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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What the Jackdaw Saw by Julia Donaldson and Nick Sharratt
The jackdaw is flying over the countryside, the sea, towns and forests inviting all the creatures he meets to his party. He is excited and so busy trying to tell everyone about his party that he does not understand that the other animals are all trying to warn him that he is flying into danger. Will he work out what they are telling him before it is too late? Full review...
The Penny Heart by Martine Bailey
After living a life of crime in order to scrape by, Mary Jebb is spared from the gallows – and banished to Australia. Before leaving for the penal colony of Botany Bay, she sends two engraved penny heart tokens to key players in her world. One of these takes us to Delafosse Hall, where Mary’s story meets that of shy artist Grace Moore – and yet more confidence tricks begin. Full review...
The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins by Irvine Welsh
“Numbers are the great American obsession” opines Lucy Brennan, the protagonist of The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins, and in her case at least that’s definitely true. Whether it’s thinking about an argument with her boyfriend Miles (6”1, 210 lbs), noting the the stats of “sneaky, squeaky” fellow personal trainer Mona (5”9, blond, 36-34-36) or noting down how many calories her lunch of steamed broccoli and spinach with a peanut-butter-and-banana protein shake will set her back (460 cal). As a personal trainer obsessed with keeping in shape, Lucy never stops thinking about calories and body crunches. There’s several amusing passages where she rants about the clients she has to deal with, particularly one woman who will obviously never lose any weight and simply wants validation for making the effort to do so in the first place. Having just joined a gym myself, I felt like the perfect person for this novel. Full review...
The Devil's Cocktail by Alexander Wilson
Alexander Wilson, author of the Wallace series, was a writer, spy and secret service officer. Interesting that the biog-writer makes a distincation between the last two of those professions. Be that as it may, Wilson was one of the early writers in the genre that would lead to Bond and Smiley. Whilst perhaps not quite reaching the literary style and fame of those who would follow in his footsteps, he created characters and plots that were very popular at the time, are very much of their time and are now getting a well-deserved re-issue. Full review...
Raging Heat (Castle) (Nikki Heat 6) by Richard Castle
Fans of the television series Castle will come to this book ready-prepared for what’s going on, but for those unaware, in the series there is a character called Richard Castle who is an author. He observes a homicide detective, Kate Beckett, in her work and then writes a novel, Heat Wave, based on her character, changing Kate’s name to Nikki Heat and his own to Jameson Rook. After the book was written (in the television series) it was actually published in real life. Being a fan of Castle I immediately bought it and read it. To be honest, I found that the concept messed with my head too much! I kept thinking about who was who, within the book, translating Nikki’s name to Kate’s, and Rook’s to Castle, and it all became very confusing because even though Kate and Castle are 'real' they are, of course, fictional characters too! I didn’t read any more Nikki Heat books after that first one, until this one. It’s been a little while since I watched the TV series, and somehow coming at it fresh made a big difference and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Full review...
Dancing to an Irish Reel by Claire Fullerton
Hailey was on a sabbatical from her job in the music business in Los Angeles and taking the holiday of a lifetime to Ireland, when she walked into the Galway Music Centre and found a job which she simply couldn't turn down. She also found a home in a local village, a liking for the rural life and a man whom she could love. Liam Hennessy was a talented accordion player: music was his life and whilst he was more attracted to Hailey than he had ever been to another woman it wasn't entirely clear whether 'love' could ever be on the cards for him. Full review...
Jules and Nina Dine Out by Anita Pouroulis
Nina and George are Jules’ dogs. Eating out at restaurants used to be a family affair until George blew it. A misunderstanding about a steak apparently. With the exception of her slightly unreliable digestive system, Nina has slightly more refined manners. She continues to dine out until one restaurant manager refuses her admission. Then it’s a long, but dramatic, spell out on the pavement for her… Full review...
Flood of Fire (Ibis Trilogy 3) by Amitav Ghosh
1839 and the repercussions of the sinking of the Ibis and the Chinese clampdown on opium smuggling go on. Now widowed by the marine disaster, Shireen Modhi is given an opportunity to discover her late husband's legacy although it means journeying alone from India to China. Former sailor Zachary Reid finds life landside to be a little complicated when he becomes a 'mystery' (craftsman) attached to the Indian home of a British opium trader, despite its fringe benefits. East India Company sepoy officer Kesri Singh is also a little unsettled, especially when he discovers he must prepare for a war that, in some way or other, will affect them all. Full review...
Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T Smith
Little Red is a caring little girl and when she discovers that her Auntie Rosie is unwell and covered in spots she immediately sets off with her basket packed ready to help. However as she makes her way through the African landscape meeting a variety of animals on the way little does she know that lurking in the trees is a lion. A very hungry lion. A very hungry lion with a very naughty plan. Full review...
