Book Reviews From The Bookbag

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. Ewritingservice.com is the custom writing service thousands of students trust all over the world. My Homework Done is your best choice among those websites that do homework for you.

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Waterloo Voices 1815: The Battle at First Hand by Martyn Beardsley

History

The battle of Waterloo, fought on a midsummer day on a muddy field in Belgium, brought an end to two decades of war in Europe. As one of the pivotal events of the nineteenth century, it has inevitably been the focus of many accounts over the last two hundred years. Full review...

Worzel says hello! Will you be my friend? by Catherine Pickles and Chantal Bourgonje

For Sharing

I'd like you to meet Worzel, but you'll need to do exactly what I say. Worzel is quite a big dog, but that doesn't mean that he's fierce, or even very brave. In fact, he's frightened, and little as you are, he's frightened of you. He'd like to meet you though: can you see that nose just poking out from the side of the sofa? Now he's peering over the cushion - and finally he's risking leaving that very safe place he's found, behind the sofa. Full review...

Senseless by Steve Cole

Dyslexia Friendly

16 year old Kenzie Mitchell, otherwise known as K-Boy, thinks his every dream has come true when he's wins the chance to attend a top gaming tournament at Sensia HQ on a remote tropical island. The contestants are flown in on their own private jet and transferred by limo to the swankiest of hotels. It all seems too good to be true – which of course it is. Within hours, events start to take a sinister turn. Kenzie wakes in the night unable to see and one by one his other senses – touch, hearing, smell and taste – flicker in and out. And he's not on his own. It's happening to the other contestants too, sometimes with fatal consequences. Kenzie wants to believe it isn't really happening. He wants to believe it's just a really good virtual reality game. But with Sensia in control, the line between realities has almost entirely disappeared. Full review...

The Science of Food: An exploration of what we eat and how we cook by Marty Jopson

Cookery

I've always believed that if you understood why something worked in a particular way it was very easy to remember how it worked and what you needed to do. The food we eat is no exception to this rule and The One Show resident scientist Marty Jopson has undertaken to explain how things work in the kitchen - and he covers everything from the type of knives we use through to the food of the future. Best of all, he does it in language that even a science illiterate like me can understand. Full review...

Paradise Girl by Phill Featherstone

General Fiction

Kerryl Shaw lives on a Yorkshire farm – a somewhat idealised one that survives on a few hens and two or three cows and a few sheep. The kind of farm that might have been profitable in the 1950s but by the time Kerryl has arrived should have been struggling. A teenage boy not pulling his weight, now that the grandparents are old and the father is dead, would not be met with exasperated indulgence. There are no stock-hands, no farm managers, no applications for subsidies, or worries about the tax return. Maybe the unwelcome wind turbine covers the costs of the rest of it. Already, in setting, it's feeling a little unreal. But maybe we can forgive that… Full review...

Landscape Gardens by Sarah Rutherford

Art

My first experience of a big garden was Versailles as a teenager and whilst I was impressed, I didn't really like it. I felt stifled and strangely underwhelmed by the flatness of it all. As luck would have it I then saw Hampton Court and it was official: I was off big gardens. It would be many years before I revised my opinion. On a trip to Harewood House it was too hot a day to be corralled into the house, so I wandered the gardens and found they were delightful. I felt uplifted. Then a cricket match at Stowe gave me the opportunity to walk the grounds for over an hour. I was completely won over and a devotee of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. Sarah Rutherford's Landscape Gardens was an opportunity to put him in context. Full review...

Dragons: Father and Son by Alexandre Lacroix and Ronan Badel

Emerging Readers

You know dragons. They're there to look splendid and fierce, and to burn down human villages in rampages, with or without treasure in mind. But they need to be trained in that. And our father dragon has just tasked his son dragon with that very errand - to go and torch a human house. The lad is reluctant to cook anything more severe than lunch - what could possibly happen? Full review...

A Roman Adventure (The Histronauts) by Frances Durkin and Grace Cooke

Confident Readers

I have studied propaganda in my time and as a rule of thumb the most persuasive arguments are those people don't notice. The same can be said when educating kids. Some children lap up textbooks and non-fiction, but others need to be eased in. Tricking them is perhaps a harsh term, but would you rather learn about Ancient Rome via a dry fact book or an adventure title written in the form of a cartoon and packed full of puzzles and activities? Full review...

Elmer and the Tune by David McKee

For Sharing

Everybody loves a catchy tune, but sometimes you come across one that you just can't get out of your head, no matter how hard you try. And that's what has happened to Elmer and his friends – all over the jungle, folk are humming the same tune, over and over and over again, and passing it on to their friends and neighbours like a musical virus. Anyone who has heard about how the wheels on that wretched bus go round and round eleventy-seven gazillion times on a long car journey will know what we mean. Full review...

