Regular visitors to the blog will know that I’m pretty obsessed with historical and crime fiction.
This is neither.
However, I found myself absolutely caught up in this funny, charming and surprisingly gory book! This was one of my surprise five star reads of the year so far and has the misfortune to be published on the busiest day of the year for publishing when it will be up against some big names.
So I’m here to champion this one.
This book was an absolute breath of fresh air! I’ve seen it compared to ‘True Blood’ which I can understand in terms of the subject matter and the feisty heroine, but I think this is something different again.
The fact that the main character, Lavington Windsor, has powers of her own as a necromancer and the (rather British) humour in the book make this an engaging and unusual read even compared to the Sookie Stackhouse series.
The novel follows necromancer Lavington as she leads a dual life: estate agent by day, raising the occupants of the local cemeteries by night. Even before she gets involved with vampires, or more specifically the gorgeous Oscar, her life is pretty odd. Once she gets caught up in finding vampire real estate and a romance with Oscar, her life takes a dangerous turn.
What makes this book unusual is that it looks like a cosy read but is actually far from; the sex and violence is actually quite explicit and surprising, although it fits perfectly in the book. The humour is also a nice surprise and I found myself being pleasantly pulled along by Lavington’s narrative voice.
In addition, the plot is pacey and there is a lot going on – a second book is definitely needed to iron out some of the plot strands! However, if it is anything like this book, a second book will be eagerly awaited.
I should reiterate that this really is not my usual genre of choice so it has really won me over! Highly recommended.
I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
If you want your own copy of Lavington’s adventures, the link is below. The Quick and The Read may earn commission on purchases at no extra cost to you.
Header photo with thanks to Ganapathy Kumar for sharing their work on Unsplash.
Lizzie is eighteen, keen to escape her slightly eccentric family and yet nervous about where her life may go. When she gets offered a job as a dentist’s assistant, a job that comes with the flat above the surgery, it seems time to leave the family home and start supporting herself.
It is 1980s Leicester and Lizzie is about to be thrown into a story of love, friendship, growing up, driving lessons and amateur dentistry. This story fits with Nina Stibbe’s other novels about the quirky Vogel family. However, I really don’t think I have read them in the right order, not that this seems to matter too much.
Lizzie is an engaging and naive narrator and her story is funny and charming. I’ve seen comparisons made between Stibbe and the late, great Sue Townsend – I can certainly understand this, as Lizzie has a touch of the innocence and humour that made Adrian Mole so popular, plus a wonderful cast of keenly-observed eccentrics around her.
This novel is at its best when it describes Lizzie navigating her everyday life – her interactions with her cantankerous dentist boss, her rather free-spirited mother, her snoozy driving instructor. I felt it was less successful when it got more serious, but that might be my personal taste – I wanted it to be happy and upbeat throughout.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this novel to those who enjoy humorous fiction in the vein of Adrian Mole – a naive protagonist adrift in an adult world that is hard to navigate. Lizzie is a sweet and charming narrator and you will want to read more of her story.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Header photo with thanks to Hybrid for sharing their work on Unsplash.
This is another book that’s on the shortlist for the Comedy Women in Print 2020 prize. Beth O’Leary’s second novel, ‘The Switch’ is another gem if you liked this one!
Tiffy has broken up with her horrible boyfriend, Justin, and needs somewhere to stay. Her job publishing rather niche crochet books pays a pittance, so she is tempted with an interesting flat-share proposition; for cheap rent, she can inhabit Leon’s flat during the nights and weekends while he is at work at the hospice and staying with his girlfriend, Kay.
So Tiffy and Leon share a bed, but never at the same time. It seems like an ideal solution, but things change and life gets in the way of the best laid plans.
I really enjoyed this. Yes, it’s a bit predictable and there are some amazing coincidences that the plot relies on heavily. However, it’s a cheerful and lively read that will keep you turning the pages as Tiffy and Leon get to know each other without meeting – the trails of notes are really sweet.
