Tuesday 29 October 2013

Book of the Week - Bonkers

Bonkers: My Life in Laughs by Jennifer Saunders - the hilarious, touching life story of the iconic comedian and national treasure Jennifer Saunders' comic creations have brought joy to millions. From Comic Strip to Comic Relief, from Bolly-swilling Edina in Ab Fab to her takes on Madonna or Mamma Mia, her characters are household names. But it's Jennifer herself who has a place in all our hearts.

This is her funny, moving and frankly bonkers memoir, filled with laughter, friends and occasional heartache - but never misery. Bonkers is full of riotous adventures: accidentally enrolling on a teacher training course with a young Dawn French, bluffing her way to each BBC series, shooting Lulu, trading wild faxes with Joanna Lumley, touring India with Ruby Wax and Goldie Hawn. There's cancer, too, when she becomes 'Brave Jen'.

But her biggest battle is with the bane of her life: the Laws of Procrastination. As she admits, 'There has never been a Plan. Everything has been fairly random, happened by accident or just fallen into place.

I'm off now, to do some sweeping...' Prepare to chuckle, whoop, and go Bonkers. Jennifer Saunders is a comedian, writer and actress. She has won three Baftas (including the Bafta Fellowship), an International Emmy, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or, two Writers' Guild Awards and a People's Choice Award.

She also has a certificate for coming third in the discus at the Northwich Area Sports championships, and numerous rosettes for clear round jumping and gymkhana on her pony. She lives in Devon and London with her husband Adrian Edmondson. She has three daughters who are all grown up and have left home.

They have been replaced with a whippet called Olive. She has recently been forced to become a grandmother despite only being 55. Bonkers is her first book.

Monday 21 October 2013

Book of the Week - The 100 Most Pointless Arguments in the World

From the presenters of the hit BBC One television series Pointless and authors of The 100 Most Pointless Things in the World comes a hilarious collection of answers to some of life's biggest questions. We've all had them, those pointless arguments that are seemingly impossible to solve. We've been round in circles trying to work out what came first, the chicken or the egg? Don't get us started on the debate of what we are all here for? And you're bound to have had sleepless nights pondering which ingredient you simply can't do without in a full English Breakfast - sausage or bacon.

Well worry no more, here to help you solve some of life's biggest - and most pointless - conundrums, Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman attempt to answer the trickiest of teasers that we all face. So, does God exist? and what is the most pointless sport - ballet or darts? With a witty and intelligent collection of stand-up pieces, quizzes, cryptic brainteasers and pointless facts and questions, Alexander Armstrong and his pointless friend Richard Osman will put the world to rights and finally answer the 100 Most Pointless Arguments in the World...Ever.

Monday 14 October 2013

Book of the Week - The Jolly Christmas Postman


Celebrate the twentieth anniversary Allan Ahlberg's award-winning, seasonal children's picture book "The Jolly Christmas Postman!" Children can take each colourful gift out of its envelope and discover for themselves what well-known fairy-tale characters are sending to one another for Christmas! It's Christmas Eve and the Jolly Postman is delivering greetings to various fairy-tale characters - there's a card for Baby Bear, a game appropriately called 'Beware' for Red Riding Hood from Mr Wolf, a get-well jigsaw for hospitalised Humpty Dumpty and three more surprise envelopes. Allan Ahlberg has published over 100 children's books and with his late wife Janet, created many award-winning children's picture books, including "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night", "Funnybones", "Each Peach Pear Plum" and "Peepo!" "The Jolly Christmas Postman" is the seasonal sequel of, the Kate Greenaway Medal winning, "The Jolly Postman" which has sold over five million copies worldwide and remains one of the most innovative and interactive children's books available.

Monday 7 October 2013

Book of the Week - Fork Handles


This title comes with a foreword by Ronnie Corbett. Loved by millions and collected here for the first time is the very best of Ronnie Barker's classic sketches, monologues, songs and, of course, the brilliant two-handers that he wrote for The Two Ronnies. Celebrating his genius for comic wordplay, this wonderful collection includes 'Pismonouncers Unanimous', 'An Appeal for Women' 'Swedish for Beginners' and the nation's favourite sketch, 'Fork Handles'.

As talented a writer as he was performer, Ronnie Barker was behind the best known Two Ronnies' material. His comedy writing was so prolific that he began using the pseudonym Gerald Wiley while working on Frost on Sunday, which he continued when making The Two Ronnies, so eager was he to ensure that his writing was judged on its merit alone. Showcasing the work of a true comic icon, and one of the best writers and comedians of the twentieth century, Fork Handles is every bit as warm and funny as Ronnie Barker himself.