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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Kurt Gets Truckloads by Erlend Loe
Meet Kurt. He's a dockyard truck-driver, with a wife and three children, and more dreams than money. The family has travelled before, but might not be able to in future, as there is just not the budget. Funnily enough, just the day after talking about what having a huge amount of money would do for and to Kurt, he gets a windfall. And then the problems start… Full review...
Ruta's Closet by Keith Morgan with Ruth Kron Sigal
A Holocaust memoir. There, I've said it, and in one fell swoop I've consigned this book to a niche market, and a small – and very much over-supplied – audience. Such books do find it difficult to get their heads above the parapet and the voice within heard, and it seems they have slowly filled in all the gaps in the available knowledge about the Holocaust. But that's the point that makes those words sound churlish – every life that survived that nightmare has to fill in a gap, and account for those who committed the crimes and those that helped out and rescued a survivor, and serve as monument to those six million gaps it created. Luckily, mostly on account of location, this book certainly does serve to fill in a wider gap in our perception of WWII than most. Full review...
The Shanghai Factor by Charles McCarry
Our narrator is an American sleeper spy in China whose mission is to improve his Mandarin and attempt to blend as best he can into Shanghai society. A chance meeting results in an intelligent and enigmatic Chinese lover who becomes his perfect teacher even though he is pretty sure she is working for Guoanbu (Chinese Intelligence) and that he is constantly under surveillance. In time he infiltrates known affiliates of the Guoanbu and proves himself very valuable to both the US and Chinese intelligence services, becoming a pawn in a high stakes game of chess between two powerful and paranoid nations. Full review...
The Son In Law by Charity Norman
When someone is released from prison, after serving time for manslaughter, you don’t necessarily expect their first task to be tracking down the victim’s family. Perhaps their own family might be a more normal first port of call. But when you’re Joseph Scott, the victim’s family is your family, because the person you killed is your wife, Zoe. Let out after three years, Joseph is desperate to be reunited with his children, Scarlet, Theo and Ben, but his wife’s parents, who have had custody of their grandchildren since he was locked away, are determined not to let that happen. Full review...
The Bull Slayer by Bruce Macbain
Years after we left him in Roman Games, Pliny the Younger has become Roman Governor of Bithynia. Not the most hospitable of regions, its Greek residents regard the Romans with hatred; an emotion that, in many cases, is reciprocated by the Romans. No matter how bad this is though, it gets worse when a high ranking official dies mysteriously. Could it have anything to do with the religious sect of Mithras? Possibly but it's not Pliny's only dilemma; at home his beloved young wife Calpurnia is acting somewhat oddly. Full review...
Shrinking Violet is Totally Famous by Lou Kuenzler
In this latest installment of the popular 'Shrinking Violet' series, we find our eponymous heroine all in a flutter because her favourite TV star, Stella Lightfoot, is in town. An excited Violet and her best friend Nisha rush to the local book shop in the hope of meeting Stella, but we know what happens when Violet gets too excited... Full review...
Turning Forty by Mike Gayle
I made the mistake of reading Mike Gayle's Turning Thirty in the weeks before I did so. Despite it being a story of a man whose life fell apart just before his 30th birthday, he still seemed to be doing better than I was, which made it a readable but depressing experience. Fortunately, Turning Forty is being published about 15 months before I reach that milestone and my life is in a different place which, hopefully, will combine to make it a more enjoyable read. Full review...
Remember to Breathe by Simon Pont
We meet Sam Grant on his 27th birthday, but he's not out celebrating. He's got flu and just to add to his problems he's got a boil in his groin - or on his thigh - depending on which side of the doctor's desk you're sitting. Sam's not been looking after himself since his girlfriend dumped him just over three months ago and when you work in adland the opportunities for not looking after yourself are many and varied. The millenium hasn't quite arrived, 'austerity' hasn't even been thought about and living an out-of-control life has never been easier. What we get is Sam's diary, but it's not in chronological order, with some of it going back to before he met Sarah - the girl he didn't really want, but struggles to get over. Full review...
The Professor of Poetry by Grace McCleen
Grace McCleen's The Professor of Poetry is Elizabeth Stone, a 52 year old aged professor at a London University. When the book opens she has just discovered that a cancer scare is now in remission, but forced by her illness to take a sabbatical, she sets about researching her latest book based on some papers of TS Eliot. This takes her back to Oxford, to her alma mater and raises the prospect of seeing her former professor there, a man convinced of the young Miss Stone's potential at an early age, but whose last meeting was somewhat awkward. McCleen looks at the issues raised by generations of poets, namely time, death and love. For Professor Stone, the first has passed, the second come uncomfortably close and the third remains unknown to her. What's more, her academic focus is on the music of love poetry which is somewhat ironic in that she avoids human relationships perhaps due to the death of her mother at an early age and an unhappy foster experience, while also having a peculiar aversion to music. Perhaps though this is what allows her a detached ability to write academic studies. Full review...
