Book Reviews From The Bookbag

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.

There are currently 16,119 reviews at TheBookbag.

Want to find out more about us?

Reviews of the Best New Books

Read new reviews by genre.

Read the latest features.

Tell me a Picture - Adventures in Looking at Art by Quentin Blake

Children's Non-Fiction

When did you last read a children's book that absolutely flummoxed you in the way it showed or told you something you didn't know? (And please be an adult when you answer that, or else it won't be quite so impressive.) Back in 2001, Quentin Blake wasn't a Knight yet – he hadn't even got his CBE – but he did get allowed to put on his own show at the National Gallery, with other people's pictures that contain oddities, stories, unexpected detail – sparks on canvas and paper that would inspire anyone looking, of whatever age, to piece things together, work things out, form a narrative. The pictures came with no major labelling, no context – just what they held, and some typically scratched Blake characters discussing the images as a lead-in. They were simply hung in alphabetical order, and probably could not have been more different. This then is a picture book of the most literal kind, with 26 stories. Full review...

My Village: Rhymes from Around the World by Danielle Wright (editor) and Mique Moriuchi (illustrator)

Children's Rhymes and Verse

I'm thinking that of all the kinds of books that have ability to surprise, high up on the list are poetry books. You can generally see the style, idea or genre of a novel from the cover, and beyond a few shocks and twists nothing changes. But take poetry on board, and there are surprises on each page – the concentrated form of the literature surely gives the author more chance to bedazzle, to pull the rug over the readers' eyes and to generally give something the audience didn't expect. And so it is with this book, for while Michael Rosen's introduction spoke to us of nursery rhymes, I had already flicked through and still was not expecting a spread of them. Even when he itemised the various kinds I didn't foresee finding them all on the pages, although that is what I got. Who would have thought that such a small, succinct and varied little volume would have that much capacity to surprise? Full review...

The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of Making by David Esterly

Autobiography

Bouncing between his studio in upstate New York and the sites of various English sojourns, woodcarver David Esterly's seems to be an idyllic existence. Yet it's not all cosy cottages in the snow and watching geese and coyotes when he looks up from his workbench. There is an element of hard-won retreat from the trials of life in this memoir, but at the same time there is an argument for the essential difficulty of the artist's life. 'Carvers are starvers,' a wizened English carver once told him. Certainly there is no great fortune to be won from a profession as obscure as limewood carving, but the rewards outweigh the hard graft for Esterly. Full review...

What Makes This Book So Great: Re-Reading The Classics Of Science Fiction And Fantasy by Jo Walton

Anthologies

Jo Walton has published over ten books, several of which have been award winning. On top of that, she has a voracious appetite for books - both as a well respected writer of original fiction, but as a well respected reviewer too. Not only does she have time to do all that, but she also writes a regular column for Tor.com, on Science Fiction and Fantasy books, and it is these columns that a selection of which are collected here. Full review...

Kill Fee by Owen Laukkanen

Crime

The internet has had one of the most profound effects on humanity since the invention of the printing press. A world full of knowledge is at your fingertips and you can access anything from your home. Want to order food? Easy! How about learning how to make a fake ID? It’s all on the net if you know where to look! Want someone killed by a professional for a reasonable fee? This may be depressingly easier than you think. Full review...

A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble by Edzard Ernst

Autobiography

Professor Edzard Ernst was born in Germany not long after the end of World War II and grew up with guilt about what had happened in the years before he was born as well as an insatiable curiosity - with the two not being entirely entirely unconnected. He also developed an attitude of speaking his mind - as an early challenge to his step-father about the death of six million Jews in the course of the war proved. In his teens he wasn't determined to become a doctor - he had a hankering to be a musician - despite the fact that it was the family business, so to speak, but came round to the idea and practiced in various countries before settling in Exeter as Professor of Complementary Medicine at the university. Full review...

The Swimmer by Joakim Zander

Thrillers

'On a remote Swedish island, a little girl, Klara, grows up without a father. Now, twenty years later, she discovers a secret: a secret that powerful men will kill to keep hidden.'

The Swimmer begins in 1980, with a bombing in Damascus, and a tragedy that can be felt across decades. Full review...

