Book Reviews From 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.
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The Railway Rabbits: Wisher and the Runaway Piglet by Georgie Adams
Wisher and the Runaway Piglet is the first book in a charming series about the Railway Rabbits. The little family of rabbits are delightful creatures who enjoy life and exploring the big wide world. Lots of dangers lurk, but they always seem to come through unscathed. However, when they hear rumours of a fierce dog chasing a runaway pig, even they are a little daunted. All except Wisher that is, who feels the need to go and warn her friend Violet Vole. Along the way she is almost trapped by the buzzard and trampled over by the Red Dragon. Somehow though, she escapes major disaster and even manages to save the day. Maybe such narrow escapes and her parents' obvious relief on her return may lead her to be more cautious in the future but that remains to be seen. Somehow, I doubt it! Full review...
How To Raise A Dinosaur by Natasha Wing and Pablo Bernasconi
Every young dino fan needs guidance, should they choose to have a dinosaur as a pet. Taking in such vital advice as the best chew toys (cars, usually) and the best way to administer a tummy rub, How To Raise A Dinosaur is a a light-hearted and silly look at the perils one would face if dinosaurs were around today. Full review...
Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn
Holly Frick is 35, single and living in New York City. She still thinks she's in love with her ex husband, her career as a TV writer is on a steady downward spiral and she's had limited success as a novelist. She may be having amazing no strings sex with toy boy Lucas, but Holly is unfulfilled and unhappy. Plus, she's surrounded by equally dysfunctional friends, including best friend Amanda, who has no qualms embarking on an extramarital affair, and writing partner Leonard, who is more than happy to self-medicate and find his thrills through the Internet. Plus Spence, the ex before the ex husband has resurfaced in Holly's life and thanks to his new girlfriend Cathleen, Holly finds herself reliving their relationship as Cathleen interrogates her on Spence's past. Full review...
The Hollow: The Haunted by Jessica Verday
In The Hollow, Abbey tried to cope with the disappearance of her best friend and her feelings for new boyfriend Caspian - only to find herself losing her grip on sanity when she discovered Caspian was dead, a Shade, rather than another real person. After a summer away from Sleepy Hollow, she returns, trying to concentrate on making perfumes and getting science tuition from nice cute Ben - but then Caspian reappears. Will the two find true love? Why are there so many other weird strangers around Sleepy Hollow who Abbey keeps meeting? What exactly DID happen to Kristen? Where do Katrina Van Tassel and Nikolas, the famous Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, fit into all this? And does anyone who missed the first book have any hope of following what's going on? Full review...
Welcome to My World by Miranda Dickinson
Light, romantic fiction (or that dreadful phrase but which is apt, chick-lit) is not, I have to say, my preferred genre. I wouldn't buy it from a bookshop nor borrow it from the local library. But, having said all that, would you believe the coincidence that chatting with two female friends recently (fortysomething and fiftysomething) they both told me that they wouldn't read anything else. So, it just goes to show, horses for courses and all that. Full review...
Sir Charlie Stinky Socks and the Really Dreadful Spell by Kristina Stephenson
Sir Charlie Stinky Socks is on his way home from a little princess's birthday party when he realises he has left his sword behind, and he has to ride his mare back to get it. On the way he meets a stranger who offers some advice on the best route to get there. The stranger, though, is up to no good – he guides Charlie into obstacles, but Charlie finds his way out with the help of his power. Finally, he's back at the princess's castle, but what's up? Why has everyone turned to stone? Can Charlie save the day? Full review...
Harvest Nights by Pamela Evans
It is 1920 and London is struggling to deal with the consequences of the Great War. Unemployment is high and money is scarce. Clara Tripp, a former Land Girl has been forced to return to the city to work as a waitress, leaving behind the countryside which she loves so much. When Charlie Fenner, an acquaintance from Clara's Land Army days, comes in to the teashop where she works, Clara can't help but feel overjoyed. He offers her temporary work on his parents' orchard in Kent and she gladly accepts. Yet a serious accident forces Clara to stay longer than expected and it is then that she makes a shocking discovery which threatens to destroy the Fenner family. Back in London Clara struggles with her confused emotions and the looming prospect of her marriage to local boy Arnold. When devastating news comes from Kent, Clara realises she can no longer keep her discovery a secret. But coming face-to-face with Charlie again means Clara must acknowledge her buried feelings and make a decision between doing the right thing and following her heart. Full review...
Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles
Carlos Fuentes isn't interested in living in America with his over-protective brother Alex, but his mother sends him there for his senior year of high school to try and keep him out of trouble. Kiara Westford is happy to help a new guy settle in - at least until the shy stutterer actually meets the bad boy. Despite their initial dislike of each other, they're thrown together when Carlos has drugs planted on him and her well respected father takes him in to stop him being sent back to Mexico. Will these two headstrong youngsters find love? Full review...
