Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"

In the mid-thirties, the golden age of Hollywood, three aspiring starlets shared a studio house on Lantana Drive as they waited to hear if they were going to have a career in the movies – or not. Charlotte (soon to be Carlie for acting purposes), Verbena, known to her friends (and only her friends) as Bee and Ivy were desperate for the role of a lifetime, which would put their name in lights. There was an added appeal. Whoever won would star opposite Liam Malone – good looking, charismatic and very married with six children. It wasn't just a case of being able to act. Their lives would be under intense scrutiny. Full review...

Amexica: War Along the Borderline by Ed Vulliamy

Politics and Society

More than 38,000 people have been killed in the last 3 years in what Ed Vulliamy argues is an unacknowledged war, on the long border (2,100 miles) between Mexico and the United States. The war is between drug trafficking gangs over control of the lucrative drugs trade from Mexico to the US. In this compelling and disturbing work of reportage Vulliamy travels through the borderlands meeting some of the people affected. Full review...

The Cocaine Salesman by Conny Braam

Historical Fiction

Picture a world of hellish exclusion, nightmarish noise and images, and horrid violence. Picture one person trying to live through the sleepless nights, the isolation among his peers, the permanent sense of dreadful threat. Picture him needing drugs. His best friend might even be called Charlie. But don't picture an inner city slum, 2012, but a man on the front in World War One. Full review...

Stripped: The Bare Reality of Lap Dancing by Jennifer Hayashi Danns and Leveque Sandrine

Politics and Society

Before I can start, I should qualify that I have never been, nor tried to be, a lapdancer. Nor have I ever gone to a lapdancing club, nor ever tried to. I have no opinion on the matter, save that I can't imagine, in the world of free internet porn, paying some averagely attractive woman to wiggle her semi-nudity in the general direction of my face, and thinking it erotically arousing. So I come to this academically-designed volume on the matter with no prejudice. If only that were the case with the creators. Full review...

Only Nooglebooglers Glow in the Dark by James McKnight and Mark Chambers

For Sharing

Farmer and Mrs McDoogle are throwing a party for all their friends and for the people who visit the farm throughout the year. The barn has been decorated, Mrs McDoogle has prepared plenty of food and one of the monsters, Diggle, is acting as DJ and playing all of their favourite music. Soon the guests and some of the better behaved monsters start arriving. However, just as the party is getting into full swing, calamity strikes with the music stopping and all the lights going out. The machine that turns poo from the gogglynippers into electricity has broken down. Full review...

Disaster was my God by Bruce Duffy

The life of Arthur Rimbaud must be one of the most outrageous in literary history, more scandalous than Wilde, more self-destructive than Malcolm Lowery, Rimbaud was the boy poet and iconoclast who took on the literary establishment at end of the nineteenth century and won. So Duffy's fictional account, based closely around the actual facts of Rimbaud's life, was bound to be an exciting and furious, and he doesn't disappoint. This is a difficult book to put down. Full review...

The Ingo Chronicles: Stormswept by Helen Dunmore

Morveren and her twin sister Jenna live with their parents in an isolated community on an island off the coast of Cornwall. A causeway leads to the mainland at low tide but at high tide they are cut off. Music is intrinsic to the islanders and Morveren's little brother Digory has a special talent for playing the violin. One day, he will play the special violin of island legend, but for now, Conan's fiddle sits high on a shelf waiting for him. Full review...

The Berlin Crossing by Kevin Brophy

It's the 1990s and Herr Doktor Ritter - to give Michael his full title - is about to lose his teaching job. Although a German national, he teaches English. Apparently the Social Review Committee has been doing some 'reviewing' lately and it doesn't look good for Michael. Full review...

I Am A Chechen! by German Sadulaev

That exclamation mark in the title says a lot. It says that, in spite of everything, in spite of Sadulaev leaving his homeland, it still tugs at his heartstrings - and will probably do so throughout the rest of his life. The short author's note at the beginning ends with the arresting sentence - Sadulaev's work has unleashed heated debate in Russia. And I'm thinking, brave author indeed and I also couldn't wait to find out what all the fuss was about. Full review...

