Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"
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| + | |title=The Boy on the Porch | ||
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| + | When Marta and John wake up one morning, there's a surprise in store. A little boy is asleep on their porch. He has an unsigned note asking the couple to care for him. And so they do. And they soon come to love him, even though he cannot talk. But they can't help but worry. Who is Jacob? Will his parents return for him? And if they do, how will Marta and John bear to give him up - this little boy who paints blue trees, rides cows and can make music from anything? | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849397724</amazonuk> | ||
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Revision as of 09:56, 26 October 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.
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The Boy on the Porch by Sharon Creech
When Marta and John wake up one morning, there's a surprise in store. A little boy is asleep on their porch. He has an unsigned note asking the couple to care for him. And so they do. And they soon come to love him, even though he cannot talk. But they can't help but worry. Who is Jacob? Will his parents return for him? And if they do, how will Marta and John bear to give him up - this little boy who paints blue trees, rides cows and can make music from anything? Full review...
Wallace and Gromit - The Complete Newspaper Strips - Volume 1 by Nick Park
One man and his dog never had such a famous theme tune. One Man and His Dog had a piddly little melody, but the triumphal, old-fashioned and charming parp of the theme tune to Wallace and Gromit has resounded out for decades now. While Aardman moved away from the near-silent classic animations the series first gave us, the plasticine creations mutated into incredibly popular characters, which included a daily strip in the nation's biggest-selling tabloid. Here is the first lump of them, 312 daily doses of tomfoolery, collected for everyone to enjoy. Even if you thought the franchise had travelled its course a long time ago… Full review...
The Flavours of Love by Dorothy Koomson
Saffron's husband, Joel, was stabbed in the street eighteen months ago and no one has ever been arrested for his murder. It's hard for Saffron and her two children, Pheobe and Zane, to live with what happened but somehow they have to find a way of getting on with their lives; lives that no longer have Joel in them. It's hardly surprising that they struggle on a daily basis and it all culminates when Saffron is called into school to discuss fourteen year old Pheobe. Saffron doesn't know how to deal with the situation especially as her daughter won't talk to her. On top of all that, Joel's killer is still out there somewhere and that makes her scared for all her family's safety. Full review...
The Ransom of Dond by Siobhan Dowd
Siobhan Dowd wrote just four novels before she died from breast cancer in 2007. All four novels were wonderful and yet they weren't Siobhan's sole legacy to us. Patrick Ness took an idea of hers and, together with artist Jim Kay, turned it into A Monster Calls, which won both the Carnegie and Greenaway prizes. And now we have The Ransom of Dond, Siobhan's last story. Full review...
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Following a string of recent scandals, the government this month announced that secret cameras could be introduced into care homes in the hope of improving patient care. The theory being that constantly recording staff would prevent any inappropriate behaviour from those in positions of authority. Could such surveillance possibly work? And if it did would any potential rewards be outweighed by the threat to privacy of both the patients and the wholly innocent staff who become caught up in the snooping? It's this question of surveillance over privacy that is central to 'The Circle', the new novel from Dave Eggers. Full review...
Alan Turing (Real Lives) by Jim Eldridge
Alan Turing was one of Britain's greatest thinkers of the last century. He did pioneering work on computing and artificial intelligence. He was also a hero of World War II, working in the famous code-breaking community at Bletchley Park, cracking German naval codes used to lethal effect organising U-boat attacks. Turing was the man who beat the Enigma machine. Full review...
Dear Life by Alice Munro
Alice Munro has made an art form of short story writing. Dear Life is a collection of truly beautiful short stories, perfectly crafted in a way that leaves no wanting feeling, as is often an issue with short stories. Each of the 14 stories contained within the collection is just that; a story in its own right. There is no getting caught up and lost in style and literary flare, but a cool prose, a calmness of tone and good strong stories. Full review...
Twit by Steve Cole
If I asked you to name a clever animal, you’d quite likely choose an owl. After all, they are known to be the wisest of birds, aren’t they? There’s one exception to that rule, though. Meet Twit. He’s rather cute with his big round eyes, and he’s polite and kind… but he’s not very wise. Full review...
Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle
On Christmas Eve, the night of the worst storm in 50 years, Jubilee Dougal's parents are arrested after a riot over decorative houses. Sent to stay with her grandparents, her train gets stuck. She ditches the train, and ends up in a waffle house with fourteen cheerleaders and various teen boys. Three best-selling authors team up to tell the story of this Christmas in a trio of interlinked novellas. Full review...
The Last Diaries: A Blaze of Autumn Sunshine by Tony Benn
Throughout my life I've found that whilst I might not always agree with Tony Benn's politics, whatever he had to say would give me food for thought - and frequently changed the way that I viewed a situation. He's a wonderful mixture of supreme intelligence and humanity which is so rarely found - particularly in modern-day politics and it was with some misgivings that I opened this volume of his diaries, given that the slipcover speaks of the compensations and challenges of old age and the disadvantages of growing older, the loneliness of widowhood, the upheaval of moving from the family home of sixty years and the problems of failing health. I've always been relieved that Benn has never quite achieved the status of national treasure, but surely he couldn't be in decline? Full review...
How the Meteorite Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland
This is a cumulative tale in which one small event sets off a chain of other events which are repeated throughout the story. If your child loves books like This is the House That Jack Built, this may prove a very useful addition to you home library, but this is a type of story telling which I have found some children really take to, and others do not. Full review...
Cher: Strong Enough by Josiah Howard
Having looked at the title and sub-title, the latter being no more than the two-word title of one of her latter-day hits, I assumed this was going to be a fairly comprehensive biography of the American singer. The sub-title, Strong Enough, taken from one of her latter-day hit singles, reveals nothing. Not until I had almost finished it, a little puzzled at it not being quite what I had expected, did I finally look at the blurb on the back – at which point all became clear. This was not the full story of a showbiz career which has lasted close on half a century, but for the most part an extraordinarily detailed account of her 1975 TV variety show. Full review...
Discover the Savage World by Simon Adams, Camilla de la Bedoyere, Ian Graham, Steve Parker, Phil Steele, Clint Twist and Amanda Askew
The range of subjects covered in Discover the Savage World is astonishing. The first three chapters are science related topics. The first section Earth's Power covers the birth of the universe, earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters. Deadly Nature brings new meaning to the phrase acting like animals, as we see the darker side of nature, from venomous creatures, deadly carnivores and a real surprise about a very common and well known bird. Wild Science has a mixed bag of topics with dangerous elements, explosions, fireworks and exactly how a bullet works, as well as the birth of a star. Tough Machines dips into technology and innovation with an incredible variety of mechanical subjects with everything from massive transport vehicles and diggers, to robots, military vehicles, ice breaking ships, rockets, and flood control systems. The focus turns to geography with Harsh Lands show a myriad of cultures and lifestyles in inhospitable locations. Life is difficult in some regions due to nature, but man made hazards like Chernobyl and land mines occur as well. Finally we close with history and Brutal Battles. This covers ancient warfare with events such as the Battle of Marathon and the Siege of Masada right up to the Somme, the Battle Of Stalingrad with a heavy focus on snipers and the Battle of Kursk. Full review...
Canton Elegy: A Father's Letter of Sacrifice, Survival and Love by Stephen Jin-Nom Lee and Howard Webster
Stephen Jin-Nom Lee, known in his childhood as Ah Nom, was born early in the twentieth century in the village of Dai Waan in rural China. His father died when he was young and he lived with his grandmother, mother and 'Little Uncle', who was only a matter of months older than Ah Nom. They'd become friends as they grew older, but when his Grandfather returned after a long absence in America there as a distinct rivalry between the two. Then Grandfather revealed his reason for returning home - he intended to take the boys to America to be educated. It was a wonderful opportunity and Ah Nom left the village and his mother not knowing when he would see either again. Full review...
The Black Guard (The Long War) by AJ Smith
Ro Canarn is falling to the brutal conquest of the Red Knights. Duke Hector, its ruler, is on the verge of death and his twin offspring Lady Bronwyn and Lord Bromvy are on the run, outcast. However this is merely a portent of greater troubles ahead. One of the evil Seven Sisters is seen accompanying the Red Knights so if there is a secret agenda it's not a good one. Meanwhile if Ro Canarn can fall, is anywhere safe anymore? Full review...
Walter Tull's Scrapbook by Michaela Morgan
Meet Walter Tull. There's a picture early on in this book so you can do so – a young lad, with deeply inquisitive eyes, his father and four siblings arrayed around him. When he was only nine, his father – himself child to Barbadian slaves – died, leaving him an orphan, and forced to go to a Victorian children's home in London. In his downtime there Walter became quite the handsome young sportsman, and managed to get so proficient he became the English league's first coloured outfield footballer, knocking up great appearances for Spurs and Northampton and going on intercontinental tours. Glasgow Rangers beckoned just as WWI started, and instead he signed up for the Footballers Battalion. His time at the front was also going to leave him with another distinguished first, despite the official racism of the time. Full review...
Scribbles and Ink, the Contest by Ethan Long
Scribbles the Cat and Ink the Mouse are nowhere near the average cartoon cat and mouse – for one thing they are good buddies, who like nothing more than lounging around, or being creative with art supplies. When Ink finds a contest to win an adventure holiday by drawing dinosaurs, they both have a go – with unexpected results… Full review...
The Complete Short Stories: Volume Two by Roald Dahl
Having only recently read the first volume of this collection of all of Roald Dahl’s short stories I couldn’t help but think of the phrase too much of a good thing although I have never really agreed with the phrase (I could happily gorge on chocolate or whisky for days without the slightest regret) I am still pleased that this book provides yet more evidence of the inaccuracy of the expression. With stories as diverse as a butler getting revenge on his employer and a baby being brought up on royal jelly by a fanatical bee lover, these are tales of horror, humour, adventure, love and all out weirdness. Full review...
The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria by Max Adams
Born in 604 and around for only 38 years, Oswald didn't live that long but he packed a lot in. Born into Bernician royalty, Oswald the teenager had to flee with his mother and siblings when his father Aelfrith was killed at the Battle of the River Idle. Any noble wanting to beat his way to the top would naturally kill Oswald's family and so an obscure upbringing in Ireland seemed the answer. However, Oswald grows strong and bides his time until he comes home and clears his own path, ruling Northumbria for 8 years until his own untimely demise. During those 8 years he united kingdoms, helped establish Christianity and became the inspiration of writers as disparate as St Bede and Tolkien. As Oswald became St Oswald he left behind as many legends as historical events and this book seeks to separate the man from the myth while explaining the time we call the Dark Ages in the brutally separated lands that we now call Great Britain and Ireland. Full review...
You Make Me Smile by Layn Marlow
Snow, at least for us in the UK, isn’t an everyday occurrence, and for children, unbothered by traffic chaos and school closures and boilers on the brink of a breakdown, it can be rather magical. This book is about that magic. Full review...
What Should We Tell Our Daughters?: The Pleasures and Pressures of Growing Up Female by Melissa Benn
'I am shocked when I read young feminists today blithely admitting that they don't know what second-wave feminists wrote.'
As a twenty-something year old feminist, it pains me to admit how much this quote applied to me. Having grown up knowing that college and university were paths I could definitely take, never being told that settling down and finding a husband was an important goal to have, and always getting the same opportunities as my male peers in the workplace, I'd never seen – or, at least, thought I'd seen – the inequalities, misogyny and chauvinism that were still apparently abundant in today's society. The feminist movement had always seemed like an amazing wave of new ideas that had happened forty or fifty years ago. It was the reason my mother and I were now able to work and find a role outside of the home. Full review...
I Want a Pet by Lauren Child
What do you do if you really, really want a pet? You ask your parents, of course. They’re bound to have some criteria. Like something with not too much fur, something that can live outside, neatly out of the way, or something that doesn’t buzz (it’s not good for Granny’s hearing aid, y’see). So you take all this into consideration and come up with a shortlist of critters that might work. One by one you suggest them, and one by one your ideas are shouted down. Full review...
Montalbano's First Case by Andrea Camilleri
Montalbano was just thirty five and he was a deputy Inspector up in the mountains, which he hated to the extent that they could put him off his food. But in the way that such things are known, he knew that he would be promoted before long. What was not known was where he would be promoted to and this worried him. If it was another posting in the mountains he would resign. His girlfriend's uncle told the couple that it was Vigata, which delighted Montalbano and he went to visit, unfortunately witnessing an assault. The wiser traffic cop in the area was otherwise engaged (chatting to a couple of dogs, as it happened...) but Montalbano was quick to correct the car registration which he'd noted down wrongly. Full review...
The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt
It's midsummer night, and Tiuri is one of five young men locked up in a chapel with one more night of silent penance between them and the ceremony that makes them knights of the realm, when a stranger lures him outside. The elderly man gives Tiuri the task of delivering a secret letter, and the chivalry and espionage is too much for the sixteen year old to ignore. The bad news begins, however, when he finds the very experienced knight he was to deliver the letter to dying alone on a forest floor, meaning Tiuri must accept the mantle unofficially, and deliver the missive to its ultimate audience – the king of the neighbouring country. The journey will bring the young man right to the cusp of danger, international intrigue and more. Full review...
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Mr Perfect by Joanna Davies
This book made me feel old. Old, and a bit boring. From the blurb I'd expected a light-hearted chick-lit style story of finding the perfect man, or perhaps realising that the perfect man doesn't exist and finding, instead, the man you love has been living right under your nose all along! It is, in part, that sort of story. But it's also the story of two people who spend an awful lot of their lives having sex with entirely the wrong people and occasionally running into each other (literally at one point!) but missing the fact that they like each other for many, many years. Full review...
A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish
Thren Felhorn is the leader of the Spider Guild and is a name feared by everyone in Veldaren. For good reason, for Thren has united the Guilds, those groups populated by the thieves and murderers of the city. Thren’s long term aim is to lead the Guilds in a war against the Trifect – the three richest families who control the majority of the city’s legal activities. Full review...
Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman
The first thing I noticed about this book was the illustrations. There is a strong nostalgic feel to this that makes me think of space race era film clips and early Flash Gordon comics. Perhaps it was the wonderfully fun illustrations that made me assume (incorrectly) that this would be less academic than most of the books in our space collection. I was expecting this to be a fun light read. It was certainly fun, the whole family loved this book, but it was anything but a light read. We spent three days reading this book, researching topics online after reading about them, engaging the entire family in debates on space, conducting experiments inspired by our research etc... We had to rearrange our entire school week - and we still haven't finished - we have a number of new projects inspired by this book planned for next week as well. This book is, without any doubt one of the most educational books we have ever read, all the while not only holding the children's interest, but completely captivating them. Full review...
Taking the Fall by A P McCoy
Back in the nineteen seventies Duncan Claymore was a promising conditional jockey - a talented rider who should never have been short of a ride, but he was struggling, probably because he could neither take instructions nor keep his mouth shut. He'd been taught everything he knew by his father, Charlie, a trainer whose reputation was ruined when personal rivalries got out of hand. He hasn't been able to set foot on a racecourse since. His son's determined to beat the top jockeys and to bring down the men responsible for what happened to his father, but can he do both or will he have to make some hard choices? Full review...
My Life by David Jason
Born in North London in February 1940 during the early years of the Second World War, David John White once had a brief career as an electrician. Fortunately for the world of entertainment and the public, he soon forsook the world of fuses and wires for that of the stage and small screen. When he joined Equity, they already had a David White on their records, and after a little quick thinking on the phone, he became David Jason. Full review...
Murder on a Summer's Day: (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) by Frances Brody
It was Kate Shackleton's cousin in the India Office who sought her help to find Maharajah Narayan who had gone out hunting on the Bolton Abbey Estate and not returned, although his horse - a flighty Arab - returned riderless. The following morning a body was found - but this proved to be one of the grooms who had accompanied Narayan earlier in the day. Had he slipped jumping across the Strid and drowned? The jump across the river Wharfe looked tempting and people were warned of the dangers, but it was known that young men regularly crossed that way rather than walking to the wooden bridge or the stepping stones. Later in the day Narayan's body was found. He'd been shot through the heart and a clumsy attempt had been made to hide the body - but only Kate Shackleton believed that there was foul play. The authorities seemed determined that what had happened would be written off as 'a tragic accident'. Full review...
A Piece of Danish Happiness by Sharmi Albrechtsen
Sharmi Albrechtsen was a true Hindu-American princess. Obsessed with shoes and handbags and designer labels, she saw status and wealth as the only route to happiness. But she wasn't happy enough, no matter how much designer gear she owned. And it wasn't until 1997, when she married her second husband, a Dane, and relocated to Denmark, that she began to wonder if it was something lacking in herself, rather than her possessions, that was at the root of her problems. Full review...