There are also lots of likeable characters and some real pantomime villains. It does occasionally get a bit dark in places, but there are some lovely humorous touches too; I especially liked Katherin, the crochet queen, and Rachel, the oversharing work friend.
Overall, there is a lot to enjoy here and it was great to read something light and happy. I’d recommend this and will look for more from this writer in the future.
I received a free copy of the novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Header photo with thanks to Scott Webb for sharing their work on Unsplash.
The shortlist for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2020 was recently announced. As humorous books are definitely my thing, I was quite heartened to see many of my own reading choices on there.
With this in mind, I thought it would be timely to revisit some of these funny and joyous novels, starting with ‘Frankissstein’ by Jeanette Winterson.
My Review
I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this and was actually in two minds about requesting it for review – although I like Jeanette Winterson’s writing and am intrigued by Mary Shelley as a writer, I was less sure about the modernisation of ‘Frankenstein’ as a story about artificial intelligence and the future of extending human consciousness after death. I thought it might be a lot about medical morality and a bit unbelievable.
I was wrong to doubt Winterson. She has created a fascinating novel which is actually hard to describe in a way that does it justice. Partly it’s a kind of revisiting of ‘Frankenstein’ in the modern day with a trans doctor grappling with the implications of extending life (in some form, maybe brain activity separate from bodily function) while also encountering advances made in robotics and artificial intelligence. Entertwined with this is the story of Mary Shelley and her life, especially the period in which she was writing the original ‘Frankenstein’ novel.
However, this dual narrative description doesn’t really cover the intricacies of the book where fictional characters start to collide with historical ones, big ideas are explored and the reader is left with plenty of food for thought. What makes this book quite astounding though is the extent of what Winterson has crammed in: Brexit digs, literary references, humour (Ron Lord is grotesquely, hilariously awful), scientific theory, ideas about gender and identity, vivid description and comments on modern society and attitudes to change. I still don’t think I’ve managed to cover everything from this extraordinary book, and I’m also very aware that I’ll continue to make connections and think about this novel long after I have put it down.
I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a thought-provoking read that also manages to be wildly entertaining and full of wry humour. The ideas presented might be big and scary and complex, but the way they are written is just brilliant.
I received a free copy of the novel from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Header photo with thanks to Laura Chouette for sharing their work on Unsplash.
This lovely, funny, historical crime novel is now available in Kindle version – the hardcover is to be released on 3rd September (if you can wait that long!)
This is the third in the series of books featuring Inspector Betty Church, the only competent police officer in Sackwater, Suffolk. I’ve read all the previous books and Kasasian’s other series about Sidney Grice (who, along with his sidekick March Middleton, occasionally also pop up in the Betty Church books) so I knew what to expect here: a quirky crime story with eccentric characters and plenty of humour.
The story begins in 1914 when teenage Betty Church is playing rounders with a group of the local children in Sackwater. Her friend, Etterly Utter is last seen by the ‘ghost tree’, possibly in the company of a shadowy man, before she vanishes. Twenty six years later, Betty (now a Police Inspector) is called upon to investigate some human remains and the disappearance of Etterly again becomes her focus.
Many of the characters I loved from the previous novels are here, including daft Dodo, sleazy Banthony and love interest Toby. Also present are Church’s horrible but funny parents and the rest of the useless Sackwater Police crew. The humour is still very much present, although it’s bittersweet in the context of World War Two events closing in on Sackwater; the Dunkirk landings and RAF raids play small roles in the backdrop of the novel.
My only real criticism is that the book is quite slow-paced – I wouldn’t usually mind, but I did find the 1914 section quite long and was looking forward to getting back to the 1940s setting and the characters who I think are the strength of the book.
This is another satisfying installment in the series that would only have been improved by a trim of the flashback section. If you’ve followed the series to now, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re new to the series, enjoy! You have a cosy treat ahead!
