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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The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The story see-saws a chapter at a time between the teenage Victoria and the child Victoria. The book opens with (the teen) Victoria leaving foster care for good. She's been a difficult child to place so, now at 18, she is a troubled and angry young woman with many unsolved issues. The constant link has been Meredith, the loyal social worker. But Victoria now wants shot of the lot of them, Meredith included. Victoria can now be as free as a bird and do what she wants, when she wants. Bliss. Or is it? Full review...
The Damnation of John Donellan: A Mysterious Case of Death and Scandal in Georgian England by Elizabeth Cooke
Truth is stranger than fiction - but it is not always this gripping. The Boughtons of Lawford Hall, Warwickshire, have a colourful history, including the ghost of One-Handed Boughton, who haunted their land long before this new misfortune befell them. With marriages creating more branches of family, delicate relationships abound and help to shape the complex events detailed in the book. We begin with Sir Theodosius Boughton, heir to the estate when he comes of age, suffering from venereal disease. He is obliged to take medication and is well known for neglecting the recommendations of physicians. One fateful morning, he takes a new medicine, and dies in agony. Full review...
What the Nanny Saw by Fiona Neill
Ali Sparrow is twenty-one and has just dropped out of university (albeit hopefully temporarily) as she needs to earn some money, so becoming a nanny to a rich family seems ideal when she sees Bryony Skinner's advert. Soon Ali finds herself central to the Skinner's vast home and life on the rather exclusive Holland Park Crescent in a house that extends way beyond the usual two floors. Full review...
Sworn Sword by James Aitcheson
The novel is set in the turbulent years following the Battle of Hastings. We follow the Normans as they set out to quell the restless and rebellious factions in the North of England. An ambush in Durham sees the Normans decimated and determined on revenge - this precipitates the events which follow. Full review...
The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst
Alan Hollinghurst's Booker-nominated and long-awaited 'The Stranger's Child' is without doubt, as one might expect from this writer, beautifully written. Almost every page offers something to smile about either in terms of the comments of his characters or, more often, the wry descriptions that the author offers. The structure of the book is episodic, split into five parts covering pre-World War One, the 1920s, the 1960s, the 1980s and finally the early 2000s. It offers a thoughtful and well observed picture of changes in society and culture over this period and in particular of attitudes to homosexual relationships, although admittedly Hollinghurst's subjects tend to fall into a narrow band of well educated, artistic and often aristocratic members of society. Writers, poets and artists are the subject matter rather than the man on the street. His male characters are invariably homosexual while his females mostly either remain unmarried or have dysfunctional marriages. Full review...
Heist Society by Ally Carter
A new series from the creator of the Gallagher Girls? Excellent! And this book doesn't disappoint: young people with unusual and highly specialised skills, encountering bad guys and peril with determination and a healthy dose of humour. So, what's the difference from the 'Gallagher Girls'? Well, this time, the heroine and her crew are, um, to put it bluntly, the villains! Except that it's just not that simple. Kat comes from a large family of burglars and art thieves, but she decides she's had enough of the family business and wants a normal life. Sadly, someone else decides that's not going to happen. They should have told her, using your criminal abilities to forge a false identity and get yourself into the best boarding school in the country is not the best way to go straight. Full review...
Boys for Beginners by Lil Chase
Gwynnie has always been one of the guys which was fine...until Charlie Notts showed up at school. He's Hot (capital H) and friendly and likes football, but when Gwynnie realises he's firmly putting her on his list of mates, not girls, action must be taken. The thing is, for a girl whose close family and friends are all blokes, and whose one life love to date wasn't so much a trouser shape as a team (Go Spurs!), it's going to be a big jump from being one of the guys to bagging one of the guys. Full review...
Boy by James Mayhew
Boy is chilly, and looking for somewhere cosy to snuggle up. He doesn't want to share with his parents though so he goes off exploring by himself to find the perfect cosy spot. Several times he thinks he's discovered somewhere, but then it turns out to be where a sabre-toothed tiger lives, or the home of a woolly mammoth. Will he ever find the place that's perfect just for him? Full review...
Warduff and the Corncob Caper by Mat Head
There's trouble on Corncob Farm. A fox is coming round for tea and poor old Fefferflap is all a flutter because she suspects that she, and all the other farm animals, are on the menu! Can Warduff save the day? Full review...
Mad About Minibeasts! by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz
Is your little one mad about minibeasts? Are they forever summoning you to come and see the spider in the bathroom or the ladybird on the log? If so then this rhyming book is perfect to read with them! Full review...
