Book Reviews From 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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Off Message: The Complete Antidote to Political Humbug by Bob Marshall-Andrews
Bob Marshall-Andrews entered Parliament in 1997, rather too late to be a career politician (he was already an established QC) and with a profound distrust of authority. He had no aspirations towards office, which was perhaps as well for all concerned as he would become best known for being a dissident. I occasionally enquired as to which party held his allegiance and eventually concluded that he went with his conscience. The last three Labour administrations have spawned more political memoirs than any other – and I did wonder if this would be just one more to add to the pile. Full review...
Gobble! Gobble! Gobble! by Simon Mayor and Hilary James
In Gobble! Gobble! Gobble! we meet a turkey who lives in a farmyard and is afraid of Christmas dinners; another who gets married to a duck and a third who buys a car that never goes anywhere. The one thing that they all have in common though is that they all like to gobble a lot and there is certainly a great deal of gobbling going on in this book. There isn't a great story but the idea of the turkeys doing all of the things that I have mentioned had my daughter smiling. Full review...
A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French
Over the years I have become something of a Dawn French fan. She has consistently entertained and quite frankly made my sides split with laughter as an actor, comedian, and most recently as a writer with her wonderful autobiographyDear Fatty. So when I saw her first novel ‘A Tiny Bit Marvellous’ waiting for me on The Bookbag shelves I thought here’s another treat from this remarkable entertainer. Full review...
Sex, Meaning and the Menopause by Sue Brayne
Things change as you get older. As men – and particularly women – approach their late forties and early fifties they expect that there will be physical changes, some more permanent than others, but they're frequently taken by surprise by the mental changes which occur. Women expect that the menopause will bring the end of menstruation (some looking at this more gratefully than others...) but fail to appreciate that they are moving into a different stage of their life. Looked at positively this can be the most fulfilling period of woman's lifecycle – and I doubt that there's a husband who would object to that! Full review...
The Track of Sand by Andrea Camilleri
Inspector Montalbano awoke one morning and saw the body of a horse on the beach in front of his house, but it's not long before it disappears, leaving only a track in the sand. How is he to investigate this when he doesn't know where the horse came from? It isn't long though before equestrian champion Rachele Esterman arrives at police headquarters to report her horse missing. It had been stabled at the home of Saverio Lo Duca, one of the richest men in Sicily – and one of his horses is missing too. When Montalbano finds that he and his home are under threat he wonders who he has upset – and the list of possibilities is disturbingly large and influential. Full review...
The Wilt Inheritance by Tom Sharpe
Wilt is stuck in a job he doesn't want – teaching a subject he's not keen on to people for whom he has no affection – at one of the new Universities. We used to know them as technical colleges. But he can't afford to lose it because of the expense of keeping the quads at an expensive school and of maintaining his snobbish wife, Eva. It's Eva though who signs him up for a job in the summer holidays – tutoring the step-son of a local aristocrat in the hope of getting him into Cambridge – and particularly Porterhouse College. It's not long before Wilt discovers that the boy totes a gun a shoots at anything which moves – or even doesn't move – and that he's an idiot who would probably struggle to get a bus to Cambridge. Full review...
The Final Evolution by Jeff Somers
Don't assume too much when starting this book. Certainly, do not assume you can jump straight into this series at this, part five - start much nearer the beginning, as I did. Don't assume the first person narrative means the narrator survives, for this is a world of cyborgs, and psychic human intelligences stored in robot hardware, and more. Don't assume the lulling opening chapters herald a simple revenge actioner, as Avery Cates lives in a tangled web of vengeful villains, and nothing is very straightforward. And don't assume the unremarkable opening is from an author low on ideas, for when Cates is proven to be the one man to save the world, we find it suitably meaty, and gripping, despite that old saw - and it's a rich nightmare of post-apocalypse for him to be saving, as well... Full review...
Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson
Rob is out to kill us all, and is going to take some beating. He already has many advantages, and can adapt easily where he finds a fault in his plans. He already has most of us dead, or in concentration camps. Rob is the generic nickname for all robot-kind, all controlled by one supreme Artificial Intelligence, who is set on eradication of our species. Full review...
Sweet Money by Ernesto Mallo and Katherine Silver
A man whose nickname is Mole (and it suits him just perfectly) is released from prison. He's described as your average Joe Public, your man in the street so normal in every way that no one would look twice at him. And that's the point. He's clever and resourceful enough to blend into any crowd and in any situation. Now that he's served his time behind bars, has he become a reformed man? Is he going to opt for a lawful way of life from now on? You'd perhaps think so, wouldn't you? Full review...