The Damned (The Darkest Hand Trilogy) (Inquisitor Poldek Tacit 1) by Tarn Richardson
France, 1914: A priest is murdered, if you could ascribe such a mundane term to such an act. He was actually pulled apart brutally, literally and totally. The Catholic Inquisition sends one of its best to investigate: Poldek Tacit. Tacit may be a tortured, troubled soul fighting the demons of his own past but when it comes to eliciting information he's good, albeit via some questionable methods. Meanwhile on the battle lines at Arras the British face the Germans in a war that will become even more horrific due to the evil that walks among them as a dark, inescapable shadow. Full review...
Great Britain Concise Stamp Catalogue 2015 by Stanley Gibbons
The thirtieth edition of the Stanley Gibbons Concise Stamp catalogue lives up to expectations once again. It's been extensively updated and prices have been revised in line with the current market, leading to thousands of price increases (particularly in varieties, errors, Machins, Post & Go stamps and booklets), which will please you - or not - depending on whether you're a seller or a buyer. It's pitched at that sector of the market which has outgrown Collect British Stamps, but not yet graduated to the Stamps of the World series. The cover price of £34.95 is reasonable when you see the amount of work - and technology - which has gone into the creation of the book. Full review...
Mad About Monkeys by Owen Davey
Of all the many millions of animals on our planet that deserve a large format hardback non-fiction book, I guess monkeys are one of the ideal places to start. They are, of course, our distant cousins, with the ancestor we have in common with them walking around our world within the past thirty million years. They have a large range across the planet, they have over 250 variant species, and they have a lot of interesting facts and details regarding their social life, their diet, their diversity and their potential future – all of which makes this an interesting read whatever your species bias may be. Full review...
Dragonsitter Trouble by Josh Lacey
You don't need me to tell you what it's like when your uncle owns two dragons. He's the pig-headed type who has a mummy and baby dragon living with him, and he must live on a remote island off Scotland, and he must spend half the time hunting the world of dragons in Outer Mongolia, or searching for the yeti, so that trouble starts from the very moment you arrive with your mother and sister to housesit for him – there's no food, the dragons are pooing everywhere and you can't even use the front door properly because he didn't leave the key in an obvious place. Still, that's nothing compared to when the neighbouring farmer gets his guns trained on the dragons when he accuses them of stealing his sheep… Or how about when your big birthday party is here, and the magician is booked – and the two dragons come to stay, because somebody else with the talent to care for them has the hots for your mother… Full review...
The Creative Colouring Book for Grown-Ups
Johanna Basford was not the first, and nor was she an overnight success. If you're salivating over the Enchanted Forest, having finished her Secret Garden, you are one of those many people indulging in the new/old hobby of adult colouring-in (adult perhaps only because her titles smack more of soft erotica than colouring-in books). The hobby is rapidly killing off Sudoku as the pastime of choice for many – either on the train or sitting with half an ear to the soaps. It's fun, it opens the mind to other thoughts in quite a meditative way, and it needs no instructions – much like, again, Sudoku, even if newspapers persist in telling us them even when nobody on earth is left to need them. Full review...
The Evil Within by Ian Edginton and Alex Sanchez
What do you fear most? And when you've answered that, think on why – is it something that happened to you, something you saw or read, or something you yourself did? The nature of horror is looked at in this graphic novel, which spins the usual web of nightmares around some fit young adults, and tests them with graphic death on the cards at the same time as keeping them in the dark about what has brought the doom and gloom to them. Starting with Dana, a college girl seeking her kidnapped best friend, things get darker, weirder, and forever more violent… Full review...
Half the World Away by Cath Staincliffe
Newly graduated Lori Maddox spends the year after University travelling, and visits China – working as a private English tutor. Back in Manchester, her estranged parents follow her adventures on her blog, “Lori in the Orient”. When all communication stops and silence persists, the parents report her missing, and learning that there is little they can do from Manchester, set out to China in order to search for their daughter. Flying to Chengdu, they have no knowledge of the country, customs or language, and are forced to turn detective in order to save their daughter… Full review...
Super-Loud Sam by Jo Simmons
Sam is loud. Not just loud as in the loudest lad in class, and not just loud as in loudest fire alarm in school. No, Sam is LOUD loud. Stop traffic in the streets loud. Scary loud. Loud enough to make passing birds forget how to fly loud. There's little rhyme or reason for this, just as there is no real reason why his best friend Nina does nothing but knit all the livelong day, even when walking to school. It's just something you have to accept. But what's this? Their favourite teacher has vanished, and a new one has taken his place – Mrs Mann. She's ridiculous with her weirdly large hands, her huge cardigan and even huger beehive hairdo. The biggest thing about her though is the threat she poses – that of eternal silence in her lessons. How can Sam possibly continue at school, when even him clearing his throat is like a plane crash in your ears? Full review...
Kitchen Disco by Clare Foges and Al Murphy
If the ‘‘Toy Story’’ films taught is nothing else, they taught us that when we are not paying attention, toys come to life. Call me old fashioned, I am not impressed as this is common knowledge, but did you know that fruit also awakens? If you listen closely as you go to sleep you may just hear the soft pulse of some Happy House or Dubstep as down in the kitchen the fruit are having a disco. Full review...
