Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"
| Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br> | '''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br> | ||
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- Remove --> | '''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- Remove --> | ||
| + | {{newreview | ||
| + | |author= Karen M McManus | ||
| + | |title= One of Us Is Lying | ||
| + | |rating= 5 | ||
| + | |genre=Teens | ||
| + | |summary='The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars?' Sign me up, please. But this YA mystery is more like a teenage Agatha Christie: it's twisty, complex, and at several points I began to wonder if the final reveal would be that everyone was the murderer. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk> 0141375639</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
{{newreview | {{newreview | ||
|author= Sheena Kalayil | |author= Sheena Kalayil | ||
| Line 214: | Line 222: | ||
|summary=Danny and his dad both love dressing up! Whatever the event, or reason, they are ready. Indeed, they don't really need a reason, but just happily dress up together at home, or when they go out, as spacemen, a knight and a dragon, sea creatures and wizards...you name it, they can dress up as it! Danny loves having so much fun with his dad, but then one day he does start to wonder what it would be like to have a normal, ordinary dad, and so for his birthday he decides to ask his dad to dress up as an ordinary dad! | |summary=Danny and his dad both love dressing up! Whatever the event, or reason, they are ready. Indeed, they don't really need a reason, but just happily dress up together at home, or when they go out, as spacemen, a knight and a dragon, sea creatures and wizards...you name it, they can dress up as it! Danny loves having so much fun with his dad, but then one day he does start to wonder what it would be like to have a normal, ordinary dad, and so for his birthday he decides to ask his dad to dress up as an ordinary dad! | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>019274979X</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>019274979X</amazonuk> | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
}} | }} | ||
{{newreview <!-- remove 5/6 --> | {{newreview <!-- remove 5/6 --> | ||
Revision as of 17:06, 31 May 2017
The Bookbag
Hello from The Bookbag, a 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. We can even direct you to help for custom book reviews! Visit www.everychildareader.org to get free writing tips and www.genecaresearchreports.com will help you get your paper written for free.
There are currently 16,114 reviews at TheBookbag.
Want to find out more about us?
Reviews of the Best New Books
Read new reviews by category.
Read the latest features.
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M McManus
'The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars?' Sign me up, please. But this YA mystery is more like a teenage Agatha Christie: it's twisty, complex, and at several points I began to wonder if the final reveal would be that everyone was the murderer. Full review...
The Bureau of Second Chances by Sheena Kalayil
Recently widowed, with a grown-up daughter forging her own life abroad, London-based optometrist Thomas Imbalil takes early retirement and returns to his native India. After a short period enjoying the peace of his house overlooking the Arabian Sea, he agrees to commute to the city for a few months to look after Chacko's Optical Store to help out an old friend. Thomas soon discovers that the eager young assistant Rani is running another business on the side, but he agrees to turn a blind eye and leave it to his friend to deal with on his return. However, it stirs up thoughts and doubts within Thomas and before long he's involved whether he wants to be or not. Full review...
Love Like Blood by Mark Billingham
DI Nicola Tanner's lover, Susan, was brutally murdered as she entered the hallway of their home. She'd been driving Nicola's car and it seemed obvious that this was a case of mistaken identity: Nicola was working on honour killings and was convinced that many of the cases were contracted out to the same people. Was she getting too close? Tanner wants the killers and the go-betweens, but it's not as easy as it might be as there's no obvious route to take: several faiths are involved so it's not just a case of tracking the killers down through a family's place of worship. After Susan's death Tanner is angry and wants revenge - then she's frustrated when she's taken off the honour killings cases and put on compassionate leave. She has a solution though: she calls on the services of D I Tom Thorne who - in policing terms - is everything that she isn't. Full review...
Never Say Die by Anthony Horowitz
Set just five weeks after the events of Scorpia Rising, Alex Rider is living in San Francisco and attempting to adjust to life as a normal high school student. Normal, however, is not a word that we associate with this particular fifteen year old. After all, this is the boy who's completed nine successful missions for M16: the teenager who has saved the world (more than once) and effectively brought down the international criminal organisation, Scorpia. And things aren't about to change. Given everything that has happened in Alex's young life, it's not surprising that the past is about to catch up with him… Full review...
Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth
Rule Number One: Don't run in front of a soldier.
Rule Number Two: Never look at a soldier.
Rule Number Three: Say as little as possible.
There are two words banned in Tibet: Dalai Lama.
Tash lives in a Tibet under the Chinese occupation that began in 1950. Chinese soldiers are a constant and oppressive feature of her life. Most of Tibet's cultural and religious traditions are severely suppressed and any act of rebellion can result in you taken away by the soldiers, never to be seen again. But there is resistance. Tash's father belongs to a secret cell that tries to get information out to the wider world. But it's dangerous. And when, one day, a man self-immolates in her village as an act of protest, the Chinese authorities crack down hard. Full review...
The Space Between The Stars by Anne Corlett
Jamie Allenby wakes, alone, and realises her fever has broken. But could everyone she knows be dead? Months earlier, Jamie had left her partner Daniel, mourning the miscarriage of their baby. She'd just had to get away, so took a job on a distant planet. Then the virus hit. Jamie survived as it swept through our far-flung colonies. Now she feels desperate and isolated, until she receives a garbled message from Earth. If someone from her past is still alive – perhaps Daniel – she knows she must find a way to return. She meets others seeking Earth, and their ill-matched group will travel across space to achieve their dream. But they'll clash with survivors intent on repeating humanity's past mistakes, threatening their precious fresh start. Jamie will also get a second chance at happiness. But can she escape her troubled past, to embrace a hopeful future? Full review...
The Hopkins Conundrum by Simon Edge
Tim Cleverley inherits a failing pub in Wales, which he plans to rescue by enlisting an American pulp novelist to concoct an entirely fabricated mystery about Gerard Manley Hopkins, who composed The Wreck of the Deutschland nearby.
In Victorian England, Gerard Manley Hopkins lives a life full of confusion and contradiction, but discovers a calling for poetry that threatens to overrule his calling to God. And, speaking of God, Five nuns leave persecution to travel to a new world – only to find themselves in more trouble that they could ever have imagined… Full review...
My Name is not Refugee by Kate Milner
A child's mother tells her child that they will have to leave this town: it's not safe for them any longer. She explains what will happen. The child can pack his own bag, but he has to remember that he must only take what he can carry. Initially it will be exciting and they can't live in a place where there's no water in the taps and the rubbish just piles up in the streets. It's going to be an adventure, but sometimes they're going to be on their own and it will get a bit boring, but sometimes they'll be with other people and he must remember to hold on to an adult's hand. They'll see lots of cars and lorries and sleep in some strange places. They'll hear people speaking in strange languages and taste new foods. Eventually they'll get to somewhere where they are safe and can unpack. The strange words will start to make sense.
He'll be called Refugee, but he has to remember that Refugee is not his name. Full review...
The Movie Making Book by Dan Farrell and Donna Bamford
In my youth we had to make do with a camcorder that would fit a mini-tape that you recorded onto. This mini-tape would then slip into a casing that could be watched on your VHS (imagine something like a DVD player, but with awful fidelity). In all, making a film was a big old faff, but trying to do anything fancy was almost impossible. There is no longer this excuse for kids today with their camera enabled smart devices, but just because they can do something does not mean they will be any good. A guide for movie making would certainly help! Full review...
Resistance: A Race Against Time to Save Mankind by Val McDermid
It began so innocently, at a music festival in Northumberland. There were some stomach upsets, but what do you expect when the weather's bad, there's inadequate sanitation and 150,000 people out to enjoy themselves? Journalist Zoe Meadows is covering the event and she's filing her copy from the back of a food van run by her friends Sam and Lisa. Sam's fussy about the food he serves - he's The Sausage Man - and he regularly checks out his suppliers. In his business you just can't be too careful. The stomach upsets seem to last for 24 hours, an unpleasant 24 hours, but then it seems to be over. Full review...
Radical Hope by Carolina de Robertis
On 8th November 2016, Donald Trump was elected as the 46th President of the United States. Since then many Americans have been overcome with fear, worrying about what will become of American society during Trump's administration. Carolina de Robertis was no exception to this fear and in response to the newly elected President and his policies she put out a call for action. Radical Hope is the outcome to this call. De Robertis reached out to fellow writers and activists asking for letters, predominantly letters of love, addressed to the citizens of today and those of past and future generations in order to help spread hope during times of uncertainty. Full review...
The Shadow Queen by Anne O'Brien
Born in 1328, Joan of Kent may be of royal blood but she's from a family tainted by treachery. Her father Edmund Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, was executed for his part in the infamous Montague plot. However Joan has grown up under the protection of her cousin, King Edward III with all the advantages and attributes of a princess. Yet, much to her mother's chagrin, obedience isn't one of these attributes. Joan's head strong feist takes her on a varied journey in life. Having said that, three husbands, five marriages (technically) and a son destined for the English throne means that it's also been one heck of a life! Full review...
Shepherd of Another Flock by David Wilbourne
David Wilbourne's CV looks like a career path for people who are hard-of-humoured. Banker, teacher of Ancient Greek, vicar, bishop…none of these are jobs normally connected in our minds with a jovial twinkle. Yet in David's case we'd be totally wrong to assume. The current Bishop of Llandaff takes us by the hand to show us episodes from his life as vicar of the character-packed Yorkshire parish of Helmsley proving that tears of sorrow are equally shared with tears of laughter. Full review...
The Girls of Ennismore: A Heart-Rending Irish Saga by Patricia Falvey
Ireland 1900: Ennismore House's young heiress Victoria had hoped that she and Rosie Killeen would be friends forever. Rosie soon comes to know better as there's a social chasm between those who live in the House and those, like Rosie's family, who have been brought up merely to serve them. The days of innocence are coming to an end in many ways. Soon, as the cry for Irish Home Rule becomes louder, there'll be more than steps on society's ladder between them as each must discover their own way in a nation that will never be the same again. Full review...
Tragic Shores: A Memoir Of Dark Travel by Thomas H Cook
Thomas H Cook, an American author valued for the quality of writing and compelling intrigues of his numerous thrillers, has written a collection of nearly thirty accounts of visits to the tragic shores of the title. There is no noticeable rhyme or reason to the order of presentation, apart from the last, and the most personal tale which links the travel report to the author's personal loss of his wife and long-time travel companion, who features in many of the chapters, as does the couple's daughter, but they all the pertain to Cook's visits to what he describes as the saddest places on Earth. Full review...
Defender of the Realm: Dark Age by Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler
King Alfred the Second is still growing into his roles as King and Defender of the Realm. Just having defeated the Black Dragon at his coronation, Alfie is trying to focus on making less of a fool of himself in his day job, something the Prime Minister is keen to encourage as much as possible, when a new threat hits the Kingdom. The UK is being savaged by a hoard of undead Vikings, intent on causing as much trouble as possible, who have all been stirred up by Alfie's old History teacher, Professor Lock. But how do you kill something that's already dead? Alfie is trying to save the Kingdom by night, rule it by day and keep his family together, all the while knowing if he fails, we could be thrown into another dark age. Well, no one said being King would be easy. Full review...
Sleep Baby Sleep (Detective Pieter Voss) by David Hewson
Annie Schrijver is just twenty-two-years old and is known as 'the flower girl' in the picturesque Albert Cuyp flower market, where she works on her father's stall. It's almost impossible to believe that she's missing as she's very personable and always popular with the customers. When she's found she's barely alive though, tied to a stone angel in a graveyard and surrounded by a ring of fire. In her body there are traces of a drug which takes Detective Pieter Voss back four years to the Sleeping Beauty murders. He had his doubts at the time as to whether or not everyone involved had been caught: now it seems that his doubts have come back to haunt him. Full review...
Beards From Outer Space by Gareth P Jones
You might not realise it but Earth is under constant alien attack. Luckily we humans don't need to worry because the Pet Defenders (a secret society of our domestic pets) are always on standby to keep us safe. The activities of the Pet Defenders are normally kept secret but Stripes Publishing are kindly allowing human children a brief glimpse into their exciting adventures. In Beards From Outer Space we are able to read how a dog and cat – secret agents Biskit and Mitzy – team up to rid the world of an army of alien beards. Full review...
Doodle Dogs: Best in Show by Tim Hopgood
Doodle Dogs introduces a wide variety of artistic styles through the idea of a dog show! Tim Hopgood shows us different kinds of dogs, all of which can be created very easily, and you soon find that doodling a dog can be a lot more detailed, and interesting, than you perhaps previously appreciated! Full review...
A Passing Fury: Searching for Justice at the End of World War II by A T Williams
In A Passing Fury, we follow an Orwell Prize-winning law academic's journey through Germany as he pursues the legal history of the trials waged by the British, and to some extent other Allied forces, against the newly-fallen Nazi regime. This is a deeply personal account, that reads very much like a travelogue in places. Williams is affected at every turn by harrowingly familiar accounts of life in the concentration camp system, such as those of the esteemed Italian writer and academic Primo Levi, who features throughout the book. More striking to the reader, however, are the often-forgotten atrocities Williams describes that failed to make a mark on our collective memory, such as the Cap Arcona tragedy, in which some 7,000 concentration camp internees were killed in a British air raid. Horrors such as these, which largely go unremembered, raise many questions, chief among them, was justice served? Williams pursues answers to this question throughout his investigation, which is just shy of 500 pages long. Full review...
The Dry by Jane Harper
Sometimes a book takes a while to get into. Sometimes it's quicker than that. If Harper hadn't grabbed me in the first paragraph, she certainly had half-way down the second page: So nothing reacted when deep inside the house, the baby started crying. Full review...
The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial by Maggie Nelson
Maggie Nelson is the author of four volumes of poetry and five wide-ranging works of nonfiction that delve into the nature of violence and sexuality. From what I'd heard about her writing, I knew to expect an important and unconventional thinker with a distinctive, lyrical style. Now Vintage is making some of her backlist, including this book (originally published in 2007) and the uncategorisable Bluets, available for the first time in the UK. Full review...
BL!NK (Hadron Damnation Book 1) by Mark Lingane
iYe is a smasher: a child who is capable of sending back pictures of the future by travelling out to where the past and future meet. Smashers don't usually live to see their teens as the information generally returns without them. However iYe's mother, Captain Trix Raiden, is determined he'll be different and, indeed he is, in many ways. Not only does iYe survive, he is a chip off the same block as Cally, the planetary hero. However there is a darker side: iYe carries a message that Earth doesn't want to hear. The planet is used to dealing with the aliens that Cally originally fought but worse is on its way. We are coming to kill you. Full review...
The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers
Something terrible is happening in the forest. Branches from trees are going missing overnight, and nobody knows what's going on. Everyone living in the forest gathers together to look at the crime scene, and to try to discover what has happened. Initially they blame each other, but after discovering everyone there has a solid alibi they continue their investigations to try and find the culprit. Full review...
The Dressing-Up Dad by Maudie Smith and Paul Howard
Danny and his dad both love dressing up! Whatever the event, or reason, they are ready. Indeed, they don't really need a reason, but just happily dress up together at home, or when they go out, as spacemen, a knight and a dragon, sea creatures and wizards...you name it, they can dress up as it! Danny loves having so much fun with his dad, but then one day he does start to wonder what it would be like to have a normal, ordinary dad, and so for his birthday he decides to ask his dad to dress up as an ordinary dad! Full review...
Something or Nothing: A Search for My Personal Theory of Everything by Anthony Marson
Most thinking people have their own theory of the meaning of the universe,and of why they - we - exist within it. It's a natural extension to wonder whether life was created, or, if not created, how was life formed? In Something or Nothing Anthony Marson develops his own theories. The journey began when the author was on a touring holiday in Tasmania, gazed up at a clear night sky and asked himself how and why all the stars came to exist. Although this subject has been explored countless times by scientists, theologians and philosophers, Marson wanted an answer which satisfied him and he begins his search by quite openly admitting that he has only a limited scientific education. It was good to know - for once - that I was on the same footing as the author and we could explore together. Full review...
Grandpa Diet and Diabetes by Laura Williams
Nick's Mum is an accident and emergency nurse and life can get a bit hectic at times, particularly when she has to arrange for someone to look after Nick and his twin sister Emma. One day in the school holidays Grandpa had the pleasure of looking after the kids and Nick thought this was cool. Grandpa used to be a bit of a rocker, you see, and that's the sort of music he always has playing. He might have a stick but Nick sure that he doesn't really need it - it's there just in case. He does have a problem though and Mum explains it by saying that Grandpa has to eat at the right time every day because he has diabetes. Full review...
