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.
There are currently 16,117 reviews at TheBookbag.
Want to find out more about us?
New Reviews
Read new reviews by genre.
Read new features.
Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History by David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan
'Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead' sounds like a gimmick, doesn't it? Or, if not a gimmick, then the lessons that you learn when you see how it shouldn't be done. Over the past few years I've read quite a few marketing books and I've generally come away with the thought that they weren't aimed at a business like Bookbag and required far too much control. We're not that sort of people! We want to enjoy Bookbag and we want other people to do the same and we're definitely not in the business of trying to pull in every penny that we can. Full review...
All the Hopeful Lovers by William Nicholson
I had previously read Nicholson's The Society Of Others and thoroughly enjoyed it so I was looking forward to reading this book. Nicholson writes a modern-day story which is relevant and bang up to date. We first meet Laura and Belinda. Two middle-aged, middle-class wives and mothers. Feeling sort of okay with their lives generally but all too aware also, that the marital 'spark' in their marriages is now a low peep - if there at all. Belinda in particular, knows she is bumbling along in life. She's not sure what to do to make things more interesting in the sex department. A fling would probably help - but would it be the answer? Full review...
Trash by Andy Mulligan
Raphael lives in Behala, a slum that's grown up around a landfill site in an unnamed South American country. He's a dumpsite boy - this means he and his family scrape a living by combing through the detritus of richer people's lives. Behala replaced Smoky Mountain, another slum that got so dangerous that landslides killed dozens of people and the authorities closed it. What a home, eh? But Raphael has a smile that lights up his whole face and lifts the spirits of all those upon whom he bestows it. And he has good things in his life - a close extended family, a best friend called Gardo - and an exciting secret. Full review...
How to Keep a Pet Squirrel by Axel Scheffler
So, how do you keep a pet squirrel? Well, the simple answer is that you don't. They're wild animals and not at all suitable for keeping in captivity, but accepted thinking didn't always run that way. It was whilst he was dipping into The Children's Encyclopaedia of 1910 that Axel Scheffler came across a small but indispensible guide to obtaining and caring for your pet squirrel. His inventive mind came up with these beautiful illustrations to accompany the text and if you're looking for an amusing gift for an animal-loving adult then this book could well be the answer. Full review...
Seasons of Life: The Biological Rhythms That Living Things Need to Thrive and Survive by Russell Foster and Leon Kreitzman
"Seasons of Life" aims to present a rounded picture of the way seasonality affects human life as well as the rest of nature. Covering everything from Seasonal Affective Disorder to the potential for animals to adapt to climate change, this book would be an interesting read for anyone with an enquiring mind and an interest in the natural world. Full review...
Zero History by William Gibson
It's almost obligatory when writing anything about William Gibson to recall that in an earlier short story, he invented the term 'cyberspace'. Gibson remains at the cutting edge of what is 'cool'. Like most of his books, Zero History is a thriller, but at its core are issues surrounding technology, how we interact with it, branding and marketing. It would be easy to criticise much of his content as being too shallow and concerned with 'nothing' - but then that's part of his point. Full review...
Vintage Magic by Sally Anne Morris
With the life she thought was before her ruined by her fiancé's cheating ways, Rose Taylor swiftly leaves her life in London and seeks refuge with her mother Mimi and her sister Lily in the beautiful city of Bath. Reeling from her fiancé's deceptions, now is as good a time as any for Rose to reinvent herself, although she is determined to win her fiancé back. Having always had an eye for clothes, starting a vintage dress shop seems like a perfect idea and soon 'Vintage Magic' is opened. Full review...
Decline and Fall: Diaries 2005 to 2010 by Chris Mullin
At the end of A View from the Foothills we left Chris Mullin wondering why he was no longer Tony Blair's Africa minister at the Foreign Office. He was never to get a definitive answer to this, but was later told that Blair handed out the junior ministerial appointments rather like sweets, with few worries about how people would feel if they were missed out or sacked. In Decline and Fall we see Chris come down from the foothills of politics and return to the backbenches. He might no longer be in a position of power, but he's still in the thick of it. Perhaps though, some of the enjoyment is draining away from the job as he sees himself with years more of doing nothing very important. Full review...
The Woman Before Me by Ruth Dugdall
We're introduced to one of the female central characters, Rose. There's been a serious house fire and a baby has been involved. Rose is implicated. But is she innocent or guilty? Unfortunately for Rose, she's been in the wrong place at the wrong time - and she's put behind bars. Five years is a long time for a young woman with the rest of her life to lead. Even more so, if you're telling anyone and everyone that you are, in fact, innocent of the crime. But is anyone listening? Full review...
Dread Pirate Fleur and the Hangman's Noose by Sara Starbuck
When a mysterious young girl in a barrel is fished from the sea and rescued by the pirate ship belonging to Fleur's uncle William, it seems bad news might be on the way. The girl turns out to have psychic abilities - and they're just about to hit landfall at Salem, right in time for the witch-hunts. But worse is to come. William gets captured there, and someone Fleur thought long dead starts to take his place on board instead. Fleur then has to skipper the craft herself, on a rescue mission, in a very tense domestic situation. That's hard enough when you're a mere teenaged girl, against ruffians and pirates, but when the ship has secrets of her own to be revealed... Full review...
The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor
A grieving London bookseller and writer is offered a commission by Lady Anne Oldershaw. She hires him to go to Cambridge University, to help her son, who has been driven mad and claims he can see the ghost of a dead woman. Following tragedy in his own family, when his son Georgie drowned in the Thames, Holdsworth has written a successful pamphlet, The Anatomy of Ghosts, exposing the trickery and lies behind ideas about ghosts and haunting. The pamphlet was inspired by his anger at his wife Maria, whose response to Georgie’s death was to give money to a dodgy medium, and who ended up in the river at the same spot as her son. Full review...
The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness and the Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian by Andrew McConnell Stott
This book has won several prestigious awards, so my expectations were raised before I'd even opened the book. And of all the plaudits given on the back cover, my favourite was Simon Callows' '(A) great big Christmas pudding of a book ...' Stott has researched his subject thoroughly. First up, there's a Grimaldi family tree, a Prologue, an Introduction and all this before you get to the story proper, so to speak. Full review...
The Young Chieftain by Ken Howard
One minute, Jamie Doran is playing basketball with his friends in downtown LA, the next he's en route to the island of Doran in Scotland to bury his father. James Doran, you see, had been Doran's clan chieftain. The island proves a culture shock for cosmpolitan Jamie. It's remote and dilapidated, there's no internet or mobile phone access, and the only TV is in the community centre. Jamie's grandmother isn't welcoming either - in fact, she barely bothers to hide her distate for her black daughter-in-law and mixed race grandson. Full review...
Elmer Again by David McKee
Elmer the patchwork elephant is back... umm... Again. Everything is gearing up for the annual Elmer's Day Parade, where the other elephants paint themselves brightly and he paints himself grey. Being a bit of a scamp, he decides that things need to be livened up, so he plots and plans, then sets about putting a smile on everyone's faces. Full review...
Lies (Gone) by Michael Grant
Sam is tired of being heroic. Tired of being relied upon. But he resents being sidelined by his own girlfriend. Astrid's Town Council is busy bringing bureaucracy and officialdom to the FAYZ, but will it ever do anything other than procrastinate? Sam doesn't think so and he's painfully aware that danger lurks around every corner. Zil's band of freak-haters are gearing up to cause some damage, Caine is down but not out, and food is still in short supply. Tensions are growing and the Town Council isn't up to the job. And what's worse is that Sam doesn't think he is, either... Full review...
Hieroglyphs From A To Z by Peter Der Manuelian
This look at hieroglyphs comes with stencils, so that children can write out their own coded messages. It's a simple introduction for any budding Egyptologists, and has a lot of additional information about Ancient Egypt to keep them interested. Full review...
Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades by Jonathan Phillips
In this book, drawing on a wealth of contemporary sources including chronicles, songs, sermons, travel diaries and peace treaties, as well as the existing literature from earlier generations, Phillips explores in depth the contradictions and the diversity of holy war, of friendships and alliances between Christians and Muslims, the launches of crusades against Christians, and calls for jihads against Muslims. In doing so he has written what is not so much a general history, but had vividly brought to life a rich tapestry of figures and events, while devoting equal attention in his narrative to the Christian and Islamic point of view. This traces the crusading impulse from the conquest of Jerusalem in the First Crusade, launched by Pope Urban II in France in 1095, to today, and in the process helps us to understand the origins of some of the sensitivities which have led to many of the conflicts still raging in the world today. Full review...
The Price of Glory by Seth Hunter
This is the final book in Seth Hunter's trilogy about the naval adventures and private life of Captain Nathan Peake. While the other two books, The Time of Terror and The Tide of War, were fairly self-contained stories in themselves, the running thread of Nathan's private life continues over the three books and isn't really resolved until the final few paragraphs in The Price of Glory. Full review...
