Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"
| Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
'''Read [[Features|new features]].''' | '''Read [[Features|new features]].''' | ||
__NOTOC__ | __NOTOC__ | ||
| + | {{newreview | ||
| + | |author=Simon Heffer | ||
| + | |title=Strictly English: The correct way to write ... and why it matters | ||
| + | |rating=4 | ||
| + | |genre=Business and Finance | ||
| + | |summary=As a child I was taught English grammar. I began by resenting it but gradually I appreciated the subtlety and nuances of expression that could be achieved by the correct use of language. I loved the fact that I could say something precisely and convey exactly what I meant in a few words. And then I was stunned to find that there was no longer the same emphasis on grammar in schools, that freedom of expression was encouraged without worrying about the form it took – and now I regularly encounter official letters, even books where the English language is subjected to grievous bodily harm. It isn't difficult to get right – it just requires a little knowledge, a logical mind and practice. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099537931</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
| + | |||
{{newreview | {{newreview | ||
|author=Melanie Watt | |author=Melanie Watt | ||
Revision as of 13:55, 28 October 2011
Hello from The Bookbag, a book review 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.
There are currently 16,117 reviews at TheBookbag.
Want to find out more about us?
New Reviews
Read new reviews by genre.
Read new features.
Strictly English: The correct way to write ... and why it matters by Simon Heffer
As a child I was taught English grammar. I began by resenting it but gradually I appreciated the subtlety and nuances of expression that could be achieved by the correct use of language. I loved the fact that I could say something precisely and convey exactly what I meant in a few words. And then I was stunned to find that there was no longer the same emphasis on grammar in schools, that freedom of expression was encouraged without worrying about the form it took – and now I regularly encounter official letters, even books where the English language is subjected to grievous bodily harm. It isn't difficult to get right – it just requires a little knowledge, a logical mind and practice. Full review...
Scaredy Squirrel has a Birthday Party by Melanie Watt
Scaredy Squirrel is planning a birthday party - his own - but he's not a very brave squirrel and thinks that the safest thing to do for his party will be to celebrate, by himself, in his tree. Very safe. Very far away from any possible danger, like ants or Bigfoot or confetti. Very far away indeed from unfunny clownfish, ponies and porcupines. But then Scaredy's friend Buddy sends him a lovely birthday card and all of the plans for the party have to change. Full review...
The Tangle Fairy by Seema Barker
Jaya, just like every little girl in the land, brushes her hair before bed but wakes up with all sorts of knots and tangles. When Jaya asks her mummy how this can be, the simple explanation is 'The Tangle Fairy'. Full review...
Time For Dinner by June Morley
I was beginning to wonder when I would see a book that addressed the sticky (pardon the pun) issue of the food chain. I mean, the reception and pre-schooler set seem pretty au fait with being cooked and eaten by giants whose sleep is disturbed, or by nasty, warty, smelly old witches who live in the woods waiting for a hapless brother and sister to wander past the door, so I was very keen to see how Morley got into the detail of this particular stumbling block. Full review...
How to Watch the Olympics: Scores and laws, heroes and zeros – an instant initiation to every sport by David Goldblatt and Johnny Acton
Are you planning an Olympic telefest for a few weeks in July 2012? Are you one of the lucky people who have tickets to their chosen events? Or are you one of those many people who are genuinely confused by the rules, or the scoring and who would like to know a little more so that they can understand what it's all about? If so, you should look no further. We have the book for you. Whether you're heading for London or going no further than the television we have the background to the sports. Full review...
Sixes and Sevens by John Yeoman and Quentin Blake
'Sixes and Sevens' was originally published in 1971 but the fact it’s still doing the rounds is a testament to the longevity of the rhyming writing style and the simply fabulous illustrations by Quentin Blake. I grew up on a diet of books illustrated by Blake and it was a joy to revisit his style in the pages of this book with the next generation of my family; my 4 year old, Sadie. Full review...
Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder
The first chapter is enough. I don't mean the preface, or introduction, that mean you start reading chapter one about an hour in, but chapter one itself, detailing as it does the way Stalin blatantly enforced collectivization on Ukraine's farms, thus killing off millions of local civilians. The seed stock ended up being taken away as part of the grain quota to feed the rest of the Soviet Union, and hardly anybody failed to go without at some point as a result. The first chapter here, then, is more than enough in telling us what we didn't know, explaining perfectly lucidly yet academically how and why what happened happened, and at times of quite gruesome anecdote and contemporary reportage, churning our stomachs and making us have second thoughts about reading on. Full review...
