Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"

Harriet Lane's debut novel, Alys, Always garnered a raft of favourable coverage from the professional reviewers when it was first published in hardback. Concerning, as it does, a young woman who works as a sub-editor in a publishing company and a Booker winning novelist, there is always the chance that this was due to the reviewers merely recognizing the world that is portrayed. This view is unfounded though - it is a superbly drawn, frequently very funny, and often psychologically chilling story of ambition and class differences. It thoroughly deserves all the praise that has been heaped upon it. Full review...

I Want a Boyfriend! by Tony Ross

When the Little Princess sees the Maid picking a flower and handing it to the General, she demands to know why. It turns out that the General is the Maid’s boyfriend and he looks after her. Well, on hearing this, the Little Princess declares at the top of her voice:

I WANT A BOYFRIEND! Full review...

Friends in the Snow by Daniel Postgate and Sam Childs

When Lucy’s dad offers to paint her bedroom walls, she is adamant that she only wants them to be white. He is a little surprised by her choice thinking that just white is a little bit boring. However, Lucy jokes that it’s not just white because there is actually a white monster hiding in the white snow. Her dad agrees and before long she has a freshly painted bedroom. The only problem is that, when she tries to go to sleep, she wishes that she hadn’t mentioned the monster because he keeps her awake with his grunting and growling. Full review...

You Had Me At Hello by Mhairi McFarlane

Women's Fiction

Who hasn’t got a ‘one that got away’? Or maybe several? Rachel and Ben meet at university in Manchester, but she’s got a boyfriend back home, and he’s a bit of a ladies man, so rather than settle down together (which is arguably what at least one of them thinks they should have done), they pad through a few years as fellow students and then go their separate ways. After a while Rachel heads back to Manchester and some time well after that, Ben finds himself back up north too. They bump into each other and it’s like nothing has changed. Except everything has changed. Rachel is hot off a broken engagement, while Ben is married to a hotshot lawyer from Lan-dan. Will their past stay in the past, and do they want it to? Told from Rachel’s point of view, this is a story that sets out to answer those, and other questions. Full review...

The Best Present Ever! by Neil Griffiths and Melanie Siegel

Long ago and far away lived a kind and generous King and Queen in a land where everyone was well treated and happy. One day the Queen tells her delighted husband that she is to have a baby. The King decides that his lovely wife deserves the very best present ever to mark the happy event. So begins a search by the King’s messengers throughout the country and across the world for the perfect gift for the Queen. Beautiful gifts are brought to the palace from all over the globe for the King to inspect. As he is about to select the best present ever a poor young fisherman arrives and incredibly the gift that he brings might be exactly what the King is looking for! Full review...

The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates

Short Stories

Many years ago, I stumbled across a Joyce Carol Oates story in a horror anthology. What I most remember about the story was how vividly the feelings the characters experienced were portrayed. Whilst the story itself was not exactly a horror story in the mould of Stephen King and James Herbert, it was very well presented. With this experience, I had high hopes of 'The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares' a brand new collection of short stories from Oates. Full review...

The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna

Eva is an echo. Woven at the Loom, she is a carbon copy of Amarra, a girl loved by her parents so much that they can't bear the thought of losing her. Should anything ever happen to Amarra, Eva will take her place - live in her home, go to her school, even kiss her boyfriend. So Eva's young life is all about Amarra. She eats the same foods, studies the same subjects, reads the same books, watches the same films. When Amarra gets a tattoo, so must Eva. The Weavers impose many rules and if Eva breaks even one of them, her life is forfeit. Full review...

Beyond by Graham McNamee

Teenager Jane's life so far has been plagued by near-fatal accidents. The last one left a nail embedded in her brain and the doctors say surgery is too dangerous. And she sleepwalks at night, walking alone in a daze up the highway. As you can imagine, Jane's parents are beyond worried about her. But they don't know the worst of it. Only Lexi, Jane's best friend and fellow Creep Sister, does. The truth is that Jane's shadow is trying to kill her. Literally. She has no control over it but it has control of her. Full review...

