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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Heart of Tango by Elia Barcelo and David Frye
Although less than 200 pages in length, this short novel encompasses a great deal, both in the storyline, and the development of the characters. The plot itself is simple. Young Natalia has been betrothed to the much older Berstein, a German sailor known for some time to Natalia’s father. He appears as a kindly character, and clearly in love/enamoured of Natalia. But the marriage is no love match, but one done instead for expediency, and although prepared to go through with it, Natalia is like any other young girl, and wishes she was marrying the love of her life. Her mother died when she was a baby so she has had a lonely childhood, yearning for female company and guidance - but the reality of the situation has meant that other than an elderly, kindly neighbour who has tried to help support and advise her, she is irrevocably alone - seeming to have very few friends even of her own age. Full review...
Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready
Meet Aura. She was one of the first people in the world to be born after The Shift, beyond which every newborn was opened to the world of the ghosts, hearing and seeing them whether they liked to or not. Her boyfriend, Logan, who she wants to make love to for the first time on the night of his seventeenth birthday, suddenly dies first instead - making him one of the many ghosts Aura might be able to help. But is something of greater help buried in a school project, touching on standing stone circles, the solstices, the mysteries of her own family's past - and a new young man in her life? Full review...
The Obscure Logic of the Heart by Priya Basil
Lina is from a devout Muslim family and lives with her aunt while she studies law at university; where she meets Anil. Anil is a Kenyan boy from a non-practicing Sikh family who dreams of becoming a ground-breaking architect. The two fall in love but as the lies they have to tell their respective families become more and more elaborate they are forced to make some difficult decisions. Full review...
Big Bad Bun by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
Big Bad Bun (formerly known as Fluff) has run away from home to join the Hell Bunnies. He passed the initiation ceremony of being buried up to his nose in cowpats, and has since gone on to do all sorts of baaaaad things, like getting his ear pierced and never washing his whiskers. What on Earth will Big Bad Bun's parents make of all this? ...It IS true, right? He REALLY has joined the Hell Bunnies, right? ...Right? Full review...
Sucking Eggs: What Your Wartime Granny Could Teach You About Diet, Thrift and Going Green by Patricia Nicol
In the current economy, lots of people are trying to make ends meet in their own ways. Not since the days of Brownie badges has the word thrift been bandied around so much, but now it's not so much about saving money as it is about surviving. Actually, maybe it always was, but the Guiding Association thought a jolly piggy bank was a more appropriate badge emblem than a depressed family collapsed in front of their Sky TV with their supermarket-own curry struggling to fill the void left by a regular take away. What we all need is a return to the good old days, when life was simpler and people happier, the days when you didn't need to clear half an hour in your diary to navigate the olive aisle of the supermarket, and when you ate what was fresh and local, not because it was cheap or you were in the mood, but because it was all they had. Full review...
Candor by Pam Bachorz
The children of Candor know how to behave and the children of Candor stick to those rules:
The great are never late.
Healthy breakfasts make for smart minds.
Academics are the key to success.
Always be courteous.
In Candor, everyone is happy. There is no crime. There are no tantrums. There is just respect and cooperation. It is a harmonious place that people from the outside desperately want to relocate to. Full review...
Columbanus: Poet, Preacher, Statesman, Saint by Carol Richards
Richards is at pains to point out straight away that the reader mustn't confuse Columbanus with Columba of Iona. She informs us that the latter did not travel extensively but the former, the subject of her book, did travel throughout parts of Europe. She gives her subject a terrific introduction on the cover, describing him as 'poet, preacher, statesman, saint.' And then goes into much more detail about these areas of his life. Full review...
On Balance by Adam Phillips
Essential for a tightrope walker, prized as an intellectual objective, balance is generally considered something to which we can aspire. We praise someone who makes a balanced decision, we envy people who have a 'good work/life balance' we offer an opinion 'on balance' to demonstrate that we have considered various arguments and options. Full review...
The Wonder by Diana Evans
Lucas and Denise have been brought up by their grandmother on a canal boat in west London, after the death of their parents. Now they are in their 20s, and their grandmother Toreth is gone. Denise is a practical and responsible young woman, getting on with her job as a florist, but her younger brother Lucas is a dreamer, still trying to establish what he wants to do with his life, and increasingly distracted by trying to find out more about his identity, about who his parents were, especially his father. Full review...
