Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"
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|summary=In June 1913 Emily Wilding Davison ran out in front of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby: she died of her injuries. Her actions are often quoted in history books and whether you think her to be a suffragette martyr or a deluded woman, few are ignorant of her or what she did. But how many people remember the jockey who was up on that fateful day? Few will know his name, or that what happened at the Derby would haunt him for years to come as he believed himself responsible for killing Emily Davison. ''The King's Jockey'' is the story of Herbert 'Bertie' Jones, of the life which brought him to the Derby and of what happened in the years afterwards. | |summary=In June 1913 Emily Wilding Davison ran out in front of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby: she died of her injuries. Her actions are often quoted in history books and whether you think her to be a suffragette martyr or a deluded woman, few are ignorant of her or what she did. But how many people remember the jockey who was up on that fateful day? Few will know his name, or that what happened at the Derby would haunt him for years to come as he believed himself responsible for killing Emily Davison. ''The King's Jockey'' is the story of Herbert 'Bertie' Jones, of the life which brought him to the Derby and of what happened in the years afterwards. | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907947612</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907947612</amazonuk> | ||
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| + | |author=Nicola Killen | ||
| + | |title=I Got a Crocodile | ||
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| + | |summary=A lonely child wishes for a little brother or sister to play with, but ends up with a crocodile instead. The crocodile is messy and intrusive and soon starts making a nuisance of himself, causing trouble at teatime, bathtime and bedtime. Can the crocodile and the child get over their differences and become friends in the end? | ||
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|summary= Only a little while has passed since we last spent time with Touchstone, the touring theatre company that not only shows the audience the performance, but enables them to experience, feel and taste it as a 4D hallucination. This time they're being taken beyond their comfort zone as they're cornered into escorting a princess home from the foreign Continent. Meanwhile Cade Silversun is still getting his 'Elsewhens': the premonitions of alternative futures that come as nightmares and daydreams. Yes, Elsewhens, those things that warned him about a woman; the same woman that friend and colleague Mieka Windthistle is in love with. Indeed, Touchstone is forced to cope with foreign travel, foreign attitudes and, for some of them, the feeling that all isn't as it should be. | |summary= Only a little while has passed since we last spent time with Touchstone, the touring theatre company that not only shows the audience the performance, but enables them to experience, feel and taste it as a 4D hallucination. This time they're being taken beyond their comfort zone as they're cornered into escorting a princess home from the foreign Continent. Meanwhile Cade Silversun is still getting his 'Elsewhens': the premonitions of alternative futures that come as nightmares and daydreams. Yes, Elsewhens, those things that warned him about a woman; the same woman that friend and colleague Mieka Windthistle is in love with. Indeed, Touchstone is forced to cope with foreign travel, foreign attitudes and, for some of them, the feeling that all isn't as it should be. | ||
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Revision as of 18:51, 14 March 2013
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.
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The King's Jockey by Lesley Gray
In June 1913 Emily Wilding Davison ran out in front of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby: she died of her injuries. Her actions are often quoted in history books and whether you think her to be a suffragette martyr or a deluded woman, few are ignorant of her or what she did. But how many people remember the jockey who was up on that fateful day? Few will know his name, or that what happened at the Derby would haunt him for years to come as he believed himself responsible for killing Emily Davison. The King's Jockey is the story of Herbert 'Bertie' Jones, of the life which brought him to the Derby and of what happened in the years afterwards. Full review...
I Got a Crocodile by Nicola Killen
A lonely child wishes for a little brother or sister to play with, but ends up with a crocodile instead. The crocodile is messy and intrusive and soon starts making a nuisance of himself, causing trouble at teatime, bathtime and bedtime. Can the crocodile and the child get over their differences and become friends in the end? Full review...
Outsiders by Roberto Saviano, Carlo Lucarelli, Valeria Parrella, Piero Colaprico, Wu Ming, Simona Vinci
Outsiders is a collection of six pieces of writing by Italian authors. The pieces have been collated from a supplement to an Italian daily newspaper and six have been chosen around the theme of outsiders for translation into English. Thus, the pieces themselves were not written around this specific theme but have rather had this theme imposed on them in this collection. Since the outsider is often used in various forms by writers to observe the status quo, this is not a big leap of imagination. Full review...
Through Dead Eyes by Chris Priestley
After an unfortunate episode at school, Alex has joined his father on a business trip to Amsterdam. He had been hoping to spend some time with his father, but instead he is palmed off on Angelien, daughter of his father's new girlfriend. But Angelien is pretty and so Alex is quite happy to be shown around by her. When her boyfriend Dirk isn't around, that is. At an antique market, Alex finds himself drawn to an ancient-looking mask. He can't help but buy it. And once bought, he can't help but put it on. Full review...
The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer
For many of us, the Elizabethan age which comprised almost half of the Tudor era seems bathed in sunlight, the gilded era of Queen Elizabeth's 'sceptred isle'. It was the period in which Gloriana presided over Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the globe, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the literary epoch of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser and Sidney. Full review...
Burden of the Desert by Justin Huggler
Journalist Zoe Temple can't believe her luck when she's sent to Iraq to cover the birth of an emerging nation, not thinking that such luck can sometimes run out. Mahmoud earns his money driving journalists from story to story, sometimes only just escaping intact. However, the most dangerous thing he will ever do is fall in love. Rick Benes is one of the American soldiers on the news, his only ambition being to get his platoon home safely as Iraq's birth pangs are violent and unrelenting. And then there's Adel, a young Iraqi lad who never dreamt of violence; not until the day that Benes killed his family. Full review...
The Chicken and the Egg by Allan Plenderleith
Flo the chicken lived on a farm where every chicken laid one egg every day, except for Flo, that is. She tried everything - you'll see from the pictures that she really did try everything, but nothing worked. Then one day it rained and all the other chickens went into the coop but there was no room for Flo - so there was nothing left for her to do but hide under a tree. As the rain came down, so did something else and a really BIG egg landed right next to Flo. The other chickens were just a bit sceptical (the egg was bigger than Flo), but Flo was the maternal type and she loved that egg and cared for it all through the year. Then came the night when a predator came calling at the farm and Flo wouldn't leave her egg... Full review...
Thinking the Twentieth Century by Tony Judt and Timothy Snyder
In emulating historians from his geographical area of interest, Timothy Snyder poses questions to, and discusses ideas with, the highly esteemed British historian and writer Tony Judt, best known for his 2005 Postwar. This collaboration of the older and the younger thinker engenders the spoken book Thinking the Twentieth Century, a rather intriguing exploration of said time period. Each of its ten chapters begins with Judt’s narrative of a specific point in his personal life, and continues into debates of specific facets of history; a healthy mix of thematic and chronological approaches is used for the latter. Full review...
Killing Rachel: The Murder Notebooks by Anne Cassidy
Rose's mother and Josh's father - both members of the police cold case squad - have been missing for more than five years now. Although their bodies were never found, the authorities have always insisted that they are probably dead. But in the first book in this series, the step siblings find information that suggests Kathy and Brendan are still alive. So Rose, Josh and friend Skeggsie are pursuing every lead they have - including trying to decipher the cryptic notebooks they have discovered. Full review...
I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits
The date is 1939 and the place is what we know as Romania and Hungary. Young Zalman Stern is stopped by soldiers and for a moment he feels this is his last moment on Earth. Meanwhile, not too far away, one moment 5 year old Josef Lichtenstein is playing with his baby sister, the next his childhood is deleted by the same bigotry and blood that deletes her. One day their paths will meet. This is the story of Zalman, Josef, their descendants; their struggles, their beliefs; the cost of escape and the cost of remaining. Full review...
Fade To Black by Francis Knight
In a city hemmed in by mountains that's grown the only way it can - upwards - Rojan's job is to find people. Usually they're runaways or bounties, easy money and guilt free, just like Rojan likes it. But then Rojan's niece is taken, and despite never having met her, Rojan will do anything it takes to get her back. Full review...
Terrifying Tudors (Horrible Histories) by Terry Deary
I've always thought Terry Deary was years ahead of his time. He was writing books that boys really wanted to read many years before the current emphasis on boy friendly reading material and all the efforts to close the ever widening gender gap in reading. Horrible Histories have always been brilliant to motivate boys to read, but the older copies do show their age. Progress has been made in the way books are printed to make them more accessible to struggling readers over the last 20 years. Horrible Histories new editions celebrating 20 Horrible Years has addressed this issue and makes the books not only the type of books that boys want to read, but also the type of book that younger children or those with reading difficulties can read. Full review...
London Calling: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery by Sara Sheridan
Mirabelle Bevan is an intriguing character. Warm, resourceful and extremely clever, she spent her war years in intelligence (though not active duty) and then, as the war ended and her long-time lover died, she withdrew to the coast and the dubious joys of running a debt-collection agency. Accidentally getting involved in solving a major crime with her vibrant young companion Vesta gets her noticed, however, and it isn't long before she finds herself knee-deep in another mystery. A childhood friend flees London and an accusation of murder to beg Vesta and her employer to help him prove his innocence. This leads the intrepid pair into the world of smoky, music-filled basements and the black market, where they encounter criminals from all across the social spectrum. Full review...