Song Hunter by Sally Prue

A new Ice Age is coming. Winters are getting colder. There are fewer mammoths to hunt and no trees from which to fashion spears to kill them. A small group of Neanderthals is facing starvation this winter. One of them, Mica, is full of ideas to avert the impending doom, but the others simply won't listen to her. If something has never been before then it is nothing and simply not worth thinking about. Even Bear, who loves Mica, won't hear her. One night, Mica hears strange voices calling in the darkness. They fill her with a deep sense of longing. But to whom do these siren voices belong? And do they hold the key to Mica's future? Full review...

Fatal Frost by James Henry

It was 1982 and Jimmy Savile and the sinking of the Belgrano dominated the airwaves. Thirty years on we might prefer to forget that either happened, but in Denton the first black policeman has arrived. DS Waters is on loan from the Met, in the name of encouraging racial diversity. Frost and his team have been dealing with a spate of local burglaries when the body of fifteen-year-old Samantha Ellis is found in local woodland near a railway line, but it's not immediately evident whether this is suicide or something more sinister. For the teenagers of Denton it's going to get a lot worse, but DS Jack Frost finds the pressure of work a welcome distraction from home. His marriage is in difficulties, his wife is either unwell or as dissatisfied with the marriage as he is - and he's not immune to the charms of DC Sue Clarke either. Full review...

Aralorn: Masques and Wolfbsane by Patricia Briggs

Fantasy

Here is what seems quite a rum Patricia Briggs compendium – her first attempt at a fantasy novel, published and read by roughly six men and an orc back in the early 1990s, and what would appear the fourth book in the same series, dusted off after they both got a rewrite in 2010, and together at last for the curious completist. And if the rewriting ironed out a few creases it shows just how much there was needed done – for the first book is still full of minor problems – a man immune to, or invisible to, magic unless when it's needed for the plot, a host of exposition all throughout, and much that marks it down as a debut effort. It doesn't mean it's not worth reading however. Full review...

Wolves in Winter by Lisa Hilton

Historical Fiction

It's 1492 and Mura, an exotic-looking child of Moorish, Spanish and Viking origin enjoys an idyllic childhood living with her widowed father, a Toledo bookseller. However she soon learns that the world is a cruel place when he's snatched by the Spanish Inquisition and she's hidden in a brothel for safe keeping. Adara, the lady of the night entrusted with Mura, betrays that trust and the child's adventurous journeys begin. From nurtured daughter to child prostitute to Medici slave, Mura discovers the power within, nourished by her childhood tales from the Moors and 'North Men' and her gift of 'the sight'. Mura also bears a secret but it seems that she'll be the last to discover it. Full review...

Jammy Dodger by Kevin Smith

Humour

It's 1980s Belfast and Artie McCann has it sorted. Having left uni with a literature degree, a love of poetry and no real urge for hard work, he and his mate Oliver discover the joy of Art Council grants. All they need to do is establish a literary magazine and bring out an issue (very) occasionally. This frees them up for reliving the best bits of their former student lifestyle and discussing the comparable merits of biscuit varieties. However things start to go awry; not all the magazine's would-be contributors are happy (or unarmed) and life begins to appear more unsettled. There is a way out but it will take some hard work, an actor and a remedy for that smell of rotting milk. Full review...

Fancy Dress Christmas by Nick Sharratt

Who is who at the Christmas party? All the animals have come in fancy dress, so can you guess who is inside each costume? Someone is dressed as a snowman, someone is dressed as an angel. Someone is even dressed as a candle! Can you tell who each one is? Lift the flap and see... Full review...

The Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

When you see a new book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler you know it's already set to be a best seller and that you're in for a treat! Here Donaldson takes the refrain from The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes and weaves it into a story about a rather naughty rat who just can't stop stealing everyone else's food! Full review...

The Soldier's Story by Bryan Forbes

Thrillers

Alex Seaton awaits his post-war demob from the British army in Germany while tracking down wrong-doers ranging from allied black-marketeers to Nazi war criminals. Although fraternisation with locals is still frowned on, Alex meets and befriends university lecturer Professor Grundwall after a chance meeting. United by their love of books, Alex becomes a regular visitor to the Professor's home. However books aren't the only attraction: Alex gradually falls in love with the Professor's daughter, Lisa. Their future together seems assured until Alex uncovers a secret that will rip to the core of Alex's loyalties and jeopardise more than just their love. Full review...