I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
You can buy this title using the link below – The Quick and the Read may receive commission at no extra cost to you. This link is for the Kindle version – the hardback is not yet available.
It’s fair to say that 2020 isn’t going quite as any of us expected. The silver lining in what has been a hideous and staggeringly enormous cloud has – for me – been the opportunity to read more and enjoy some brilliant books.
I set my Goodreads challenge at 100 books for the year and am already on 68, way ahead of where I expected.
Of these, I gave 10 of them five star reviews, so this seems a good time to share with you the books I couldn’t put down this year. They are certainly a quirky, diverse and interesting mix!
In chronological order of when I read them as I cannot possibly rank these books!
‘Difficult Women: A History of Feminism’ by Helen Lewis (published February 2020)
I thought I was pretty good on my history of women’s rights and feminism, but found plenty in this eye-opening, thought-provoking and engaging book that was new to me.
In the book, Lewis charts key moments in women’s history through 11 ‘fights’ – key moments in history when the titular ‘Difficult Women’ have stood up and made change happen in society. These changes range from divorce laws protecting women’s rights to have access to their children and property, the availability of safe and legal abortions, gaining votes for women after World War 1, establishing refuges for victims of domestic violence, achieving equal access to education and the changing roles of the female workforce. Each of these struggles is a separate chapter, with Lewis introducing us to some of the ‘difficult women’ who led the various movements.
What I loved about this book was that the stories told weren’t the usual ones. For every Pankhurst in the chapter on votes for women, there were a whole host of lesser known but still fascinating women who played important roles in achieving the women’s vote in 1918. I felt that I’d learnt about a whole new cast of feminists and so many different perspectives on feminist ideology. Lewis doesn’t try to convince us that these women were perfect – she tackles head on some of the contradictions of feminism and the internal disagreements, for example not shying away from Marie Stopes interest in eugenics or the suffragettes willingness to do violent and terrible things to achieve their aims.
I’d wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in women’s history or changing place in society. The book isn’t – and doesn’t claim to be – an exhaustive history of feminism, but it is lively and entertaining, well-researched and engrossing. The topics covered are fascinating and Lewis is a witty, perceptive and clear-sighted guide through some tricky subjects.
‘The Switch’ by Beth O’Leary (published April 2020)
Wow, this was an absolute treat! I enjoyed O’Leary’s first novel but this one is even better. It’s not a genre I usually read, but I couldn’t resist this big-hearted, charming, touching story of a life swap between grandmother and granddaughter.
Lena Cotton is a high-flyer in London and supposedly living a dream life with her high-powered job, handsome boyfriend and trendy warehouse flat in Shoreditch. When a presentation at work goes wrong and she is told to take a two month sabbatical, she retreats to the Yorkshire village where her mother and grandmother live, each dealing in their own ways with a family tragedy. The grandmother in question, Eileen, is at the centre of village life, always organising and busy but unsuccessfully looking for love. When the two agree to swap lives for the two months of Leena’s leave, neither foresee the results of their quirky experiment.
The novel is packed with lucky coincidences and chance events that make everything perfect and neat, but that (which I thought might annoy me) was just lovely. What makes the book, however, is the cast of characters. They are a great and astutely observed bunch of people and they become like friends in a way that reminded me of the eclectic mix of family and friends surrounding Bridget Jones (another book I love). The plot was predictable in places but always charming and touching – it didn’t shy away from the subject of grief but without becoming maudlin or mawkish.
I’d highly recommend this to anyone who wants a big slice of comfort reading. Its engaging and humorous, life-affirming and reassuring that it’s never too late to find your place in the world.
‘The Graves of Whitechapel’ by Claire Evans (published June 2020)
I’ve already published this review on here and raved about this book on Twitter, but – for completeness – here it is again!
I really liked Claire Evans’ debut novel, ‘The Fourteenth Letter’, but I think this one is even stronger. It’s a twisty and tense murder mystery set on the streets of Victorian Whitechapel – what’s not to love?!
