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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Cat Burglar (The Scarlet Files) by Tamsin Cooke
Scarlet is thirteen. She goes to school, she does her homework and she's beginning to wonder about boys. So far, so normal. But Scarlet doesn't make friends. She and her dad move house pretty often, and she always wears dull clothes so she can fade into the background – unless you think a balaclava and night vision goggles can be classed as a fashion statement. And instead of surfing the web and downloading music, she spends her free time scrambling over roofs and picking locks. Scarlet is a trainee burglar. Full review...
Create Your Own Alien Adventure by Chris Judge and Andrew Judge
Choose Your Own Adventure books were massive during the 80s. They allowed the young reader to pick up a book and be the hero; your choices determined if you live or die. Invariably, it was a game of leaving your finger in the previous page to make sure you could skip back should the fate that befell you not be to your liking. Well, its 2016 and just choosing your adventure is no longer enough, we want to interact even more with the story, we want to create our own adventure. Full review...
Scales of Justice (DCI Roderick Alleyn) by Ngaio Marsh
Swevenings seems like one of those idyllic places to live. All that disrupts the tranquil lives of the inhabitants is the fierce competition to catch the Old Un, a large trout which lives under the bridge over the stream which meanders through the village. Then one day Nurse Kettle discovers the body of Colonel Carterette at edge of the stream and beside him is the Old Un. Carterette had been brutally murdered and he was not the fisherman who had landed the Old Un. He was, though, the man who was in charge of publishing the controversial memoirs of the local baronet. The investigation is beyond the capacity of the local constabulary, and Scotland Yard, in the person of Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn is called in. And his primary interest is the fish. Full review...
Behind Closed Doors by Elizabeth Haynes
In 2003 Scarlett Rainsford was on holiday in Rhodes with her parents and sister when she met a boy. Her father wasn't at all keen on the idea so Scarlett crept out at night to meet him and she might have given him the idea that she wanted to run away from home. On the last night of the holiday Scarlett was bundled into a van - and into a life of terror and prostitution. Ten years later she turned up in her hometown when a brothel was raided. Where had she been all these years, how had she got back to the UK and why did her parents not seem all that pleased to find that she was back? Full review...
Faceless by Alyssa Sheinmel
Maisie is a normal high school student. She's the star of the school running team, has a wonderful boyfriend, a great best friend and she's all set to go to a good college. But when an early morning run ends in tragedy, Maisie finds herself in hospital in the serious burns unit and without most of her face. When a donor appears, Maisie is given a miraculous face transplant. Her doctors, parents and her annoyingly beautiful and upbeat physical therapist all keep telling her how lucky she is... But Maisie doesn't feel lucky. Under this new face, with its heavy scarring, she has no idea who she is anymore. Full review...
What Pet Should I Get by Dr Seuss
What would you do, if you found in the shed,
A brand new book, from an author unfortunately dead?
Would you leave it alone as a work unfinished,
Or release it anyway and make a reputation blemished?
Full review...
Try Not To Breathe by Holly Seddon
In Try not to Breathe Holly Seddon offers an addition to the somewhat overflowing thriller shelves. Of course, the reason this particular segment is bursting at the seams is because thrillers, especially psychological ones, are just so compelling. And there have been some good - and hugely successful - books in this category out there of late (before-I-go-to-sleep-I'll-be-gone-with-a-girl-on-a-train). So how does Holly Seddon match up? Full review...
All The Birds In The Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
All of us have awakenings as teenagers, but Patricia's is more extreme than most – discovering that she is a witch who can speak to animals. Classmate Laurence's awakening is less disturbing but no less impressive – a scientific genius, he creates a two-second time machine. Growing up together, the mutual weirdness between the two bonds them, but life gets in the way, and they end up on very different paths. Meeting as adults in San Francisco, Laurence is an engineering genius trying to save the world, whereas Patricia is a qualified witch, working hard to prove herself and cure those on the planet. As the two are drawn back together, and the fate of the whole world threatened, Patricia and Laurence are forced to consider the fact that maybe they know each other better than anyone… Full review...
The Last of the Bowmans by J Paul Henderson
When Greg Bowman's eighty-three year old father Lyle dies he leaves some unfinished business. It's up to Greg – black sheep of the Bowmans – to start learning the meaning of the word responsibility and sort his errant family out, preferably without them noticing what he's up to and assisted only by the gentle nudging of his father's ghost. Can he do it before he returns to his altogether more carefree life in America, and without causing any further trouble? As Greg begins to sort out his father's house and affairs, he untangles some complicated webs of deception and unearths a few family secrets, including some of his own. Full review...
