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.
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.
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
There's a list of names on the title page of this extraordinary and moving book. Note it well: these seventy-four women are real. As a group they were known as the Ravenbrück Rabbits, and they were the victims of medical experiments carried out to help improve surgery for German soldiers wounded in the field. Little or no anaesthetic, poor aftercare: these things, while horrible, fit in with what we know of the concentration camps. What many will not know is the truly gut-wrenching fact that sometimes the doctors did not even bother to follow up on the experiments they carried out. All that pain, infection and disability (for those lucky enough to survive the procedures), and all for nothing. They didn't even help the enemy soldiers recover from their injuries. Full review...
Shipwrecked by Siobhan Curham
Grace Delaney and her friends from her dance school are really excited to have the opportunity to perform on a South Pacific cruise ship. But when a storm hits and leaves them stranded on an island, they're left fighting to survive - and fighting with each other, as tensions build when they start to panic about whether they'll be rescued. As if that wasn't bad enough, the island has a dark secret - will they learn it before it's too late? Full review...
Parallel by Lauren Miller
Imagine waking up every day to find yourself in a new reality, an alternate future derived from a small variation in one of those what-if moments that populate every day of your life. Some of these moments are easy to identify: the moment you confirm your university choices, the moment you meet the person who'll become your best friend, the moment you tell someone you love them. Others are more subtle and harder to define, but they can have just as much an influence on your future. This is the reality of Abby Barnes, an eighteen year old whose life is constantly being warped and changed by the actions and decisions of a seventeen-year-old version of her from a parallel world. Full review...
The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
As a child, I read The Grey King, book 4 in Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising Sequence. I loved the book so much it topped my Christmas list for years, but sadly Santa never delivered. As an adult I finally bought the entire sequence for myself. This book is intended as a child's book, and it is brilliant as book for children, but it is also well loved by many adults, whether as a cherished memory of their own childhood or as a book discovered as an adult. I'll admit that as child, this can book can completely draw into other worlds in a manner not possible for an adult, but this is still an excellent read, whatever age you may be. Full review...
Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee
A prolific author, Edith Wharton's published output included over twenty novels, one a Pulitzer Prize winner, and 85 short stories, as well as poetry and books on interior design and travel. Born in the United States in 1862, she travelled extensively throughout Europe, and settled permanently in France where she died in 1937. Full review...
Dare You To by Katie McGarry
Seventeen-year-old Beth Risk knows that her mother would face jail if anyone found out the truth about her. She's trying to look after her mother the best she can - until her uncle comes to the rescue. Except Beth doesn't want rescuing, and only goes with her uncle to keep him from exposing her mother. Living with him, she meets town golden boy Ryan Stone, who asks her out on a dare. What starts as an instant dislike on her part, though, turns to attraction, and she finds that Ryan has depths no-one else knows about. Can this mismatched couple help each other to find happiness? Full review...
Flutter by Jennie Wood and Jeff McComsey
When fifteen-year-old Lily moves to yet another new town, she falls for a girl who isn't interested in her. Lily, though, has a trick up her sleeve - she's a shapeshifter. She turns herself into a boy so that she can have a chance with Saffron. As Jesse, she starts to build a new life for herself at school -can this 'boy' get the girl? Additionally, why is Lily so resistant to any sort of harm, and who are the strange people who are trying to find her? Full review...
A History of Cricket in 100 Objects by Gavin Mortimer
A History of Football in 100 Objects was a brave attempt, but was slightly let down by being a little too clinical. Being a game imbued with passion, the book lacked this which took some of the edge off it. Cricket, whilst inspiring passion amongst devotees, has a slightly more laid back following; one that may work better in this format. That said, being a game that has been played for five centuries, narrowing it down to just 100 objects is no less an undertaking than for football. Full review...
The Child's Elephant by Rachel Campbell-Johnston
Bat, a young herdsman living on the African savannah, witnesses the killing of an elephant by poachers and then takes her orphaned baby back to his village and cares for her. Gradually the two become inseparable and Meja, the baby elephant, becomes part of village life, loved by all the villagers but especially by Bat and his best friend, Mukah. As time passes Bat’s grandmother warns the two children that the elephant will have to return to the wild and the herd to which she belongs. Reluctantly the two friends learn to accept this truth but they have no idea that their bond with this animal will be strong enough to survive both distance and terrifying events. Full review...
Flight by Adam Thorpe
The past is catching up with Bob Winrush. His marriage is over as a result of his inconsiderate arrival home early when weather cancelled one of his jobs as a cargo pilot to find his wife in bed with another man but when an investigative journalist starts to dig into some of the content of Bob's previous cargo trips, his life is quickly placed in grave danger. His problems stemmed from having walked away from a particularly morally dubious trip to transport arms to the Taliban some years ago, although it turns out that his moral line in the sand is somewhat blurred. He has knowingly transported guns and military personnel in his time. He's sort of the aeronautical equivalent of white van man. Full review...
