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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All That is Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeon
Moscow, 1986, and a nine-year old piano prodigy is trapped in a subway station by bullies, who carefully break one of his little fingers. Rehearsal cancelled, the boy finds his favourite aunt, who takes him to treatment only to discover her ex-husband the doctor involved. Many miles away a slightly older young man is off on his first hunting trip with the men of the village, only to find diseased cows, and the grouse they seek sickly and weirdly uncoordinated. What has affected them, and will of course affect all the characters in the book, is the nuclear disaster in the plant at Chernobyl. Full review...
Dandelion Clocks by Rebecca Westcott
This is a very difficult book to read. Make no mistake: that's not because of poor writing or a dull story — far from it — but because the story is so sad and yet uplifting, the situation so honestly and movingly portrayed that you'd need to be an automaton to read it without tears. Jacqueline Wilson is quoted as saying readers will need a large box of tissues, and she wasn't exaggerating. Full review...
Panic by Lauren Oliver
Every summer, a game takes place in Carp. The stakes are high and the prize is big, a life changing amount of money for the person who can hold their own the longest and outlast their competitors. Anyone from the graduating class of high school can enter, and many do, but in the end, only one can win. Along the way the contestants’ limits are tested, pacts made and broken, and secrets revealed. From some of the challenges, there may be injuries, traumatic or even fatal, but the lure of the prize money is so great that many choose to ignore the risks. Full review...
And Then Came Paulette by Barbara Constantine
Ferdinand was a widower and he lived with his son, daughter-in-law and their two children on the family farm. Well, he did until the family moved away. Apparently Ferdinand was occasionally prone to swear and obviously children can never be allowed to hear such words. That left him on his own except for the children’s kitten to which their mother was allergic in a farmhouse which demanded a family. He was lonely and he began... well, let’s call it making mischief. Assault is such an ugly word, isn’t it? Then he met Marceline - or rather he encountered her dog and in returning it discovered the old woman is a room filled with gas and leaking rain water through the roof. Full review...
Libriomancer by Jim C Hines
Pulp fantasy may be frowned upon by some who believe that novels should be about emotions, inner journeys and despair. Fantasy and science fiction can have all these things as well, but they can also be fun, entertaining and laser pistols. ‘Libriomancer’ by Jim C Hines is a great example. It is a book that follows Isaac Vainio, a Libriomancer who has the power to draw magic from books. He must use this gift to good effect when one day, whilst sitting comfortably cataloguing, he is attacked by three vampires. Does that sound fun to you? If so, read on; if not, this may not be the book for you. Full review...
Hector and the Big Bad Knight by Alex T Smith
All is not well in the happy village of Spottybottom as the Big, Bad Knight has stolen Granny’s magic wand. Hector wants to help his Granny get her wand back but there is a problem because Hector is the tiniest boy in the village and the thief is quite possibly the biggest and the baddest knight around. However, perhaps Granny should not despair because Hector has a plan! Full review...
Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent
Oliver had expected more of a reaction the first time that he hit Alice, but she just lay on the floor holding her jaw. He was stunned that he could do this to his wife, but later that evening he returned and beat her so viciously that she lapsed into a coma. It was difficult to understand how this had happened - this was the man otherwise known as Vincent Dax, famous writer of children's books and he and Alice (she'd illustrated the books) had lived a life of ease and privilege. In the disbelieving aftermath Oliver tells the story of what had happened over the last five decades and how this had led to his becoming a monster. Full review...
The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life by Uri Gneezy and John List
Wow! This is a most surprising economics book.
Behavioral economists (if you’ll excuse the American spelling) investigate people’s buying behaviour and consuming patterns. I guess we know about that already because supermarkets here lull us into buying three for the price of two, to come back next week for £10 off a £100, or to garner extra points on a loyalty card (Oh why can’t they just go for a cheaper price at the point of sale? Why do profits have to be in double percentage point increases year on year?). A fair bit of manipulation to ensure that a company survives is already part and parcel of our lives. If you’d asked me before I read this book, I would have lined up that sort of consumer marketing psychology alongside banking as profiteering. However … these guys are different: they really do seem to care about the plight of the underprivileged, and they come from an academic setting, rather than a commercial one. Full review...
My Life In Agony by Irma Kurtz
I used to love the problem pages of magazines as a teenager. My friends and I would pour over the letters which invariable ended with some form of the question Am I normal? and mock the invariable Agony Aunt answer of Of course you’re normal, hooting instead No, you’re, really, REALLY not! That response perhaps illustrates why none of us decided to follow that as a career plan, but Irma Kurtz did, and as agony aunt for Cosmopolitan for more than 40 years it’s safe to say she has been a fair bit more sympathetic than we ever were. Full review...
The Scandalous Duchess by Anne O'Brien
1372: Lady Katherine de Swynford is widowed and in reduced circumstances as a result. She remembers a more sumptuous life before her marriage; a life in the service of Queen Philippa, mother of John, Duke of Lancaster. In the hope of reprising her past lifestyle she goes to the Savoy Palace to beg the Duke for a role in his household. He willingly employs her to help his new wife, Constanza, the Princess of Castille, with her imminent birth but this is a dangerous move. As John and Katherine fall in love and Katherine becomes John's mistress they endanger more than their hearts; their attraction provides ammunition for their enemies, risking fatal results. Full review...
Never Mind the Bullocks: One girl's 10,000 km adventure around India in the worlds cheapest car by Vanessa Able
With a cute little map of India on the front cover and cartoon cars puttering over the page, I thought I’d chosen an entertaining yet mind-broadening travelogue. Well I was wrong. Now I’ve read it through, I don’t even see it on the same shelf as a Lonely Planet. But that’s possibly this book’s novelty and great strength. The travelogue shelf is fair groaning under weighty tomes by Europeans digging into Indian life and culture. So let me unpack the delights of this particular book for you, but don’t be misled: you aren’t going to pick up many recommendations for your own odyssey from this round-India skedaddle. Full review...
Watch Out for the Crocodile by Lisa Moroni and Eva Eriksson
Little Tora is going on a very special trip with her Dad. Trekking, camping and animal spotting are on Tora’s agenda. No more work, coffee drinking or talking on his mobile for Dad. Well, perhaps not much talking on his mobile anyway. First though, there is some boring stuff; buying supplies at the supermarket and making the long car journey to the forest. When will they start to have fun? And where are those wild animals? A little bit of imagination is called for from both father and daughter to make the trip a memorable one. Full review...
Nemo: Roses of Berlin by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill
It's all very well having a heroic band of brigands and workers plucked from literature and being able to do the jobs that can't ever even feature in top secret files. Submariners, invisible men, and other individuals of mysterious origin, powers and sometimes intent aren't unique to English, or England. Hence this loose approximation of World War II, when Berlin is turned into a Germania-meets-Judge-Dredd-Megacity, and the Indian daughter of Captain Nemo and her very own special Captain Jack have a much more personal mission. The Fuhrer – and the real people and things behind the throne of the Nazi-type superpower – have something they'll fight to the end to get back – their own offspring. Full review...
Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova
Psychologist Maria Konnikova seems to have rather ambitious aims regarding her new book, Mastermind . She plans to teach her readers how to think like Sherlock Holmes. Anyone who has read the adventures of the world’s most famous detective will have no doubt marvelled at his uncanny powers of analysis and observation. Can a book really unlock the power of the mind and turn average-Joe into a master of deduction? Full review...
