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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Chaos Queen - Duskfall (The Chaos Queen Quintet) by Christopher B Husberg
Winter and Knot's wedding is a brave move and not just because Winter is a Tiellan. Knot was brought back to life after nearly drowning the year before, a fate that removed his memory. All he knows is that there are people chasing him and when Knot's angry… you just don't want Knot to get angry. Meanwhile Cinzia is a devout priestess with a problem: her beloved sister is leading a religious revolt. Neither woman will come out of this the same. Cinzia will need to think about her life afresh while Winter… Let's just say big changes lie ahead. Full review...
The Secrets of Time and Fate by Rebecca Alexander
Having killed Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the revenant from the 16th century, 21st century Jackdaw Hammond did something she's regretting. By depriving it of its host, the spirit Saraquel has moved from the Countess to Jack. Can she get some help to banish it before someone else does it a little more terminally both for Jack and Saraquel? Meanwhile back in the 16th century of Edward Kelley and Sir John Dee, Elizabeth Bathory still lives and Saraquel proves he can wreak havoc across time. Full review...
Cleopatra's Shadows by Emily Holleman
Egypt. 58 BC. Arsinoe has been abandoned by her father, Ptolemy XII, who has fled Alexandria and taken her beloved sister Cleopatra with him. It is now Arsinoe's half-sister Berenice who has seized the throne, leaving the young princess to fight for survival in the bloodthirsty and treacherous royal court. Berenice too has her own demons to face – having taken the throne from her weak-willed father she now has to prove herself worthy of being queen, as the possibility of her father and Cleopatra's return forever threaten to crush her new found power. Full review...
The Last Pearl by Leah Fleming
I always think, without the grit there would be no pearl. Sorrows have a way of strengthening the heart, never forget that, child.
Greta Costello lives in in poverty with her mother and siblings and must work as a skivvy to put bread on the table. She manages to find some joy in her work though, especially in her 'Sabbath' job working for a kindly old widowed Jew. The two become friends and he offers to take her on as his apprentice, stringing pearls. Could this highly-skilled job be her key to a better life? At the same time, many miles away in Scotland, Jem Baillie and his father can't contain their delight when they discover a magnificent, flawless freshwater pearl at the end of a long day of fishing. They call the pearl 'Queenie' and from that pivotal moment, the fates of Greta, Jem and Queenie will be inextricably linked. Full review...
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
I confess to a bias… when I came across a reference to Sarah Perry's latest novel; I wanted to read it for two reasons only. She is a local writer, and the book is set in a place not too far away, but that I have yet to explore and which fascinates me: the Blackwater estuary in Essex. That's a place of the kind of wide open skies and mud creeks that you will find up much of the Norfolk and Suffolk coast as well, and a landscape type that probably only appeals to a certain type of person. Full review...
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Ada has a club foot, and she has spent all of her life hidden away in her mother's flat in London, used and abused by her mother who is ashamed of Ada, and angry with her. Told that she is worthless, a monster, Ada is left to crawl around the flat on her hands and knees. She tries, secretly, to use her foot to walk and it leaves her bleeding and in agony, but when Ada's little brother, Jamie, tells Ada that he is to be sent away, evacuated by the school because of the war Ada knows she must find a way to leave with him, and to escape her mother at all costs. The two children manage to escape to the country, yet find themselves left unchosen on arrival in the new village. They are foisted upon a single lady, Susan, who declares she does not want any evacuees, and that she is not a nice person. Has Ada gone from one nightmare situation straight into another? Full review...
Baturi by Matthew Stephen
It's Nigeria and it's the 80s. Matthew is a VSO, on a placement at a college teaching electronics. Or trying to at any rate. When language skills are limited and resources are scarce, you have to make the most of what you've got, even if that means teaching the odd class on American culture rather than rewiring. If I tell you that the Prime Directive applies a lot when you're a VSO, you'll appreciate the difficulties Matthew has when his students want to stray further into the modern world and learn about how things work in Britain, concepts of inventions such as ATMs that are decades off reaching Nigeria (Those days may still be some way off. I actually had a hand written bank card a few years ago while a VSO in a country not too far away). Full review...
Great Britain Concise Catalogue 2016 by Hugh Jefferies
It's difficult to believe that it's the 30th anniversary of the first publication of Great Britain Concise, but this is the thirty-first edition, with just under 500 pages and over three and a half thousand illustrations. It feels almost painful to look back to the days when the choice was between the Collect British Stamps series which never pretended (or pretends) to be more than a checklist (but got many people off to a sound start - myself included) and the specialised series, which is beyond the purse of many amateur collectors. Great Britain Concise sits comfortably between the two extremes with an affordable cover price. Full review...
24 Hours at the Somme by Robert Kershaw
They came past one by one...walking lumps of clay, with torn clothing, hollow cheeks and sunken eyes...There was a dreadful weariness, but a wildness burning in their fevered eyes, showing what this appalling hand to hand fighting had cost them. Utterly unforgivable for me...
So goes the description of the men, the ghosts, at the end of the first day of the Somme. July 1 2016 will mark 100 years since this most bloody of battles took place. It was supposed to be the optimistic 'Big Push' that would end the Great War, but by sunset of the first day the British casualties numbered 57,470. The battle would rage until November that year, with the total number of casualties on all sides exceeding one million. Full review...
Angry Birds Playground: Atlas (Angry Birds Playgrounds) by National Geographic Kids
Angry Birds Playground is a new educational book series based on a geographical theme. Rovio-the team responsible for the popular game- have teamed up with National Geographic Kids to create a stunning set of books that perfectly blend the cheeky humour from the game with informative text and breathtaking real-world photography. The series will appeal to young fans of the game and anyone who has an interest in the wonders of the natural world. Full review...
The Good Guy by Susan Beale
September 1964: an Indian summer in suburban Massachusetts. Ted McDougall is a twenty-three-year-old Goodyear tyre salesman who lives with his wife Abigail and ten-month-old daughter Mindy in the up-and-coming Elm Grove community. Both Ted and Abigail feel unappreciated in their roles. Ted knows his in-laws wanted him to become a lawyer and join Abigail's father's firm, but he's a good salesman and wishes they wouldn't look down on him for it. Meanwhile Abigail, an American history buff, can't master the domestic arts of cooking and cleaning, much as she tries, and longs to go back to school. Full review...
Mr Darley's Arabian: High Life, Low Life, Sporting Life: A History of Racing in 25 Horses by Christopher McGrath
All thoroughbred racehorses are descended from one of just three stallions which came to England about three hundred years ago; The Byerley Turk, The Darley Arabian and The Godolphin Arabian. The last century or so has seen a decline in the lines from the first and last of these stallions, to the extent that some 95% of all thoroughbreds worldwide - not just in England - are descended from The Darley Arabian, which was originally bought in Aleppo from Bedouin tribesmen and shipped to Yorkshire in 1704, by Thomas Darley, who died, in difficult financial circumstances before he could follow his horse home. Full review...
The Museum of You by Carys Bray
It is summer, school is out, the days are long, the bumblebees are big and blousy and the allotment where Clover helps her dad with the vegetables needs weeding and watering. She likes the allotment; it helps her think. This summer, Clover is going to unravel the mystery of her mother, Becky Brookfield and work out what makes her father so sad. All the time. It's hard to be a kid with a dead mother, but Clover thinks it's even harder to be dad with a dead wife. Full review...
The Girls by Emma Cline
California. Summer 1969. Fourteen year old Evie Boyd is a thoughtful yet bored teenager from a broken home. The attention she craves is nowhere to be found in the form of her neglectful, serial dating mother, or even in the friendship of her fickle best friend Connie. Abandoned by those around her, Evie's path collides with Suzanne – a mysterious older girl who introduces Evie to a strange yet thrilling new life, offering her the intimate relationship her life back home lacks. Full review...
Versailles by Elizabeth Massie
1667 – The civil wars are over. King Louis XIV crushed the nobility's rebellion against his father, leaving the throne his. But the aristocracy hounds his every step – and realises that if they will not be loyal, they will at least obey. So the King plants a trap to ensnare them – building Versailles, a prison of opulence where his power is absolute. Trapped by the palace, they have no choice but to play the King's game and to obey his rule. And so the court becomes a place of tactical liaisons and salacious passions. The Queen fights to keep the King's attention from his mistress, and the King's brother struggles to keep his relationship alive. Versailes is not the paradise it appears to be; instead, it is a labyrinth of treason and hushed secrets, of political schemes and deadly conspiracies. It is a place of passion and death, love and vengeance. The King will take what is rightfully his. Full review...
A Grave Concern: The Twenty Second Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew by Susanna Gregory
Chancellor Tynkell was kindly, but ineffectual and everyone was stunned by his murder, not least because it happened very publicly - on top of the church tower, in a high wind with a lot of people watching. Then the murderer disappeared. Some people saw a black cloak being blown along to the marshes outside Cambridge and swore that it was the devil's work, but physician Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael knew better and were determined to prove it. These are not Bartholomew's only problems though: a 'barber surgeon' (free shave or haircut with every treatment) recently arrived from Nottingham is causing problems rather than curing illnesses. His sister is struggling to get her husband's tomb built by the mason she commissioned to do the work: like builders everywhere throughout the ages he keeps moving from job to job and never finishing any. Then Brother Michael is offered a Bishopric - in Rochester. Full review...