If Dinosaurs Were Alive Today by Dougal Dixon
The book starts with a simple question. How would we cope, how would dinosaurs cope if they had not become extinct and were around today? They're put in context, going back to the beginnings of Planet Earth four and a half billion years ago and working forward to show how life evolved and asking if the skills the dinosaurs developed would allow them to survive today. The four groups of dinosaurs - plant-eaters, meat-eaters, ocean-dwellers and flying reptiles - are then looked at in some detail. Full review...
Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace
In his early books, Danny Wallace was the new Tony Hawks, taking on silly challenges and recounting them in amusing ways. With Charlotte Street, his first entirely fictional work, he seems to be moving into territory inhabited by Mike Gayle, that of bloke-lit. It seems a decent fit, as his book Yes Man had elements of bloke-lit, despite being based on actual events. It may have suffered from a twee ending, but it offered enough to suggest that this is a field Danny Wallace could work well in. Full review...
Everything is Fine (and Other Lies I Tell Myself) by Cathy Brett
Fifteen-year-old Esther Armstrong is having problems at home. Her mum and dad keep arguing, her younger brother is driving her crazy, and she's reduced to writing letters to her older brother about the situation as he's not around. When she finds some letters from a soldier to his girlfriend, she starts trying to find out what happened to them - will she work it out, and also get her own life back on track? Full review...
Carver's Quest by Nick Rennison
The year is 1870 and Adam Carver is at home in his lodgings in London’s Doughty Street when he is interrupted by an unexpected caller. This distraught and enigmatic young woman, Miss Emily Maitland, requests Carver’s help but disappears mysteriously before he can ascertain the details of her predicament. The days and weeks that follow her visit prove to be most eventful, pitching Carver and his assistant Quint into an investigation involving murder, a missing manuscript and a hidden treasure. Full review...
Judith Kerr's Creatures: A Celebration of the Life and Work of Judith Kerr by Judith Kerr
In children's literature there are some authors whom you know are not just reliable, but always impressive. One of those names is Judith Kerr. For decades she's been delighting our children (and grandchildren) but it still came as something of a surprise to discover that she would be ninety in June 2013. To celebrate this, Harper Collins have published Creatures in which Judith tells not just her own story but that of the creatures - the characters in her books and her family - who have contributed to her inspirational life. It is, though, far more than just an autobiography with a marvellous collection of paintings, drawings and memorabilia. Full review...
The Daring Escape of Beatrice and Peabody by Kimblerly Newton Fusco
This is the story of Beatrice (Bee) Hockenberry, the girl with a diamond on her cheek. Orphaned at a young age, Bee lives in the hauling truck of a travelling fair with Pauline who runs the hotdog stand. Daily, she suffers staring, ridicule and worse torments because of the prominent birthmark on her cheek. The story really starts when first Pauline and then Bobby the pig-man, the only people who have ever been kind to her, leave the fair. With no one left to protect her from the show owner who wants to put her in the freakshow booth, she takes her dog Peabody (as much of a stray as she) and Cordelia, the runt from the piglet race and runs away. Taken in by two mysterious old ladies, Bee starts school and embarks on a whole new life which has troubles of its own. Full review...
Traitor's Gate by Michael Ridpath
Oxford-educated Englishman Conrad de Lancey is haunted by the brutality of the Spanish Civil War, his ideals laying in the dust along with the cause for which he fought. Therefore, on a visit to his mother's German homeland, Conrad shies away from involvement in any resistance to the rise of the National Socialist Party. However, he will soon have little choice as tragic events drag him into a world of espionage, brutality and fear, culminating in a conspiracy to kill Hitler himself. Full review...
Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones
Poppy is a rationalist. Her sweatshirt says so: GOD IS DEAD, it proclaims. She's been swearing blind she wouldn't attend her mother and stepfather's handfasting ceremony at the annual pagan festival. It's all stuff and nonsense. But then her best friend - and secret love - Michael goes and gets a girlfriend and jealousy gets the better of Poppy. Suddenly, the festival and the handfasting seem much more inviting. Once there, Poppy meets a strange girl at the shores of Scariswater Lake. When Beth turns up dead, Poppy is sure she has been murdered. And the police don't seem to care, putting it down as an accident. Full review...
