Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"

Two years ago in 1898, Teodora, the Undrowned Child of prophecy, saved Venice from its resurrected traitor, Bajamonte Tiepolo. Since then, she and her partner-in-prophecy Lorenzo, the Studious Son, have led a fairly uneventful existence. But now, Venice is in peril once more. Ice creeps through its lagoon, vampire eels encased menacingly within it, and black cormorants have returned to spy on the city in their great, black clouds. Teodora knows baddened magic when she sees it, and her heart sinks at the awful realisation - il Traditore is back... Full review...

Just Because by Rebecca Elliott

For Sharing

Toby's best friend is his big sister, Clemmie. She can't walk, talk or move around much. Just because. He loves her dearly, and we discover all the many ways they play together. It's an utterly gorgeous tale of sibling affection. Full review...

Play The Shape Game by Anthony Browne

Children's Non-Fiction

You might have already played the shape game. It involves doing a squiggle on a piece of paper, then either you or someone else has to turn that squiggle into a full picture. Anthony Browne played it lots when he was little, and now he's playing it with 45 celebrities and you. Proceeds from the book and the auction of the artwork are going to The Rainbow Trust Children's Charity, who provide emotional and practical support to families who have a child with a life threatening or terminal illness. A fantastic cause. Full review...

Famous Last Words by Annie Sanders

Women's Fiction

The story centres on Lucy Streeter who is a very ordinary woman leading a very ordinary life. She is quite happy running her designer clothes shop and being mother to her grown up son Nat. However, one evening her life is thrown into turmoil after meeting Micah, a fortune teller, who kindly informs her that she only has a few more days to live. Normally, Lucy would dismiss this as absolute rubbish, but unfortunately too many of his other predictions seem to be coming true so she has to sit up and take notice. As she does, she comes to the sad realisation that she has not made the most of her life and there are many things that she should or could have done. Full review...

The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future by Robert Darnton

History

Reading a book, whether for study or relaxation, in the sitting room, in bed, on public transport, or almost anywhere else, has been one of everybody's favourite activities for many a long year, and not just by visitors and contributors to this site. (Therein lies a paradox, I hear you say). As Darnton points out in his introduction, the good old-fashioned book was not destroyed by newspapers (or magazines, for that matter), any more than television destroyed radio, or the internet made people abandon TV. Full review...

River of Shadows: A Commissario Soneri Mystery by Valerio Varesi

Crime

Rain was falling heavily in the River Po catchment area in northern Italy and the old hands knew that it would burst its banks and there would be flooding. But even they are surprised when they see Tonna's barge setting out downstream. He knows the river well, but his course out of the mooring was erratic and when the barge was eventually found Tonna was nowhere to be seen; the barge was deserted. Was it coincidence or something more sinister when Tonna's brother appeared to commit suicide on the day of his brother's disappearance: Commisario Soneri is convinced that there is more to this than meets the eye. Full review...

Blood Crime by John Brindley

Joe is lying in hospital in a meningitis-induced coma. It's the last straw for his mother - Joe has been unable to cope ever since his father died, refusing to believe in a tragic laboratory accident and accusing his ex-research partner and her new boyfriend of murder. Before he became ill, Joe's state of mind had become dangerously unstable, and now it's up to his uncle Frank, a hospital consultant, to save him. But Joe isn't lying there insensible: he's fighting the greatest battle of his life - rushing through his veins and arteries evading the aggressive bacteria, rousing his body to fight back, and trying to work out what really happened to his father and whether his own illness has anything to do with it. Full review...

The Jelly Effect: How to Make Your Communication Stick by Andy Bounds

Business and Finance

This book has lots of glowing praise written all over the covers. Such lines as 'Andy Bounds taught me more about effective presenting than a lady who'd previously taught two US Presidents.' Unsurprisingly, my expectations were sky-high. But will the book deliver? I have to say at the outset that I didn't particularly take to the title (although original and presumably unforgettable). I found it detracted at first glance and didn't do the book any initial favours. And although it is explained in full I still felt it light and an Americanism too far. But that's just my personal opinion. That aside, I was keen to start reading, see what all the fuss was about ... Full review...

Room by Emma Donoghue

It's the morning of Jack's fifth birthday, but Jack is no ordinary boy. He and his Ma have been imprisoned by the character known only as 'Old Nick' in a single room for all Jack's life. True he has a television, but his mother has convinced him that those people are not real. The room is all Jack has ever known - and in it he has developed his own attachment to things like Bed, Rug, Table, Skylight and Wardrobe where he sleeps. The first victim of incarceration, it seems, is the definite article. Full review...

