Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"
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| + | |author=Lucy Murphy, Freddie Hutchins, Neil Dunnicliffe and Stella Gurney | ||
| + | |title=The Big, Big Bing Book! | ||
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| + | |summary=We've all seen books described as big. It usually means that the book is a bit bigger than usual, or thicker, or it's a bind up of some previously-published books. That's not the case with ''The Big, Big Bing Book!'' It could well be bigger than your toddler at nearly two feet high and over fifteen inches wide and weighing in at well over a kilo. You need ''space'' to open it. This is not the book you take along on a trip just chance a little distraction is needed from the Bingster. It might be a book which is pored over - it's almost certainly going to be a book which is ''crawled'' over as that's likely to be the only way that your toddler is going to be able to give the content the attention which they will feel that it so richly deserves. | ||
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|summary=When you pick up a children's book, sometimes things feels a little off. Books for kids can be almost too sickly sweet; the characters have massive eyes and enjoy themselves too much. Who has that much fun in one day? What is wrong with Divya Srinivasan's ''Little Owl's Colors''? Perhaps it is the lack of attention to detail when printing a book for the UK market? Colour me perplexed. | |summary=When you pick up a children's book, sometimes things feels a little off. Books for kids can be almost too sickly sweet; the characters have massive eyes and enjoy themselves too much. Who has that much fun in one day? What is wrong with Divya Srinivasan's ''Little Owl's Colors''? Perhaps it is the lack of attention to detail when printing a book for the UK market? Colour me perplexed. | ||
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Revision as of 11:32, 12 October 2015
The Bookbag
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 16,120 reviews at TheBookbag.
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The Big, Big Bing Book! by Lucy Murphy, Freddie Hutchins, Neil Dunnicliffe and Stella Gurney
We've all seen books described as big. It usually means that the book is a bit bigger than usual, or thicker, or it's a bind up of some previously-published books. That's not the case with The Big, Big Bing Book! It could well be bigger than your toddler at nearly two feet high and over fifteen inches wide and weighing in at well over a kilo. You need space to open it. This is not the book you take along on a trip just chance a little distraction is needed from the Bingster. It might be a book which is pored over - it's almost certainly going to be a book which is crawled over as that's likely to be the only way that your toddler is going to be able to give the content the attention which they will feel that it so richly deserves. Full review...
Edward IV: Glorious Son of York by Jeffrey James
Medieval England's own game of thrones, The Wars of the Roses, was at the centre of a turbulent age. In retrospect much of the history of medieval England, between the Norman conquest and the advent of the Tudors, seems to have been a chronicle of instability often verging on and sometimes erupting into rebellion or civil war. The fifteenth-century conflicts between the houses of Lancaster and York, lasting intermittently for thirty years, were more protracted and even more brutal than the rest, with several fierce battles and sudden changes of fortune for the two rival families, both descended from King Edward III. The rise, fall and rise again of King Edward IV was a constant theme of the wars. Full review...
West by Julia Franck and Anthea Bell (translator)
Put yourself in the shoes of a young mother to two children, who declares her intention to leave the Communist East Germany for West Berlin, and thus loses her scientist job. What would you expect on the other side – shops full of attainable products, pleasant neighbourhoods, nice neighbours, an active and busy new life, where things might feel alien but at least you speak the same language? Well, for Nelly Senff, this is hardly the case. Once past the depressing Eastern exit procedures she is confronted with more desultory interrogations from those 'welcoming' her to the West, beyond which she and her children (their father, whom she never married, is long assumed dead by the authorities, if nobody else) are practically left in a shared accommodation in a transit camp. The shops are full of what is still unobtainable, the children hate their new school – and people still look down on them as being foreign, even if they have only moved across a city. Full review...
New Words for Old: Recycling Our Language for the Modern World by Caroline Taggart
I never declare myself off to have a 'kip', as I recall reading that it originally meant the same amount of sleeping – and activity – as happens in a whorehouse. The word 'cleave' can mean either to split apart, or to connect together, and I'm sure there's another word that has completely changed its meaning from one end of things to another although I can't remember which. Certainly, literally has tried its best to make a full switch through rampant misuse. Such is the nature of our language – fluid both in spelling until moderately recently, and definitely in meaning. This attempt at capturing a corner of the trivia/words/novelty market is interested in such tales from the etymological world – the way we have adapted old words for our own, modern and perhaps very different usages. Certainly, having browsed it over a week, I can declare it a pretty strong attempt. Full review...