It’s 1882 and Cage Lackmann is a corrupt lawyer. Although he does some work to defend the innocent, he also fights legal cases to acquit gang members as he is in the pay of a powerful man. When one of his ‘innocent’ defendants is accused of committing a second murder, Cage is in trouble. The police want to frame him, his customers are abandoning him and he is in a race against time to get the evidence he needs. Everyone has secrets and Cage has to work out who he can trust with his own.
I loved everything about this book! I kept thinking I’d figured it all out, only for the rug to be pulled from under my feet the next second. The depiction of gritty, grimy, seedy Whitechapel is great – this is a place where loyalties can be bought and sold, everyone has a price and violence is rife. That said, this isn’t a depressing book – it’s clever and engaging and fast-paced. I read this in a day and would recommend that any lovers of historical crime do the same – clear some time in the diary and settle down for an absolute treat.
‘A Curious History of Sex’ by Kate Lister (published February 2020)
(Mum, you can skip this review!)
I first found Dr Kate Lister on Twitter through various other historians on the site – history is one of my passions and I loved the quirky and often funny things that she posted using her ‘Whores of Yore’ account. When I found that she was writing a book – crowdfunded through the brilliant publisher Unbound – it seemed obvious that I’d sign up and support the project. Doubly so when she donated half her profits to the Basis Sex Work Project in Leeds – a charity supporting sex workers. As an early supported, my name is in the back of the book – very exciting!
(Incidentally, you can find new projects and support your own books on Unbound’s website here.)
The (long-awaited) finished book is absolutely brilliant. It is far from encyclopaedic as that was never its intention – instead, it picks up a variety of issues in short, engaging chapters. Kate Lister is very funny and her take on the history behind various sexual topics is eye-opening (sometimes eye-watering!) and absolutely engaging. These areas of focus range from medical history to cultural practices, from FGM to prostitution, from Victorian prudery (mostly a myth) to feminism and they’re all fascinating.
The fabulous hardback copy I have contains a lot of images to support Lister’s text and it’s probably sufficient to say that it is one to shelve way out of the kids’ reach!
This is an absolutely fantastic book on the history of sex and one I would recommend to anyone interested in social history. It’s well-researched and academic, but also gloriously readable.
‘Broken Silence’ by Liz Mistry (published April 2020)
Another one that I’ve already championed on this very blog, but review posted here again:
I’d not read any books by Liz Mistry before this, but I’ll certainly be looking for more! This is the second in a series featuring DS Nikki Parekh and, although there are references to the backstory, I don’t think its essential that you have read the previous novel.
After a multi-agency conference, police officer Felicity Springer leaves the venue for her drive home. As she heads through the country lanes, she sees someone trying to get her attention from inside the van in front. Felicity Springer doesn’t make it home and an investigation is launched into her disappearance. However, that proves just the tip of the iceburg and DS Nikki Parekh and her team are thrown into a complex and dangerous investigation in Bradford’s criminal underworld.
I’ll admit that this is a bit more gritty and grim than my usual reads, but it’s also compelling and very pacy – I kept planning on reading one more chapter to see what happened until I realised it was 3am and I should just finish the book! I liked the portrayal of multicultural Bradford and the diversity within the police team and Nikki herself is an interesting protagonist. Often the personal lives of the police officers can overshadow the actual crime story in this kind of novel but this never happens here – the plot is tight and twisty throughout.
I’d recommend this to anyone who likes police procedurals, especially those with a feisty female police officer in charge. Just don’t pick up this book unless you have a clear run of reading time in which to finish it because you absolutely won’t want to put it down.
‘Grave Secrets’ by Alice James (to be published September 2020)
A full review for this one will follow closer to publication date. However, let’s just say that this one is an absolute treat for those who loved the Sookie Stackhouse ‘True Blood’ books and TV series. This is a brilliantly British take on vampires and zombies with plenty of humour and a great female lead. It’s also worth me pointing out that this is outside of my usual genres but it totally won me over.
