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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Blown Away by Rob Biddulph
If you thought penguins didn’t fly, think again. Penguin Blue is up in the sky but it’s not what you might think – thanks to a fun kite and a cheeky gust of wind, he’s soaring up, up and away from the home, and as his friends try to help they get pulled up and away too. Uh oh. Where will the wind take these South Pole creatures? The answer, in this amazingly fun book, is to a lush, tropical island. It’s full of friendly creatures and wondrous green foliage like none they’ve ever seen before. But it’s rather hot and far from home. Full review...
Lost and Found by Brooke Davis
Millie Bird keeps a notebook. She writes in it all of the Dead Things that she sees. Her Very First Dead Thing was her dog Rambo. Then there were other things a spider, a Bird… but then there was number 28. The twenty-eighth dead thing than Millie Bird noticed was her Dad. Full review...
Wild Thing Goes Camping by Emma Barnes
Wild Thing is truly wild, keeping worms in her grandma's handbag, building dens in muddy holes in the garden, or setting up camps, complete with sticks ready for a fire, in her big sister's bedroom! She's the sort of child who sends her parents grey in their twenties! Poor Kate, her older sister, is stuck being the sensible one in the family, trying to keep an eye on Wild Thing and help her dad out (her mum died when Wild Thing was very little), and the strain of always being sensible and reliable begins to show and Kate starts to think maybe she'd like to be wild too! Full review...
The Butterfly Club by Jacqueline Wilson
Tina is a triplet but you'd never know it. Sisters Maddie and Phil are much bigger, much livelier and much louder than sickly little Tina, who had a heart problem when she was born and spent months in an incubator. She's never caught them up. Her health is still delicate too, so Tina doesn't play rough games and is forbidden from most sport at school. At this rate, she'll never catch up with Phil and Maddie. But Tina doesn't mind too much. She's protected at school by her sisters and coddled at home by her mother. Life, despite its smallness, is pretty sweet for Tina... Full review...
The Queen's Orang-Utan by David Walliams and Tony Ross
The Queen felt trapped in the palace with all those stuffed animals which she has been given on foreign tours. There are mountains of them and every night she would dream of escaping. When her birthday drew near the family dutifully asked her what she would like as a present. The Prince was thinking of a gold, diamond encrusted stairlift whilst the Duke was considering a great big bottle of brandy. The Royal Baby had some decorated thimbles in mind, but the Queen became just a little snappish as she explained that what she really wanted was 'One's own orang-utan'. And she didn't mean a stuffed one, either. Full review...
Creepy Caves (Elf Girl and Raven Boy) by Marcus Sedgwick and Pete Williamson (illustrator)
We've come a long way together, Elf Girl, Raven Boy and I. I wasn't there quite at the start of their adventures, but jumped on at a suitably early stage, and met up with them a bit here and there since. It was obvious from the start, when all six alliterative titles were announced, that the final battle would be the pair – and his rat called Rat – battling the Goblin King. But there was little clue to just how frolicsome the action would be, nor what ungainly band of friends (and enemies) would combine with them for this, the final episode. Full review...
Love From Pooh (Winnie the Pooh) by A A Milne
For a small book, a small review – this is a quite delightful little thing, about which not a lot can be said. It is a gift book pure and simple, much in the way that Pooh Bear was a little simple at times (Pooh… thought how wonderful it would be to have a Real Brain which could tell you things). With it comes a simple blurb, and almost instructions that it is for giving, and there is a space for a loving dedication at the beginning, which is again only apt, as it is all about love. Love of honey, love in friendship, love of all various kinds, but just love. It can't help but make you most warm-hearted. Full review...
Soulprint by Megan Miranda
Alina Chase lives in a future America obsessed by soulprinting. Scientific advances have enabled the tracking of the soul by markers carried in spinal fluid. Reincarnation is now an established fact and the government maintains a database of all past lives. People without heirs can even make wills leaving their worldly goods to the person in whom their soul is reincarnated. But the discovery has led to problems and the problems have led to Alina's containment. Full review...
