'Can books conduct electricity?' 'My children are just climbing your bookshelves: that's ok... isn't it?' A John Cleese Twitter question ['What is your pet peeve?'], first sparked the "Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops" blog, which grew over three years into one bookseller's collection of ridiculous conversations on the shop floor. From 'Did Beatrix Potter ever write a book about dinosaurs?' to the hunt for a paperback which could forecast the next year's weather; and from 'I've forgotten my glasses, please read me the first chapter' to 'Excuse me... is this book edible?' This full-length collection illustrated by the Brothers McLeod also includes top 'Weird Things' from bookshops around the world.

If the utter chaos of recent world events has taught us anything, it's that people are bad at making decisions. So, in uncertain times, we need someone to tell us like it is - and that someone is animals. As its title suggests, this book is literally just pictures of animals silently judging you and your life choices. Some of these include: a monkey who knows what you did last night, giraffes who can't believe you're wearing that, cats who just can't and a corgi who isn't angry - just disappointed. Toward these sage angels we must turn, in these weird times for humankind, to help us make better decisions - for ourselves and our furry friends who are, honestly, kind of embarrassed.

An illustrated and fully interactive activity book featuring the adorable, fluffy corgi bum What's floofy, boopy, splooty, and driving people wild? Corgi butts. Corgis have been breaking the Internet with their heart-shaped bottoms and woeful glances since the dawn of online. Now, finally, The Little Book of Big Corgi Butts will be the first-ever illustrated ode to the world's favorite dog booty. Part activity book, part homage, this book is a delightful dose of much-needed comfort and cuteness. The Little Book of Big Corgi Butts offers all the charming, escapist fun that anxious adults need today, as well as a stress-relieving, hands-on experience anyone can enjoy. With more than 100 activities and coloring pages, this fully interactive book offers Corgi Crosswords, how-tos for drawing derpy pups, amusing word searches, and more. Irresistibly adorable, The Little Book of Big Corgi Butts is primed to be the must-have gift book of the season for pet lovers and anyone who could use more smiles and soft tushies in their life.

Once again, Nigel Cawthorne takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the strange, hidden sexual history of England. The history of sex in Britain has been largely glossed over by 'proper' historians: Nigel Cawthorne has burrowed deep into the archives to reveal exactly what our ancestors got up to in bed (and out of it). There are chapters on the ancient arts of seduction, adultery, brothels, 'the English vice', contraception, defloration, and many more - from the torrid Tudors to the supposedly strait-laced Victorians.

'A true genius of comedy' Grayson Perry As a Metropolitan Elitist Snowflake, Stewart Lee was disappointed by the EU referendum result of 2016. But he knew how to weaponise his inconvenience - and the result is March of the Lemmings. Drawing on three years of newspaper columns, a complete transcript of the Content Provider stand-up show, and Lee's caustic footnote commentary, this is the scathing record the Brexit era deserves. With a riotous cast of characters (including a Lemming-obsessed Michael Gove), a dramatic chorus of online commenters and Kremlin bots, and Lee himself as our unreliable narrator-hero, this is the ultimate companion to the Brexit horror show.

Milt Gross (1895-1953), a Bronx-born cartoonist and animator, first found fame in the late 1920s, writing comic strips and newspaper columns in the unmistakable accent of Jewish immigrants. By the end of the 1920s, Gross had become one of the most famous humorists in the United States, his work drawing praise from writers like H. L. Mencken and Constance Roarke, even while some of his Jewish colleagues found Gross' extreme renderings of Jewish accents to be more crass than comical.

Working during the decline of vaudeville and the rise of the newspaper cartoon strip, Gross captured American humor in transition. Gross adapted the sounds of ethnic humor from the stage to the page and developed both a sound and a sensibility that grew out of an intimate knowledge of immigrant life. His parodies of beloved poetry sounded like reading primers set loose on the Lower East Side, while his accounts of Jewish tenement residents echoed with the mistakes and malapropisms born of the immigrant experience.

Introduced by an historical essay, Is Diss a System? presents some of the most outstanding and hilarious examples of Jewish dialect humor drawn from the five books Gross published between 1926 and 1928--"Nize Baby," "De Night in de Front from Chreesmas," "Hiawatta, Dunt Esk," and "Famous Fimmales"--providing a fresh opportunity to look, read, and laugh at this nearly forgotten forefather of American Jewish humor.

