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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Two Giants by Michael Foreman
In this reissue of a book first published in 1967, the Two Giants live in a nice world where things are lovely and they get along brilliantly. What fun it must be to have your best friend around all the time. Until, that is, they have a fight. Before they can think about reconciling, they are separated and forced to live apart. Their animosity grows. Will it be possible for them to ever be friends again? Could something as simple and insignificant as sharing a pair of socks make it all ok? Full review...
After The Honeymoon by Janey Fraser
A TV star and his make-up artist wife, and a dinner lady and her husband are not two couples you would expect to end up honeymooning at the same place, but through a twist of fate (ok, a teacher at the school one works at and the other sends her kids to) both women and their new husbands end up on the same secluded Greek island at the same time. It’s run by a British woman who left for the continent 15 years ago, and it’s the perfect spot to get away from it all, be it your toddler's safely left with grandma, or the paparazzi who are desperate for an exclusive. Full review...
The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker and Sam Taylor (translator)
Confession - when I chose to review this book, I had no idea it had made such huge waves worldwide. I chose it because I hadn’t read a thriller for a while and this looked like a good one. Before the book arrived, I heard all about it – and it was just as well as I had heard so much positivity, as I also hadn’t realised it was such a hefty tome. (I’m not intimidated by hefty tomes, but experience has taught me that they don’t always justify themselves). Full review...
An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden
It is post war London and in a private garden in a prosperous square someone has been digging up the earth. The formidable Miss Angela Chesney of the Garden Committee is convinced that a gang of local boys from nearby Catford Street is to blame. Her sister Olivia, a more thoughtful and kindly woman, worries about these children, ‘the sparrows’ and believes that there is more to this than petty theft. Meanwhile in Catford Street a little girl named Lovejoy Mason, abandoned by her mother to the care of restaurant owner Vincent and his wife, nurtures hopes and dreams of her own. As this story unfolds these very different lives become entangled in ways none of them could have anticipated. Full review...
Prince of Darkness by Sharon Penman
1193: Justin de Quincy, bastard son of the Bishop of Chester and loyal to Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, steers clear of Eleanor's youngest son John at all costs. After all, John's henchman did try to murder him. However there's a plot afoot to frame John for a crime he didn’t commit (for a change), bringing with it somewhat of a dilemma for Justin. As much as he hates John, de Quincy realises that getting to the bottom of the plot is in the interests of the Queen and England. So Justin's course is set, no matter what it costs and no matter which hornets' nests it disturbs. Full review...
Glass Thorns - Thornlost by Melanie Rawn
The Touchstone Players are back and now mostly married but the show must go on. Talking of which, it's their playwright Cayden's 21st naming day. He's come of age but his aristocratic mother would still rather he went to court as a courtier than the entertainer that his wizard/elven/fae heritage equips him for. However Cade has other concerns. He, the dwarf glister, Mieka who wields Cade's magic, Rafe (who manipulates it) and Jeska the masker (who can literally become anyone) are no longer the court favourites. Also, you remember the danger that Cade foresaw for Mieka from Mieka's wife in his elsewhen premonitions? Well, there's more! (There follows some spoilers for the previous novels so read them first before reading on.) Full review...
The Secrets of Life and Death by Rebecca Alexander
A girl covered in magic sigils dies in London watched by Jackdaw (Jack) Hammond. Jack had tried to cure her but the girl escaped. Now Jack has another chance to provide the treatment linking them with Elizabethan alchemist/mathematician/royal advisor John Dee. Indeed some would even call Dee a sorcerer. Jack could achieve so much if she does it better the next time but the fight won't be easy. She's not the only one who wants her new subject, although she may be the only one who knows how to save her. Full review...
The May Bride by Suzannah Dunn
Dateline approximately 1527: Edward Seymour marries Katherine Filliol and takes her to live with his family at Wolf Hall. The days pass happily as coquettish Katherine proves to be a breath of fresh air for the household of Sir John and Lady Margery. Of all John's Seymour siblings she's drawn to young Jane the most, the two developing a close friendship punctuated by fun and confidences. (Including some of which Jane is too young to understand fully.) However there is one secret that Katherine doesn't confide and that's the secret that will pull the Seymour family apart. Full review...
Valentine Joe by Rebecca Stevens
Rose’s grandfather Brian takes her to Ypres to pay their respects to his dead brother, but while there she notices the grave of a 15-year-old boy, Valentine Joe. Tormented by thoughts of such a young lad dying so tragically, she wakes up that night and looks out of the window to see the strange sight of a 1910s town, and a soldier marching. Slipping back in time, she meets Valentine Joe himself – but why has this happened, and what will the future be for these two children? Full review...
Teddy Bedtime by Georgie Birkett
I haven’t much hands on experience with young children and bedtime, but from various alleys and avenues of my family I have a seen a few do and do nots. One thing I have learnt is that routine can be a vital tool in getting a child to bed. Whilst one set of Nephews come up to you and ask to go to bed at 7pm, the other are bouncing off the walls at 1am. Children’s books can be a great way to entertain and teach younger children a bedtime routine and Teddy Bedtime by Georgie Birkett may just be the best example I have seen. Full review...
Summer Half by Angela Thirkell
If one didn’t know of Angela Thirkell’s distinguished background as a granddaughter of Sir Edward Burne-Jones and daughter of a classicist, it would be tempting to describe her as a kind of country cousin of P.G. Wodehouse’s. An unaffected and intelligent one, whose humour is less sophisticated but bubbles over with just as much glee. The middle-class world she has created, where young men come from families that are comfortably wealthy rather than outrageously so, offers a counterpoint to the Mitford or Wodehouse worlds with their aristocratic characters who travel the world and mingle with more louche, bohemian ones. Full review...
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe and Yanai Pery
A man sits, slumped over his books and in his quite ugly pyjamas, seeking relief from grief, when he starts to be haunted by a knocking from outside his chambers. He only sees a darkness when he first opens the door – mirroring the darkness inside, for he is in mourning. When he opens the window, he is doubly haunted – both by the memories of his beloved Lenore, and the figure of a raven that enters the room and remains, with its one-word mantra of a message. We are in the world of the 1840s and of Poe, as never seen before… Full review...
Pigsticks and Harold and the Incredible Journey by Alex Milway
In a world where explorer's backpacks are able to fit pigs, hamsters, voles and ducks, sits Pigsticks, dreaming of surpassing his forepigs in their adventures. When his itchy feet get the better of him and he finds himself in need of an explorer's assistant, he finds Harold the hamster – well, angry mice don't really cut it. They make an unlikely duo, but when the Battenburg cake is packed the earth is their oyster, and in trying to find the ends of it they make for a most unlikely journey too… Full review...
Childish Spirits by Rob Keeley
Ellie and her mum and brother Charlie have moved into Inchwood Manor. Ellie's mum is going to transform the old house into a heritage visitor attraction. Ellie doesn't mind this but she does wish her dad had come too. But for some reason, he hasn't. And if Ellie wasn't texting him, he wouldn't even know how they were getting on. There's a great deal of work to be done to get Inchwood Manor ready and mum is busy with manager Marcus. Charlie is busy being fed up at being stuck in the back end of beyond. And so neither of them notice the strange things that Ellie does... Full review...
Operation Sting (SWARM) by Simon Cheshire
There are bugs and there are bugs. The latest ultra-secret British security body, SWARM, uses both at the same time – micro-robots based around the forms of a mosquito, scorpion, spider, butterfly, stag beetle, dragonfly and centipede. They're only supposed to be showing themselves off as surveillance operatives while a high-tech weapon device is transported by a sole human agent across London, when it's stolen. The dangers of it being in the wrong hands, the very fact that the demonstration failed, and the disapproval of the Home Secretary at not knowing SWARM ever was on the cards in the first place, all pile the pressure onto the tiny robots' shoulders… Full review...
Tom Gates: A Tiny Bit Lucky by Liz Pichon
It's enrichment week at Tom Gates' school, which means lessons in unlikely subjects, such as pizza cooking and film-making. It's been badly tagged onto the school's inspection period, too, so the staff – who have never been appreciative enough of Tom's ways at doodling and ways into and out of scrapes – are even more on tenterhooks. It's also enrichment week at home, with Tom's parents deciding he needs less time watching TV and more time witnessing dad get all excited about making a kite. Tom's enrichment ideas for himself involve doodling more, rocking with his school band, and eating more caramel wafers, but he's not going to get his own way – the only one who will is the new neighbourhood cat from next door… Full review...
Being Someone by Adrian Harvey
The relationship between a mahout and his elephant is close: some have said that it's rather like a marriage. On the surface it seems almost idyllic with an obvious affection between man and beast - "that their spirits were water of the same pool", but all is not quite as it seems. Iravatha was the magnificent elephant who, year in, year out, led the Maharajah's parade only this year there was a dreadful accident and Annayya, his mahout, slipped beneath the elephant's foot - and was killed. They'd been together for more than half a century and beautiful, intelligent Iravatha knew what this meant. Full review...
Hilda and the Black Hound by Luke Pearson
Hilda and the Black Hound is the fourth book in the “Hildafolk” series, each of which is a self-contained tale about a highly inquisitive little girl and her adventures. This time Hilda joins the Sparrow Scouts and befriends a house spirit whilst in the meantime a mysterious beast stalks the town of Trolberg. Full review...
Minikid (Little Gems) by Michael Morpurgo
There seem to be more and more books being published, now, that are marketing themselves as being dyslexia friendly. This Michael Morpurgo story is from Little Gems and it follows the guidelines that make it easier to read for children with dyslexia. The paper is a high quality cream paper, so no shadows coming through from the other side to distract readers, there's a special font, and there are pictures throughout the story. It's a lovely size that fits nicely into small hands, with an appealing cover. So far, so good! Full review...
Complex 90 by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins
If you ever decide to revisit the Film Noir genre of the 40s and 50s may I suggest ‘Kiss Me Deadly’, a pretty looney film about a shining briefcase and the maverick PI sent out to recover it. This Private Investigator was none other than Mike Hammer, star of a series of books written by Mickey Spillane. Unfortunately, Spillane is no longer with us, but before his death he gave some unfinished manuscripts to prolific crime writer Max Allan Collins. ‘Complex 90’ is the result of one of their collaborations and you may be glad to know that it is almost as insane as the movie. Full review...
Arrowhead by Ruth Eastham
Thirteen-year-old Jack doesn’t believe in the local myths and legends of Norway. Until he finds the frozen body of a Norse warrior boy trapped in the ice, carrying with him an ancient arrowhead. The arrowhead bears a terrible curse, which leaves the adults struck down and nature itself turning on Jack’s town, and the rest of the world. With only his friends Skuli and Emma to help him, can Jack save the day? Full review...
The Ties That Bind by Erin Kelly
When writer Luke falls in love with Jeremy, the fact that Jem (to his friends) offers to support Luke, allowing him to write a book, is a bonus. As soon as Luke discovers an unsolved murder from around 50 years ago, the book's subject is assured. However both the subject matter and Jem's endless support will present Luke with problems (and not a little danger) that he couldn't have foreseen. Full review...
Hour of Darkness: A Bob Skinner Mystery by Quintin Jardine
The naked body of a woman was washed up on an island in the Firth of Forth. The mutilation had obviously come from a ship's propeller but the result was that there was no means of identification. Several days later detectives were called to a flat in Edinburgh: a meter reader had found the kitchen covered in blood and it wasn't long before a connection was made between the missing occupant of the property and the unidentified body. The name - Isabella Spreckley - didn't ring immediate bells but she had been Bella Watson and that was a name which many people, not least Bob Skinner, would have preferred not to hear again - even if she was dead. Full review...
