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.
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My Brother's Shadow by Tom Avery
Kaia feels frozen after the death of her beloved older brother. With her mum not talking about it and both struggling to cope, she withdraws into a shell and stops spending time with her friends. Then a mysterious boy joins her school and she starts to spend time with him. Even though he never speaks, she slowly starts to come out of her shell. Can she ever rediscover happiness? Full review...
Running Like A Girl by Alexandra Heminsley
Running is awful. So starts Heminsley's book about running.
And she's not wrong. Full review...
Crayon by Simon Rickerty
Meet Red and Blue. They are colours who like to colour. Red colours with a blue crayon, and Blue with a red one. Are you keeping up? Red and Blue are usually friends, but when one colours on the other’s page, and then on the other colour himself, things get messy. And scribbly. And at one point, almost violent. Full review...
The Boat by Clara Salaman
This is a book that starts at the end, which saddened me a little. Sometimes it’s hard to get lost in the mystery of a story when you know how it ends. But a mystery this story is. Johnny and Clem are Brits abroad, traveling through Europe, sticking to the coast where the boats are. Johnny’s into all things nautical and as boat people, we understood this. The title is the first thing that caught my eye on this book, and the reason I picked it up. And it’s no lie: the vast majority of this book is set not just on boats generally, but on one specific boat. The Boat. It belongs to another expat couple, Frank and Annie, whose life is a series of ports and harbours, and they come to Johnny and Clem’s aid when they need it most. Full review...
Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions in Life and Work by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
I don't have a problem with making decisions, probably because I've always tended to the view that it's better to make a decision and get on with life than haver and waste time in limbo. With a few notable exceptions it's served me well, but when Decisive appeared on my desk it struck me that there could be advantages to improving the quality of the decisions too. The Heath brothers have a good history of collaborating on such subjects and delivering books which open the mind. Full review...
Noguchi the Samurai by Burt Konzak and Johnny Wales
Noguchi the Samurai is the story of two Samurai. Michihara is old and wise, while Noguchi is young and brash but very powerful and strong. Noguchi and Michihara both find themselves on a boat, with several very frightened passengers as Noguchi vents his anger on all around him and revels in the fear he causes. While the rest of the passengers huddled in fear, Michihara slept, unperturbed by the events around him. This drove Noguchi to even greater extremes, taking a swipe with his great sword near the sleeping Samurai, who still showed no fear. No matter how much Nogushi tried, he could not provoke Michihara or disturb his calm and peaceful nature. But with the safety of others at stake as well, the quiet old man at last agrees to a duel. It seems like victory will be certain for the young and powerful Noguchi against the small and age wizened elder, but things are not always as they seem. I don't wish to give away exactly how this ends, but I am sure you can guess who will come out victorious. Michihara triumphs, not through might, but through wisdom. But even in victory his calm and quiet nature remain unchanged and his compassion becomes all the more evident - turning an enemy into a friend. Full review...
The Lie Of You: I Will Have What Is Mine by Jane Lythell
Kathy thinks she has everything: the job; the baby; and him. But she doesn't have my will. She has no hidden places. Thus speaks Heja, Kathy's colleague on the architecture magazine. Kathy is coming to terms with a new husband, a new baby and the inevitable return to her demanding career as an editor. Heja doesn't mind though; she's patient and will use Kathy's preoccupation for her own devious purposes. Whether Kathy realises it or not, Heja is upset and unsettled with a vengeance. Full review...
The Executioner's Daughter by Jane Hardstaff
Moss, the daughter of the Tower of London's executioner, hates her life but has no way to leave it. She seems destined to catch heads in her basket forever - but then she finds a secret tunnel and a way out of the tower. Her long-awaited taste of freedom turns sour, though, when she finds out that her life is not what it seems and an otherworldly adversary is seeking her. Can she escape? And who can she trust to help her? Full review...
My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish 3: Fins of Fury by Mo O'Hara and Marek Jagucki
When this book arrived in the post my sons both let out such cries of delight you would have thought the new Playstation 4 had arrived rather than a paperback book. I keep hearing that children don't like books as gifts, but even with the fortune I spent over Christmas, very few items got such a delighted reaction as this lovely unexpected surprise with the last of the Christmas post. Full review...
