Book Reviews From The Bookbag
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. We can even direct you to help for custom book reviews! Visit www.everychildareader.org to get free writing tips and www.genecaresearchreports.com will help you get your paper written for free.
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Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong
Liv Taylor-Jones has come a long way since she discovered her parents were not her biological parents – that her biological parents were in fact convicted serials killers. But while she's coming to an understanding about her fae heritage, the strange visions that are a part of that, she's not yet ready to make the choice that destiny would have her make. Full review...
The Message by Yan Vana
The Message follows an official Inquiry into the wanton destruction of a Protected Nature Reserve. The first witnesses give evidence of the extent of the damage and later witnesses identify those responsible. As the inquiry unfolds it becomes apparent that the Nature Reserve is Earth, and that the Inquiry is being undertaken by regulators from other Galaxies who have responsibility for the protection of Reserves throughout the Cosmos. Science Fiction? A love story? A study of human civilisation? A warning message... Full review...
Closed Casket: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery by Sophie Hannah
Lady Athelinda Playford had organised a house party at her home in Clonakilty, Ireland. It was mainly family, plus the two partners from the firm of solicitors who look after her affairs, but there are two extra guests who were not expecting to see each other - Inspector Edward Catchpool of Scotland Yard and the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. They weren't certain why they'd been invited, but Athie Playford, author of the popular children's detective novels, Shrimp Seddon, had a shock in store for the assembled company and particularly for her two children, Harry and Claudia. She'd changed her will, disinheriting her son and daughter and leaving everything to her secretary, Joseph Scotcher. Full review...
My Book of Stories: Write Your Own Fairy Tales by Deborah Patterson
Pity the child these days who never reads fairy tales. The irony in that, however, is that they may well be too busy watching Frozen on repeat to read fairy tales. But read them they should, in some form or another, and of one era or another. They don't all have to go back to the oldest collections, especially as they will like as not be more gory than what, say, Disney or Ladybird Books put out in our youth. They can read a fairy tale from any age, then – and when they're done, they can easily turn to this book, which provides more than enough impetus for you to write your own. Fairy tales do, as it happens, have the ability to last for centuries – but there's nothing quite like giving them a little tweak to get them up-to-date… Full review...
This Book Thinks You're a Scientist by Harriet Russell
This Book Thinks You're a Scientist takes children through a whole world of scientific areas: forces and motions, light, matter, sound, electricity and magnetism. It encourages children to look, ask questions and a have a go. This science-based activity book, published in association with the Science Museum, will stimulate and inspire young minds. Full review...
My Book of Stories: Write Your Own Myths by Deborah Patterson
I don't know about you, but as a young child I was always looking ahead, not backwards. Musically, I could bear a few of my older brother's records, but wanted to know what was released next week, never what was in the charts of my parent's era. I think the same would have been said about my reading, and my interests – although that's only to a certain extent. I don't think I'd have thanked you for pointing to my dinosaur books, right next to my space and science fiction shelves, and I think I'd have preferred you to see the latest novel, rather than those books of myths I also enjoyed. Myths? They're, like, old. But they don't need much embellishment to be seen as great fun. The next step, however, to see them as something you yourself could write, well – that's a bit greater. But it's one taken by this book, nevertheless. Full review...
Electric Shock: From the Gramophone to the iPhone - 125 Years of Pop by Peter Doggett
For many of us, it must be difficult to imagine a life without recorded music. Millions of us must have grown up with, even to, a very varied soundtrack consisting of one genre after another. In this book, Peter Doggett takes a marvellous broad sweep through the history of popular music from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day, from wax cylinders to streaming services. A rather maudlin ditty 'After The Ball', by Charles K. Harris, is regarded as the first modern popular song (well, it was modern in 1891) – the first of millions. Full review...
Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben
Joe was buried quickly. Only three days after his murder. For those of us who regularly watch the crime shows or even read the papers that might seem like indecent haste. His widow Maya isn't thinking like that, though. Through the service she's thinking about all sorts of other things. She's bringing her training to bear. Distraction. Get through this bit and then deal with what needs to be done. Full review...
The Lorax by Dr Seuss
It seemed to me that environmentalism was invented sometime in the early 90s. All of a sudden my schooling was about Greenhouse gases and how we the children have the future in our hands. Could this Generation X solve the problems caused by Generations A-W? I doubt it because if you look back to 1971 and the publishing of The Lorax, you will see that for decades before people like Dr Seuss have been trying to teach the kids to think green. Full review...