The Small Hand by Susan Hill

Fantasy

Adam Snow, an antiquarian book dealer, accidentally finds himself within the grounds of a derelict house hidden away in the countryside. As he is walking around the lost garden he feels an invisible hand creep into his own. Drawn into investigating the history of the house, and whose hand it might be, he finds himself suffering from panic attacks as well as feeling the small hand again, in different locations, each time pulling him closer and closer to danger. Full review...

Last Dog On The Hill by Steve Duno

Pets

Driving through northern California Steve Duno found a puppy by the side of the road. He was flea-bitten, tic infested, emaciated and suffering from an infection. His father was a Rottweiler and his mother a German Shepherd - both were guard dogs at the local marijuana farm. When Steve whistled the dog came to him and it's no exaggeration to say that in that moment his life changed. He'd always wanted a dog, but hadn't been able to have one as a child. There was a moment's indecision at the side of the road – and then Lou became Steve's dog. Full review...

Stop the Train by Geraldine McCaughrean

Cissy and her family have come to set up a grocery store in the brand new town of Florence, Oklahoma, near the railroad. She quickly makes friends with a very chatty, kind boy called Kookie, short for Habbakuk. Other people come to stake their claim on plots of land, and open up businesses. It is all very exciting but the settlers of this new town soon discover they have a serious problem. The railroad company wanted the land the town is being built on, and when everyone turns down the cash they are offered to give up their claims, the railroad boss announces his trains will not stop in Florence. The railroad is the reason for the town's existence, and without it Florence will collapse before it is properly started. Full review...

Pull Out All The Stops! by Geraldine McCaughrean

A diphtheria epidemic is in town and has already claimed several victims including pupils at school. The school is closed and all the remaining children sent out of town to stay with relatives and friends until the danger is over. Cissy and two of her classmates are sent away to stay with their former teacher, Miss Loucien, now part of a touring theatre company with her new actor husband. Their new teacher, Miss May March, comes along as a chaperone on the train journey, motivated by a sense of duty and concern for her charges' welfare. Full review...

Waking the Witch (Women of the Otherworld) by Kelley Armstrong

Fantasy

Tired of doing the legwork for Paige and Lucas, Savannah Levine – powerful witch/sorcerer with half-demon blood – is glad to finally get the chance to go it alone. For the week. But what started as a babysitting gig soon progresses to a full blown case for the temporary head of Cortez-Winterbourne Investigations. Full review...

Selected: Why some people lead, why others follow, and why it matters by Mark van Vugt and Anjana Ahuja

Business and Finance

Selected is based on the psychology of leadership. Some of us may ask the perfectly reasonable question 'Does it matter who leads and who follows?' Well, apparently it not only matters but it matters greatly. And the co-authors go to great lengths to tell us why. The useful prologue informs us that the whole area of leadership can be traced back in time, by no less than several million years. Vugt and Ahuja explain that the rather innocent (and even a bit airy-fairy to some) word 'leader' is evolved from various academic disciplines. Including the more obvious psychology, there is also biology and anthropology in the mix. Heady stuff. And yes, I did want to read on. Full review...

Phoebe Finds Her Voice (Star Makers Club) by Anne-Marie Conway

This is a sweet story in which Anne-Marie Conway makes good use of the current obsession with all-singing, all-dancing shows. Her lead character, Phoebe, is painfully shy. She never used to be though, and always loved singing and dancing before, but since she moved up to the big school, and things started to go wrong at home, she has lost her confidence. Against all her inner fears she somehow ends up joining the local drama club, and whilst she tries to find ways to deal with her crippling stage fright she also begins fighting to get her parents back together again. Full review...

Heartstone (Matthew Shardlake) by C J Sansom

Crime (Historical)

Henry VIII was not one to ponder on his failings but his recent invasion of France had gone completely wrong and the French fleet was preparing to cross the Channel and invade England. The only way that Henry could raise the money to gather a large militia army was to debase the currency and the country was put in the grip of raging inflation and economic crisis. Meanwhile the English fleet gathered at Portsmouth. Full review...

Separate Beds by Elizabeth Buchan

Women's Fiction

Annie and Tom Nicholson looked like the sort of people you would envy. Both had rewarding jobs, Tom in the World Service and Annie in hospital management. They had a lovely home and three grown-up children. But all is not as it seems. For five years they have had separate existences after a family row when Tom caused his elder daughter to walk out of the house and never return. There hasn't been a catalyst which would have caused them to separate but Tom moved into his daughter's vacated room and he and Annie have lived together - but apart. It could have gone on indefinitely but then Tom came home one day and dropped the bombshell which could well finish them off. Full review...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No. 1: Night of the Living Rerun; Coyote Moon; Portal Through Time by John Vornholt, Arthur Byron Cover and Alice Henderson

There is something really satisfying about a huge brick of a book: the prospect of settling down for hours and hours of reading pleasure is very tempting. And this book offers an even more tempting lure for Buffy fans, because it contains three whole stories, adding variety to the mix. It's absolutely ideal for a holiday read. Full review...