Keane's Company by Iain Gale
There is one fictionalised character that straddles recent historic fiction set during the Napoleonic Wars like a Colossus and that man is Bernard Cornwell’s Richard Sharpe. To take on this level of success is no easy task, but with Sharpe books no longer being released, there is room for a new man. Is that man James Keane, star of Iain Gale’s ‘Keane’s Company’? This is a book that forgoes some of the deeper literary elements in favour of action and thrills. Full review...
The Thing About December by Donal Ryan
Johnsey Cunliffe was always a nice boy, but a little slow - the one that the other kids picked on and it's much the same in adult life. If you were to ask Johnsey he'd say that he was a gom. Even if you've never met the word before you know what it means. It wasn't too bad whilst Daddy was there - he was a man with a certain presence and even when it was just Johnsey and his mother he had some support. But after her death Johnsey was dependant on small kindnesses from other people and at the mercy of those for whom he was an easy target. His life might have continued in this rather unsatisfactory way for some time but for the collision of two events. Full review...
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
Henry 'The Onion' Shackleford lives as Henrietta (or just plain Onion) until he's 17 due to a misunderstanding that may prove too dangerous for him to correct. The reason is that the person under this misapprehension is the fiercely well-meaning slavery abolitionist (with the emphasis on the 'fiercely') John Brown. As Onion accompanies him on his quest to free every slave they encounter, he discovers that Brown's philanthropy only stretches so far. Meanwhile it's that time of the 19th century when a shadow spreads over America, one that will cause a historic scar almost as great as that of slavery but Brown is oblivious to this. He doesn't; want to start a civil war, just an armed slave revolt. Full review...
Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts by Mary Gibson
In the tinder-dry summer of 1911 the factory workers of Bermondsey are about to ignite the flame of change, leading to the great Summer of Unrest. Inspired by the dock workers’ strike, scores of dissatisfied female workers take to the streets in protest, demanding better working conditions and equal pay. Nellie Clark, who works in Duff’s custard factory, is entranced by the charismatic revolutionary Ted Bosher and is swept along in the fervour, enthusiastically joining her workmates in the protest. When the heat of the day dies down, however, she is reminded of the stark reality that her wages are needed to feed her starving siblings. How will her drunken, violent father react when he finds out what she has done? Full review...
Hunger (Hammer 1) by Melvin Burgess
Beth wakes up one morning covered in dirt and consumed by a ravening hunger. She puts it down to illness and sleepwalking at first but when the hunger doesn't go and reports of a grave desecration surface, Beth has to admit that something sinister is afoot. Beth doesn't know it yet, but she is a special person. She carries a conduit from the land of the living to the land of the dead and a newly-awakened demon wants her very much. But can Beth, together with brother Louis and friends Ivan and Coll, defeat him? Full review...
The Queen of Dreams by Peter Hamilton
Taggie and Jemima head off to spend a couple of weeks holidaying on their dad's farm. Much as the girls would like their parents to get back together, they know it's not going to happen. So they look forward to a fortnight of strawberry picking in the sunshine with their kindly, slightly eccentric father.
But things don't go to plan. Full review...
Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer
Anatomy students at Cardiff University have to work out the correct cause of death of bodies they dissect as part of their studies. This creates a problem for student Patrick Fort when he becomes increasingly convinced that his subject has been murdered. Full review...
Take Me Home by Daniela Sacerdoti
Inary Monteith is confused. She's just spent the night with her close friend, Alex and it seems that it means more to him that she will allow it to mean to her. After her fiance ditched her not that long before the wedding she decided that she would never allow herself to be hurt like that again. Then the problem seems to be solved for her as she has to leave London and return to Glen Avich in the Scottish Highlands. Her sister, Emily, has been waiting for a heart transplant but it now looks very unlikely that she will make it through to an operation. Full review...
Channel Blue by Jay Martel
What if the planet you called home wasn’t just a random blob in the universe, orbiting a far off star. What if the things that happened on it weren’t entirely down to chance or fate or whatever you want to call it. What if, actually, life on Earth was less random and more, well, scheduled than you might like to admit. Someone up there, calling the shots, deciding when to send in ‘natural’ disasters, influencing how things work, people behave, countries are run. Not a God, mind, but something far crazier: a television executive. Earth is the reality show to end all reality shows, and while its inhabitants have no clue every second of their lives is being watched and edited, that doesn’t stop them behaving in a way that keeps the viewers highly entertained. Full review...
