Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"
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| + | |summary=We meet Sam Grant on his 27th birthday, but he's not out celebrating. He's got flu and just to add to his problems he's got a boil in his groin - or on his thigh - depending on which side of the doctor's desk you're sitting. Sam's not been looking after himself since his girlfriend dumped him just over three months ago and when you work in adland the opportunities for not looking after yourself are many and varied. The millenium hasn't quite arrived, 'austerity' hasn't even been thought about and living an out-of-control life has never been easier. What we get is Sam's diary, but it's not in chronological order, with some of it going back to before he met Sarah - the girl he didn't really want, but struggles to get over. | ||
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|summary=Flo Brown's mum is in the final of a huge TV talent show! Millions of viewers want to see her give a life-changing performance - but they aren't expecting what they see. What will happen to Flo, her mum, and her gran Olive after the show is complete? | |summary=Flo Brown's mum is in the final of a huge TV talent show! Millions of viewers want to see her give a life-changing performance - but they aren't expecting what they see. What will happen to Flo, her mum, and her gran Olive after the show is complete? | ||
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Revision as of 16:58, 3 July 2013
The Bookbag
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 16,123 reviews at TheBookbag.
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Remember to Breathe by Simon Pont
We meet Sam Grant on his 27th birthday, but he's not out celebrating. He's got flu and just to add to his problems he's got a boil in his groin - or on his thigh - depending on which side of the doctor's desk you're sitting. Sam's not been looking after himself since his girlfriend dumped him just over three months ago and when you work in adland the opportunities for not looking after yourself are many and varied. The millenium hasn't quite arrived, 'austerity' hasn't even been thought about and living an out-of-control life has never been easier. What we get is Sam's diary, but it's not in chronological order, with some of it going back to before he met Sarah - the girl he didn't really want, but struggles to get over. Full review...
The Walls of Byzantium (The Mistra Chronicles) by James Heneage
Luke Magoris is heading for disgrace which means a lot since he's the son of a Varangian, the Viking-originated elite guard of the Byzantine Emperor. Anna Lasaris daughter to a Byzantine court official and, feisty but kind, is the opposite of the Archon's daughter Zoe. As politically adept as her brother is inept, Zoe will do anything for status and money… anything. As the 14th century Byzantine Empire starts to crumble due to the relentless struggle with the Islamic Turks and Mistra becomes the only province left for the Turks to conquer, their paths will cross. They're all young but they'll soon discover that treachery can emanate from friendship as much as it can from war. Full review...
Blood Song: Book 1 of Raven's Shadow by Anthony Ryan
Young Vaelin Al Sorna's father takes him to the gates of the Sixth Order of the Faith and leaves him there. Vaelin's father is the King's Battle Lord and Vaelin's mother someone the lad has sorely missed since her death but this doesn't matter. As a member of the Order Vaelin has no family except his Order brethren. The long life-threatening training binds him closer to his fellows while exposing him to greater dangers and mysteries than he's ever known. However one day he'll outgrow his comrades. One day he'll become a name whispered with fear and awe. For Vaelin will become a deadly weapon: Hope Killer himself. Full review...
Perfect by Rachel Joyce
In 1972 two seconds were added to the year. 11 year old Byron Hemmings heard about it from his friend James and felt it wouldn't be a good thing. In fact at the moment Bryon's watch's second hand reversed something happened that would mean neither his or James' lives would ever be the same again. Full review...
Heart-shaped by Siobhan Parkinson
Ok. Before I even start reviewing, I need to explain just how much I loved this book. It's the companion to an earlier story from Siobhan Parkinson, Bruised, over the same timeframe, and following a supporting character whose story is intimately connected. Before I'd read to the end of the first chapter of Heart-shaped, which is all of two-and-a-half pages long, I'd fallen in love with Annie. And I knew I couldn't bear to read her story without reading Jono's, in Bruised, first. So I rushed orff to Amazon and downloaded it to my Kindle. You might not find that particularly surprising, but it is. I review books. I hardly ever buy books because I have a pile of advance copies shouting My turn! My turn! whenever I look their way. Full review...
419 by Will Ferguson
Anyone who has ever opened an E-Mail which proves to be a plea for assistance in getting large amounts of money ahead of the authorities will recognise the theme. Laura Curtis' father had such an E-Mail and having tried to help and spent all his money, he has driven his car off a bridge. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, a pregnant young woman walks through the dust, trying to escape her family and find something that ever she doesn't know what she is looking for. In the Niger Delta, meanwhile, the oil companies are moving in and a whole way of life is changing in the fishing villages there. Full review...