Taking in Water by Pamela Johnson
Pamela Johnson's third novel is set in 2002 but has its roots in a real-life tragedy from nearly 50 years earlier: in 1953 a storm surge hit the Norfolk coast, destroying Lydia Hutton's grandmother's home and sweeping her whole family out to sea. Seven-year-old Lydia was the only one to survive, clinging to the wreckage and singing hymns to herself to survive. It's a dark part of her past she's never told anyone except Luc, the half-French lover whose iconic performance art piece, Taking in Water, she participated in during a spell in New York City in the 1960s, when she was known as 'Layla' and hung around with the likes of Andy Warhol. Full review...
View from the Cheap Seats by Barry Holland
Poems and imaginings from a single father, brother, rugby fan, Welshman, and struggler with mental illness. Striking pieces that will stay with you for a long time. Full review...
My Life from the Beginning by Violet Prater
Violet Prater is 83 and she's decided to tell us her story. She knows that there are grammar and spelling errors, but she wants to tell the story her way without any interference from an editor. I can understand that and I recognise the honesty behind her words. Her story's important because it illustrates that child abuse can extend beyond beatings and sexual abuse. Full review...
Fire Witch by Matt Ralphs
It's the middle of the seventeenth century and England is in turmoil. Cromwell is determined to impose his will by any means necessary, rebels in the North are massing to stop him and Matthew Hopkins, Witch Hunter General, stalks the land. If you are old and crotchety, have a squint or a hare-lip, or maybe just an unfortunate tendency to talk to your cat, beware – it takes just one spiteful whisper from a neighbour to have you condemned as a servant of the devil and sent to the torture chambers. And in the midst of all this is Hazel, a twelve-year-old fire witch. She needs to find and rescue her mother from the underworld, but the only man who can help is the one who sent her there in the first place: Hopkins' most famous and closely guarded prisoner Nicholas Murrell. Full review...
The Gem Connection by Michael R Lane
In the beginning it was simple. C J Kavanaugh, formerly of the Drugs Enforcement Agency but now making a living as Private Investigator was employed to prove that a man was having an adulterous affair. Antonio Fahrletti had confounded half a dozen PIs who'd been unable to prove that he was being unfaithful to his wife, but CJ was determined to be the one who got the proof. Luck was on his side, but not, it would seem, on Fahrletti's. In the meantime Clinton Windell knew that luck was on his side: he'd brought home twenty million dollars of uncut gems. The board hadn't believed that he could do it and a large part of his pleasure was that he was proving them wrong. Full review...
Dragon Games by Jan-Philipp Sendker
The putative cover of my advance copy of Dragon Games ties it to the international bestseller The Art of Hearing Heartbeats – Sendker's first offering in English translation. I'm hoping that the final edition that hits the market will have the confidence to reference Whispering Shadows to which this is the direct sequel. My hope is because the step between the first two Burmese books and the modern China mystery ones is a significant one. Many readers will love both, but I think the less lyrical, more prosaic, dare I say more political approach of the Chinese stories has a wider readership. It is a readership Sendker deserves. Full review...
Lydia: The Wild Girl of Pride and Prejudice by Natasha Farrant
Lydia Bennet has just turned fifteen and has received, amongst other gifts, a diary from her bookish older sister Mary. She'd rather have received some ribbon or some lace; after all, writing in a diary every day seems such a tedious pastime. But when a handsome regiment of scarlet-coats arrives in Meryton, Lydia decides that there just might be something exciting to write about after all... Full review...
The Ultimate Peter Rabbit: A Visual Guide to the World of Beatrix Potter by Camilla Hallinan
I had a deprived childhood: I never knew Peter Rabbit. He'd have been at about his half century by the time I could have been reading him, but books at home didn't go beyond Enid Blyton. Peter was drawing his old age pension by the time that I discovered him when my daughter fell in love with him and - in her turn - read them to her own children thirty years later. He's well past his century now and still delighting children of all ages: he's accessible and relatable and I can't recollect ever meeting a child who didn't have a soft spot for him. Full review...
Colin the Cart Horse by Gavin Puckett and Tor Freeman
Meet Colin. He's a perfectly regular cart horse, carrying the crops, tools and children around the farm. He's happy with a life of labour, resting after his shift is done about three every afternoon, and a life of hay – that is, however, until he wonders what his fellow farm animals are eating. What could be the consequence of him trying out every other farm food on the market? Full review...
In at the Death by Francis Duncan
Mordecai Tremaine is an elderly retired tobacconist, a fan of romantic fiction, and a wearer of pince-nez. Not a natural crime-fighting celebrity, you might think, but in In at the Death his burgeoning reputation as an amateur sleuth is both a blessing and something of a burden as he accompanies his good friend Inspector Boyce on the trail of a murderer in the city of Bridgton. The death of a local GP in an abandoned house looks like an unfortunate encounter with a tramp, but that doesn’t explain why the doctor had a gun in his bag. As the detectives get to work there are skeletons to be found lurking in a few closets. Full review...
The Yellow Room by Jess Vallance
Sixteen-year-old Anna lives an ordinary, uneventful life with her workaholic mother after her father left them both years before without a single word since. However Anna's simple life is suddenly changed when she receives a letter from Edie, her father's girlfriend, telling her that he has died and she would like for them to meet. Anna isn't sure how to feel at first – she was estranged from her father but the news has still come as a shock, and so Anna agrees to meet Edie and they start up an unlikely friendship. Edie is eccentric and warm and offers Anna the companionship she lacks with her own unemotional mother, so much so that Anna manages to gather up the courage to tell Edie about the troublesome secret she has been carrying deep inside her. Full review...
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights: A Colouring Classic by Elisabetta Stoinich
Wuthering Heights is one of the classics which has stood the test of time. At the time of its publication in December 1847 reviews were mixed, not least because of the start depictions of mental and physical cruelty and it certainly wasn't in line with how Victorians felt that life should be lived. But the book hung in there and before long it was considered superior to Emily Bronte's sister Charlotte's Jane Eyre. There have been films, adaptations and now - a colouring book. But does the book capture the nature of the landscape and the people who inhabited it a hundred and seventy years ago? Full review...
The Bed Moved by Rebecca Schiff
Rebecca Schiff's collection of short stories was a revelation. It has everything I want from a collection: humour, (often of the black variety), heartbreaking sadness, and moments of shocking clarity. These stories feel like the revealing of the inner workings of a young American woman's psyche. In fact, in the last short piece, entitled Write What You Know, it feels that the narrator/author is telling us the experiences which have led to this collection. I only know about parent death and sluttiness', she tells us. She goes on to talk about her knowledge of Jewish people who are assimilated, liberal and sexual guilt, and I think it is no exaggeration to say that these are the underlying themes to practically all of the stories here. Full review...
The Call by Peadar o Guilin
The Aes Sidhe are back. And in their quest to win back Ireland from humankind, they have placed a magical seal around the entire island. Nobody can get in or out. North? South? Doesn't matter any more. What does matter is The Call. At some point during adolescence, every teenager is transported to the Sidhe realm, that grey, colourless land to which they were banished thousands of years before. If they can evade the vengeful faerie kind for a full day (just three minutes in the human world) then their lives are spared, although they are often sent back with horrific mutilations. Fewer than one in ten children survive. Full review...
They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel
If I told you that They All Saw A Cat is a children's picture book about perception, you might be forgiven for thinking that toddlers were taking their pleasures a little sadly these days: you might be slightly mollified when I added in that it was also about the natural world, but it's much better that I just tell you a little bit about the content and I'm sure that you'll understand. Full review...
Turning Blue by Benjamin Myers
It was just before Christmas when Melanie Muncy went missing from an isolated Yorkshire hamlet in a particularly harsh winter. DI Jim Brindle from the elite detective unit, Cold Storage, was sent to investigate and he could have been helped by Roddy Mace, a local journalist. Only Brindle, the obsessive compulsive, teetotal, vegetarian loner wants nothing to do with the writer. Mace is desperate to revive his flagging career. Well it's more than flagging: he left London in disgrace, so it's the two men living on the outskirts of life who are trying independently to trap the man they believe is responsible for Melanie's disappearance and that man is Steven Rutter, another loner, near destitute and living high on the moors, who knows all the hiding places. He knows the secrets of the local town too and there are those who fear that he might tell more than should be known. Full review...
Ready for Pop by Hurk
London, The mid-sixties. In what appears to have been a murder attempt, Britain's greatest pop sensation 'Vic Vox' has been left a foot tall – the effects of a 'shrink drug' administered by assailants unknown. As Detective Chief Inspector Ladyshoe and his team at Scotland Yard try to find who did it and why, comedian Tubs Cochran prepares himself for his big come-back show. Can he keep his old fashioned comedy instincts relevant enough to entertain a new generation? Will Vic Vox's big rivals, 'The Small Pocks' be given a boost in Vic Vox's absence? And will June Scurvy get her hit (or maybe not) new single featured on the show they're all waiting for…Ready for Pop! Full review...
Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts
The first thing you must know about Ada Marie is the way she said nothing until the day she was three. Now that's a way to pique your interest from the start. After all what sort of child does not speak until she turns three? In this case it's a very smart little girl. Full review...
