Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"

Ok. Let's catch you up. Jake's father is still lost in time. Venn's wife is still dead. Summer, the Queen of the Shee, still hasn't made Venn her husband. Sarah still hasn't prevented the destruction of the future by Janus. And the Scarred Man still hasn't done, well, whatever it is that he's trying to do. The Chronoptika, a mirror made of black obsidian and a time travel device, connects Jake, Venn, Sarah and the rest, but they all want different things from it. Can they all be satisfied? It doesn't look likely. Full review...

Wibbly Pig and the Tooky by Mick Inkpen

I had a feeling, when I saw the cover of this book, that I was going to enjoy it. I wasn't disappointed. Something really tickled me as I read this book, and I have since flicked through it again, by myself, without the kids! So that's usually a good sign of a good children's picture book. Especially if I now sneak it upstairs onto my picture book bookshelf where I keep all my personal favourites from our ridiculously large collection and I try to keep sticky fingers off them and keep them for special reading times together! Full review...

Winnie's Pirate Adventure by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul

We like Winnie the Witch stories in our house. We have a whole bag full of them, and have read them many times over, so when my daughter saw this new one she was very excited. Sadly, it didn't quite live up to our (admittedly high) expectations. This new story sees Winnie head off on a pirate adventure which should, you would think, have the makings of an excellent story. Full review...

How to Keep Calm and Carry On by Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman

Lifestyle

Heart pounding, rapid breathing, dry mouth and sweaty palms are just some of the unpleasant symptoms associated with anxiety. Anxiety affects us all at one time or another in our lives and occurs in varying degrees of severity. For example, a little nervousness is par for the course when a performer steps on stage in front of a huge crowd, but on the other end of the spectrum, conditions such as OCD and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can leave sufferers paralysed with fear. Full review...

The Best Book in the World by Peter Stjernstrom and Rod Bradbury (translator)

Literary Fiction

Titus Jensen may not have written many great novels for a while (if ever) but his festival readings of others' works are renowned. Why, his rendition of The Diseases of the Swedish Monarchs from Gustavas Vasa to Gustav V has been compared favourably to his offerings from Handbook for Volvo 245. However, one drunken night he and romantic poet Eddie X agree that their fame on the festival circuit would be insignificant by comparison if they could write the best book in the world; a combination of all genres, appealing to all tastes and making all the best seller categories. They start work on it the next day but, rather than collaborate, each wants the lone glory. The race (or should that be battle?) to the publishing date is on! Full review...

A Different Sun: A Novel of Africa by Elaine Neil Orr

Historical Fiction

Emma Davis, daughter of a Georgian plantation owner has never been happy about the slave system. People just shouldn't be owned like merchandise. Whenever possible she slinks away to hear African stories from elderly slave Uncle Eli, sparking her imagination and love for a far off continent about which she's determined to do more than dream. Emma is going to theological college and she will be a missionary out there. Her resolve pays off when she meets and marries Henry, clergyman and missionary to Yoruba. Once there Emma discovers a local culture richer and more rewarding than she imagined, but, then again, so is the cost. Full review...

Betrayal by Adriaan van Dis

Literary Fiction

Dutchman Mulder renews his acquaintance with his old friend Donald as he returns to South Africa, a land he knew well in the days of apartheid. Life may have moved on and apartheid ceased but some things have worsened. Have Mulder and Donald made any difference at all? As they recall their shadier youth, they have one more chance to struggle for someone's freedom against all odds and a violent society. Full review...

Close to the Wind by Zana Bell

Historical Fiction

Georgiana da Silva seems to have everything to look forward to; an engagement to her dashing cousin Jasper will finally allow her to escape the clutches of her oppressive aunt and open up the opportunity for her to travel the world, broadening her horizons considerably. Unfortunately, when she overhears a conversation between Jasper and the duplicitous Lord Walsingham, she realises that her engagement is a sham and that her brother’s life is in danger from a ruthless assassin. Can she reach her brother in New Zealand before the assassin has time to strike? The scene is set for an exciting cross-continental race against time which will pitch Georgiana headlong into a world of deceit, intrigue and adventure. Full review...

The Shadow Collector by Kate Ellis

Crime

A convicted murderess and alleged witch returns to Devil’s Tree Cottage, after eighteen years in jail for butchering two teenage girls. When bodies start falling in West Fretham just days after her release, dispatched by Wiccan ceremonial blades, she is the obvious suspect. But, for DI Wesley Peterson, something strange is going on in the village that casts doubt on the identity of the killer and on the validity of Lilith Benley’s original conviction. Full review...

The Doll's House by Tania Carver

Crime

There can be no confusion in the name of the latest Tania Carver novel. The Dolls House well and truly sums it up, which is made clear as the book opens in a very pink, very well laid out lounge with a living doll, also dressed in pink, arranging the room until it is spotless. Aside from the slightly ominous undertones and the repetition that everything must be perfect; the reader could almost be forgiven for initially thinking they haven’t picked up a crime novel at all. It soon becomes obvious that this isn’t the case though as we follow DI Phil Brennan back into that same room with the doll sat straight-backed at the precisely laid out dinner table. This time though, the doll is dead. Full review...

Ding Dong Gorilla by Michelle Robinson and Leonie Lord

We never learn the name of the main character in Ding Dong Gorilla. This book is told in the first person, from the point of view of a very young child and addressed to his parent. This works quite well in this story, because most children will be able to identify very easily with the protagonist and most parents will identify with the unseen mother whom this story is directed to. The story begins with a sheepish looking wee boy reminding his mother how they had ordered a huge pizza. Unfortunately, he has a bit of bad news to break first. Full review...

The Pagan Lord (Warrior Chronicles 7) by Bernard Cornwell

Historical Fiction

Lord Uhtred is outlawed and evicted from his land as he continues to niggle the Saxon clergy. However this time it's in a big way: he murders an abbot while trying to reclaim his eldest son. As a punishment he's evicted from his land so Uhtred does the only thing he can: he follows his destiny and travels north to reclaim Bebbanburg (Bamburgh) from his usurping uncle, Aelfric. There's a chasm between his dream and reality, but Uhtred is determined. Perhaps it's just as well because his choice of strategy will shape a nation. Full review...

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts

Andrea Beaty and David Roberts make a great team. Their previous book, Iggy Peck, Architect, is a best seller and has a lot in common with Rosie Revere, Engineer. Both stories offer hope and encouragement to children who feel at odds and left out of the mainstream. Rosie is very shy and cannot bring herself to join in at school. But at home she sparkles and comes to life while building inventive gadgets from odds and ends, often using things rescued from the bin. When her favourite uncle laughs at one of her contraptions (made especially for him), Rosie is mortified and it takes the exuberant help of another relative to bring her back out of her shell. Full review...

How to Betray a Dragon's Hero (How To Train Your Dragon) by Cressida Cowell

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is on an impossible quest: He needs to be crowned King of the Wilderwest before the Doomsday of Yule, but has a plethora of obstacles to overcome before his mission is complete. He needs to collect together the Ten Lost Things, which have unfortunately fallen into the hands of the evil Alvin and his mother, the witch Excellinor. To do that, he will have to find out the location of their secret lair and overcome thousands of Alvinsmen guards. The Alvinsmen are not Hiccup’s only enemies, however. The dragons of the rebellion, headed by the formidable Dragon Furious are also seeking Viking blood. Hiccup’s obnoxious cousin Snotlout has also appeared on the scene, claiming to be a friend, but can he really be trusted? Full review...

A Slightly Jones Mystery: The Case of the Hidden City by Joan Lennon

Miss Slightly Jones is a thoroughly likeable young person. She is courageous and determined (although her Granny Tonic, who adopted her when her parents died, might use other, less charitable words like foolhardy, impulsive and stubborn) and her quick wit enables her to get out of many a difficult situation. Her hero, needless to say, is the celebrated Sherlock Holmes, and she often seeks inspiration from his cases when she is unable to decide what to do next. Full review...

Fire With Fire by Siobhan Vivian and Jenny Han

With Reeve hospitalised after the terrible events at the end of Burn for Burn, Lillia, Kat and Mary must face the fallout. Mary is desperate for revenge despite the other two starting to have cold feet, but they agree to go through with their plan in order to give her the satisfaction of seeing his heart broken. As Lillia pretends to fall for the boy, though, she sees another side to Reeve and starts to wonder if he's as bad as Mary says he is. Can their friendship hold up under the strain of all the secrets and lies? Full review...

Her Privates We by Frederic Manning

Literary Fiction

Ernest Hemingway called Frederic Manning's Her Privates We 'The finest and noblest book of men in war' he had ever read. But Hemingway wasn't a very trustworthy man, so we tend to defer judgement. He is, however, useful for contrast. Hemingway's tales of war (such as A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls) usually involve macho misfits and trite love stories, feats of derring-do and filmic dialogue; all the things, in fact, that have no place in Manning's First World War novel. Why is this? Well, by the time Hemingway started driving a Red Cross ambulance on the Italian front (1918), Manning's service was already over. Nevertheless, unlike the illustrious (and self-mythologising) Hemingway, Manning spent his war deep in the trenches of the Somme, mixing it with the proletarian soldiery. As such, Her Privates We is a brutal novel concerning the 'subterranean, furtive, twilight life' of the average Tommy, a work of startling power, and one that completely eclipses the war novels of the romantic Hemingway. Full review...

100 People by Masayuki Sebe

If I told you this was a book in which every double page spread features exactly 100 people, and there’s no real story to go with it, you might be underwhelmed. You might wonder what the point would be. But I can tell you in one word: fun. Full review...

Lollipop and Grandpa and the Christmas Baby by Penelope Harper and Cate James

Lollipop’s mum has just made an announcement. She started off sneakily by asking Lollipop and her brother James how they’d feel about welcoming another brother or sister to the family, but Lollipop is not stupid. She knows it’s not really up for debate. It’s already a done deal. Full review...

Wereworld: War of the Werelords by Curtis Jobling

With the Catlords at each other's throats, there appears to finally be a chance for Drew Ferran and his allies to win the war and bring peace to Lyssia. Stacked against him, though, are still fearsome foes - including the dreadful Wyld Wolves, mockeries of lycanthropes. Meanwhile Drew's adoptive brother Trent, bitten by one of the vile creatures, knows that he is doomed to become one but is determined to gain his revenge before he loses control. As the opposing forces gather, huge armies could decide the fate of the Seven Realms... but in Icegarden, perhaps the most deadly force of them all still has a part to play in this war. Full review...

The Treasure Hunt by Andrea Camilleri

Crime

Life for Montalbano and his team was slow: it seemed that even the criminals were taking life easy and there was almost a sense of relief when an elderly man and his sister began firing into the street below their Vigata apartment. There wasn't a lot of news either - which was why Montalbano found himself the reluctant hero of the news programmes as he climbed up the outside of the building. What he didn't realise was that a life-sized rubber doll (you know exactly what I mean) found in the apartment would dominate his life, particularly when 'her' twin was found in a rubbish bin. I mean, where do you keep such things? In a cupboard? Under the bed? Montalbano could tell you the drawbacks of both those locations. Full review...

Pigeon Pie, Oh My! by Debbie Singleton and Kristyna Litten

This tale is a gently humorous picture book gem from Debbie Singleton and illustrator Kristyna Litten. Farmer Budd goes about his daily work, feeding animals and repairing the old scarecrow. But when he sets off to market he forgets to close the gate…..leaving the way open for the goat to cause havoc. Down tumbles the scarecrow and in come the pigeons with their beady eyes set on the corn crop. Tiny chick cleverly stops their plan in a way that may remind some young readers of a certain mouse in Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo. Full review...

Hospice Voices: Lessons for Living at the End of Life by Eric Lindner

Autobiography

Hospice Voices tells the stories of the last days of some fascinating people while it follows author Eric Lindner through his journey as a hospice volunteer and a crisis in his own daughter's health. Full review...

Isabel's Skin by Peter Benson

General Fiction

David Morris is a book trader and valuer in some indeterminate Victorian year, when he is given the job of perusing a great and valued collection held in a rich house in rural Somerset. One can guess – especially given the mood that leaps off these pages from the first and never relents – that something might go wrong, just him and the house's sole servant and her cats. But the clues build when we find just how much she dislikes a neighbour – who seems a decent enough fellow, living in seclusion, and culture and intellect wise the only equal to Morris for his short working holiday. But whose unusual behaviour can Morris trust – and who is Isabel? Full review...

The Company of Ghosts by Berlie Doherty

Morag's family has its very own island. Tiny and remote, it is truly wild and wonderful. And the offer to spend some time there with them couldn't have come at a better time for Ellie, whose parents have just divorced. She'll be able to escape Mum and Angus. And she'll be able to paint for her father. But things don't work out quite as planned. To begin with, awkward, diffident Ellie has to spend the first night on the island alone with George, Morag's brusque older brother. And then George returns to the mainland to pick up supplies. He doesn't return.

Abandoned, Ellie begins to see shadows. Hear footsteps. Feel icy kisses on her cheek each time she falls asleep... Full review...

The Lost Journals of Benjamin Tooth by Mackenzie Crook

It's the 1760s, and young Benjamin is starting his diaries to record his path from a smart eleven year old to a noted scientist. It would, he thinks, be a very relevant document. And so it proves, in the light of what it eventually yields us. But before then there is his domestic matters to get over – the great-granddad who seems to have run out of words to say in this life, and his horrid mother and her frequently odd menus, and frequent, odder diseases. And the small matter of a harassing old/young man, Farley Cupstart, and his desperate search for something within Benjamin's household – something that looks a bit like a dragonfly, but just a bit more human… Full review...

Model Misfit (Geek Girl 2) by Holly Smale