Darkmouth by Shane Hegarty

Confident Readers

It's not much fun having a Destiny, and a line of ancestors leading back into the mists of history to live up to. It's a lot less fun when you're a bit of a loser, and the Darkmouth villagers you're supposed to protect are so fed up with your mistakes they phone the local bobby to complain every time you go out hunting. Just because you squashed someone's car a teeny bit, and sliced a boat in two – I mean, you've got to learn, right? Full review...

Darkmouth by Shane Hegarty

Confident Readers

It's not much fun having a Destiny, and a line of ancestors leading back into the mists of history to live up to. It's a lot less fun when you're a bit of a loser, and the Darkmouth villagers you're supposed to protect are so fed up with your mistakes they phone the local bobby to complain every time you go out hunting. Just because you squashed someone's car a teeny bit, and sliced a boat in two – I mean, you've got to learn, right? Full review...

Wallflowers by Eliza Robertson

Short Stories

Eliza Robertson won the Man Booker Scholarship and Curtis Brown Prize while completing her MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. Wallflowers is already a bestseller in Robertson's native Canada. There is quite some variety across the seventeen stories. Broadly speaking, though, there are a few themes: moving on from loss, finding love in the midst of gentle madness, and interactions with the natural world, often on the edge of Canada's British Columbia wilderness. Full review...

The Really Abominable Snowman by Valentina Mendicino

For Sharing

The Really Abominable Snowman, it turns out, is just a little yeti called Milo. He’s not even abominable, never mind really abominable! But that isn't what everybody else thinks, they're all terrified of him, even though all he wants is a friend to share his favourite cupcakes with… Full review...

Did We Meet on Grub Street? by Emma Tennant, Hilary Bailey and David Elliott

Entertainment

Essentially, the three authors (all of whom have long careers in the book industry) revel in the idea of being whining old curmudgeons who miss the good old days of publishing. This unashamed nostalgia provides the focus of the book and allows the writers to recount numerous anecdotes from their days in the publishing business. Whilst the primary audience for this book may well be students of creative writing and media studies, it also serves as an interesting exploration of an aspect of modern history: how a once-burgeoning industry is now a shell of its former self, much like a lot of manufacturing. Because of this, I was disappointed that no space was given to a consideration of how the rise of the e-book and Kindle has directly damaged both the sale of books and the potential for new books to be written (fewer real books sold = fewer financial advances paid to writers = fewer books written). Also, given the clear love of books as treasured artifacts, the dismissal of the Harry Potter phenomenon seems truculent, given the impetus the series gave to reading amongst both the young and adults. Full review...

Juvie by Steve Watkins

Teens

With the title Juvie it’s clear what this book is going to be about, even before you've seen the orange jumpsuited figure on the cover. Sadie and Carla are sisters who are not much alike, but they look out for each other. So when Carla is at a party and finds herself at a situation, Sadie helps her out, against her better judgement. The two girls end up at the wrong place at the wrong time, and before they know it they're in court trying to clear their names. Carla has a history and so her sentence will be stiffer. It will put her away for some time, away from her young daughter in a way that no one wants. There is a way out, though. Sadie is, if not a good girl, then definitely the better sister. If she takes the blame, she'll likely get off with a caution for a first offence, no harm done. She'll be fine, and so will Carla and baby Lulu. It's not ideal, but she can take one for the team. Except things don't go to plan, and Sadie gets sent to, you've guessed it, juvenile detention for her supposed role in the crime. Full review...

Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face and the Evilness of Pizza by John Dougherty and David Tazzyman (illustrator)

Confident Readers

There are a few important things to know about the Island Kingdom of Great Kerfuffle. One is that it is pestered by a criminal gang of badgers, who find it impossible to just sit around in prison, but always have to escape and cause danger and nastiness to other people, even if they are on the whole incredibly stupid. You also need to know, however, that brother and sister Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face are great at solving the problems the badgers cause, and getting through the adventures in a very self-knowing way, even discussing the lengths of the chapters and the style of story as they go about their business. Here the problem is revealed quite late on, so in an effort not to spoil the plot I'll just point out that in a book this stupidly, deliriously daft you hardly need bother about the plot in the first place, and can just relax and have the sheer joy of entertainment for an hour or so. Full review...

Oscar & Lucy by Alan Kennedy

Biography

With the film about Alan Turing, The Imitation Game getting rave reviews and award nominations right, left and centre, the sterling work done by the Bletchley Park cryptographers during WWII is quite high in our minds. But Enigma wasn't the only code broken and Turing wasn't the only one doing secret but heroic work. Full review...

Honeydew by Edith Pearlman

Short Stories

American short story writer Edith Pearlman brings us a compilation of stories that have only been seen separately in magazines over the years. This follows on from the huge success of Binocular Vision (in 2013), the short story collection that led to Ms Pearlman being presented with the National Critics' Circle Award. Full review...

The New Enemy: Liam Scott Book 3 by Andy McNab

Teens

Liam Scott has joined Recce Platoon. The recruitment process was more gruelling than Liam had even imagined. But if you're going to be an in-theatre intelligence gatherer for the British Army, then you need to be ready for anything. And despite his training, Liam is new to this game. He still has a lot to learn and he's going to have to do it the hard way - in Kenya, where the border with Somalia is subject to incursions from the al-Shabaab militant group. Full review...

Quarry's Choice by Max Allan Collins

Crime

If you are fed up with reading books about a hit man with a heart, why not try one of the Quarry series? This is a man who is hired to kill and does not think too much about it; it's just a job. Usually Quarry arrives in a town, makes a hit and gets out immediately, but there is something about the world of the Dixie Mafia that is making him stay a little longer. Is it the blackmail, the attractive young women, or the sense of revenge? Full review...

The Boleyn Deceit (Anne Boleyn Trilogy Book 2) by Laura Andersen

Historical Fiction

Even after her death, George Boleyn continues to fashion his sister Anne's son into a king in George's image. However, now 18, matters of state aren’t the only concerns of Henry IX. He has to decide between the French Princess Elizabeth and commoner, childhood friend Minuette although Minuette is secretly betrothed to Henry's advisor Dominic. Minuette also has another quest: to find out who killed her friend Alyce but sleuthing is becoming more dangerous. Meanwhile Henry's Catholic sister Mary and very intelligent sister Elizabeth are not going to be happy remaining merely decorative for long. Full review...

Tigerman by Nick Harkaway

General Fiction

Battle-weary and suffering from PTSD, 40-year-old Sergeant Lester Ferris is posted to the island of Mancreu to mark time till his retirement. With no family of his own, Lester takes a local lad under his wing; an adolescent who lives his own life through comic books and superheroes in the hope that he can be adopted. Despite Mancreu beginning to churn with more than its customary black marketeering, Lester realises that he has a job on his hands, not only to take care of an island that sees him as a government puppet but also convince someone that he is the stuff of heroism and to convince himself while he's at it. Full review...

The Girl in the Photograph by Kate Riordan

Historical Fiction

Alice Eveleigh is sent to Fiercombe Manor in 1933 as the result of a scandal. Back in the 1890s the Manor had been home to Elizabeth and Charles Stanton and their little girl Isabel but it doesn't feel like a house that's seen much happiness. The stones are drenched in tragedy and secrets that have remained locked away since then. What sort of secrets? Will Alice be too nosey for her own good or will the secrets remain just that, with the added threat of history repeating itself? Full review...

The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved My Life by Andy Miller

Biography

Andy Miller and his wife both worked and they had a three-year-old son. Despite the fact that Miller was an editor for a London publisher he felt that he'd 'lost' reading from his life. He seemed to acquire a lot of books, but making time for reading them was an entirely different matter. With the help of his wife he developed a 'list of betterment' - initially a limited number of great books which he determined to read but eventually it became fifty great books and two not so great, which he was going to master over the space of a year. He was re-integrating books into everyday life. Full review...

Charlie Cook's Favourite Book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

For Sharing

As a parent, you’re always in search of it. That one, elusive thing; the perfect bedtime story. Well, in Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book, I think we quite possibly have it. This ten year anniversary edition of the book will hopefully bring it to slightly wider attention than some of Donaldson’s more well known titles, as it is a completely charming and timeless book. Full review...

Lives in Writing by David Lodge

Entertainment

David Lodge Lives in Writing. So blares the cover of my edition, and it's not far wrong. When he's not entertaining us with his writing career (now in its third, more erudite and to me more serious stage, after the first third of comic light touches, before he found his metier – and fame with TV adaptations– with comedies about the social and sexual lives of academe) he's teaching about and around writing. When I was younger I also read around writing – literature books, in other words – and Lodge's were among those I turned to. So this book and its contents are a welcome step back down a very familiar road. Full review...

Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley

Business and Finance

Ann Handley has compiled a one stop resource for writers of any kind of marketing and promotional material. Assuming you have command of basic vocabulary and know how to write a simple sentence, Handley takes you through everything you could ever need to know for a huge variety of platforms, purposes and problems, in order to better represent your business on the internet. Full review...

Border Angels by Anthony J Quinn

Crime

Lena Novak knew all about border country. She was an illegal immigrant from Croatia and whilst she wasn't having to cope with landmines, bears and wolves, the Irish border had its own problems. She had worked in the farmhouse brothel for two months when she met Jack Fowler but her plan to escape left bare footprints in the snow and more than one dead body. The investigating officer was Inspector Celcius Daly and it wasn't long before he found himself in the unprofessional situation of working with a prostitute and a hitman. Full review...

Far As the Eye Can See by Robert Bausch

Historical Fiction

It was a bit slow was probably my Mam's worst condemnation of film… but I'm going to forgive her for not appreciating slowness, because it was she that got me into appreciating westerns. Of course she preferred the all-action kind, but through watching those with her, I started to watch and enjoy the long, slow, ones and to appreciate the back-drop to all of that action… and then somewhere along the line I got interested in what might really have happened: not just in the West but the whole of what became the U.S. in the early days of settlement. Full review...

Behind God's Back (Ariel Kafka Series) by Harri Nykanen and Kristian London (translator)

Crime

Ariel Kafka, as the only Jewish detective in Helsinki's violent crime unit, has special insight into the Jewish Community. It goes without saying but it also provides Ari with a steady flow of cases. Therefore when a local company director and Jewish congregation member is murdered, Ariel is first choice of investigator. Unfortunately the victim happens to be the man who could have become Ariel's father-in-law a couple of decades before but Ari feels enough removed by time not to disqualify himself from the case. Gradually as the web of clues is carefully teased out, more worrying connections are discovered. The Mossad may be involved but then so may Ari's brother Eli. Full review...

Jam and Roses: The Lives and Loves of 1920s Factory Girls by Mary Gibson

Historical Fiction

The year is 1923 and 'jam-girl' Millie Colman is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a letter inviting her family to go 'hopping' in Kent. The annual trip provides desperately needed respite from the oppressive atmosphere at home, as well as a much-needed dose of fresh air and open space. For Millie, the invitation symbolises escape; albeit for only a few precious weeks of the year. Life in the Colman household is uncomfortable, to say the least. Millie and her two sisters bicker constantly and the whole family live under the shadow of a drunken father who is prone to violent rages. Unfortunately for Millie, this year's hopping trip is anything but an escape, when she makes a foolish decision which will have dire repercussions for the whole family. Full review...

The Pet Person by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross

For Sharing

Children's stories often turn a familiar idea on its head. In this story it is that of pets, for the main characters in the story are a family of dogs, and one of them would very much like his own pet person! Will Rex succeed in persuading his parents to get him a person? And if so, will it be everything he ever dreamed of? Full review...

Frog in Love by Max Velthuijs

For Sharing

Frog has been feeling a little strange. He finds himself wanting to laugh and cry at the same time, and his heart is beating strangely. Pig declares that Frog must have a cold, but Hare suggests that perhaps Frog is in love. But who can Frog possibly be in love with? Full review...

Enter the Saint by Leslie Charteris and John Telfer (narrator)

Thrillers

When you think of thrillers written by a man in his early twenties there's a temptation to believe that the books might not be, well, top drawer, but that would be a mistake. The first of The Saint novels was published in 1928 when Leslie Charteris was just twenty one and this collection of stories is dated 1930. You might expect the rambunctious adventurer we meet, but not the subtleties of the slightly world-weary man of the world, all-knowing about the evils to which men (and women) can sink, but they're all there. Admittedly the Saint is more boisterous and less subtle than he will become - but that speaks more about the later works than this book. Full review...

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Dystopian Fiction

The Age of Miracles was one of those much-talked about books that I never got the time to read on its first go around. I'm not sure how I managed that, but I did. Anyway, it got debut author Thompson Walker a seven figure deal after a bidding war and it has dystopian themes, so it is right up my alley and not the sort of thing I'd usually miss. And so, I was happy that Simon & Schuster decided to reissue it for a YA market and even happier that they decided to send me a copy. Full review...