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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The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent by Robert A Caro
It's only a matter of days since I finished listening to The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power, the first part of Robert A Caro's definitive work on the President and despite having just spent over forty hours on the book I wanted to learn more. I was torn though - the second book in a series is not often as good as the first and it struck me that these might not be the most exciting years in Johnson's life. Was this book going to be the link which took us on to the more exciting times? Not a bit of it. Full review...
The Atheist's Prayer by Amy R Biddle
I don’t shy away from a book with a little edge, in fact Chuck Palahniuk is one of my favourite authors and his books can be so sharp you can shave with them. On the surface The Atheist’s Prayer would seem to be courting controversy; why else have such a provocative title? But, is it really that shocking? Nope. This is a story about how people deal with the modern world and what happens when dangerous ideals infect a vulnerable group. Full review...
The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett
In a prosperous area of London during World War II the two Lockwood children, twelve year old Cecily and her older brother Jeremy, are dispatched, together with their socialite mother, to stay with family in the north to keep them safe. On their arrival, at Cecily’s insistence, they take in a young evacuee, ten year old May. As they wander the countryside close to Cecily’s Uncle Peregrine’s country estate the two girls find two strange boys hiding in the ruins of Snow Castle and do not tell the rest of the family about their discovery. As the children attempt to cope with their changed circumstances and the fear of an approaching enemy, each evening Uncle Peregrine tells the children a dark and sinister story of intrigue in the Royal courts of long ago and so begins the story within a story. This intriguing book then goes on to combine two periods of English history in an extraordinary adventure that is not only an historical novel but a moving coming of age story too. Full review...
The Forever Girl by Alexander McCall Smith
I have loved Alexander McCall Smith's books since I first picked one up, and so I have been waiting for the release of this, a standalone novel, ever since I first heard about it. It pains me, therefore, that I'm unable to shout about how marvellous it is to you all or how you should rush out to buy it immediately because actually, I found it disappointing. Full review...
The Fun Stuff and Other Essays by James Wood
The Fun Stuff and Other Essays provides, as the title suggests, a panoramic sampling of James Wood’s critical writing. A popular and oft-quoted writer, the essays collected here offer stimulating insights into Wood’s chosen subjects. Full review...
Mi and Museum City by Linda Sarah
Mi lives in Museum City, but he is lonely and bored. Most of the museums there are dull and grey and uninteresting. It is only when he meets Yu one day that he starts to have fun, and he wonders if the mayor will let them open up their own, new, fun museum? Full review...
It's a perennial problem for parents of little ones - how to get them to share. When my daughter was little she used to hover around the doors of the toy cupboard, hoping to be first in the queue to get her hands on a dolly pushchair... there are never enough dolly pushchairs it seems! Different parents react in different ways. Some see their little darling snatching a toy from another child and immediately leap in and start the 'share!' conversation. Others laugh and say 'well, they have to learn...' I think reactions differ depending on whether your child is always the one stealing the toys away, or if yours is the child weeping in the corner because someone took the yellow ball from her. Anyway, if you're having problems with the idea of sharing then try this sweet story! Full review...
Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan
When Kelly leaves the USA for a life-changing trip around the world, her goal is not to end up working as a nanny in suburban Sydney. And her goal is definitely not to turn into her mother in the process. She doesn’t realise it at the time, but as this memoir shows, there are worse things that could happen. Full review...
Tilly's Promise by Linda Newbery
Tilly often wished things would change in the sleepy little village she called home, but she gets more change than she bargained for when war breaks out. First her sweetheart joins up, then Tilly signs on a nurse and finally her brother Georgie is called up, despite the fact that he is completely unfit for service. Georgie is different, big and strong but with the mind of a child - how could he possibly survive the horrors of war? So many promises are made, Tilly promises her sweetheart Harry she will wait - Harry assures her he won't be away long - sure it will probably be over by Christmas (famous last words). When Georgie is posted to Harry's unit, Tilly extracts a somewhat reluctant promise from him to look after her brother. More promises will be made - but promises are hard to keep in wartime. As Georgie and Harry face the harsh reality of life in the trenches, Tilly finds herself near the frontline as a nurse. Everything seems to have changed. Will even love remain the same - especially in the aftermath of a broken promise? Full review...
