Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"

The front cover is graphic and telling. A frozen London with its skyscrapers emitting black smoke and random fires across a desolate landscape. As early as the second paragraph we see that something is wrong, something cataclysmic has happened with the lines People are eating the birds ... fighting over a handful of scorched sparrows. The story is told in the first person by the central character which gives it immediacy and draws the reader straight in. Full review...

Last Fling by Sue Gee

Short Stories

Sue Gee is well known for her novels, but this is her first collection of short stories. Short story collections are not for everyone. I've always enjoyed them since they fit easily into a busy life, leaving you feeling as if you've lived through a whole story in just a short space of time. It's easier to find the time for a quick story sometimes than to sit down with a four hundred page novel! Full review...

The Confession of Katherine Howard by Suzannah Dunn

Historical Fiction

Katherine Howard was Henry VIII's fifth wife. She was perhaps the most seductive of his wives and a considerable contrast to her predecessor, Anna of Cleves. She's been consigned to history as a silly girl, but careful reading gives the lie to this. Suzannah Dunn begins her story when Katherine was twelve years old and went to live in her step-grandmother's household. There she met Cathryn – generally known as Cat – Tilney, but the two girls were very different and didn't hit it off initially. Cat was quietly ambitious, aware that she needed to make a good marriage, whilst Katherine was image-conscious and very interested in the boys. Full review...

Truth and Dare by Liz Miles (Editor)

I love anthologies, especially ones containing a host of unfamiliar authors, so when I was given the chance to get my hands on a collection of twenty stories by writers who, in the main, I hadn't encountered before, I jumped at it. The selection, however, of this score of tales about slipping on the stepping stones of life left me feeling curiously unsatisfied in many cases. Full review...

I'm A Parrot by Simon Mayor and Hilary James

I think that most small children will love the friendly, chatty parrot who speaks to them in 'I'm a Parrot'. From the very start of the book, the parrot chatters on, talking what can only be described as nonsense – but it is very amusing nonsense even though he claims to enjoy intelligent conversation. He talks about the different places he would or wouldn't live and the things that he might do. There are many puns and some play on words such as living in 'Polly-nesia' and becoming a 'parrot-trooper'. My daughter also found it quite comical the way the parrot keeps repeating particular words, although I can imagine that if we were to read the book a few times, it might become a little annoying to say the least. Full review...

London Calling: An Inspector Carlyle Novel by James Craig

Crime

The current government had been looking a little sickly in the polls for a while and it seemed that Edgar Carlton – charismatic and ruthless – had only to get to the finish line to be the next Prime Minister. His twin brother, Xavier, would be the next Foreign Secretary. Then a murderer targets former members of the Merrion Club – an exclusive, hedonistic group of undergraduates at Cambridge University – and this includes Edgar, Xavier and the current mayor of London, Christian Holyrod. Inspector John Carlyle of the Metropolitan Police doesn't take that long to work out why this is happening and who is at risk – but who is doing it is an entirely different matter. Full review...

Back Dated by Chris Niblock

Science Fiction

Sci-fi writer Ray Flaxman returns home from a weekend away with his fiancee with a dealine to meet. But he finds his flat broken to into and trashed. Nothing of value has been taken. So Ray suspects his stalker is to blame. Serena has been calling and writing, declaring her love for Ray and her urgent desire to have his child. But Ray has never met her. Even so, he is keen to keep this mystery girl a secret because his fiancee, Frankie, has huge jealousy issues. Full review...

Dora at Follyfoot by Monica Dickens

Follyfoot Home of Rest for Horses is owned by the Colonel, but he's been very ill in hospital and now he has to go away to a warm climate to recuperate. It's not quite certain who is in charge of the farm in his absence. It might be Dora or it might be Steve – but there's one thing that is quite clear: they're both under strict instructions not to buy any horses. What's Dora to do though, when she realises that unless she buys the cream-coloured, lame horse, Amigo, it will end its days pulling a log cart? Well, obviously she has to buy the horse with money she borrows from the shady Ron Stryker. How's she to pay it back though? Full review...

The Wolf & Taurus by Joseph Smith

A combined edition of The Wolf and Taurus, each taking the reader into the mind of animal. Superb, intense writing that is sometimes quite painful to read. Full review...

Mrs MacCready Was Ever So Greedy by Julie Fulton and Jona Jung

Mrs McCready was ever so greedy. She was a cheerful, red-headed lady who simply loved her food. She would eat absolutely anything – sometimes it was quite healthy, such as the berries, especially cherries, but she didn't even worry if there were worms inside. She didn't even worry too much about whether the foods she ate tasted good together – she just loved to eat. This caused something of a problem with clothes, as absolutely nothing would fit her – not even the wedding marquee or the hot air balloon. Eventually she met her fate… Full review...