Watch Over Me by Daniela Sacerdoti

Women's Fiction

Eilidh Lawson thought that life was finally looking up. She'd struggled through years of failed fertility treatments despite knowing that her husband was seeing someone else. Their marriage had crumbled around their feet – but then Eilidh found that she was pregnant. Despite being only ten weeks into the pregnancy she wore a maternity smock – and that was the day she lost the baby. Months of heartbreak, depression and hospitalisation followed until one day she decided that enough was enough. She was leaving her home, her marriage and most of her possessions and she was returning to her childhood home in the Highlands of Scotland. She was never going to risk that sort of hurt again. Full review...

The Gendarme by Mark Mustian

Historical Fiction

There are times when you will want to shut 'The Gendarme' and just walk away from the despair and disgust that this account of genocide engenders. Don't. Ultimately this tale of an old Turk revisiting his terrible past is both touching and important - an exploration of memory and forgiveness that shouldn't be missed. Full review...

The Beauty and the Sorrow: An intimate history of the first world war by Peter Englund

History

In simple terms the First World War, like most (if not all) conflicts has come down to us largely as a four-year sequence of events, an acknowledgement of defeat by one side, and a peace agreement. Yet there are many different ways of telling its history, and as Englund tells us in his preface, this is not a book about what it was, but about what it was like. Though a series of snapshots in words, he shows us various stages of the conflict and its effect on people. His emphasis is not so much events and processes, but more the feelings, impressions, experiences and moods of individuals caught up in the period. Full review...

Julia by Otto de Kat

The book opens with Chris as an elderly man who is nearing the end of his life. Turn a page or two and he is, in fact, dead. Suicide apparently. It's all very sad. He lived alone and a paid employee, his young driver, found him in his study. 'Suicide for the posh' his driver thinks looking at the corpse. But we have to travel back down the decades to find out why. Full review...

Out of the Depths by Cathy MacPhail

It must be cool to have some superpower, right? Be able to fly, or hold your breath for an hour underwater, or see dead people? Hmm . . . not so much. Tyler isn't at all impressed when she suddenly starts to see people who really shouldn't be there, and neither are her classmates. In fact, they think she's either lying to get attention, or she's insane. And Tyler is beginning to wonder if they're right. Full review...

Slash And Burn by Colin Cotterill

Crime

The front cover suggests an action-packed, thriller-type read. But I hadn't bargained for the charm similar to Alexander McCall Smith. So, a light read then, fair enough. And I could tell from Cotterill's one page 'Acknowledgements' that he is a witty writer. And that is certainly underlined by the chapter headings, such as 'Another Fine Mess' and 'Lipstick and Too Tight Underwear.' Full review...

Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery by Keren David

Lia is obsessed with a guy called Raf who barely seems to know she exists. She has a sister who's got some problems at school, a mother who never seems to stop nagging... and an £8 million lottery ticket in her pocket. Suddenly, she's a lot more popular with her family and friends - but is winning the riches on offer all that it's cracked up to be? Full review...

The Devil's Ribbon by D E Meredith

Crime (Historical)

In the London of 1858, the Irish are the poorest of the poor, despised and feared by the English. They were forced to emigrate from their fatherland because of the famine which decimated the population, and now the majority of them live in filthy, germ-ridden rookeries. Cholera is killing them off in their hundreds, and blame for their terrible conditions is laid squarely at the feet of their English masters, together with those Irishmen who have so far forgotten their home that they cooperate with the oppressors. And as the hottest summer on record drags on, and the tenth anniversary of the potato blight and its horrific consequences approach, the mood in the slums is ripe for violence and murder. Full review...

Sisterwives by Rachel Connor

When I first read the title (I hadn't yet read the back cover blurb) I glibly thought that it was about two sisters and their marriages. Wrong. This debut novel by Connor is about two very different women (one is no more than a girl really) who just happen to 'marry' the same man. I use the word marry very loosely indeed. Their community, their rules, their descriptions etc can be rather quirky. Marriages are normally called 'sealings'.' Full review...