Life on a Plate: The Autobiography by Gregg Wallace
I remember the early days of Masterchef when members of the public practiced certain dishes until they couldn't get them wrong and then presented them to be judged. Once it got past the point where you could be reasonably certain that there wouldn't be a major disaster with no food on the table it all got rather boring and finally faded. It had a reincarnation though, largely fronted by chef John Torode and greengrocer Gregg Wallace. Gone are the days when people said Greengrocer? as though they were referring to some lower life form and it's generally acknowledged that Wallace is a good anchor (and better as he's grown in confidence) and that he has a great palate. But where did he come from? Full review...
Stung by Bethany Wiggins
Fiona wakes up confused and disoriented. She's in her bedroom but her bedroom has never looked like this. It's filthy. And abandoned. Where is her family? And how has she come to have a strange tattoo on her hand? Full review...
To Catch a Rabbit by Helen Cadbury
Sean Denton's grandmother always said that his smile was his biggest asset. He wasn't overburdened with other qualifications. Being a Police Community Support Officer was OK for him but he was out of his depth when two young lads took him to the body of a young woman at a disused catering caravan. He was even more confused when when no one seemed that worried about who she was or what had happened - and deciding to look into it himself wasn't the cleverest thing he'd ever done. Full review...
Straight Flush by Ben Mezrich
Ben Mezrich's latest book tells the story of six college kids - frat brothers from the University of Montana - who built up AbsolutePoker.com, one of the world's largest poker sites - only for it to come crashing down as the legality of online poker became more and more of an issue, with the Department of Justice getting involved. We find out in the first chapter, as one of the six prepares to return to the USA from Central America to face prosecution, that things have gone horribly wrong. Just how horribly wrong, we have to wait to find out... Full review...
Fragments by Dan Wells
I didn't have much hope for this book - the middle book in a series tends to be filler, and as Partials was so brilliant, I though it was going to be hard to top. I was very wrong. This book is mind-blowing. Full review...
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer
One morning our protagonist awakens to a world in which she appears to be the sole living human inhabitant. A mysterious transparent wall has been erected around a large area in the Austrian mountains where our narrator has been holidaying, a wall that is unbreakable and through which she can see that the world outside has come to a complete standstill. Our narrator is faced with living in total isolation and forced to learn how to survive. Full review...
The Dance Of The Seagull (Inspector Montalbano Mysteries) by Andrea Camilleri
Montalbano was about to go on holiday with his girlfriend Livia and it was quite an event as they hadn't seen each other for three months. As he sat on his verandah Montalbano saw the death throes of a seagull - it was almost a macabre dance - and he couldn't get what happened out of his mind, convinced that it was an ill omen. When he picked Livia up at the airport he told her that he had to go into the office but that he would be home quickly. He meant it too. The first problem began when Fazio's wife rang to say that he hadn't arrived home since going out to meet Montalbano the night before. The second problem was that there had been no arrangement to meet the previous evening. In the context of what would happen that night the fact that Montalbano completely forgot about Livia was no more than a small blip. Full review...
Don't You Dare by Sharky and George
Older readers like myself may recognise a great many of Sharky and George's ideas from our own childhood games, in the days when children's games usually did take place outdoors. Most of us will have played games like torch tag (which is enemy spotlight in this book), cops and robbers, boxes with a pen and paper, made drip sand castles, skimmed a stone or built a dam in childhood. So you might ask - why do need a book to teach us games we already know how to play? The sad fact is, most of these games are rapidly being forgotten. I rarely see children other than my own play any type of tag or hide and seek games. Full review...
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
This powerful narrative bears witness to the experience of economic migrants. Not just black Africans coming from Zimbabwe, like NoViolet Bulawayo, but more generally, those several generations of hardy, resourceful immigrants driven to the USA in search of a better future. Such people leave behind less courageous family members, but not their emotions towards those they have loved or their nation of birth. Full review...
My Life in Black and White by Kim Izzo
My Life in Black and White starts off in a police station in England. The film noir theme that permeates the novel begins immediately. Clara Bishop is dressed in a gold evening gown, and treats the police officer who is interviewing her just as a femme fatale would. This girl has sass. But when she begins to recount her tale, it is clear this is a new development. The old Clara describes her life as something from a screwball comedy, not a film noir. How does a screenwriter-slash-gossip-columnist from LA end up being interviewed about an assault in England? Full review...
Pray for the Dying: A Bob Skinner Mystery by Quintin Jardine
Chief Constable Bob Skinner is in a very difficult situation. His race to prevent a murder didn't quite work out and he's now outside the theatre where what he dreaded has happened. There's carnage outside too: the killers have shot two policemen, one fatally and Skinner himself is responsible for the death of one of the killers. The other was killed by a member of the Security Services, but he'll need to be quietly airbrushed out of the record. Before long Skinner finds himself having to take on a role which he has always said that he would never want. And that's besides investigating whether or not the victim was the intended target and who was behind the operation because it's obvious that this was a professional hit. Full review...