Emily Climbs: A Virago Modern Classic (Emily Trilogy) by L M Montgomery
I had been a little unsettled during my re-reading of Emily of New Moon since I found as I read that I didn't particularly like Emily. Was I too grown up now to love Emily as I had when I was younger? But coming back to Emily Climbs was like sitting down with an old, favourite friend and having a lovely catch-up. I much prefer Emily in this book. She starts to grow up a little, developing her sense of humour, learning more about herself and her writing. Emily is sent away to high school in the local large town of Shrewsbury. Unfortunately, whilst she is there, she must board with her Aunt Ruth who (much to my dismay since we share a first name) is a dreadful person to live with! She is also cornered into promising that whilst she's away at school she will write no more stories. Her Aunt Elizabeth has never been happy about her story writing, fearing it is dangerously close to writing novels - a terrible thing, in her eyes! Emily has no choice but to make the promise, but she finds it very difficult. Still, she is allowed to continue writing her diaries, and she can write as much poetry as she likes. Full review...
Shadowplay by Laura Lam
Micah Grey and the clown Drystan have left the circus. Trying to escape their past, and the terrible tragedy that ended Pantomime, they find Jasper Maske, a retired magician who owes Drystan a favour. While they seem to have found a safe haven, the return of a figure from Maske's past reignites an old rivalry. Can they help Maske and avoid detection when the mysterious Shadows seek both Micah and the person he once was? And who is the mysterious Cyan, and can they trust her? Full review...
Meet the Parents by Peter Bently and Sara Ogilivie
What are parents for? Perhaps young children think that all their parents do is nag them about what they should be doing such as remembering their manners, tidying up and eating all their vegetables. Well, it may be that parents do all this but they do so much more too. This lovely, gentle picture book describes the other very important roles that parents fulfil, covering everything from the slightly unusual ketchup targets and tent pole holders to the much loved storytellers and cuddle- givers. Full review...
Archduke Franz Ferdinand Lives!: A World without World War I by Richard Ned Lebow
On the first page of this book, we are given a summary of events from August 2014. Queen Elizabeth is hosting a reception for Prince Harry and his bride, a niece of the German Kaiser at Balmoral, while the governor-general of India is involved in preparations for the next Commonwealth Games. This brief glimpse of a fantasy world is followed by a swift resumé of the twentieth century, as everything actually happened, and of changes in the world order wrought by both world wars. Chapter two tells of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie at Sarajevo in June 1914, the final catalyst which precipitated the First World War. Full review...
The Wrong Quarry by Max Allan Collins
To create a true anti-hero is no easy task. I have read plenty of crime fiction that reports to have an unlikable son of a gun at the centre of the story, but rarely are they actually that bad. You might get a detective with a gruff exterior, but a kind heart. Or perhaps a career criminal whose sense of morals are actually better than the cops. Thank goodness then for Max Allan Collin’s Quarry novels. Old school murder mysteries that have a hitman at their heart (usually pointing his gun at it). Full review...
The Railwayman's Wife by Ashley Hay
Mackenzie and Anikka Lachlan have all they could possibly want. They live in Thirroul, a close New South Wales coastal community, are parents to a lovely little girl and now, in 1948, Mac has come through the war years unscathed due to his job at home on the railways. However in a single moment all their luck changes and Anikka becomes a widow, another grieving shadow. Alongside her neighbours (a war poet who can't write now he's home and the local GP who experienced hell while not being able to bring anyone back from its grasp) Anikka must learn the most difficult lesson: how to go on living. Full review...
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
On her 11th birthday Sarah Grimké is given a special present. It walks towards her decorated with a purple ribbon for 'it' is Hetty, Sarah's new personal slave. They grow up together on the Grimkés' Charleston plantation separated by conventions thought to be set in stone. However each in their own way will rebel; Hetty empowered by her seamstress mother's ancient African tales of resistance and Sarah (alongside her sister Angelina) empowered by defiant dreams. Full review...
The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves by Stephen Grosz
I usually review fiction. For that reason alone, I knew that reviewing this particular book would be a challenge. I was attracted to it for many reasons; I thought it would give me a window into many situations of which I know little or nothing. Full review...
