REVIEWED BY DARREN BROWN - © Fairfax NZ News

You know you're from Chch when your kids stop asking for a sandpit.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

Love him or hate him, Marc Ellis is the perfect choice to pen a guide to Kiwi blokes, being such a good Kiwi bloke himself.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

A disclaimer on the front cover states this book may contain nuts while on the back cover there is the assurance that the book contains neither cats nor recipes.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

If you're one of those people who knows you should take the time to read the classics but just don't have the time to spare, this could be the book for you.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

There's always time in life for a bit of a giggle and cartoonist Mark Lynch has a knack for creating delightfully silly cartoons to tickle the funny bone.

BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

It's been 30 years since we were lucky enough to have a new Monty Python book by all the surviving Python crew so this one is is well worth having for the discerning Python fan.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

Yes, this is it, the latest instalment in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series: part six of Douglas Adams' trilogy in four parts.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

If you're a regular reader of The Southland Times, I'm sure you're also a regular reader of the columns of the very talented Joe Bennett.

REVIEWED BY MICHELLE CHILTON - © Fairfax NZ News

Men, eh? Who can understand them?

REVIEWED BY JUDY CLEINE - © Fairfax NZ News

The only problem I have with this cartoon publication is that I do not qualify for shed status.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

The "overheard" stable of websites have provided some funny moments on the web, with snippets of overheard conversations often taken totally out of context and posted online.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

We all love to hate a villain and Piers Morgan has presented American TV viewers with a prime example of lovable small screen rogue.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

Jeremy Clarkson is a bloke who is probably the envy of every other bloke out there (and a lot of bloke-esses, too, I would imagine): he gets to drive around in cool cars, demolish caravans and take part in ridiculous races that keep us entertained.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

We all have obsessions: for some of us it's the quite sensible compulsion to buy designer handbags, for others it's collecting stamps or not stepping on cracks on the footpath.

REVIEWED BY NAIDA MULLIGAN - © Fairfax NZ News

If you love puns and cartoons, this book is for ewe.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

After 11 years and 11 collections of columns, Joe Bennett is back with another sampling of just what it is that makes him so good.

REVIEWED BY MARK WINTER - © Fairfax NZ News

From his splendid isolation in the Wakatipu Basin, Garrick Tremain brings us the world of violent crime, racism, sex, treachery, drugs, fraud, death and politics - and that's only the first six pages!

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

If you've ever struggled to come up with the perfect insult to hurl at an annoying sibling/co-worker/spouse, this could be the perfect book for you.

REVIEWED BY MICHELLE CHILTON - © Fairfax NZ News

English-born Joe Bennett, who has made Lyttelton his home, is back with more humour, fun and interesting goings-on with his latest novel Where Underpants Come From.