The Beasties by Jenny Nimmo and Gwen Millward
A small girl called Daisy is trying to get to sleep in her new bed in her new house. As she tosses and turns, she does not see three small Beasties creep into her room and under the bed. There they spread out all sorts of treasure such as buttons, feathers, pearls and rings. These items are going to be very important for what happens next in the story. At this point Daisy hears a noise and sits up in bed wondering what it could be. It's a growly sound but as she listens more closely she realises that it actually sounds like a story. One of the Beasties, Ferdinand, is telling an enchanting story all about a ring that belonged to a faraway king. Before long Daisy falls asleep wondering about the ring. During the following two nights similar things happen as she hears noises and then realise that Weevil and Floot, the other two beasties are also telling their lovely bedtime stories about sailing ships and beautiful princesses. Full review...
The Night Before Christmas by Tony Mitton and Layn Marlow
The original poem is from the viewpoint of a father who meets Santa Claus. This version is told by one of the two children who sneak out of bed when they hear Father Christmas coming. Like the original, it's written in rhyming verse, but the words are simpler than in the original and the words and pictures are modern ones, targeted at young children in the 21st century. Full review...
The Nowhere Chronicles: The Double-Edged Sword by Sarah Silverwood
When Fin's guardian, Judge Harlequin Brown is murdered, life as he knows it becomes a whole lot more exciting and dangerous. In the course of one life-changing day, he learns that there is a pathway between his London in 'Somewhere', and an alternate London of a parallel world called 'Nowhere', and that the fates of both worlds are now under threat from a group of rogue Knights, who have the ability to travel between these worlds using their double edged swords. Full review...
Book of Clouds by Chloe Aridjis
We first meet the main character (she's mentioned on almost every page) Tatiana as a newish resident of Berlin. She's Mexican so quite a difference in cultures for her to deal with, as well as the weather aspect. Many episodes in her life seem to take place in a Berlin which is bitterly cold. Aridjis chooses the first person for her novel, so we hear everything from Tatiana's perspective. Full review...
Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention by Wallace and Gromit
We don't have many rules around these 'ere parts, but one of them is that we don't review TV tie-in books. It's not snobbery; it's just that there's only so many books we have time to cover and TV covers itself quite nicely already. So I'm being naughty by reviewing Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention, but I don't care. I couldn't resist it! And Christmas is coming up, so you need some gift ideas, don't you? Full review...
Lightborn by Tricia Sullivan
In an alternate but contemporary United States, everyone uses Lightborn technology, or shine, as it's nicknamed. Providing entertainment, education and self-knowledge, people live in the ultimate plugged-in society. And then the Fall comes. Rogue AIs in the shine field around the city of Los Sombres start sending out bad shine and the adults all go loco - becoming violent and murderous, or broken down and reduced to performing repetitive tasks over and over. Full review...
Want to Know a Secret? by Sue Moorcroft
When you get a couple of policemen in your kitchen telling you that your husband has been badly injured in a helicopter crash you can be forgiven for being upset. On the other hand, if your family has the sort of income which means that your husband was as likely to be in a spaceship as a helicopter then it's quite permissible to say that the policemen have come to the wrong place and this is what Diane Jenner did. Unfortunately it also means that when they prove that it was your husband you've got quite a big adjustment to make. Full review...
The Chocolate Assassin by Peter Durantine
In the final days of the Second World War as the allied guns came ever closer a young German was sent on a secret mission to America. He was only in his late teens but still resisted telling anyone, including the U-boat captain who took him across the Atlantic, about the nature of his mission. Fifty five years later the U-boat captain, Eric Hoest, long settled in the States, was murdered at his beach home. Samuel Grey, police detective and part-time student was called in to investigate the murder. The local police chief thought that the most likely murderer was the neighbour who had reported the crime, but Grey suspected that the truth was hidden somewhere in Hoest's background. Full review...
Dark Secrets 3: The Back Door of Midnight by Elizabeth Chandler
Like the first four novellas in the Dark Secrets series - previously released in two 'bind-up' editions - this story features a teenage girl returning to Wisteria, Maryland and trying to find closure on past events. In this case, Anna is summoned there by a letter from her uncle asking her to return to the place where her mother died so that he can tell her something important about their family, but by the time she returns her uncle is dead, his body found in the boot of a burnt out car. Her aunt seems crazy, and her first instinct is to get out as quickly as possible, but instead she's drawn into the mystery along with her cute neighbour Zack. The O'Neill women have always been said to be psychic, and Anna starts getting her own flashes which may draw her towards a solution - but also further into danger. Full review...