'Bilston is a magician with words' - Guardian The perfect, witty gift for Valentine's and beyond. Alexa, what is there to know about love? is a wonderful collection of poems by Brian Bilston, Twitter's 'unofficial poet laureate', in which he frets over the challenges of modern life, extols the pleasures of books, broods over politics, and ponders the curiosities of language. But at its heart, this is a collection of poems about love. From our caveman days to the internet era, from first dates to love in old age, Alexa, what is there to know about love? has a love poem for every time, place and occasion - and will stir the soul of even the most jaded romantic. 'Brian Bilston is a laureate for our fractured times.' - Ian McMillan 'Someone who knows their way round both a joke and a bittersweet narrative.' - The Times 'Part John Cooper Clarke, part Frank Sidebottom . . . all brilliant.' - Esquire

Whether resident or tourist, no-one is spared from the bloodlust of Scotland's most savage insect . . . The midge does not like sunlight and thrives in the wet, so the Scottish summertime brings perfect climatic conditions for this ruthless wee beastie. This fascinating and amusing anthology of anecdotes and information about the minuscule marauder ranges from the eighteenth century to the present, covering such topics as Bonnie Prince Charlie, Queen Victoria, kilts and camping. It also includes a section on remedies and repellents, so locals and visitors can tray and enjoy the pleasures of Scotland without the pain. And if the new midge-eating machines are as good as claimed, midges may soon be a thing of the past.

Join in the chaotic fun with the MacPherson family in this thirty-first "Baby Blues" cartoon collection
Child-rearing reaches an entirely new level of delightfully messy chaos in "Baby Blues: Wetter, Louder, Stickier." Battle-ready and perpetually exhausted, Daryl and Wanda team up to navigate a new front of challenges, like Zoe's enthusiasm over the "Smoochy Boyz" concert, deciphering baby Wren's attempts at language, and determining Hammie's place as a colon in the school play---whether "colon" refers to punctuation or digestion remains undetermined. Armed with "performance-enhancing substances" (a.k.a., chocolate donuts), the perfectly normal MacPherson family will surely bring a barrage of smiles and laughter to familiar fans with their perfectly chaotic lives.
"Baby Blues" has enchanted new parents, grandparents, and kids alike since it first appeared on the comics pages in 1990. As the years passed, the list of newspapers carrying the feature has grown almost as fast as the MacPhersons' kids "Baby Blues" now appears in more than 1,200 newspapers worldwide, and the adventures of America's favorite first-time parents have also been chronicled in 31 anthologies and four treasuries. In 1995, the National Cartoonists Society recognized "Baby Blues" as "Best Comic Strip of the Year."

Everyone enjoys a good joke - and here's a whole collection of quick and witty one-liners on the subject of what the female of the species thinks about the male. And believe me, she can be deadly when she wants to! On sex, cars, sport, relationships and communication and on the remote control, the women have the men pretty well sized up. (And you may even find the answer to whether size really is important.) It is for women who like the simple things in life - like men!

__________ 'My favourite geeks. Hilarious. Sideways. Brilliant.' Tim Minchin In a year dominated by Russian collusion and Brexit confusion, The Book of the Year returns with another dose of barely believable yet wholly unimpeachable facts and stories from the past twelve months. Every week for the past four years, Dan, James, Anna and Andy - the creators of the award-winning, chart-topping comedy podcast No Such Thing As A Fish - have wowed each other and millions of their listeners with the most astonishing trivia they have learned over the previous seven days. Now, once again, they have put down the microphones, picked up their pencils, and transformed a year's worth of weird and wonderful happenings into one uplifting book that you won't be able to put down. Discover how Peruvian mummies affected the World Cup, and why Love Island contestants are experts in game theory - as well as hundreds of stories that may have passed you by entirely, including the news that: * NASA sent a man with a fear of heights to the International Space Station. * An ice hotel in Canada caught fire. * Mark Zuckerberg's private data was compromised while he was talking to Congress about compromised data. From Kim Jong Un's personal potty to Jeremy Corbyn's valuable vegetables, The Book of the Year 2018 is an eye-opening tour of yet another incredible year you didn't know you'd lived through.

"NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER
If you think the wildest, wackiest stories that Carl Hiaasen can tell have all made it into his hilarious, bestselling novels, think again. "Dance of the Reptiles" collects the best of Hiaasen's "Miami Herald" columns, which lay bare the stories--large and small--that demonstrate anew that truth is far stranger than fiction.
Hiaasen offers his commentary--indignant, disbelieving, sometimes righteously angry, and frequently hilarious--on burning issues like animal welfare, polluted rivers, and the broken criminal justice system as well as the "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill, Bernie Madoff's trial, and the shenanigans of the recent presidential elections. Whether or not you have read Carl Hiaasen before, you are in for a wild ride.

Winefulness is the new mindfulness.

Cancel the hot yoga and pick up a cool Pinot Grigio - sometimes all you need is a nice glass of wine. Through the good times and the bad, it's always there to pick you up and it's always got your back. So enjoy this collection of wine wisdom for the soul, and learn to view the world through rosé-tinted glasses.

As the old saying goes, where there's a wine there's a way.

Includes inspiration such as:

• It isn't wise to keep things bottled up
• No Champagne, no gain
• Life is a Cabernet, after all
• Every cloud has a Syrah lining
• Do things for the right Rieslings

Falling in love is a beautiful thing. The internet, naturally, has taken this beauty and turned it into something deeply, deeply strange. Featuring screenshots from real-life dating conversations, Is This Love or Dopamine? is a hilarious, piercing analysis of the weird-and-not-so-wonderful world of internet dating. @beam_me_up_softboi creator and journalist Iona David explores all the highs, horrors and heartbreaks: from the all-important first DM slide to the inevitable eventual ghosting; from f*ckboys and Tinder anthems to loaded emojis and revenge selfies. Learn what to do if someone uses 'teehee' in a sext (run for the hills) or has a photo of themselves holding a massive fish on their profile (run faster). A dedication to all the hours spent lying in bed/sitting on the toilet swiping until thumb cramp sets in, this book will make you laugh, then cry, then delete your dating app profile, then (obviously) re-download it again. Long live the internet!

Number One Is Walking is Steve Martin's cinematic legacy--an illustrated memoir of his legendary acting career, with stories from his most popular films and artwork by New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss.

Steve Martin has never written about his career in the movies before. In Number One Is Walking, he shares anecdotes from the sets of his beloved films--Father of the Bride, Roxanne, The Jerk, Three Amigos, and many more--bringing readers directly into his world. He shares charming tales of antics, moments of inspiration, and exploits with the likes of Paul McCartney, Diane Keaton, Robin Williams, and Chevy Chase. Martin details his forty years in the movie biz, as well as his stand-up comedy, banjo playing, writing, and cartooning, all with his unparalleled wit.

With gorgeously illustrated cartoons and single-panel "diversions" in Steve and Harry's signature style, Number One Is Walking is full of the everyday moments that make up a movie star's life, capturing Steve Martin's singular humor and acclaimed career in film. The perfect gift from the team who brought you the #1 New York Times bestseller A Wealth of Pigeons.

This year we are in for a treat, with Madam & Eve back with more cartoons looking at domestic life and politics in the New South Africa.

Madam & Eve cartoons appear regularly in the Mail & Guardian, The Star, The Saturday Star, Herald, Mercury, Witness, Daily Dispatch, Cape Times, Pretoria News, Diamond Fields Advertiser, Die Volksblad, EC Today, Kokstad Advertiser and The Namibian.

Ever wondered what we get up to behind closed doors? This anonymous collection of postcards will show you, in glorious technicolour detail. Following on from her bestselling Lockdown Secrets, queen of postcards Eleanor Tattersfield turns her attention to the sex lives of the nation. This time round, she put out a call on social media for people to reveal their deepest, darkest, funniest and even their most unsavoury sex habits, in postcard form. She was overwhelmed by replies, and the very best of them are collected in this book, hand-crafted and beautifully decorated. You'll be shocked and seduced by the themes explored, where truly anything goes! Salacious, scurrilous and very definitely saucy, this book is not for the faint-hearted but provides a fascinating record of how we take our pleasures.

A HISTORICAL SEARCH AND FIND BOOK FEATURING SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS BATTLES AND EVENTS OF WORLD WAR TWO. Where's Churchill is a collection of search and find scenes themed around World War II's most famous battles and events. It includes D-Day, Stalingrad, The Battle of Britain, Pearl Harbour and many other significant events, all packed with details to pore over as you hunt for Churchill and a cast of other historical figures. With bitesize chunks of information about each famous battle, you might learn a thing or two as well. This is the perfect gift for history enthusiasts.

T. S Eliot's Old Possum's Practical Cats finally gets the companion volume that Eliot had envisaged.

First published in 1939, T. S. Eliot's best-selling, much-loved collection of practical cat poems, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, has become one of the most successful poetry collections in the world. Now, an official canine companion will be available.

Written by award-winning poet – and like Eliot himself a fellow former editor of Faber and Faber - Old Toffer's Book of Consequential Dogs is the first companion volume to Eliot’s original volume. Originally conceived by Eliot himself, Old Toffer's Book of Consequential Dogs includes a selection of paired poems about all manner of memorable "pollicles" (Eliot’s companion name to his "jellicle" cats) that are as witty, varied and exquisitely compiled as Eliot's cats.

Meet Dobson the Dog Detective, Flo the Philosophical Foxhound, and Frazzlesprat, a dog who would really rather be a cat and a host of other humorous hounds.

The perfect game to get the whole family involved this summer! All material appropriate for children and adults alike! Beautiful illustrated pocket-size book An ice-breaker for family gatherings, festive parties and summer holidays abroad or at home! As fun a game over Zoom as it is in person! Bring your sense of humour, as there are over 200 ridiculous, thoughtful, hilarious and inventive questions to answer... Organise the family into teams and play as a scored game, or just for fun, to suit your needs! Guaranteed to excite childrens' imaginations, and to get grown-ups talking Definitely better than Richard Herring's book! **Would you rather...** Look ten years older from the neck up, or from the neck down? **Would you rather...** Have everyone always be able to read what you're thinking, or always be able to see what you're doing? **Would you rather...** Lose the ability to lie, or have to believe everything you hear? Get stuck in with friends and family to think your way through over 200 mind-bending, side-splitting hypothetical dilemmas. Guaranteed to split opinions and get everyone talking - and laughing - at your next party, gathering or festive get-together!