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 Princess and the Peas and Carrots by Harriet Ziefert and Travis Foster
Rosebud is a good girl, for the most part, neat and tidy and a happy little girl, at which times her daddy calls her Good Princess Rosebud. But then sometimes things go a little bit wrong, or they aren't quite as Rosebud likes them, so perhaps there's a hole in her tights or snow in her boots or, heavens above, her peas are touching her carrots on the plate at dinner time! When this happens Rosebud becomes Princess Fussy and my, doesn't everyone know about it! Full review...
Harbour Nocturne by Joseph Wambaugh
The Hollywood Station series is set (no prizes for guessing) in Hollywood. Hollywood is, almost by definition, a bit weird. A full moon is known as a Hollywood moon, because that's when all the weirdoes come out to play. But it's a district that needs to be policed like any other. It has its fair share of RTAs and domestics and sad and lonely people. Not for nothing has the night shift sergeant instituted pizza-rewarded awards for best 'True Hollywood Romance' or 'Quiet Desperation' reports from a given shift. You need a black sense of humour to work the mean streets. Full review...
The Dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron
Little Mishka finds his cosy world turned upside down after the death of his beloved Babushka Ina. Unable to cope, his desperate mother finds solace in the arms of an abusive, alcoholic boyfriend and things go from bad to worse. When his mother mysteriously disappears, five year old Mishka flees to the heart of the city, where he joins up with a gang of street children, begging and stealing to survive. Full review...
The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story by Catherine Fletcher
Henry VIII’s protracted divorce from Catherine of Aragon, often referred to as ‘The King’s Great Matter’, has been described in detail many times before. In this book on the subject, the focus is on the role of Italian diplomat, Gregorio Casali, ‘our man in Rome’, as the hardback edition was titled. In the preface, Ms Fletcher explains that the average reader may be conversant with the basic facts of Henry and his six wives, but has probably never heard of Casali, who played a lengthy role in the proceedings. Full review...
The Prey by Andrew Fukuda
Having escaped the vampires hunting them on the boat left by the Scientists, Gene, Sissy and the boys make their way down the river and arrive at the Mission. Food is abundant, the place is peaceful, and the Elders promise them a trip on the next train to Civilisation. Gene and Sissy can hardly believe it. But it's soon apparent that the Mission is not all it seems and Gene begins to wonder if they haven't simply exchanged one hellhole for another. Although they find out a great deal more about the Scientist - he developed the Origin, a cure for vampirism - understanding his plans is as frustrating as ever. And with the vampires coming ever closer, even to the Mission itself, and the Elders making moves of their own, time is running out and Gene and Sissy must decide what to do... Full review...
The Silly Satsuma by Allan Plenderleith
Once there was a boy called Eric Greenbogle. I'd like to be able to tell you that he was a good boy, but that would be wrong. Eric was a bad boy and we all know what happens to bad boys on Christmas morning, don't we? Good boys (and girls) find lots of presents under the tree, but Father Christmas knows who has been good and who has been bad and Eric was about to be taught a lesson. There was just one present under the tree for Eric: a satsuma. Oh, there was something else - there was a note from Father Christmas explaining why there were no presents. Eric was furious. Eric cried, but then... Full review...
Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black
Vanessa is just one of many new students at the New York Ballet Academy - but while they're all trying to become the best dancer, she has her own reasons for being there. Three years ago her older sister disappeared from the school, and she's determined to find out what happened to Margaret. Can she find out? And will the two boys taking an interest in her, charismatic Zeppelin and incredibly intense Justin, help or hinder her search? Full review...
The Big Truck That Went By by Jonathan M Katz
It was January 12, 2010 and AP correspondent Jonathan M. Katz was preparing to ship out of Haiti after spending the last two and a half years reporting about political instability, riots and disasters. He was preparing for a change of scene, a stint in Afghanistan, concluding that It sounded like a good place for a break. Nature had other plans.
When the earthquake struck, Katz was unexpectedly thrown into the thick of the action. As the only American reporter on the ground at the time of the quake, he felt duty-bound to break news of unfolding events to an oblivious world. Full review...
