Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"
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| + | |author= Alec Birri | ||
| + | |title= Condition: Book One - A Medical Miracle? | ||
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| + | |summary= It's 1966, but RAF Pilot Dan Stewart isn't celebrating England's win in the World Cup – instead he's awakening from a coma following an aircraft accident. Waking in a world where nothing makes sense, he's unable to recall the crash – but struggles to remember the rest of his life…And what's stopping him from taking his medication? Is it brain damage causing paranoia about the red pill, or is he right to think there's something more sinister going on…And, having suffered almost 100% burns, how is he alive? Are his hallucinations trying to tell him something? | ||
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|summary= Jonah Jewell is ten years old; he likes Marmite sandwiches, being outside and sticking exactly to his routine. He cannot speak but he communicates his wants and needs clearly. The adults in his life do nothing but speak but they do not communicate nearly as effectively as Jonah. While functioning from the outside, this is the story of a family falling and tearing each other apart. Ben Jewell needs to fight for his son and by doing so needs to learn how to fight for himself. | |summary= Jonah Jewell is ten years old; he likes Marmite sandwiches, being outside and sticking exactly to his routine. He cannot speak but he communicates his wants and needs clearly. The adults in his life do nothing but speak but they do not communicate nearly as effectively as Jonah. While functioning from the outside, this is the story of a family falling and tearing each other apart. Ben Jewell needs to fight for his son and by doing so needs to learn how to fight for himself. | ||
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Revision as of 15:32, 7 February 2017
The Bookbag
Hello from The Bookbag, a site, featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - fiction, biography, crime, cookery and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of author interviews, and all sorts of top tens - all of which you can find on our features page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the recommendations page. We can even direct you to help for custom book reviews! Visit www.everychildareader.org to get free writing tips and www.genecaresearchreports.com will help you get your paper written for free.
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Condition: Book One - A Medical Miracle? by Alec Birri
It's 1966, but RAF Pilot Dan Stewart isn't celebrating England's win in the World Cup – instead he's awakening from a coma following an aircraft accident. Waking in a world where nothing makes sense, he's unable to recall the crash – but struggles to remember the rest of his life…And what's stopping him from taking his medication? Is it brain damage causing paranoia about the red pill, or is he right to think there's something more sinister going on…And, having suffered almost 100% burns, how is he alive? Are his hallucinations trying to tell him something? Full review...
For a Little While by Rick Bass
For a Little While is a collection of twenty-five short stories from Rick Bass. As someone previously unacquainted with Bass' work this new collection was a wonderful introduction to his quirky, unusual style which focuses on stripped back, simple fables featuring often mundane situations, mysterious characters and magical experiences. The characters in each tale are beautifully crafted and the stories are dreamy, loose narratives covering everything from love to death to choices made and chances taken. Full review...
The New Adventures of Mr Toad: A Race for Toad Hall by Tom Moorhouse and Holly Swain
Poop-poop! Yes, that must be the most inaccurate representation of the noise a toad makes. But of course, it's not just a toad, but Mr Toad – Toad of Toad Hall. The irrepressible juvenile driver, thrusting himself into the Edwardian era, and scaring the bejaysus out of his friends, Moley, Ratty and Badger. But he's long gone. Toad Hall is a shell – a ruin compared to what it once was. Stumbling into its underground regions (don't ask) are Mo, Ratty and TJ – Toad Junior, in full – and what they're about to discover will shock them. But that's nothing compared to the shock that what they find will face, for Mr Toad will be revived after a century of being frozen, and not like what he finds one bit. Apart, that is, from the modern cars… Full review...
All About Mia by Lisa Williamson
Mia thinks she's being ironic when she has the phrase 'All About Mia' emblazoned on her T-shirt. Ironic because it's NEVER about her. How can it be? She's just the mess in the middle – sandwiched between her oh-so-perfect straight A grade sister, Grace, and her super-talented soon-to-be Olympic swimmer sister, Audrey. As far as Mia's concerned she may as well get permanently wasted. She's convinced there's no point trying until a series of events coincide to show her just how wrong she is. Full review...
Scotland the Best by Peter Irvine
Peter Irvine's book advertises itself as The true Scot's insider's guide to the very best Scotland has to offer and has throughout its many years of existence became a bit of an institution. And no wonder. It is indeed a guide like no other and although it's unlikely to completely fulfil anybody's guidebook needs, it will offer a unique perspective and some top-notch inspiration. Full review...
