Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"
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'''Read [[Features|new features]].''' | '''Read [[Features|new features]].''' | ||
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| + | |author=Andre Dubus III | ||
| + | |title=Townie: A Memoir | ||
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| + | |summary=The book opens with Andre and his father taking a jog. Seems a normal and natural activity - what's to write about here, you could be asking. Well, I'll tell you. By this time the father no longer lives in the family home, the mother is struggling to pay the bills and to put food on the table - and the author, Andre is too embarrassed to admit to his father that he doesn't own a pair of jogging shoes. He's borrowed his sister's even although they're about two sizes too small, he's in agony seconds into the jog but is he going to own up? Nope. Bloody feet and pain are a by-product of precious time with his father. So straight away, I'm getting the gist of the book and the relationship between father and son. | ||
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|summary=Gilbert and Sullivan were the Rice and Lloyd Webber of the late Victorian era. Some might regard their work as slightly dated these days, especially the satirical lyrics which were so much a product of their time, but their appeal has never really faded and it surely never will. | |summary=Gilbert and Sullivan were the Rice and Lloyd Webber of the late Victorian era. Some might regard their work as slightly dated these days, especially the satirical lyrics which were so much a product of their time, but their appeal has never really faded and it surely never will. | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0752455893</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0752455893</amazonuk> | ||
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Revision as of 16:46, 25 July 2011
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 16,117 reviews at TheBookbag.
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Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III
The book opens with Andre and his father taking a jog. Seems a normal and natural activity - what's to write about here, you could be asking. Well, I'll tell you. By this time the father no longer lives in the family home, the mother is struggling to pay the bills and to put food on the table - and the author, Andre is too embarrassed to admit to his father that he doesn't own a pair of jogging shoes. He's borrowed his sister's even although they're about two sizes too small, he's in agony seconds into the jog but is he going to own up? Nope. Bloody feet and pain are a by-product of precious time with his father. So straight away, I'm getting the gist of the book and the relationship between father and son. Full review...
Rip Tide (Dark Life) by Kat Falls
Our favourite Dark Lifer and his Topsider friend are set for another post-apocalyptic adventure in this follow-up to Dark Life. Ty and Gemma discover a township chained and sunk on the ocean floor, every one of its hundreds of residents murdered. But before they can begin to unravel the mystery, another crisis takes centre stage. Full review...
The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph 1942-45 by Frank McLynn
I'm no military historian; I'm not really interested in war. In the Second World War, if push came to shove, I would probably have claimed pacificism. But when this paperback version of the recently published hardback came up, by prolific and highly-esteemed historian Frank McLynn, I just had to read it. The subject is very special in our family, because “Grandad was there”. Grandad fought over the tennis court at Kohima, and he has carried the trauma in his head to this day. Frank McLynn describes that particular battle as “... a scene from Hieronymus Bosch out of Passchendaele”. I knew I had to steel myself to read this book, and was very pleased that the author wrote sensitively about the reality of close combat for lily livers like mine. Full review...
Frank Merlin: Princes Gate by Mark Ellis
In the early part of the Second World War there was a lull, when hostilities didn't really seem to get going – the so-called Phoney War. Some Londoners, who'd left the capital in the expectation of early bombing raids, began drifting back and there were still those who thought that peace could be negotiated – that we could stay out of the fight. Chief amongst those outside of the political classes who supported this view was the American Ambassador, Joseph Kennedy. Kennedy was, perhaps fortunately but not unusually, out of the country when one of the staff at the residence was murdered and her body fished out of the Thames. Full review...
Flawless by Lara Chapman
Sarah Burke has everything. Model looks and body, straight A grades and a best friend who would take a bullet for her. The one thing she doesn't have is a normal sized nose. Hers is massive. So, Sarah is forced to hide behind a fake confidence that pushes people about to defend herself from the bullying that her nose attracts. Plus, a mother who leaves nose job leaflets in her room, bags and on the kitchen table with her breakfast. Full review...
The Beautiful and the Damned: Life in the New India by Siddhartha Deb
This book immediately caught my eye with its terrific front cover. A picture says more than a thousand words ... But I was conscious that, as a work of non-fiction, it may be full of rather dry facts and figures that I was going to have to plough through with grace and patience. Couple that with, in my opinion, most of the Indian writers that I have read, have in my experience been unnecessarily wordy and flowery (and exasperating) choosing to use fifteen words when one or two would be nicely. So, a little bit of trepidation as I open the book. The first thing to strike me is the intriguing contents page. As Deb is going to concentrate on a mere handful of individuals I'm not going to feel bombarded by hundreds of different stories vying for space on the page. Good start. Full review...