Definitely one to watch out for!
‘This is Shakespeare’ by Emma Smith (published April 2020)
This is another book I’ve talked about on the blog before, but it definitely warrants repeating here.
Professor Emma Smith is a Shakespeare expert and Oxford University lecturer who I had only encountered previously as a result of her ‘Approaching Shakespeare’ podcasts. She really knows her subject inside out, but the refreshing thing about this book is the lightness of touch. I’ve read a lot of books on Shakespeare (it comes with the English graduate and teacher territory), but few are as engaging and readable as this one without skimping on the academics.
In this book, Professor Smith takes the plays one at a time and presents a shortish essay/chapter on each. These essays are ordered roughly chronologically, although obviously we can never be entirely sure of the exact order in which the plays were produced. Each chapter addresses a play from a different or unusual perspective, so opens out some interesting thoughts about Shakespeare’s biography, sources, intentions, themes, characters…the list goes on and Professor Smith takes the essay wherever is interesting rather than having any particular set formula for her writing. This means she moves between topics fluidly and avoids labouring points.
Her approach is always rigorously academic and scrupulously referenced, yet full of humour and surprising elements – I loved her defence of Keanu Reeves’ acting in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ on the basis that it is his character rather than Keanu who is as wooden as a wardrobe! She never shies away from more controversial ideas either, such as the idea that if ‘The Tempest’ was Shakespeare’s swansong and the character of Prospero intended as parallel to Shakespeare himself (as is a commonly accepted idea), then perhaps we wouldn’t have liked Shakespeare (as a man) much. In other essays, she identifies plot holes, discusses source texts and how reactions to plays have changed over the 400 years or so since they were written. The idea isn’t that this is a definitive guide, but that the plays cannot be pinned down and explained as they continue to develop different meanings to different audiences.
I feel that I’ve written a lot about this book without really grappling with even a fraction of the fascinating ideas put forward. It certainly gave me a lot to think about in relation to the Shakespeare plays I know and love, but also a way into the ones I don’t know so well. It even made me reconsider the plays I know and really don’t love!
This is a fantastic book about Shakespeare for everyone from the casual reader to Shakespeare fans, from those who want to know a bit more about their favourite play to those engaged in academic study. It is entertaining, surprising in places and entirely readable – not a given for books in this field usually.
‘Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity’ by Greg Jenner (published March 2020)
Greg Jenner is another historian that I was following on Twitter. He’s worked extensively on the BBC’s ‘Horrible Histories’ TV series for children and I loved his humorous, quirky takes on aspects of history. ‘Dead Famous’ is his second book, the launch of which was blighted by the start of lockdown, so I quickly bought myself a copy of the hardback.
Jenner starts with the concept of ‘celebrity’, a strange idea in itself. He tries to pin down what this means and apply it to historical figures, a process that leads him to conclude that the idea of modern celebrity can be traced to the 1700s. From this point, he introduces the reader to a range of historical celebrities, always seeking out the interesting and unusual stories. Clara the Rhino, the obsession with a ballet dancer’s ears, warring Shakespearean actors…they’re all here!
What I liked in particular is that this isn’t a chronological account; Jenner skips between stories and makes links between diverse ideas with ease and it is a joy to follow where he leads. Although some of the stories are tragic, Jenner writes with academic rigour and also humour where appropriate and there are accompanying illustrations and photos that really bring the stories to life.
Another highly recommended history book for those who want to be engaged, entertained and utterly engrossed.
‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ by Matson Taylor (published August 2020)
Another one I’ve written about before, but this is a comic classic in the making.
This book was an absolute delight! I thought it would be a humorous ‘chick-lit’ type book (although I hate that term), but instead I got a charming coming-of-age story that made me laugh and love the main character. Evie Epworth has been compared in other reviews to the great Adrian Mole as a brilliant, naive, fictional teenage narrator and I can definitely see the similarities. However, Evie has a voice and quirks that are all her own!
