Book Reviews From The Bookbag
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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Paddington at the Zoo by Michael Bond and R W Alley
Cast your mind back to the weeks before the Paddington movie enchanted the world. There was a lot of press at the time about how the film had such mild peril and sexual innuendo that it was a PG-rated movie, and not a U. It became headlines due to the unassailable fact that Paddington just never seems to carry any threat to the audience, and to not have a single daunting bone in his body. But those larger books can easily be daunting to the very young people in which you wish to instil love of the character, which is where the picture book range of stories comes in. They're a lot smaller than the chapters in the main novels, and while those main books were still being produced as well they were quite uncommon occurrences, but with the 'proper' books out the way, these were pretty much all Michael Bond was producing as regards our favourite bear. Which can only mean one thing – they're equally brilliant. Full review...
Far From Home by Berlie Doherty
Lizzie and Emily Jarvis can no longer be in the care of their mother as she has become severely ill. She leaves them in the care of her best friend, a cook, but when things go wrong, the girls are sent to the Victorian mills where they are worked each day till they are beyond exhausted and the only thing that keeps them going is counting down the days till they are able to leave. Full review...
The Turn of the Tide by Margaret Henderson Smith
Harriet Glover is well and truly over Mark after he left her standing at the altar. She's pregnant with Sir Joris Sanderson's child and he's keen to make the relationship permanent, but ghosts from his past return to haunt him, unfortunately at a rather important dinner party. The mystery of 'Amber' really has to be solved and the web of lies which surround her dismantled. Harriet is still being led astray by Tricia Harrington (or so Harriet's mother would have you believe...) and she can't really make up her mind about 'Mr Sanderson', particularly when the man from MI6 is around. She's got a lot to cope with and that's before we even get on to the subject of the Prime Minister's daughter's wedding, which must remain secret. Full review...
An Island of Our Own by Sally Nicholls
Meet Holly. She lives, with her older brother and, er, shall we say demanding younger brother, in a flat above a London chippy. That's right – no parents around, as all three are orphans. Older brother Jonathan sacrificed uni to be their legal guardian, so is ostensibly their carer as well as sibling, which means that welfare and what he earns being a grease monkey in a corner café is all they live on. Times, therefore, are hard. But twelve year old Holly does have a straw to clutch on to – their eccentric aunt may have bequeathed them her antique jewellery collection. But what is going to make that a search for one exact straw in a haystack is that nobody knows where it may be… Full review...
Big Nate: Laugh-O-Rama (Big Nate Activity Book 4) by Lincoln Peirce
This seems to be a firmly established publishing practise now – the enhanced readership experience offered to fans of a franchise by a tie-in activity book. This is yet another example – looking like a genuine entry in an on-going series, it instead offers the fan of the characters the chance to interact with them in new ways, as well as looking back through the shelves of their collection, and inwardly as well, at their own thoughts and tastes. Note I say it's for a fan – this example will alienate anyone else from the first page – but for the right audience it’s generally a good thing. And in this instance it's a very, very good thing indeed. Full review...
A Nazi in the Family: The Hidden Story of an SS Family in Wartime Germany by Derek Niemann
I'm sure someone somewhere has rewritten The Devil's Dictionary to include the following – family: noun; place where the greatest secrets are kept. The Niemann family is no exception. It was long known that grandfather Karl was in Germany during the Second World War, people could easily work that out from the family biography. Yet little was spoken of, apart from him being an office-bound worker, either in logistics or finance. Since the War two of three surviving siblings had relocated to the Glasgow environs, and there was even a family quip concerning Goebbels and Gorbals (family: noun; place where the worst things are spoken in the best way). What was a surprise to our author, and many of his relatives, was that things were a lot closer to the former than had been expected, for Karl was such an office worker – for the SS. With a lot of family history finally out of the closet of silent mouths, and with incriminating photographic evidence revealed in unlikely ways, the whole truth can be known. But this is certainly not just of interest to that one small family. Full review...
Sucker by Mark Lingane
Private Investigator Van H Avram is living in odd times. At least that's what he decides on the day he has to step over a dead body to get from his office to the street and not just any body: it's that of a skinny blond thing – the first of many. However life goes on and bills have to be paid so when a woman called Mina walks into Van's office and asks him to find Hugo Jorgen he doesn't refuse. Perhaps if at that point he'd realised where the search would lead, the brutally bloodied body count he would uncover and the link to a recurring childhood nightmare that materialises, then he may have refused. Too late now though… Full review...
The Gauntlet by Ronald Welch
The Gauntlet was one of the iconic books of my childhood. Why iconic? It's an over-used word. Why not say 'most memorable', 'outstanding', 'most magical and exciting', -- or simply 'best'? Any of those would do but I think I'll allow myself iconic. The gauntlet of the title justifies that word. Full review...
Yes! I Can Manage, Thank You! by Virginia Ironside
As mid-60s edges towards late, Marie Sharp has even more of life's challenges to grapple with and even more to give. Her beloved Archie has passed away and she feels it's time to take a new lodger. Maybe someone male and a little younger? There's also Melanie; a new gale force of nature next door neighbour now that the wind-chime-challenged Brad and Sharmie have moved on. Unfortunately Marie doesn't like her but this only gets worse when Marie realises that she's the only person who doesn't like her. However, not all is negative. Grandson Gene is now 7 years old and may be the link to a little part time work for Marie to keep her artistic hand in. If she could work out why one side of her tummy is a different size and shape to the other, life would be practically perfect. Or maybe it's best not to think about that at all? Full review...
Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin
Tomorrow is the day I'm going to die. I don't mean to get all dramatic about it. I've known that tomorrow is the day I will die since I was born.. Just like almost everyone else in the world knows their deathdate. But do I need to get movie-preview-voice-over-guy intense about it? Probably not.
Oh! I think I would want to get intense about impending death. Don't you think you would, too? But imagine what it's like to live in a world where everyone knows the day they will die. Rituals and conventions spring up. You get to go to your own funeral. You could even get to make the most of your life if you know when it ends. You won't pass up so many opportunities, perhaps? Full review...
We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach
Peter, Eliza, Andy and Anita are all about to graduate high school. They all have plans and expectations, even slacker Andy. But those expectations are about to be thrown into disarray. An asteroid is approaching Earth and there's a 66% chance of a collision and an extinction level event. There are just a few weeks before a possible, no a likely, end of the world. What will happen? How will they react? What will they do? Full review...
Beyond the Trees of Gulavstadt: A Gothic Short Story by B Reid
Amy works for Claralingua, a London education company that runs English schools all over the world, and Amy is travelling to Gulavstadt, a remote town in Eastern Europe, to inspect one of the schools. Gulavstadt is a town of myths and the setting of a recent horror film, The Thing Behind the Trees, exploiting them - featuring medieval, flesh-eating ghouls with mouths lined with the sharpest of teeth. But myths don't bother Amy... Full review...
Flashes of Thought: Lessons in life and leadership from the man behind Dubai by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
At the beginning of the 20th century Dubai was a small port town, home to traders, fishermen and pearl divers and it was here that Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum was born in 1949 in a house with no electricity or running water. He's now the Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai. It's his vision and driving force which is behind the transformation of Dubai into a major global city, tourist destination and trading centre. When you have regard to the unrest and volatility in much of the Middle East, what has been achieved in Dubai is extraordinary and the opportunity to read Sheikh Mohammed's thoughts on governance, leadership and life was not one to be passed up lightly, particularly as he's not a man to give interviews very often. Full review...
This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Stone-faced Captain Jubilee Chase is the best soldier on Avon, a planet in the midst of a rebellion, where the terraforming won’t take, and the mysterious Fury infects soldiers and turns them into mindless killers. Only Lee is immune, and she doesn’t understand why. Full review...
The Boy Who Stole Attila's Horse by Ivan Repila and Sophie Hughes (translator)
If you pick up a copy of this book you realise how small it is. You'll know, of course, that pockets hardly exist that are normally big enough to hold what we used to call a pocket book, but here is the exception to prove the rule. It's wee. The story is on a hundred pages. The concision is partly down to it starting after the beginning, for we first meet Big and Small, two brothers, once they're stuck down a large well in the middle of a forest. Tasked with a family errand, they're trapped at the bottom of a natural Erlenmeyer flask, and even a desperate move cannot get either out. This is the story of the next three months in their existence, as they brave hunger, delirium, loss of language, and the brute and unstinting human selfishness needed for existence. Full review...
Kick-Ass 3 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr
At the start of this book, Hit-Girl is stuck in a super-max prison (don't ask why). The entire east coast Mafia command is up for grabs (you don't need to ask why – Hit-Girl killed most of them herself). As for Dave, or Kick-Ass, he's failing. He has a whole cohort of other super-heroes, which in this world means dweebish fans of comics with a stupid costume yet no power other than the determination to do well for society, but they're not going anywhere. They're not spotting crime or solving conspiracies, and they're certainly not getting their colleague and mentor Hit-Girl out of jail. Dave could in actual fact be in danger of the most heinous crime of all – growing up. Full review...
Soil by Jamie Kornegay
Jay Mize is a scientific man with a particular interest in soil and agriculture. He decides he is the one to pioneer a revolution in farming techniques and uproots his wife and son to set up an experimental farm on a plot of land in the country. Jay is also an obsessive man and his plans take over, becoming his only focus and causing his family to leave him. Then flooding ruins his crops and he is left at the end of his tether; things only get worse when Jay finds a dead body on his land and his tenuous grip on his sanity is released. Full review...