Jake's Bones by Jake McGowan-Lowe
My oldest son has wanted to be a palaeontologist since he was three and both boys are fascinated by how things work. Last year my youngest saw some scientific anatomy drawings and begged for more, so I began looking for children's books on skeletons, and anatomy. There are very few available and this looked the best by far, I spent two days searching not only British but American booksellers before noticing that the book had not been released yet - so sadly we were forced to wait. It was worth waiting for though, this book is truly one of a kind. Full review...
No Regrets, Coyote by John Dufresne
You may or may not be aware that there is a style known as the South Florida Noir. The action tends to take place in daylight, in the glare of the Florida sun rather than in nightclubs or dark alleyways. If you’re not familiar with South Florida Noir, No Regrets, Coyote is a good place to start. And if you are, well, be assured that it is a perfectly crafted example of the genre. Full review...
No Man's Land: Writings From A World At War by Pete Ayrton (editor)
July 2014 marks the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War: a war that has become imprinted on the national consciousness of Britain (and plenty of modern nation-states), partly because of the large numbers of people (mostly men) writing about it. I don't mean journalists, who had been covering wars for the Victorian public, but artists: poets, authors, memoirists and painters. The poets especially have stamped World War One on collective memory, through countless poetry anthologies, recitals at memorials, and in school classrooms. Full review...
The Beatles by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom
The Beatles begins with the childhood of John Lennon at the end of the second world war. The first illustration seems to convey and infant John twisting and shouting on his way to the air raid shelter. The text and illustrations both paint a picture of mischievous but intelligent child. We especially loved an illustration that shows the mixed emotions of the passengers and driver as John plays an old harmonica for hours on the bus. Some of the passengers look desperate to escape, but the driver is so impressed he gives John a better harmonica. Full review...
Terms and Conditions by Robert Glancy
This is a slow bowl with a wicked curl! The hero, Franklyn wakes up in hospital; he discovers that he has had a car accident, but he can’t remember anything. Alice, Franklyn’s wife, and Oscar, his brother, are full of loving concern and his work colleagues are solicitous, but Franklyn soon senses a lack of authenticity in his family members and starts to sniff round to discover why. Full review...
The Perfect Hug by Joanna Walsh and Judi Abbott
Who doesn’t like a nice hug? Hugs and cuddles are something you know from birth are nice, and unlike with kisses you don’t have to worry about Aunty Florence’s smelly breath or wet slobbering. In this book, our unnamed, panda-shaped hero is out to find the perfect hug. Along the way he tries big hugs and small hugs and prickly hugs and tickly hugs, but none are quite right. Can he find the one he’s looking for? Is there a secret to the perfect hug? Full review...
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T S Eliot and Rebecca Ashdown (Illustrator)
It has always struck me to be the very definition of disappointment to think you're going to study Eliot's poetry at college or university, only to find it is some errant dross like 'The Four Quartets'. His book of Cats poems is in the strictest of verse, it's bursting with levity, it's surely great fun to share – what's not to prefer here? If I were you, I'd just ignore what kind of show these pages once inspired, and turn or return to them, Prufrock be damned. 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...
Who Framed Klaris Cliff? by Nikki Sheehan
Joseph is a thoroughly ordinary kid. He and his dad get on pretty well, in a teasing, blokish sort of way, and they both admit openly how much they miss Joseph's mother. She'd been suffering from depression on and off for ages and went away for a much-needed holiday a couple of years previously. Her postcards said she was feeling much better and would definitely be home before the end of the summer, but she broke her promise: she never came back. Joseph imagines every day what it will be like when she eventually returns. Still, there's a big untidy, unruly family next door including Joseph's best friend Rocky, so he never needs to be lonely. So far so good: a contemporary, cheerful story about a likeable young teen. But there's one sinister element in this everyday world. Full review...
Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville
Josef Breuer has never had a case such as this. For a doctor in fin-de-siecle Vienna, spurned by his ex-colleague Sigmund, and with some dark happenings in his marriage and his past, he gets as a patient a young, damaged girl, found naked and battered outside an asylum. She claims she has never come from there, however, and that she is of no father or mother besides a purpose. She says she is a machine, an automaton, a beautiful kind of golem, with the task of going to Linz and killing a monster. She has an unusual number design at her wrist. This story alternates with that of another young girl, a very impetuous and belligerent child, now that her favourite nanny-come-nurse-come-cook-come-storyteller has been drummed out, and living alone with her father, again a doctor, outside a zoo. But a zoo that doesn't strictly hold animals, nor allows for their conservation… Full review...
The Baby and the Brandy by Robert Parker
When we first meet Ben Bracken he's a free man, but it's the first time in many long months. Twenty minutes before he had escaped from HMP Manchester, better known to many people as Strangeways. He had been an army captain but he'd been forced into a situation where he felt that he had no option but to act against the law and this resulted in his dishonourable discharge and the prison sentence. It did nothing for his relationship with his parents either. Right now he's not got that many people he can call friends but he's buoyed by a feeling of patriotism, despite what's happened to him. Full review...
Boys Don't Knit by T S Easton
Ben Fletcher is a pleasant and fairly quiet boy - so when the 17-year-old gets roped into taking part in the Great Trolley Robbery to grab some booze for a party, it's just his luck that he's the one who ends up getting assaulted by a lollipop lady and put on probation! Forced to keep a journal, give back to the victim of his crime, and take up an approved hobby, he reluctantly chooses knitting - only to find a real talent for it. Can he keep his new-found hobby a secret from his dad and his mates, get the girl of his dreams, and become a champion knitter? Full review...
The Kissing Game by Jean Ure
Salvatore d'Amato - sometimes nicknamed Sally Tomato - is twelve years old and has never been kissed. He's determined to change that before his next birthday. But will Lucy, the object of his affections, ever return them? He has a secret weapon - his poetry. Is it going to win her heart, or just disgust her? And will Harmony Hynde, the girl in his class who works as a library assistant, stop bothering him? Full review...
Serious Sas and Messy Magda by Marianne de Pierres and Rachel Annie Bridgen
Parenthood. Isn’t it great? Setting an example. Forming young minds. Embarrassing your kids. Whether it’s Dad dancing or Mum singing in public, most parents do one thing that makes their child cringe. Pity then poor Sas whose Mum is messy Magda, a woman with more than the one odd habit. Full review...
A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan
We could all wish for a little of Lady Trent in ourselves. It's obvious what she feels she has inside her, for ever since she was a young girl she ignored society and decorum and was interested in science, nature, and the discovery of all that was unknown about dragons. She even went on a hunt for wolf-drakes, disguised as a male, and that's a species that prefers female prey. But as renowned a pioneer as she is, she has never told anyone in such detail of her life stories, starting with this one – a journey to the cold, mountainous land of Vystrana, which successfully uncovered a lot of the truth about dragons – but also a lot that was much harder to explain… Full review...
The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power by Robert A Caro
Lyndon Baines Johnson was the 36th President of the United States, preceded by John F Kennedy and succeeded by Richard Nixon, with both being remembered most for the way they left office. His five-year term in office was overshadowed at the start by the Kennedy assassination and increasingly blighted by the debacle which was Vietnam, but there was something about Johnson which always intrigued me: how does a poor boy from Texas hill country without an exceptional (or even 'good') education become president of the United States? 'The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power' tells you all that you need to know. Full review...
Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman
I wished I could visit a Museum of Unnatural History, but even so, I was glad there wasn't one... If someone actually caught a werewolf, or a dragon, if they tamed a manticore or stabled a unicorn, put them in bottles, dissected them, then they could be only one thing, and they would no longer live in the shadowy places between the things I knew and the world of the impossible, which was, I was certain, the only place that mattered.
So says Neil Gaiman in the introduction to this anthology of sixteen unnatural creatures (to capitalise or not to capitalise, that is the question). Full review...
Jinx's Magic by Sage Blackwood
Jinx's world seems, at first glance, to be highly traditional. He lives with a wizard in the middle of the Urwald forest, elves and werewolves wander by on a regular basis, and the rule, as everyone knows, is that you must never, ever step off the path. Full review...
Zoom Zoom Zoom by Katherina Manolessou
Monkey and Bird aren’t tired. They don’t want to sleep. They want an adventure! And so leaving the birds sleeping in the trees, they set off to the moon. Full review...
