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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Astrosaurs 22: The Castle of Frankensaur by Steve Cole
I bought my first Astrosaurs book as a read aloud book for my dinosaur-mad four year old. He loved it, but not quite as much as his eight year old brother and we've been collecting the books ever since. It's a large collection with a total of thirty books in print so far (including Astrosaurs Academy). Many parents have credited this series with massive improvements in their children's reading level, and I'd have to agree with this. It isn't that the book has some magical formula to develop literacy, but simply that these books are so good, the children can not get enough of them. By the time a child works their way through thirty books, their reading level is bound to improve. Full review...
Magic Ink by Steve Cole
Stew isn't having a good week. He has moved house, left his friends and school behind and as if things weren't bad enough, his bedroom has been invaded by a well-dressed pig. But at least he won't be bored in the new house. The house used to belong to Stew's grandfather, a famous comic-book artist. When Stew's father opens up the attic his grandfather had locked up 20 years ago, things are about to get really exciting for Stew as he finds himself drawn into a comic-book style adventure which will test his courage, his intelligence and his artistic abilities. Full review...
The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing Genius by Kristine Barnett
The tutor stands at the front of the university class, frantically scribbling equations on the large whiteboard in front of him. He is well respected by his students; an expert in several fields, including general relativity, string theory, quantum field theory and biophysics. In fact, he recently unveiled a brand new theory that may put him in line for a Nobel Prize.
Oh, and did I forget to mention that he is just 14 years old? Full review...
Pigs in Clover: Or How I Accidentally Fell in Love with the Good Life by Simon Dawson
Simon Dawson really had no intention of leading a life of self-sufficiency - he accidentally fell into the beginnings of it at a New Year's Eve party which was a little too noisy for him to be completely certain what it was he was agreeing to. But even then there was no need for it to go too far. After all, this man's heart was in London and he was an estate agent - a member of the profession whose place at the top of the opprobrium ladder was only made wobbly after a serious PR campaign on behalf of journalists and politicians. But his wife was determined that she couldn't stand being a property solicitor any longer and so they sold their flat in London and rented a property on Exmoor and Simon began a weekly commute - weekends in Devon and most of the week in London. Full review...
Where You Are by Tammara Webber
Between The Lines saw seventeen year old Emma catapulted to fame as she made a film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with heartthrob Reid Alexander and started to fall for him, only to end up with more sensible Graham, another cast member. Now School Pride is nearly ready to be released, and it's time for the cast to start the publicity blitz - which means Emma and Reid, as the stars. will be spending a lot of time together. Can Emma's new relationship with Graham stay strong despite this? Not if Reid, and Brooke - who's desperate to get her hands on Graham and become more than just his friend - have got anything to do with it. Full review...
Goodnight Buffy: Loving a Lakeland Terrier by Thomasina Price
Most dog owners will confess that even after a lifetime of ownership there is one dog who holds their heart. Often the close bond has been forged because of the dog’s ill health, although it never seems to be completely one-sided: an interdependence develops and dog and human seem to exist as one. The dog who stole my heart was a Rhodesian Ridgeback - for Thomasina Price it was Buffy the Lakeland Terrier. She had a traumatic start to life, found hiding in a shop doorway in Blackpool she was taken in by a young woman, but she, in turn contracted ovarian cancer and at the age of two Buffy came to what was at least her third home when she was fostered by Thomasina Price’s sister. Full review...
The Tyrant's Law (Dagger and the Coin) by Daniel Abraham
Cithrin Bel Sarcour has arrived in Suddapal to complete her apprenticeship with the Medean Bank, but her past actions may have put her in danger. After being betrayed by his comrade Yardem, Marcus Wester has set out with Kitap rol Keshmet to kill a goddess. Clara Kalliam, who should be disgraced after her husband's treason, is surviving on the edge of high society thanks to her youngest son's friendship with the Lord Regent Geder Palliako - and is ready to risk everything to save her nation from Palliako. Meanwhile, all Geder wants is peace and prosperity for that nation. Even if it means killing everyone who disagrees with him to make sure he can get it. Full review...
