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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Human Race: 10 Centuries of Change on Earth by Ian Mortimer
We are an astonishing species. Over the past millennium of plagues and exploration, revolution and scientific discovery, women's rights and technological advances, human society has changed beyond recognition. Best known for his Time Traveller's Guide history books, Ian Mortimer here gives the reader a whistle-stop tour through ten centuries. Human Race contains the lunar leaps and lightbulb moments that, for better or worse, have sent humanity swerving down a path that no-one could have predicted. The question here is which of the last ten centuries saw the greatest change in human history? Full review...
The Book Collector by Alice Thompson
Meet Violet. Swept off her feet by a disarming encounter with a landed gentleman and bookshop owner at a coffee shop, she immediately falls in love with him, and is quickly married, and almost as quickly with child. When the boy is born, however, fairly understandable doubts creep in. Is her husband hiding anything behind his assuredness – especially when she wakes in the middle of the night alone? What ghost is left by the fact he lost his first wife and baby in childbirth? What should she understand from her own opinions about her new life, her new life's life, and the idea of a nanny looking after it? Just what is going on in her new country pile? Full review...
The Winter Isles by Antonia Senior
Scotland 1122: A son is born to a warlord on the Scottish Islands. The warlord GilleBride, is a man who doesn't realise his glory is receding. One day the realisation does hit him, along with a Viking raid. In the heat of invasion his son, although only 15, must take over. Can a lad actually lead a people? History will tell and legend will embellish for that boy is Somerled and this is his story. Full review...
Timeline by Peter Goes
Tick followed tock followed tick followed tock. Once, that is, we'd got over the Big Bang, which of course was silent. We flash forwards a few billion years to the creation of the earth, have a quick look at prehistory, then it's in with the world's happenings we can be sure of and date accurately. This book makes an attempt at conveying it all along one river of time – albeit with many tributaries – and with a strong visual style points us to all that is important about our past along the way. Flick through it backwards and you can recreate a different Guinness advert to the one I quoted – but it's probably worth a much longer look. Full review...
The Long Drawn Aisle by Simon Marshall
Edward and Richard Wilson are born into a comfortable and, indeed, powerful family. Their father is the MP Jack Wilson who is everything a Victorian father should be: severe, distant and occupied with his career. As the 20th century arrives and advances all three will feel the labour pains of conflict, the sons while living in Austria and the Balkans and their father through the lens of Britain's Parliament. It will be a bloody birth and its effects far reaching as two great empires prepare to fight, drawing in the rest of Europe. Full review...
Tom Gates 9: Top of the Class (Nearly) by Liz Pichon
Tom Gates has been told not to worry. Which is not a good thing. He's been told not to worry, but to try his best at the school test – so he does neither. His best friend has told him not to worry about having just left an incriminating portrait of one of his teachers in a library reference book, even though he has to worry about getting it back before anyone else sees it. Especially, that is, when the biggest bully in the year above is also turning his hand to graffiti and has the power to get other people in trouble… Full review...
Wars of the Roses: Bloodline: Book 3 (The Wars of the Roses) by Conn Iggulden
The Wars of the Roses continue. Margaret of Anjou becomes a catalyst for what lays ahead and then rescues her husband, the debilitated Henry VI, from the forces of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and the recently executed Richard of York. However York's last words weren't empty rhetoric: by killing the father Margaret has indeed unleashed the sons. Edward of March for one is out for revenge; a fact that throws the English throne and the safety of Queen's spymaster Derry Brewer into grave doubt. Full review...
White Boots by Noel Streatfeild
Many moons ago, when I was a young girl obsessed with Torvill and Dean and wishing we lived much closer to a skating rink, I discovered Noel Streatfeild's wonderful Shoe stories including this one, White Boots. It soon became one of my favourite re-reads, so it was interesting to come back to the story as a grown up and find that it is still funny and engaging, all these years later, and that it still has the enduring power to make me wish for my own pair of white skating boots too! Full review...
A Crown for Cold Silver: Book One of the Crimson Empire by Alex Marshall
Zosia seems just like any other old lady. Indeed that's the mistake that Sir Efrain Hjort made as he presents her with her husband's head, severed to encourage her compliance. As Zosia hears the screams coming from what used to be her village but now the site of Hjort's latest initiative Zosia makes a vow. She'll look up some of her old acquaintances; to be more precise, the five villains she used to lead. For Zosia isn't actually that ordinary. Zosia is the legendary Cobalt Queen – a little creakier now than when she faked her death of course, but one thing is certain: she will avenge her people. Full review...