Victim Six by Gregg Olsen

Crime

Olsen will have you on the edge of your seat says Lee Child. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed some of Child's books so I couldn't wait to get started on this book. Would it be as good and as satisfying as Child's? Full review...

Dragonolia by Chris Barnardo

children's Non-Fiction

This book is, first of all, a rather beautiful book to behold. The red cloth hardback cover with the curled-up golden dragon on the front immediately make you want to pick it up and look inside! It's also a rather unusual book, being a mix of both fiction and non-fiction, so when you begin it you're initially not quite sure what you're looking at. As you read on you discover that there's a story running throughout by Sir Richard Barons, a famous dragon hunter, and with each story he tells there is also a craft project of something related to make! Full review...

The Kingdom Under the Sea by Joan Aiken and Jan Pienkowski

I do like a good collection of fairytales, and by that I mean the rather more menacing, edgy versions, rather than the sanitised re-tellings that we often see. Here Joan Aiken is retelling some European fairytales and they are full of dragons and mermaids and goblins and witches. It's exactly the sort of more unusual collection of stories that would have kept me happy and quiet on a dull, rainy afternoon as a child and it has the added attraction of many atmospheric and beautiful illustrations by Pienkowski. Full review...

The London of Sherlock Holmes - Over 400 Computer Generated Street Level Photos by Thomas Bruce Wheeler

Travel

Should I trust a book that has a typo on the FRONT cover? Would I purchase a book that practically says, as its first words, the e-book version is better than this paper thing? This, despite setting up very much the wrong impression, is a gateway into the world of Sherlock Holmes - but does, as I say, blatantly show itself up as flawed, while the electronic version could count as a very worthwhile app for the Conan Doyle buff. Full review...

Praetorian (Roman Legion II) by Simon Scarrow

Historical Fiction

Still in hock to the imperial secretary Narcissus, Praetorian opens with our heroes Cato and Macro kicking their heels at the port of Ostia. They're about to embark on one of their most challenging adventures yet - as undercover spies in the Praetorian Guard. Rome in AD50 is full of perils. Imperial authority is now absolute and the Senate really only exists as an old boys club. The real power comes from being an adviser to the Emperor and, as these advisors jostle for influence, plots and conspiracies abound. Claudius, never in the best of health, looks precarious - but which of his heirs will succeed him? Nero? Or Britannicus? And can he hold on for long enough that the choice is clear? Full review...

Machiavelli: A Life Beyond Ideology by Paul Oppenheimer

Biography

Machiavelli, 'the first philosopher to define politics as treachery', has probably been better known as an adjective, Machiavellian being a synonym for duplicity in statecraft, than as a historical person. Interestingly, the term 'Machiavel' became common in English usage as an adjective and noun around 1570, although none of his works were translated into the language for another seventy years or so after that. Full review...

A History of English Food by Clarissa Dickson Wright

History

Writing a history of English food, and to some extent drink, must be a daunting task, but as an experienced TV presenter (as one of the Two Fat Ladies with the late Jennifer Paterson) and as one who was born in the post-war rationing world in 1947, Clarissa Dickson Wright is well placed to do so. Full review...

Hats Off! by Neil Griffiths and Janette Louden

For Sharing

'Hats Off!' is a wonderfully entertaining book that is written entirely in rhyme. It starts by asking if the reader has ever thought about how many hats they might have been bought and whether a hat actually looks good on their head or not. The author, Neil Griffiths, then goes on to suggest that there are:

Hats too big, too tight
and too small,
Hats that just shouldn't
be worn at all! Full review...

Bird Brain by Guy Kennaway

Humour

'It began for Basil Banger Peyton-Crumbe the day he died in a pheasant shooting incident'.

If you were in any doubt as to the nature of the novel given the cover jacket and the author's disclaimer to the effect that any similarity between the human characters and any real person is entirely coincidental, but he feels safe from any threats of libel action on behalf of the dead animals whose characters he has mercilessly manipulated for narrative effect, then its opening sentence should put you straight. Full review...

The Haunting of Charity Delafield by Ian Beck

Charity Delafield has grown up in a very solitary way. Rattling around in Stone Green Hall, her father's ancestral home, she has been isolated from the outside world by her strict and forbidding father because of a "condition" she has apparently suffered from since birth. With only her governess, Rose, and her cat, Mr Tompkins, for company, Charity is a lonely child. Full review...

The Cry of the Wolf by Melvin Burgess

hought to have been extinct in Britain for centuries, there are actually 70 English wolves left when Ben meets the Hunter. Burning with mortification at being mocked for poor shooting skills, Ben lets the carefully-guarded secret slip to this awful, vile man. And over the next three years, the Hunter makes it his business to find and kill these beautiful, rare creatures. Eventually, there is only one family left and Silver and Conna will do anything to protect their cub, the last of his kind... Full review...

The Popularity Papers by Amy Ignatow

The RRP of this book is a whole £4 more than the average Dork Diary. What do you get for that extra outlay, and why do I even point this out? Well, both this series and that are designed as if they were created by a member of the target audience - an American tweenage girl with a lot to say about herself, her school life and how, once you've avoided your parents embarrassing you, the popular girls at school being condescending and rude at the best of times, everything in life will still work its damnedest to heap ignominy and embarrassment on you. Full review...

The Cambridge Companion to Rudyard Kipling by Howard J Booth (editor)

Rudyard Kipling, born in India in 1865, is still the youngest ever Nobel literature laureate. He was a prolific author and at the turn of the century up to the first World War an immensely popular one. Even now he remains the most frequently quoted of all English authors (with the possible exception of Shakespeare) – albeit often taken out of context. Full review...

You and I by Padgett Powell

I've often wondered how men and women of letters can pack it all in. People churn out a career of fiction, as well as reading all the classics, and offering pages and pages of diaries and letters on their death. Padgett Powell can get to be a professor of books, and therefore I assume is duty-bound to read and write lots, but still find time to knock out novels, however short. It was only a few months ago I was reading The Interrogative Mood for a review elsewhere, and here is another new release from him. Serpent's Tail will cheat in 2012 by giving the British audience Powell's debut novel, almost two decades old. Full review...

MetaMAUS by Art Spiegelman

Graphic Novels

Before the Holocaust was turned into a child-like near-fable for all, and before it was the focus of superb history books such as this, it became a family saga of a father relating his experiences to a son, who then drew it all - featuring animals not humans - Maus. To celebrate the twenty-five years since then, we have this brilliant look back at the creation of an equally brilliant volume. Full review...

A Tiger Too Many by Antony Wootten

Jill's brother, Pete, was a keeper at London Zoo and when her mother was at work she would go to the zoo with him. She became very attached to an elderly tiger by the name of Ronny but with the outbreak of war tough decisions had to be made. What would happen if poisonous snakes escaped during a bombing raid? What about the elderly and dangerous animals? Jill is heart-broken when Ronny is shot but there's consolation in the form of a tiger cub, the runt of a litter rejected by his mother, who would need all Jill's care if he was to survive. Full review...

Why Me? The Very Important Emails of Bob Servant by Neil Forsyth

Catchy title and catchy front cover graphics. What's not to like? It takes a lot to make me laugh generally, but as I had an initial flick through this book, things looked promising. And I was also thinking that it's a pleasant change to see another location (other than perhaps the predictable Glasgow and Edinburgh) get an airing. Full review...

Sherry Cracker Gets Normal by D. J. Connell

Whilst it's wrong to judge a book by its cover, a mere sight of D. J. Connell's second novel 'Sherry Cracker Gets Normal' is enough to make me smile. The title is amusing; the colourful design enticing and the effusive praise for Connell's debut 'Julian Corkle is a Filthy Liar' encouraging. Full review...

The Silent Weaver by Roger Hutchinson

Biography

There is no question but that the story of Angus has all the right ingredients for a fascinating study. Taken from his Scottish Lowlands agricultural early childhood to the isolation of a Hebridean island of South Uist, joining the last ever horse platoon in the British Army at the outbreak of the Second World War, then mental breakdown and effective incarceration for almost all the rest of his life, he created some of the most unusual works of folk art that have existed this century. And Hutchison tackles every angle of this rich narrative, exploring the military thinking behind how horse regiments were to combat Hitler, through to the operations of mental health care in later twentieth century Scotland, and all points in between. Full review...