J.M. Coetzee: A life in writing by J C Kannemeyer
J.M. (John Maxwell) Coetzee is described as probably the most celebrated and decorated writer throughout the English-speaking world. The author of sixteen published novels, he has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Booker Prize twice. At the same time he has guarded his privacy jealously, tending to decline interviews and requests to discuss his work, and refusing to collect prestigious awards in person. On one occasion he explained his absence by saying that he could not imagine 'anything better calculated to reduce me to misery'. One acquaintance claims to have attended several dinner parties at which the author was a fellow guest and did not utter a single word. Full review...
It's a Little Book by Lane Smith
Lane Smith's blockbuster hit 'It's A Book' spent six months on the New York Times bestsellers list. Her new 'It's a Little Book' provides a very similar story, but on a level better suited to very young children. Both books feature a very computer-literate donkey and a quiet thoughtful monkey. In both books, donkey has never seen a book before and has all sorts of questions to which monkey always replies no or it's a book. Donkey doesn't seem able to quite figure out why monkey is so interested in this thing with no whistles and bells or lights or action, or to understand why monkey likes this strange thing so much - until monkey shows him the magic of books as well. Full review...
Green Lantern Volume 1: Sinestro by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke
I've never been a Green Lantern fan - I've tried the series a couple of times in the past but seem to have picked bad times to give it a go. However, I've heard some good things about DC Comics recently so wanted to try a few of the New 52 books, which relaunched all of the publisher's ongoing monthlies, and this caught my eye. Full review...
Dork Diaries: Holiday Heartbreak by Rachel Renee Russell
This being the sixth full-length novel to feature Nikki Maxwell and her crush on Brandon, there is little point in doing a summary or resume at great length. They're still at school, and they're still finding being in any kind of friendship both socially awkward and hampered by the presence of the evil Mackenzie, Nikki's cute but catty rival. All you really need to know is this volume covers an entire February, in order – and manages to finish with the Valentine's night school dance. Yes, it has weird circumstances, Nikki getting embarrassed and jealous, and more. But I haven't told you about the greatest surprise yet… Full review...
Naming Monsters by Hannah Eaton
Monsters are all around us, we are told, and Fran should know. She opens each chapter of her episodic story here with a new monster – a golem, an incubus, or perhaps something less well known. But there are subtly monstrous events in her life as well – an alleged boyfriend with a measly attitude, a fake medium, a summer of retaking GCSEs, and more – as well as the biggest, blackest, visitation – something that should bring succour, family and friendship but cannot be handled. Full review...
Space Blasters by Philip Caveney
It's an intriguing concept: people can actually step into films as they are being shown at the local cinema. The only trouble is, while you're inside the film everything is completely real, including the danger. And if you don't get out before the final credits roll, well, too bad. You're stuck there forever, doomed to live through the same story over and over and over again. Unless you get killed, that is! Full review...
Penitence by Bruce Crowther
Phil Davis is a detective in a small town in Texas and he's intrigued rather than professionally involved when he sees the body of an elderly road accident victim whose back is covered with scars which have obviously been inflicted over years if not decades. There's no suggestion that the death was anything other than accidental but Davis starts to wonder when he hears of other men with similar scars who have met an untimely - if seemingly innocent - death recently. And all his investigative instincts are alive when he encounters FBI agent Luis Valdez - seemingly one of the big beasts of the agency who's spending time looking into a murder with which he was incidentally involved as an adolescent some twenty five years earlier. To cap it all, someone was tried for the crime and has been in a mental institution since, so what is Valdez doing? Full review...
ZOM-B Angels by Darren Shan
Ok. I'm going to do this for all books in this series except the first one. Before we begin. If you haven't read the first book in this series, DON'T read this review. It contains spoilers. Read my review of the first book, read the first book itself, then come back. If you don't, you'll be sorry... Full review...