We That Are Left by Juliet Greenwood
Hugo and Elin are settling down to life at home in Hiram Hall now Hugo is back from the Boer War. He refuses to speak about his experiences in Africa but carries the psychological effects. However, appearances count for a lot so they both continue to run the house, gardens and staff while Elin tries to ignore the deficiencies in their marriage. She succeeds as well but then two things change her outlook: the arrival of daring adventurer Lady Margaret ('Mouse' to her friends) and the less welcome outbreak of World War I. Both will leave their indelible mark so that, for Hugo, Elin and many others around that time, there'll be no going back. Full review...
Ghost Train to New Orleans: Book 2 of the Shambling Guides by Mur Lafferty
After delivering The Shambling Guide to New York, a travel guide for the coterie of the undead, Zoe the inadvertent citytalker goes to New Orleans to research the next one. She sets off with a feeling of foreboding, but perhaps she's being overly pessimistic? I mean, she's travelling with two gods, (one of whom is a rather strident ex-Valkyrie), a baby dragon, two vampires (one of whom hates her) and Arthur, her boyfriend the Public Works employee. (Yes, Public Works as in the body that polices and, where necessary, clears away the coterie.) Oh and by the way, Arthur may be turning into a zombie soon. The trip will be fine; what could possibly go wrong? Full review...
The Mouseproof Kitchen by Saira Shah
Anna (a chef) and her partner Tobias (a composer) have it all: a great relationship, dreams of moving to France so that Anna can open a well-respected restaurant and, to top it all off, they're expecting a beautiful baby. When Freya is born she is indeed beautiful; she's also profoundly disabled. However, Anna and Tobias decide to follow their dream anyway, not worrying about anything until the moment they have to. Once they've bought their ramshackle home in the Languedoc they realise that the moments they have to worry about come more quickly and frequently than they'd realised and their support system is eccentric to say the least. Full review...
Horrid Henry's Biggest and Best Ever Joke Book - 3-in-1 by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross
It is easy to see why Horrid Henry remains such an enduring and well-liked children’s character. The adventures of this cheeky, irreverent schoolboy and a cast of extreme characters including Miss Battle Axe, The Demon Dinner Lady, Rabid Rebecca and arch-nemesis Moody Margaret are incredibly funny and a perfect way to encourage reluctant young readers to cultivate a love of reading. It is no surprise then, that the series has spawned a set of three spin-off joke books, which have now been combined to create a single volume: Horrid Henry’s Biggest and Best Ever Joke Book. Full review...
The Last Days of Detroit: Motor Cars, Motown and the Collapse of an Industrial Giant by Mark Binelli
Moving back to his native Detroit, Mark Binelli tries to see where it all went wrong for a city which was once America's capitalist dream town but has shrunk more significantly than anywhere else in the country over recent years. How did this happen, and what effect has it had on the residents there? Is the decline irreversible, or can those who want to bring about a changed and improved Detroit succeed? Full review...
Here and Now: Letters by J M Coetzee and Paul Auster
Reading letters by writers affords a particular pleasure. They give us access to the functioning of a writer’s mind when it’s somewhere between work and rest. Sometimes they reveal secrets, offer startling revelations about their writers and insights about the times they lived in. Here and Now, an exchange of letters between J M Coetzee and Paul Auster between 2008 and 2011, describes itself as ‘an epistolary dialogue between two great writers who became great friends.’ Full review...
Half Bad by Sally Green
Before I start, I'll declare an uninterest. I'm not really into the paranormal genre, and I'm definitely not into paranormal romances. I like fantasy and I've nothing against the supernatural. It's just the predictability of the paranormal genre that puts me off. I prefer books that surprise me rather than books that comfort me by giving me what I expect. So, you realise, I'm coming at Half Bad from the perspective of an un-fan. And I loved it! Full review...
Cuckoo! by Fiona Roberton
We do love Fiona Roberton's books in our house, a passion that started with Wanted: The Perfect Pet. This new story, about fat little cuckoo, is just as delightful as her others, and one that I've sneakily read without the children, once or twice, just so that I can properly enjoy it by myself! Full review...