The Glass Room (D I Vera Stanhope) by Ann Cleeves
Inspector Vera Stanhope isn't big on friends but the hippy neighbours are good to her in terms of home-brew beer and conversation and when one of them goes missing she feels obliged to investigate. She knows that she'd be furious if one of the team was playing at private investigator and it leaves her in the embarrassing position of being first on the scene after a murder has been discovered. One of the tutors has been brutally murdered at The Writers' House and the other residents have made an easy assumption about who wielded the knife, but Vera must act professionally even though she knows that's she's hardly impartial. Full review...
She Who Was No More by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac
Everyone knows that unsettling sensation you get when you've done something bad: that clutching, unpleasant, constant feeling that every odd look or leading question thrown your way means the other person has figured out precisely what you've done. In this dark and mind-bending novella, Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac capture perfectly the unease and gradual desperation felt by Ferdinand Ravinel, a travelling salesman who enacts a plot to murder his wife Mireille with the aid of his lover, Lucienne. The tension rackets up with every paragraph, and had me scrambling to the final page. Full review...
John le Carre: The Biography by Adam Sisman
Some twenty years ago David Cornwell, better known as novelist John le Carré, told a couple of would-be writers about him that he did not believe in 'authorised' biographies or critiques. Adam Sisman, who has since then been granted exclusive access to the man and his private archive, can therefore consider himself a lucky man. Full review...
1,234 QI Facts to Leave You Speechless by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin
No US President has ever died in May. There are fewer women on corporate boards in America than there are men named John. Dogs investigate bad smells with their right nostril and good smells with their left. Apollo 11's fuel consumption was seven inches to the gallon. The first occupational disease ever recorded in medical literature was 'chimney sweep's scrotum'. The song 'Yes, We Have No Bananas' was written by Leon Trotsky's nephew. In the 18th Century, King George I declared all pigeon droppings to be property of the Crown. I hardly think I need say any more. Review over. Full review...
Strictly Ballroom: Tales from the Dancefloor by Diana Melly
Crosswords and Sudoku will help but the best way to avoid dementia is to take up ballroom dancing.
Diana Melly heard these words at a conference organized by the Alzheimer's Society. It was a subject close to her heart, as she had recently lost her dear husband George to lung cancer and vascular dementia. The reason that ballroom dancing is so effective at warning off the ageing process is because it requires a form of coordination that effectively rewires the brain; activating the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. The lecture piqued Diana's interest and soon she was signing up for lessons at a local dance class. Little did she know that this would open up a whole new world to her; a world of sequins, heels, glitterballs and lifelong friends. Full review...
Doctor Who: The Colouring Book by Various Artists
In my youth colouring books were popular for children: they helped to teach some valuable skills. But teachers, 'experts', thought that they stifled creativity and once you'd mastered being able to stick within the lines they were whisked away as being 'childish' and you were restricted to artistic completion of maps in geography or illustrations of experiments in science. The fact that colouring could be relaxing and fun had been forgotten. Fortunately times have changed: adults are encouraged to relax with one of the hundreds of colouring books now available and I'm delighted to see a resurgence of the idea for not just the youngest children but for those who're a bit older too. Full review...
Ghettoside by Jill Leovy
There are enough LA rappers around to attest that living as a black man in South Central is no easy task. Dismiss these urban lyricists at your peril, as crude they may be, but Ghettoside will soon inform the disbeliever that life on the streets of LA is hard. With a 40 times higher chance of being murdered than a white person in America, what made the LA of the 80s through to the late 2000s such a dangerous place to live for young black men? Full review...
Digging Up Milton by Jennifer Wallace
Digging Up Milton appealed to me because from the description it sounded like something a little bit different. I like that it is dark but yet not entirely serious, and I always appreciate it when an author tries to write in a different way, or give a book an individual voice. Full review...
The Mistress of Paris by Catherine Hewitt
Born into poverty, no-one could have guessed that the girl who would one day be known as Valtesse de la Bigne would have achieved greatness. This is the tale of her rise to wealth and power – starting in a dress shop as a thirteen year old, but fast becoming a courtesan who would be fought over by some of the greatest men of her time. A woman who kept an air of mystery about many details of her life, Catherine Hewitt nevertheless paints an incredible story around the gaps, and this proves to be both a full and intriguing biography, and a fascinating portrait of the time period. Full review...
Sherlock: The Mind Palace: The Official Colouring Book by Mike Collins
Colouring books for adults are all the rage at the moment, but one of the problems with popularity is that the books do tend to become a bit, well, samey. Once you've coloured in one peacock's tail, it's not easy to get inspiration for another and there's a limit to the number of flowers, patterns and mystical beasts which you can attach to the fridge door. We've seen all sorts of variations, such as mindfulness, but what we really want is something fresh and with a bit of something extra to get the brain cells going. Welcome Sherlock: The Mind Palace. Full review...