A Kind of Vanishing by Lesley Thomson

Crime

The novel interweaves between the past (the 1960s) and the present (the 1990s). Thomson gives us the run-down on the two playmates, the two young girls, Eleanor Ramsay and Alice. They have been instructed by their respective parents to play together nicely. The Ramsay family is middle-class, they live in a big, rambling house and are always busy doing things. Alice is an only child of working-class parents. They are over-protective and monitor her every waking moment. Will a noisy tom-boy and an angelic Alice who wears impossibly shiny shoes get on, have things in common? Full review...

The Cat Kin by Nick Green

A group of misfit children find themselves at the local sports centre having arrived to take various different classes but find they're all part of a group being run by the strange Mrs Powell who teaches them about Pashki. Pashki shows them how to 'find their inner cat' as it were (I know - bear with me, it does get better!) and utilise their new skills to move quietly, stealthily and even super-humanly across fences, tree branches, skipping from pole to pole and even from one bus rooftop to another in an exciting chase sequence. Ben and Tiffany both have their own sets of troubles at home, and so Pashki becomes an escape for them both. However, they soon find their new skills get them into more trouble than they could ever have imagined. Full review...

Bella Should Have Dumped Edward: Controversial Views on the Twilight Series by Michelle Pan

I'm sure die hard (Twi-hard) fans will love this book, since it gives them a little bit more about Bella and Edward and Jacob. All those things they've mulled over since the series ended are encapsulated in the topics raised here. Team Edward need not shake their heads in dismay at the book's title - it's controversial on purpose - and the question of who Bella should have ended up with is looked at from both points of view, along with other issues such as whether she should have become a vampire, the faithfulness of the films to the books and which character readers would most like to be. Full review...

Wordcatcher: An Odyssey into the World of Weird and Wonderful Words by Phil Cousineau

Trivia

I formed a new, close friendship recently, and one of the first things I subtly dropped into things was the fact that I might use a different dictionary to other people. Probably there was a subconscious thought forming that it would be better to make it known, in case I trod on any toes, said anything that didn't go down quite as well as I had planned. But that's nothing compared to what Phil Cousineau has done here, for he has written his own dictionary, and got it published in a very nice, glossy, browsable form. Alright, it's nothing like a complete dictionary, but everything is here in his own personal style - 250 main words, definitions, derivations and examples of use. Oh, and some modern-ish artworks as well. Full review...

Wake Up Dead by Roger Smith

Crime

Straight away Smith plunges us into the underworld of Cape Town and the street chat of the locals. Boozed up and drugged up most of the time, violence is a nightly occurrence. And when local 'businessman' Joe is gunned down, it sparks off a whole chain of events for his American trophy wife, Roxy. Strong language, strong violence and strong feelings from the local criminals and low-life are the order of the day in this uncompromising novel. Full review...

The Orchard Book of Swords, Sorcerers and Superheroes by Tony Bradman and Tony Ross

Jason and the Argonauts, King Arthur, Aladdin, William Tell, Hercules, Sinbad, St George, Ali Baba, Theseus and Robin Hood. If you love myths and legends as much as we do then those ten heroes will have got your juices flowing, and you'll be desperate to dive in to this collection of adventures. It's fantastic. You'll love it! Full review...

The American Civil War by John Keegan

History

While before reading this book I considered myself to be vaguely familiar with the major facts about the American Civil War – the fight to liberate the slaves, the well-known battles, and the towering figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S Grant, and Robert E Lee – I was keen to learn more about the war and get an in-depth view of it from a renowned historian. After finishing the book, I certainly consider myself to be far better informed on the military, and tactical, side of things, but found it a little lacking in certain other areas such as the causes and effects. Full review...

The Good Angel of Death by Andrey Kurkov and Andrew Bromfield

Kolya cannot possibly expect what the act of moving flat, and finding a book among what the old folks who move out leave behind, might lead to. I can hint that it involves a trip of several hundreds of miles, involves a couple of pieces of anatomy the average man does not fancy leaving behind, a chameleon, Kolya being given as a husband-cum-present to a lovely young lady, and a lot more. The find involves Ukraine's national author, Taras Shevchenko, and a hunt for something he might have left behind in a desert abutting the Caspian Sea. Full review...

In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works by John Lennon

Humour

During the height of Beatlemania, John Lennon used to doodle or write short poems or nonsense stories to pass the time (and there must have been a good deal of time to pass away on tour, if only waiting for screaming fans to leave them alone and go back home). Some of them were seen by Tom Maschler, literary editor at Jonathan Cape, who encouraged him to produce more. The results were published in two very successful short books in 1964 and 1965. Full review...