Michael Rosen's Big Book of Bad Things by Michael Rosen
When he was little, Michael Rosen's dad remembered all the bad things he'd done and reminded him of them when appropriate, so Michael imagined he'd written them all down in a Big Book of Bad Things. Here he presents the eponymous poem, as well as many many other tales of childhood, from the horrors of being a second late to school, to making a raft, to going to a café. Some bad, some sad, some quirky, some funny, some touching, some light-hearted, all wonderful. Full review...
Martha, No! by Edward Hardy and Deborah Allwright
Martha Felicity Molly-Anne May gets through nannies faster than most kids get through... well, everything. She's a bit of a handful is our Martha, always doing what she shouldn't, and running her nanny ragged. Her day is, unsurprisingly, peppered with cries of Martha, noooo! Full review...
The Economist Book of Isms by John Andrews
I'm assuming all readers of this book, and this review, will know the meanings of the words racism, atheism and Communism. But how about Orphism? Nestorianism? Vorticism? Or the exact difference between egoism, egotism, and egocentrism? I'll confess to ignorance on all of that second trio of words before reading this book, but was fascinated to find out what they were. (Orphism is a religion originating in 6th or 7th century BC Greece based on the poems of Orpheus, who returned from Hades. I'll leave you to find out the definitions of the other two yourself!) Similarly, I was aware of all three of that final trilogy, but am not sure I even knew there was a difference, let alone that I'd have come close to being able to actually define them all as this volume does. Full review...
Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson
As soon as I read the blurb on the front cover of the book, I gained a pretty good idea of the tone and style. 'Reaping - it's a grim job but someone's got to do it.' This book is a little bit quirky, a little bit out of the ordinary. I was keen to start reading. Full review...
A Funny Thing About Love by Rebecca Farnworth
When the reader first meets Carmen Miller she is struggling to cope with the breakup of her marriage whilst not really enjoying her job as a comedy agent. Her boss always seems to find fault with her and she soon discovers that her ex husband's girlfriend is pregnant which comes as quite devastating news. The only thing that lightens up her days is the flirtatious banter that takes place between herself and her colleague Will. The problem is though that she is afraid of taking things further and eventually being hurt as she knows too well what that is like. Full review...
Serena by Ron Rash
The reader is introduced to one of the two main characters straight away. George Pemberton. But everyone (even his new wife) calls him simply Pemberton. He's faced with an awkward and at the same time delicate situation and deals with it - with violence. No one seems too bothered, not even the local sheriff. Full review...
Mr Chicken Goes To Paris by Leigh Hobbs
Mr Chicken wants to see France, so he reads his guidebooks, learns his French phrases and arranges for his penpal Yvette to meet him at the airport. Ooh la la! Full review...
A Question of Answers by Margaret Henderson Smith
Harriet Glover lives with her partner who's reluctant to commit himself to marriage. It's not that he hasn't had time to make up his mind – their two children are at the stage where they might produce grandchildren. His excuse is that he can't see the point as they already share a surname through chance, so what difference would marriage make? Mark's not entirely insensitive (well, some of the time…) but he can't understand Harriet's need for that reassuring piece of paper. Until then she's going to be wondering if his eyes are wandering elsewhere. Harriet's not entirely immune either: she finds the headmaster of the school where she teaches quite irresistible. Full review...
West: A Journey Through the Landscapes of Loss by Jim Perrin
Where would you go if the love of your life, and your son, both died within a short few months of each other? Jim Perrin headed West - to the scraggly patches of land off Ireland, closer to the setting sun, nearer to the further horizon, beyond the noise, information and opinion of humanity. Of course, that question could also be answered in a more metaphoric way. Jim went inward, before coming outward. He suffered - "involuntarily, the tears have come. Who would have thought that death would release so many.." He also, although he would probably hate me for saying it, went on a "psycho-geographical ramble" - both in life, and in making this book. Full review...
Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity by Sam Miller
Miller is probably one of the best people to take you on a tour of Delhi. He's not a native so has no in-bred partisanship, but he does love the place so will make sure you do too, but mainly because to begin with he HATED it… so he will understand if you don't share his ironic good humour about the shit squirter or the fact that sometimes the only way to cross the road is to take a rickshaw taxi. Full review...
comin 2 gt u by Simon Packham
Sam Tennant is reasonably happy at school, generally gets on alright with people, and doesn't have much to worry about – until he's murdered in the first chapter of this novel. Oh, not really murdered – his character in a game he plays online is killed. But then, the two who kill him refer to him by his real name instead of his computer persona, and he realises that virtual life has just become very nasty indeed. Full review...
Jealousy (Strange Angels) by Lili St Crow
Dru Anderson has finally arrived at the Schola Prima – the main school for the training of wulfen and djamphir. She's supposed to be safe here. Supposed to be. Dru doesn't find life any easier. There's someone who wants her dead, and Dru has to work out who, and who else is loyal to them. Because loyalty is everything in the Order. Full review...
Blood Road by Caspar Walsh
The book opens with an extremely uncomfortable and graphically depicted scene of violence, made all the more so by the cool, calm and collected manner of the perpetrators. The episode ends in a bloody death. We're in London so straight away there's a smattering of East End humour with lots more to follow. We're introduced to the main male character, Nick, who's really nothing better than low-life scum. That's pretty clear from the outset. Even although he's old enough to know better he's still scum. Add in the fact that he's a husband (separated) and a father and the whole sorry saga starts to unfold. His wife's sick of him and his criminal interests - and so are Jake and Zeb, his two sons. Full review...
Leith's Meat Bible by Max Clark and Susan Spaull
I've been cooking beef for almost half a century and I thought that I was making a pretty good job of it, but last weekend I cooked the best beef I have ever done and it was down to 'Leith's Meat Bible'. It wasn't because I had suddenly found a recipe to top all the others – it was because this book doesn't just tell you what to do; it tells you why. Because of this I made some fairly minor adjustments to how I cooked the beef – and the results were amazing. It's the ultimate meat cookbook and unless you're vegetarian or vegan you should have one. Full review...
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Fifty years after its first release, readers are once again getting the chance to acquaint themselves with Harper Lee's classic tale of growing up in the Deep South during the depression. After five decades, To Kill a Mockingbird still hasn't lost its charm. Even new readers can expect a classic tale full of elements still relevant to this day. Full review...
The Edge of Nowhere by John E Smelcer
Could you survive in the wilds of Alaska if you were washed overboard from a fishing boat during a storm and somehow, amazingly, managed to make it to dry land? This is the challenge facing Seth and his loyal dog, Tucker. They are out on Seth's father's fishing boat during a terrible storm and neither Seth's dad or his friend realise that the boy and dog have been washed overboard until they reach home and are found to be missing from the boat. A search party is sent out, but Seth is assumed drowned. Luckily, Seth and his dog manage to get to one of the tiny islands that run along the coast of Alaska, and after realising that no one is coming to help them they slowly make their way hundreds of miles over many months. Will they starve to death, or freeze, or be eaten by bears before they manage to make it home? Full review...
The Blackhope Enigma by Teresa Flavin
14-year old Sunni finds it bad enough that when she's trying to do some research on a famous Fausto Corvo painting in Blackhope Tower's Mariner's Chamber, she gets lumbered with her annoying stepbrother to look after. Add to that the presence of her classmate Blaise, a boy who's better at art than she is, and her day is looking depressing – and that's before Dean mysteriously vanishing when walking around the chamber's labyrinth. Full review...
A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks
It's Sunday, nine days before Christmas in 2007 and we meet a disparate group of people in London, who are doing what they normally do. There's a hedge fund manager who's trying to pull off the biggest trade of his career. A professional footballer from Poland has just arrived in the country and is disappointed with his small German car, but it will have to do until his large German car arrives. A barrister has far too little work and too much time on his hands. There's the student searching for something in which to believe who's led astray by the more extreme Islamic fundamentalists – and another student who's addicted to drugs and reality television. A devious book reviewer struggles to like anything written after the nineteenth century – and a chutney magnate from Havering-atte-Bower wants to learn how to discuss books with the Queen. Looping all these people together is a Tube driver on the Circle Line. Full review...