Tumtum and Nutmeg: Trouble at Rose Cottage by Emily Bearn
Mysterious things are afoot in Rose Cottage. It appears that some new mice, one with golden teeth, have moved into the kitchen and are threatening the tranquil lives of Tumtum and Nutmeg who live in Nutmouse Hall. After some investigation they discover the new mice are town mice, intent on causing trouble. Will the children discover who has been stealing their things, or discover a way to stop their father from selling Rose Cottage before it's too late and their lives, as well as Tumtum and Nutmeg's, are changed forever? Full review...
Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus
Christopher Robin is back! At least that's what the Rumour spreading like wild fire through the Hundred Acre Wood says. He's returning for more adventures with Pooh and Piglet and Rabbit and Owl and Kanga and Roo and Tigger and Eeyore and, as I'm sure you'll agree, that is a Very Good Thing. From exciting new friends (Lottie the Otter giving Kanga some welcome female company) to adventures and competitions, with water slides to locate, bees to relocate, books to write and schools to found, this book picks up where the previous one left off, and really does read like an organic 3rd part of a trilogy (poetry books excepted) rather than a tag on that comes some 80-plus years after the original and from the pen of another. Full review...
Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
It's the late 1950s, and America's teenagers (the very idea a brand new concept) are beginning to live the all-American dream. For some of them however it isn't all 'Happy Days' diners and rock'n'roll. For the second generation Chinese immigrants there's an alternative: back 'home' there's a brave new world being forged, a world where 'we'd work in the fields and sing songs. We'd do exercises in the park. We'd help clean the neighbourhood and share meals. We wouldn't be poor and we wouldn't be rich. We'd all be equal.' Full review...
The Cold Eye of Heaven by Christine Dwyer Hickey
I reviewed Hickey's Last Train From Liguria so was keen to see if I'd enjoy this book too. The front cover says that Farley unravels the warp and weft of his life which is a great phrase - wish I'd though of it. Hickey lives in Dublin so I'm kind of expecting good characterization (as the book's location is Dublin) and a nice line in put-me-down wit. But will I get it? Time to find out ... Full review...
A Diamond in the Sky by Margaret Pelling
We meet Dora in a reflective mood in what used to be the nursery. Well, it still is - except there's no baby there now. Pelling tells us down the storyline exactly what happened and why and the (a bit mushy for me) title of the book is key to the story of Dora. It gets mentions throughout. As Dora sits in the empty nursery she can't help but re-live that tragic event all over again. Her arms were wrapping themselves around her so tight that she was having trouble breathing. She's now a total mess and that's about the sum total of her life at the moment. Dora now thinks she's a dreadful person. And no one will want to know a dreadful person, will they? Full review...
Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller
Barbara has been teaching at St George's for several years, and in spite of her caustic words on the institution, it is very much the focus of her lonely life. When newcomer, Sheba joins them, she forms a strong bond with her, and becomes part of Sheba's life. Sheba is married with two children, but her attraction to a pupil, Connolly, leads her to risk everything in a liaison of which Barbara is extremely jealous. As a result, their apparent friendship travels a sinister path. Full review...
A Broken Childhood: A True Story of Abuse by Lydia Ola Taiwo
Mojisola – known to everyone as Ola – was born to a Nigerian couple in London in 1964 and spent the first five years of her life in a foster home in Brighton. Here she was loved, looked after and lived her life in a genuinely good family. This wasn't an unusual arrangement as it allowed the biological parents to earn money without worrying about childcare – and Ola was happy. It was all the more cruel when her biological father arrived to take her 'home' for the weekend – a weekend which would stretch into seven years of abuse and neglect. Full review...
Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
Stacey Schiff's biography starts more of less from Cleopatra's infamous meeting with Caesar, where she sneaks into his rooms in a sack. This is one of the most popular images of Cleopatra in the public consciousness and Schiff happily refutes the image of her emerging as a well polished seductress, pointing out that anyone who had been carried in a sack for a considerable period of time will more likely be fairly dishevelled. Schiff takes us through from this moment up to Cleopatra's much dramatised death, and beyond, to the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Full review...
Snowdrops by A D Miller
The front cover, a snowy scene with majestic architecture in the background, is arresting and also suggests a thriller-type read. I was keen to find out why the book was called Snowdrops and hoped the author would enlighten me. He did - and it's nothing to do with flowers or gardening. It's rather chilling and altogether more interesting. Full review...