Wall of Days by Alastair Bruce

Historical Fiction

The front cover of this debut novel caught my full and undivided attention with Alone, ten years on an island, until one day... I couldn't wait to start reading. We meet the central character - we don't know his name just yet and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter. He's living alone on an island, somewhere in the world. Is it the past, the present or even the future? As the story developed I decided on the former. Full review...

Please Bear's Birthday by Avril Lethbridge, Diana Mather and Mary-Ann Mackenzie

Please Bear is having a birthday party and all the bears, both the nice ones and the naughty ones, are invited. In a delightful sing-song rhyme we see Please Bear writing his invitations, the preparations for the party, and the party itself. Some bears are very good, helping other bears if they are a little shy or helping mummy Bear to set the table. Unfortunately, other bears are not so good. They boast, they scream, their greedy and downright unreasonable. Full review...

Ember and Ash by Pamela Freeman

Fantasy

Ember is about to be married. It's not just a romantic day for her personally, it's exciting because her wedding will seal the alliance of the Far South Domain and the Last Domain in the north, making a new kingdom which is a shining example of justice and peace. By fantasy standards, this sounds too good to be true. And so, of course, it is. Barely have the words which bind Ember to new husband Osfrid been spoken before he is consumed by flames, murdered by an elemental god her mother once angered. Soon after that, nearly every fire in the kingdom is extinguished. Shocked to learn that the world is controlled by elemental powers she knew nothing about, Ember enlists her cousins Ash and Cedar to go with her to Fire Mountain to bring back a piece of the mountain and relight their lost fires. Full review...

L'Auberge by Julia Stagg

Women's Fiction

L'Auberge des Deux Vallees was sadly neglected but it had been bought, not as everyone expected, by a relative of the mayor, but by an English couple who, by all accounts, had little French and not a lot of experience in running a restaurant. Obviously, such a travesty cannot be allowed to continue, and within hours of hearing the news, mayor Serge Papon has called an emergency council meeting to ensure that the newcomers are forced out as quickly as possible. Unfortunately he hadn't reckoned on Christian Dupuy, whose politics are guided by his conscience rather than his wallet. When it comes down to it are quite a few other people in Fogas who don't see what's happening in quite the same way as the mayor. Full review...

The Fetish Room by Redmond O'Hanlon and Rudi Rotthier

Biography

An ongoing debate in our family has centred on the value of biographies, particularly of writers. I've always loved the touchstone of the places people lived and wrote, the banality of their lives, the detail, the insight, and the fact that it can tell you everything or nothing at all about the work. My Dad held that the work was what mattered; the rest is just social history. He said that almost disparagingly, which is odd, because if you presented it as social history rather than biography, he'd lap it up. I guess I just don't make the distinction. Full review...

Candle Man: Society of Dread by Glenn Dakin

We left Theo after he had discovered his true identity as the Candle Man and defeated his evil ex-guardian, Dr Saint. The young boy is still ambivalent about his superhero status and conflicted over his ability to use tripudon energy to melt his - and London's - enemies. But the fight against evil pays no attention to inexperience or moral ambiguity and Theo is about to find himself down in the Network again. This time, his attempts to return The Society of Good Works to its original benevolence are thwarted by the renaissance of an old, and even more terrifying, villain - Dr Pyre. With his friends abducted and enslaved, Theo must use his Candle Man abilities once again... Full review...

You Are Very Special by Su Box and Susie Poole

You Are Very Special introduces the idea of individuality, of how we're all different and how we're all special. This isn't really a story as such, but rather a book that invites further discussion. Written in occasionally clunky rhyme, it investigates how everyone is different, all different shapes and sizes. It suggests how miraculous our bodies are, breathing and working through the day and also through the night, even when we're asleep! Full review...

From the Day You Were Born by Sophie Piper and Kristina Stephenson

This lovely little story looks at parental love, of that special bond that grows between parents and children, how babies grow and develop as they get older, and how that love is for ever and for always. Full review...

Play With Colours (The Happets) by Laurence Jammes and Marc Clamens

The Happets are a friendly looking bunch of animal friends all made of different coloured fabrics. In this story we're introduced to each character and told about its colour, for example Milo is green like gorgeous green apples, gorgeous green clover, gorgeous green balls. Each page has a fabric tab, to match the character in question, making it a lovely book for babies to touch and play with. Full review...

The Storm at the Door by Stefan Merrill Block

The author, Stefan Merrill Block, is writing about members of his own family in The Storm at the Door. The story opens at the end, if you get my drift. We see the elderly grandmother Katherine in a bit of a spot, wondering whether to open and then read a bunch of papers. These papers (these red-hot papers) are the words and thoughts of her husband Frederick from his time in a mental institution. If she opens them, then it will be opening a veritable can of worms. Does she or doesn't she? Full review...

House of Exile: War, Love and Literature, from Berlin to Los Angeles by Evelyn Juers

Biography

Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kröger-Mann were in a constant state of hazardous exile after the rise of fascism in Germany in 1933. He became like Zola, his favourite author, a socially committed novelist and political activist and fierce critic of militarism. He was convivial, having a wide circle of friends that contained many creative artists, playwrights, socialists. He seemed drawn to the bohemians and the demi-monde. This elegant and sometimes formal gentleman came from the Hanseatic town of Lubeck where his father belonged to a renowned grain merchant family. These might be described as the haute-bourgeoisie. There was an unusual degree of sibling rivalry between him and his less robust brother, the famous author of The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann. Hendrick possessed a sensual nature and fell passionately and easily in love with a number of women. Of these his relationship with Nelly, a fascinating woman, a seamstress and nightclub hostess, as full of contradictions as himself, was the most successful and long lasting. She followed him on the long painful journey into exile at first in Nice and later to the United States. Full review...

A Conspiracy Of Friends by Alexander McCall Smith

So, here we are again back with our friends in Corduroy Mansions in this, their third book. I found A Conspiracy Of Friends a little slow to start with, and I worried that perhaps I had tired of the characters, but a few chapters later the pace picked up and once again I was thoroughly entertained by the quirky characters, interesting thoughts and ideas. Full review...

Bang Bang You're Dead by Narinder Dhami

Mia is holding her family together. She's never known her father, her mother is suffering from manic depression which she refuses to seek help for, and her twin brother Jamie is causing her real concern. So when the fire alarm is set off at school and rumours fly around that there's a pupil with a gun on the loose, she starts to worry that Jamie has done the unthinkable. Ignoring all common sense, she desperately tries to see for herself whether he could be the one with the gun... Full review...

In The Sea There Are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda

In The Sea There Are Crocoiles is based on a true story about a young boy left by his mother to fend for himself. As if that wasn't difficult enough, he's stranded in Pakistan while the rest of his family are in war-ravaged Afghanistan. It's a collaboration between Afghan Enaiatollah and his Italian translator, Fabio - this book is already a big hit with Italian readers (it says so on the back cover blurb). Enaiatollah eventually claimed political asylum in Italy. Full review...

My Name is Rose by Sally Grindley

Rosa comes from a Romany gypsy community. She travels around Eastern Europe with her family, only stopping occasionally for school. Her father says her education comes from her family's connection with the land and the Roma traditions. And Rose agrees. She is happy and never happier than when her parents are playing music and there is noise and laughter and gaiety. Full review...

Momentum by Saci Lloyd

London, 2030. Energy wars are consuming the globe now peak oil is past. Britain creaks on with ever-declining influence and is now partly dependent on aid from China. The gap between rich and poor is now so great that the poor (the Outsiders) live in dreadful slums while the rich (the Citizens) spend most of their time plugged into the net, experiencing life as a fantasy. Civil unrest is springing up, only to be ruthlessly put down by the Kossacks, the new security force. Full review...

Asylum by Rachel Anderson

Sunday arrived in the UK at Lowestoft. He'd have preferred Iceland, which, so he'd heard, was cold and treeless but democratic and respectful of human life. Sent from a refugee camp by his Auntie Pru, Sunday is very religious and very respectful of human life, unlike the militia who destroyed his village. So it's difficult for Sunday to become a Muslim. But that's what he has to do. His papers confiscated by a shady people trafficker, Sunday finds himself the unpaid caretaker at Hawk Rise, a condemned London tower block. And his name isn't Sunday any more; it's Piet Ali. Full review...

We Love Bears by Catherine Anholt and Laurence Anholt

Two young children wake up one morning to find their teddy bear has come to life and is waiting to take them on an outing to a Teddy Bear Town. The simple text makes for a short and sweet bedtime read, always useful in our house. There are just a couple of lines of rhyming verse on each page, with a nice rhythm for easy reading aloud, and I think it could be enjoyed by quite young toddlers. However, I liked the amusing pictures, with lots of detail to look and discuss with slightly older siblings. Full review...