Preacher Volume 1: Gone To Texas by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
Reverend Jesse Custer is losing his faith in God - but he's about to find out that He exists, and He isn't all that He's cracked up to be. After one incredible event, Jesse's life is turned upside down, and he sets out on a road trip that will lead him to try and get answers from God himself - if Heaven's angels, and the Saint of Killers, don't cut him down first. Full review...
The Bedlam Detective by Stephen Gallagher
Authors like to claim that writing is hard work. In a way, that’s true – there are a really astonishing number of words in a book, and it’s often very difficult to wrangle them from your head into coherent sentences on a page. At the same time, though, hard should not be the same as boring. It’s sad to come across authors who don’t enjoy the process of writing, and it’s so easy to tell when you’re reading a piece of work by a writer who was actually having fun when they wrote it. Full review...
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
As far as she knows, Cassie could be the last human on Earth. Surely, she's one of the last few. After the first four waves of the Others - mysterious aliens who appeared and quickly laid waste to humanity - it's impossible for her to trust anyone she meets. Can she ever find the strength to rescue her kid brother? Full review...
The Valley of Unknowing by Philip Sington
In the mid-to-late eighties the German Democratic Republic looked like enduring. Bolstered by a system of Mitarbeiter (fellow workers is a much more amenable term than informers) the Stasi kept their populace in check. Western media was easy to censor in those days. Border controls were brutal. People were shot on a regular basis trying to cross the no-man's-land into West Berlin and along the other inner German borders. Full review...
The Silver Dream by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves
We've had it established that there are many multiple dimensions, and it takes a particular power to move from one to the other – the power to Walk. Joey Harker, who it seems could get lost between his garden gate and the front door, is one of the more powerful and talented Walkers, and has been employed by an agency that has to keep the balance in the multiverses, forever fighting between the powers of science and those of magic. But two years on from the original book we find that the agency is still a very uneasy place to be – picking up further Walkers, but opening itself up to strange events, unusual characters and unaccountable problems. Full review...
School for Stars: First Term at L'Etoile by Holly Willoughby and Kelly Willoughby
Molly and Maria Fitzfoster are two twins who've just enrolled at L'Etoile, performing arts school for the stars of tomorrow! Their first term will see them try to achieve stardom but also make lots of new friends. Not everyone at the school, though, is as pleasant as they are - will true friendship and loyalty save the day and foil a cruel plot? Full review...
Tomorrow There Will be Apricots by Jessica Soffer
Lorca is in her early teens and struggling to get attention from her mother. She's resorted to self-harming and even her obvious abilities in the kitchen don't seem to be enough to merit some of her chef mother's time. Her last chance to make an impact before she's sent away to boarding school seems to be to find a way to make Masgouf - an Iraqi fish dish - which her mother has described as her favourite meal. Along with her only friend - a young man who goes by the name of Blot - they discover that some Iraqi Jewish cooking classes are being offered by a chef. Full review...
Do Try This at Home: Cook It!! by Punk Science
Do Try This At Home - Cook It!! is a fun, very boy friendly ( but not just for boys) cookbook combining very basic recipes, science facts and a few science experiments with food. Not every recipe in this book includes science facts and in some the science bit is limited to mentioning vitamins or giving us a very simple fact like the fact a tomato is a fruit, or a water chestnut isn't really a nut. But other recipes have quite a bit of scientific information. For instance this will tell you why cooking makes an egg hard, but makes cheese softer. Children will learn what an emulsion is, why onions make us cry, how yeast works, how to make a bouncing rubber-like egg and how to make a colour changing cabbage solution that will tell if a substance is acid or alkaline. Full review...