Hidden by Emma Kavanagh
Hidden is written backwards. Chapters One and Two open with a shooting in a hospital and the rest of the book tracks back in time, following various characters as events lead to the day of the shooting. Every chapter is told from the point of view of a different character, including a first person account by the murderer (whose identity is concealed until the end). This structure would be rather confusing were it not for the fact that each chapter is very short, and conveniently starts with the date, time and character's name, making it all very easy to follow. Full review...
Walking on Sunshine: 52 Small Steps to Happiness by Rachel Kelly and Jonathan Pugh
How would you like 52 tips on how to be happier? No this isn't an offer to sign up to a dodgy website - it's a small book which you could pop into a bag and which will give you tips, tools and positive idea about how you can make your life happier, less complicated and more fulfilling. Open it at random, if that's what you feel like doing, or work your way through it reading one tip per week - they're helpfully divided into the four seasons - and savour just a couple of pages of elegant writing which will give you something to think about or something positive to do (or not do - if you see what I mean). Full review...
Finding Winnie: The Story of the Real Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh by Lindsay Mattick and Sophie Blackall
A little boy called Cole wanted a story. He particularly wanted a true story and it had to be about a bear. It was getting late, but Mummy said that she would do her best. Her story began about a hundred years before Cole was born and it was about a man called Harry Colebourn who lived in Winnipeg. He was a vet and was on his way to Europe to look after the horses of the soldiers fighting in the Great War when he met a trapper with a baby bear: his head might have said that there was nothing he could do, but his heart told him to get hold of the bear and he gave the trapper $20. Winnipeg, as he named the bear, went on the train with Captain Coulbourn and his troop, across the ocean and finally arrived in England. Full review...
Winner: My Racing Life by A P McCoy
In any walk of life there are people who are universally known by their first names alone. In flat racing, everyone knows who 'Frankie' is and in National Hunt you need say no more than 'A.P.' Legend is an over-used word but not when it comes to the achievements of Tony 'A.P.' McCoy. He's been champion jockey an unprecedented twenty times and his career record of 4,348 wins may never be beaten. In fact, it's tempting to say that it will never be beaten. He's won the Grand National, the Irish Grand National, two Cheltenham Gold Cups and won the Champion Hurdle three times. Unusually for a jockey he's also been BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He achieved all this by the age of forty one when he retired from racing. Full review...
The Wild Swans by Jackie Morris
The most well known version of the wild swans is probably the one penned by Hans Andersen. This extended retelling by Jackie Morris adds depth, emotional resonance and a number of new twists to the tale. As in most versions, Eliza and her brothers live a happy and privileged life until their father's remarriage brings jealousy, mistrust and trouble in its wake. The brothers are magically changed into wild swans and it is up to brave Eliza to rescue them. Full review...
The Art of Stephen Hickman by Stephen Hickman
Stephen Hickman has been a well known artist in the Fantasy and Science Fiction worlds for a number of years now, having created covers for authors such as Harlan Ellison, Robert Heinlein, Anne McCaffrey, and Larry Niven. His paintings are vibrant, kinetic, sometimes scary, often sensual, traditional, and yet modern. The Art of Stephen Hickman collects hundreds of these paintings, and the artist himself provides an intriguing commentary alongside which offers a fascinating glimpse into the artistic process. Full review...
The Hunt by Alastair Fothergill and Huw Cordey
My mother has long complained that nature programmes too often concentrate on the death and violence, or how it's all about the capture and killing of one animal by another. She's long had a point, but killer whales swanning by doing nothing, and lions sleeping off the heat without munching on a passing wildebeest's leg really don't cut it when it comes to providing popular TV content. I doubt she will be tuning in to the series this book accompanies, even if the volume very quickly testifies that it's not all about the capture – often the chase can be just as thrilling, and the result for the intended victim is favourable. Full review...
Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
It's 1956. And a very different world from the one you'd expect. Germany won World War II and the Nazi project is in full flow. Lebensraum is expanding. The extermination project has spread to Slavs. Defeated Britain is irrelevant and the United States is pursuing an isolationist policy, hoping Nazism never makes it to the Americas. The main Axis powers of Germany and Japan have pretty much divided territory between them. To commemorate a victorious war, the two powers host the annual Axis Tour, a continental motorcycle race. The previous year, it was won for the first time by a girl: Adele Wolfe disguised as her brother Felix. Full review...