The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs with Foreword by Malcolm Gladwell

Pets

I think it's fair to say that you're not even going to pick this book up unless you're a dog lover. If you've always yearned for a cat and shudder at the thought of early morning walks in the rain then this is definitely no the book for you. But - if you know, or are known by a dog then it's the equivalent of that massive hamper of chocolate delights to a chocoholic. Only a magazine like the New Yorker could raid its archives and produce such a massive compendium of humour, illustrations, essays, fiction, poems and cartoons about dogs, or have a cast of writers which could put many a bookshop to shame. Full review...

Maya Makes a Mess by Rutu Modan

For once it is almost impossible to make a plot summary without giving almost the whole game away – such is the brevity of this bright and breezy book for those youngsters still reading with some supervision. Maya is at home and nothing she can do when eating lunch is to her parents' taste – her posture, her table manners or her use of the dog for leftovers. But lo and behold when they give the Queen as an example where she might need more decorum, there then comes a summons to dinner from the Queen – who would be more than surprised to see Maya in action… Full review...

Days of the Bagnold Summer by Joff Winterhart

Graphic Novels

Meet Daniel Bagnold. He is a surly, sullen, modern teenager, permanently in a black hoodie, with long, lanky hair and almost a monobrow, who one would call very quiet were it not for the metal music that forms almost his only interest. He has been forced to spend the summer, not in Florida with his absent father's new family, but with his librarian mother Sue, his best friend and his shyness. He doesn't want much, and neither it would appear does his mother – although she knows she has to get him some posh shoes for her cousin's wedding. This book is about their relationship – the two of them and the dog that completes the household – in telling, devastating and humorous manner. Full review...

The Secret of the Stone Frog by David Nytra

Confident Readers

You know the drill – you are a young boy and find yourself waking up alongside your older sister, but with your beds beside the bole of a huge tree in an enchanted forest. The advice you get is straightforward, but impossible to follow, as you don't stick to the straight and simple path home that you should. As a result you find a tempting house guarded by bees who steal the words out of your mouth, hoity-toity upper class lions, angler fish on the daily commute and more. Full review...

A Drop of Chinese Blood by James Church

Set on the Chinese border with North Korea and in Mongolia, James Church's A Drop of Chinese Blood offers a complex crime mystery of lies and deception, although for much of the book it's not entirely clear what the crime is. I was drawn to the book by the author's background. James Church is a pseudonym for an American former intelligence officer whose working life was spent in North Korea and the surrounding area, so he undoubtedly knows his subject. His previous books have featured the North Korean Inspector O, and while he gets another outing here, this time he has moved beyond Korea to China to have O residing with his chief of Chinese Ministry of State Security nephew, Major Bing. Full review...

Little Bear's Trousers by Jane Hissey

When Little Bear wakes up one sunny morning to discover that he has lost his trousers he feels sure that he will find them quickly with the help of his friends. However, although Old Bear, Camel, and the others have all seen Little Bear’s trousers no-one knows where they are now. So Little Bear sets off on a journey to visit all his friends in search of his missing trousers. What has happened to them? Will Little Bear and his trousers be reunited? Full review...

Penelope by Rebecca Harrington

Penelope is a socially awkward Harvard student, chronicling her first year at the famed institution. She has a thing for Hercule Poirot (don’t we all?), is allergic to cats, and quite worryingly believes that Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is one of the best films of all times. She is determined to make friends but finds the options quite limited. Her roommates are either too studious (Emma) or too dubious (Lan) and the boys downstairs are peculiar creatures, to say the least. The dashing, mysterious foreigner Gustav is worth a second glance, but never seems to be where she wants him to be, when she wants him to be there, which is annoying. Full review...

The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick

It's been said that history is written by the victors. It would also be pertinent to add that the writing will always polish up the worthy parts whilst whilst finding a convenient carpet under which can be swept the events which are best forgotten. There's no country with a victory under its belt which is above this practice: I've just been brought up very sharply as I considered the Irish potato famine from the Irish perspective. That's a story you'll not read in many British history books. The majority of British people would accept though that their country has had an imperialist past - and that the natives have not always thrown themselves down in front of us in their joy at our arrival. Full review...

The Double Game by Dan Fesperman

Thrillers

American Bill Cage is a middle-aged PR man who worships at the shrine of spy novels. It's a love he's inherited from widowed diplomat father. (Bill's mother having died in an accident when he was very young.) He fondly remembers his childhood as he travelled from posting to posting with his dad and their vast spy fiction library. Full review...

A Merry Little Christmas by Julia Williams

women's Fiction

Cat Tinsall, Pippa Holliday and Marianne North all live in the lovely village of Hope Christmas and have formed very close and supportive friendships over the four years they have known each other. The story starts with Christmas just over and follows the three friends through the entire year leading up to the next Christmas. It’s not going to be an easy year for any of them though and they’re definitely going to need each other’s help. Full review...

One Bloody Thing After Another by Jacob F Field

While other authors have made the case for mankind easing off in the destruction stakes recently, and becoming less hostile, bloodthirsty and cruel than in the past, it doesn’t mean that our global history is not littered with detail, about mutinies, massacres and murders. Mr Field here gathers the gamut of gore from the time when the only people writing down their history were the Chinese, up until the late nineteenth century, and covers the planet in search of slicing, dicing and deathly devices. It certainly lives up to its title. Full review...

When the Earth Was Flat by Graeme Donald

Mankind has often had some quite ridiculous ideas. Once upon a time people deemed it sensible for doctors to go from an autopsy room to help give birth without washing hands in between – who'd have thought it might be beneficial? Those self-same medical scientists were within generations going to extol the virtues of cocaine and opium as harmless boosts to medicine, and in the interim proudly induce enemas of tobacco smoke – the early version of colonic irrigation so beloved of some dodgy ex-Princess-type people. Outside the medical room, there was once the notion that the Earth was flat – although not as might be popularly believed, a regular idea in Columbus's days, but certainly at times before then. The spread of man's idiocy where wrong, faulty and dodgy science is concerned, and the history of all the false ideas, is touched on in this fascinating volume. Full review...

The Famine Plot: England's Role in Ireland's Greatest Tragedy by Tim Pat Coogan

The great famine of Ireland in the 1840s was a major disaster and a tragedy. As a result, about a million of its citizens died from starvation and a further million emigrated, with so many perishing en route that it was said you can walk dry shod to America on their bodies. The net total was about a quarter of the existing population. Yet as Irish historian Tim Pat Coogan argues in this account, the famine was more than a tragedy. The title indicates a fierce polemic, and the thrust of his book is that the British government of the day was not merely responsible for exacerbating the famine conditions through mismanagement and failure to respond adequately to the failure of the potato crop, but in fact deliberately engineered a food shortage in what was one of the earliest cases of ethnic cleansing. Full review...

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Three years after Mia lost her parents and brother, and nearly died herself, in a tragic accident in If I Stay, she's a rising star of classical music. Adam is a rock star. They haven't spoken for a long time. Until Mia plays a concert in New York, Adam attends, and she sends word for him to go backstage. Can Adam finally find out what went wrong with their relationship? Full review...

The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri

It was after a bad storm that a dismembered body emerged from a field of clay and everything about it - the single bullet in the base of the skull and the body cut into thirty pieces - suggested that this was a Mafia killing. But who is the dead man and why was he buried in Potter's Field? And why is it so difficult to get the anti-Mafia police interested in the case? It would be a testing case for Montalbano even without the problems caused by his second in command. Mimi Augelo (as Montalbano hears via Augelo's wife and his own girlfriend) is spending a lot of time on stakeouts - about which Montalbano knows nothing - and seems more than usually distracted by Dolores Alfano whose husband has gone missing on a sea voyage. Full review...

Tequila Sunset by Sam Hawken

Sam Hawken's Tequila Sunset is a gang land crime novel set across the border between the US and Mexico. The story centres on three people: Flip Morales is a young Latino American who gets somewhat unwillingly caught up in the Barrio Azteca gang after a stint in prison; Cristina Salas is an El Paso police officer - a single mother with an autistic child; and Matías Segura is a Mexican federal agent based in Ciudad Juárez with marriage issues. When the FBI launch a sting to catch the Azteca gang, all three will become involved with each other in a struggle against violence. Full review...