The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs by Nick Trout
Dr Cyrus Mills only intended to return to Vermont for long enough to sell the veterinary practice which his father had left him, collect the money and get back to South Carolina where he was trying to sort out the little matter of having his licence to practice suspended. He had never got on with his father who had - somehow - managed NOT to tell his son that his mother had died until after her funeral. The first snag he encountered was quite a big one: his father had been equally forgetful about dealing with his financial affairs and the Bedside Manor practice was dying on its feet. Cyrus didn’t have the money to prop it up and it looked as though he would have to hand everything over to the Bank and walk away with nothing. The second problem was an aging Golden Retriever by the name of Frieda and an owner who’s very keen to see her put to sleep. Full review...
Mariella Mystery investigates: The Ghostly Guinea Pig by Kate Pankhurst
Mariella Mystery has two friends, Poppy Holmes and Violet Maple. They are The Mystery Girls, a comfortably cosy detective agency dedicated to solving reassuringly homely mysteries. This time an eerily green, glowing guinea pig pops up. Poppy is preoccupied with rehearsals for the upcoming village talent show, but Mariella is not to be diverted from her investigations. Learning fast from The Young Super Sleuth’s Handbook, Mariella comes up with several logical explanations, none of which solves the mystery. Indeed, there are soon ghostly guinea pigs sightings all over the place. It takes observation and enquiring young detectives on the ground to uncover the truth. Full review...
Learn Love in a Week by Andrew Clover
The Midgleys, who have been married for ten years and have three children, are long since past the madly passionate stage in their relationship – or at least Polly is. From her point of view, Polly is drowning in executive domesticity, that is, holding down a job while trying to organise Arthur to be as effective a parent as she would be, if she were a stay-at-home Mum. Arthur sees his role differently: he’s more interested in the hearts and minds of his kids than essential maintenance to the fruit bowl. Full review...
Ping and Pong are Best Friends (mostly) by Tim Hopgood
Ping and Pong are best mates, but Ping feels that he is always in Pong's shadow. Anything Ping can do, Pong can do better. Ping is learning to skate, taking baby steps on the ice while Pong twirls and zooms around him. Ping paints a colourful canvas with bright coloured splodges while Pong paints a lovely vase with flowers. No matter what he does, Pong can do it so much better that poor Ping gives up and decides to do nothing at all. But perhaps there is something that Ping can do better than anyone else, and that it just to be a friend. This is a fun book to read that had my four year old laughing out loud, but there is a lot more to this book than humour; it has a lovely heart warming message about friendship as well. Full review...
Mabel and Me by Mark Sperring and Sarah Warburton
Good children’s books open new windows on the world. This title did just that.
The viewpoint character is a sharp-tongued mouse with Attitude. His best friend is Mabel, a kindly little girl of few words. The two friends are discussing why they are bestest, bestest friends as they stroll in an unguessable Euro-city. Their discussion is interrupted by Monsieur Famous French photographer, then Senora Prima Ballerina. The mouse misinterprets their criticisms and blows his top in defence of his friend, Mabel. But he’s got it wrong, they are talking about him. Fortunately the mouse’s own high self-esteem and Mabel’s sympathetic realism defuse the crisis. It was nicely unpredictable. Full review...
Mrs Vickers' Favourite Knickers by Kara Lebihan and Deborah Allwright
Mrs Vickers' Favourite Knickers have an adventure of their own, flying high above town over the sea, before finally making a rather unusual landing right back were they started from. Children of a certain age love knickers, and I'm certain this book would be a smash hit with a nursery or reception class, and even children up to about 7or 8 are likely to enjoy reading this once. This book is quite short, and ideal for children with very short attention spans, and considering the subject matter is almost certain to hold the attention of a large group of children easily. Full review...
Flowers From Fukushima by Clive Lawton
In 2011, Japan was hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. That and the subsequent tsunami caused level 7 meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Flowers from Fukushima riffs on this in a post-apocalyptic story of a Japan devastated by even more and even bigger natural disasters. It follows two main characters as they pick their way through the devastation, each trying to make sense of this new and very different world. Full review...