The Unreliable Life of Harry the Valet: The Great Victorian Jewel Thief by Duncan Hamilton
The story of Harry the Valet may not be particularly familiar to modern readers, but he was something of a celebrity in the Victorian age. He achieved notoriety by stealing thousands of pounds worth of jewels from the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland - much to the delight of many people who disliked the lady, which appears to have been pretty much everyone who ever met her. Having pulled off this audacious theft, Harry seemed to be invincible - but he was brought down by his love for a Gaiety Girl, and ended up facing a trial which the papers fell over themselves to report on. Full review...
Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou
The protagonist of this novel is an ordinary Congolese porcupine until Papa Kibandi performs an ancient ritual involving a hallucinogenic cocktail called mayamvumbi, and transforms him into his son's harmful double. The insecure younger Kibandi becomes more and more embittered as his life goes on, and sends his porcupine to 'eat' anybody he feels the least bit threatened by, a process whereby that person's life essence is sucked out, killing them instantly. Over one hundred victims later and following his master's death at the hands of a vengeful baby, our narrator retires to the hollow of a baobab tree where he writes this confessional. Full review...
The Nanny Goat's Kid by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
Nanny Goat really wanted a kid – more than anything else in the world, but it wasn't possible. Her sisters told her kids weren't all they were cracked up to be and she should be grateful. Eventually she decided that she would adopt a kid. Now, we all noticed that the kid didn't really look like a kid at all. In fact he looks suspiciously like a tiger and as Nanny Goat struggled to bring him up the differences became more and more obvious. Matters came to a head when Nanny Goat's sisters' kids went missing and the sisters blamed Nanny Goat's kid. Nanny goat might not have given birth to the kid but she still saw him as her child and when the sisters said that he should leave the herd she decided to go with him. Full review...
Just One More by Joy Cowley and Gavin Bishop
What happened when a dragon moved into the town's library? Or when Cowgirl Katie's horse went shopping and rode on the escalator? This fun collection of short stories is unusual, odd and very entertaining! Full review...
Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg
Annie Edson Taylor was sixty-two years old and a widow. She didn't have very much money saved and she was worried about her future - until she had an inspiration. She would have a barrel made - a very stout and water-tight barrel - and she would be the first person to brave the thundering waters of Niagra Falls in this barrel. Chris Van Allsburgh tells us her story from the moment of inspiration right through to the times after the epic trip, but in truth the words are simpy there to eleborate on his wonderful drawings. They're so good that you could be forgiven for thinking that they're black and white photographs on occasions. Full review...
Kitty Kool's Beauty School by Michaela Morgan and Katherine Lodge
Kitty Kool has a new beauty school, and she's very excited about her opening day. However, when her makeovers for a grumpy crocodile, messy rabbit and spider don't go quite as they expected she worries that perhaps her beauty school isn't as fabulous as she'd first thought! Full review...
Love and Freedom by Sue Moorcroft
Honor Sontag left her home in the States and came to the UK. Her career had hit a sticky patch but she was determined to take a four-month break in Brighton to think things over and get herself back together again. She needed a job that would help to supplement the money she had - and she definitely didn't want anything 'heavy'. The other thing that she didn't want was any sort of romantic entanglement. She's not even that tempted by the brother of her landlady, who's good looking, but his sister can't stop commenting about how irregularly he works although someone else mentions that he's on the buses. Not much of a starter there then. Full review...
A Day with the Animal Doctors by Sharon Rentta
It is going to be a very busy day for the animal doctors. There's a snake that needs unknotting, a leopard who has lost his spots and the inevitable dog who has swallowed an alarm clock. But today is going to be an important day for Terence too as he's going to be a doctor – just like his Mummy, who is a doctor every day. Terence packs his first aid kit (some VERY useful toys in there!) and off he goes to the hospital with Mummy. Full review...
Grievous Angel by Quintin Jardine
I recently read (and reviewed) Jardine's The Loner and found it an engaging work of fiction, so I was looking forward to dipping into my first Bob Skinner Mystery. I think the front cover alone may very well tempt readers with its attention-grabbing graphics which shouts out 'read me'. Full review...
Churchill's Bunker: The Secret Headquarters at the Heart of Britain's Victory by Richard Holmes
Nowadays, when there is a security threat it seems to be mandatory to whisk the leader and other important personages off to a secret location deep inside a mountain or in a distant forest, but Churchill fought his war – our war – from a series of basement rooms right in the heart of London and within sight of Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament. The Cabinet War Rooms didn't have their own air supply, were infested with vermin and lacked proper toilet facilities, but they were Churchill's choice. He spent a few nights down in the CWR but usually lived in the No 10 Annex upstairs – throughout the worst of the bombing. Full review...