A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger by Lucy Robinson
Charley is a have-it-all alpha-female. She takes cooking lessons, learns Mandarin, volunteers her time to worthy causes. But she’s not a lady who lunches, trying to fill her days, she’s a high-flying communications manager at a Pharma company who dreams big and works relentlessly to achieve her goals. So, when she’s side-lined by a nasty accident that leaves her leg broken in 3 places, she panics. Not for her are months off sick, lounging on the sofa watching Jeremy Kyle and eating Thorntons straight from the box. She can’t return to work, so she needs a new plan, something to occupy her time and stop her brain going to mush. Full review...
Secret Meeting by Jean Ure
Megan loves to read and she especially loves to read books by her very favourite author, Harriet Chance. Over the years she has collected all of Harriet’s books and as her birthday approaches Megan wonders if she will be able to buy a copy of Harriet’s latest novel with her birthday book tokens. Megan’s best friend, Annie, is determined that Megan should have a birthday she will never forget so when she meets Harriet’s daughter in an on-line chat room she decides to arrange the best birthday present ever for her friend. Megan is stunned when Annie reveals that Harriet has agreed to meet Megan and have a special birthday tea with her as part of her birthday celebrations. The two friends plot the secret meeting with care and feel sure that nothing can go wrong but when they finally meet the celebrated author Megan has an uneasy feeling that all is not as it seems. Should she have listened to her mother’s warnings about the dangers of meeting people you chat to on the Internet? Full review...
Ant and Bee by Angela Banner
When you learn to read it has to be fun. You have to master the skill but it mustn't be too daunting or you're not going to enjoy it and - worst of all - you might be put off reading for life. It's best if you can share the reading until you get to grips with decoding what's on the page, so if an adult could read most of the words but you read others to which you've already been introduced and which are in a different colour then that is going to be a help. If the words are introduced with a nice big picture and if they appear in alphabetical order, then that's going to be fun, isn't it? Full review...
Rift by Andrea Cremer
After a mysterious healer saved the life of Ember, and her mother, when she was just a baby, Ember was promised to the mysterious order Conatus. It's a debt her father is not happy about paying - determined to see his younger daughter married to a suitable husband, he tries everything in his power to stop Ember joining the order of knights. Full review...
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
One day Susannah Cahalan was a bright, outgoing tabloid reporter in New York, with a promising career ahead of her. Within weeks a mysterious illness reduced her to an incoherent shadow of her former self, struggling with basic tasks, and left doctors at one of the world's top medical centres baffled. In Brain on Fire, Cahalan – now in the 'post-recovery' stage of her life – attempts to recapture the memories and events from the her 'month of madness' before diagnosis and cure. Full review...
The Sweet Girl by Annabel Lyon
The Sweet Girl is a novel fictionalising the life of Pythias, the Greek philosopher Aristotle's daughter. The reader looks at the world through Pythias’ eyes, from the age of 7 until her late teens, starting in Athens, and ending up in Chalcis. One gets to delve into the experience of life in the household of a highly esteemed ancient philosopher, and the uncertainty which the main characters are thrown into after the death of King Alexander, making life unsafe for anyone previously affiliated with him – this includes Aristotle, who was once his teacher. Full review...
Cockadoodle-Doo, Mr Sultana! by Michael Morpurgo
There was once a very rich and very greedy and very fat sultan who kept his people in poverty and everything else for himself. One day when he was out riding (and being very mean to his horse) he lost a diamond button. His people were made to search for it on their hands and knees, but it was found by a little red rooster, who was very cheeky and who forced the sultan into a merry chase and finally a humiliating defeat. It's the stuff of traditional fairy tales given some delightful twists by a master storyteller and hilariously illustrated by Shoo Rayner. Full review...
Pea's Book of Big Dreams by Susie Day
For as long as she can remember, Pea has wanted to be a writer like her mother, the famous Marina Cove. But when she loses confidence in her writing ability, she decides it's time to look for a new career to aspire to. What should she be? An artist, a footballer, a pet therapist, or something else? One thing's for sure... there'll be lots of laughs, love, and even a little lunacy as she finds out. (Especially when little sister Tinkerbell, in her most Stinkerbellish of moods, gets involved!) Full review...
Irresistible by Liz Bankes
After finishing her GCSEs, Mia gets a job at Radleigh Castle, working as a waitress. She quickly meets fellow worker Dan, who she likes, but is he the boy for her - or would she be better off with Jamie, son of the owners and all-around arrogant idiot. Incredibly, it's a somewhat harder decision than that last sentence would suggest. Full review...
