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Author: Jasper Fforde . Binding: Hardcover
Price: $15.72

amazon.com Book Description

It’s Easter in Reading—a bad time for eggs—and no one can remember the last sunny day. Ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III, minor baronet, ex-convict, and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. All the evidence points to his ex-wife, who has conveniently shot herself.

But Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant Mary Mary remain unconvinced, a sentiment not shared with their superiors at the Reading Police Department, who are still smarting over their failure to convict the Three Pigs of murdering Mr. Wolff. Before long Jack and Mary find themselves grappling with a sinister plot involving cross-border money laundering, bullion smuggling, problems with beanstalks, titans seeking asylum, and the cut and thrust world of international chiropody.

And on top of all that, the JellyMan is coming to town . . .

Author: Michael Smith . Binding: Paperback
Price: £5.99

amazon.co.uk review

“For a while, I lived in a seaside resort, in a bargain bedsit next to the King of Portugal’s old mansion retreat, in ‘The Beverly Hills of the Georgian Era’ – nowadays, it’s a faded bohemia of trannies and longhair public school bongo players and midget scousers grouching in telephone boxes next to the methadone clinic. I would get up at Z o’clock and wander around restlessly in flip flops, on my giro holiday, smiling at the beautiful scenery, feeling useless, wondering what my role could be in this world, that boring beautiful ocean just stretching before me everyday, as I pondered what to do…”

The Giro Playboy recounts the (mis)adventures of a delusional drifter and his wanderings from the north-east to London (where the streets are paved with gold), and on to Brighton and the badlands of Essex. Along the way, he falls in love, drinks a lot of beer, eats too many sweets, ponders the meaning of life on the dole, and gets admitted to hospital for a painful condition – all the time measuring his life in cigarettes. An utterly charming miniature picaresque and a portrait of a life blissfully unmoored, The Giro Playboy is a 21st century beat classic in the making.

Author: Christoper Moore . Binding: Paperback
Price: $10.74

Amazon.com review

While the Bible may be the word of God, transcribed by divinely inspired men, it does not provide a full (or even partial) account of the life of Jesus Christ. Lucky for us that Christopher Moore presents a funny, lighthearted satire of the life of Christ–from his childhood days up to his crucifixion–in Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. This clever novel is surely blasphemy to some, but to others it’s a coming-of-age story of the highest order.

Joshua (a.k.a. Jesus) knows he is unique and quite alone in his calling, but what exactly does his Father want of him? Taking liberties with ancient history, Moore works up an adventure tale as Biff and Joshua seek out the three wise men so that Joshua can better understand what he is supposed to do as Messiah. Biff, a capable sinner, tags along and gives Joshua ample opportunities to know the failings and weaknesses of being truly human. With a wit similar to Douglas Adams, Moore pulls no punches: a young Biff has the hots for Joshua’s mom, Mary, which doesn’t amuse Josh much: “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that the Prince of Peace never struck anyone.” And the origin of the Easter Bunny is explained as a drunken Jesus gushes his affection for bunnies, declaring, “Henceforth and from now on, I decree that whenever something bad happens to me, there shall be bunnies around.” –Michael Ferch –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Amazon.com review

Pilot Tucker Case has a weakness–well, Tuck really has two–and the combination of drinking and sex in the cockpit of the pink Mary Jean Cosmetics Learjet puts him on the front page of papers all over the planet. But he finds another job with a mysterious employer–someone with a brand-new Lear 45– who’s willing to pay Tuck generously and ask no questions about his record. The jet and job are on Alualu, a speck in the Pacific Ocean, and Tucker has nowhere else to go. But first he has to get to Alualu, and once there, he faces a hurricane, Shark People, atypical missionaries, and boredom … and the responsibilities assigned to him by Capt. Vincent Bennidetti, U.S. Air Force, deceased bomber pilot and present-day deity of the Shark People.