Changes

[[Category:New Reviews|Humour]]==Humour==__NOTOC__ {{newreviewFrontpage|author=John LindsayJen Beagin|title=Emails From An AssholeBig Swiss

|genre=Humour|summary=Some classified ads are crying out for trollingI found the premise of this book totally original and addictive. Greta possesses the power to know the population of Hudson, New York's darkest secrets, their intimate lives, their fetishes and fears. John Lindsay replies How? Her job is to themtranscribe their sex therapy sessions. Sure, spins them there's a yarnconfidentiality agreement, and strings them along as the sex coach who calls himself Om keeps reminding her, but that just makes it more exciting. Like we've all probably wished for at some point in life, Greta can exist passively, placidly, as long as possiblea fly on the wall. That is, until Greta decides to unglue her fly-feet from the safety of the wall and buzz far too close to the sun. Sometimes The sun in this analogy is the advert sex coach's newest patient, who Greta dubs 'Big Swiss', and who, like the sun, is fairly innocuous bright, blonde and beautiful - and he emails them anywayirresistible to Greta. These are emails from an assholeSuddenly, the confidentiality agreement, the ethics of her professional position, her loyalties to Om, after allfly out of the window. She's in too deep.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1402778279</amazonuk>0571378579

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=L C TylerDean Koontz|title=The Herring In The LibraryBad Weather Friend

|genre=CrimeParanormal|summary=Tall, elegant Ethelred Benny is having a gentlemanterrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a thirdreally weird, disturbing coffin-rate author. Elsiesized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his literary agenthouse! The thing is, Benny is short and dumpy, and not afraid the very last person to speak her minddeserve all this bad luck. It He is Elsiea nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house is a new friend, in facta bad weather friend called Spike, who constantly assures her client he only occasionally aspires has been sent to the giddy heights of help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being second-ratea good person. This could be the business partnership from hell, but not only do these two seem Spike is going to get alongtake care of Benny, they even manage to solve crimes together. In this, the third outing for L C Tylerand will certainly take care of Benny's eccentric sleuthsenemies, we are provided with a locked room mysteryif he, a cast of possible villains of the most stereotypical typeBenny, and Harper (a fresh, funny tale which will make you laugh so much youwaitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny'll get a stitchs wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0230714684</amazonuk>1662500491

 {{newreview|author=A J Jacobs|title=My Experimental Life|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=A J Jacobs has a reputation for setting himself onerous tasks. His first book was about reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica; his second detailed a year spent according to the Biblical precepts. In My Experimental Life, he recounts nine briefer episodes of living outside his comfort zone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099547422</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Seth Grahame-Smith|title=Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary='Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.' That quote, on the Statue of Liberty, was probably not designed with the inclusion of vampires in mind. But by some means or another North America is rife with the things – hiding in plain sight, as the older ones can bear sunlight, with the help of darkened glasses. It might just come down to one eager young man to rid his new country of such things, on his way to something he’s a bit more known for.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849014086</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jane Austen, Seth Grahame-Smith and Tony Lee|title=Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel|rating=3|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie story of any renown will not remain simply a zombie story. Before you can say ''the risen undead'' it will become a series of books, inspiring others, and/or lead to the same story being published in many different guises. Here, then, on its way to Hollywood, is Jane Austen’s story of Lizzie Bennet, the feisty young woman trying to ignore Mr Darcy while fighting off the ''manky unmentionables'' – at least she is until the hidden truths open up to her, just as the soft soils of Hertfordshire do to yield their once-human remains. And this time it’s in graphic novel form.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848566948</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Carl McInerney1529153050|title=The Funniest Football Joke Book Ever|rating=3.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Who scored the most goals in the Greek Mythology League? The centaur forward. Badoom boom tshhhh. ItBritain's a football joke book, packed to the gills with all sorts of cheesiness and silliness. Funniest ever? Perhaps not, but it's not too bad.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849391114</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewBest Political Cartoons 2022|author=Paul Magrs|title=Hell's BellesTim Benson|rating=3.54