The Good Italian by Stephen Burke
Enzo is an Italian living in Eritrea, part of Mussolini's new Italian empire of 1935. In charge of the quiet Massawe Harbour he leads an equally quiet life, trying to adhere to gentlemanly standards; being the good Italian. His friend Salvatore, a Colonel in the occupying Italian army, thinks Enzo should live a little and have some fun with the local women, just like his peers. Enzo isn't so sure but decides to engage a local cook/cleaner - see how it goes. The streetwise Aatifa gets the job, both she and Enzo being surprised by things that weren't in the job description. Meanwhile Mussolini has plans for Massawe that will change Enzo, Aatifa (and everyone around them) forever. Full review...
Playlist For A Broken Heart by Cathy Hopkins
When Paige’s dad loses his job and she and her parents are forced to move in with her aunt, uncle and cousins in an already crowded house, it feels like the end of the world to her. She’d just been cast opposite her crush in the school play, so being torn away from him and taken out of school might break her heart. But then she finds a mixtape of local bands made for a girl, and as she listens to it, starts wondering about the boy who made it. Making new friends, she decides to try and track the boy down – but will he be who she’s expecting? Full review...
Big Meals for Little Hands by Virginie Aladjidi, Caroline Pellissier and Marion Billet
When you learn that it features recipes from a Michelin starred chef, Sébastien Guénard, you immediately know that this is not going to be just any kids’ cook book. And it’s not. Featuring recipes categorised by season, and utilising fresh fruit and vegetables as the centre for each dish, this is a book that may appeal most to children with more adventurous palates. Full review...
The Tin Snail by Cameron McAllister
It's France at the 1938 Paris Motor Show. A wonderful new car has been unveiled: the Deux Chevaux or 2CV for short. It looks a bit odd and is nicknamed Tin Snail but this is a car for the people: functional, reliable, affordable. And its inventor is just 13 years old! But WWII is about to break out and France is about to be occupied by the Germans. The Tin Snail must face a perilous journey - to carry a farmer and his wife, a flagon of wine and a tray of eggs, across a bumpy field in a sleepy French village without spilling a drop or cracking a shell - and then go into hiding... Full review...
Glow by Ned Beauman
Ned Beauman has made quite a name for himself in just a few short years. In 2013, when Granta lauded him as one of their Best Young British Novelists, he had already published two novels, Boxer, Beetle (shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Desmond Elliott Prize) in 2010 and The Teleportation Accident (longlisted for the Man Booker Prize) in 2012. Full review...
The Bojeffries Saga by Alan Moore and Steve Parkhouse
A very truncated history of comics will start with the idea that they should be funny strips – one jape then you're out; then that they should have more – perhaps a superhero; then that you can have so much more than just a superhero – witness the works of Alan Moore. But you mustn't be too surprised to see the whole thing come around in a full cycle. Because Alan Moore has, with this volume, concluded his own funny strip japery, and whatever history or greater opinions about the canon of comix might say, it's just about his best ever book. Full review...
Poppy by Mary Hooper
Poppy is a parlourmaid at the de Vere family's country house when World War I breaks out. Poppy is a very bright girl but had to enter service rather than continuing on to college after school because her family is poor. But the war is changing everything - even for working class girls - and Poppy's old teacher sees an opportunity for her intelligent ex-pupil. She suggests that Poppy become a volunteer nurse, a VAD. Full review...
Alex As Well by Alyssa Brugman
The story of Alex, a transgendered Australian teen. Brought up as a boy but identifying as a girl who also fancies girls, Alex's journey is one you'll never forget. An important, affecting story with layers of unreliable narration that will really make you think. Highly recommended. Full review...