I Know You're Going to be Happy: A Story of Love and Betrayal by Rupert Christiansen
Kathleen Lyon, whose family were respectable and hard working but with no claim to celebrity other than a distant relationship to the Earl of Clanmorris married Michael Christiansen, scion of a newspaper family, in a fashionable London church in 1948. Both were talented and successful journalists and they were very much in love. I know you're going to be happy, wrote a senior Fleet Street figure and Rupert Christiansen wryly points out that this was too tempting to fate. There were two children of the marriage and when Rupert was four and his sister Anna just a few months old Michael Christiansen announced to the family that a photographer from his paper would be coming to take pictures of them all that afternoon - and he then told his wife that their eleven-year marriage was over and he was leaving to live with his secretary. Full review...
The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg
Edie Middlestein almost has the American dream within her grasp. She trained as a lawyer, has a husband, a daughter who followed her professional footsteps and a son married to an ambitious wife who provided him with two high-achieving children. There are just two flies in the ointment preventing the dream's arrival: 1. Edie is so morbidly obese that she has to undergo surgery; and 2. this is the moment her husband chooses to leave her. Apart from that… Full review...
Modesty Blaise - The Girl In The Iron Mask by Peter O'Donnell
n this volume our globe-trotting heroine Modesty and her faithful Willie land up at a jungle hospital, only to find the people providing it with useful drugs are also creating their own much worse drugs nearby; find the Mafia just one man away from taking over Australia – and therefore give him a male and female tag team back-up; and stumble into the wicked games of a pair of corrupt, evil billionaires in the Alps. There is no let-up in the global shenanigans, the daring-do, or the whipcrack action – and we wouldn’t want it any other way… Full review...
One Seriously Messed-Up Weekend: In the Otherwise Un-Messed-Up Life of Jack Samsonite by Tom Clempson
Two years after the messed-up week described in the first Jack Samsonite book, things aren't all that different for our hero. He's still trying to get together with a girl - despite having ended book 1 in bed with someone, things didn't go as he would have wanted after that. He's also struggling at school again, and it's even more important than his attempts to pass his GCSEs were. This time, he needs to get into film school. He has a weekend to make a film, and he needs a girl to kiss, and at least one enemy to fight. Full review...
Requiem by Lauren Oliver
Out in the Wilds, Lena is now trying to cope with the return of her first love Alex along with her feelings for Julian, but these relationship issues take a backseat as life becomes very dangerous for her, and everyone else. Back in Portland, her friend Hana is set to marry the man who will become Mayor - a perfect pairing, surely? While both girls have changed a lot since the start of book one, the biggest changes are still to come... Full review...
The Colours of Corruption by Jacqueline Jacques
Mary, an impoverished cleaner, is witness to a murder. Archie is one of the first artists to work with the police and creates a picture of the man she says she saw. Taken by her looks he persuades Mary to sit for a portrait, but the man who buys the portraitwould rather buy Mary herself... Full review...
Harold Finds A Voice by Courtney Dicmas
Harold is a parrot, quite a talented parrot in fact. He is able to mimic almost anything with great accuracy. From the washing machine to the toaster, the vacuum cleaner to the phone Harold delights in imitating every single sound he hears in the apartment in which he lives. One day Harold decides that he has tired of all these familiar sounds and ventures out into the big city where is he delighted to discover a whole range of exciting new sounds for him to copy. However something is worrying Harold; despite all the many sounds he makes he is worried that he does not have a sound of his own. Surely he must have a voice and if he does what does it sound like? Full review...
Raining Fire by Alan Gibbons
Gangs have always dominated the Green, an inner-city estate with an ominous undercurrent of violence. Growing up in the Green, Ethan has never really known anything different; however, he has always harboured a hope to escape from the place, and his position on a professional football training programme might just give him the chance to do so. Unfortunately, the Green won't let him go so easily. Drawn into a violent feud between two major gangs, Ethan will have no choice but to play his part, if he doesn't want a gun put to the heads of everyone he cares about. Full review...
Giants: The Dwarfs of Auschwitz: The Extraordinary Story of the Lilliput Troupe by Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev
The title of this book does of course carry a sense of irony, although we never quite know exactly how much. When a man of diminutive stature was born in rural Romania in the 1860s nobody was to know what would happen to his lineage – there was no clue then that he would father ten children, and seven of them would inherit his genetic dwarfism. But history has pieced together all that followed, including the careers those children had as a performance troupe, belting out showtunes to their own accompaniment, and acting in their own tragi-comic skits. And then having the limelight stolen from them by the Nazis, and a transportation to Auschwitz. And then being surprisingly saved, and given what passed as a cushty life, fed and together, but tortured at the hands of the camp doctor, avidly researching anything he thought might shed clues on what singled out his Aryan race's genetic destiny. I say the amount of irony is unknown because we are not told exactly how short these little characters are – but he, the doctor, would have known. As one of the more ominous sentences you'll read all year has it – 'Mengele had plans for them'. Full review...
Keras by Simon Rae
Ever since reading The Enchanted Wood as I child, I always enjoyed stories about children who had the freedom to explore the world and go off finding adventures, unencumbered by the protective restrictions that most children face. Fantasy indeed, but this kind of world without limits often produces the most imaginative and memorable childhood tales. Full review...
Rotten Romans (Horrible Histories) by Terry Deary
'History with all the nasty bits left in' is the catch phrase for Terry Deary's Horrible Histories series. Deary hasn't just left the nasty bits in, he has built a whole series around them. His stories are gruesome, revolting, vile and disgusting at times. That is precisely why the children love them. But underneath all of the nasty bits, there is quite a lot of history as well. Rotten Romans covers an area of history I am fairly well versed in. Even so, I learned a few things myself. At ages 4 and 8, my sons certainly learned a lot more. This book is equally enjoyable for young children with no prior knowledge of Roman history - or an adult who has actively studied this period. Full review...
Aprons and Silver Spoons by Mollie Moran
At the tender age of 14, young Mollie Browne was forced to put her idyllic childhood behind her and embark on the world of work. Rebellious and strong-willed, young Mollie had no intentions of working in her grandmother’s shop as her parents had planned and sought to escape her small-town life in rural Norfolk. Fortunately for Mollie, a position was available for a scullery maid in a townhouse in Kensington. Would this free spirit manage to make the transition from carefree days climbing trees to working 15 hour sessions of repetitive, back-breaking toil? Full review...
Itch Rocks by Simon Mayo
Itchingham Lofte, we are told, is the most protected boy in the world. While I hadn't read the first book about him, we are snappily and easily informed that he has previously been involved in an adventure regarding a very rare chemical – element 126 – and the various people that would control it. While it's obvious to all those in his Cornish village and at his school that something major happened, due to him disappearing for a couple of months of specialised medical care, and returning with an MI5 armed guard constantly at watch over him and his family, only those few people (mum, dad, sister, tomboy cousin, and his various guards) have any idea of what has happened. Oh, and of course a couple of enemies resilient enough to turn up for the sequel… Full review...
The Day I Met Suzie by Chris Higgins
Everyone takes an instant dislike to Suzie Grey, the new girl at college. There's just something about her that makes people's skin crawl. Everyone, that is, save Indie. Indie is a soft touch. She just can't help herself. She's a sucker for a sob story and most of her hard-earned wages from her part-time job at the salon go on bailing out her boyfriend's many disasters. Indie feels sorry for Suzie, this mousy, hard-done-by girl, and she takes her under her wing. Full review...
The Forbidden Queen by Anne O'Brien
Katherine de Valois is the young and innocent girl betrothed to Henry V of England. While Henry doesn't love her, she thinks she can be happy with him. Unfortunately, though, she quickly finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage, then finds an even worse fate in store as Henry is killed and she is left a lonely young widow. With political machinations dogging her every step as men like Edmund Beaufort and Owen Tudor catch her eye. Can she be happy with one of them, or will those people at court who don't want to see any man gain the power that would come with marrying the mother of the young king foil her hopes? Full review...
Veg Street: Grow Your Own Community by Naomi Schillinger
As a child Naomi Schillinger helped her parents to grow fruit and vegetables in their South London garden and the urge to grow resurfaced when she had her own property. It wasn't just the growing which she remembered, but the sharing of the produce and sense of community which went with it. Soon after starting to grow food for herself she was a prime mover in getting whole streets involved in growing fruit and vegetables in their front gardens, making the most of recycled materials and free seeds and compost. When we're constantly urged to reduce food miles what could be better than growing your food (quite literally) on your own doorstep? Full review...
Waiting For Gonzo by Dave Cousins
Oz is newly arrived in the sleepy village of Slowleigh. At first, he wishes life there was more exciting, but drawing a moustache on a photo of schoolmate Isobel Skinner - nicknamed Psycho - might bring him the wrong sort of excitement. Someone else who's wishing her life was rather less exciting is his sister Meg, who's hiding a secret which Oz knows but her parents don't - can he survive Psycho and help his sister? Full review...
Sun Catcher by Sheila Rance
The Bronze Age is an intriguing time, where the fight for survival and the harshness of greed and war co-exist seamlessly with the fabrication of beautiful artefacts and a profound belief in occult mysteries tied to the seasons and the natural world. Tareth, the crippled weaver, earns his keep in the community which rescued him and his daughter from the sea by making and dying brightly coloured cloths to sell at the annual Gather. But he has another, more secret skill. While Maia sleeps he spends his nights, almost against his own will, weaving an extraordinary silken garment for her, one which whispers to her of her far-away home and her dark destiny. For she is no ordinary girl but a princess of the Eagle People and the chosen heir to the sun stone. This stone is a revered and powerful crystal which is needed to channel the sun and use it to warm the land at the end of each winter, and without it famine and cold reign eternally. At the same time, it extracts a terrible price from the Catcher, causing her intense pain and eventually blinding her. In a bid to protect the infant Maia from her fate Tareth stole and hid the stone, and fled with her across the sea. Full review...
Between The Lines by Tammara Webber
Emma is a seventeen year old actress, thrust into the spotlight in a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with a co-star who half of America's teens are drooling over. Reid is a Hollywood heartthrob with an ego the size of Los Angeles and a reputation as a player. When the two meet, sparks fly - but can Emma trust the superstar, or would she be better off going for the less-exciting but more sensible Graham? Full review...
Christopher's Bicycle by Charlotte Middleton
Something is going on in the shed! Christopher Nibble (the guinea pig) wonders what his dad is doing in there, banging and crashing about. And his mum too has some secret sewing project going on. What on earth could they be up to? Worry not, for all is revealed when Christopher is presented with his very own brand new recycled bicycle! Full review...
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
Sage Singer is scarred both mentally and physically and has never really got over her mother's death. She works as a baker as the night work allows her to hide away from people and sleep in daylight hours, but she does develop one friendship which probably only happens because it seems non-threatening. Josef Weber, pillar of the local community, attends the same grief counselling group as Sage - and he's in his nineties. But when Sage relaxes into the relationship Josef tells her about himself and asks her to help him to die. Sage is shocked at the request and then repelled as Josef tells her more of his story. Full review...
The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks
Linus is taken from the streets simply for having done a good turn. While patrolling his usual haunt at Liverpool Street station - there are often good pickings for the homeless there - he offers to help a blind man loading a van. He wakes up feeling dreadful with vague memories of a pad soaked in anaesthetic held over his mouth and nose. It appears he's in some kind of underground bunker. A lift is the only way in and out. At first, Linus thinks he has been kidnapped for ransom - this particular street kid has a rich and famous father. But then the lift opens and a young girl appears, having been similarly drugged. Over the next few days, four more people arrive. Full review...
Never Ever by Jo Empson
The little girl in this story is firmly convinced of the fact that nothing ever, EVER happens to her. Nothing interesting anyway. We meet her walking through the countryside with her stuffed rabbit, moaning about the lack of excitement in her life. Yet whilst she's complaining, what's that we can see? In the field of pigs behind her there's one with wings, flying in the sky! Has she noticed? No, she hasn't! She continues to walk on, telling us how there is never, ever any excitement and of course there are more and more things happening around her that she's just not noticing. Will she ever discover that her life is perhaps one of the most exciting in the world?! Full review...
Glass Thorns - Elsewhens (Glass Thorns 2) by Melanie Rawn
Only a little while has passed since we last spent time with Touchstone, the touring theatre company that not only shows the audience the performance, but enables them to experience, feel and taste it as a 4D hallucination. This time they're being taken beyond their comfort zone as they're cornered into escorting a princess home from the foreign Continent. Meanwhile Cade Silversun is still getting his 'Elsewhens': the premonitions of alternative futures that come as nightmares and daydreams. Yes, Elsewhens, those things that warned him about a woman; the same woman that friend and colleague Mieka Windthistle is in love with. Indeed, Touchstone is forced to cope with foreign travel, foreign attitudes and, for some of them, the feeling that all isn't as it should be. Full review...