|summary=The idea behind this series of novels Seeking some light relief from the current political turmoil which is quite enchanting coming to seem more and amusing. Frankensteinmore like an adrenaline sport, I was nudged towards ''Britain's daughter is living and sleuthing in Whitby, ably aided and abetted by her sidekick, the enigmatic Effie, and a growing menagerie Best Political Cartoons of younger accomplices, namely Michael and Penny2022''. Whilst the original idea showed huge promise, I felt Sharp eyes will have noted that the author has rather overdone it in terms of output, in his desire to capitalise on his original success. Book two in the series was quite disappointing, relying on sensationalism rather than adequate plot and character development. Book three was an improvement-and Iwe'm delighted to report that this, re not yet through the fourth book in year: the series, shows him returning cartoons run from 4 September 2021 to form with the promise we saw in the first of the series31 August 2022.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755346467</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul|title=Winnie's Jokes|rating=2.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary= Who turns off can imagine what there will be to come in the lights at Halloween2023 edition? The lights witch. What does an Australian witch ride on? A broomerang. Yep, it's a joke book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192729063</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Nick Wadley1785633074|title=Man + DogStaggering Hubris|author=Josh Berry

|summary=Throughout my life IMembers of Parliament like us to believe that the country is run by politicians, headed by the Prime minister - the ''primus inter pares'' (that've lived with dogs or deeply regretted s for those of you who are Eton and Oxbridge educated) but the fact reality is that I lacked a canine companionthe ''prime'' movers are the special advisers - the SPADS - who are the driving force behind the government. Watching a dog – or better stillWe are in the privileged position of having access to the memoirs of Rafe Hubris, the interaction between dogs – is infinitely better than anything on television and it's sheer joy to see how man and dog interacts and how, so often, they hold a mirror up who was behind the skilful control of the Covid crisis which was completely contained by the end of 2020. You might not know the name now but he will certainly be the man to each otherwatch.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1564785521</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=The Harvard Lampoon0571365884|title=NightlightMy Mess is a Bit of Life: A Parody of Twilight Adventures in Anxiety|author=Georgia Pritchett|rating=3.54|genre=HumourAutobiography|summary=Most people will have heard Georgia Pritchett has always been anxious, even as a child. She would worry about whether the monsters under the bed were comfortable: it was the sort of the worldwide phenomenon life where if she had nothing to worry about she would become anxious but such occasions were few and far between. On a visit to a therapist, as an adult, when she was completely unable to speak about what was wrong with her it was suggested that she should write it down and ''My Mess is [[Twilight by Stephenie Meyer|Twilight]]. The books by Stephenie Meyer and the film have made a legend Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety'' is the romance between vampire Edward Mullen (Robert Pattinson plays the movie role) and teenage schoolgirl Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart)result - or so we are given to believe.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849013330</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Steven Lowe and Alan McArthur John Boyne|title=Is it Just Me or Has the Shit Hit the Fan?: Your Hilarious New Guide to Unremitting Global MiseryThe Echo Chamber|rating=35|genre=HumourGeneral Fiction|summary=''The banks fell over like fat Labradors running Meet George Cleverley. He is self-defined as "one of the few television personalities over the age of fifty without a wet kitchen floorcriminal record".He starts this book a bit worried when his mistress tells him she'' Surely that s carrying his child, but then his author wife is getting her kicks with the wackiestUkrainian partner "Strictly Come Dancing" paired her with. They have three children, who are a sad-sack with absolutely no social skills whatsoever, a girl who hangs around with a virtue-signalling, most inappropriate simile for the credit crunch and all it has done for keyboard warrior "wokester" who wants to save the world. You won't get any such nambys homeless with out-of-pamby animal likenesses from these authorsdate food, instead with quite and a potty mouth on them they will lambast fit young lad doing the modern worldgay hustle thing. Add in a few other characters – therapists, the entire banking systemlawyers, random transgender types – that all those who failed have two very different connections to see it cominghis life, and those millions just seemingly waiting for us all you have something that suggests an almost farcical approach to revert to high-interestthe modern world. What suggests the farcical approach even more, high-riskhowever, high-lending capitalism, so they can get back on is the expenses train, and back up the rich listsfact this is bloody funny.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847443656</amazonuk>0857526219

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Eoin ColferStephen Clarke|title=And Another Thing ... Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Part Six of Three (Hitchhikers Guide 6) The Spy Who Inspired Me|rating=3.54|genre=Science General Fiction|summary=Of all the big books announced for this year, this one must have raised more eyebrows than many. Why try and write a new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book, when way before the end, its creator Douglas Adams was proving quite hopeless at such a task? And why approach an Irishman, Eoin Colfer, when the originals - tempered with their humour which could only be described as Monty Python doing a sci-fi Terry Pratchett, and with their cups of tea and dressing gowns, could only be described as very English? Well the answer is most evident - Colfer This is a world-beater when it comes to knocking up a spoof spy story.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718155149</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=The Vampire Miles Proctor|title=The New Vampire, that isn's Handbook|rating=3t about James Bond.5|genre=Humour|summary=I shall start with a prediction Or Ian Fleming. I will not become But it features a vampireman called Ian Lemming, for this imminent Hallowewho dresses well and 'likes the ladies'en, any festive fancy dress parties, or indeed and who works for life as the lifeless undead. I will not need tips on filing my fangssecret service, or how to divert attention from but in the planning side of things more than the fact I cannot eat human food at dinner partiesactive service. Me and my reflection in mirrors will remain intact. But for those of you reading this at night, somewhere, flameproof cape at hand, Lemming finds himself put on a mission with your distaste of garlica female spy called Margaux, publicity and presumably the anaemicpair end up stranded in Normandy, this is the sterling how-to lifestyle guide.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224086464</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=David O'Doherty, Claudia O'Doherty and Mike Ahern|title=100 Facts About Pandas|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=Sometimes the title says it all - this is with Margaux on a book with 100 facts about pandas. Sometimes you need desperate mission to note unearth traitors in the author too - David O'Doherty won an Edinburgh Comedy Awardresistance network, so this is a book of a 100 silly and untrue facts about pandas.Lemming desperately trying to keep up with her!|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0224086324</amazonuk>2952163855

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Richard Horne Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)|title=A is for ArmageddonKokoschka's Doll

|genre=HumourLiterary Fiction|summary=The world Well, this looked very much like a book I could love from the get-go, which is definitely going why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of it. I found things to hell potentially delight me each time – a weird section in the middle on darker stock paper, a handcartchapter whose number was in the 20,000s, letters used as narrative form, and so on. We're only just preventing lethal global warming by having It intrigued with the subterranean voice a credit crunch man hears in wartorn Dresden that has prevented a lot what little I knew of big building, air travelit mentioned, and consumerismtoo. The population is getting so obese there is no room for any more of us - But you've seen the star rating that comes with this review, and add can tell that to the exploding population statisticsif love was on these pages, and it's never going to look betterwas not actually caused by them. And don't get me started on where all the bees have gone...So what happened?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0224086197</amazonuk>1529402697

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James MayB08KKQ85FN|title=Car Fever: Dispatches From Behind The WheelBut Never For Lunch|author=Sandra Aragona

|genre=LifestyleShort Stories|summary=Now, way back when I was younger, and watched TV ''If a woman approaching the menopause can be likened to a lotRottweiler in lipstick, I am sure I remember Top Gear as being an Ambassador nearing retirement resembles a consumer programme. How times change. These days I am sure they destroy more cars than they review, and pampered peacock about to be released into the three main people from the show are approaching superstar statuscompany of carrion crows or, with their amenable personalities, awkward wardrobe choices and trenchant laddish charms. They've sprung their media entities from out of more to the studiopoint, into other TV programmes, and about to discover the real world of journalism, with chatty columns in the broadsheets allowing them free rein to witter to their heartbus timetables and paying his own gas bills.'s desire. And here, in one grandiloquent volume, and in time for Christmas, are many of James May's desires.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340994533</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Jane Austen 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 Seth Grahame-Smith Beagle Survive Diplomacy by Sandra Aragona|title=Pride Sorting the Priorities]] and Prejudice we 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 Zombies|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary=Ah, the benefits for Sandra Aragona to a good book become The Wife of a classic first lineFormer Ambassador.. 'Call me Ishmael.' 'It was a bright cold day They have left The Career and settled in April, and the clocks were striking thirteenRome.' Who can forget Iain BanksWell ' settled'It was rather overstates the day my grandmother exploded'? Or those timeless words by Jane Austensituation and their dog, Beagle, 'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession has no intention of brains must be in want of more brainsslowing down any time soon, despite being sixteen and deaf.'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594743347</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Harry HillB08GFSK2WZ|title=Tim The Tiny Horse At LargeKarma Trap|author=Lisette Boyd

|genre=HumourWomen's Fiction|summary=ItGeorge Jackson is thirty-three years old, absolutely gorgeous to look at - and single. She's been a while since Tim not had sex for eight months and Flyshe's [[Tim stuck in the Tiny Horse by Harry Hill|last adventures]], karma trap: an awful lot of bad luck is being visited on her and changes are afoot in Timshe has a real talent for attracting drama. Her life's tiny worldchaotic: Fly is getting married she dealt with the leak from the shower by putting something down at the bottom of the stairs to his girlfriendabsorb the water - then the shower fell through the roof whilst she was in it and left her, stark naked, staring at the pervy postman. Tim She only has to take her mother's dog out for a little worried because they've only known each other walk for a week. The marriage goes ahead, her to end up with dog poo spattered across her face - and Tim finds himself kicking his heels, so he gets a pet. And so the brief episodes in photo being taken by someone who shares it around the life of a horse who lives in a matchbox continueoffice.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571244157</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Spike MilliganDavid C Mason|title=The Magical World of MilliganPandora's Gardener|rating=4.53|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Some people you just have to love. It's the law. Spike Milligan was always fantasticJohn Cranston is a gardener, and although what he did before he's much missed. He's got the perfect mix of nonsensebecame a gardener, hearthe claims, and surreal humouris classified. He speaks That is just as well because he is about to people of all agesbe caught up in a criminal / spy / terrorist plot, and where only he's just plain lovelycan save the day. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1905264844</amazonuk>0956180523

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sam SavageJester_Forever|title=The Cry of the Sloth|rating=3.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Meet Andrew Whittaker. In some untold time of recent American history, he is forced through a failed marriage and an artistic temperament at odds with so many other people, to let properties to tenants he does not like, for $120 a month. The lodgers might not like the state of the buildings - ceilings falling through and so on - but that's another matter. He would much prefer to be left alone in front of his little Olivetti typewriter and create art. He runs a literary journal, of Forever After: a kind, called "Soap", which no-one likes, no-one reads (and often, with dodgy, cheap printing, no-one could physically read it anyway), and which makes him poorer in time, money and spirit.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0297856499</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewdark comedy|author=Christopher Moore|title=You SuckDavid Jester

|genre=HumourHorror|summary=You know that old adage about books and covers? Well this Michael Holland is a case in pointcocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. The title isn't greatWe follow Michael, but the cover design for the paperback imprint is, like, duh!a grim reaper and his friends, the pits. It is so uncool…so unrep-resent-ative of the book. This is not Chip (a cocktail thing. Not even stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a "Bloody Mary" thing.  Well, except for stoner in the tiny bit that is, but you'll discover that records department) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clean surface to sit on in due coursetheir flat.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841498092</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Hugh Murr and Sid Nigtures 1683691172|title=Cyber Sign OffsWilliam Shakespeare's Much Ado About Mean Girls|author=Ian Doescher|rating=2.5

|summary=I admit I had the wrong end of the stick when it came to this bookA long time ago, before I opened it at least. I had assumed it was in a collection of real-life on-line signatures - we've all seen themgalaxy far away, those straplines people have on all their forum posts. The obvious response would have been along the lines of 'fair enoughStar Wars films were crunched up against Shakespeare, but why is this and the marriage seemed a book perfectly suitable one. So much so – so easily did the plots and characters converse in this day Shakespearean dialogue, and agebehave with Shakespearean stage directions – that the producers tried again, and not a website?with [[William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future! by Ian Doescher|Back to the Future]] no less. And that worked. But nosimultaneously they put a real test out. A film I can't even really remember seeing was transcribed into the original Elizabethan lingo. This is a collection of dialogues between two people - shall we call them Sue deNim and Allie ByeA cult following I had never followed whatsoever was given the brand new, yet oh so ancient, who have a line or two dressing. Here was the true challenge – would I manage to say to each otherenjoy this, and a made-up name (sorry, make that May Dupp-Name) with which to sign it off. Much jolly nonsense ensues.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312497</amazonuk>based on little foreknowledge? Oh damn those shiny gold stars for letting the game away…

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tim Fitzhigham 168369094X|title=All at Sea: One Man. One Bathtub. One Very Bad Idea: Conquering William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Channel in a Piece of PlumbingFuture!|author=Ian Doescher

|summary=The Radio Five film critic Mark Kermode has A long time ago, in a rule when reviewing comedies. If he laughs more than five times then publishing house far away, [[:Category:Ian Doescher|someone]] thought it wonderfully wacky to rewrite the film deserves its billing as story of Star Wars in Shakespearean pentameter, colliding two entirely different genres and styles in such a comedyclever way they seemed perfectly suited. If that rule It was applied to Karl Pilkingtonthen duly repeated for all the other films in the main Star Wars cycle, and clearly someone's new book Karlology then it would easily fit into buffing their quills ready for Episode Nine, the title of which became public knowledge the day before I write. In the hiatus, however, the effort has been made to see if the category for there are laugh aplenty same shtick works with other texts, and to riff on other seemingly unlikely source materials in this strangeiambs. And could we have anything more suitably unsuitable-seeming than Back to the Future, with its tales of time travel, bullying, amusing and charming little book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140533746X<parent/amazonuk>child strife like no other?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joe Stretch1473669065|title=Wildlife|rating=3|genre=Humour|summary=The word ''Twitter'' doesn't occur in Joe Stretch's vocabulary, but thatQueenie Malone's what his book is about. Life in the blogosphere, massively exaggerated, where people don't leave their desks but nevertheless come together (but never literally) in satisfying their deepest, darkest desires. If I've made it sound even faintly exciting, believe me, Joe Stretch is a fantasist with realist tendencies. What he is after is laughter; what he produces is a virtual simulacrum. Sniggery-pokery, jiggery-jokery, he tinkers with the twilight zone of a future-scenario where, for reasons beyond all understanding, some robotic and literal Dickhead (i.e. a man with a dick fixed to his forehead – I kid you not) decides to target a few selected humans for a make-over in his own image. Given that virtual worlds exist to pull in punters who don't like themselves in the real one, and their main purpose is to make money, one's only question must be: why?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099532077</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewParadise Hotel|author=Michael Marr|title=Three JumpersRuth Hogan

|summary=Copper was one Tilda returns to Brighton, to tidy away the remains of a litter of dogs born her mother's life after her death. Whilst there, she returns to the Paradise hotel, a stray bitch haven for eccentrics and who was 'adopted' by Lady Annabel Goldsmith - or might it misfits. A place where people can be the other way round?. Here he tells his story in his own words as transcribed for him by his owner. He's got his own priorities – themselves, and obedience is not one let go of thoughts that torment them – along with a roving spiritelsewhere. It's perhaps fortunate Little wonder that he's Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a dog as child, from this allows you place of wonder. With the help of Queenie Malone, caring, and gregarious, Tilda begins to call him 'cheeky' pick apart the tricky and 'charming'. If he was a human being 'randy' uncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and 'arrogant' would be two of the first words which came to minddistant mother.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751538205</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tim Moore1683690346|title=I Believe in Yesterday: My Adventures in Living HistoryThe Con Artist|author=Fred Van Lente

|summary=Common opinion has it that the television programme ''Time Team'' did Comic-Cons are a lot place of wonder and sanctuary for the public image of archaeologists – bringing them out of their holes in the groundmany people, and making them seem like excitingwhen Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, interesting people he's looking for both that and sanctuary with a good way other fans and creators, plus the chance of putting their knowledge acrossmaybe, just maybe reuniting with his ex. However it was clearly a much harder task , when it came his rival is found dead, Mike is forced to navigate every dark corner of the con in order to clear his name – from cosplay flash mobs and intrusive fans to those background artistes they have sometimeszombie obstacle courses – Mike must prove his innocence and, walking up and down in Roman centurion geardoing so, or living the historical lifestyle as may just unravel a dark secret behind a re-enactmentlegendary industry creator.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224077813</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=L Vaughan Spencer1473669588|title=Don't Be Needy Be SucceedyFalling Short|author=Lex Coulton

|summary=Are you underperforming in your business and personal lives? Do you underestimate the importance of good hair Lex Coulton's debut novel is a story about mistakes, failures, and moisturised skin in achieving your life goals? Are you stumbling through life in a Fast-Moving Business Environment (FMBE) without a motivational mantra to guide you? Then you need this bookrelationships. As ''The A to Zee of Motivitality''main protagonist, Frances Pilgrim, this is a dictionary of achievement from a man sixth form English teacher who can teach you how to succeed like has recently fallen out with her best friend Jackson, a toothless budgiework 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681634</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mark Crick 1683690133|title=SartreMy Lady's Sink: The Great Writers' Complete Book of DIYChoosing|author=Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris

|summary=''Sartre's Sink'' comprises fourteen short story parodies of some of the world's best known writers – the twist being that the stories You are all about undertaking some mundane DIY task such as tiling a bathroom (Dostoevsky) or reglazing a window (Milan Kundera)lass of twenty-eight. So far it sounds Plucky, penniless and in Regency-era London the race is on to find a bit like some pretentious Oxbridge student twaddle. You can just imagine how the idea came up over an oversuitable suitor -ripe Brie and or else doom yourself to life as an underrated bottle of 1963 Taylor's porteternal spinster. It also rather smacks of that Radio 4 programme which I detest with an absolute passion - I can't even stand writing its nameAlong your journey, ugh - 'you'Quote Unquote'', in which parodies do feature, read out ll be accompanied by smug selfLady Evangeline Youngblood -congratulatory writer darlings (a fiesty noble eager to save you can tell I don't like from a life alone, and fired by a rogueish sense for adventure. When itcomes to suitors though, canyou't you?). Howeverll have to make the ultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, dear readerswholesome, this book is rather enjoyable rugged and I speak as someone who is rather less versed in caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, or the writings of this famous lot than I care to admitmad, bad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847080472</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Eric Nakagawa|title=I Can Has Cheezburger |rating=4|genre=Pets|summary=''I Can Has Cheezburger''With orphans, werewolves, is a clever and witty anthology of some of the best pictures long lost lovers and captions from the fantastic [http://icanhascheezburger.com/ lolcats website] of ancient Egyptian artefacts along the same name. The site has been growing in popularity in recent monthsway, and so it was inevitable that a book would soon hit the shelves. Choosing which pics 's clear this isn't going to include in the book could not have been be an easy task, and some of the old favourites are there, alongside some less well known onesdecision...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340977574</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|author=Ian Crofton|title=History Without the Boring Bits|rating=5|genre=History|summary=I was never one for history, and in fact left the dregs of a history teacher in tatters when I scraped through with a D. Still, history is an odd thing – written by the winners of course, and annoyingly biased in my mind towards the plain. There's no real reason to remember the order of Henry VIII's six wives, but we can only relish the one credited with polydactylism, a third nipple and whatnot (the second one, in fact – whoever that was).|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847243746</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jim HoltStibbe_Xmas|title=Stop Me If You've Heard This|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=As far as I can remember, my first time in print was when I submitted some jokes to a charity's themed joke collection. Before then, some of my first actions as a child might have been laughing, and what is cuter in a baby than that? But why was that infant laughing – he didn't have a joke he could get, surely?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184668109X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewAn Almost Perfect Christmas|author=P G Wodehouse |title=Joy in the MorningNina Stibbe

|summary=''Joy in Christmas – the Morning'' is another novel from Ptime of traditional trauma.GYou 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-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. WodehouseNowadays it's all having to make sure it's wonderful series of books about Bertram Wooster suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it, and Jeevesget too friendly with it to want to eat it. Bertie Christmas, though, is of course also a young gentleman time of inherited means and no present occupationgreat boons. He is It's cash in hand for a good humoured lot of plump people who can hire red suits and well-meant chapbeards, however clearly not it was always a godsend for postmen with all the smartest tool in the shed. Bertie seems thank-you letters to have aunties you saw twice a talent of getting himself into trouble but decade that is where Jeevesyour parents made you write out in long-hand as a child, his loyal, educated and painfully clever butler comes to his rescue. Jeeves is irreplaceable when it comes to saving Bertie from whatever creativeas for the makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, complicated did they even try and incredibly funny situations Wodehouse puts his characters through.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099513765</amazonuk>sell them any other time of the year?

