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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Wumbers by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
Wumbers mixes - as you might have guessed - words and numbers. Think text speak that doesn't horrify stuffy parents. Each page takes in a different scene, with a speech bubble along the lines of Look at his 2can ta2! It takes a little bit of decoding for its young readers (and rapidly ageing reviewers) but look upon it as a bit of a game, and it's good fun. Full review...
The Treasure House by Linda Newbery
Linda Newbery says she once helped out in a charity shop, and felt it was a perfect place to find material for stories. Each item had a history, whether sad or happy, and Second-Hand Rose, the shop owned by Nina's eccentric great-aunts, is full of vintage clothes and other fascinating things, including a big green toy crocodile which is bought and returned so many times it becomes the shop mascot. But finding things there she is sure her absent mother would never willingly give away, Nina is puzzled, distressed and, eventually, determined to find out what made her mother leave—and whether she intends to come back home one day. Full review...
This is Not the End of the Book; by Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carriere
In many ways, the cover of my edition of this book is perfectly appropriate. Huge, bold serif script, with nothing but the typeface; a declamatory instance of the art in the most common of fonts, and that perfect semi-colon at the end of the book's name - proving that that itself is not the be-all and end-all. Buy this book, as you can, in electronic form, and you might see this cover for ten seconds at most, but it is so much part and parcel of what's within. Full review...
The Great Fairy Tale Disaster by David Conway and Melanie Williamson
'Once Upon a Time there lived an old Big Bad Wolf. He no longer had any huff and puff to blow down the Three Little Pigs' house and he'd had enough of falling into hot water.'
Well, when it's put like that it's no wonder that the Big Bad Wolf decides that he has had enough of his own particular fairy tale. He decides that he needs a nice relaxing one instead and thinks that he would fit in well to Cinderella. However, when a very nervous Cinderella allows him to take her place, he's not too happy to find himself in a dress and glass slippers. It's not good for his macho wolf's image at all. Full review...
The Road to Hell: An Alice Rice Mystery by Gillian Galbraith
DS Alice Rice is facing a disciplinary hearing which could result in her dismissal from the police force. She knows that she's innocent - that it wasn't her who'd been too free with some sensitive information - but it's all going to come down to whose word is believed and whether a couple of witnesses can remember exactly who said what in a very tense situation. It's a difficult afternoon and when she gets home that evening, Ian - the man with whom she lives - has a visitor and forgets the importance of Alice's afternoon. The resulting argument will stay in Alice's mind for some of the worst reasons. Full review...
Pictures at an Exhibition by Camilla Macpherson
A story designed around the display of individual paintings at the National Gallery during World War Two held immediate appeal for me. Alas, Claire and Rob, the central characters in the novel, did not. Claire’s extreme irrationality is jarring even within the context of the ordeal she has endured. Rob seems inconsiderate, clearly due to the barrage of irrationality he is having to live with on a daily basis. But while that is understandable, I did worry that I might be reading a novel that contained no likeable characters. Full review...
Murders of London: In the steps of the capital's killers by David Long
While the true crime specialist reader may prefer books which deal in one case in depth, there’s always room for another title at the other end of the spectrum, dealing in brief with a variety of murders over the years. Full review...
The Immortal Dinner: A famous evening of genius and laughter in literary London, 1817 by Penelope Hughes-Hallett
A book based around just one dinner sounds a little extraordinary. But the host, painter Benjamin Robert Haydon, was no ordinary artist. He was a friend of many of the major artistic and literary figures of the day, in addition to being an ambitious painter of historical scenes. Sadly, his ambition was not matched by popularity or good fortune, and despite or perhaps parly because an exaggerated belief in his own abilities, one and a half centuries after his death he is largely forgotten except for his suicide after years of despair, and perhaps his diary as well. Full review...
The Grand Tour: Letters and photographs from the British Empire expedition by Agatha Christie and Mathew Prichard (editor)
In 1922 Agatha Christie, already the author of three very successful books, was happily married with a small daughter, and her heart's desire was to continue writing while she led a quiet life in the country. However her husband Archie was becoming increasingly restless and disenchanted with working in the City, and his longing for a change was suddenly to be fulfilled in a most unexpected way. An old friend, Major Belcher, 'blessed with great powers of bluff', presented them both with the opportunity of a lifetime – to join him on a trip to several imperial outposts in preparation for the forthcoming British Empire Exhibition to be staged at Wembley. Archie would be his financial adviser, and Agatha was cordially invited for the trip, as his wife. (Two-year-old Rosalind would have to stay at home, a decision which involved some soul-searching). Full review...
Burn Mark by Laura Powell
Glory comes from a long line of witches. She knows the fae will show itself in her eventually. And when it does, Glory intends to make sure her East End coven regains its former and elevated status. Lucas is the privileged son of the Inquisition's Chief Prosecutor. He holds the prevalent view that witchcraft and witchcrime are all but synonymous and that witchkind generally presents a serious threat to national security. He intends to follow his father into the Inquisition... Full review...
Changeling by Philippa Gregory
Luca Vero is expelled from his monastery after being accused of heresy. The seventeen-year-old is recruited to map the End of Days, and his first task is to go to a nunnery where a Lady Abbess of his own age has been accused of witchcraft. Will he find Isolde guilty and condemn her to the pyre, or is there more to the case than meets the eye? Full review...
Dead End In Norvelt by Jack Gantos
Meet Jack Gantos. Grounded for the summer after an accident with a Japanese rifle, Jack expected his holiday to be spent doing chores and reading his history books. So when the old people in his off-kilter town suddenly start dropping like flies, he jumps at the chance to be an assistant to Miss Volker, one of the Norvelt originals and a personification of the town's old-fashioned ideals and reverence to history. While faithfully typing up the unique and flavoured obituaries that Miss Volker orates, Jack finds himself learning a lot about the origins of his dying town, about the history of America, about a lot of things in fact, while simultaneously being drawn into the oddest of murder mysteries. Full review...
North Child by Edith Pattou
Superstition says that children born facing north will travel far from home and Rose's mother is terrified that Rose, a north child, will face a lonely, icy death if she follows her destiny. Full review...
Paris by Maarten vande Wiele
In the category of graphic novels not to be seen reading in public, Paris is way up there. With a gaudy pink and silver glitz cover, and a lot of blowjobs and sex inside, it's not one for the daily commute. But, even though it's subject matter is merely the unlikely choice of the rags-to-riches-to-rags tale of three Parisian starlets, it is certainly worth a decent perusal. Hope was a juvenile beauty queen, and could now work in fashion were it not for scars due to a car crash, and Faith wishes for the vicarious life of pop stardom, and it's no spoiler to report who and what they find will disappoint them. Chastity, the most sarcastically-named character in comix, is happy enough destroying herself. Full review...
Earthfall by Mark Walden
They are coming. If you are caught, you will not escape. If you escape, they will hunt you down. You must not be captured. Everything depends on you. Prepare for Earthfall.
Life is chugging along pretty much as normal for Sam Riley when his father suddenly turns grey with fear and rushes off to an emergency at work. Within 24 hours, alien spaceships have appeared above every major city across the world and enslaved the entire population with a mind probe. Except Sam. Sam has no idea why he is immune to the alien signal or how he recovered from a terrible injury after a fight with one of their drones. But after a year hiding in London's sewers, he has learned how to survive. Full review...
The Really, Really, Really Big Dinosaur by Richard Byrne
Finlay is what you might call a little dinosaur; there are certainly plenty bigger than him. One day, a big dinosaur walks past and Finlay offers to share his jelly beans with him.
But the big dinosaur wants all the jelly beans for himself and even though Finlay explains that the jelly beans actually belong to his really big friend and they aren't his to give away, the big dinosaur just puffs up his chest and tells Finlay to let his friend know that he's going to take the jelly beans all for himself anyway. Full review...
Now is the Time for Running by Michael Williams
In a remote village in Zimbabwe, Deo is playing football with his friends while his brother Innocent looks on. Innocent takes a bit of looking after - deprived of oxygen during birth, he's not quite like other children and Deo is fiercely protective of him. Then the soldiers arrive, looking for a delivery of food aid and the traitors who welcome help from the evil Americans, and they destroy the entire village. Now orphans, the two boys have no choice but to flee to South Africa in the hopes of finding their long-lost father. Since their only possessions are Innocent's bix box and Deo's football (stuffed with worthless billion dollar notes), it won't be easy... Full review...
The Lonely Furrow by Pamela Kavanagh
The loss of the family business was no fault of the Drummond family, but by the time that they'd repaid what was owed they had no home and no means of making a living. The elder son, Nathan, lost his fiancé and there was little left for them to do but to leave Glasgow and move to a farm which had been in Florence Drummond's family for some time. They weren't farmers, but there was little choice but for them to buckle down and make the best of the situation presented to them. Full review...
The Celestial Bibendum by Nicolas de Crecy
Diego is new to town. He's a seal, on crutches, but don't raise an eyebrow at that - you won't have enough left to raise at what follows, when he is hounded by a singing professorial claque who go about grooming him for being a very public, hopeful figure. Observing all of this is the devil (a dwarf in check dungarees, of course), who wants Diego for his own purposes... Full review...
Africa Junction by Ginny Baily
Adele has made a mess of her life and she knows it. Working with the stresses of being a teacher as well as a single mother and having shrugged off a disastrous relationship, her life seems to be set on self-destruct. Part of the problem is that the past won't leave her alone. Adele is haunted by the memory of Ellena, a friend from her childhood in Senegal, Africa. With one unthinking, childish action, Adele inadvertently devastated Ellena's family so, in order to go forward, Adele must go back to the continent where it all began. Full review...
Monsters Don't Cry! by Brett McKee and Ella Burfoot
Archie awoke with a shout in the night.
Only a dream, but what a terrible fright.
Well monsters may roar, may growl or just sigh,
But monsters are strong, monsters don't cry.
Archie is a funny, adventurous and brave little chap but in spite of the fact that he's a little monster – literally – sometimes when life's little twists and turns don't go his way, it all gets a bit upsetting. Because even monsters get scared; especially little ones like Archie. Full review...
Raven Boy and Elf Girl by Marcus Sedgwick
Raven Boy and Elf Girl are on a mission. An ogre has been trampling and crashing around the place, pulling up all the trees and destroying people's homes. Many of the forest creatures have fled, and poor Elf Girl has somehow managed to lose her parents. What's more, she doesn't really believe Raven Boy when he says he can talk to the animals, mostly because all they seem to say is RUN! Full review...
Satantango by Laszlo Krasznahorkai
A small community in rural Hungary is unsettled. One man has too much control over the place, with too much influence on the work done there, and over all the lives lived there. His effect is still felt, even though he has been dead for over a year. So whether you are the man itching to finish a swindle and leave with the proceedings, or the doctor, confined by will to a chair at his window, making the most personal, immaculate notes about the whole existence of the community, or the housewife whose loins still mourn the influence of said man, you are unsettled - especially when the dead man is said to be returning... Full review...
The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey
As he has done before on several occasions, Peter Carey offers us two parallel stories in his intriguingly titled 'The Chemistry of Tears'. The two elements of the title reflect that this is a book about grief, but also about science. It's also a book about human's relationship with machines and dependence that we have grown to have on them, and the ugliness of life and the beauty of, at least some, machines. In one strand of the story, Catherine is a modern day horologist working in a London museum whose world is shattered by the death of a married colleague with whom she was having an affair. Put to work on restoring a mysterious clockwork bird, she discovers the journals of Henry Brandling, the nineteenth century wealthy man who commissioned the construction of the toy for his consumptive son. Full review...
HHhH by Laurent Binet
First, the title. HHhH is short for Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich - Himmler's brain was called Heydrich. In other words, it's not a case of 'behind every great Nazi there's a greater woman', but behind Hitler's own deputy was a major strength to the party. Reinhard Heydrich was the ruler of what practically corresponds to the Czech Republic, led the SS and more, and bossed the workings of the Final Solution. Any good biography of this compelling character in those interesting times - given too the subplot of those who would assassinate him - is bound to be an excellent history book. But, despite this getting a high rating, this isn't one. Why not? The author says so. Full review...
Fifty Shades Darker by EL James
Not a lot of time has passed since the first instalment of Ana’s adventures with the man she calls Fifty Shades. Perhaps unusually for a follow up it’s not months or years later, in fact just a few days have gone by. Lots of things have changed, though. Successful businessman Christian is still our tortured hero and Ana, now in her first proper job, remains our befuddled heroine but they’re not Christian-and-Ana any more having parted ways at the end of book one. At the same time, a lot has stayed the same. They’re not having quite as much dirty sex as they were but the tensions are still there. He’s still incapable of letting her get on with things without interfering (you’ve got to love a guy who buys the company you work at, just to keep an eye on things). And he still has, let’s say, particular preferences when it comes to his bedroom antics. So, it seems, does Ana. With what were increasingly becoming her regular nocturnal activities now off limits, she’s started craving them. Craving things she didn’t know were possible a month or so ago. Craving things she’s aware nice girls wouldn’t…unless it’s all one big unspoken secret in the sisterhood. Craving things that, let’s be honest, a massive number of readers probably quite fancy themselves after the literary foreplay that was book 1. Full review...
Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
When it's bedtime at the zoo the zookeeper goes round all the animals and wishes them 'good night'. What he doesn't realise is that the crafty gorilla has gently lifted the zoo keeper's key ring from his belt and is opening the cages. All the animals - Elephant, Lion, Hyena, Giraffe and Armadillo are tiptoeing along behind the zookeeper as he leaves the zoo and goes home to bed, completely unaware that he has all his friends with him. In fact - it's not until his wife wishes him good night and receives a lot more replies than she was expecting that the animals are found out. I'm not going to tell you the rest of the story because I want you to enjoy it for yourself. Full review...
I Don't Want to Wash my Hands (Little Princess) by Tony Ross
The Little Princess is always getting her hands dirty whether it's by playing in the palace garden, stroking Scruff, the dog or going on her potty. Whenever she does any of these, there's always someone there to tell her to wash her hands. Now, as the Little Princess never likes being told what to do, she does not take kindly to this hand washing business and she demands to know why. However, when the level-headed maid, who never puts up with any of her nonsense, tells her about all the germs and nasties and horrible things that could make her ill, she is soon found rushing to the hand basin at every opportunity. Not only that, she starts insisting that everyone else always washes their hands too. Full review...
The Dead Season: A Sandro Cellini Mystery by Christobel Kent
It's August and Florence feels hotter than it usually does in August - if that's possible. Businesses are shut up as anyone who can migrates to the coast, but Sandro Cellini isn't one of them. He used to be a policeman but he's now a private investigator but even this business is running very slowly. All he has to work on is the case of a young and very pregnant woman whose fiancé is missing. The manager of the local Bank won't be holidaying either - his body is discovered in the shrubbery on a normally busy roundabout - and it looks as though it's been there for a few days. Then there's a coincidence: it seems that the missing fiancé and the dead Bank manager both had the same name. Full review...
Mayfly Day by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
Here is Mayfly.
It is her first day on earth.
It is also her last
This is the way that this wonderful book starts and the reader is left in no doubt that a mayfly's life is quite an extraordinary one. We go on to discover all the amazing things that the mayfly is able to see and do in this one special day. It will see eggs hatch, lambs trying to stand, taste honey on plants and feel the warmth of the sun as well as the summer rain. These are just some of the things that the mayfly will experience in this one remarkable day. The day ends with the mayfly laying her own eggs and leaving them to hatch. Full review...
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Insurgent (clever title, you'll see) begins right where Divergent left off. The social structure of Tris's world is beginning to fall apart. After the Erudite simulation attack on the Abnegation, the factions are in disarray. The Dauntless are split - half providing the military muscle for the Erudite and the other half seeking alliances with the other factions. But Amity insist on remaining neutral in the hopes of avoiding further conflict and the Candor don't have anything to bargain. The few remaining Abnegation are refugees. But there is another group - the factionless - who may hold the key to defeating the Erudite. Full review...
Belle & Boo and the Birthday Surprise by Mandy Sutcliffe
What a lovely story! Belle and Boo are always together. Belle is a little girl and Boo is her rabbit. One day Belle is very busy preparing for a birthday. Together they make a card, and some cakes, and set up a picnic in the garden. But who's birthday is it? Full review...
Home to Roost by Tessa Hainsworth
There seems to be a plethora of books about people who have moved to unusual places, or changed lifestyle in middle age for a variety of reasons. This book features a London family who have moved to Cornwall, and is the third (so far) in a series about their transition. Full review...
Whiffy Wilson by Caryl Hart and Leonie Lord
Wilson is a terribly dirty little wolf who never washes, or brushes his hair, or changes his underwear! His mum seems at a loss, demanding that he has a bath or he can't go out to play but Wilson, the naughty wolf, just runs away and hides! It is only when he meets a little girl called Dotty that he does anything about how stinky he is. She thinks he's a monster he's so smelly, and when that makes him feel sad Dotty says they can soon sort things out and takes him home for a bath! Full review...
Rabbityness by Jo Empson
Rabbit is a very rabbity rabbit. He loves doing rabbity things like hopping and jumping, washing his ears and burrowing. He also likes doing unrabbity things too, like painting, and making music, filling the woods where he lives with music and colour! But one day, Rabbit disappears. Where has he gone? The other rabbits find everything has become grey and silent without Rabbit. They find that Rabbit left behind some gifts, lots of things to make colour and music with. Together they all begin to discover that they enjoy doing unrabbity things, and that doing these things makes them think of Rabbit and they feel happy. Full review...
Outlaw: The Story of Robin Hood by Michael Morpurgo
Have you heard of Robin Hood? Of course you have. Have you heard of Michael Morpurgo? I’m guessing the answer to that one is yes as well. This new version of one of England’s most famous legends, told by one of the country’s most popular authors, is surely a can’t miss prospect, isn’t it? Full review...
Dads, Geeks and Blue Haired Freaks by Ellie Phillips
Sadie Nathanson is stunned to get a card from her dad on her fifteenth birthday. Not only has she never met her dad, but to all intents and purposes he doesn't even exist. He was a sperm donor, that's all. In view of this, it's fairly obvious that the card is a mean joke, probably played by her ex-best friend Shonna Matthews. But it makes her start to think about her dad a bit more, and she decides to track him down. Full review...
Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
This Pulitzer Prize winning novel revolves around 24 hours in the lives of Maggie and Ira Moran as they attend a friend's funeral and make a detour on the way home. As the couple spend the day together they share events from their past that put their present in context. I know this seems a somewhat sparse structure for a story but don't be put off. Somewhere between Anne Tyler's idea and its execution, something very good happens. Full review...
Time and Tide by Shirley McKay
A ship is wrecked on the coast of 16th century Scotland, the crew gone, the only man on board dying and a windmill lashed to its deck. What happened? What sort of illness does it carry? And, more importantly for the town's people, who gets to keep the windmill? It's a tough one, but university professor and erstwhile lawyer Hew Cullan is on the case. Full review...
The Tyrant by Jacques Chessex
Jean Calmet, teacher of Latin in a lycee of the 1960s in Switzerland, is confronting his father's death. He can hardly be said to be coming to terms with it, for Calmet pere was and remains a crushing force in Jean's life, and although the death would in many similar novels be a release, here his father's cremation serves to batter Jean into a beaten state. His relations with his work, his lover, his students are all suffused with not a sense of loss but a sense of continuing and growing dominance by the ghost of his father. The authoritian presence seems to grow as a spectre rather than diminish through his death. Full review...
Make and Do: Bake by Kathleen King
I love the idea of kids cooking. There's going to be mess, probably a bit of waste and you're going to have to bite your tongue an awful lot, but it really is the most amazing fun. Best of all, though - from an early age kids learn that they can go into the kitchen and make something which they can eat. They don't need to go to the shops and buy a ready meal or to a takeaway for junk food. They can make something themselves. It's a life skill. Full review...
Daily Mail Tax Guide 2012/2013 by Jane Vass
In its annual report H M Revenue and Customs announced that it will shed many more staff by the year 2015 so it's now more important than ever to ensure that you are paying the right amount of tax and that you are claiming all the allowances and reliefs to which you are entitled. I spent most of my working life in HMRC and the dedication and professionalism of the staff is second to none but when resources are spread more thinly it's difficult to say that something will not give. You can, of course, go to the HMRC site where you will find a lot of help and information - and it's free. You might wonder then, why you should buy a book which, on the face of it, does the same job? Full review...
Creepover: Truth or Dare by P J Night
When playing Truth or Dare with her friends at a party, Abby Miller tells them she has a crush on Jake Chilson. When she gets a text in the middle of the night warning her to stay away from him, or else, she can't believe it would be any of them - but nobody else knows. Could it really be the ghost of Jake's ex-girlfriend Sara, who was tragically killed when a car hit her? As more and more strange things start happening to her, Abby wonders whether she believes in ghosts or not... Full review...
Denver by David McKee
Denver, who was extremely rich, lived in Berton Manor. He was so rich that he was able to employ a chauffeur, a cook and some gardeners. When he invited friends to dinner he was able to employ more people to serve all of the food. This was very good for the village of Berton as he was paying the people who live there. Not only that, he always did his shopping in Berton, presented prizes at the local school and, at Christmas, dressed up as Santa and handed out presents. It seems quite obvious that many people in the village were able to benefit from his wealth. Full review...