The Parrots by Filippo Bologna
When confronted with the topic of parrots, most people would describe them as tamed tropical birds that are taught to repeat simple phrases, having no particular intelligence to engender an originality of their own. Filippo Bologna has not in fact written a book about birds, but about writers - in fact, three writers. Just as the Neo-Pagans have a liking of the Triple Goddesses of The Maiden, The Mother and The Crone, our three writers are similarly split into The Beginner, The Writer, and The Master. All three of these novelists are battling it out for The Prize, a prestigious award that would revitalise the career of The Master, legitimize the efforts of The Beginner and assure The Writer a place in the annals of history. The setting of Rome is utilised to provide both a stunning backdrop and one that is sympathetic to the mood of our characters. The stories of our three protagonists are interwoven in a delightfully clear fashion; Bologna's prose is delicate and descriptive, but not at the sacrifice of pacing. The stage is set; the characters have learned their lines. There is just one problem... out of the three writers, none of them deserves to win The Prize. Full review...
Magnificat by Marilyn Edwards
Ben is most definitely a dog person. He would love his own pet dog, but mum keeps refusing. He has the next best thing, an online cyberdog called Shadow, but what he really wants is a living, breathing, loyal canine companion to call his own. His best friend has a dog. Why can’t he? It seems like it is never the right time to approach mum about it, as she is always tired, teary and depressed since dad left. Full review...
The Walls of Byzantium (The Mistra Chronicles) by James Heneage
Luke Magoris is heading for disgrace which means a lot since he's the son of a Varangian, the Viking-originated elite guard of the Byzantine Emperor. Anna Lasaris daughter to a Byzantine court official and, feisty but kind, is the opposite of the Archon's daughter Zoe. As politically adept as her brother is inept, Zoe will do anything for status and money… anything. As the 14th century Byzantine Empire starts to crumble due to the relentless struggle with the Islamic Turks and Mistra becomes the only province left for the Turks to conquer, their paths will cross. They're all young but they'll soon discover that treachery can emanate from friendship as much as it can from war. Full review...
Blood Song: Book 1 of Raven's Shadow by Anthony Ryan
Young Vaelin Al Sorna's father takes him to the gates of the Sixth Order of the Faith and leaves him there. Vaelin's father is the King's Battle Lord and Vaelin's mother someone the lad has sorely missed since her death but this doesn't matter. As a member of the Order Vaelin has no family except his Order brethren. The long life-threatening training binds him closer to his fellows while exposing him to greater dangers and mysteries than he's ever known. However one day he'll outgrow his comrades. One day he'll become a name whispered with fear and awe. For Vaelin will become a deadly weapon: Hope Killer himself. Full review...
Perfect by Rachel Joyce
In 1972 two seconds were added to the year. 11 year old Byron Hemmings heard about it from his friend James and felt it wouldn't be a good thing. In fact at the moment Bryon's watch's second hand reversed something happened that would mean neither his or James' lives would ever be the same again. Full review...
Heart-shaped by Siobhan Parkinson
Ok. Before I even start reviewing, I need to explain just how much I loved this book. It's the companion to an earlier story from Siobhan Parkinson, Bruised, over the same timeframe, and following a supporting character whose story is intimately connected. Before I'd read to the end of the first chapter of Heart-shaped, which is all of two-and-a-half pages long, I'd fallen in love with Annie. And I knew I couldn't bear to read her story without reading Jono's, in Bruised, first. So I rushed orff to Amazon and downloaded it to my Kindle. You might not find that particularly surprising, but it is. I review books. I hardly ever buy books because I have a pile of advance copies shouting My turn! My turn! whenever I look their way. Full review...
419 by Will Ferguson
Anyone who has ever opened an E-Mail which proves to be a plea for assistance in getting large amounts of money ahead of the authorities will recognise the theme. Laura Curtis' father had such an E-Mail and having tried to help and spent all his money, he has driven his car off a bridge. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, a pregnant young woman walks through the dust, trying to escape her family and find something that ever she doesn't know what she is looking for. In the Niger Delta, meanwhile, the oil companies are moving in and a whole way of life is changing in the fishing villages there. Full review...
Beautiful Lies by Claire Clark
Clare Clark's Beautiful Lies takes in Royal jubilees, London riots, newspaper editors overstepping the bounds on personal vendettas and political sex scandals - all set in the late 1880s showing how little has changed. There are even early instances and questions over photographic manipulation. Maribel, apparently a Chilean heiress and wife of radical, socialist politician Edward Campbell Lowe, has a past which she has tries to keep buried. If it were to be revealed, both her and her husband would be ruined by the scandal. Making enemies of an unscrupulous and hypocritical newspaper editor might not be the best move then. Full review...
Stolen by Rebecca Muddiman
Stolen is a gripping tale about a child who is abducted. Her mother, Abbie, was forced from her car, taken off in a van and brutally attacked. Eventually, abandoned by her attackers, she found help from passing travellers but by the time that she returned to her car, Beth, her baby, had disappeared. A police search ensued but neither Abbie’s attackers nor the baby could be found. Things are further complicated when Paul, Abbie’s husband, discovers that he is not Beth’s natural father. He leaves Abbie alone but she refuses to accept that her daughter might be dead. Full review...
Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas
Anna and her friends went to Aruba for the Spring Break of all Spring Breaks. These are privileged kids from an exclusive private school. They have plenty of money and they intend to party hard before college beckons. It's a tight group, but no-one is tighter than Anna and Elise. They have been inseparable since Elise rescued Anna from a high school bully. But now Anna also has Tate and this is a first love affair that consumes all, like a fire. Anna is beginning to find it difficult to balance these two intense relationships and she is hoping that this holiday will make everything great again. Full review...
Read On - Unsolved Mysteries by Keith West
Collins Read On books are not specifically listed as a dyslexia friendly line of books. Instead, these are what is known as hi-lo books. Book developed to motivate and engage older readers, while still being accessible to readers who are reading far below grade level. I would estimate the reading level of this book to be roughly age eight, but the subject matter is apt to appeal to children much older, or even adults. Although not designed especially for children with dyslexia like the famous Barrington Stoke range, this does have several features to make this book more appropriate to children with dyslexia than the average children's book. With the exception of a few small picture captions, this is printed in black ink with a large standard font. The print is double spaced, with short paragraphs and chapters giving the reader plenty of breaks. The paper is thick enough that print and pictures from the other side will not show through. This combined with the easy to read text will help to build a child's confidence. Full review...
All Woman and Springtime by B W Jones
Gyong-Ho is a seamstress. That's not a euphemism. She works at a machine in a garment factory, with a bullying supervisor, invalided out of the glorious Chochun army, limping around and terrifying the girls only slightly more than the picture of Kim Jong-il on the walls. Gi, a nickname she'll acquire because of her stammering attempts to get her own name out (Gi-Gi-Gyong) strives truly hard to be worthy of the Dear Leader. She has learned the hard way, what happens if someone somewhere for some obscure reason decides that you're not. Full review...
Oliver Fibbs 2: The Giant Boy-Munching Bugs by Steve Hartley
Oliver Tibbs is an average child in a very above average family. His mother is a brain surgeon, his father a famous architect, his sisters are the stars of the National Ballet Academy and his little brother is a genius with a talent for maths and a chess champion. Oliver's parents are desperate to find some as of yet undiscovered talent for their ordinary son, but so far it looks likes Oliver's only talents are reading comics, making up fibs, and eating pizza. I think Oliver did have his own genius though, as most children do, and while his parents desperately searched for something he could excel at, his hidden talent was right under their noses the whole time. Full review...
Best British Short Stories 2013 by Nicholas Royle (editor)
Expect to read some quality work in Best British Short Stories 2013, sourced from a number of short story magazines; 'Granta', 'Shadows and Tall Trees', 'Unthology' and 'The Edinburgh Review' are just some of the publications in which these pieces were to be seen first. If asked to identify a red thread between the components of Nicholas Royle’s anthology, I would say that in each short story, everything is left to simmer under the surface. There is a frustration brought about by the lack of clarity in every short story, which to me is a reflection of just how unclear the most seismic of situations may be to any individual involved. Full review...
Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard
Biographies old and new of Queen Victoria, her husband and her children are plentiful enough. The vast majority of them are based to some extent on the diaries, memoirs and biographies of some of the most important figures who served her, and Kate Hubbard has put these as well as supplementary archive papers to good use in presenting a thoroughly engrossing account of the royal household throughout the Queen’s lengthy reign. I might almost say ‘lively’, though that could be an exaggeration. The court of Victoria may have been homely after a fashion, but for the most part it was hardly lively. Full review...
Ethan's Voice by Rachel Carter
Ethan lives on a canal boat with his parents. It’s an exciting, different life, and if it were mine I’d never stop talking to my friends about it. But Ethan is different, because he doesn’t have friends and he also doesn’t talk. Ever. His parents have got used to this. They ask him questions he can nod or shake his head to. They took him out of school and teach him at home so he doesn’t have to suffer the curious looks and mean words of other kids. They have a nice, simple life, just the three of them, and it’s all ok thank you very much. Full review...
Down The Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos
Down The Rabbit Hole is a fictional tale of a young boy’s life as the son of a Mexican drug lord. Tochtli narrates the story and gives us a child’s view of the sordid world that his father rules. We are shown the positives and negatives of this kind of lifestyle as Tochtli sees things, from presents galore to having to call his father by his first name. This book is a strange blend of childlike wonder within a violent world. Full review...