Greenmantle by John Buchan
I'm told that Buchan is still widely read. Really? "John Buchan? Oh yes, he wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps"… and that's as far as most of us get. Let's be honest most of us only know that one from the many film versions, just about all of which take huge liberties with the original plot. Full review...
The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Big Horn by Nathaniel Philbrick
I have to admit that I was rather underinformed about Custer before reading this book; I knew that he was killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn and that opinion seemed to be split on whether he was an arrogant and over-confident commander or a dashing and brilliant one. From reading this admirably even-handed account, not just of his famous Last Stand but also of the events leading up to it, I found out a huge amount about him and the other personalities involved in his defeat. Full review...
Solstice at Stonewylde by Kit Berry
Yul's odyssey culminates in an epic final conflict and destiny appears to be on his side. The Villagers are ready to rise against the oppression that Magus has built upon them so skilfully over the years that they weren't consciously aware of it until recently. However, Magus is still a brutal force to be reckoned with and he is more dangerous than ever in his desperation. Full review...
The Way We Were by Elizabeth Noble
When Susannah comes across her old flame Rob at her brother's wedding, she instantly remembers all of the things that she loved about him. She cannot stop thinking about him and by doing so it makes her see her partner Doug in not such an attractive light. Doug pays her very little attention and often does not include her in his plans with his children. They seem to merely co-exist rather than share a life together which causes Susannah to become more and more dissatisfied, especially when she compares him with Rob. Although Rob has recently married, he starts meeting with Susannah in London on a regular basis and the flame is soon rekindled. However, they know that if they take things further, other are bound to get hurt. Full review...
Next to Love by Ellen Feldman
Babe, Grace and Millie are three American girls who have grown up together. Now young women each marry their sweetheart just as America becomes involved in the Second World War. But on a fateful day in 1944, sixteen telegrams arrive from the War Department bringing death to the locals, including Grace and Millie whose husbands have both been killed. Babe seems to be the lucky one as her husband, Claude, returns from the War, but in truth he will never be the same man again. Full review...
Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready
You might be thinking the worst problem a modern-day American girl could have is her rock-star-in-waiting boyfriend dying, and coming back as a ghost that she and those younger than her can see because of some untold event in the past, but suffering when he gets malevolent and becomes a shade, which means she has to help him move on before he's locked up in limbo. That's because you're not factoring in the last boy born before her, who can't see but is utterly repellent to ghosts, but who she's just about to fall in love with when her late love turns up again, this time with a strangely solid, corporeal form... Full review...
Route 19 Revisited: The Clash and London Calling by Marcus Gray
When I began reading these 500 pages or so, my initial feeling was – how could anybody write a book THIS long on one album? Soon, it became clear that I had been slightly misled by the title. Although 'London Calling', long feted as the best LP (now a CD, naturally) ever made by one of punk's most seminal groups, is the focal point, this volume also charts in detail the history and development of the Clash to that point, their subsequent career (and decline), and their legacy. Full review...
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
A young couple find the beginnings of a dream life together in a new apartment in a New York building that a friend says is a hotbed of death and misfortune. But it seems perfect. His job prospects as an actor have never been better, and they're quickly accepted into the elderly community of their neighbours. What's more, she - Rosemary - gets pregnant. Nothing can go wrong, can it? None of this happiness and hope can come at a dreadful cost - can it? Full review...
Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam
This book has gained praise from the likes of the Washington Post and the Financial times so I was really looking forward to a good - even great read. But did I get it? I think that opening on the eve of the millennium (the most recent one) is pretty special in itself and should be a good 'hook' to draw the reader in. The narrator, young, male (not named as yet) and his family are packing the family car for the journey ahead. The poor car is full to bursting. Dad is a sceptic and he's taking no chances with this millennium situation and he's instructed his family to pack more than the usual festive presents this time. They've (well, dad has) made the decision to get as far away from London as they can - just in case. Just in case of what exactly is never mentioned, only implied. So it's New Year celebrations with the grandparents. Full review...
