Humour Books > C Humour Books > less than 5 GBP

Advantages: It attracted a cult following and inspired an immensely popular tv show
Disadvantages: Trying to make a column into a book, and failing

...designed to be a novel, Sex and the City was Candace Bushnell's newspaper column, and unfortunately I got a very clear sense of this when reading it. The premise of the book was a good one, and when it was originally written, it seemed to represent a whole generation of young, single and attractive girls-about-town, but, unlike with the series, I felt little or no connection to the characters and the stories left me feeling cold. In fact this was ...
...I have seriously considered not bothering to finish a book. However, I powered on, the idea that a book had defeated me was too much to bear, but I have to admit that the only feeling I had on turning the final page was not one of pleasure or joy, but relief at finally being able to put it down for good. Perhaps my expectations were too high. Maybe the series' genius mix of amusing storylines combined with realistic characters with whom one could ... Read review

Advantages: So funny you'll wet yourself - buy in some own brand nappies
Disadvantages: You may be forced to come to terms with your own behaviour

Ladies and Gentlemen: Embrace your inner pikey. Be honest now, no cheating. Take a look at the list of questions I have compiled below: 1. Do you have one or more store loyalty cards? 2. Does your pulse race at the sight of a buy-one-get-one free offer? 3. Do you get email alerts every week for what's on special at Aldi? 4. Does the site of your Tesco clubcard vouchers coming through the letterbox fill you with excitement? 5. Have you ever ...
...been to a boot fair, a jumble sale or a TK Maxx or Matalan? 7. Ever bought or sold on eBay? 8. Ever taken home the soaps from a hotel visit? 9. Ever signed up for online surveys? 10. Ever written a first review so you could get double money for the first month? OK, hands up if you match on at least two of those criteria…………..that's what I expected, more hands than I can count. And how many of you are matching most of them? Again, quite a few. ... Read review

Advantages: funny, engrossing, interesting
Disadvantages: it's all true (therefore can be horrifying)

It's happened to us all, hasn't it? The feeling of fear and horror and absolute dread that creeps over you two seconds after you've clicked "send" on an email . . . and realised you've sent it to the wrong person. I've had it and if I had any doubt that I was the only one this had ever happened to, then reading "Great Email Diasters" clued me in bigtime. So HAS it happened to you? It's happened to me on a few occasions, and has happened with text ...
...to do - you accidentally hit "reply all" on a round-robin email, or start typing someone's name into the "send to" field and don't notice it has automatically been populated by someone from your company address book, or you've just not been thinking properly. For example, me and my friend Sarah were one day having a conversation about a student who had been annoying both of us, and at the same time as we were emailing about this, Sarah was emailing ... Read review

Advantages: A good read
Disadvantages: Everyone seems to change for the better in the book a bit too easily

Cathy Kelly, as usual, has written her book well, full of Irish characters and family. I have read one of Cathy Kelly's book before and this one was along the same lines. Her books delve deep into the bonds between family and friends. There are lots of references to Ireland in the book so you can just imagine all these characters chatting away in the lovely accent that Irish people have. The main characters in the book are Christy Devlin, an art ...
...her boyfriend Grey, and Faye Reid, a businesswomen who lives with her 18-year old daughter. The three characters are all united when something happens in each of their personal lives, something that makes them all look at a secret they have in their past. For Christy, somebody comes back into her life who should never have been in it, for Maggie, she finds out that Grey has been two-timing her and she faces demons from her past, and for Faye, her ... Read review

Advantages: It's not terribly expensive
Disadvantages: It's not terribly funny

For years, a friend of mine kept going on about a book that was a parody of "The Lord of the Rings". At the time it was out of print, but he would quote one of the lines from it at every opportunity and bemoan the fact that he never had a copy of his own. Fortunately, the surge of interest in the original books when the films were being made resulted in a republication of the parody and so he was finally able to own his own copy of "Bored of the ...
...about it, so was I. Following rather loosely the plot of "The Lord of the Rings", Frito Bugger is charged with a quest to travel across the world and destroy a ring. He is accompanied on his quest by his friend Spam, the magician Goodgulf and a couple of rather annoying boggies, Moxie and Pepsi. Legolam the elf, Gimlet the dwarf, Stomper the Ranger and Bromosel complete the party. We get to follow their journey from the boggies' home in the Sty, ... Read review