Sixteen-year-old Evie lives on a farm in Yorkshire with her father and Christine, a gold-digging ‘scarlet woman’ who is making changes to Evie’s (dead) mother’s farmhouse that Evie is really not happy with. The plot follows Evie’s attempts to rid herself of Christine and also to find her own way in a world full of choices.
As mentioned already, Evie is a lovely narrator and this gives the book warmth and depth. However, the joy of the book for me was in the comic characters – the plot is hardly complex, but Evie’s 1960s Yorkshire village is brought to life by the people. Christine is gloriously awful, a vision in garish pink, while other villagers are hilarious – I have a particularly soft spot for Mrs Swithenbank and her digestive issues! The humour is somewhat broken up by the poignancy of Evie’s mum’s story being included in the story as interludes to Evie’s narrative, but this also adds depth to the novel and another reason why the terrible Christine needs to go.
I really loved this book – it made me laugh and root for Evie as she navigates her tricky teenage landscape. This is a charming novel and one that is both genuinely funny and a comforting read in turbulent times.
‘Death in the East’ by Abir Mukherjee (published November 2019)
The review is elsewhere on this site, but worth repeating:
I don’t know why it took me so long to pick up this book! Now I’ve read it – the fourth in the series featuring Captain Sam Wyndham and his Sergeant, Surrender-Not Banerjee – I’ve fallen in love with the series and shall immediately be making up for lost time with the other books. Although it would have been good to read these in order, I didn’t feel that I was disadvantaged by reading this one first – it works as a standalone, I think.
At the start of this book, Captain Sam Wyndham of the Calcutta Police is in a state – he is an opium addict who is taking himself off to an ashram in rural India in order to break his addiction through a frankly barbaric vomiting cure. It’s 1922 and the story mostly covers Wyndham’s experiences at the retreat and then afterwards in a neighbouring town where he gets embroiled in investigating a crime. However, the story is also partially set in 1905 in Whitechapel in the East End of London where a young Sam Wyndham, a new Metropolitan police officer, is involved in solving a crime that has echoes and repercussions for him later in India.
I really loved the Indian setting of this book – it seemed at once exotic and interesting, but there was also a sense of the simmering resentments around the British Raj which added a frisson of danger to the proceedings. It was interesting to see the white privilege in action in the way that Wyndham was treated very differently to Banerjee in the expat community, even though Banerjee was meant to be the main investigating officer at one point. The characters are well drawn and I cannot wait to get into the other books to find out more about Banerjee in particular as he does not feature heavily here. There’s clever plotting, peril and vibrant description – what more could you want?!
My only quibble was that I solved the murder and worked out the method well ahead of poor Captain Wyndham, but when the novel is so beautifully written as this then that really doesn’t matter.
Overall, this is an excellent historical crime novel with real depth and interest. I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoys this genre or who wants more insight into the British Raj in India – it certainly is an eye-opener on this front!
So there you have it – 10 great books that have really kept me entertained during the year so far. I hope that you have found some inspiration and I’d love to hear about your own five star reads of 2020.
If these books sound like they are up your street too, please do follow my blog!
Aside from ‘Dead Famous’, ‘The Curious History of Sex’ and ‘This is Shakespeare’ (which I bought with my own hard-earned pennies!), books were provided free from NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews.
Whilst I’m in the groove of writing about funny books, here is my review of ‘Older and Wider: A Survivor’s Guide to the Menopause’ by Jenny Eclair.
This was published earlier this month by Quercus Books.
Although I am (I hope) a few years away from menopause, I thought it would be nice to read something that doesn't make it sound terrifying! I like Jenny Eclair so I was happy to give myself over to her humorous but no-nonsense advice.
The book is arranged as an A to Z of issues affecting women as they age. Some were a little odd and off beat - instructions on growing cress for example - but generally it all made sense and was entertaining. Jenny Eclair approaches the topic with lightness and wit - if you are after serious medical advice then this isn't for you! However, if you want an engaging guide to female ageing and menopause then this is an excellent place to start - I think it would certainly reassure you that you aren't alone.
I particularly liked the fact that Eclair doesn't see menopause as the end - she focuses on the fact there is life beyond and an opportunity to feel comfortable in your own skin, something that sometimes isn't true of younger women who have a lot of society's pressures heaped on them. Menopause doesn't sound fun, but neither does it sound all doom and gloom, which is exactly what I needed to hear!
I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I’m a book reviewer with a good few years of reviews under my belt. However, there are several adjectives that appear in book blurbs that – to be totally honest- make me run for the hills. If it’s ‘heartbreaking’ or ‘poignant’ then it probably won’t make my TBR list. I have also learnt that ‘life-affirming’ usually means miserable – another one I tend to avoid!
On the other hand, ‘hilarious’ and ‘funny’ and ‘witty’ and ‘charming’ always make my list. And following on from yesterday’s post about the joyous ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ by Matson Taylor, it seemed a timely opportunity to introduce some of my comic favourites.
As lockdown is stuttering to an end for lots of people, here are some cheery writers and books that have brightened my life during tricky times. Some old, some new, but all funny.
1. P.G Wodehouse – the ultimate comfort read for me is a Jeeves and Wooster book. Yes, they’re set in an unrealistic upper-class British bubble that never really existed apart from in Wodehouse’s imagination, but Bertie Wooster’s scrapes (from which he is saved by his ever-faithful valet, Jeeves) never fail to amuse. Told in Bertie’s distinctive voice, he is the ultimate in an endearing but hapless narrator. You can start pretty much anywhere in the series – there are novels and short stories and all can be read as stand-alone books. I know there’s a contingent who prefer Wodehouse’s Blandings series, but my heart is forever Bertie’s. The TV series featuring Fry and Laurie is also fabulous.
2. ‘Jeeves and the King of Clubs’ by Ben Schott – if you’ve exhausted Wodehouse’s original Jeeves and Wooster books, then this 2018 novel is worth a look. Bertie’s narrative voice is pretty pitch perfect and it’s a lovely addition to the series for Wodehouse aficionados, plus is endorsed by the Wodehouse Estate.
3. Alan Bradley – another charming and witty narrator is 11 year-old Flavia de Luce, amateur investigator of murders in the quaint village of Bishop’s Lacey (an area – a bit like Midsomer – where the number of people meeting sticky ends is worryingly high!) The cosy crime series, set in the 1950s, starts with ‘The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie’ – which is absolutely where you should start too – and now runs to ten books.
4. ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4’ by Sue Townsend – I don’t need to tell you that the Adrian Mole books are funny, but if you haven’t recently revisited Adrian in 1980s Leicester then please do. Later books in the series became more – aagh – poignant, but the first is still perfect.
5. Nina Stibbe – after the success of the non-fiction ‘Love, Nina’ came the series of novels featuring another charming, young, Leicester-based narrator, Lizzie Vogel. The series starts with ‘Man at the Helm’, then ‘Paradise Lodge’ and ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ (the latter winning the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction in 2019) – very funny and definitely worth a read.
6. ‘A Curious Beginning’ by Deanna Raybourn – I love a crime series with a feisty female lead. If she’s wearing a crinoline and hanging around in the 1880s, then even better! This is the first in the series featuring Veronica Speedwell, a highly unconventional and sharp-witted Victorian adventurer. Not a series for those wedded to forensic levels of historical accuracy, but for a fast-paced and humorous mystery then this is worth a look.
7. India Knight – for fans of domestic comedy, journalist India Knight’s novels featuring Clara Hutt are laugh-out-loud in places. ‘Don’t You Want Me?’ is the best of the series and will appeal to fans of Gil Sims’ ‘Why Mummy Drinks’ series.
8. Helen Fielding – ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ is a classic, but ‘Cause Celeb’ and ‘Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination’ are also good and much less well-known.