Star Struck by Jane Lovering
Skye Threppel had a year of memories wiped out in a car accident which cost the lives of her best friend and fiancé. The physical scars were healing – although they were still very visible – but, eighteen months on, she struggled with meeting people and being anywhere but the cosy womb of her little terrace house in York. She used to be an actress but the accident has ruined her career and her confidence. It was a massive step when her friend Fe (that's short for Felix, by the way) persuaded her to go with him to the 'Fallen Skies' TV convention in Nevada - giving her a chance to meet Gethryn Tudor-Morgan, the actor she idolises. Full review...
Burglar Boy by Jackie Martin
Burglar Boy opens with a big scene - Dean is halfway though robbing a house when the owner returns. Chased by an irate man with a good aim and a golf club, he barely makes it out in one piece. But he dutifully returns home and divvies up a pile of ill-gotten goods to Callum, his older brother, who rewards him for the risk and the bruises with a paltry fiver. Still, it's more pocket money than Dean is likely to see from his mother, who has lapsed further and further into a bottle of vodka since her most recent boyfriend left. Full review...
Breakfast in Bed by Eleanor Moran
Amber is a chef in the throes of a sticky divorce who has quite enough on her plate (and the plates of her customers) without the terror of working for a wunderkind-slash-horrendous-dictator celebrity chef. So, because this is chick lit and the inevitable is, well, inevitable, that's just where she finds herself, landing a new job in the kitchen of Oscar Retford. Full review...
The Doctor Will See You Now by Max Pemberton
The NHS is one of those things that everyone seems to have an opinion about, and this of course includes those of us who work for said organisation (the world's 3rd largest employer, don'tcha know). Max Pemberton is one of those people: a doctor, though despite what you might assume from the title, not a GP but a hospital medic. This is his third book on the subject of life (and death) within the walls of a hospital, plus the odd excursion to rather misnamed Care Homes, and it's not a bad read. Full review...
Outside the Ordinary World by Dori Ostermiller
Although not keen on the title (a little clunky) I did feel that this was going to be a book I'd enjoy. Ostermiller has some fulsome praise for this debut novel including from the author Diane Chamberlain. And after reading the back cover blurb I can sense a similarity which is fine by me. (I thoroughly enjoyed all of Chamberlain's books). Would I enjoy this book as much? Full review...
Bricks by Leon Jenner
Let me start on a positive: this slim volume is exquisitely presented and has a lovely 'traditional' feel about it. Very covetable for book lovers. The front cover is also a bit of a paradox - what with the workmanlike one-word title Bricks and the almost mystical/biblical-esque graphics. Will this all help to draw the reader in, well, I'm not too sure. Full review...
Lottie Biggs is (Not) Tragic by Hayley Long
Lottie can’t understand what’s going on with the women around her. Goose has got the hots for a fellow cinema employee with a name which, spelt backwards, is rather unfortunate. Her mum has fallen for the bloke who arrested Lottie back in book one, and HIS daughter is a scary emo girl. There’s only one thing to be done… road trip! The central trio of Lottie, Goose, and Lottie’s hunky rugby playing boyfriend Gareth hightail it out of Cardiff – but can a change of scenery really solve the problems? Full review...
Rebel Angels: Bloodstone by Gillian Philip
Seth and Conal MacGregor have spent so long hunting for the Bloodstone for Kate NicNiven, their queen, that they're reached the present day in our world (after Firebrand took place in sixteenth century Scotland.) They still haven't found it, though, but they have got themselves involved with some wonderful new characters, notably sullen teenager Finn, who's unaware of her Sithe heritage but about to find out with far-reaching consequences. Returning to the realm of the fairies with her in tow, and two others, the MacGregor boys are about to find even more trouble. Full review...
The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean by David Almond
This tale is told by 1 that died at birth by 1 that came into the world in days of endles war & at the moment of disaster... I am not cleva, so forgiv my folts and my mistayks. I am Billy Dean. This is the truth. This is my tale.
The Monster Billy Dean tells the story of Billy, a boy born into the dystopia of a war-torn town and the product of an illicit liaison between a young woman and her priest. His birth coincided with an apocalyptic bombing and his parents have hidden him away from the ruins and the catastrophe in a single room, both out of shame and in the belief that his coming into the world and surviving at such a violent moment signifies a sacred future. Full review...
The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman
It all begins with a bank robbery. Only this isn't your typical sort of bank robbery since the robber demands not money but instead each person in the bank must give him the item of most sentimental value that they have with them. These range from photographs and a key through to a calculator...and on taking these items he says he is also taking fifty percent of their souls, and it is up to the victims to find the way to get their souls back, or to die trying. Full review...