Fleatectives: Case of the Stolen Nectar by Jonny Zucker
Someone has been stealing all the nectar. The bees are in a buzz! One hive is blaming another hive and although the Sheriff is investigating, Buzz and Itch decide to take the case on themselves to try and figure out what exactly is going on. How will they manage to figure out the truth of what's happened? And will they manage to do it without being crushed to death by the bees? Full review...
Penny Loaves and Butter Cheap: Britain in 1846 by Stephen Bates
Until I picked up this book, I would never have really thought of 1846 as a pivotal year in British history. Stephen Bates has proved convincingly in these pages that if it was not exactly a watershed one, it nevertheless marked an era of change. Full review...
Charm Offensive by William Thacker
When Joe, a retired politician is named in a tabloid slur he is faced with mending his reputation. Can he regenerate his life? William Thacker has chosen a heady combination for his first novel; politics and PR. A book like this has immediate appeal on the basis of being so contemporary and almost painfully pertinent to our times, so I was really looking forward to reading it. Full review...
Pom and Pim by Lena Landstrom and Olaf Landstrom
When Pom and Pim go out for the day things start off well, but bad luck comes their way. Can they look on the bright side of every situation, even when they feel tripped up time and time again? Full review...
Get Things Done: What Stops Smart People Achieving More and How You Can Change by Robert Kelsey
We're all so busy these days it's easy to veer between headless chicken and cherry picking modes, or at least it is for me. (I really hope my boss isn’t reading this!) In fact procrastination is my super power which was why I grabbed Robert Kelsey's book from the shelf with excited anticipation: in a self-help book with one of the longest titles known to man, he promises to help us become more efficient time managers and to stop putting things off. Full review...
Joe and the Race to Rescue by Victoria Eveleigh
Joe's come a long way from the Brummy boy who didn't want to know anything about horses and ponies whom we first met in Joe and the Hidden Horseshoe. His first pony, Lightning taught him a great deal, but Joe has grown and he's now been loaned Fortune, who's altogether different and Joe begins to realise that there's a lot more to being a great horseman than simply getting in the saddle and having the techniques. He needs to bond with Fortune and Fortune needs to learn to trust him. But Fortune isn't the only equine on Joe's mind. He's discovered a lonely-looking pony in a field and met Sherman and Velvet, two massive shire horses. Full review...
Oi Frog! by Kes Gray and Jim Field
Normally I would shy away from any book rhyming frog with log and cat with hat and hare with chair...normally it would fill me with a sense of dread to be faced with such a 'poem' to read. This time, however, I make an exception, because Oi Frog! is very funny and definitely worth a read, and again, and again! Full review...
The Dragon's Dentist by John McLay
Harry would like to be a knight. It seems like everyone else in his family is a knight. Nobody takes Harry very seriously though because Harry is quite small. He's very determined, however, and so he decides that he will go on a mission to prove his worth as a knight. The mission that he sets himself is to catch a dragon! Full review...
Further Encounters of Sherlock Holmes by George Mann (Editor)
Hot on the heels of Encounters of Sherlock Holmes comes another collection of brand-new tales written by some of the brightest creative minds from the genres of science fiction and crime. In this anthology, Holmes and Watson are pitched headlong into twelve different mysterious scenarios and invited to unravel secrets and unmask villains as only they know how. During their adventures they come face to face with a mountain monster, take a murderous boat trip, meet Moriarty’s siblings and even indulge in a little space travel. The game is afoot! Full review...
The Black Snow by Paul Lynch
Barnabas Kane returned to his birthplace in Ireland with his family with the goal of setting up his own farm and raising his son in a better setting than New York. With his farm of a decent size and a good herd of cattle all seems well with Kane until out ploughing one day he and his farm hand Matthew Peoples spot smoke in the sky from the direction of his byre. The fire marks the start of a sometimes bleak downward spiral and Kane is forced to rely on the kindness of his neighbours who still see him as an outsider. Full review...