Wild Town (RSPB) by Mike Dilger

Children's Non-Fiction

Would you like to know what about the thriving wildlife in Britain's towns and cities? What natural riches are out there, if only you know where (and how) to look? Wild Town will tell you. Divided into habitats - desert, grasslands, wetlands, forests, scrub, caves - the book describes animals, and some plants, to be found in each. You'll be amazed at what's out there. And you'll find out a lot about a teeming natural world right on your doorstep. It will tell you the best places to spot animals and plants - and, thanks to the wonderful photography, you'll have no trouble recognising them once you're there. From the iconic foxes and badgers to the less well known species of bird, amphibian and insect, it's all there in all its diversity and beauty. Full review...

Cold Days by Jim Butcher

Fantasy

Happy birthday Harry Dresden! And what a birthday as life becomes a little hectic for the Winter Court Knight. He returns to life in time to fight in the Winter Palace, have a near death experience at the hands of dark, mini-people, then is nearly killed again (by a friend this time) and his island of Demonreach is about to explode taking a chunk of the USA with it. He therefore has 24 hours to save some world. Oh, and you know those headaches he's been having? HIs head is on the verge of exploding too. Indeed, it's the sort of birthday that it's hardly worth reanimating for. Full review...

Old Bear Stories by Jane Hissey

The Old Bear stories are delightful. This collection brings together five stories into one book, introducing us to Old Bear, Little Bear, Jolly Tall and all the other toy friends. The toys look like all those lovely old fashioned toys that children used to have, jointed teddy bears and fuzzy rabbits, and the stories too have a sweet, old fashioned appeal. Full review...

The Winter of the Lions by Jan Costin Wagner and Anthea Bell (translator)

Detective Kimmo Joentaa braces himself for another Christmas as a widower. Whilst his colleagues celebrate, he seeks distraction but this year distraction isn't hiding that well. Larissa, a lady of the night (according to her) calls in to the police station to report a professional contra temps and becomes a little more than a crime report number. Then there's the murder. This may be a regular occurrence in Kimmo's line of work but this time it's different: the victim is the police medical examiner and, unfortunately, there will be others. Full review...

Through To You by Emily Hainsworth

Camden Pike is devastated by the death of his girlfriend Viv in a car accident, and blames himself for it. Then he meets Nina, a girl from a parallel universe. In her world, Viv is still alive, and he realises he doesn't have to let her go and he can be with this other her forever. Will he choose to give up everything he's ever known to be with the person he thought he'd lost, or let go of his girlfriend for good and stay in his own world? Full review...

Stranded by Emily Barr

Thrillers

After her marriage ends Esther finds herself dreaming of getting away, running away for a while, to an island paradise. She decides to make a trip to Malaysia, but a day trip out to a small, remote island finds her stranded there, along with several other people, when their guide does not return to pick them up. There is no way home without a boat. Will this group of stranded strangers manage to survive, or will suspicions and tensions get the better of them as they wait to be rescued? Full review...

The Kennedy Conspiracy by Michael White

The Kennedy assassination has been a topic of interest and conspiracy ever since it happened. A little while ago, Stephen King put his own take on that period of American history by using it as the basis for his novel 11/22/63. Now Michael White has done the same, taking a similar tack to King in wondering what would happen if people could go back to that period of time, but using the concept of rebirth instead of one of time travel. Full review...

VIII by HM Castor

Hal is a young boy who believes he is destined for greatness. Despite his father's disdain for him, and preference for his older brother Arthur, Hal believe that he is the subject of a prophecy. He thinks that his 'glory will live down the ages'. Is he right? Full review...

How to Think Like Sherlock: Improve Your Powers of Observation, Memory and Deduction by Daniel Smith

Lifestyle

Whether you're a fan of the original Conan Doyle novels, have enjoyed the recent film and television representations of Sherlock Holmes or if, like me, the name always conjures up the image of Basil Rathbone you'll be impressed by the way that Holmes can reason and deduce. You've probably wished that you were capable of some of the mental acrobatics which he performs. Much of his prowess is down to being a fictional character (of course) but it is possible to improve your powers of observation, memory and deduction by exercising your brain. Daniel Smith has some suggestions to get us started. Full review...

Maybe They'll Remember Me by Philip S Newey