A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards
He just knocked, that was all, knocked and the front door and waited, like the fourteen years since I'd killed my mother hadn't happened...
Jinx is cold and she knows it. She cleans obsessively - a largely pointless task, since there is little mess to clean since her husband and young son, tired of her frigidity, moved out. She cooks beautifully balanced meals that look aesthetic on the plate. But her food offers sustenance, not comfort. In fact, Jinx feels most at home amongst the dead people she works with as a funeral home cosmetologist. Full review...
Wilma Tenderfoot and the Case of the Rascal's Revenge by Emma Kennedy
Wilma Tenderfoot, assistant to the great Detective Theodore P. Goodman, is off to solve another case with the help of her loving dog, Pickle. The future of Copper Island hangs in the balance, and Wilma thinks it's possible that she may just yet discover who her parents really are...make sure you're sitting comfortably, you won't want to put this one down! Full review...
Far South by David Enrique Spellman
'Far South' is a highly unusual book. It's published as 'crime fiction' but this is really only part of the story. It's also a collection of creative endeavours that combines narrative with web-based content. We are told that 'David Enrique Spellman is the voice for the Far South Project. The Far South Collective is a loosely affiliated group of artists, writers, actors, filmmakers musicians and dancers. He works in close collaboration with Esko Tikanmäki Portogales, a Uruguayan web designer'. While I applaud its ambition in trying to add something more creative to the novel concept, I have slightly more mixed views about the success of this. Full review...
The Breakers by Claudie Gallay
The book is in the first person, told by a woman who is a relative newcomer to this tiny village, no more than a cluster of homes and a few basic amenities. The story opens in the lead-up to a horrendous storm. The narrator has seen nothing like it before and is both afraid and excited. The locals take it all in their stride. They're a hardy bunch of disparate individuals and we get to know more them, one by one, as the story develops. Full review...
44 Scotland Street: Bertie Plays the Blues by Alexander McCall Smith
In this seventh outing to Scotland Street we're back with the cast of familiar characters. Matthew and Elspeth have had their triplets and must now face the trials of being new parents, with three times the trouble! Angus and Domenica are attempting to resolve the tricky issue of where they will live once they're married. And what of dear Bertie? Well, he's finally reached a point of having had enough of his mother so, with the help of his friend, he puts himself up for adoption on Ebay! Full review...
Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick
Half a century into our future, a journalist called Eric Seven scents a story on a small, isolated island and goes to investigate. Rumours have spread, saying that people there never age, and that there are no children. He has barely set foot on the quay when he sees, and to his surprise falls in love with, a girl called Merle. But almost immediately we, the readers, realise that there is more than one mystery in this strange place. Why are the inhabitants so overwhelming in their welcome to him? What is happening on the other half of the island? And, most worryingly, why is Eric sleeping so much, and forgetting his reason for coming to the island for hours on end? From the very first page there are signs of menace and disorientation, and at last Eric overcomes his torpor and comes to understand that something is badly wrong. He endures terrible nightmares, full of blood and violence, and at the last, just as the islanders drag him to a stone table to kill him, things become clear in his mind. He has been here before. In fact, he has been here many, many times. Full review...
Wuthering Hearts by Kay Woodward
book a real pain, she still wants to be Cathy in the school production - who wouldn't, especially with the utterly gorgeous new boy Robert as leading man? Robert, though, resembles Wuthering Heights' moody Heathcliff in more ways than just being good-looking, and Emily finds it very hard to get to know him properly, even after a development which means they're spending much more time together. Can two people find romance on the Yorkshire moors? Full review...
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Arthur Kipps is a young solicitor working in a fog-bound London and soon to be married. All looks rosy for Arthur until one day he is called into his boss' office where he is tasked with the affairs of the deceased recluse Alice Drablow. Alice Drablow had lived in the melancholy village of Crythin Gifford in an isolated house on the remote Eel Marsh, a house only accessible by a strange causeway when the tide is out. It is here Arthur must travel to firstly represent his firm at her funeral and then to sift through Mrs Drablow's house to ensure all her legal paperwork is in order. Full review...
Wolves of Mercy Falls: Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
Spring is in the air at Mercy Falls, and for Sam Roth that means a chance to be reunited with his girlfriend Grace, who has spent the cold winter as a wolf in the forests near the town. Grace's transformations are tied to the temperature – and Sam knows only too well how hard it can be to hold on to your humanity, because he was once a wolf too, before he was cured. Full review...