Young Sherlock Holmes: Fire Storm by Andrew Lane

The estate of Arthur Conan Doyle has authorised Andrew Lane to write a series of books about the early years of Sherlock Holmes, and if this book is typical then they made an excellent choice. Through these stories we see the development of the complex and sometimes contradictory aspects of Sherlock's personality, set in the context of the most thrilling adventures and courageous acts of derring-do a young person could desire. Full review...

Ariadne's Thread by Gavin James

Ariadne's Thread is the story of Elena Avgoulas who decided in May 1941 that she would have to leave Chios, the Greek island where she was born, until the war was over. German soldiers had occupied the island and whilst they were there it would not be home to her, her mother and sister and brothers. The brothers were in the Greek army. Her mother would run the family bakery and her sister would support their mother. Elena was a medical student in Athens and had a nursing qualification; she decided that she would make use of this in the war effort. And so began a journey that would take her to Cyprus, Palestine, Egypt, Italy and Germany in the course of the war. Full review...

The Peppers and the International Magic Guys by Sian Pattenden

Esme and Monty are the Pepper twins, and whilst their hippie parents are away on holiday 'reconnecting with nature' the twins are left with Uncle Potty who is a member of the International Magic Guys club. Unfortunately the club is threatened with closure, and the more nervous Uncle Potty becomes about the club's future the more disastrous his tricks are! Will he ever be able to perform in the show that must save the club? Full review...

How to Save the World with Salad Dressing by Thomas Byrne and Tom Cassidy

Popular Science

The world is under threat from a manic Bond-type baddie. You, my friendly reader, are the only person with the smarts enough to save it. You'd better not be one of my less intelligent friends, because according to this book one needs a lot of physics-inclined lateral thinking to carry out the dangerous tasks ahead. You'll need to know about gravity and other forces, buoyancy, friction, acceleration and more to get through the puzzles here. Full review...

While the Women are Sleeping by Javier Marias

Short Stories

The first thing the trivially minded will note is that this is not the complete edition of While the Women are Sleeping, for not all the stories in the original Spanish volume are here. You might think that's because some have been hived off for a future 'best of' compilation. But if this isn't the best of Javier Marias, then I don't know what is. Full review...

Tintin: Herge and His Creation by Harry Thompson

Biography

I love Tintin. I love his quiff and his innocence, his plus-fours and his foreign adventures, I love Snowy the dog and most of all I love Captain Haddock and the flamboyance of his blistering barnacles language. So I was thrilled to see a biography of the character and Hergé, his creator, and I picked it up with enthusiasm. Full review...

Philip Ardagh's Book of Kings, Queens, Emperors and Rotten Wart-Nosed Commoners by Philip Ardagh

Children's Non-Fiction

If you deem a good children's historical trivia book to be one that tells you, the adult, something they didn't know about historical trivia, then this is a good example. I didn't know George V broke his pelvis when his horse fell on him, startled by some post-WWI huzzahs. I didn't know Charles VI of France nearly got torched in some drunken bacchanal. The length of time Charlemagne sat on a throne (over 400 whole years (even if he wasn't wholly whole all that time)) was news to me, as was the raffle that was held (more or less) for being the unknown soldier. Therefore this is a good book for children and the adults willing to instill some historical trivia into them. Full review...

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

At the heart of the very black comedy that is Catch 22 is Captain Yossarian, a World War II American bombardier, who wants to survive the war. Flying repeated combat missions is undermining his sanity, and surely a mad man should be grounded? But if he asks to be grounded, he demonstrates an absolutely sane concern for his own safety. If he is sane, he can't be grounded. This, his doctor tells him, is catch 22. Full review...

The Killing Way by Anthony Hays

Crime (Historical)

Post-Roman invasion and Great Britain shows the signs of a beleagured nation. And straight away Hays gives us an historical flavour - Saxons, Picts and names such as 'Ambrosius Aurelianus' are mentioned early on in the book. Full review...

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce