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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Tide by Daniela Sacerdoti
After her parents' deaths at the hands of the demons they fought against, Sarah Midnight was left reeling again by the revelation towards the end of book 1 that her 'cousin' Harry Midnight was actually Harry's friend Sean Hannay. Unable to trust Sean following his lies, Sarah turns to Nicholas, new on the scene. But Nicholas has dark secrets of his own - has Sarah placed her faith in the wrong person? And will she find out the truth about the Midnight legacy before the demons attack again? Full review...
Frogspell by C J Busby
Arthurian stories and settings never date, do they? I've been devouring them ever since I first learned to read and I'm still not tired of them [censored] years later. And hooray! Here's another.
Frogspell follows Max Pendragon, a peaceable little chap and without doubt the least bellicose of all Camelot's squires. He'd much rather be a wizard than a warrior. Full review...
Rescuing Gus by Melissa Wareham
Melissa Wareham was convinced that she must be adopted: how could someone like her who loved dogs have been born to parents who, well, wouldn't have them in the house? She wasn't even that convinced when her mother produced her birth certificate. Melissa wouldn't be able to have a dog until she had a home of her own but in the meantime she got a job at Battersea Dogs' Home and it was there that she met Gus. He wasn't in the first flush of youth and his breath was a weapon of mass destruction, but he and Melissa bonded and when he was very poorly - he had kennel cough - she took him home. Full review...
The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook
The Aftermath is set amongst the devastated ruins in the fire-bombed city of Hamburg in 1946. The British have occupied the ruined city and Colonel Lewis Morgan, an officer and a gentleman, is charged with overseeing the restoration of order. However, Colonel Morgan must first deal with the human cost of the bombing including remnants of fanatic Nazis, the trummerkind - children of the rubble, and the starving civil populace. He also, in 1943, lost a child due to a Luftwaffe bomb and he must support his deeply grieving wife, Rachel, when she arrives after months of separation with their surviving twelve year old boy, the impressionable Edmund. Full review...
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch
In the middle of the forest, Carey and Jenessa live with their mother in a tatty old camper van. Cut off from civilisation, they scrabble to take care of themselves and each other, in a setting where every day is a fight for physical and mental survival. They just about make it through, but the girls’ mother is a drug addict with a habit of disappearing, and she’s done just that. It’s been more than a month since they saw her. Maybe more than two. Then, one day, summoned by a letter sent by the girls’ mother, strangers appear in the woods, looking for Carey and Jenessa. They have come to take them away from the woods, and back to the real world. Full review...
The Fate in the Box by Michelle Lovric
Venice is a place of contrasts, where poverty and extravagance jostle each other for space on the misty streets. But its inhabitants, poor or rich, have always been intensely proud of their city and its history. Ships arrive full of wonders from across the world, skilled glassblowers create magnificent artefacts, and magic is occasionally to be found in the oddest of nooks and crannies. Amneris, for example, knows that if she embroiders an exact copy of the fabulous patterns created by 'the dear creature' (as they call Uncle Annibale's kaleidoscope) each week, she and her family will always earn enough to live on. Full review...
Mr Gig by Nige Tassell
Born too late to remember the 60s and early 70s, music lover and journalist Nige Tassell, who has written for The Guardian, New Statesman and others, lived the life for some years as punter, reviewer, roadie, DJ and promoter. Then he married and became a father, and the most important gig (if the one with the least comfortable seats) was the kids’ primary school nativity play ten days before Christmas. Around 2010 the midlife crisis hit with a vengeance, and the urge to hit the road in search of what live music was all about these days came upon him. That does not just require private transport capable of taking roads the length and breadth of the land in its stride (and the car passed the test - just), it also requires a certain amount of courage. Full review...
Deadly Days in History (Horrible Histories) by Terry Deary and Martin Brown
Horrible Histories' catch phrase is History - with all the nasty bits left in. This is not completely true, Scholastic is not going to print a children's book with details which are too graphic for children, but this is without a doubt the nastiest and most gruesome of all of the Horrible Histories books we have read. While I am happy enough reading most of the Horrible Histories books to my 4 year old as well as my 8 year old, I do think this one is best for the older children, would recommend a minimum age of 7, and this only if the child is already aware of the Holocaust, or the parent is prepared to broach this subject in a sensitive manner and provide further information. Full review...
Coconut Chaos by Diana Souhami
Our anonymous narrator has a chaos-theory-theory about the mutiny on the Bounty. It can all be traced back to Fletcher Christian stealing a coconut. Armed with this thought and the intrepid spirit of many Britons before her, she sets off for Pitcairn Island, the isolated home of Christian and his band of dissenters 3,000 miles from New Zealand. She leaves behind a beloved but delusional mother, her partner and all the comforts of civilisation as she travels with hope and the inimitable Lady Myre. Meanwhile we listen to true stories about the mutiny, the aftermath and the fact that there weren't really many heroes, just a group of flawed individuals fighting for survival. Full review...
The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya
Nizam pushes a barrow up to a fortified US army base in Afghanistan. What is she doing there? How will the soldiers react? What do they believe: their experience, their training, their gut reaction or a young girl amputee in the middle of the desert who may be the last thing they ever see? Full review...
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
As The Shining Girls’ tagline says, this is a thriller that breaks all the boundaries. It’s a vicious murder plot that’s based on science fiction concepts, a science fiction novel which leaves its central concepts barely, sparely explained. I haven’t read anything like it before, and in a strong and crowded crime fiction field it stands out like a searchlight. But beware. If you’re sitting comfortably as you begin reading The Shining Girls, you won’t be for long. This book sets out to cut you up inside. Full review...
The Detective's Daughter by Lesley Thomson
Terry Darnell - formerly Detective Inspector Darnell - came out of the Co-op in a village on the south coast, with the makings of an impromptu breakfast in a carrier bag and died of a heart attack on the way back to his car. He hadn't see a lot of his daughter in the last few years, but the death saddened Stella. She ran a cleaning company - Clean Slate - and was obsessive about cleaning and cleanliness, with her life based on order and it wasn't long before she began clearing her father's house. Hidden away in the attic were case papers relating to the Rokesmith murder, which had occurred some thirty years earlier and which had never been solved. Full review...
Traitor's Field by Robert Wilton
It's 1648 and the embers of Charles I's reign start to fade as Britain slowly turns the monotone colour of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. However, Royalist passion still exists and it's up to Sir Mortimer Shay, the Comptrollerate-General for Scrutiny and Survey, to gather the intelligence, maintain his spy network and fan the embers towards the Royalist victory for which he longs. He's a wily veteran so not easily stopped but among the confusion and brutality that tears Britain in half, former lawyer Cromwell's spymaster John Thurloe is the man charged with the task. Full review...
How I Killed Margaret Thatcher by Anthony Cartwright
What motivates someone to become a killer?
When the reader first meets Sean Bull, he is nine years old, living a seemingly carefree and happy existence surrounded by his family and friends in a close-knit community in Dudley, West Midlands. He loves Star Wars and playing football with his school friends and adores his teenage uncle Johnny, who tells him stories and creates the most wonderful pieces of art. Full review...
Come Home by Lisa Scottoline
You divorce a partner, not a child, so although Jill and William’s split meant she was no longer legal step mum to his daughter Abby, in some ways she never stopped seeing her as a daughter. Now, years after they last met up, Abby shows up on Jill’s doorstep with some devastating news about Jill’s ex-husband. News that will unsettle both their lives, and the lives of Jill’s new fiancé Sam, and of her own biological daughter. While Abby wants to pull her into untangling a mystery, Sam is reluctant to encourage this investigation, and the family reunion it will bring, leaving Jill torn between her new family and her old one. Full review...
Red Sky In Morning by Paul Lynch
It’s 1832 and Coll Coyle and his humble family are to be turfed out of their home in Donegal and Coll is just angry enough to confront the landowner’s son who is responsible. The repercussions of Coll’s actions are huge and Coll is forced to go on the run. He attempts to escape across the unforgiving and desolate landscape of North West Ireland, the brutal Atlantic Ocean and the plains of North America, all the while stalked by the incredibly dangerous and violent John Faller. Red Sky in Morning is Paul Lynch’s debut novel and it is a real hit. Full review...
Quicksilver by R J Anderson
Before I say anything else, I must warn you. Quicksilver is billed as a companion novel to Ultraviolet with the implication that you could read either first. You can't. You mustn't. So if you haven't read Ultraviolet, go no further.
Quicksilver picks up where Ultraviolet left off. But this time, synaesthete Alison is left behind and the story is told from the point of view of Tori Full review...
The Desert of Souls (The Chronicle of Sword and Sand) by Howard Andrew Jones
Place: Baghdad Time: 8th century Arabian-Nights-Time A dying man gives Dabir, tutor at the Caliph's palace, a precious artefact, making him promise to look after it. Unfortunately it gets stolen before he has the chance to. Jaffar the son of the Caliph's vizier realises that it has magical qualities that make it even more precious than it appears and isn't too well pleased. He gives Dabir a chance to redeem himself, sending him and Asim, Captain of the Caliph's guard, to find it. The men set out on their quest facing danger, death, sorcery and someone whose presence could get them into even deeper trouble. Full review...
The Satanic Diaries by Krister Jones
We travel with Satan through a morose time in his lengthy existence. His wife has divorced him and his Chief of Security (Himmler) seems to be going even madder. To top it off, his therapist is insisting that his anger issues need to be dealt with and is forcing him to keep a diary. Following a disastrous holiday and an even worse attempt to get back into dating, he takes the diary with him as he goes on the lam in disguise and lives for a while paycheck to paycheck as a security guard for a cash and carry. Full review...
Penguins Can't Fly! by Richard Byrne
Gregory the Gull and Hudson the penguin were both born on the same day and have been great friends ever since, doing everything together. In the lovely illustrations, we can see them having a bath, fishing, sledging, skating and giving each other thoughtful and special gifts. However, when Gregory sees some other some gulls having fun flying over the beach, he naturally decides to join in. So does Hudson but of course there is a problem! However hard Hudson flaps his little wings, he just can’t fly. He tries everything but the result is always the same; he never manages to leave the ground. Naturally, he is very sad especially when all the gulls laugh unkindly. Just when he is feeling very low though, something happens to Gregory when he dives deep into the water and gets caught up in a fishing net. Hudson may not be able to fly but he can swim and this means that he is the best bird to help his friend. After this, it never seems to matter that he can't fly. Full review...
I'm Dougal Trump . . . Where's My Tarantula? by Dougal Trump
'I'm Dougal Trump . . . Where's My Tarantula' is the second in a series of books about the misadventures of Dougal Trump. Although this is a sequel, it is not necessary to read I'm Dougal Trump and It's Not My Fault first. This book is fine as a stand alone story, but the odds are once your child has finished reading it, they will be asking for the next book, or in this case the first book, in fact - we've already bought it. Full review...
Lollipop and Grandpa's Dinosaur Hunt by Penelope Harper and Cate James
Lollipop's family settles in for a day at the seaside, but it just so happens, that they are also on the Jurassic Coast. Of course the dinosaurs have died out millions of years ago... or have they? Grandpa says they haven't really disappeared, they are just very good at hiding, so the pair set off on a quest to finding the missing dinosaurs. Full review...
Necessary Evil: The Milkweed Triptych: Book Three by Ian Tregillis
Raybould Marsh has been sent back from the 1960s to the Second World War to avert end of the world while saving the life of baby Agnes. At least that's what he thinks he's doing it for. He's armed with a plan but, even if his friend and warlock Sir William Beauclerk and his own younger self help, there are unforeseen disadvantages in dabbling with time. And then of course there's the seer and ex-Nazi experiment, Gretel. Is she mad, bad or just has a funny way of showing her philanthropic side? We're all about to find out… Full review...
Firewallers by Simon Packham
After Jess's dad gets suspended from work, her mum takes her and her older sister out of school. Fleeing from publicity, they go to a remote Scottish island to join a community of people who shun modern technology. The longer they stay on the island, though, the stranger things seem to be. What's going on, and when will Jess see her dad again? Full review...
Troll Swap by Leigh Hodgkinson
I chose this book because my sons, like most children, have always enjoyed books with naughty children. I had some reservations about the book. I was concerned that it might be yet another book preaching about the importance of good behaviour, as most children's books were at one time, but I noticed the publisher was Nosy Crow, and they seem very keen to publish books with a difference so I took a chance and was very pleasantly surprised. Full review...