Ne Obliviscaris: Do Not Forget by Margaret Henderson Smith
Poor Harriet Glover. She's caught between her attraction to two men. There's Mark (coincidentally he's a Glover too), her long-term partner and father of her two children. The girls are grown up now but he still hasn't made up his mind about whether or not he and Hat should get married - and truth to tell Hat isn't that certain either. In theory it sounds like a good idea and would regularise matters but she's utterly smitten by Joris Sanderson, the headmaster of the school where she's a teacher. There are times when she thinks that, joy of joys, he's attracted to her, but then there are so many other women in his life that she's far from certain whether he's going to seduce her or sack her. Full review...
When I Dream Of ABC by Henry Fisher
Apple, ball, cat, dog... yawn... zzz? Not here. When I Dream Of ABC is an alphabet book, sure, but with a playful glint in the eye and delightful illustrations that makes it a joy to read, whether you're learning your alphabet, not ready yet, or already know it backwards and forwards. Full review...
Vile - A Cautionary Tale For Little Monsters by Mark Robinson and Sarah Horne
At the University of Vile, monsters get up to all sorts of monstrous things. Mischief, rudeness and naughtiness are required for educational success. If you're not picking your nose and making a racket, you're for the high jump, missy. Then, one day, two monsters get themselves into a dilly of a pickle when they fall down a hole. They couldn't possibly... (whisper it) co-operate... to get out, could they? Full review...
Modesty Blaise: Sweet Caroline by Neville Colvin and Peter O'Donnell
Meet Modesty Blaise. You've had countless opportunities to meet her before, mind - she was daily in the London Evening Standard from 1963 to 2001, and this is the eighteenth collection of her comic strip. She's a feisty, unfettered femme fatale with a bottomless fortune and a great supply of both friends and enemies. We see these combine here in four stories, when an enterprising gang of murderous blackmailers force Modesty to become their enemy, an old friend's name is used to dupe her into letting go her criminal secrets from her past, and when a new-found friend, fresh from saving her life in a gliding accident, comes up against some hoodlums. Full review...
The Island of Sheep (John Hannay) by John Buchan
Richard Hannay is feeling old. He looks at himself and his contemporaries and sees a spread of complacency. Luckily - or perhaps very unluckily - an old pledge will come to haunt him. His earlier career in Africa saw Hannay and his friends swear to protect a man from others - and now a second generation of animosity is ripe for Hannay to step in and be a protective detective. Add in a supposed treasure hoard, and who knows where his last journey might end up? Full review...
Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey by Karen Wilkin
I'm all in favour of Edward Gorey becoming a bigger name, especially here in the UK, where his output is certainly less lauded than in his native USA. It's evident from the bright, glossy pages here that he was an extraordinary talent. Polymath and know-all in real life, in his ink drawings he can show the complexity of someone like Dore, while using his draughtsmanship to pen macabre whimsy, like an old-fashioned love-child of Mervyn Peake and Edward Lear. Full review...
Madame Pamplemousse and the Enchanted Sweet Shop by Rupert Kingfisher
This is not a stereotypical fantasy. Madeleine, the heroine, is not required to find mystical items or defeat evil beings in order to save the world. And although she lives in a world where magic exists, she does not have any other-worldly powers herself. She is quite simply, despite her young age, an extremely good cook. Mind you, this quaint little book is set in the centre of Paris, so to be gifted in la gastronomie probably does count as magic - the French see these things differently, after all. No, she is just a little girl who is bullied at school by someone who seems determined to humiliate and hurt her by preying on her natural shyness. The bullying is skilfully done, by emphasising Madeleine's gift for creating wonderful meals and turning it into a reason to pity her. Fortunately for our heroine, she is noticed crying in Notre-Dame Cathedral, and is comforted by a kindly sweet-shop owner, Madame Bonbon. But is this woman really so kind? And doesn't Madeleine know she shouldn't take sweets from strangers? Full review...
The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld
It's three years since we were all blown away by The Interpretation of Murder but Jed Rubenfeld is back with the sequel, which takes place ten years later. And what a decade that has been, with the appalling tragedy of the First World War and the influenza outbreak which followed. There's a hope that things are getting better as New York moves into the twenties and Stratham Younger and Captain James Littlemore meet up for the first time in ten years. They're in Wall Street on September the sixteenth – just as a quarter of a ton of explosives is detonated in the worst terrorist attack in the country's hundred and fifty year history. Full review...
Lovers and Newcomers by Rosie Thomas
Friendship is precious and in this book six middle-aged friends put it to the test as they go to live with each other in an old country house. Each of them is eager to escape the outside world and cover up the cracks of strained relationships and unsuccessful lives. Afraid of growing old and leaving dreams unfulfilled, they do their best to feel young and free once more. However, far from being the wonderful and perfect solution they desired, living together means only more difficulties and new tensions emerge. They must battle with forbidden desires, heartbreak, broken relationships and the fear of old age. To make matters worse their isolated retreat is soon interrupted by an unexpected discovery from the past and with it the unwelcome attention of the outside world. Friendships are challenged, new ones are made and some are lost forever. Full review...
The Choice by Susan Lewis
The book tells the story of Nikki Grant who at the age of twenty one discovers that she is pregnant. Although this is unplanned, Nikki and her partner Spencer welcome the news and look forward to being the best parents that they possibly can be. However Nikki's parents are not so happy especially as they disapprove of Nikki's somewhat bohemian lifestyle and her relationship with Spencer. They virtually turn their backs on their daughter and don't even visit baby Zak when he is born. Nikki enjoys being a mum though even without her parents' support and could not be happier. That is until one fateful day, with Zak only a few weeks old, when some devastating news turns her whole world upside down. Life is never going to be the same again and in fact things just seem to get worse and worse for Nikki as the story unfolds. Full review...
The Vera Wright Trilogy by Elizabeth Jolley
The Vera Wright Trilogy contains three novels – My Father's Moon, Cabin Fever and The Georges' Wife - in one beautifully presented edition. First published about 20 years ago, they are apparently partly autobiographical, telling the story of a woman's life from the 1940s onwards – work, children, parents, romantic and sexual relationships and friendships. Full review...
Rose and the Magician's Mask by Holly Webb
The cover of this book has lots of pretty gold stars and a girl with a cute round face, but don't be fooled: while young girls will love all the magic and adventure, there is a fair amount of darkness in this third book in the Rose series. A magical mask has been stolen by an evil magician, and if he wears it in Venice, on the first Sunday of the New Year, he will gain enormous power. Needless to say, Rose and the other members of the household set off to prevent this. Full review...
The Body in the Fjord by Katherine Hall Page
Page gives us another The Body In The... book within a tried and tested format. The book jacket covers are always bright and jazzy and this one is no exception. We're deep in Norway, its picturesque countryside and world-famous fjords. We are in the company of two different but interesting women. Mother and daughter. Pix, the daughter (I think the name sounds as if it belongs to someone young) is a mother in middle-age with teenage children. She has responsibilities, but at times she behaves like a sixteen year old and I suppose that is part of her appeal. She cannot seem to say no to anyone and now finds herself enlisted to solve an unexplained death and a missing person. The latter is the more important as the missing person, Kari, is related to Ursula's best friend. Yes, perhaps a few too many names at the beginning of the book to grapple with but it soon settles down. Full review...
Make, Mend, Bake, Save and Shine! by Barbara Warmsley
A slim, slither of a book with a big title. Green is the mantra on most pages, as well as tips on how to waste less - whether it's food, clothes or water from the tap. This book has a universal message. How to waste less. There is a nice introduction by seventysomething Barbara Walmsley, aka the charity Oxfam's Green Granny. Certainly catchy but will it catch on? When I was delving inside the first couple of pages looking for the writer's name (it's not on the front cover) I discovered the phrase Printed And Bound In China. Defeating the message? Full review...
The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross
Our world is not as it seems. We share it with aliens, zombies, demonic spirits, with ancient god-like entities that are all keen to eat our bodies and devour our souls. It's lucky, then, that we have the British secret service to protect us, more specifically a top secret branch of the secret service called The Laundry. This organisation is so secret that even the bosses at MI6 don't know of its existence. The point of the Laundry is to keep all the myriad of terrors endangering the Earth at bay by the careful use of science, technology and magic, magic being a little known branch of applied maths. Full review...
Single In The City by Michele Gorman
In a rather spontaneous decision to follow her dreams Right This Second, Hannah has left Connecticut behind and moved to London. She doesn't have a flat, she doesn't have a job, and she doesn't have any friends, but she has more important things to worry about on arrival. Like how to deal with potential lovers who are too posh to wash and how to get the guy in the sandwich shop to understand her order. As she navigates her way through the highlights and pitfalls of life on this side of the pond she chronicles all the little intricacies that we would never consider twice. Full review...
Just Look At Me Now by Nell Dixon
Big Barb, tub of lard, has turned her life around. No longer overweight with wonky teeth and frizzy hair she has transformed herself into Tia Carpenter, the stylish Beauty editor at Platinum magazine. She has always kept her previous life secret, even from her best friends, but then Juliet Gold, the girl who tormented her at school, joins the magazine as Fashion Editor and suddenly Tia's new life is threatened. Full review...