The Diary of Lena Mukhina: A Girl's Life in the Siege of Leningrad by Lena Mukhina and Amanda Love Darragh (translator)
If life as a girl of school-leaving age is hard enough, think about it when you're stuck in a great city under a horrendous siege. Lena Mukhina's diary only covers half the 800-odd days the nightmare in Leningrad lasted, but so palpably singular were the circumstances that it feels like one is given the clearest insight into what it was like, courtesy of these pages. I've been there and never felt the ghost of the siege in the modern St Petersburg, anything like (for example) the ruination of Warsaw had lived on. But a dreadful time this was. At the peak times of Nazi oppression and aerial bombing, the city lost 2 or 3 residents' lives every minute of the day on average. The city was desperate for fuel, and food – and this is a place where it can – and does here – snow in June. Without giving too much of the diet away, it's notable that later on Lena dreams of having a menagerie of small animals to live with – but no dogs or cats. Full review...
My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga
Aysel lives in the middle of nowhere. She’s smart but not popular, so high school’s not much fun, and her part-time job, cold calling the town’s residents on behalf of various customers, is far from satisfying. It’s understandable that she’s not a very happy girl. She’s not the preppy cheerleader or the honour roll student who sidelines as class president. She’s nobody, really. But she’s nobody with a dark secret. She wants to take her own life, and she’s making plans to make this happen. Full review...
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Mare is a Red - a race kept in lives of poverty and servitude by the Silvers, a race with wealth and mutant powers that allow them to live lives of luxury. Learning to survive amongst the slum like conditions that the Reds inhabit, Mare is swiftly thrown into the world of the Silvers - one that proves to be more dangerous than she had ever imagined, with treachery, plots and deadly games lurking round every corner. Full review...
Tips From Widows by Jan Robinson
I'm not a widow and I secretly hope that I never will be, but I picked up Tips From Widows when a close friend (who is supporting someone who knows that becoming a widow is frighteningly close) mentioned the need to plan what to do. The death of a husband must be devastating, even terrifying, but as next of kin you have certain responsibilities and there are some things which you must do. Who better to give advice than other women who have experienced what must be the worst thing that life can throw at them? Full review...
Impulse by Dave Bara
In space, no one can hear you squirm and this is no bad thing if you happen to be Lt. Peter Cochrane, newly out of the Navy Academy he is put straight on the front line and is prone to as many mistakes as he is heroics. Cochrane has no choice, the son of an Admiral; he is deemed the best choice to seek out an ancient enemy that has destroyed a starship full of Navy Officers. When you are only one of a few Officers left standing, you do what you can; even if this does involve blowing stuff up and falling in love. Full review...
If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie
It probably tells you a lot about the atmosphere of this book that for the whole time I was reading it, I thought the title was If I Fall, I Die. That missing second If is probably at the crux of the whole tale. Full review...
Blackout (Urban Outlaws) by Peter Jay Black
Fans of thrillers will be the first to admit that character development is not always the first priority in their favourite books. In fact, in some series heroes change less than The Simpsons, even after dozens of adventures. So, finding a story which has heart-pounding drama, well-drawn characters and even – believe it or not – a few scenes which would melt the hardest heart makes this excellent series a must-read. Full review...
Rugby Academy: Surface to Air by Tom Palmer
We first met Rory in Combat Zone when circumstances forced him to go to Broadlands Boarding School when both his parents were posted abroad by the RAF. It wasn't his choice - I mean they played rugby rather than his beloved football - but it wasn't long before he discovered that not only did he enjoy rugby, he was rather good at it. It was also something of a relief to be at a school where there were other boys in a similar situation to himself. By the time that we meet Rory again time has moved on and he's on his way to Toulon to play in an international schools rugby tournament. Full review...
Influx by Daniel Suarez
We are told to never judge a book by its cover and that certainly includes any quotes that should adorn the front. Since his debut novel, all the Daniel Suarez books I have read had a quote suggesting that he was the legitimate heir to Michael Crichton. To compare your work with one of the best techno thriller writers of all time is never going to be easy and time after time, Suarez fell short. That is until Influx, a book that finally puts Suarez in the same illustrious company as Crichton. Full review...
Actual Size by Steve Jenkins
There’s an enormous disembodied eye staring at me. At 30cm it’s as big as a dinner plate and it’s in my living room. Which is no bad thing because if I met it in the sea then I’d really be in trouble. Fortunately the eye is contained on page four of the intriguing and really rather splendid, book 'Actual Size'. Full review...
Dissident Gardens by Jonathan Lethem
Rose Zimmer, a feisty American communist radical, takes on many good and great causes. These include everything from feminism and racism to the changing course of Stalinism in the American C.P. but most of all; her biggest causes are the people around her. The effects upon them are diverse and devastating. She often propels them to success but at the same time they feel battered and must escape according to their own needs. Her affections are real but invasive. Rose keeps a shrine to Abraham Lincoln. Rose’s self-assertion within the perimeters of the German-designed 20th Century New York suburb of Queens, a multi-cultural suburb and a planned housing development similar to Hampstead Garden City provide the setting for Jonathan Lethem’s Tour de Force. Full review...
The Book of Margery Kempe by Margery Kempe and Anthony Bale (editor)
Born around 1373, Margery Kempe grew up in a family of good standing - her Father serving as a mayor, and as a member of parliament. Whilst no records remain of her childhood, it is unlikely that Margery would have received any kind of formal education. She was, however, taught religious texts, which may well have set the way for the visions she would encounter later in life. Full review...
Don't Chew the Royal Shoe by Kate Leake
Dogs, love ‘em or loath ‘em, they get underfoot and have a tendency to chew on things that are left around the house. One set of dogs that you would expect are better trained are the Royal Corgis, they wouldn’t dare chew on a royal shoe. It turns out that they might not, but that won’t stop Chips, the other royal dog and he likes nothing better than getting his gnashers round a boot or two. Full review...
The Virtuoso by Virginia Burges
The title character of The Virtuoso is Isabelle Bryant, a professional violinist who has earned the affectionate nickname of 'Beethoven's Babe'. She was the youngest-ever winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition and gave her first solo performance, of Beethoven's violin concerto, at Royal Albert Hall. 'Her violin represented another limb to her, it was that precious. It felt so natural, like an extension of her body.' It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that the violin is Isabelle's life. Full review...
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Every family has its tales which are told and retold and in the Whitshank family it was the story of how Abby and Red had fallen in love one beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon in July 1959. It would usually be told on the porch of the Baltimore house which Red's father had built, but on this final time of its telling the circumstances are different. Abby and Red are aging - even the glorious house is beginning to show its age - and decisions have to be made about how to look after them. All the family are there, even Denny, who can generally be relied on to do only what pleases him. Full review...
Bully by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
He's a bit of a... well, a bully, really. The farm animals want to play with him, but he just calls them names. He proceeds to insult each one until a brave little goat stands up to him and calls HIM a bully. How will Bully react to that? Full review...
My Mate's as 'Ard as Nails: (My Obdurate Companion) by Irfan Virk
It was one of those days when you feel that something's going to happen: something bad, something you know you won't be able to avoid. Freddy felt it as soon as he woke up...
And yet, Freddy's first day at secondary school begins pretty well. Bertie attracts attention but most of it is good. And then things begin to go downhill. Bertie does stick out like a sore thumb. It's difficult to ignore him. And Freddy's quick wit and sharp tongue might get him out of immediate trouble but they do mark him out as a threat to the bullies. It was always going to happen. And before you can say snap, Bertie has been abducted. It's up to Freddy and friends to get him back. Meanwhile, outside the school gates, some bad men are doing bad things in the realms of hostage-takings and bank jobs. Full review...
Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford The Biography by Laura Thompson
There can have been few more extraordinary families in British society and cultural life during the early twentieth century than the Mitfords, the six daughters and one son of Baron Redesdale. The only son, killed in action during the Second World War, led an unexceptional life away from the headlines, but four of his sisters more than made up for him. Diana, wife of the notorious Sir Oswald Mosley, never renounced her admiration for Hitler or the Fascist movement, while Unity, who shared her beliefs, shot herself on the day war broke out but lingered pathetically for another brain-damaged eight years, and the fiercely left-wing Jessica became an active member of the American Communist Party. Compared to them Nancy, the eldest and the subject of this biography, seems to have been the most balanced and least eccentric of them all. Full review...
Robopop by Alice Hemming and James Lent
Some say the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill. Others say better the devil you know. Dylan and Daisy don’t say either of these things, but the sentiment is there. Other people’s fathers are much better / funnier / more normal than their dad. Why can’t he be more like everyone else? The thing is, their dad is an inventor of sorts, so well placed to teach them a lesson they’ll never forget. Welcome Robopop, a robot dad in a box! He’s going to babysit Dylan and Daisy for the afternoon…if they last that long. Full review...
Second Life by S J Watson
Julia lives two lives. Life 1: the wife of surgeon Hugh and adopted parent of her sister Kate's son Connor. Life 2: Secret erotic dating site surfer. It seems a bit extreme but she has good reason as Julia is searching for information while posing under an assumed name. This is the same site on which Kate hung out. Past tense? Yes, Kate's dead and Julia wants to find Kate's killer. Be careful what you wish for, Julia. Full review...
Deadly Spells by Jaye Wells
Time has moved on since Cursed Moon. Kate's ex-lover, the devastatingly hunky but dangerous John Volos has been inaugurated as Babylon's mayor and Kate's neighbourly old witch Baba has moved in with the Prosperos. Meanwhile Kate has delivered on her promise, persuading the MEA wizard Mez to teach her brother Danny how to cook clean potions. Away from everyday life, trouble is brewing. Two opposing gang members have been creatively killed which could mean a tit-for-tat rumble or it could be out-and-out gang war. Compared to the peril this could bring, the journalist poking around in Kate's forbidden past is almost a side-show. Full review...
Paddington At The Palace by Michael Bond and R W Alley
I’m not someone who bangs on about being proud to be British. I find it odd that people can seem so fulfilled based on the fact they were born in a certain nation. And anyway I’d much rather be a citizen of the world. But every so often I come across a book, typically aimed at little ones, that does bring me out in a touch of national pride. London is the obvious choice, and in cases like The Queen's Hat by Steve Antony it can result in frightfully good books. Full review...
Pom Pom Gets the Grumps by Sophy Henn
Uh oh. Pom Pom is in a BAD MOOD. Nothing is going right today, the world is against him, and everyone is just rubbing him up the wrong way. Harrumph! Full review...
Nothing Sacred by David Thorne
Just over a year ago I described Thorne's first book East of Innocence as Raymond Chandler meets Ray Winstone. I gather that an eight-way auction saw Tiger Aspect securing the option rights for a TV series. I'm looking forward to it. Can't help wondering if they roped Winstone in (and if I'm up for a cut of the agent fees?). Full review...
A Home for Shimmer by Cathy Hopkins
Great cover-art is often a compelling factor in making a purchase decision, so who could resist the lure of a fluffy white retriever pup, with a shiny black nose and smiling eyes, beckoning readers to pick up the book and read her story? 'A Home for Shimmer' is the story of a bond between a girl and her pup and the many obstacles that they must face to stay together. Full review...
Black Dog Summer by Miranda Sherry
Yesterday, Sally was living in a rambling farmstead with her teenage daughter Gigi. Now Sally is dead, murdered, and Gigi is alone in the world. Full review...
The Chimes by Anna Smaill
Writing is outlawed and no one remembers how to read. In fact memory itself is at a premium; people carry their memories around with them in their hands or any way they're able as each day their minds empty of so much. The world now answers to the music of The Chimes summoning all to daily observance. The music is all. It lays aural paths for navigation, identifies people like a musical signature – the music is everywhere. The music is what brings young Simon to London after the death of his parents. How did they die? Why is Simon here? Why is Lucien, one of his fellow River Thames mud larks so significant? Would Simon really want to know? Full review...