The A-Z of You and Me by James Hannah
Lying in a hospital bed, refusing visits from friends, Ivo is alone. Only his carer, Sheila, provides company - and she asks him to think of a different part of his body for each letter of the alphabet, and then to tell a tale about each one. Full review...
Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver
Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. Nicole, known as Nick, and younger sister Dara, have their lives and relationship torn apart by a serious car accident. Once extremely close, Nick and Dara now barely speak to each other, both sisters weighed down by feelings of guilt. Full review...
Adult Onset by Ann-Marie MacDonald
At midlife, Mary Rose MacKinnon has settled down with her partner, Hilary, and is raising two young children. Opting to fulfill the role of stay at home mum, she has placed her career as an author on hold. What follows is a bid to reconcile this new identity with her former idea of self. Success, however, depends on Mary Rose facing up to the confusions of her past. Full review...
By Its Cover by Donna Leon
A prestigious library in the heart of Venice discovered that pages had been cut from many of its most valuable books and that several others were missing. This would normally have been investigated by a specialist department in Rome, but Commissario Guido Brunetti agreed to look into the thefts - partly for personal reasons and partly because it was the simplest way to move the problem forward. The staff at the library were certain that an American researcher was responsible, but there were quite a few factors which didn't quite add up for Brunetti and he decided to look at some of the other regular attenders at the library. Full review...
Elementary: The Ghost Line by Adam Christopher
Once an author dies, the characters they created are often left alone to live off this initial legacy, but it is increasingly normal to see past heroes rise again – quite literally in the likes of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Once out of copyright you can do what you like to a character; a character just like Sherlock Holmes. Not only do we get numerous new books starring Holmes set in the Victorian era, but there are currently two separate TV shows about modern Sherlockian adventures. Elementary is set in America and is more liberal than most adaptations with the lore, but can the tie in novel evoke any memories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? Full review...
Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein
The essential role of aviators in the success or failure of modern war is a given, and fiction is full of the derring-do and dog-fight exploits of moustachioed heroes waving their trade-mark silk scarves as they land their frail and battered craft at a friendly airstrip. But what if the enemy planes outnumber those of your country by hundreds, if not thousands, and you, the pilot, are barely out of your childhood? Full review...
The Wickford Doom by Chris Priestley and Vladimir Stankovic
Following Harry’s father’s death in the war, he and his mother learn that they’ve inherited a bequest from a relative. When they arrive to claim it, though, they find that they’ve been the victims of a dying man’s last cruel prank. But there are local tales of missing children and a strange painting called the Doom, and Harry quickly learns that there may be something far more evil than a nasty joke to worry about. Can he fight back against it? Full review...
Supercat vs the Pesky Pirate (Supercat, Book 3) by Jeanne Willis
We all know the story, you’re a cat and you wake up one day, lick a toxic sock and end up as a crime fighting cat, right? Well SuperCat is back in this rip roaring (or should that be meowing?) adventure, SuperCat vs The Pesky Pirate. Full review...
A Fifty Year Silence by Miranda Richmond Mouillot
The story follows the narrator’s quest to find out why her mother’s parents abruptly parted and never reconciled, or even spoke another word to one another. We follow Miranda as she goes backwards and forwards between her Grandmother, whom she is very close to, and her Grandfather, whom she has always found a difficult character. She is determined to get to the bottom of the story which takes her through terrible first hand accounts of events leading up to and throughout World War Two and what Nazi occupied Europe was like for the Jewish. She is driven by the need to know what could cause two people to part so completely after going through so much together, and it’s become her academic life to find out. Full review...
The Red House by Emily Winslow
On the face of it, it seemed quite simple. It was just that as you started to unravel what had happened, what might happen, there seemed to be more skins that on an onion. Maxwell Gant had taken his fiancee to meet his mother. He and Imogen were hoping to move to Cambridge, where Maxwell had applied for a job with one of the college choirs. Imogen had an unusual history - she had been adopted when she was eight after the deaths of her parents in a car crash. She'd managed to trace her two elder brothers after the four children had been adopted by different families, but she was still looking for her younger brother, Sebastian, who was only three at the time of the accident. Full review...
How to Win Every Argument by Madsen Pirie
When a book makes a promise on its cover, call me old fashioned but I’m kinda expecting it to deliver on this. So How to Win Every Argument has me thinking that I would read it and become an expert in proving I’m right all the time (even when I’m not). I was expecting the sort of hints and tips one could use to argue successfully that the Earth is flat, chocolate is a vegetable (cocoa is a plant) and Cheerleaders should rule the world. Simples. Full review...