Then by Julie Myerson
The front cover is graphic and telling. A frozen London with its skyscrapers emitting black smoke and random fires across a desolate landscape. As early as the second paragraph we see that something is wrong, something cataclysmic has happened with the lines People are eating the birds ... fighting over a handful of scorched sparrows. The story is told in the first person by the central character which gives it immediacy and draws the reader straight in. Full review...
Last Fling by Sue Gee
Sue Gee is well known for her novels, but this is her first collection of short stories. Short story collections are not for everyone. I've always enjoyed them since they fit easily into a busy life, leaving you feeling as if you've lived through a whole story in just a short space of time. It's easier to find the time for a quick story sometimes than to sit down with a four hundred page novel! Full review...
The Confession of Katherine Howard by Suzannah Dunn
Katherine Howard was Henry VIII's fifth wife. She was perhaps the most seductive of his wives and a considerable contrast to her predecessor, Anna of Cleves. She's been consigned to history as a silly girl, but careful reading gives the lie to this. Suzannah Dunn begins her story when Katherine was twelve years old and went to live in her step-grandmother's household. There she met Cathryn – generally known as Cat – Tilney, but the two girls were very different and didn't hit it off initially. Cat was quietly ambitious, aware that she needed to make a good marriage, whilst Katherine was image-conscious and very interested in the boys. Full review...
Truth and Dare by Liz Miles (Editor)
I love anthologies, especially ones containing a host of unfamiliar authors, so when I was given the chance to get my hands on a collection of twenty stories by writers who, in the main, I hadn't encountered before, I jumped at it. The selection, however, of this score of tales about slipping on the stepping stones of life left me feeling curiously unsatisfied in many cases. Full review...
I'm A Parrot by Simon Mayor and Hilary James
I think that most small children will love the friendly, chatty parrot who speaks to them in 'I'm a Parrot'. From the very start of the book, the parrot chatters on, talking what can only be described as nonsense – but it is very amusing nonsense even though he claims to enjoy intelligent conversation. He talks about the different places he would or wouldn't live and the things that he might do. There are many puns and some play on words such as living in 'Polly-nesia' and becoming a 'parrot-trooper'. My daughter also found it quite comical the way the parrot keeps repeating particular words, although I can imagine that if we were to read the book a few times, it might become a little annoying to say the least. Full review...
London Calling: An Inspector Carlyle Novel by James Craig
The current government had been looking a little sickly in the polls for a while and it seemed that Edgar Carlton – charismatic and ruthless – had only to get to the finish line to be the next Prime Minister. His twin brother, Xavier, would be the next Foreign Secretary. Then a murderer targets former members of the Merrion Club – an exclusive, hedonistic group of undergraduates at Cambridge University – and this includes Edgar, Xavier and the current mayor of London, Christian Holyrod. Inspector John Carlyle of the Metropolitan Police doesn't take that long to work out why this is happening and who is at risk – but who is doing it is an entirely different matter. Full review...
Back Dated by Chris Niblock
Sci-fi writer Ray Flaxman returns home from a weekend away with his fiancee with a dealine to meet. But he finds his flat broken to into and trashed. Nothing of value has been taken. So Ray suspects his stalker is to blame. Serena has been calling and writing, declaring her love for Ray and her urgent desire to have his child. But Ray has never met her. Even so, he is keen to keep this mystery girl a secret because his fiancee, Frankie, has huge jealousy issues. Full review...
Dora at Follyfoot by Monica Dickens
Follyfoot Home of Rest for Horses is owned by the Colonel, but he's been very ill in hospital and now he has to go away to a warm climate to recuperate. It's not quite certain who is in charge of the farm in his absence. It might be Dora or it might be Steve – but there's one thing that is quite clear: they're both under strict instructions not to buy any horses. What's Dora to do though, when she realises that unless she buys the cream-coloured, lame horse, Amigo, it will end its days pulling a log cart? Well, obviously she has to buy the horse with money she borrows from the shady Ron Stryker. How's she to pay it back though? Full review...
The Wolf & Taurus by Joseph Smith
A combined edition of The Wolf and Taurus, each taking the reader into the mind of animal. Superb, intense writing that is sometimes quite painful to read. Full review...
Mrs MacCready Was Ever So Greedy by Julie Fulton and Jona Jung
Mrs McCready was ever so greedy. She was a cheerful, red-headed lady who simply loved her food. She would eat absolutely anything – sometimes it was quite healthy, such as the berries, especially cherries, but she didn't even worry if there were worms inside. She didn't even worry too much about whether the foods she ate tasted good together – she just loved to eat. This caused something of a problem with clothes, as absolutely nothing would fit her – not even the wedding marquee or the hot air balloon. Eventually she met her fate… Full review...