 {{newreview|author=P G Wodehouse|title=Thank You, Jeeves|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Bertie Wooster was once engaged to Pauline Stoker. It didn't last very long – about forty eight hours, most of which Bertie spent in bed with a bad cold, if his memory serves him correctly. It's still embarrassing when he meets Pauline and her father, particularly as it was the father who was responsible for breaking off the engagement. Rather than eat at the Savoy Grill where he spotted the Stokers, he goes home to his only consolation. Bertie plays the banjo. Unfortunately, he doesn't play it very well.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099513730</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Tom Holt |title=The Better Mousetrap|rating=4 |genre=Humour|summary=I approached this book with a fair degree of trepidation, as I had never heard of the author, and wondered if, when reading the synopsis, I was about to embark on a Terry Pratchett type novel (and I have to say, much though I admire his achievements, I'm not a fan of Discworld!) However, my fears were unfounded, and from page one I found myself drawn into this clever and erudite novel. Not having read the preceding novels in the series did put me at a slight disadvantage, but didn't detract from my enjoyment, and has certainly ensured that I'll read the others in the near future. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841495034</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Philip Moore |title=Utterly Ridiculous|rating=3 |genre=Humour|summary=If I learned nothing else from this book, I now know of a new profession: aircraft cleaner. For that is the trade of Dave, the hero of ''Utterly Ridiculous''. With little but a van and his torpid terrier Biggles, Dave roves the airstrips of southern England, titivating light aircraft.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906221685</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Mole Doescher_Will|title=I Was a Potato Oligarch: Travels and Travails in the New Russia|rating=1 |genre=Travel|summary=I remember getting this book in post, reading the title and thinking no, even though I am Russian, I will try to be unbiased and judge it like I would judge any other book about a foreign country experience. I now have to regretfully admit I failed. In my defence, John MoleWilliam Shakespeare's focus on mocking the nation and country made that all too easy.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1857885090</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Clive Gifford|title=Teenage KicksForce Doth Awaken: 101 Things to Do Before You're 16|rating=3.5|genre=Humour|summary=Kids. They're bored all the time, aren't they? Nothing you buy seems to have any longevity. I think they live in alternative dimension in which time passes much more slowly that it does for harassed parents. It's the only explanation. I think Clive Gifford must sympathise, because his latest book, Teenage Kicks, has a whopping 101 ideas to alleviate boredom and a clever challenge too - your bored child has to complete them all before they reach 16. At a measly £5.99, this book could represent the most wonderful value for money any parent could ever wish for.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340950617</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jon Canter |title=A Short Gentleman|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=The narrator of this spoof biography is a civil law barrister. Robert Purcell has been educated at Winchester and Oxford. He has modelled himself on his polite and restrained father, a High Court judge and, as a child, Robert maps out the components his own expected adult life – wife, two children, career – and the respect which he will gain from this, together with his undoubted intellectual superiority. At the age of eight, he writes a future Who's Who entry for himself, with all Star Wars Part the academic and professional accolades he expects to garner.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224077740</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewSeventh|author=George Saunders |title=The Brain-dead MegaphoneIan Doescher

|summary=American author George Saunders is known for his short stories and fictionA long time ago, in a galaxy far away, there was a man called William Shakespeare, but he is also who was able to create a journalist 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 publications such as ''The GuardianForce Doth Awaken'', ''The New Yorker Magazine'' but here at last we get the actual script, complete with annoying-in-different-ways-to-before droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and ''GQ''people keeping it in the family til it hurts. And if you need further encouragement, don''The Brain-Dead Megaphone'' is t forget his first collection audience only demanded three parts of essays and itHenry VI – here the series is so popular we's an interesting proposition: sixteen pieces ranging from travel writing, literary appreciation, political essays, re on to surrealist short fiction.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0747594260</amazonuk>part seven – surely making this over twice as good…

 {{newreview |title=Tim the Tiny Horse|author=Harry Hill|genre=Humour|rating=4|summary=After doing even tiny bit of research I realised that I must be the only person out there who ever read Tim the Tiny Horse having never heard of the author. Thus, I have Move on to take another reviewer's word that it's "typical Harry Hill" and will make an attempt at reviewing Tim as a stand-alone. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571229565</amazonuk>}}[[Newest LGBT Fiction Reviews]]