'Utterly Brilliant' by Timmy Mallett

For people of a certain age, Timmy Mallett on the telly was a fixture of childhood.  During the 1980s and early '90s, he hosted the Wide Awake Club on Saturday mornings and Wacaday during school holidays, bouncing around the studio in his fluorescent-coloured clothes and wacky spectacles, cheerfully striking everyone from pop princess Kylie to prime minister Margaret Thatcher over the head with Mallett's (foam) Mallet and delivering unashamedly dodgy puns and funny sketches.  Seeing his name on the book 'Utterly Brilliant: My Life's Journey' conjured up all sorts of memories, and I was intrigued enough to want to know what he'd been up to since last brightening our screens.

'The Woman Novelist and Other Stories' by Diana Gardner

I love a short story and admire anyone who can craft a successful one.  Thanks to publishers like Persephone Books and the British Library, it's becoming ever easier to find and enjoy works that would otherwise be lost to history.  Persephone has published quite a few short story collections, and I have recently finished 'The Woman Novelist and Other Stories' by Diana Gardner.

'Illuminations' by Alan Moore

I'd not read any Alan Moore before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I picked up 'Illuminations', his first collection of shorter fiction. Moore is best known for his comic books, including 'Watchmen', 'From Hell' and 'V for Vendetta', but as a fan of other graphic novel alumni such as Neil Gaiman, this just told me to expect something fantastical. But that was just the start of it.