Magpie's Treasure by Kate Slater
Magnus Magpie, like so many of his fellow magpies, loves collecting shiny things, including a pinnacle from the Taj Mahal and the queen's emerald egg cup. What he wants most of all is the beautiful, shining moon, so off he flies... Full review...
Help Me! by Paul Geraghty
At the waterhole, the elephants wander by, an impala watches and waits, and a tortoise makes his way slowly to the water's edge. One animal after another gets into trouble, and is helped by an unlikely ally. It all makes for an amazing day with the wildlife of Africa. Full review...
Through Thick and Thin by Gok Wan
Famous for his sensitivity and understanding with women, encouraging them and enabling them to accept themselves, and their bodies, as they are, Gok Wan's autobiography sadly tells a very different story with regards to his own body acceptance. Having gained weight throughout his childhood, getting up to twenty one stone as a teenager, he loathed his body and ended up starving himself, becoming anorexic in a desperate effort to be thin and, therefore, successful. Perhaps this is where his empathy comes from? That when he stands a woman in front of a wall of mirrors in her underwear, he actually truly understands what it is to loathe your own body. Full review...
A Season to Remember by Sheila O'Flanagan
We first meet the Lodge owners, a likable couple. They find running their upmarket country house type hotel both exhilarating and exhausting. The novel is bang up to date so O'Flanagan gets in the whole recession/banker-bashing thing early on. As the festive season looms, the unthinkable has happened. Empty rooms. They're not used to empty rooms, at any time of the year. Normally the Lodge is a full house. But then a slow and steady trickle starts as our characters book in - and the story starts proper, so to speak. Full review...
The Night of the Solstice: Heart of Valour by L J Smith
'Heart of Valour' is the sequel to The Night of the Solstice, where Alys, Janie, Charles and Claudia discover a strange, enchanting and terrifying world. The Guardian of the mirror-gate between the worlds, Morgana Shee, had been imprisoned by the evil Cadel Forge, and the siblings were called to rescue her. 'Heart of Valour' picks up the story a year later. Morgana has to leave the children to cope alone as she travels north to battle her arch-rival Thia Pendriel, but dangers nearer home send them off on a quest to find her. Full review...
Version 43 by Philip Palmer
Version 43 is a Galactic Cop, a cyborg law enforcement officer sent from Earth to tackle an unusual murder case in Lawless City, a sort of sci-fi Baltimore on the distant planet of Belladonna. He gets sidetracked from his original objective and decides to rid the planet of its evil gang bosses while he's there. A huge war ensues in which all the bosses (and thousands of others) are killed, but it soon becomes apparent that the true rulers of the planet are the dead eyed 'children' he has seen dining in the most expensive restaurants, the sinister 'ancien régime' . Full review...
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
This book was first published in France in the late 1940s and was an instant success. Much praise is heaped upon it as we see from the back cover; but the line which resonates with me, is simply 'The Second Sex is required reading for anyone who believes in equality.' I happily put my hand up for that one, speaking, as it happens - as a 'second sex' individual. It struck me that wouldn't it be interesting to also have a male reviewer give this book his thorough and undivided attention? Full review...
Snail Trail by Ruth Brown
Slimy Snail sets out on an adventure, up a hill, through a tunnel, and on and on. When he finally comes to rest in a dark cave, we take a look at the trail he's left, and discover just where he's been travelling. Full review...
Jack's Fantastic Voyage by Michael Foreman
Jack loves spending time with his sea-loving grandfather, hearing tales of his old ocean voyages, and seeing his beautiful paintings. When other kids in the village cast doubts about whether Grandfather really has ever been to sea, Jack begins to see things in a new light. However, as he's drifting off to sleep, Jack, Grandfather and Grandfather's house are all whisked away on a fantastic voyage across the sea. Full review...
All I Want For Christmas by Amy Silver
In Amy Silver's 'All I Want for Christmas', the reader meets three very different women. Bea, who runs the local delicatessen, The Honey Pot, is facing Christmas alone with her young son Luca but is determined to make it as good as she possibly can. Olivia has somewhat rashly offered to host all of her fiancé's family from Ireland and it looks like it will be chaotic. On the other hand, Chloe will be celebrating alone, as her boyfriend will be sitting down to Christmas dinner with his wife and family. Although on the surface, the three women appear to have little in common, as Christmas approaches they start to form a bond that is likely to last well beyond the festive season. Full review...
All That Mullarkey by Sue Moorcroft
Cleo and Gav seemed to have the perfect marriage. Neither of them wanted children and their lives seemed to be full of fun, enjoyment and love. But sometimes all is not as it seems as Cleo discovered the night that she'd made up her mind to go to a reunion and Gav said that she shouldn't go. She set off, but wondered if it really was worth causing so much heartache when she wasn't all that keen on going and turned back. When she got home she found that the writing was on the wall for their marriage – quite literally. It said, in marker pen on the bedroom wall 'This Marriage is Over' and Gav had gone. Full review...
Monster High by Lisi Harrison
I don't know about everyone else, but I'm getting a bit fed up of all the vampires, werewolves and other creepies that seem to have popped up since the explosion of hype around Twilight. So, when this book landed on my doorstep, I can't say I held much hope for it. Full review...
Getting Away With It by Julie Cohen
Julie Cohen's latest book is a different creature to her previous novels. It's not just that it's longer, although the length allows for more characterisation and trickier, complex plots than her Little Black Dress books, but it also feels different in style. There's the same quirky side that Julie writes so well - the heroine this time is a stunt woman, some bizarre ice cream flavours and there's some interesting crop-circle action! But the book feels more serious - more grown up somehow - yet just as readable and compelling as her previous stories have been. Full review...
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy
Many of us will know of the release of the film of the same title back in the 1960s. I haven't seen the film so I started reading with no ready-made opinions about the book. Likewise, I had no idea how the attention-grabbing title bore any relation to a book about dance. I was about to find out. It's both arresting and simple. The book cover and also the inside front cover are littered with praise for this book. 'The first existentialist novel to have appeared in America' says one writer. 'Takes the reader into one of America's darkest corners ...' from another source. So, I was expecting a terrific read. But did I get it? Full review...
Burning Secrets by Clare Chambers
Daniel, his mother and his sister Louie are escaping the city to spend six months on the isolated island of Wragge. They're all escaping something: Daniel's mother is still getting over a broken marriage; Louie is prone to black depressions and self-harming; Daniel has just been released from a youth offenders institution after a conviction for fire-setting resulting in the death of an old itinerant. There's plenty to leave behind. Full review...
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel
Ben's thirteen and an only child. You'd think he was entirely used to being the centre of attention, then, wouldn't you? But this isn't really the case. Ben's parents are academics. His father is a fiercely ambitious behavioural psychologist and his mother is both completing her doctorate and acting as her husband's research assistant. Ben is used to coming second to the advance of science. He can cope with that. Usually. But then his parents up sticks and move him all the way across Canada. Why? Because his father's new university is prepared to underwrite his new project - raising a chimpanzee as human and trying to teach it American Sign Language. Full review...
Two Sons in a War Zone: Afghanistan: The True Story of a Father's Conflict by Stephen Wynn
It's almost a nightly occurrence – that news item which contains the words '… has been killed in Afghanistan' and we think of a young life, or young lives cut tragically short. They're fresh-faced young men or women at what should have been the beginning of their adult life and now they are no more. You feel for them and their families, but what about the families who have people they love out in Afghanistan, who live each day with the worry that the knock will be coming to their door? Stephen Wynn has two sons who have done tours of duty in Afghanistan and who are likely to do so again. 'Two Sons in a War Zone' is his story of how he copes with the unrelenting pressure. Full review...
Sigrun's Secret by Marie-Louise Jensen
It must have seemed to Sigrun that she had an ideal life in Iceland, breaking and training the colts on the family farm or helping her mother, Thora, who was a healer. Life seemed to be complete when her father's ship returned home and the family was together again. It was not to last though. Sigrun's parents were hiding a dreadful secret and when it caught up with them, Sigrun, her father and Asgrim, her brother were forced into exile in Jorvik for three years. She was completely unused to the busy city life and disliked the violence and cruelty she found around her. But – at the same time – her own skills as a healer and midwife began to blossom. Full review...
The Ancient Guide to Modern Life by Natalie Haynes
Haynes starts with the positive statement that we shouldn't throw the subject of ancient history straight in the bin, so to speak. We should instead embrace it. It has lots to tell us if only we would listen. Chapter 1 entitled Old World Order certainly grabbed my attention with the line ... 'Can politicians really make a positive difference to our lives ...' In 2010 when the role of politicians is at an all-time low in the eyes of the voters, this is an excellent question to kick off with. We zoom right back in time and explore how the Athenians lived. Apparently they were rather forward-thinking and progressive people with ideas which could easily be put into use today. They also enjoyed true democracy. When Haynes was talking about politics generally I liked another sweeping statement of hers where she says ' ... that history teaches us we could offer our politicians a hefty pay cut and still get plenty of perfectly competent candidates.' My inner voice was shouting out - make an immediate start on that one please. I won't spoil all the delicious details which led up to this attention-grabbing statement but it really is food for thought. Full review...