The Man in the Shed by Lloyd Jones
The title is certainly attention-grabbing and I hoped that the book would live up to my expectations. It did. The man in 'The Man in the Shed' is not blessed with a name. His name (whatever it is) is not important or relevant to the tale. It's all about why he's in the shed in the first place. This particular shed's in a garden of a house inhabited by a family which includes the young narrator. It's pretty clear that the marriage is going through a rocky patch right now. So who, you could reasonably wonder, is the odd one out here - the husband or the man in the shed. Jones tells us in his own way. He's a writer who catches your attention early, or he did in my case. No fancy statements or lazy cliches but good old plain English but with flair. Full review...
Bad Intentions by Karin Fossum
Jon, Reilly and Axel had been friends for the best part of a couple of decades. Axel was the dominant one of the trio and Reilly was easily led. Jon - well Jon was vulnerable. Something had happened to them all at the end of the previous year and Jon had recently been in a mental hospital, but now, at the beginning of autumn, Axel and Reilly were taking him for a weekend at Dead Water Lake.
The three young men went out in a boat and Jon went over the side. Neither Axel nor Reilly made any attempt to help him and they didn't report his disappearnace until the following moring - and even then they said that he'd gone for a walk in the forest and had not returned. Full review...
The Echo Chamber by Luke Williams
Born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1946, in the last days of the British Empire, Evie Steppman had exceptional hearing. She remembers what it was like in the womb, the pumping of her mother's blood, the different tones of her father's voice telling her stories, and the clatter of outside noise, yet to be recognized as the falling of rain or the whining of the wind. As she grew up she learnt to listen to the sounds around her, for even in silence there is still the echo of one's own heartbeat. Now, many years later, her hearing is going, and with it her memories. Confined to an attic space in Scotland she needs to write her story down before it is too late. To do this she turns to objects – a pocket watch, maps, photos and diaries, to help re-form her past, to take us on a journey – not through sights, but through sounds. Full review...
Too Small to Fail by Morris Gleitzman
Oliver's parents own an investment bank. They are very rich and also very busy and they need to be in the city for their work. This means that Oliver lives in a penthouse flat, largely in the company of a succession of housekeepers, and he can't have a pet. Of late, Oliver has been spending a lot of time with his nose pressed up against a pet shop window, falling in love with a black-and-white dog that he knows he'll never be able to take home. Full review...
Grow Up by Ben Brooks
Jasper is seventeen. He spends his time pretending to revise for his AS levels, fantasising about sex with Georgia Treely, hanging out with self-harming best friend Tenaya watching cheesy TV shows, and taking ketamine and mephedrone with his friends. When he's at a loose end, he goes to sex chatrooms in a quest to see how far he can get without going private (paying). He's also convinced that his step-father, Keith, is a homicidal maniac whose next victim is likely to be Jasper's mother... Full review...
You Deserve Nothing by Alexander Maksik
Does the world need another 'inspirational teacher lets down students' story? It's debatable, but this one is really rather good. Full review...
Invisible Romans: Prostitutes, Outlaws, Slaves, Gladiators, Ordinary Men and Women … the Romans that History Forgot by Robert Knapp
This academic title by Robert Knapp, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, will be welcomed by serious students of the Roman Empire. It goes without saying that this research provides a valuable supplement to the existing academic literature. From the meticulous attention to detail, I suspect that amassing the material was a labour of love over a lifetime of analysing more prominent Roman citizens. Clues have been inferred from classical literature, culled from epitaphs and deduced from archaeological finds (particularly Pompeii), since hardly any evidence of ordinary folks' lives has otherwise survived. Full review...
Uugghh! by Claudia Boldt
I like it when I find a completely different style in this genre of book as it reminds me that picture books are not just for the under fives, they can reach a much wider audience as well as giving out strong and important messages. This book is an interesting one; it is obviously giving a very clear message about self perception and image, which implies that everybody is special to somebody and you can always find beauty in the world, even if not everybody find beauty in you. Full review...
The Dark Threads by Jean Davison
Like any other teenage girl in the 60s, Jean Davison spent her days playing records, hanging out in coffee shops with girlfriends and undertaking her first fumbles with boys. She was bright, a talented and eager writer full of dreams about the future. Full review...
Never be Lonely by Pamela Fudge
There was a moment when Francesca Dudley wondered quite what she was doing in a church in Canada. She'd barely recovered from the lengthy flight and here she was listening to people extol the virtues of Mitchell Browning, now deceased. Francesca hadn't seen him since he left the family home when she was four and now, four decades later, she was coming to terms with the fact that her father had still been alive, only to find that he was dead – if you see what I mean. Mitchell has not just left her fatherless though – there seems to be a whole tribe of people bereaved by his death and at least one of them doesn't seem all that keen that she should be there. Full review...