How not to Disappear by Clare Furniss
Hattie is having rather a miserable summer. Both her best friends, Reuben and Nat, are away, living it up in the south of France and Edinburgh respectively. Hattie, meanwhile, is stuck at home babysitting her younger siblings and working at a burger joint. It's hardly glamorous and it's very dispiriting to be the one waiting at home for the odd text or email from friends who are having the times of their lives. Ho hum. Full review...
Badger and the Great Rescue by Suzanne Chiew and Caroline Pedler
Upcycling is a great idea, take some old rubbish and make yourself a washing line or new tent. Badger and friends have found some odd bits and bobs around the forest and they all have great ideas on how to use them, but where did all this stuff come from? Sometimes it is best to find out the origins of an item before you repurpose it for yourself, you never know who may need it! Full review...
Queen of the Silver Arrow by Caroline Lawrence
King Metabus had not been a good king and his escape from his kingdom was hurried and pursued. When he reached the river he had to make a decision and he thought first of the safety of the baby daughter he carried in his arms and tied her to his javelin, which he threw across the torrent, pledging as he did so that he would serve the Goddess Diana. Camilla should have grown up as a Princess but instead she lived in a cave with her father and ran wild in the forest. In nearby Laurentum, Acca had grown up hearing the story of how Camilla giggled as she swung on the javelin embedded in the ground and dreamed of meeting her, but this didn't happen until after the death of Camilla's father, when the girls became firm friends. Full review...
How English Became English: A short history of a global language by Simon Horobin
Angle se yon lang konfizyon. Mwen konnen, paske mwen li liv sa a tout sou li. Now, I know a lot of you understood that, and it's thanks to a certain search engine's 'translate' facility that it exists here in the first place, but hardly any of you would recognise it as Haitian Creole. But pretty much all of the words in the two sentences have come into English through one way or another, through an invasion either literal or lingual. Angle – the Anglo-Saxons were the first speakers of what we now call Old English, which is pretty much impenetrable – certainly harder to read than Creole. The konfizyon in the language are equally easy to decipher, and the second half is pretty close to the French with what seems a German verb in it. If you do use regular English, that's what you're doing – using French with some German, and Latin, and Indian, and the rest, even if that's only as far as vocabulary goes; our grammar is too Germanic to be called anything but. It's at this stage one reels out the old gag about English being the 'lingua franca' and thus proves that however global English is, it doesn't really stand as its own entity if you give it the slightest scrutiny. Full review...
The Man Who Drew Triangles: Magician, mystic or out of his mind? by Haraldur Erlendsson and Keith Hagenbach
'Magician, mystic, or out of his mind?' Consider the following: 27-year-old Olaf, disembarks a flight from his homeland, Iceland, seats himself on a broken terminal at Heathrow airport, and begins to meditate, to reach his guides. Attracting the attention of Irish airport security, he is eventually sectioned and escorted to a psychiatric unit. Full review...
A Dark Trade by Mary Hooper
Georgina Friday, known to everyone as Gina, grew up in an orphanage and when she was sixteen went to be a servant is a big house in central London. There were seven members of the family and twelve servants - and Gina was the one at the bottom who had to run about after everyone and who was the butt of practical jokes. She could cope with that, but what she couldn't cope with was the attentions of one of the young men of the family. She'd already heard the stories of what had happened to another young maid who'd caught his eye - thrown out on the streets to fend for herself and her baby - and could see no way of escape from him other than to run away. Full review...
Truthwitch (The Witchlands Series) by Susan Dennard
Highway robbery is one of their talents so Safiya and Iseult don't envisage any problems. That is until they realise one of the soldiers defending the booty is a bloodwitch. It's an even bigger problem because truthwitches like Safiya are in demand…dangerously so! Meanwhile as the kingdom of Nubrevna reaches the end of a 20 year truce, Prince Merik desperately tries for a permanent peace. But there are those who would rather fight, including his own sister. Full review...
The Words In My Hand by Guinevere Glasfurd
17th century life circumstances dictate that Helena Jans has to go into service and is employed by Mr Sergeant, an English bookseller living in Amsterdam. There's much excitement when Mr Sergeant welcomes his new lodger, philosopher and scientist, Rene Descartes. However the thrill becomes somewhat muted when Helena's employer realises what the stay entails. Helena on the other hand, is totally enthralled by their guest: an enthrallment that will totally change her life. Full review...
More of Me by Kathryn Evans
At school, sixteen year old Teva Webb seems normal. But at home Teva's life is about as far from normal as it's possible to get. Locked away in what everyone outside thinks is a haunted house are eleven other Tevas, all different ages. Why? Because every year Teva separates in two with the new Teva going out in the world while the previous Teva is kept inside, trapped as her younger self. Full review...