Sherlock Holmes: The Breath of God by Guy Adams
A body is discovered in London. The young gentleman concerned, a Mr Hilary De Montfort, had enjoyed a good life: no money problems for example and as far as anyone can ascertain, no enemies either. The motive is therefore fuzzy at best. The state of his body when it was discovered was bizarre - it looked as if he'd been hurled from a great height, even although he'd been discovered in an open space around Grosvenor Square. And in the words of Dr Watson himself (it is he who narrates in the main) ' ... as varied as our capital might be, it will always be found wanting of mountain ranges.' Full review...
The Very Picture Of You by Isabel Wolff
Ella is a portrait painter, living in London, single but ok with it. She’s 35 years old – a fact wedged rather unsubtly into the first page of chapter one – and her younger sister is getting married. It could be the start of something a bit samey, or it could be the start of something a bit special. Lucky for us, it’s the second one, and the story develops in an intriguing and quite unusual direction. Full review...
The Silent Owl by Clemency Pearce and Sam McPhillips
Owl is silent. Not a hoot. Not a twit or a twoo. Nothing. The other forest animals are worried about him, and try to provoke him into saying something, but Owl remains silent. Full review...
Little Penguin Learns to Swim by Dubravka Kolanovic and Eilidh Rose
Little Penguin has an important day ahead of him, for today he is going to go swimming for the first time. He's a little bit scared, but as he sets off to the water he meets several friends along the way, all of whom are also trying out something new. As he sees each of them succeed in their endeavours, will he also find the courage to try and swim himself? Full review...
The Smile on the Face of the Pig: Confessions of the Last Cub Reporter by John Bull
John Bull was born in the mid thirties – old enough to be able to say that he was bombed in his cradle but young enough not to be directly involved. He was one of the last cub reporters – after that they changed the name – and 'The Smile on the Face of the Pig' is the story of his time as a reporter, a National Serviceman, a husband and father in the nineteen fifties. It's a gentle, nostalgic look back at a decade when life was different. There might have been more hardships – but it's difficult to say that it was harder and this book is a reminder for those of us who were around at the time of what it was really like. Full review...
You Kant Make it Up!: Strange Ideas from History's Greatest Philosophers by Gary Hayden
In You Kant Make it Up, journalist and philosopher Gary Hayden takes his readers through some of the biggest and most important ideas right from the very beginnings of philosophical thought up to the philosophy of the modern day. He gives a brief explanation and discussion of each idea, and shows how through the ages philosophers have argued pretty much everything you could think of, much of which seems bizarre to the modern thinker. Full review...
Ripley's Believe It or Not! 2012 by Robert Leroy Ripley
Here at Bookbag we don't usually cover annuals. In our experience people either know they want them or don't bother with them and once the year is out there's not a lot of interest in them, particularly if they're based on a character which might well have gone out of fashion. Ripley's Believe It Or Not! is different. The series is about interesting facts – all of which are true - which are going to surprise the readers and will continue to surprise them years down the line. Just to test this out we had a look back at the 2010 edition and it's still as shocking, gruesome and downright compulsive as it was when we first saw it. Full review...
Supper With The President by Ian Mathie
It's such a pleasure to read an Ian Mathie book, so I really looked forward to 'Supper with the President'. No surprises, then, to find this book every bit as delightful, intriguing and informative as his others. Ian Mathie knows exactly how to stitch up a good story; the occasional photographs - proving the stories are not fiction – come almost as a surprise. The books are helpfully illustrated with simple maps placing the stories in geographical context. To me, Ian Mathie is simply the best of the relatively unknown writers I have come across as a reviewer. Interestingly, the two men in my household grab and devour Ian Mathie's books, and I imagine anyone interested in development issues and/or Africa would welcome one or two of his titles for Christmas. Full review...
How to Write and Sell Great Short Stories by Linda M James
Having read any number of books about crafting great stories, I thought I had had my fill and that there were no more books left that could bolster my enthusiasm and help me to get on with my writing. In short, I thought the only thing left that could motivate me was, well, me. Full review...
A Case of Witchcraft by Joe Revill
As Holmes embarks on a journey towards the Northern Isles, we are treated to a comprehensive background of the ways of witches all over the world; all points are pertinent and the history is fascinating as well as necessary. The introduction to the ways of witchcraft demonstrates the worldwide links that will become highly significant later. Revill weaves in the relevant history and all its complications with ease, and the novel flows in spite of having to accommodate this. Full review...
Dark Lord: The Teenage Years by Jamie Thomson
What would you think, if you met a thirteen-year-old boy who turned up out of the blue and insisted, loudly and colourfully, that he was an evil demon and that he intended to smite you dead or submit you to a thousand terrible torments? Or both? Yup – the kid's nuttier than a fruit cake. Got a screw loose. Several sandwiches short of a picnic. And he's clearly played way too many computer games in his short life. So, despite his threats and protestations, he's got to go into foster care until his real family is found: after all, he can't be left sitting in a car park forever, can he? And once you realise there is no sign of a relative anywhere, well, there's his education to consider. Full review...
Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru
Quite literally at the heart of Hari Kunzru's latest novel stands not a person, but strange geographical feature in the California desert - three large rocks known as 'The Pinnacles'. If you've ever looked at a feature of the landscape and wonder what it has meant to those who have gone before, then you will find a similar stance here. Kunzru's episodic narrative takes in various points in time from 1775 to 2009 all of which centre around this rock structure which has had different meanings for different generations. There are echoes of the past in each new version, but no more than that. Full review...
Hunt for the Blower Bentley by Kevin Gosselin
Connecticut innkeeper Faston Hanks is obsessive. He's very keen on food but it's cars – and particularly old cars – which drive him. This time he's involved in the search for the only one of the fifty Blower Bentleys made which remains unaccounted for. SM3912 was originally purchased by Lord Brougham and Vaux and ownership can be traced to one D H Sessions, after which the trail goes cold. We know something which Faston doesn't know though – the Bentley came into the hands of Stephan Sidlow, who was high up in the APR during World War II, by less than honest means. But then Sidlow was less than honest about which side he was supporting in the war. Full review...
Lost Christmas by David Logan
We don't usually review novelisations hereabouts. We don't have anything against them but we can't review everything and so novels whose original form is another media altogether fall victim to editorial weeding. But sometimes you just can't resist making an exception. Lost Christmas is coming to your TV screens via CBBC this Christmas and it just looks gorgeous - watch the trailer on the right of this review! And Quercus have given this novelisation - from the film's writer David Logan - an equally gorgeous dinky hardback release with a doubly gorgeous cover. Full review...
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
Set in the last desperate days before the Roman siege on Masada (70CE), the lives of four women collide and merge. They are Yael, the daughter of a Sicarii assassin; Revka, the wife of a gentle baker who witnessed her daughters' rape and murder; Aziza, raised as a boy with the skills of a great warrior and Shirah, born in Alexandria to a mother well versed in ancient magic. All four have crossed the heartless desert on separate journeys to arrive at the last outpost against the Roman Legion, where 900 Jews held out for many, many months. Here they have little power and less hope, but each refuses to be a victim. All are harbouring deep secrets about their pasts, as they become the Masada's dovekeepers. With supplies dwindling and certain death drawing near, their uneasy bonds to each other strengthen as their truths are unveiled. They find an uneasy comfort that becomes true loyalty and empowerment. While few in their company survive to recount the tale, their story has lived on to haunt the deepest of memories. Full review...
Fire World by Chris d'Lacey
David Rain is an impressionable, imaginative boy who can imagineer (that is, visualise objects and make them solid). He is a threat to the highly organised society of Co:pern:ica, particularly to the terrifying Aunts who control society on behalf of the Higher, and his parents are blamed for their own faulty emotions, thoughts and abilities, and punished. David is sent to the librarium, the repository for obsolete books, where he meets a mysterious girl called Rosa. She will play a part, along with the beautiful but threatening firebirds and unexpected members of David's own family, in discovering the secrets of the ancient tapestry of the librarium and confronting threatening forces from Co:pern:ica and beyond. Full review...
Empire: What Ruling the World Did to the British by Jeremy Paxman
In the 21st century, the British Empire may be an anachronism, something for which hand-wringing politicians and church leaders may be ever ready to apologise. Many of us have grown up just as the last imperial remnants were crumbling away. Yet its legacy is everywhere, and for better or worse will always be part of the very fabric of Britain. As Jeremy Paxman demonstrates in this excellent overview, published as a curtain-raiser to his series on the subject, it is never very far away from us. After a period of trying to distance ourselves from it, we seem to be on the verge of coming to terms with the simple truth that it was not so bad as it has sometimes been painted. Moreover, it should be remembered that even if Britain emerged from the Second World War battered and broke, it still possessed sufficient imperial presence to become one of the Permanent Five on the United Nations Security Council. Full review...
Shadowblood: A Novel Of Sherlock Holmes by Tracy Revels
For those picking up a Tracy Revels novel for the first time, she writes Sherlock Holmes fiction with the twist that Holmes is a supernatural being, coming from the Shadows. In the hugely enjoyable romp Shadowfall, Watson discovered this, and was plunged headlong into an adventure involving Titania, Spring-Heeled Jack, voodoo, and various other dark and mysterious beings. That one ended with the good doctor losing his memory of the story – but I was always hoping that was merely a temporary measure, and indeed, it’s not long here before he starts to recall Holmes’ true nature. Full review...