Sorting the Priorities: Ambassadress and Beagle Survive Diplomacy by Sandra Aragona

General Fiction

Sarah is married to Giorgio and when we first meet them he's Something Very Senior in the foreign ministry in Rome, much to the disappointment of his mother who thought that he'd be there for her (in Sicily), but not only does he go and marry a foreigner, he has a job which will take him all over the world. Such is the life of the diplomat. Their two daughters have to lead a pretty peripatetic life too, but when the family comes into our lives they're all in Rome - for the time being - and just back from Nigeria. To add to the confusion there's Beagle, just about as undiplomatic a dog as you'll encounter. Full review...

Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic

Thrillers

Caleb Zelic has just found his colleague and lifelong friend murdered. The two – and a female police officer – were working as a private investigative group, tracking security flaws that led to a hugely costly warehouse robbery, and all have training in the industry, so they should have seen anything coming. Caleb won't have heard it coming, however – he's pretty much deaf, getting a cadence of speech and noise from hearing aids but needing to lipread or sign. The first signs that this murder is connected to the case are impossible to ignore – as indeed are hints that something really serious is going on, when Caleb finds he can't even trust the police looking into the murder. The case will cause him to go a lot further than he would ever want – which includes to the door of his errant brother, and into the home of his recently-made-ex wife… Full review...

The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders

Confident Readers

The best fantasy books for children rely on escapism, books like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Harry Potter series and Peter Pan. Central to each of these stories is the real world: the dryness that permeates the everyday. The children involved are often bored of their lives, or of school and their parents: the world of reality. So when they get to escape into a world that is much more interesting they are enamoured by a sense of magic and adventure that comes their way. For Kate Saunders' heroine Emily, the bizarre and eerily familiar world of Smockeroon awaits. Full review...

Strange Sight: An Essex Witch Museum Mystery (Essex Witches Mystery 2) by Syd Moore

Paranormal

Rosie Strange is back - recovering after her last escapade with curator Sam Stone, and figuring out what on earth to do with the Essex Witch Museum she's recently inherited. If Rosie had her way she'd be selling the museum and heading back to her flat in London - but when her Auntie Babs recommends Rosie and Sam to a local businessman, they find themselves embroiled in dark events once again. Something is wrong at Le Fleur Restaurant - blood leaking from chandeliers, scrawled messages on the walls and apparitions walking through the walls. Before Rosie and Sam can start to look into these possibly supernatural occurrences though, events take an even darker turn when a very real body is found in the restaurant - and the owner's daughter swears that a ghost was to blame... Full review...

China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser by Michael Bristow

Autobiography

Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese history. Having been learning the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in the early fifties, offered Bristow a compelling picture of life in Communist China - but added to that, Bristow was greatly surprised to find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the tale told here is immensely personal - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most intriguing nations. Full review...

Gift Boxes to Colour and Make: A Year of Celebrations by Eilidh Muldoon

Crafts

Have you ever tried wrapping a small gift, or those handmade sweets or biscuits you've prepared for a friend? It's not easy is it? If you use wrapping paper the gift tends to lose presence and once you start to use glass jars the gift becomes really quite expensive and less easy to transport. Do you find colouring relaxing and rewarding but somehow it feels just a little bit too indulgent if all you do is turn to the next page and start colouring that? Would you get more out of it if you could use what you've coloured for a practical purpose? The ideal solution to both problems is Gift Boxes to Colour and Make: A Year of Celebrations by Eilidh Muldoon. Full review...

Talking to Gina by Ottilie Hainsworth

Graphic Novels

This is what happened. An artist decided she needed a dog – so drove the length of the country, Brighton to Grimsby, to pick up an Eastern European immigrant street dog with some mange and one working eye. Why not? The first night at home, Gina – the dog – eats something she shouldn't and causes a mess, so it's not a great start, but then begin the tribulations of training, status and behaviour all humans must go through with their dogs. And then, the life with Gina begins to feel like too much – I felt weird about you, because you were always there. My thoughts were taken over by you, and I felt sick, as if I was in love. Slowly, however, everyone – our artist/author, her husband, two children and two cats – gets to form the family they and Gina all would have wanted. Full review...

Free Lance and the Field of Blood (Free Lance Trilogy 2) by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

Dyslexia Friendly

The world of jousting is a fierce one – survive the minor battles with the lance, either as a bonded employed Knight or as a Free Lance, and you might try your hands at the major league. There the men are stronger, the horses faster, and the ground hurts more when you hit it. But the big time also offers more that can put a humble Knight at risk – such as evil hosts, beautiful princess-types in pickles, and mysteriously successful strangers. Our nameless hero and his loyal horse, Jed, are going to be up against a lot more than they expected here… Full review...