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer

Meet Jeff. He's a journalist living in London, with a fine line in delaying his work effort and a keen eye for detail. He can see how the world is made better by a smile from a random shopkeeper - yet seems too grumpy to try it himself. Instead he suspects his habit of walking round, mouthing or speaking out his own inner thoughts is making him seem a scary old man. He can partly address this, by dying his hair. And he can stop walking round London when he gets commissions to report back from the modern arts Biennale in Venice. Soon, however, the only work of art he's at all worried about goes by the name of Laura... Full review...

Humphrey's Great-Great-Great Book of Stories by Betty G Birney

There is nothing quite like being proven correct. And this is one of those rare times I have been. From the evidence of the sixth main Humphrey book, Holidays According to..., I declared the whole series to be quite brilliant. The books, I decided, were cute without ever being cloying, clever without being too clever-clever, full of morals without ever forcing them on the reader, and packed with entertaining plot and lovely characters. And now the book reviewing gods have decided I read a fantastic collection of the last three novels, to expand my knowledge of the series. Full review...

Secrets She Left Behind by Diane Chamberlain

General Fiction

This is the third novel I've read by Diane Chamberlain and I felt as if I was visiting an old friend. I enjoyed the other two books and this one looked promising. Although many of the characters spill over from Before The Storm' this current book is a stand alone. Full review...

Casper the Commuting Cat: The True Story of the Cat Who Rode the Bus and Stole Our Hearts by Susan Finden and Linda Watson-Brown

Pets

In 2009 as Susan Finden set out to catch the bus from the bus stop opposite her house in Plymouth she noticed her cat Casper watching her. Afraid he would follow her across the busy road she urged the bus driver to move off quickly. But when the bus driver told her that the only thing you've got to worry about is that you're sitting in his seat, Susan finally had the answer to where Casper disappeared to each day. Full review...

My Last Duchess by Daisy Goodwin

Historical Fiction

There's plenty to enjoy in this debut novel by Daisy Goodwin. And first up is the elegant cover. I wanted to read the book as soon as I saw the photograph: a beautiful girl with great presence about her. The thoughtful look on her face and lack of ring on her finger hinted at an intriguing story. It was also a fair bet that this historical fiction, set in the nineteenth century, was about a romance, suitable or unsuitable. So the cover complemented the story – a quite unusual feat, judging by other offerings I have seen recently. Full review...

Grubtown Tales: Splash, Crash and Loads of Cash by Philip Ardagh

If there's one thing that we've learnt from the previous five Grubtown Tales, it's that Jilly Cheeter and Mango Claptrap are never separated. Whatever extraordinary circumstance of life turns up, they'll always work together. So why is Mango, in his shortest of short trousers as usual, sat on top of a floating mayor, in shark-infested seas, and why is Jilly only taking her poorly dog to the vet's? And what sort of help can we expect from a back story involving some liberated lab rats? Full review...

Emails From An Asshole by John Lindsay

Humour

Some classified ads are crying out for trolling. John Lindsay replies to them, spins them a yarn, and strings them along for as long as possible. Sometimes the advert is fairly innocuous and he emails them anyway. These are emails from an asshole, after all. Full review...

Milo's Pet Egg by Rebecca Elliott

For Sharing

Milo the lemur discovers a pretty pebble one day. He prods it, and to his surprise it moves! He listens carefully, and finds that it's breathing, so he realises that it's an egg, calls it Snappy, and the two of them get up to all sorts of adventures. Full review...

Sacred Treason by James Forrester

Historical Fiction

In London, in December 1563, the herald William Harley (known to everyone as Clarenceux) had no intention of becoming involved in one of the many Catholic plots against the young Queen Elizabeth, but he's unwittingly drawn into one when his friend and fellow Catholic, Henry Machyn, gave him a chronicle, telling him that it hid a secret which could cost Machyn his life. Clarenceux was sceptical until he was visited by Francis Walsingham's brutal enforcers and within a matter of a few hours he turns from a law-abiding citizen into a man on the run in search of clues which will tell him why the chronicle is so important. Full review...

Heart of Tango by Elia Barcelo and David Frye

Although less than 200 pages in length, this short novel encompasses a great deal, both in the storyline, and the development of the characters. The plot itself is simple. Young Natalia has been betrothed to the much older Berstein, a German sailor known for some time to Natalia’s father. He appears as a kindly character, and clearly in love/enamoured of Natalia. But the marriage is no love match, but one done instead for expediency, and although prepared to go through with it, Natalia is like any other young girl, and wishes she was marrying the love of her life. Her mother died when she was a baby so she has had a lonely childhood, yearning for female company and guidance - but the reality of the situation has meant that other than an elderly, kindly neighbour who has tried to help support and advise her, she is irrevocably alone - seeming to have very few friends even of her own age. Full review...

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready