Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"
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| + | |author=John Mortimer | ||
| + | |title=Rumpole at Christmas | ||
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| + | |summary=This book is as slim as one of Rumpole's beloved packets of cigars and it can also be read in the time it takes an average turkey to cook in the oven on Christmas Day. A handful of festive, short stories is covered in this book with its appealing front cover. Most of the stories have been previously published elsewhere, mainly in 'The Strand Magazine' but also in some of the national newspapers. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141039779</amazonuk> | ||
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|author=Bob Hartman and Krisztina Kallai Nagy | |author=Bob Hartman and Krisztina Kallai Nagy | ||
Revision as of 16:27, 20 October 2010
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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Rumpole at Christmas by John Mortimer
This book is as slim as one of Rumpole's beloved packets of cigars and it can also be read in the time it takes an average turkey to cook in the oven on Christmas Day. A handful of festive, short stories is covered in this book with its appealing front cover. Most of the stories have been previously published elsewhere, mainly in 'The Strand Magazine' but also in some of the national newspapers. Full review...
The Lion Storyteller Christmas Book by Bob Hartman and Krisztina Kallai Nagy
Christmas is such a magical time of year especially for children. Sometimes though, with all the excitement of presents, decorations and parties, they can forget what Christmas is really about. The Lion Storyteller Christmas Book is perfect for sharing wonderful tales and legends from around the world that help to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Full review...
The Management Myth: Debunking Modern Business Philosophy by Matthew Stewart
Stewart's book is subtitled "Debunking Modern Business Philosophy". It is a criticism (and I mean criticism not critique) of the management consultancy business since its inception to the close of the first decade of the 21st century.
Matthew Stewart is a former management consultant, so he should know what he's talking about.
On the other hand, by his own admission he made a more than reasonable profit out of management consulting, and he is now doing likewise out of showing what a sham it all is. Make of that what you will. Full review...
The Drawing Lesson: The First in the Trilogy of Remembrance by Mary E Martin
Alexander Wainwright is the UK's premier artist. He's just won the Turner with The Hay Wagon – a painting with a luminous, moonlit landscape. He should be at the peak of his powers, but he's about to lose his muse and, more worryingly, there seems to be something wrong with his sight and the year to come is going to be traumatic. The story of it is told by his friend, art dealer Jamie Helmsworth, who has pieced together what he knows, what he's heard – and used a little artistic licence to fill in the gaps. It's a most unusual story which will take you deep into the world of artists and writers. Full review...
Learning to Scream by Beate Teresa Hanika
Malvina is thirteen years old, the youngest of three children in a dysfunctional family. Her father is a very grumpy teacher, with little understanding of children, whilst her mother seems to suffer permanently from migraine. She has a good friend, Lizzy, and they play together as much as they can, united in their dislike of the 'boys from the estate'. Her grandmother died last year, leaving her granddad on his own and it's Malvina's job to go and visit him and take him his meals. The family think this is a great arrangement because they know how much Granddad loves Malvina and looks forward to her visits. There's a problem though. Malvina doesn't like going, particularly on her own. Granddad kisses her on the mouth. Full review...
Epitaph by Shaun Hutson
To state the obvious, all of us are afraid of different things. Gina, a woman having an affair in cheap hotels, is scared of getting caught. Paul, mid-30s and in advertising, sees the redundancy notice he's just been handed as prelude to a nightmarish future. And Laura, 8, can find the underpass from school to home, and echoing footsteps within it, too spooky. The nastiest thing about this book is that for all these characters, they're forced beyond these horrors, to find something even more frightening. Full review...
The Golden Acorn - The Adventures of Jack Brenin by Catherine Cooper
Determined as 'The One' when he insouciantly picks up a golden acorn, Jack Brenin is thrust into a world of adventure and magic as he is given the heavy responsibility of saving the diminishing magical population of the village of Glasruhen, along with Camelin, the talking raven who provides welcome flair through his humorous dialogue. Full review...
Justinian: The Sleepless One by Ross Laidlaw
Born Uprauda Ystock, the son of a peasant, Justinian (as he was to become known) managed to change his life around when his mother's brother, Roderic, an important general in the Roman Army, paid for his education. After a series of successes, Roderic became Emperor Justin and then passed the mantel on to his nephew, who became known as Justinian. When he came into power, the Roman Empire was under attack from all directions and Justinian was forced to battle for his right to remain Emperor. Fortunately, he married Theodora, an ex-courtesan, who helped to mould him into the leader that he needed to be. Was this enough to remain in power, or would it all be snatched away from him? Full review...
The Boy Who Wanted to Fly by Don Mullan
There is a Foreward by both Pele and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Names to make most of us sit up and notice. The title is certainly quirky and Mullan is probably hoping that prospective readers will be saying to themselves, what's this all about then. Good start, I thought. Then I realised that there's an awful lot of football in this book. Even although it's a slim, sliver of a book, there's no getting away from the subject matter. Football. I don't 'do' football. So, I counted to ten, put on what I hoped was a good reviewer's face and started to read ... Full review...
A Little Princess Treasury by Tony Ross
Most parents of two to three year olds will surely be aware of The Little Princess. She is used universally whilst potty training thanks to 'I want my potty!' and always seems to raise giggles and sniggers from little ones when her stories are read aloud. I do enjoy reading them aloud, as I get to be loud and shouty and obnoxious! This treasury is a lovely collection, with a wide range of stories as well as some puzzles for slightly older toddlers thrown in too. Full review...
The Secret Lives of Princesses by Philippe Lechermeier and Rebecca Dautremer
Ah, the French! They're so good at being funny in eccentric ways. This book is a perfect example. Although princesses such as Cinderella are mentioned in passing, here we are being introduced to less commonly known princesses like Princess Alli Fabette who is 'verry pritty butt she has a huje problim: she dusn't spell verry welll' or Princess Anne Phibian who is obsessed with frogs, is convinced her Prince Charming is disguised as one, and 'spends most of her time standing in ponds kissing every green creature she encounters.' Full review...
See You Later, Escalator by John Foster
Always a sucker for a good poetry anthology here at Bookbag, we've enjoyed two previous collections from John Foster. See You Later, Escalator continues in the same vein, with poems from the likes of Tony Mitton, Michael Rosen, Michelle Magorian and Brian Patten. Full review...
The Joy of Spooking: Unearthly Asylum by P J Bracegirdle
The district of Spooking is still a problem for the evil diplomats from Darlington, the city that surrounds it. It was in the way of their waterpark last time, and now puts a stop to a new sewage plant. Actually, chiefly in the way last time was Joy, who still calls it home. A cold, decrepit, run-down and gothic home in her instance, but home nevertheless. But the evil diplomats are still making their plans to redevelop the place. If only Joy could claim historical prestige for it with her beloved author E A Peugeot as a son of Spooking. Full review...
The World Turned Upside Down by Leila Rasheed
Stratford upon Avon 1642 – The English Civil War has come to the town. Mary is a young Catholic at a time when her religion was regarded with deep suspicion. She is drawn to Jack, even though he is a Roundhead soldier with no money, land or status, and he is from an inferior background to her. Full review...
Nella Last in the 1950s: The Further Diaries of Housewife, 49 by Patricia Malcolmson and Robert Malcolmson (Editors)
Nella Last wrote a regular diary for twenty-seven years. Two previous volumes, also edited by Patricia and Robert Malcolmson, deal with the Second World War and immediate post-War years. Now this third book starts with selections from 1950 and covers four years of social change as Britain moves into the reign of Elizabeth II. Full review...
We Need To Talk About Kelvin by Marcus Chown
Sporting the best title for a popular science book this side of Alex Bellos' Here's Looking At Euclid, Marcus Chown shows us what everyday things tell us about the universe. You'll find out how your reflection in a window shows the randomness of the universe, how the abundance of iron shows a 4.5bn degree furnace exists in space, and how most of the world's astronomers are wrong about what the darkness of night shows us. Full review...
The Monstrumologist: The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey
While the celebrated monstrumologist Dr Peregrine Warthrop has spent his life tracking down dark and mysterious creatures, the existence of some of these fiends is too much for him to believe. In fact, there's a split between Warthrop, his former close friend John Chanler, and their mentor Von Helrung over whether there really are such things as vampires, werewolves, and the terrifying wendigo, rumoured to be the ultimate predator. Warthrop scoffs at the other men's belief in this creature - and at one point in the book gives an interesting lecture on why it's impossible for it to exist - but nevertheless goes in search of Chanler when he disappears searching for it. It's not just friendship that drives him to look for his colleague though, as he's asked by Chanler's wife Muriel - who is Warthrop's former fiancee. The search for Chanler takes the monstrumologist and his young assistant John Henry deep into the Canadian wilderness, but when they return to New York they bring back someone - or something - that can endanger their lives. Full review...