9. Graeme Simsion – the series featuring Don Tillman, starting with ‘The Rosie Project’ is warm, funny and so very sweet.
10. Terry Pratchett – loads of people I’ve talked to about Terry Pratchett have dismissed him because they don’t like fantasy as a genre. Nor do I really, but Pratchett’s ability to take everyday observations and turn them into something really funny and insightful in his Discworld series is amazing. Personally, I’d steer clear of the ones about the Watch and Rincewind (though they have their own merits) and go instead for the Witches (for example, ‘Equal Rites’) or Death (start with ‘Mort’). Equally funny are the ones that take a piece of real history and make it gloriously Discworld-esque – ‘The Truth’ (the invention of the printing press) and ‘Unseen Academicals’ (the development of football) are two glorious examples.
11. Caitlin Moran – whether she is writing fiction (as in the Dolly Wilde series starting with ‘How to Build a Girl’), non-fiction/journalism (‘Moranifesto’) or sitcom (‘Raised by Wolves’), I really love Moran’s down-to-earth and often hilarious take on a huge range of issues. She doesn’t shy away from some really tough stuff, but her writing is always a joy to read.
12. ‘New Boy’ by William Sutcliffe – a very funny coming-of-age novel about a young man navigating his final years of school. Sutcliffe’s YA novel ‘The Gifted, The Talented and Me’ is also good and in a similar vein (though slightly toned-down for a younger audience).
13. ‘Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders’ by Gyles Brandreth – if you’re looking for a light mystery with plenty of wit, you can definitely do worse than Brandreth’s novels which turn Oscar Wilde into a detective. Yes, they’re kind of daft but they’re also an affectionate homage to Wilde and very enjoyable.
14. ‘I Capture the Castle’ by Dodie Smith – one of my favourite books ever and one I’ll come back to on the blog. With another charming narrator navigating an eccentric family (this seems to be a theme of my list), this is just lovely and warm and humorous.
15. Adam Kay – the bestselling ‘This is Going to Hurt’ probably needs no introduction, but I couldn’t write a list of funny books without including it. Although it is at times sad and worrying about the pressures NHS doctors are under, this is one of a very small number of books that made me laugh out loud again and again. ‘Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas’ is also great, but very short.
A long post, but I really hope you can find something new and funny in here to lift your lockdown. I’m always keen to hear recommendations too, so please do let me know about your own comic favourites.
One of my most recent reviews on NetGalley is this one for a book I really loved wholeheartedly. As this was released yesterday (14th July, 2020), it seemed an appropriate first review for this site.
This book was an absolute delight! I thought it would be a humorous ‘chick-lit’ type book (although I hate that term), but instead I got a charming coming-of-age story that made me laugh and love the main character.
Evie Epworth has been compared in other reviews to the great Adrian Mole as a brilliant, naive, fictional teenage narrator and I can definitely see the similarities. However, Evie has a voice and quirks that are all her own!
Sixteen-year-old Evie lives on a farm in Yorkshire with her father and Christine, a gold-digging ‘scarlet woman’ who is making changes to Evie’s (dead) mother’s farmhouse that Evie is really not happy with. The plot follows Evie’s attempts to rid herself of Christine and also to find her own way in a world full of choices.
As mentioned already, Evie is a lovely narrator and this gives the book warmth and depth. However, the joy of the book for me was in the comic characters – the plot is hardly complex, but Evie’s 1960s Yorkshire village is brought to life by the people. Christine is gloriously awful, a vision in garish pink, while other villagers are hilarious – I have a particularly soft spot for Mrs Swithenbank and her digestive issues! The humour is somewhat broken up by the poignancy of Evie’s mum’s story being included in the story as interludes to Evie’s narrative, but this also adds depth to the novel and another reason why the terrible Christine needs to go.
I really loved this book – it made me laugh and root for Evie as she navigates her tricky teenage landscape. This is a charming novel and one that is both genuinely funny and a comforting read in turbulent times.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