Oh Baby, the Places You'll Go by Dr Seuss and Tish Rabe

For Sharing

A slightly odd concept to get one's head around, Oh Baby, the Places You'll Go is both a book within a book, and a book sized advert all in one. Dr Seuss (fun fact: 'Seuss' originally rhymed with 'voice') wrote many, many books in his lifetime, and lots of us will be familiar with his best-known characters such as The Cat in the Hat and the copious numbers of adventures he wrote about such as when Horton Hears a Who. This book is different, because rather than introducing new wild and wacky characters, it brings together existing ones who may never have met each other before. Adapted by Tish Rabe (though very much influenced by Dr Seuss's originals), this book rattles through the different titles and their key characters, knitting them together with the premise that these are all people baby will meet in the future, through the wonder of children's books. Full review...

The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field

For Sharing

First we had a cute little mouse finding his inner beast in The Lion Inside and then we had a nervous koala trying to move out of his comfort zone in The Koala Who Could and now we have a couple of greedy, fighting squirrels. Whatever next? Full review...

When I Wake Up by Jessica Jarlvi

Thrillers

Anna is in a coma. Only two people know who inflicted the severe injuries that lead to her lying there unmoving in the hospital bed, the culprit who won’t talk, and Anna who can’t. If, and it’s a big if, she wakes up, she may remember what happened, but of course there’s a chance she quite literally did not know what hit her. For her husband Erik, it’s an agonising wait. The police don’t seem that interested, but he has to know who was responsible, and so he wonders whether he should do a bit of investigating himself. He shouldn’t, of course, because in a story like this there are secrets just waiting to be uncovered, and he may find that these are things he would rather have never known. Full review...

Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story of The Wizard of Oz by Michael Morpurgo and Emma Chichester Clark

Emerging Readers

The timeless story that we all know as The Wizard of Oz is given a twist in this original interpretation by master story-crafter Michael Morpurgo. It's the tale of a character that seems to be so often overlooked in the well-known story: Dorothy's faithful dog, Toto. We hear the whole story from his point of view, told in first person narrative from the moment the tornado sweeps across Dorothy's Kansas farm. Toto continues to tell the story as it happens to him in a witty and charming manner as their house is lifted into the air and whisked away to the mysterious land of Oz. Of course, Toto and Dorothy meet the absurd but loveable scarecrow without a brain, tin man without a heart and lion who lacks courage, and together they set off along the yellow brick road to find the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, hoping that he might help Toto and Dorothy return home. Along the way, the tin man, scarecrow and lion learn that what they think they are missing might have been there all along. Full review...

Star Wars Where's the Wookiee? 2 Search and Find Activity Book by Katrina Pallant and Ulises Farinas

Confident Readers

It's not enough these days, you know, to have just one franchise. No, you have to match it with another. You have to mash Doctor Who with the Mister Men. You need zombies in your Pride and Prejudice (don't laugh, the book was much better than the film). Batman has to have a Lego equivalent (and don't laugh, for the film was awfully unfunny). Even when you're a Disneyfied, new-film-every-year-like-it-or-not behemoth like Star Wars, you need some secondary property to latch on to. Hence this, which as the title suggests, is the second book asking you to find the Wookie in the Wally/Waldo-esque scenes. Full review...

The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith, Peter Bently and Steven Lenton

Emerging Readers

A dog is for life, not just for Christmas, as we were constantly told when I was young – I dare say people are still saying it, but it was quite prevalent way back then. I'm sure many people reading this will know that the Dearlys end up with 101 Dalmatians for Christmas themselves, and it must be debatable whether they stayed in the same house as them all come the new year. But what is beyond doubt is that the getting of so many cute pups was full of drama – drama that fills this young reader to bursting, and drama that comes in illustrations like these with no end of charm. Full review...

The Twelve Days of Christmas (Magnificent Creatures) by Anna Wright

Emerging Readers

One of the problems a Christmas-themed book has is in making itself relevant at other times of the year. This charming little encapsulation of the well-known yuletide poem (known in English in 1780, but older than that, trivia fans) gets round that by (a) being a counting book for the very young that they could gain from on any date they chose, and (b) just being really pleasing to look at. Full review...

Forgetfulness: Making the Modern Culture of Amnesia by Francis O'Gorman

Politics and Society

After a glut of books about mindfulness it came as something of a relief to encounter Forgetfulness, Francis O'Gorman's thinking on why the twenty-first century is losing touch with the past, on why what is likely - or could be made - to happen is so much more important than what has gone before. The book is supremely intelligent, but with the knowledge worn lightly and it's eminently readable, regardless of how you feel about the conclusions he draws. Full review...

You Dear, Sweet Man by Thomas Neviaser

General Fiction

Bobby Fastow's journey to work on the subway was an oasis of calm in an otherwise exhausting day: nothing was required of him. He could sit and relax, gazing at the adverts until he got to his stop and went to his physically-demanding job. The ad for BurgerBlast caught his eye: a beautiful woman was sitting on a boardroom table, encouraging you to read about the business's move away from artery-choking food to a healthier menu, but it wasn't the message which caught Bobby's attention. It was the woman. She seemed to be looking directly at him and he could have sworn that she winked... Full review...