Wall of Days by Alastair Bruce
The front cover of this debut novel caught my full and undivided attention with Alone, ten years on an island, until one day... I couldn't wait to start reading. We meet the central character - we don't know his name just yet and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter. He's living alone on an island, somewhere in the world. Is it the past, the present or even the future? As the story developed I decided on the former. Full review...
Please Bear's Birthday by Avril Lethbridge, Diana Mather and Mary-Ann Mackenzie
Please Bear is having a birthday party and all the bears, both the nice ones and the naughty ones, are invited. In a delightful sing-song rhyme we see Please Bear writing his invitations, the preparations for the party, and the party itself. Some bears are very good, helping other bears if they are a little shy or helping mummy Bear to set the table. Unfortunately, other bears are not so good. They boast, they scream, their greedy and downright unreasonable. Full review...
Ember and Ash by Pamela Freeman
Ember is about to be married. It's not just a romantic day for her personally, it's exciting because her wedding will seal the alliance of the Far South Domain and the Last Domain in the north, making a new kingdom which is a shining example of justice and peace. By fantasy standards, this sounds too good to be true. And so, of course, it is. Barely have the words which bind Ember to new husband Osfrid been spoken before he is consumed by flames, murdered by an elemental god her mother once angered. Soon after that, nearly every fire in the kingdom is extinguished. Shocked to learn that the world is controlled by elemental powers she knew nothing about, Ember enlists her cousins Ash and Cedar to go with her to Fire Mountain to bring back a piece of the mountain and relight their lost fires. Full review...
L'Auberge by Julia Stagg
L'Auberge des Deux Vallees was sadly neglected but it had been bought, not as everyone expected, by a relative of the mayor, but by an English couple who, by all accounts, had little French and not a lot of experience in running a restaurant. Obviously, such a travesty cannot be allowed to continue, and within hours of hearing the news, mayor Serge Papon has called an emergency council meeting to ensure that the newcomers are forced out as quickly as possible. Unfortunately he hadn't reckoned on Christian Dupuy, whose politics are guided by his conscience rather than his wallet. When it comes down to it are quite a few other people in Fogas who don't see what's happening in quite the same way as the mayor. Full review...
The Fetish Room by Redmond O'Hanlon and Rudi Rotthier
An ongoing debate in our family has centred on the value of biographies, particularly of writers. I've always loved the touchstone of the places people lived and wrote, the banality of their lives, the detail, the insight, and the fact that it can tell you everything or nothing at all about the work. My Dad held that the work was what mattered; the rest is just social history. He said that almost disparagingly, which is odd, because if you presented it as social history rather than biography, he'd lap it up. I guess I just don't make the distinction. Full review...
Candle Man: Society of Dread by Glenn Dakin
We left Theo after he had discovered his true identity as the Candle Man and defeated his evil ex-guardian, Dr Saint. The young boy is still ambivalent about his superhero status and conflicted over his ability to use tripudon energy to melt his - and London's - enemies. But the fight against evil pays no attention to inexperience or moral ambiguity and Theo is about to find himself down in the Network again. This time, his attempts to return The Society of Good Works to its original benevolence are thwarted by the renaissance of an old, and even more terrifying, villain - Dr Pyre. With his friends abducted and enslaved, Theo must use his Candle Man abilities once again... Full review...
You Are Very Special by Su Box and Susie Poole
You Are Very Special introduces the idea of individuality, of how we're all different and how we're all special. This isn't really a story as such, but rather a book that invites further discussion. Written in occasionally clunky rhyme, it investigates how everyone is different, all different shapes and sizes. It suggests how miraculous our bodies are, breathing and working through the day and also through the night, even when we're asleep! Full review...
From the Day You Were Born by Sophie Piper and Kristina Stephenson
This lovely little story looks at parental love, of that special bond that grows between parents and children, how babies grow and develop as they get older, and how that love is for ever and for always. Full review...
Play With Colours (The Happets) by Laurence Jammes and Marc Clamens
The Happets are a friendly looking bunch of animal friends all made of different coloured fabrics. In this story we're introduced to each character and told about its colour, for example Milo is green like gorgeous green apples, gorgeous green clover, gorgeous green balls. Each page has a fabric tab, to match the character in question, making it a lovely book for babies to touch and play with. Full review...
The Storm at the Door by Stefan Merrill Block
The author, Stefan Merrill Block, is writing about members of his own family in The Storm at the Door. The story opens at the end, if you get my drift. We see the elderly grandmother Katherine in a bit of a spot, wondering whether to open and then read a bunch of papers. These papers (these red-hot papers) are the words and thoughts of her husband Frederick from his time in a mental institution. If she opens them, then it will be opening a veritable can of worms. Does she or doesn't she? Full review...