Beautiful Lies by Claire Clark
Clare Clark's Beautiful Lies takes in Royal jubilees, London riots, newspaper editors overstepping the bounds on personal vendettas and political sex scandals - all set in the late 1880s showing how little has changed. There are even early instances and questions over photographic manipulation. Maribel, apparently a Chilean heiress and wife of radical, socialist politician Edward Campbell Lowe, has a past which she has tries to keep buried. If it were to be revealed, both her and her husband would be ruined by the scandal. Making enemies of an unscrupulous and hypocritical newspaper editor might not be the best move then. Full review...
Stolen by Rebecca Muddiman
Stolen is a gripping tale about a child who is abducted. Her mother, Abbie, was forced from her car, taken off in a van and brutally attacked. Eventually, abandoned by her attackers, she found help from passing travellers but by the time that she returned to her car, Beth, her baby, had disappeared. A police search ensued but neither Abbie’s attackers nor the baby could be found. Things are further complicated when Paul, Abbie’s husband, discovers that he is not Beth’s natural father. He leaves Abbie alone but she refuses to accept that her daughter might be dead. Full review...
Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas
Anna and her friends went to Aruba for the Spring Break of all Spring Breaks. These are privileged kids from an exclusive private school. They have plenty of money and they intend to party hard before college beckons. It's a tight group, but no-one is tighter than Anna and Elise. They have been inseparable since Elise rescued Anna from a high school bully. But now Anna also has Tate and this is a first love affair that consumes all, like a fire. Anna is beginning to find it difficult to balance these two intense relationships and she is hoping that this holiday will make everything great again. Full review...
Read On - Unsolved Mysteries by Keith West
Collins Read On books are not specifically listed as a dyslexia friendly line of books. Instead, these are what is known as hi-lo books. Book developed to motivate and engage older readers, while still being accessible to readers who are reading far below grade level. I would estimate the reading level of this book to be roughly age eight, but the subject matter is apt to appeal to children much older, or even adults. Although not designed especially for children with dyslexia like the famous Barrington Stoke range, this does have several features to make this book more appropriate to children with dyslexia than the average children's book. With the exception of a few small picture captions, this is printed in black ink with a large standard font. The print is double spaced, with short paragraphs and chapters giving the reader plenty of breaks. The paper is thick enough that print and pictures from the other side will not show through. This combined with the easy to read text will help to build a child's confidence. Full review...
All Woman and Springtime by B W Jones
Gyong-Ho is a seamstress. That's not a euphemism. She works at a machine in a garment factory, with a bullying supervisor, invalided out of the glorious Chochun army, limping around and terrifying the girls only slightly more than the picture of Kim Jong-il on the walls. Gi, a nickname she'll acquire because of her stammering attempts to get her own name out (Gi-Gi-Gyong) strives truly hard to be worthy of the Dear Leader. She has learned the hard way, what happens if someone somewhere for some obscure reason decides that you're not. Full review...
Oliver Fibbs 2: The Giant Boy-Munching Bugs by Steve Hartley
Oliver Tibbs is an average child in a very above average family. His mother is a brain surgeon, his father a famous architect, his sisters are the stars of the National Ballet Academy and his little brother is a genius with a talent for maths and a chess champion. Oliver's parents are desperate to find some as of yet undiscovered talent for their ordinary son, but so far it looks likes Oliver's only talents are reading comics, making up fibs, and eating pizza. I think Oliver did have his own genius though, as most children do, and while his parents desperately searched for something he could excel at, his hidden talent was right under their noses the whole time. Full review...
Best British Short Stories 2013 by Nicholas Royle (editor)
Expect to read some quality work in Best British Short Stories 2013, sourced from a number of short story magazines; 'Granta', 'Shadows and Tall Trees', 'Unthology' and 'The Edinburgh Review' are just some of the publications in which these pieces were to be seen first. If asked to identify a red thread between the components of Nicholas Royle’s anthology, I would say that in each short story, everything is left to simmer under the surface. There is a frustration brought about by the lack of clarity in every short story, which to me is a reflection of just how unclear the most seismic of situations may be to any individual involved. Full review...
Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard
Biographies old and new of Queen Victoria, her husband and her children are plentiful enough. The vast majority of them are based to some extent on the diaries, memoirs and biographies of some of the most important figures who served her, and Kate Hubbard has put these as well as supplementary archive papers to good use in presenting a thoroughly engrossing account of the royal household throughout the Queen’s lengthy reign. I might almost say ‘lively’, though that could be an exaggeration. The court of Victoria may have been homely after a fashion, but for the most part it was hardly lively. Full review...
Ethan's Voice by Rachel Carter
Ethan lives on a canal boat with his parents. It’s an exciting, different life, and if it were mine I’d never stop talking to my friends about it. But Ethan is different, because he doesn’t have friends and he also doesn’t talk. Ever. His parents have got used to this. They ask him questions he can nod or shake his head to. They took him out of school and teach him at home so he doesn’t have to suffer the curious looks and mean words of other kids. They have a nice, simple life, just the three of them, and it’s all ok thank you very much. Full review...
Down The Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos
Down The Rabbit Hole is a fictional tale of a young boy’s life as the son of a Mexican drug lord. Tochtli narrates the story and gives us a child’s view of the sordid world that his father rules. We are shown the positives and negatives of this kind of lifestyle as Tochtli sees things, from presents galore to having to call his father by his first name. This book is a strange blend of childlike wonder within a violent world. Full review...
Midnight in Havana by Peggy Blair
It’s Christmas day in Havana and Inspector Ramirez is called to investigate the murder of a young boy. All initial clues lead to one man and it seems almost an open and shut case. Canadian tourist and detective Mike Ellis is the prime suspect and is apprehended very swiftly. Ellis has no choice but to trust that the Cuban legal system with all its flaws and peculiarities will actually give him the chance of a fair investigation. Midnight in Havana is the debut novel by Peggy Blair and presents us with a compelling mystery set within an exciting setting with a legal system that really adds to the suspense of the story. Full review...
The Mirror Chronicles: the Bell Between Worlds by Ian Johnstone
The hero of this long and engrossing book is a boy of twelve, orphaned, lonely and unloved. He spends the little free time he has in creating beautiful kites covered in complicated, colourful designs until the day he meets a strange old man who sets him on the path to his destiny as a saviour of not one but two worlds. But in line with the traditions of the genre, this path will be fraught with fear, danger and loss. Full review...
Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
Ten years after her disastrous stint at Runway, playing slave to Queen of Fashion Miranda Priestly in a job ‘a million girls would die for’, Andy Sachs finally has her life back on track. Full review...
The Taming of the Tights by Louise Rennison
Tallulah has secretly done Number 6 with the Dark Black Crow of Heckmondwhite, if you don't know. What that means is that she has had a lip-lock with a Yorkshire boy who's all dark and moody and mean-seeming, and she shouldn't perhaps have snogged him because she likes another boy, and another, older boy – with a girlfriend – seems to like her a lot. What that means is that we are firmly in Louise Rennison territory. Full review...
The Grunts All At Sea by Philip Ardagh and Axel Scheffler
Mr and Mrs Grunt are a rather despicable couple. They are dirty and violent and always throwing things at each other. They eat things like dead badger scraped off the roadside, and like using very rude words. But as disgusting and depraved as they are, they are not evil. They are more like overgrown, badly behaved toddlers who haven't seen a bath in years. They fight and throw things, but honestly seem to care about each other as well on some level. They live with their adopted, or more accurately kidnapped son, who doesn't seem to notice that wearing dresses is unusual for a boy, and Mrs Grump has taken the trouble to dye them blue. Rather than a house they live in a caravan that looks like a cross between a camping caravan and an outhouse, and is pulled by a large elephant, with two donkeys riding in their own trailer behind. Full review...
The Double Cross System by J C Masterman
This Vintage re-issue of Masterman's account of the work of the Twenty Committee is subtitled the 'classic account of World War Two Spy-Masters'. That's a somewhat misleading tease. The book isn't really about the spy-masters, very little information is given about those recruiting, turning, running and protecting the spies. More information - but again relatively little - is given about the spies themselves. Full review...
The Bad Mother by Isabelle Grey
When we first meet Tessa Parker she has a major problem on her hands. Her seventeen-year-old son has been missing since the previous day. The police are involved and Tessa is beside herself with worry. She's told the police quite a bit - however you can't help but feel that there's a lot more going on that she's not telling. To find out the full story we go back four months... Full review...
In The Dutch Mountains by Cees Nooteboom
Often, when asked if what I’m reading is a good book I hesitate before answering, trying to decide what the asker really means. Do they mean is it exciting? Funny? Full of interesting characters? Recently, someone asked me that and when I hesitated they gave me this as a clarifier: “Are you better off for having read it?”. In this instance, yes. I think I am. However, despite coming away from this book with a strong positive feeling about it, it’s also left me a little befuddled. Full review...
The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism by Naoki Higashida and David Mitchell
Imagine if you will, a world where the normal laws of physics have been slightly changed. You swirl around almost weightlessly, with no control over your limbs. Sounds seem either deafeningly loud or hopelessly muffled. Sensory input floods your system, overwhelming you with bright colours, patterns and odours that attack you from every side, without warning. Communication is almost impossible. You open your mouth and the wrong words come out. People talk down to you as if you were a child.
Welcome to Naoki’s world. Full review...
The Year of Big Dreams by Karen McCombie
Flo Brown's mum is in the final of a huge TV talent show! Millions of viewers want to see her give a life-changing performance - but they aren't expecting what they see. What will happen to Flo, her mum, and her gran Olive after the show is complete? Full review...