Moorehawke Trilogy: The Rebel Prince by Celine Kiernan
After spending the entire of The Crowded Shadows, the excellent second book in this series, looking for it, the Protector Lady Wynter Moorehawke has finally discovered the hidden camp of her childhood friend Prince Alberon. Can she, along with her travelling companions Razi Kingsson - Alberon's brother - and Christopher Garron, persuade the Rebel Prince to make peace with his father, or is their quest to end in bloodshed and failure? Full review...
The Wombles by Elizabeth Beresford
A scruffy, shaggy, slightly overweight, furry creature is riding around part of South London, barely in control of his bicycle. No, not the political memoirs of the incumbent Mayor of London. Better. Far better. It's Orinoco Womble and the gang are back! Full review...
The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen by Kwame Anthony Appiah
In the Preface, Appiah believes that morality is an extremely important area of our lives as we live them today. He goes on by saying that it's all very well thinking about morality - our morals - our own code of living - but it's the ultimate action which truly matters. Well, I would certainly agree with that. And as Appiah digs deeper into his subject, he tells his readers that he was struck by similarities between, for example, the collapse of the duel, the abandonment of footbinding, the end of Atlantic slavery. In the following chapters he debates the issues of those three major areas of morality. They were, in short, moral issues on a very large scale. Full review...
Tumtum and Nutmeg: A Circus Adventure by Emily Bearn
I'm a big fan of the Tumtum and Nutmeg stories. They always remind me of Mary Norton's The Borrowers, with the two little mice scurrying secretly around the human's house, helping the children when possible and trying to avoid being seen. So I was excited to read their latest adventure. Full review...
Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Commonwealth & Empire Stamps 1840-1970 2011 by Hugh Jefferies
Over the years the 'Gibbons Commonwealth' catalogue has seen many changes. This is the second edition since Gibbons compacted its listings to cover the era of pounds, shillings and pence up to the end of 1970. (This is fair as the currency in Britain and various other territories goes, though Canada and her territories went decimal in the mid-nineteenth century). This boundary is extended in a few instances, such as the Barbuda British monarchs series, issued at regular intervals over an eighteen-month period spanning 1970-1, but by and large this is what we might call the sterling era catalogue. Full review...
The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi
Tony DiTerlizzi's name will be familiar to many readers as the co-creator of the Spiderwick Chronicles, and it is entirely possible that this new trilogy will become just as popular. It is a charming tale of a young girl who has never seen another human being and who has been brought up by a kindly robot in an underground home. Right from the very first pages we suspect things are not going well: lights flicker and malfunction, machinery and furniture is chipped and scratched, and even the wheel Eva's robot mother moves around on is tread-worn. Eva is being trained to go up into the outside world to meet other humans, but there has been no contact from other Sanctuaries, as the underground homes are called, for a long time. Eva will very soon need to go out and discover for herself if there are any other humans on this strange and colourful planet. Full review...
The Tolpuddle Boy: Transported to Hell and Back by Alan James Brown
In 1834, six men from the Dorset village of Tolpuddle were deported to Australia for their trade union activities. This book, written in a very simple style for children, tells the true story of what happened to them, the politics of their arrest and deportation and the campaign by trade unionists and other supporters of trade union rights to overturn their convictions. Full review...
Out For Blood by Alyxandra Harvey
Hunter Wild has always been head of her class at the Helios-Ra Vampire Hunter Academy. Her family takes vampire hunting very seriously – she's called Hunter, after all – and her Grandpa is one of the most infamous vampire hunters of his generation. He believes in staking all vampires, no questions asked. But then, he also believes it's a good idea for Hunter to cut off all her long blonde hair. Hunter isn't so sure on either count. Full review...
