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Advantages: Usual tom Sharpe Hilarity
Disadvantages: None

...of fancy, this time concerning the world of publishing. The unlikely premise is that an author has a manuscript that he wants published yet, for reasons that may become clear, cannot allow his own name to be associated with it. The hard-bitten literary agent involved comes up with a solution that pleases everyone. There is a hopeless writer on his books who would do almost anything to get his name on the cover of a book and a deal is soon struck. ...
...Sharpe style, and the real author remains in obscurity whilst the imposter embarks on a book promotion tour of the USA, with about as many misunderstandings, awkward situations and disasters is any sane person could possibly imagine. The core action takes place in the deep south Bible belt where the bizarre and unbelievable is commonplace. It involves religious fanaticism, venomous snakes, corporate greed, lust and a generous sprinkling of naivety ... Read review

Advantages: Easy to read, funny, identifiable main character
Disadvantages: ein bisschen predictable

When I saw the bright colourful cover of The Reluctant Landlady in Smiths, i was instantly drawn to it like a magnet. I read the back of it, it sounded quite good. Anyway - so the book is about Evie Crump, a failing actress who at the beginning lives in a horrible flat in Dickens Towers with her gorgeous-cooking-in-the-nude-gay-best-friend Bing, with cockroaches and such, when she is left a message from a solicitor - claiming she has been given ...
...Anyway - she gets to the new house, and finds that it's a house with 4 flats in, and she has the one on the ground floor. Her and Bing move in and redecorate, and they try and meet all of the inhabitants - but she discovers that they all have something that's a bit weird about them, and she decides to help them. Then she gets her big break - in a Dog Food advert on TV - and meets Dan, gorgeous womaniser, and eventually gets heartbroken and ends ... Read review

Advantages: Hilarious Black comedy, right up there with the best of Sharpe
Disadvantages: Had to put it down and go to work

...when he finds out that the spoon has been pawned. He is accepted with open arms as a Lloyds name and is only brought to heel when he is asked to repay some major sums to that august body. In true Tom Sharpe style there follows a drug fuelled motorbike ride through unfamiliar countryside, ending up in bed with the wrong woman, in the kind of implausible yet highly credible kind of story line that only Tom Sharpe can pull off. As with any book review ...
...I have read all of the Tom Sharpe books. A few, such as Porterhouse Blue, Wilt and Blott on the Landscape have made it onto the small screen, to great acclaim, and including such stars as Griff Reese Jones, David Suchet and Geraldine James. it is a shame that more can't be filmed but the content may not sit well with a family audience. In my experience, the book is always better than a film or TV adaptation so five yourself a treat and read The Midden, ... Read review

Advantages: Riotously funny black humour
Disadvantages: soon comes to an end

...browsing in a bookshop. The cover looked a bit different and the cover blurb intrigued me so much that I bought it. I was in London and caught the train home in the evening. I opened the book as the train pulled out of Paddington and was totally immersed in it when the train pulled into Reading. had it not been for my long suffering companion I would have ended up in Penzance, so absorbing was the story. Embarrassingly, I was heard to laugh out loud ...
...in the Cumbrian fells who have not quite made it into the 20th century. Without giving too much away the story involves plagiarism, taxidermy, robotics, special effects and wartime munitions. What makes it so good is that, outrageous as it is, everything in it is could actually happen. Tom Sharpe is possibly Britain's greatest comedy writer. On the strength of reading this one book I went out and bought all his other books. They cover such diverse ... Read review

Advantages: Tales of the bonkers world we live in
Disadvantages: A slim volume leaving you wanting more

...Helen of Troy or Henry the 8th. I have no views on reincarnation and for many millions of people it is an inherent part of their belief which should be respected, but what makes me laugh is how a lot of people who publicise their past lives are usually famous historical types never Gladys the scrubber. I personally think I was probably a toilet cleaner in a past life, or maybe a lady of the night, but who knows. So moving on to The Fortean Times ...
...Times is the journal of unexplained phenomena. Firstly Fortean, what does it mean? Fortean's study unexplained things in the world and it is a broad title that explores everything from UFO's, Bigfoot, folklore, the basis of myths etc and in a sense neither believes not disbelieves. The Fortean Times is a regular magazine and is fascinating I love to read about the madness of the world and the magazine also has a healthy dose of humour. You can buy ... Read review