Dream Cities: Seven Urban Ideas That Shape the World by Wade Graham
Between 1950 and 2014 the world's urban population increased from 746 million to 3.9 billion. The urbanising trend is set to continue with the United Nations predicting that by the middle of the century 66% of us will be city dwellers, a massive six billion people. How have city planners and architects tried to cope with the recent surge? How can they avoid repeating mistakes from the past? Both of those questions are considered in Dream Cities – Seven Urban Ideas That Shape The World, Wade Graham's excellent field guide to the modern world. Full review...
There's a Bison Bouncing on the Bed by Paul Bright and Chris Chatterton
Becoming a parent gives you many new insights into life; the pleasure in seeing a child smile or the amazement as they start to utter words. However, the one thing that you really begin to understand is – how much stuff costs. Clothes, food, transport, toys, even furniture. It all costs money and you now have a tiny wrecking ball running around the house seemingly doing their best to destroy them all. It may seem like harmless fun to jump on the bed, but who pays for it when it breaks? The bison? I don't think so. Full review...
Britain's Secret Wars by T J Coles
Britain's Secret Wars is a chilling and disturbing book to read. With all four corners of the globe hell-bent on conflict, oppression and injustice, our sanitised media portrays Britain, as a nation, responding to harrowing global events. What is chilling, in T J Coles book, is that the political establishment, through the military and intelligence community appear to be complicit in instigating many of them. What is disturbing is that the majority of information he has used to form his analysis and conclusion is freely available and in the public domain. Full review...
How to Find your (First) Husband by Rosie Blake
Isobel Graves hasn't got the life she envisioned. She moved to LA to become a star-soaked television presenter, instead she's dressing up everyday in a series of wacky promotional costumes on the streets. She thought she'd be married to a gentleman, instead she's fallen into a lacklustre relationship with a pilot, whose booty calls do not send her sky high. So when Isobel sees a man from her past on TV, someone she was once married to on the playground at school, she wonders what her life would be like if they were married now. With everything to gain and nothing to lose, Isobel attempts to find her first husband and take back control of her life. Full review...
Father's Day by Simon Van Booy
When devastating news shatters the life of six year old Harvey, she finds herself in the care of a veteran social worker, Wanda, and alone in the world save for one relative she has never met - a disabled ex-con, haunted by a violent past he can't escape. Moving between past and present, Father's Day weaves together the story of Harvey's childhood on Long Island, and her life as a young woman in Paris. Full review...
The Kew Gardens Children's Cookbook: Plant, Cook, Eat by Joe Archer and Caroline Craig
I grew up in the immediate post war period. Growing your own vegetables had been a necessity in the war and it was still a habit for those who had a bit of garden, so The Kew Gardens Children's Cookbook was a real pleasure for me, as well as a touch of nostalgia. The principle is very simple: show children how to grow their own vegetables and then how to transform them into delicious food. It sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, it might come as a surprise, but it is! Full review...
A Journey Through Nature by John Haslam and Steve Parker
Beautifully presented, this is a book that takes a worldwide look at the natural world, in both urban and rural locations. We start off in the city, looking at pigeons, the American racoon, the Australian possum and the South American Marmoset. I learnt 3 things from those first two pages, including what Kits are, how long babies live with the possum mothers and the pregnancy traits of the monkeys. We were off to a good start. Full review...
The One We Fell In Love With by Paige Toon
I'm not sure whether it would be flattering or stressful to have 3 beautiful women lusting after you. In the case of Angus, it's itchy footed Phoebe who'd rather be flitting around the French Alps than stagnating in suburban Sale, boho musician Eliza who's still waiting for her big break, and former nurse Rose who is leaving behind an unsuitable boyfriend and a life in the city to move back up north… and live with her mother. It's a complicated situation, made only more complex by the fact that the girls know each other. In the past they've shared a room, and a womb. Hello, triplets. Full review...
An Annoyance of Neighbours: Life is Never Dull When You Have Neighbours! by Angela Lightburn
You can choose your friends. You can't choose your relatives, but you can - usually - put some physical distance between you and them, but you can't choose your neighbours and once you're there it can be very expensive or even impossible to break the link. Now, I can't give you any advice on this thorny subject as it's more than thirty years since I've been in a position to have anything to complain about, but Angela Lightburn knows all there is to know. She's spent years collating all the different problems which people have with their neighbours and ways of improving the situation which don't involve a lengthy prison sentence. Full review...
The Leaving by Tara Altebrando
Eleven years after they disappeared in the traumatic event the local community knows as The Leaving, five sixteen-year-olds come home. Where have they been? Who took them? And where is Max, the sixth child? Why has he not come home too? And why can the five remember nothing about themselves or where they have been? Full review...
The Reformation in 100 Facts by Kathleen Chater
The Reformation was one of the major events, if not themes of European history, that has decisively shaped the modern world, and has inevitably provided material for many a detailed account in print. This handy little volume, one of a new series from Amberley, reduces a very complex subject to a series of short chapters which make an ideal introduction. Full review...