Tracy

I didn't even finish this, not because of the story, but the incredibly poor layout and typo's. I can live with a few, but the amount of poorly punctuated sentences was amazing. If this was my copy (I borrowed this from the library), I would have taken a red pen and corrected it all, then sent it back to the publisher's and tell them to get a proofreader who can do their job properly.

I have no interest in cars, therefore this book shouldn't interest me, but is does, and it is funny. Taken from Mr Clarkson's column in ‘Top Gear' magazine, from 1993 to 2011. He writes about everything from his wife's pregnancy, his youth, the (British)government, environmental issues, ageing and, er, cars. Yes, everything has a car tie-in somewhere along the line, but the pieces are easy to read, being no longer than two or three pages, though they do get longer towards the end, so you find yourself reading more than planned, well, I did anyway. Aimed at ‘Top Gear' fans for the airport lounge, aeroplane, beach, oily garage, I suspect this will sell by the skip load. It's thickness makes it a handy door stop too!!!

I received this (physical) coffee table humour book as a gift, which I loved, but I am a dog lover and owner! Easy to read, which is perfect for easing into the reading year, with cute cartoon-style dogs. Despite it's brief but jaunty style, there are facts to be learnt. For anything in-depth/scientific, you need to look elsewhere, as this book is just Fun.

I bought this as Nigella Lawson mentioned it in one of her programmes many years ago(I can't remember which though!),and really this is novelty purchase, as my family are vegetarians,and there is quite a lot of meat recipes, though the Sweet Potato Pie will be tried out. There is a recipe to make a replica of Elvis and Priscilla's wedding cake, which takes up the last half dozen pages in the book, which is really for historical interest only, unless you are a professional baker. Hardcore Elvis fans will love it.

A pretty book with some great ideas for cakes and biscuits, though with most modern baking books, the recipes have far too much sugar in them, that make the finish products sickeningly sweet to my family. I had to tweak the recipes to suit, which makes the book pointless to buy, though thankfully, I borrowed it from the library!

Basically this is a picture book of, erm, wet dogs. Alright, some of the photos have the dogs with towels, are being sprayed with water, with some of the pooches giving the camera the evil eye and and a silent snarl. Even though I am a dog owner myself, and could almost smell that wet dog stench, I found this book a bit pointless. I have given it an extra star because it encourages people to consider adopting a rescue dog, or at least donate some unwanted towels to your local dog rescue.

Easy and fun to read, though I won't be trying any of the recipes out, as the ingredients aren't readily available where I live, which means spending a small fortune on sending away for them. Also, I had to look up some of the ingredients, as the American is used, i.e. cilantro is coriander, eggplants are aubergine, etc. Argh, such a pain! Glad it's a library book, as I would be selling it!

A cross between a guide book and a piece of academia, which I found very confusing and hard to read in places, despite being only under 150 pages long; it should have been one or the other. On the positive side, it is small and light enough to carry around should you wish to visit the various Dickens places.

A well worth second reading, with great graphics, and Marek has put in, what I think is a sneaky drawing of the boy detective, Tin Tin, but you'll have to find him yourself! I've never liked the title “Dumb Witness”, but checking on the Goodreads list, the other title “Poirot Loses a Client” is well, not the same; I'll just have to live with it.

I've always wanted to read John le Carre's George Smiley books, but starting at ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy', I failed to get into the story and given up. Actually starting at the first appearance of Smiley (and le Carre's first book), has made me realize that the background is necessary to (hopefully!) appreciate the later books. I absolutely loved this, and question why this book isn't more well known, as it should be; a rough diamond waiting to discovered by a wider audience. My advice? Don't start with the Karla books, start with this little gem.

Audible were having a sale, and for £3, if it was awful, I wouldn't have lost much, and never listened to a cookery book, it was worth a go. The recipes come as a pdf file when you purchase, so you don't have to listen to the instructions, but the soothing tones of Mr Slater on his winter recollections of the past, present and occasionally future. I'm not really interested in actually using the recipes, as I still hold my belief that the cooking and baking is very middle class nowadays, and I'm sure these foodies want to outdo each other with using the most obscure and expensive ingredients, hence the four stars.

This, the follow up to ‘Three Men in a Boat...' Mr Jerome(now married), Harris(also married) and George(still single), go on a (cycling)trip to the Black Forest. This tries to capture the essence of the previous book, but doesn't quite get there. I feel that he tries to hard to re-capture his youth, but portrays three middle men making fools of them abroad.

Possibly the only way to meet famous people in London without being hassled by security, body guards or crowds of people asking for photos and autographs. Yes, they are dead, but we get a good cross section of people from medieval to modern times. Some are household names, others not so well known but have changed our lives in one way or another. The main gripe I have is that the book could have been more compact to stuff into a rucksack while you seek out these memorials; also on the very last page there is a website address, presumably to enhance the book, but to my disappointment it doesn't work, but it could be my internet connection.

John le Carre's second novel, which also features George Smiley. Not as good as his first novel, “Call for the Dead”, as it lacks the black humour as the first, and also nothing to do with espionage, which is what le Carre/George Smiley are associated with. Smiley is asked by a friend and an ex-colleague to investigate a murder at a public school, in which we learn about the snobbery of the British public school system, and a little of Smiley's failed marriage and his connections in the Secret Service. Plot wise, it builds up, then falls flat at the end, by which time I didn't care about who murdered who, though le Carre admits this book wasn't his best. Looking forward to reading “The Spy who came in from the Cold”, which made his name.

Just a horrible book. Yes, it's supposed to be a humourous tongue in cheek book, but I found that after reading it that I wanted to strangle the author for ruining my happy memories of learning to read with the Ladybird books. Also, I was surprised that Mr Hazeley got away suggesting that one of the supposed hipsters wants to tattoo a childhood drawing on his dog; normal people wouldn't do this, but we all know that there are some sick and twisted people out in the world and they don't need encouraging. The star is for the nice paper it was printed on. By the way, I read this in the bookshop's coffee shop, so I didn't pay the £6.99 this book costs (only hipsters would pay this!).