Deceptions by Rebecca Frayn
Life has not been easy for Annie Wray. Her husband died of leukaemia and she was left to bring up her two young children Dan and Rachel. She appears to have a second chance at happiness after meeting Julian who eventually proposes to her. Before they can set a date for the wedding though, twelve year old Dan fails to return from school one day and appears to have vanished without trace. This is the situation that is met by the reader at the start of 'Deceptions' and no one has a clue where he might be or what might have happened to him. Full review...
The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
The reader is plunged straight away into the busy, bustling centre of Istanbul. And climate change appears to have arrived. In 2022 thousands of Istanbul's citizens died in a heatwave and now, only three years later it's 'Thirty-three degrees in April, at seven in the morning. Unthinkable.' You can almost hear the collective thrum of all those air-conditioning units trying to make life bearable for the local people. Full review...
Kiss Heaven Goodbye by Tasmina Perry
A group of students were gathered on a private island in the Bahamas in 1990. They'd just finished their exams – for some it was A Levels and for others it marked the end of university – but after a holiday of indulgence in drugs and alcohol and with lots of sexual tension four friends found themselves on the beach on the final dark night. In front of them was a body, but they took the decision to let someone else make the discovery rather than getting involved. When they searched the beach the next day the body had gone – and they had no idea how. They did have a suspicion that Miles might have been involved in the death. Full review...
The Happy Home For Broken Hearts by Rowan Coleman
Nearly a year on from the death of her beloved husband Nick in a car crash, Ellie is still not coping very well. She is overwhelmed by debts and because the accident was a result of Nick's own dangerous driving, the insurance company won't pay up. How can she keep the London house she lives in with her son Charlie? Her bossy sister Hannah comes up with a solution – three very different lodgers. Full review...
Finding Sky by Joss Stirling
Sky is upset when her adopted parents decide to move her away from all her friends in London to a small town in America, but tries to make the best of it. She quickly makes some good friends, but one particular guy is strangely attractive, even though he doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with her. Their paths will cross, however, and they'll be thrown together by fate. Full review...
Unfortunately by Alan Durant and Simon Rickerty
One day a boy is walking through the jungle. Unfortunately, a lion tries to get him. Fortunately, he escapes. Unfortunately, a huge snake is poised to snaffle him up. Fortunately... and on and on it goes, with good news followed by bad followed by good. Ok, so that might make it sound a little simple and boring, but trust me: it's fantastic. Full review...
The Only Way Is Up by Carole Matthews
Lily and Laurence Lamont-Jones were on holiday in Tuscany with their friends. Lily had enjoyed it but she had a nagging suspicion that Laurence's mind was elsewhere. Quite how bad his worries were didn't become apparent until they flew home to find that their house and car had been repossessed along with all their worldly goods. They were left with the contents of their suitcases, the clothes they stood up in and a mountain of debts. After a night in the cheapest motel they can find the family of four is moved into the only available accommodation – a very scruffy council house on a sink estate. Full review...
We Die Alone by David Howarth
Consider taking a five day sail in a small fishing boat the height of the North Sea from Shetland, to try and establish, train and supply some potentially vital anti-German resistance in the far, far north of occupied Norway, your homeland. Imagine the sight of heavy naval parades where you intended to land, as galling proof that your intel is ages out of date. Ponder too the fact that you get reported to the Nazis due to the most ridiculous slight of fortune. All your colleagues are dead or captured, your equipment blown up with your trawler to keep it safe from Jerry hands, half your big toe has been shot off, and you're forced to go on the run in one of Europe's last, and coldest, wildernesses. And you have no idea whatsoever quite how bad this scenario is going to get. Full review...
Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler
It's always a red letter day to sit down to an unread Anne Tyler. This is her eighteenth published novel. For any readers not already fans of her books, this American writer observes the ordinary in order to excel at 'making the familiar, strange'. Full review...
The Complete Brigadier Gerard Stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Meet Brigadier Etienne Gerard. An officer in Napoleon's army, he is a boastful womaniser with a significantly higher opinion of his own intelligence than anyone around him – notably Napoleon himself. He's also brave, resourceful, fiercely loyal to his emperor and any woman he finds himself in love with, and above all, utterly, totally heroic. Full review...