Russia: A 1,000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East by Martin Sixsmith

History

As a former BBC correspondent in Moscow at the time that the Cold War was ending, Sixsmith is in a unique position to write a history of Russia, based partly on research and partly on his own experiences, after having witnessed at first hand some of the upheavals in recent years which play such an important part in the story. Full review...

Forgetting Zoe by Ray Robinson

Forgetting Zoe opens with Thurman, one of the two main characters. We see that his home life is dreadful - with a violent and cruel father and a mother who is weak. And as an only child (to rather elderly parents) Thurman hears his father's violence directed at his mother. Their home is out of the way and in an isolated spot, so really the three of them form a very unhappy threesome indeed. The reader is left in no doubt as to the nature of the father with lines such as, As a form of punishment Father would press one of his hands down on top of Thurman's head so forcefully that Thurman's legs would buckle... that blood would trickle down his forehead... Full review...

Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

Growing up in foster care has always left Ari wondering where she came from. The teal coloured eyes and strange, unchangeable, silver hair just adds to the mystery surrounding her. When she searches for answers to her questions about her past, she finds a simple message left for her by her mother – RUN. Desperately seeking answers and with scary figures on her trail, she returns to her birthplace of New 2, once known as New Orleans, to find herself plunged into a power struggle which could have far reaching consequences. Full review...

The Deserter by Peadar o Guilin

It's been four years coming, but this sequel to The Inferior won't disappoint those who have loyally waited. I've loyally waited. And I would like to say that four years has been too long. In that time dystopian fiction for young adults has become more and more popular - lots of it is very good - and I did wonder if I would love the central character Stopmouth quite as much as I had before. I shouldn't have worried. He's a gorgeous creation - brave, honest, loyal and committed, he will appeal equally to male and female readers. Full review...

The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly

Karen is ending her university years and has her future mapped out. But then she meets Biba, who opens doors to a world she's never seen before, and to the type of intense friendship that she's never experienced either. As Karen embarks on this friendship, she collects all kinds of new experiences along the way. At the start of that summer, she could never have predicted just how indelible the mark left by the friendship would turn out to be. Full review...

Whatever by Michel Houellebecq

Interviewed by BBC film critic Mark Kermode shortly before his 60th birthday, Woody Allen gave the bequiffed one this somewhat startling piece of advice, You get to my age, you realise that when you die you're really not losing that much. Those words sprang to mind while reading Whatever, first novel by Michel Houellebecq. The main protagonist in Whatever may be only half the age of the film director, but the outlook on life shared by both men seems strikingly similar. Full review...

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead wanted to write something personal for his fourth book, so he chose an autobiographical novel, based on his experiences as a vacationing youngster. Sag Harbor really does exist - at the far end of Long Island and next to the up-market Hamptons. It has a history of whaling and an association with John Steinbeck. Within easy reach of New York, in 1985 it was an affluent black enclave within a large, white middle-class holiday area. Full review...

Oomph! (Preston Pig) by Colin McNaughton

Preston Pig is a charming and somewhat lucky character who features in quite a few of Colin McNaughton's picture books. In Oomph!, Preston and his family go to the seaside for their holiday where he makes a new little friend called Max. They have great fun together all week but are blissfully unaware that there is someone a bit sinister lurking in the background. With this book, as well as reading the words, make sure that you pay close attention to the illustrations where there is a slightly different story being told. Full review...

Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison

Bridget Duke, daughter of a famous celebrity, is the undisputed queen of her school. Popular, wanted by the boys and feared or adored by the girls, she barely even notices the trail of destruction she leaves behind her as friends, teachers and even her stepmother end up being hurt by her actions. So when Bridget is in a car accident, and ends up in limbo, she's sent into the shoes of those she's wronged to see the effect she's had on them. Can she redeem herself? Full review...

The Songs of Manolo Escobar by Carlos Alba

Antonio is the second-born son to Spanish parents, living in Glasgow. He's embarrassed to be anything other than Scottish, and he tries everything to hide his family background from friends at school, refusing to speak Spanish with his parents and struggling to forge his own identity in life. In his middle age, he suddenly finds his life falling apart around him as his marriage begins to fail and his increasingly frail father becomes obsessed with the proper burial of his parents back in Spain. Antonio continues to play a rather emotionally distant part in his parents' lives, but then finds himself drawn further and further into the truth about his father's past which, ultimately, leads him to question his own past and the path his future might take. Full review...

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark by Glenda Millard