My Pen by Christopher Myers
How long does it take you to read a picture book? Don't worry counting the number of words, forget totalling the pages, and ignore how many times you may return to bring it off the shelf. What matters so much more than how long it takes to scan a page can be how long it lies in the memory, and what it can lead to. This example, for instance, can be perused in seconds, but creates a vivid and long-standing mental image, and will if it hits the right buttons lead to untold future activities. You can't judge something like this on the value of time. Full review...
Field Guide: Creatures Great and Small (Field Guides) by Lucy Engelman
Call me fuddy-duddy, but I have never seen the need to review a book via video – with Youtube and other sources becoming full of people giving their thoughts about the latest hot release the idea has never appealed to me, when there are also countless ways for one to share opinions by old-fashioned written word. That is, of course, until now, and the phenomenon that is building rapidly – that of mature colouring-in books. Here at the Bookbag we can easily prove we've read every word of the books by being eloquent, informative and opinionated about what we examine, but even I admit four paragraphs regarding a picture book we ourselves have to finish off may leave some members of our audience wanting to see the results. Full review...
Ancient Egypt in 30 Seconds: 30 Awesome Topics for Pharaoh Fanatics Explained in Half a Minute (Children's 30 Second) by Cath Senker and Melvyn Evans
Egypt. It's up there with dinosaurs, space travel and not much else that can hold a young child throughout the length of their school career. Considering a lot of them will grow up declaring they have no interest in, or even a hatred for, history, it all was relevant a long, long time ago – and with Carter's finding of King Tut's tomb closing in on its centenary it won't go away yet. There are indeed books that solely concern themselves with the history of our love affair with Egypt. But I guess it does boil down to it being introduced by a fine teacher. Whether this latest book will supplant the human in giving us all the lessons we need remains to be seen. Full review...
The World of Norm: 8: May Contain Buts by Jonathan Meres
Why is it the only person in Norm's world able to think straight is Norm? His best mate Mikey is clamming up on certain subjects, and blaming mood swings on his hormones (well, he is all of thirteen, after all). His dad seems to be mourning the loss of an antique bottle of aftershave, his mother thinks sorting the recycling is a cure for boredom, and his grandfather is all full of weird expressions and euphemism thingies. That's not to mention his younger brothers, who have it in mind to use mum's hair straightener on the dog. And that's certainly not to mention the girl next door, who evidently has been incapable of thinking straight since birth, but at least is doing the good thing by moving house. It's a flipping miracle that Norm can get through a weekend like this without anything disastrous happening. Or can he? Full review...
The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan
In a future in which the sea has flooded the world, Callanish is a gracekeeper – administering shoreside burials and sending the dead to rest in the depths of the ocean. The solitary life of tending watery graves serving as penance for a long-ago mistake. Meanwhile, North is a circus performer – living with a flouting troupe of acrobats, clowns, dancers and trainers, and with only a bear for a friend. An offshore storm leads to a chance meeting between North and Callanish – and a chance to change both of their lives. Full review...
The Wild Beyond by Piers Torday
Stories for younger readers about the effects of climate change, known as cli-fi, are growing massively in popularity right now, as environmental disasters and the disappearance of many of the planet's animals and plants hit the news on a depressingly regular basis. Shrinking glaciers mean rising water levels and the slow extinction of polar bears, and in many cities pollution and smog are so dire at times that governments are forced to ban cars and urge their citizens to stay indoors. But far from frightening children with tales of ever-increasing destruction and death, Piers Torday offers them a way to hope. No matter how bad things are, this trilogy tells us, all it takes is determination, and together we'll save our beautiful world. Full review...
The Independent Director: The Non-Executive Director's Guide to Effective Board Presence by Gerry Brown
In the United Kingdom independent directors are usually known as non-executive directors to distinguish them from the executive – those people charged with actually running the company on a day-to-day basis - but Gerry Brown usually refers to them as independent directors, a phrase which is common in other parts of the world. Initially, I found the phrase somewhat unusual but as I read The Independent Director I came to prefer that usage as it stresses what the director must be above all else – independent and able to stand back from the management of a business and view what is happening and what is planned with a dispassionate and critical eye. There's little in the way of training and it can be argued that no one is actually qualified to do the job, but Brown's book is as good as you're going to get in terms of spelling out the responsibilities and pitfalls. Full review...
A Lover's Pinch by Jean Ravencourt
Hettie (Henriette to be formal) has grown up in straitened times. Her mother was a former mistress of Charles IX but now Henri IV is on the throne. A different king means different favourites and Hettie’s family have to live on the memory and favours of others. However Hettie has attracted the attention of Henri which is enough to give her mother ideas. She’s not the only one though: King’s mistress Gabrielle d’Estrees also has plans for the teenage girl. Hettie is definitely embarking on an adventure but the twists it takes are unforeseen by anyone and dangerous to all. Full review...