All Dressed in White by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke
Following the success of The Cinderella Murder case, people are lining up to be featured on Laurie Moran's successful TV show: Under Suspicion. Each episode revives a 'cold case' by returning to the scene of the crime, interviewing the friends and family of the victim and reviewing new evidence. The show has had 100% success record so far, which has resulted in an influx of potential new cases to feature. However, when a desperate mother begs Laurie to investigate the disappearance of her daughter on her wedding day, Laurie knows that her story will make great TV; especially as the scene of the 'crime' is a luxurious hotel in Florida... Full review...
The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science by Andrea Wulf
Alexander von Humboldt was born in Berlin in 1769, the younger brother of Wilhelm von Humboldt who would become a Prussian minister but who is perhaps better remembered as a philosopher and linguist. The family was well-to-do and both brothers benefitted from an excellent education, although they lacked affection from their emotionally-distant widowed mother, but it was a legacy from her which would fund Alexander's first explorations. His first travels would be in Europe where he met and was influenced by people such as Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, who had travelled with Thomas Cook. But it was his travels in Latin America which would lay the foundations for his life's work. Full review...
Little People, Big Dreams: Frida Kahlo by Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Eng Gee Fan
Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico. When she was a young schoolgirl she contracted polio and was left with a leg which was skinny as a rake, but she bore the problem stoically and in some ways delighted in being different. Then one day Frida was in a bus which crashed into a car. She was badly injured and even when she was over the worst she still had to rest in bed and filled the time by drawing pictures, including a self portrait. Eventually she showed her pictures to a famous artist - Diego Rivera - who liked the pictures, and Frida. They married and Rivera encouraged Frida's painting. She exhibited, eventually in New York, to great acclaim. Full review...
Travelers Rest by Keith Lee Morris
I was a little bit sceptical of Travelers Rest at first. A novel set in an old hotel, buried in snow, where strange things start happening? A young boy whose parents start acting strangely, perhaps foreshadowing tragedy? Now that sounds familiar. But I managed to push away those thoughts, and I’m glad I did. The story may be well-known, but the execution is all new. Full review...
Little People, Big Dreams: Coco Chanel by Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Ana Albero
Gabrielle Chanel lived in an orphanage in a French town and after the death of her mother she went to a strict convent school. The fact that she was different didn't make her life easy, but there were early indications that she was going to be a seamstress. After she left school she sewed by day and sang by night and it was as she sang that she gained her nickname - Coco - which came from the soldiers in the audience. But her dream was designing clothes and the first step was designing and making hats: this led to her opening a hat shop. One evening, at a party she realised that a lot of the women weren't dancing: their corsets were so tight that they could hardly breathe and it was this that prompted Coco to create a new style. Her clothes were simple, straight and comfortable to wear. Full review...
World War Two: Against the Rising Sun (Campfire Graphic Novels) by Jason Quinn and Naresh Kumar
World War Two – so often a lesson subject for our primary school children, even after all this time. Nazis, Soviets, Pearl Harbor – but wait. That last wasn't just the clarion call to the Americans to join in with the rest of our Allies – it was a mere episode in a fuller story – the half of the war that was never seen by those in Europe, beyond the fact the British Empire was certainly changed forever. The War in the Pacific is something I was certainly never taught much about in school, at any age. And here's a graphic novel version of the tale from a publisher in India that can serve at last as a salutary lesson. Full review...
World War Two: Under the Shadow of the Swastika (Campfire Graphic Novels) by Lewis Helfand and Lalit Kumar Sharma
One of the most common subjects at primary school, getting on for three generations since it happened, is of course World War Two. It has the impact that sixty million dead people deserve – but only if it's taught correctly. One of the ways to present it is this book, which comes from a slightly surprising place – an Indian publisher completely new to me – but succeeds in being remarkably competent, complete and really quite readable. Full review...
Where I'm Reading From: The Changing World of Books by Tim Parks
Books, eh? – who here doesn't just love them? (And if you don't, please exercise greater mouse control as you click away.) Some of us love books about books – and that includes a lot of us here at the Bookbag. And who better to turn to regarding books than Mr Tim Parks, who writes them, writes about them, educates about them, translates them, teaches the translation thereof, blogs professionally about them… He tells us he has a split personality in that different worldly territories know him for different things, whether that be essays, travel writing, seriously serio-comic fiction, or just for being 'that bloke who never exactly set the world on fire but does do a definitely reliable turn every time I've tried him'. This, being the pick of four years' web posts for the New York Review of Books, is his clearest statement in book form about books, and yes, it is yet again a pretty reliable turn. Full review...