John Dies at the End by David Wong
'John Dies at the End' begins with friends John and Dave going to a party and meeting a Jamaican drug dealer who provides John with a hit of something called 'soy sauce'. Thereafter, John starts to see things that others can't see. Dave thinks he has had a bad reaction to the drug until he accidentally takes a hit and also starts to have strange experiences, seeing odd shadow creatures, none of whom are very friendly. Even worse, people start to die and a dog takes on human characteristics. Before long, John and Dave are facing death on a regular basis and are aware that they have access to dimensions that normal people don't know about. Full review...
Sisyphusa by Michael Richmond
The back cover blurb tells us that the mentally ill (for whatever reason or reasons) are still stigmatised by various sectors of society. I would agree. I then flip the book over to the front cover which has the words 'the mental health publisher' and straight away some of us may already be making a judgement (perhaps unfairly too) before they even open the book. Perhaps this up-front honesty by the publisher negates somewhat the terrific title and terrific graphics of the cover. Just my own personal opinion here. The publishing company is being supported by the Arts Council, England. Full review...
The Walkers of Legend by Miles Allen
The Empire controls nine-tenths of the globe, but even this doesn't supply enough victims to keep enough blood flowing from the Yan-producing chambers. And so the new Emperor sets about a plan to invade the last remaining free lands. Advance parties are abducting mages to leave the defenders exposed and vulnerable. This is nothing new - it's an obvious tactic - but among the refugees is Chayne, a young man of startling power and promise. Chayne's potential is soon discovered by the advancing army's chief mage, Lathashal, and the young Mlendrian finds himself a favoured apprentice. Full review...
Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx by James Rollins
James Rollins has hit upon a truly brilliant premise in this series. People and creatures from our world have been transported at various times to a savage, prehistoric place called Calypsos, and in the first volume, Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow Jake and his sister find themselves suddenly whisked to a city where Romans, Mayans, Neanderthals and groups from many other societies, places and eras live more or less peaceably side by side. Their archaeologist parents disappeared three years before, and the two young people's struggles to survive, and to defeat Kalverum Rex, the Skull King, go side by side with their hope of finding a trace there of their mother and father. Full review...
Alice by Judith Hermann
Alice is a collection of five short stories, linked thematically since they all deal with the subject of death, but they are also linked because the central character, Alice, is the same in each story. So rather than feeling like short stories the book has a hint of the novel to it, yet the stories are never completed or fully told so it's a novel where you're not always sure what's going on. Full review...
Isabella by Fiona Mountain
The fate of mutineer, Fletcher Christian in the 18th century remains a mystery even today but Fiona Mountain has pieced together a dramatic and powerful story based on rumours and clues that Fletcher returned to England to be with his long-lost love, Isabella Curwen. Fletcher, the son of a bankrupt family and Isabella, the sole heiress of a huge fortune are prevented from marrying. Their relationship is manipulated by those around them and a young, naïve Isabella is forced to marry her cousin, John. Full review...
Milicent's Book by Charlotte Moore
'My name is Milicent Bella Ludlow and I am an orphan'.
So opens this story told in diary form of a year in the life of a young Victorian girl whose father has just died. Luckily there are some kind and loving relatives willing to help her and Mabel, her older sister, and they are able to stay living in their family home, Yotes, for a while. Full review...
Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater
After his best friend fell in love with a faerie, James realised she would never love him that way. But his attempts to get away from her, and the unrequited love he still nurses, only lead him straight to more faeries than ever before. For at James' new school, Thornking-Ash, the student populace is entirely made of musical prodigies. And there's nothing that attracts faeries more than music. James has even attracted his own muse – the deadly and dangerously attractive Nuala. The music she helps him make is better than he could ever manage on his own, but James knows the deadly consequences of making a deal with faeries, and he knows Nuala won't give him freebies for long. Full review...
Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan: His Life and Character by Andrew Crowther
Gilbert and Sullivan were the Rice and Lloyd Webber of the late Victorian era. Some might regard their work as slightly dated these days, especially the satirical lyrics which were so much a product of their time, but their appeal has never really faded and it surely never will. Full review...