Lion: A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley
At first glance, Saroo Brierley seems to be a normal, well adjusted Australian man. He has a job, a girlfriend, a good social life and a supportive family, but his life could have turned out very differently. Saroo was born in India, where his single mother had to work hard to feed him and his three siblings. The children lived an almost feral existence, disappearing for days, exploring the local area for food and job opportunities. One fateful day, young Saroo begged his older brother Guddu to take him along on an adventure. The thrill soon turned to fear when the pair became separated and Saroo found himself trapped on a moving train. After a long journey, the train finally pulled into Kolkata station, leaving the five-year-old child alone and terrified. Soon he was found by the authorities and adopted by a family in Australia, where he spent most of his life trying to piece together his fragmented memories of his origins. Full review...
My Name is Victoria by Lucy Worsley
Miss V is the daughter of Sir John Conroy. Sir John Conroy is the comptroller of the household of the widowed Duchess of Kent. And the widowed Duchess of Kent is mother to the young Princess Victoria, who will go on to be one of Britain's most memorable monarchs. Miss V is also called Victoria - well, Victoire actually - but distinctions of rank are important, especially when one of you will become a queen. Full review...
The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart
Reuben is a small boy growing up with his mum in a big city full of injustice and fear. The family have little money and working two jobs means that Reuben's mum trusts him to be on his own a lot. For a young child Reuben develops a lot of independence, which really helps him when he finds an unusual and precious object and decides to try to uncover its secret. He hopes it might be valuable and dreams of being able to buy his mum her ideal home. Unfortunately there is someone else also looking for the object and Reuben enters into a dangerous game of hide and seek as he dares to take on the most powerful and ruthless man in the city Full review...
Bane and Shadow by Jon Skovron
I am beyond redemption
Bane and Shadow picks up a year after the final events of the first installment in the Empire of Storms series, which I highly recommend reading if you haven't already. Following the great characters we met in the previous novel, Bane and Shadow has even more action with brilliant battles, nail-biting tension and a new darkness to the story. Full review...
Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg
Smarter Faster Better is ideal book for someone who loves both stories and career-related self-improvement. Readers looking for quick answers, bullet points or sound bites may be disappointed as Duhigg's approach is to focus on case studies, told with the flair of a short story, and then extrapolate from these rather than listing tips and exercises. However, if you have the time and patience to get to the point of each chapter slowly (and surely this is a subject matter worth devoting time to), you will doubtless find that Duhigg is an excellent storyteller and cleverly articulates the key message from each story so that they stick. Full review...
Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors
Danish author Dorthe Nors has published four novels, a novella and a story collection. The protagonist of her latest novel, forty-something Sonja, has a problem with balance – literally. Due to an inner ear condition, if she bends over she's crippled by dizziness. It's inconvenient given that Sonja is currently taking lessons at Folke Driving School. She's already doing poorly – her angry, sweary instructor Jytte doesn't trust her enough to change gears so does it all for her – and so can't have them finding out that she gets dizzy. Eventually Sonja switches so Folke himself is her instructor, but he's an odious lecher. She really can't win. Full review...
Jumpin' Jack Flash: David Litvinoff and the Rock'n'Roll Underworld by Keiron Pim
Each decade throws up its misfits, mavericks and anti-heroes, its icons of what might be loosely termed social estrangement and disillusion. In the 1950s it was James Dean, and in the 1970s it was Sid Vicious. In between them, although admittedly a good few years older, was one David Litvinoff. Full review...
No Wall Too High by Xu Hongci and Erling Hoh (Translator)
It was one of the greatest prison breaks of all time, during one of the worst totalitarian tragedies of the 20th Century. Xu Hongci was an ordinary medical student when he was incarcerated under Mao's regime and forced to spend years of his youth in some of China's most brutal labour camps. Three times he tried to escape. And three times he failed. But, determined, he eventually broke free, travelling the length of China, across the Gobi desert, and into Mongolia. Full review...
The Lumberjack's Beard by Duncan Beedie
Jim Hickory is a Lumberjack of routine. Every morning, after he gets up, he does his limbering up exercises (very important for a lumberjack!), then he eats his breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup, before finally getting his trusty axe and heading out into the forest. One day, however, this routine becomes interrupted when he hears someone peck-pecking at his door, only to discover it's a small owl who has been made homeless by Jim's tree felling. Jim allows the owl to set up home in his big bushy beard, without realising just quite what he is letting himself in for… Full review...
Barking for Bagels by Michael Rosen and Tony Ross
Barking for Bagels is the story of Schnipp the dog, who loves her owners very much, though she does find their snickering a little annoying from time to time. One day, whilst out for a walk in the park, she starts to run away, and she finds that once she starts running she can't stop, and she runs and she runs until she finds Bessie the Bagel lady and thus discovers her new favourite food, and her new home. Full review...
Thank You, Mr Panda by Steve Antony
Mr Panda is back! And this time, rather than his box of doughnuts, he has a large pile of presents for all of his friends. Accompanied by his friend, the ring-tailed Lima, he goes around giving out the presents, whilst Lima helpfully reminds everyone on the receiving end that it's the thought that counts since it turns out that Mr Panda is perhaps not the best judge of gift giving! Full review...
The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson
Matthew has OCD. Not that he knows that's what it is. He just likes things clean, he really hates germs, or going outside, and he feels safest upstairs in his room and the front bedroom, where he can control the dirt, and where he can watch everything that's going on outside, making notes on his neighbours' activities. When a little boy, Teddy, from next door goes missing one day, it turns out that Matthew was the last person to see him, and with all of his neighbours as suspects Matthew struggles against his crippling anxieties in order to try and uncover the truth of what happened to Teddy. Full review...
Fairytale Frankie and the Mermaid Escapade by Greg Gormley and Steven Lenton
If you think about it enough it is amazing how many characters in fairytales are thick. How long would it take you to figure out that was not your Nan, but a wolf? Or, how many people would decide to start eating a house that appears to be made out of gingerbread, but is overseen by what looks like a crazy lady? Nope, the only reason that fairytale characters make it half the time is because a sensible and brave character saves the day; an intelligent brick laying pig, or a feisty woodsman. Your average story dweller needs a guardian angel and this may just come in the form of Fairytale Frankie. Full review...
We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan
We Come Apart tells the story of a burgeoning friendship and romance between Jess and Nicu. Both have problems to deal with. Jess has an abusive stepfather who beats up her mother. Nicu is a Romanian immigrant to the UK and faces xenophobia in the UK as well as an unwanted arranged marriage when he returns home. Both kids get caught shoplifting and are sent on a rehabilitative course (mostly involving picking up litter). The friendship they strike up is born of circumstance yet gradually becomes more, a lot more... ... but is there a future for Jess and Nicu? Full review...
Edie by Sophy Henn
Edie is a gorgeous little girl and with the sort of nature which we all hope that our children will have in abundance. She's just so helpful. For instance, she's gets up extra early herself just so that she can make certain that everybody else in the house gets up in good time. The cymbals work well on her brother, but if not, dragging him out of bed usually achieves the desired result. As for her parents, playing her guitar and serenading them usually does the trick. She's an independent young lady and likes to dress herself. It's not exactly school uniform and her mother might well be wondering where some of her clothes have got to - but what's a girl to do? Full review...
Mostly Mary (Mary Plain 1) by Gwynedd Rae and Clara Vulliamy
Meet Mary Plain. She's a bear, living in a pit in the Swiss city of Berne, and bears have been there as a tradition for centuries. She's not been there long, for she's just an exuberant, slightly stroppy and definitely naïve, little cub, trying to catch up to her two slightly-older cousins, loving life with her aunt and uncle, and the generations above them. She's got a lot to learn about life, however – from how snow and ice change her world to what sitting on sticky paint can mean. Oh the innocence of little tykes – such as these books were written for. Full review...
The Painted Dragon (The Sinclair's Mysteries) by Katherine Woodfine
Ornate hats, the best cigars, fine foods and delicate perfumes – Mr Sinclair offers it all in his wondrous new department store, a marvel never before seen on the streets of London. Comfort, refinement and luxury abound, with smoking rooms, tea rooms and even an art gallery to excite and intrigue the haut monde as they examine the merchandise and chatter their days away. But beneath the wealth lies something more sinister, and once again Sophie and Lil find themselves solving a complicated and multi-layered mystery. Full review...
My Mummy by Roger Hargreaves
In My Mummy we learn of all the ways Mummy is wonderful. And, funnily enough, her positive attributes are quite a lot like those singular, nominal traits beheld by certain Little Misses. For example, she is happy like Little Miss Sunshine, she is curious about things like, erm, Little Miss Curious, and she enjoys her cake, just like Little Miss Greedy. Ooops. Full review...
Who Let the Gods Out? by Maz Evans
Zeus retired as chief god a long time ago, so the rulers of things are the Constellations, even when they're a far-too-juvenile nineteen hundred year old like Virgo. Feeling left out, she steals the ambrosia that the Earth resident known as Prisoner Forty-Two needs, with hardly any clue as to what to do with it or where he is. So it's no surprise that she crashlands on the farm where Elliot lives. He's got enough problems without worrying about a girl who seems doolally arriving – his father is nowhere to be seen, his mother has got dementia and the farm is a week from being repossessed. It's the birth of a most mismatched partnership – the wise-cracking but hard-done-by lad, and his problems, and the godlike girl who thought she could do it all, but stumbles at the first receipt of sarcasm. But not even together can they see the bigger problems around the corner, for both of them – nor the enormity of the help they might end up calling on… Full review...
All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker
After a brutal attack, you might be forgiven for thinking losing her memory is the best outcome for Jenny. Without being able to recall the facts from the night in question, she can't dwell too much on her attack and her attacker. But what if she wants to? What if she needs to work through her emotions so she can move past things? What if she is still obsessing, day in and day out, about what did or didn't happen to her, imagining all sorts of scenarios and hating herself for not knowing the truth? Full review...
Dare to Remember by Susanna Beard
Lisa Fulbrook's best friend is dead – the victim of a brutal attack who fell to her death from her own apartment window. Lisa was there, she too was a victim of the attack that killed her best friend, and she is left with the physical and emotional scars to prove it. Traumatised by the events, Lisa flees to a country village to help settle her frightened mind. But what happened that night still torments her; she is plagued by vicious flashbacks and questions surrounding why she and her best friend Ali were targeted, because the one thing Lisa does know is that she can't remember what really happened that fateful night. How did their assailant know them? Was it planned? More importantly, why were they attacked? Full review...
The Shakespeare Plot 1: Assassin's Code by Alex Woolf
Shakespeare's London – a vibrant, colourful city rich with promise, new discoveries and great art. A place, too, rife with conspiracies and schemes for murder and mayhem. Add to the mix a mysterious code, a girl disguised as a boy and a young servant asked to spy on his aristocratic master, and the stage is set for thrills and adventure. Full review...
To Capture What We Cannot Keep by Beatrice Colin
Paris, February 1887, and work on the foundations of Eiffel's daring tower is about to begin. Engineer Emile Nouguier, taking photographs of the site from a tethered hot air balloon for tourists nearby, chances to meet a young widow from Glasgow named Caitriona Wallace, and his own foundations start to shift. Over the next two years as the tower slowly rises in the Champ de Mars, what began as an impossible dream becomes solid reality – Cait and Emile's love for each other. In a world where more than bustles and corsets hem her in, will Cait be able to break free of her oppressive future, and given their different social strata, can Emile re-shape his? Full review...
Where Zebras Go by Sue Hardy-Dawson
I doubt if you could have zebras, foxes, the end of the world, penguins, dinosaurs and people out of fairy tale all together if it wasn't in a book of poetry. Even short stories would struggle to fit the breadth of content into as few pages as this volume does. Add in home life, school life and, er, football, and you really do have a diverse selection of subjects. All have caught the eye of our author ever since she started her career – some of these poems date back a decade – and now she is going to try her damnedest, with some brilliant design, to make sure they all catch the eye of you. Full review...
Shtum. by Jem Lester
Jonah Jewell is ten years old; he likes Marmite sandwiches, being outside and sticking exactly to his routine. He cannot speak but he communicates his wants and needs clearly. The adults in his life do nothing but speak but they do not communicate nearly as effectively as Jonah. While functioning from the outside, this is the story of a family falling and tearing each other apart. Ben Jewell needs to fight for his son and by doing so needs to learn how to fight for himself. Full review...