Geek Wisdom by Stephen H Segal
I am by no means a fully fledged geek, but on the Big Bang scale I'm probably more of a Leonard than a Penny. I was weaned on Star Trek , chose Hitchhiker’s Guide... as my reading aloud piece for a Year 7 exam, and think it would be more than a little fun to take a trip to Comic Con. At the same time, there are gaping holes in my knowledge. My first celeb crush might have been Blake’s 7’s Villa but I've never seen a Batman film, never read a comic book, never quite understood what all the Star Wars fuss was about. If Sci Fi is a religion, then this is the book that can fill me in one the stories, the parables, the rules, as it were, of geekdom. I had to have it. Full review...
The Things We Cherished by Pam Jenoff
The rather sentimental title and Mills & Boon-ish front cover did not endear me to this book initially. The blurb on the back cover made up for this, however. The story opens - at the end, if you get my drift and we're in America in 2009. An elderly man called Roger is in prison, awaiting trial for (alleged) war crimes. Charlotte has been assigned to the case. Although she's a hot-shot lawyer she also has a conscience (unlike many of her colleagues) so therefore she's a bit of a rare breed. Full review...
Runelight by Joanne Harris
Runelight continues several years after Runemarks left off. The rescue of the gods has left a rift between the Worlds which allows demons and assorted ephemera to escape from Chaos into Malbry and spread towards World's End, a lawless city now it has no Order to maintain it. With Odin dead and the surviving gods power-stripped and forced to inhabit bodies of Folk, there is little chance of re-establishing Order. And with the End of the Worlds prophesied in just twelve days, the task of rebuilding Asgard and preventing it is Herculean. Full review...
The Complete Philosophy Files by Stephen Law
The Philosophy Files and The Philosophy Files 2 were first published in 2000 and 2003 respectively. Now we have them combined and reissued with illustrations by the wonderful Daniel Postgate. Full review...
The Wine of Solitude by Irene Nemirovsky
Helene adores her father but hates her mother, who neglects her and sees her as nothing more than an inconvenience. She grows up with the realisation that the only way that her mother can hurt her is to sack her French governess – the only person who has ever tried to give Helene a stable upbringing. The winds of war blow them all from a fictional Kiev, to a harsh St Petersburg and on to a snowy Finland to end up – finally – in France at the end of the First World War. Helene's father has made a lot of money from mining in Siberia but whilst the family might have money – ridiculous amounts of it – they have nothing else. Full review...
Ashes by Ilsa Bick
Alex is hiking in the wilderness when it all kicks off. Suffering from a brain tumour and with only Aunt Hannah to care about, she has a mission to complete before it's too late. She is enjoying - as much as she could enjoy anything - the solitude and her memories, cruelly truncated by the cancer, which come in tiny, sparkling, precious moments. And then comes the zap. A catastrophic electromagnetic pulse sweeps across the globe and destroys almost everything. There are few survivors and most of those who do make it through have become psychotic, flesh-eating monsters. Those who haven't changed are in terrible trouble. Society is in ruins, all communication has broken down, and the flesh-eaters are hunting. Full review...
Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
First things first. There's only one story in this collection about Cold Comfort Farm. This is a story about the farm before Flora Poste arrives, a 'prequel' if you like. It features the Starkadder family at Christmas, with a dispute over a coffin-nail and it did make me smile. I suspect it is one for fans, however. For instance, the appearance of a teenage Dick Hawk-Monitor, already in love with Elfine, shoots a knowing wink at the devoted but would leave most readers cold. Full review...
It's Fine By Me by Per Petterson
We see Audun start his new school in Oslo. The building, the classrooms, the teachers, even the other pupils all seem to scare him. He refuses to conform and insists on wearing his sunglasses - indoors. It's not an affectation though, apparently he has some facial scarring around his eyes. Full review...
The Sleeping Army by Francesca Simon
When Francesca Simon was invited to write about anything she liked, she decided to put the Lewis chessmen at the centre of an adventure. They have long fascinated her, and she has always wondered why they look so glum and worried. Add to this the fact (which she admitted in a recent interview for the Guardian) that if she were left alone in the British Museum she would want to touch everything, pick up everything and generally run amok (rather like that naughty Loki the Trickster, not to mention an equally horrid young boy called Henry . . .) and the seeds of her story were sown. Full review...
River Cottage Veg Every Day! by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall wants to make it clear that River Cottage: Veg Every Day! is a vegetable cookbook and that it's up to the reader to determine whether or not it's a vegetarian cookbook. He makes it quite clear that he's not a vegetarian and has no intention of becoming one, but for the four months which it took to film the series of which this is the book he didn't touch a scrap of meat or fish. It's a new Hugh, but the slimmed-down version is the result of a conscious decision before filming began rather than the consequences of the change of diet. The new hairstyle has yet to be explained… Full review...