Raven Mysteries: Vampires and Volts by Marcus Sedgwick
It's October at Castle Otherhand. That can only mean one thing - a return to the traditional annual pumpkin hunt. Shame they're so damned elusive. But when, courtesy of a bit of unsubtle arson, a Hallowe'en Ball is redirected to be held at the Castle, and things that do more than go bump in the night gatecrash - why, they're even harder to catch. Unless, of course, you're a wry, arch, droll, antiquated old raven called Edgar. Full review...
Raven Mysteries: Flood and Fang by Marcus Sedgwick
Otherhand Castle, and all in it, is under threat, and only Edgar can save the day. Pity, perhaps, then, that Edgar is only a raven. But he's not your typical raven, for not only is he centuries old, and our narrator, but he is the only one who can see the connections between, and the danger involved in, a cellar full of rising floodwater, a horrific tail glimpsed in the vegetable garden, and some missing maids. Full review...
The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine
The novel begins with Joseph Weissmann, or Josie as he is known, deciding at the age of 78 that he no longer wants to be married to Betty after 48 years together. In an attempt to save Betty's feelings he cites irreconcilable differences, but the truth is he has fallen head over heels in love. Betty is devastated, her life in tatters, with even the beautiful Central Park apartment she adores soon lost to her. Full review...
Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving
We start in 1954, in the middle of nowhere, in a log-cutters' encampment. The cook lives alone with his twelve year old son, in some kind of comfort - a decent job, familiarity with the harsh surroundings and the hardened people inhabiting it. But a pair of tragedies - one involving a fatal work accident with a young teenager new to the job, force the pair to flee. They leave behind a red herring that they hope will force the local brutal policeman to get the wrong impression, and a best friend in the shape of Ketchum, the most hardened logger in the camp as a kind of safety-net, but their destiny, spread over the next few generations, will prove to still be populated with tragedy, romance, despair - and the constant look over their shoulder to the tiny settlement of Twisted River. Full review...
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Mackie lives in Gentry, a prosperous but quiet town. People are good and kind and the trials and tribulations of other places have traditionally been absent from Gentry. Recently, however, things have felt less secure. People are getting nervous and it just won't stop raining. Mackie isn't doing too well either. His allergies to blood and steel are getting worse and worse and his health is beginning to fail. It's getting more and more difficult to avoid the truth...
... because Mackie is different. Full review...
Caribou Island by David Vann
Irene and Gary went to Alaska many years ago and somehow they stayed there, probably through inertia, and they raised two children. Rhoda loves animals and is keen that her boyfriend, Jim the dentist, should marry her. She half knows that he's not that reliable but it's what she's set on. Irene and Gary's son, Mark, lives with his girlfriend, Karen and it seems that the only thing they're serious about is not taking life too seriously. It's probably understandable when you look at Gary. He's self-involved, selfish and dishonest with himself. Irene has her problems too. She's never really got over going home when she was ten years old and finding her mother hanging from the rafters. Full review...
Gone by Lisa McMann
Janie's made it through so much. And now she's graduated from high school, has a guaranteed job with the local police after college, and a boyfriend who loves her like crazy. Her future should be bright, but it isn't. Because Janie's a dreamcatcher. She can - has to - inhabit other people's dreams. It's great for a career in crime fighting, but it's burning her out. Janie knows that within just a few years she'll be blind and crippled. Full review...
You Against Me by Jenny Downham
If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right? If you're brother's accused of a terrible crime but says he didn't do it, you defend him, don't you?
It all seems so straightforward, doesn't it? But it's not straightforward at all for Mikey and Ellie. Mikey comes from a tower block. His mother's an alcoholic and Mikey has to shoulder most of the parental responsibility in the house - getting food on the table, getting his littlest sister to school, fending off periodic interest from social services. Meanwhile, he's trying to make something of himself, training as a chef at a seaside pub. Full review...
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Meet Andi, a New York girl on a trip to Paris. She's a talented musician at a school for exceptional students. She's a wisecracking, quick thinking girl who acts on impulse. She's a brilliant people watcher, and her descriptions of what she sees will make you smile. She's also seriously depressed with a pill popping habit that is spiralling out of control. Full review...
There's A Lion In My Bathroom by Giles Paley-Phillips
This collection of nonsense poetry takes in all sorts of subjects, from wannabe magicians to armpits, and from failed cowboys to a girl with springs for feet. It's all very silly, all very nonsensical, and good fun. A proportion of profits are being donated to Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. Full review...