Never Odd Or Even by John Townsend
Elliot is twelve. He's obsessed with numbers and letters, especially palindromes. He loves to spend his spare time playing about with words or numbers, when he can avoid school bully Victor Criddle, his arch-enemy. But when 'the biggest mystery that struck our school in the history of the world' has to be solved, Elliot's forced to use all of his brain power. Full review...
The Rook (The Checquy Files) by Daniel O'Malley
A woman wakes up with amnesia surrounded by dead people wearing gloves. In her pocket she discovers a letter from Myfanwy Thomas, the previous inhabiter of her body. Myfanwy tells a strange story of working for 'the Checquy', a paranormal version of MI5 which has been permeated by a web of betrayal and danger. The problem is that Myfanwy never discovered the source before her body changed hands (so to speak). The amnesiac has a clear choice: to continue Myfanwy's investigation or to do a runner. It's her decision but Myfanwy's warning is less than encouraging:
- Remember they want you dead.
Something for her to bear in mind along with the fatal, unintended consequences of permitting cheap cheese into the UK. Full review...
Unleashed 2: Mind Over Matter by Ali Sparkes
To recap; this is the second in a series of five stand-alone books, where Ali Sparkes drags all the minor characters from her first, Shapeshifter, set of five books out into the daylight. They've all got to be introduced with the intention to make us aware how rare it is that they see the light of day – as Children of Limitless Ability they're normally stuck in a school for the superpowered. But here are Gideon and Luke, the boys who can move things with thoughts alone, on holiday. For their own adventure Sparkes has put them together with prehistoric animals, a girl with a weirdly old-fashioned, almost Dickensian problem, and a dog called Fish. Oh, and some very nasty men with guns… Full review...
The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry
Prepare yourself to try a book the likes of which you'd never particularly expect, and prepare yourself to find it becoming a favourite – one that has a snappy story, yet is a monologue, one that concerns what we all love – books, and love, yet one that also intrigues and tempts us with other, very diverse subjects. One morning our narrator turns up to start work early at her geography station in a very large but provincial library, and finds a locked-in regular. Over the next hour and twenty or so (for I read it out loud) she talks to him, barely allowing him a word in edgeways, and what we get is one big, fat lump of a paragraph of her world. Told you to be prepared for the unusual… Full review...
The Queen's Vow by C W Gortner
Queen Isabella of Spain will always be regarded as a bit of an enigma. On the one hand, contemporary sources claim that she was wise, kind and gentle, hating any kind of cruelty, including the popular sport of bullfighting. Her rule brought about the unification of Spain and heralded a new era of peace for its people. On the other side of the coin, she and her husband Fernando sanctioned the infamous Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of all Jews from Spain. Her most vehement critics may also point out that her sponsorship of Columbus brought untold misery to the inhabitants of the Americas, although in her defence, there is no way that she could have predicted the eventual consequences of his pioneering voyage. Full review...
Dead in the Water (A Kate Shugak Investigation) by Dana Stabenow
Kate Shugak is a native Aleut living in an Alaskan National Park and she's currently an investigator for hire. I hesitate to call her a private investigator as so far she's been hired by a government agency, but at just over five feet tall and just over thirty she's the best man when it comes to sorting out what's been going on. This time it's the case of two crew members lost from a ship off the coast of Alaska some months before. Their families want to know what happened to them. That's how Kate came to be signed on as a deckhand on the Avilda. They're crabbing in some of the nastiest and most dangerous conditions you can imagine. And it's not just the weather that's the problem. Full review...
Intermission by Owen Martell
There is a line in Alan Bennett's play 'The History Boys' that I love. It talks about 'subjunctive history', imagining things that might have happened. In Intermission, his first book in English as opposed to Welsh, Owen Martell borrows this idea, taking an event a surmising what may have happened afterwards. Full review...
Shadows of the Silver Screen by Christopher Edge
Kids these days have it pretty good. Not that my generation weren’t lucky – after all, we had first access to J K Rowling – but in 2013 there seems to be a greater choice of good books being published, for a wider range of abilities and interests, than my friends and I ever had access to. Full review...
All is Song by Samantha Harvey
Some books are hard work. I have no problem with that if I feel there’s a reason to persevere; if I can sense that the book is going to deliver a story and the hard work is necessary to enjoy it fully, then I will happily plod along, re-reading sections if necessary, to get the full benefit of the novel. Full review...
The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst
The reluctant, recently widowed Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier is military attaché to the French embassy in the Warsaw of 1937. Decorated during World War I, Mercier would rather be a field officer than attend endless receptions, parties and debriefing sessions necessary for his unofficial role, handling citizens who are encouraged or coerced to work against the interests of other states. He watches whilst Poland is squeezed between the Nazis on one side and the increasing profile of Stalin and Russia on the other, convinced that war will not only be inevitable, but soon. However, no one will listen to him as he gathers evidence and protects those he can from the onslaught to follow. Full review...
The Last Girlfriend on Earth by Simon Rich
There is more opportunity than ever these days to downsize your library. You can take all those lumpen classics to the charity shop now that they can be downloaded for free onto an e-reader. And with these couple of hundred pages you can also divest yourself of a heck of a lot of fiction about love, for this can easily replace so much you've read at greater length, with less imagination and with much less humour elsewhere. That hyperbole is only partly inspired by the style of the contents, for it really is that good. Full review...
The Orchid Field by Amy McLellan
In London petroleums expert Catherine Davenport ponders whether a change of employer is going to be to her advantage. An ill-advised fling with her boss is causing her embarrassment at work, particularly now that he has a new born child. An offer of a job that would take her out to Mexico to do a report on an off-shore oil field is too good an opportunity to miss. In Mexico Inspector Cortez is languishing in Port Luz in the back of beyond, sent in disgrace from his post in the city. He knows that he’s not - and never has been - corrupt but no one else believes him. In fact it’s seen as normal. Then a body appears on the beach and the local fishermen point out into the gulf and tell him that it came from there. When he looks more closely he realises that they mean the oil rigs. Full review...
Clouds above the Hill: A Historical Novel of the Russo-Japanese War, Volume 1 by Shiba Ryotaro
I've long been a lover of Japan, ever since a brief visit to the country more than a decade ago. Whilst I've read several Japanese crime thrillers in translation, I've never really investigated the history of the country. Now available in English for the first time, Shiba Ryotaro's Clouds Above the Hill: A historical Novel of the Russo-Japanese War provides just that opportunity. Full review...
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M Valente
September has had various wonderful adventures in Fairyland already, and because she ate Fairy food she knows she will return. But a year has gone by without a word from her friends, and in the meantime she has become a teenager. This changes her, for it is the time when human children grow a heart, and when at last the summons comes, she finds her adventures are far more complex than they were before. Full review...
Jumblebum by Chae Strathie and Ben Cort
Johnny McNess is a young boy whose bedroom is a decided mess! He has clothes lying everywhere, and toys scattered around, food discarded in the strangest of places and it all stinks! Disgusting! But his mum has come in and just warned Johnny about the Jumblebum monster who she feels is sure to be attracted by all this rubbish. Can anything really get Johnny to tidy his room? Full review...
Hostage Three by Nick Lake
Amy's family have left on a round-the-world trip. The intention is to mend relationships after what has been a turbulent time. Amy has had a meltdown, messing up her A levels, partied too much and gone a bit too far with the piercings. She can't stand her stepmother and guards a catalogue of resentments against her workaholic, remote father. But the voyage turns into crisis when the family's yacht is kidnapped by Somali pirates. And the family is put under even more strain when a relationship develops between Amy and Farouz, the pirates' translator. As Amy learns more about Farouz and his background, she also discovers a great deal about herself, her family, and about life itself... Full review...
Murder in Montague Place by Martyn Beardsley
In the middle of the nineteenth century the idea of having a group of policemen who would be known as detectives was still regarded as rather revolutionary. Some people thought of them as spies, but the beautiful Mrs Eleanora Scambles was convinced that they could help her. She claimed that her husband had been wrongly accused of the murder of Edward Mizzentoft and was likely to hang for a crime which she knew that he hadn't committed. The case was in the hands of Inspector Bucket's colleague who had no doubts about Scambles' guilt, but Bucket and his assistant, Sergeant Gordon attempted to look at the case without breaching professional etiquette. Full review...
Seven Ways to Kill a Cat by Matias Nespolo
The Argentinian economy is in meltdown and the streets of Buenos Aires are awash with protestors, but this means little to those struggling to survive in the shanty towns clinging to the city's edge. In the barrio every day is hard and the choices you make really do mean the difference between life and death. Gringo, a youth on the verge of becoming a man and Chueco, his unreliable friend, both short on options, are drawn to the local gang culture and the seemingly easy money it offers. But, with a turf war brewing, can either of them survive the coming storm? Full review...
Cashel Byron's Profession by George Bernard Shaw
Cashel Byron’s Profession is the fourth of five 'Novels of My Nonage',written by George Bernard Shaw in 1882. In the preface of the book, Shaw heavily criticises these early works, which were rejected by the publishing houses of the time, blaming his immaturity and lack of experience in life. He was clearly unhappy about the way he had written some of his characters, stating that: '...he has not in his nonage the satisfaction of knowing that his guesses at life are true.' Full review...
Fluff the Farting Fish by Michael Rosen and Tony Ross
Elvie wanted a puppy but she was still rather surprised when her mother agreed. Unfortunately what her mother brought home wasn’t a puppy but a goldfish. Now it wasn’t just a pet to cuddle and play with that Elvie had been after - she’d wanted to train the dog. Being a resourceful young lady she decided to train the goldfish instead. ‘’Sit’’ was always going to be rather more than a challenge, but Elvie discovered that much could be achieved with Fluff’s bubbles. Go on - you know exactly what I mean! Soon Fluff was doing mental arithmetic and finally singing. Before long he was in demand at pop concerts and for television appearances. Full review...
The Pleasure of Thinking: A Journey Through the Sideways Leaps of Ideas by Theodore Dalrymple
Having recently read Pieces of Light: the New Science of Memory by Charles Fernyhough, I expected something similar, judging only from the title of Theodore Dalrymple's The Pleasure of Thinking: a Journey Through the Sideways Leaps of Ideas. Instead of being a book about how people think laterally, as I thought it might be, it turned out to be something rather different, but ultimately equally interesting. Full review...
No-Bot, The Robot With No Bottom by Sue Hendra
The prospects look good for a story when you're already laughing at the front cover, never mind what's inside. There we have him, our little red robot, holding onto his bottom and giving a coy-looking smile to us as readers. Already we're wondering how he ends up with no bottom, and whether the inside of the story will be as funny as the outside. No-Bot, happily, doesn't disappoint. You can't go wrong, really, with a funny red robot who has lost his bottom can you? Just saying the word 'bottom' to small children usually reduces them to giggles! Full review...
The Blog of Maisy Malone by Eve Ainsworth
Maisy Malone - not her real name, she's not an idiot, you know - has decided to write a blog. She's 17, has just dropped out of sixth form because her lessons all seemed so irrelevant, and is now waiting for her benefits to arrive while she's looking for a job. And jobs are hard to find in the current economic climate. This makes life even more difficult for Maisy than it is for Maisy's friends. Because Maisy's father hasn't had a job in years and is steadily drinking himself into oblivion and her dog, Dave, desperately needs an expensive visit to the vet to sort out his leaky bottom. Full review...
Seven Kings: Books of the Shaper: Volume 2 by John R Fultz
Runaway slave Tong suicidally avenges his lost love but death seems to elude him. Meanwhile King Vireon is happily married to the beautiful shape-shifting sorceress Alua, although his sister has problems with her husband, King D'zan. A courtesan is carrying his baby; odder still when you realise he's impotent. The Twin Kings of Uruz, scholarly Lyrilan and war-hungry Tyro, can't agree on how to rule so Tyro's wife Talondra puts a real spanner in the works to force a decision. However bad their lives currently are, evil is spreading through their world like a dark shadow and, to make things worse still, Ianthe the Claw and Gammir the Reborn aren't as dead as everyone supposes them to be. (You'd think the clue would be in Gammir's name wouldn't you?) Full review...
The Three Day Affair by Michael Kardos
How well do you know your best friends? Will thought he knew Jeffrey, Nolan and Evan particularly well. Heck, they'd known each other since college at Princeton, before the advent of wives and partners. However, Will's assurance becomes less certain during a golfing weekend. Just blokes together with the WaGs out the way; what could go wrong? Nothing till Jeffrey stops the car to pop into a convenience store and emerges with nothing except the till's contents and the shop assistant he's kidnapped. What do they do? A simple enough question but as the hours tick by it becomes more complicated. Full review...