need further encouragement, don't forget order to clear his audience only demanded three parts of Henry VI name – here the series is so popular we're on from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to part seven zombie obstacle courses – surely making this over twice as good… [[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian DoescherMike must prove his innocence and, in doing so, may just unravel a dark secret behind a legendary industry creator.}}{{Frontpage|Full Review]]isbn=1473669588|title=Falling Short<!-- Goss -->|author=Lex Coulton|-rating=4| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Humour|[[image:Goss_600.jpg|left|linksummary=https://wwwLex Coulton's debut novel is a story about mistakes, failures, and relationships.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785942719]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"The main protagonist, Frances Pilgrim, is a 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 her mother. This relationship is complicated by the fact that Frances's father disappeared at sea when she was five years old.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1683690133|title=My Lady's Choosing|author==[[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss Kitty Curran and Russell T Davies]]=Larissa Zageris|rating=4|genre=Humour [[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes You are a lass of twenty-eight. Plucky, penniless and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]]in Regency-era London the race is on to find a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to life as an eternal spinster. Along your journey, [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]you'll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to save you from a life alone, [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Consider the Doctorand fired by a rogueish sense for adventure. Just how many birthday and Christmas gifts must he When it comes to suitors though, you'll have to hand out each year, were he to keep in touch with even half of his companions? He would certainly need a few novelty gifts for some of themmake the ultimate decision between witty, saypretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, for examplewholesome, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the life of a Time Lord and that of some of his friends and enemies. As luck would have itrugged and caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, he has or the space in his TARDIS to stock up in advancemad, so my advice to him – sorry, her – would be to pop along to his local Earth-based book emporium and get himself readybad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. And if you're working on a shorter timescaleWith orphans, with a shorter lifespanwerewolves, long lost lovers and thinking perhaps just one gift season aheadancient Egyptian artefacts along the way, well my advice is pretty much the sameit's clear this isn't going to be an easy decision... [[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies|Full Review]]}}{{Frontpage<!-- Ingram -->|isbn=Stibbe_Xmas|-title=An Almost Perfect Christmas| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Nina Stibbe|rating=4.5[[image:Ingram_Kammie.jpg|leftgenre=Humour|linksummary=https://www.amazon.coChristmas – the time of traditional trauma.uk/gp/product/1785451995?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785451995]]  | style="vertical-align: top; textYou only have to think about the turkey for that – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the downstairs loo to defrost overnight, and if that failed the hair-align: left;"|===[[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram]]=== [[image:4stardryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Pets|Pets]]Nowadays it's all having to make sure it's suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it, [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It was something of a relief when I encountered Annie Ingram and her cocker spaniel Kammieget too friendly with it to want to eat it. You seeChristmas, Annie knows something which has been self-evident to me for though, is of course also a long time: dogs are perfectly capable of communicating with humans and not just on great boons. It's cash in hand for a level lot of food!plump people who can hire red suits and beards, walk! or play!. You do require extensive training it was always a godsend for postmen with all the thank-you letters to become fluent, but most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their time to teach aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a child, and all you have to do is listen. Annie has studied hard: Kammie has trained her as for the makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well , did they even try and sell them any other time of the pair have allowed us to share some of their conversations. [[Conversations with Kammie by Annie Ingram|Full Review]] <!-- Harris -->year?}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=Doescher_Will| styletitle="widthWilliam Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Harris_Glass.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1908943823/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Breaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris]]=== [[image:3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Teenager Liam Glass is mugged and stabbed yards from his Camden flat. As the boy lies comatose, desperate journalist Jason Worthington scrabbles for the inside scoop, tired police officer Andy Rockham searches for a missing tape, harried politician Jamila Hasan fights for re-election, distraught mother Katrina Glass waits by her son, and gym-owner Royland simply finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. We follow this host of ensemble characters in a bleak, kaleidoscopic satire of modern media. [[The Breaking of Liam Glass by Charles Harris|Full Review]] <!-- LENTE -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lente_10.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690222/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Nine comedians are invited to a remote Caribbean island under the guise of working with Dustin Walker, a comedic legend. Each fits neatly into one of the archetypal comic stereotypes: Steve, the washed-up has-been who has fallen far from his early days; Zoe, the rising female star with a new stand-up special coming soon; Dante, who went from being a kid on the streets to the hardest working road comic in the business; Oliver, the child-like prop comic who can't get any respect from his peers; Janet, the insult comic who is past her prime; TJ, the nightly variety show host with a reputation for harassing his female colleagues and guest acts; Ruby, the ultra-feminist YouTuber and Blogger with a chip on her shoulder; and William, whose redneck character ''Billy the Contractor'' is a far cry from his real personality as a posh millionaire. Of course, all nine agree because ''when God almighty walks down on a beam of light and asks for your help, what the hell else are you going to say?'' [[Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder Mystery by Fred Van Lente|Full Review]] <!-- Scott -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Scott_Eliz.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788037006/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Elizabeth, William... and Me by S Lynn Scott]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Ally is an ordinary woman with teenage children, a husband and a job. Then comes the day when ordinariness flies out of the window. It's not a coincidence that it's the same day she finds Queen Elizabeth I in the pantry and the Bard of Avon in her bath. What's she going to do? Well, Elizabeth and Will have their own ideas about that! [[Elizabeth, William... and Me by S Lynn Scott|Full Review]] <!-- Rodford -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Rodford_Surgeon.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178565005X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] In the second instalment of this series, Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a well-known local man to track down some missing valuables. Bill Galbraith, a world-famous surgeon at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital who hosts a popular medical television programme, has had his briefcase stolen by his live-in domestic servant, Aurora. According to Galbraith, this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of his at the hospital. George agrees to look into the theft, assuming it will be a relatively easy and straightforward case – little does he know, he's about to enter a world of deceit and dysfunction. [[The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford|Full Review]] <!-- Jordan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jordan_Tiny.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1760293814/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] As predicted by Caroline and Janice's mother on Caroline and Henry's wedding day, their marriage is over, albeit 15 years and two daughters further along than predicted. Indeed, this is definitely not a good weekend for Janice to be babysitting at Caroline's house. There's the split and the awkwardness of the girls' schoolteacher being the other woman for a start. Then there's that mistaken identity moment involving the neighbours. At least Janice is well adjusted and over her ex-husband Alec. She still dreams of him, yes, but it's so over! Just as well really… guess who's at the door? [[Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan|Full Review]] <!-- Taylor -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Taylor_Scilly.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178475515X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] Meet the Isles of Scilly. (I know they should be called that – the author provides a handy guide to the etiquette of their name, their nature and location, etc.) For our more distant readers, they're several chunks of granite rock out in the Atlantic, where Cornwall is pointing, with just 2,200 permanent residents. They're big on tourism, and big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough to turn any car to a rust bucket within years. They're so wee, and so idyllic-seeming, especially at night, you can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presence. But there is – at least two working at any one time. And one of them in recent years has been Colin Taylor, who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a well-known online existence, which has brought to life all the whimsical comedy of his work. [[The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor|Full Review]] <!-- Lloyd -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Lloyd_Twas.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472125118/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[['Twas the Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] It's Christmas Eve and Mum has arranged everything. All she now has to do is await the arrival of the relatives and the food shopping delivery. Little does Mum know that those two elements alone have the potential to ruin everything. [['Twas the Fight Before Christmas: A Parody by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees|Full Review]] <!-- Phinn -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Phinn_Virgin.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444779400/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]] Christmas in our house is the time we tend to get on a plane and head to either sun or snow, anywhere that is far, far away from the madness at home, last minute dashes to the shops on Christmas Eve, and food cupboard stockpiles that would imply supermarkets are shutting for a month, nor a mere 36 hours. But I do remember the feeling of Christmas when I was younger, back when it was magical, and back when you knew exactly what the season would bring with carol concerts and school nativities and Christmas parties. This book is an anthology of those moments, and it took me right back to the wonder of Christmas as a child. [[The Virgin Mary's Got Nits by Gervase Phinn|Full Review]] <!-- North -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:North_Romeo.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356508536/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] For all those who think tragedy plots are too restricted and prescribed, read on. In these pages you too will see that Romeo had lots of options en route to hitting the bottle. Likewise, she could have turned away from her predestined path at no end of junctures. And to what result? Well, happy marriage and a kid called Ben, because the leads have just banged people's heads together and stopped the quarrelling, or Death by Tybalt (him) or a long life running an establishment curing murderous women, such as a Lady M (her). [[Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North|Full Review]] <!-- Crowley -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Crowley_Shoot.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1783296518/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Shoot by Kieran Crowley]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] 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. 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 being, if not the last of a short line, certainly one of a few. [[Shoot by Kieran Crowley|Full Review]] <!-- Jolliffe -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Jolliffe_1st.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1445663503/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The First Ever Christmas: And Who to Blame by Gray Jolliffe]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] 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 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 year. It's all too commercialised for me, with a coating of faux religion. I've never found it in the least funny - that is, until I found Gray Jolliffe's The First Ever Christmas: And Who's to Blame. Amazingly, I'd never encountered Gray Jolliffe either, but I'm a convert to his skills as a cartoonist (if not to Star Wars Part the idea of Christmas) after reading this collection of Christmas-themed cartoons from his archive. [[The First Ever Christmas: And Who to Blame by Gray Jolliffe|Full Review]]  <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|} {{newreviewSeventh|author=Jonathan Pugh|title=Pugh's New Year's ResolutionsIan Doescher

|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

|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>