Realm Divided: A Year in the Life of Plantagenet England by Dan Jones
1215 has gone down in history as the year of Magna Carta, the result of King John's increasingly discontented barons attempts to exert control over their wayward and stubborn monarch. John had succeeded to the throne of England in 1199, at the end of an often turbulent century. His father, Henry II, had succeeded in restoring the authority of the crown after almost twenty years of civil war between the supporters of two rival claimants to the kingdom. He had inherited a challenging set on both sides of the Channel, and within four years had been driven out of most of the French ones, notably the duchy of Normandy. Posterity would bestow on him the unflattering nicknames 'John Softsword' and later 'John Lackland'. Full review...
Is it Christmas Yet? by Jane Chapman
Ted is excited. Well, let's be honest - he's out of control, dashing around the house and yelling Faster, Rudolph, Faster. Poor Rudolph is in Ted's truck for the moment, but he's looking as worried as all the other toys. Christmas is coming, but the trouble is that it's not coming fast enough. And then the questions start. Poor Big Bear is bombarded with Is it Christmas yet? every few minutes. Big Bear's more patient than I could be and keeps saying soon in a soothing voice which eventually turns to a growl. Explaining what needs to be done before Christmas arrives doesn't help, as Ted offers to help. And we all know how much help that sort of help is... Full review...
Shopaholic to the Rescue by Sophie Kinsella
After a year of waiting (and somewhat frantic googling for the release date), Becky returns with the latest in the Shopaholic series, and guess what? It was completely worth the wait. Full review...
Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham
On a transatlantic liner, an American points out Crowdy Lobbett and predicts that he will have been murdered within a fortnight. Indeed he places a bet on it. It seems like a safe bet: retired Judge Lobbett has been the subject of four near misses so far: four attempts on his life that have misfired and killed someone close to him. His children have persuaded him to take a trip to England in an attempt to keep him somewhat safer, for a while at least. Full review...
Frank Sinatra: An Extraordinary Life by Spencer Leigh
Frank Sinatra was undoubtedly a legend. In a notoriously precarious profession, he managed to stay at the top, or very close to it, for a remarkably long time. Despite a few half-hearted flirtations with other styles which may have strayed a little from his comfort zone, he remained true to his musical style, won the respect of younger generations, and never really went out of fashion. Full review...
The All New University Challenge Quiz Book: Questions, Answers, Facts, Figures and everything in between by Steve Tribe
[Cue theme music. Lights up on presenter, who waffles on about establishments providing contestants – De Montfort University, local pub, family unit. Contestants don't, for once, introduce themselves as it's probably a given that they know each other. Contestants imbibe nervous sips of 'water', and settle back.] You all know the rules, so let's not waste time – here's your first starter for ten.
Yes, this book throws no punches and attempts to put you in the spotlight of one of the nation's most superlative televisual institutions – but does it manage it? Full review...
Style Guide: Fashion From Head to Toe by Natasha Slee and Becca Stadtlander
In Style Guide: Fashion from Head to Toe we have a guided tour through fashion from the eighteen nineties to about 2010, taking a decade or so at a time and exploring several aspects of each decade. For instance the period 1890 to 1914 is divided into The Belle Epoque, Out and About and The Orient. Each division has a picture to be coloured but rather than being a picture of one garment, there's a montage of garments and accessories from the period: The Orient has eight different pictures - of the triangle bag, a fur-trimmed shawl, kimono, pleated gown, a folding fan, a Ballet Russes costume and slippers and finally a turban. On the reverse of each picture is a key. The article is numbered on the main picture and in the corresponding key you'll find some historical information and some colour details. Full review...
Catlantis by Anna Starobinets, Andrzej Klimowski and Jane Bugaeva (translator)
Meet Baguette. Despite the name, he's a cat living in central Moscow, with a human family, on the twelfth floor of a high-rise. His place to perch is somehow between the two panes that make up a high window, half in and half out of the room, watching the world and its birds go by. But there's a part to that world he knows nothing about – the whole mythology of cats and catlife. Cats had possession of their own land, Catlantis, a place suitable for such sacred creatures to exist. Flowers gave them extra lives, up to a maximum of nine, just by you sniffing them. But all that is in the past – and that's where Baguette must go, for the whole future of catdom hangs in the balance of him going back to right wrongs, and find what was long forgotten about both his and everyone else's destiny. And all he wants is the paw of his sweetheart in marriage. You might think you know the lengths to which a cat will go for love, but you won't have read the likes of this… Full review...
Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie
Tediously captivating may not sound like the most compelling recommendation for a book you've ever heard. Yet it's the nearest I can come to summing up the style of this novel, which features some of the most beautiful language and imagery I've ever read whilst telling a story which moves at a glacial pace. Full review...
Harry Potter: The Character Vault by Jody Revenson
Unlock new information about your favourite characters from the Harry Potter film series. This coffeetable book profiles the good, bad, and everything in between – from Harry and Ron to Voldemort and Umbridge. Hugely detailed and filled with beautiful illustrations, images, and never before seen glimpses into the design process – this book will answer your questions about character design in the Harry Potter series. Full review...
Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead
The book opens with a prologue about an eight year old Bridget Barsamian, who woke up in hospital following a horrific and life threatening traffic accident involving roller skates and New York traffic. Bridget is told by a nurse that she is lucky to be alive and that she must have survived the accident for a reason. Bridget, who has no real memory of the accident, has to miss a year of school and on her return, tells everyone she now wants to be known as Bridge, as, I don't feel like Bridget anymore. Full review...
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, Lucie Arnoux and Misha Hoekstra (translator)
Listen closely! We're about to begin. Once upon a time, the devil created a hellish mirror, which only showed evil, ill intent and ugliness, and which was en route to Heaven to cast a new light on it when it shattered. One of the people affected by the numerous shards was Kai, who abandoned his childhood friend Gerda, and went off with the Snow Queen. Gerda was forlorn and fearing for his life, but soon found her way to start a miraculous journey to find the truth behind his disappearance and behaviour… Full review...
The Drowning Lesson by Jane Shemilt
Emma, a doctor from London, is somewhat reluctantly moving her family to Botswana for a year. In the choice between taking a new-born baby and his two primary school aged sisters to rural Africa for a year, or letting your husband go out there alone for work, she's decided that there's strength in numbers. Emma and Adam have a somewhat complex relationship that is disturbingly familiar to me. People who say 'not everything in life is a competition' are generally the ones who are losing, and I didn't doubt her for one moment when she said that she liked him to succeed….just as long as he wasn't succeeding more than her. Full review...
Ascension by Gregory Dowling
Alvise Marangon is an artist 'resting' between commissions and so using his guile and enterprise as a tour guide to those taking the European Grand Tour in 18th century Venice. Everything has a business as usual feel to it for Alvise until he notices a fellow gondolier paying his friend not to take a couple of English tourists. Then, as the new Doge is inaugurated a man's head is thrown into the crowd. Showing people around a typical Venice is becoming increasingly hard for Alvise – Venice is not behaving typically! Full review...
101 Things to do Instead of Playing on Your Phone by Ilka Heinemann
There's a great joke I saw online recently. One cartoon person says to the other, What's your favourite position in bed? and the other replies Closest to the plug so I can still use my phone while it's charging. It's funny because it's true. Full review...
The Wind's Twelve Quarters and The Compass Rose by Ursula K Le Guin
I'll start by saying that I think the SF Masterworks series are pretty much always and without fail a really interesting read. I've bought quite a few from this publisher now and I find they will always pick interesting titles from the science fiction genre, making them a great place to start if you are either just dipping your toe into science fiction for the first time or if you're looking to build up your collection. Full review...
The Golden Anklet by Beverley Hansford
Jane Carroll is becoming more and more successful as a young journalist on a woman's magazine. Yet, although her future looks secure, Jane would like to discover more about her past. As an orphan she was raised in a children's home with no information regarding the identity of her parents apart from what was on her birth certificate. Therefore armed with this certificate and the help of her new boyfriend Bob, not to mention genealogist dabbling neighbour Gerald, the search begins. However nothing is as straightforward, or indeed as safe, as she thought it would be. Full review...
Lockwood and Co: The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud
The adults are baffled (as usual) and only Lockwood, George and Lucy can save London from the murderous ghosts. But it won't be easy: as the smallest agency of licenced psychic investigators in the capital no one is willing to listen to them, and besides, they have their own problems. A new member of the team, secrets that threaten to destroy friendships, and the sheer exhaustion that comes from trying to deal with too many hauntings – it surely can't be long before something has to give? Full review...
A Different Reflection by Jane L Gibson
Eternal optimist Kat has always believed in fairytales and happy endings but can't help but wonder where her own life went wrong. Stuck in a dead-end relationship with dull workaholic John, it's hardly the happy-ever-after that she'd always hoped for. Things are about to change, however, when Kat discovers a mysterious house that has been cursed by an enchantment; a handsome Regency beau is trapped within the mirrors and only a declaration of true love can break the spell and release him... Full review...
Little Owl's Colors by Divya Srinivasan
When you pick up a children's book, sometimes things feels a little off. Books for kids can be almost too sickly sweet; the characters have massive eyes and enjoy themselves too much. Who has that much fun in one day? What is wrong with Divya Srinivasan's Little Owl's Colors? Perhaps it is the lack of attention to detail when printing a book for the UK market? Colour me perplexed. Full review...