The Butterfly Mosque: A Young Woman's Journey to Love and Islam by G Willow Wilson
This memoir is told in the first person so straight away there is a connection with the reader. The story starts - not in Egypt - but in the USA. Willow (lovely name) says she's in the market for a philosophy. And in this search she is extremely thorough. She looks at mainstream religions - Christianity, Buddhism to name but two and puts them under the microscope, so to speak. She dismisses all of them before settling on Islam. It appears to offer what she is after, what she is looking for, that enigmatic thing. But also, there's some little twist which helps make her mind up. But not before she digs deep and seeks answers to complex and awkward questions. She reads and researches Islam and finds out surprising facts, which she shares with the reader. Willow is well-read and well-educated. She seems set for a good career of her choice on American soil. Why not settle for that? But she's set on travel to the Middle East come what may. Full review...
Deadly Communion by Frank Tallis
Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt arrives at the Temple of Theseus in Vienna to investigate the murder of a young woman at the hands of a deviant sexual predator. Discovering the woman died by the unusual means of a hatpin inserted into her brain, Rheinhardt soon turns to his friend the young psychoanalyst Max Liebermann for assistance and the type of psychological insight that only Liebermann, a disciple of Freud, can provide. Meanwhile, Liebermann is already caught up in his own investigations with a patient named Erstweiler, who believes he has seen his doppelganger and that this is a precursor of death. Full review...
Grk Down Under by Joshua Doder
If you'd ever wondered where speed and agility, and a huge appetite for going where he shouldn't and eating what he oughtn't can get a dog, you only have to turn to this book for evidence. I won't let on how a tiny dog manages to get himself to Australia unaided, but he does - leaving his human owners back in England, and young Tim Malt especially desperate for his return. But the dog called Grk is about to find out how dangerous and nasty Australians can be... Full review...
The Time-travelling Cat and the Great Victorian Stink by Julia Jarman
Consider cats. Normally they like to leave you things like poop, and dead animals, generally in the middle of the kitchen floor. Topher's cat leaves himself a stone statue version of himself when he decides to time travel to some past time of history. I know - odd. I can also introduce you to a very different Topher, one just escaped from the workhouse in Victorian London - if only he could escape the stench of the open sewers in London, and the hunger in his stomach just as easily. Well, I could - but actually they are the same person, just with a completely different mind. When our Topher travels through time as well - on the back of a bird - he finds himself in the person of the second, historical lad. Will that homework project about Victorian history be enough to help him out, and perhaps prevent a nasty crime or two? Full review...
The Phantoms of Breslau: An Eberhard Mock Investigation by Marek Krajewski and Danusia Stok
Eberhard Mock (a name you would not easily forget) is a police Criminal Assistant. He's a single man still living at home with his father and leading a rather ordinary, uneventful life. Until, one day, four young men who are apparently sailors, are found dead. And Mock is asked by his superior to be part of the new murder commission. He accepts and from there on his life is one roller-coaster of events and emotions. Full review...
Fade (Wake Trilogy) by Lisa McMann
Janie's story continues. Still unable to control her abilities as a dream catcher, her latest case is proving difficult. Somebody is preying on the students at Fieldridge and the violent and haunting nightmares that Janie has no choice but to watch yield few answers. Being forced to keep her relationship with Cabel secret is putting a serious strain on the pair, and when Janie learns of the terrible consequences of her powers, she wonders if Cabe is just one more of the many sacrifices she'll have to make. Full review...
Tall Story by Candy Gourlay
Andi is a young teenager in the UK. She's not very tall, but she is brilliant at basketball. And she has finally been chosen to play for her school team.
Bernardo is an extremely tall teenager in the Philippines. He lives with his aunt and uncle, and keeps on growing. He is surrounded by superstition, since his name is the same as that of a legendary giant who supposedly protected his village during a major earthquake. Oddly enough, there have not been any earthquakes for some years... ever since Bernardo had his first dramatic growth spurt. Full review...
Gregg's Favourite Puddings by Gregg Wallace
Anyone who has watched Gregg Wallace on MasterChef will be aware of his passion (and that is not putting it too strongly) for puddings. He's never lost his sweet tooth and, unlike many men, is not afraid to admit it. He takes a child-like delight in the final course and has been known to go against the professional judge if something particularly appeals to him: he's salvaged the pride of many a contestant with his yummy. Full review...
