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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Winner: My Racing Life by A P McCoy
In any walk of life there are people who are universally known by their first names alone. In flat racing, everyone knows who 'Frankie' is and in National Hunt you need say no more than 'A.P.' Legend is an over-used word but not when it comes to the achievements of Tony 'A.P.' McCoy. He's been champion jockey an unprecedented twenty times and his career record of 4,348 wins may never be beaten. In fact, it's tempting to say that it will never be beaten. He's won the Grand National, the Irish Grand National, two Cheltenham Gold Cups and won the Champion Hurdle three times. Unusually for a jockey he's also been BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He achieved all this by the age of forty one when he retired from racing. Full review...
The Wild Swans by Jackie Morris
The most well known version of the wild swans is probably the one penned by Hans Andersen. This extended retelling by Jackie Morris adds depth, emotional resonance and a number of new twists to the tale. As in most versions, Eliza and her brothers live a happy and privileged life until their father's remarriage brings jealousy, mistrust and trouble in its wake. The brothers are magically changed into wild swans and it is up to brave Eliza to rescue them. Full review...
The Art of Stephen Hickman by Stephen Hickman
Stephen Hickman has been a well known artist in the Fantasy and Science Fiction worlds for a number of years now, having created covers for authors such as Harlan Ellison, Robert Heinlein, Anne McCaffrey, and Larry Niven. His paintings are vibrant, kinetic, sometimes scary, often sensual, traditional, and yet modern. The Art of Stephen Hickman collects hundreds of these paintings, and the artist himself provides an intriguing commentary alongside which offers a fascinating glimpse into the artistic process. Full review...
The Hunt by Alastair Fothergill and Huw Cordey
My mother has long complained that nature programmes too often concentrate on the death and violence, or how it's all about the capture and killing of one animal by another. She's long had a point, but killer whales swanning by doing nothing, and lions sleeping off the heat without munching on a passing wildebeest's leg really don't cut it when it comes to providing popular TV content. I doubt she will be tuning in to the series this book accompanies, even if the volume very quickly testifies that it's not all about the capture – often the chase can be just as thrilling, and the result for the intended victim is favourable. Full review...
Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
It's 1956. And a very different world from the one you'd expect. Germany won World War II and the Nazi project is in full flow. Lebensraum is expanding. The extermination project has spread to Slavs. Defeated Britain is irrelevant and the United States is pursuing an isolationist policy, hoping Nazism never makes it to the Americas. The main Axis powers of Germany and Japan have pretty much divided territory between them. To commemorate a victorious war, the two powers host the annual Axis Tour, a continental motorcycle race. The previous year, it was won for the first time by a girl: Adele Wolfe disguised as her brother Felix. Full review...
Bright Stars by Sophie Duffy
I fell into this novel from the first short chapter, set in 1983, at Lancaster University – perhaps because I grew up in the 1980's. The central character and first person narrator, Cameron Spark, comes across as vulnerable, shy and unassuming, and at first, likeable. As the novel progressed, however, I did find him less plausible and a bit wet and annoying. He falls in mad love with Bex right at the beginning of the book, who is a much more interesting character, being a feisty, feminist, fox-hunting activist and saboteur. Cameron is clearly besotted and therefore biased in his affection for Bex, and you can sense that this is going to get him into deep trouble from the start. Full review...
Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin
There's a high-profile murder case in Edinburgh. Someone has broken into the home of Lord Minton, senior lawyer and former Lord Advocate, beaten him, strangled him and then beaten him some more when he was dead. A note was found at the scene of the crime which suggested that Minton had been threatened. DI Siobhan Clarke has been seconded to the enquiry and she calls on her old friend John Rebus, kicking his heels in retirement, when Big Ger Cafferty narrowly escapes death as a shot is fired into his house. Cafferty had received the same threatening note as Minton. Fearing a turf war, he's reluctant to open up to anyone but Rebus. Clarke's friend, DI Malcolm Fox has been seconded too - to a team from Glasgow who are undercover and need local expertise, only he's not quite so well received. His former posting in Complaints is well known. Full review...
The Doldrums by Nicholas Gannon
If you are of an imaginative disposition, you go to school in an elegant building which used to be a button factory, and your house is full of giraffes, ostriches and badgers - stuffed, of course - then the odds are that you'll end up on some kind of adventure. And if your grandparents happen to be famous explorers who've managed to get themselves lost on an iceberg in Antarctica then your particular mission is pretty well handed to you, wrapped up neatly with a big bow and a label on top saying 'quest starts here'. All you have to do is work out the fine details and set off. Easy-peasy. Full review...
SPQR A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
How do we know what really happened at any moment in history? At best we make educated guesses based on (often conflicting) evidence. The most striking aspect of Mary Beard's new examination of Roman history is how far she goes to see all sides and all possible explanations of events. For example, were the emperors Nero and Caligula mad or simply the victims of their successors' smear campaign? What's behind all that nonsense about the city of Rome being founded by twin boys suckled by wolves? This is a book that explodes some of the myths and presents alternative answers. Mary Beard analyses the evidence to shed new light on how a small community grew to become an empire. Military force was important, but other threads in the weave (such as social mobility and the effect of extending citizenship to many of the conquered) made the Roman experience unique. Full review...
Missing Dad: Wanted by J Ryan
Joe is in big trouble. He's been driving the car his grandfather bought him before he's even old enough to take the driving test. And been caught. Still worse, he's suspected of a hit-and-run and the police don't look as though they believe him when he insists he - and his car - were nowhere near the scene. Mum is unimpressed but also worried and Joe feels horribly guilty. As if things couldn't be worse, Joe is also suspended from school. Full review...
Crowns and Codebreakers by Elen Caldecott
Minnie's not too keen on sharing her already tiny room with her gran when she arrives from Nigeria. However, worries about floor space and how to open the wardrobe door are quickly replaced by more serious concerns. Gran is upset. She picked up the wrong suitcase at the airport and she's convinced it's a bad omen. And it almost seems like she's right when their flat is burgled and the only thing that is taken is the suitcase. The police aren't interested but Minnie and her friends know there must be a reason behind the burglary. There's a mystery and it's up to them to solve it. Full review...
The Light That Gets Lost by Natasha Carthew
At just seven years of age, Trey witnesses the murder of his parents and the grievous injuring of his older brother. He escapes the attack by hiding in a wardrobe. After that, he is taken into care.
We meet Trey again years later, as an adolescent. He's on his way to Camp Kernow, a work camp for recalcitrant teens. For Trey, this is the realisation of a longstanding plan - he believes that the man who murdered his parents works at the camp and he intends to find him and kill him. In Trey's mind, things are simple: find the man, kill him, escape, rescue his brother from the care home, live happily ever after. Full review...
Aliens Love Dinopants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort
Who would have thought that underpants would have been such lucrative business, but Claire Freedman has proved that this is certainly the case with a series of books that have seen aliens, dinosaurs, pirates and even Santa getting involved in undergarment action. Where can you go after all these legendary figures? A mash-up book of course! What would happen if a group of pants loving aliens met a group of pants loving dinosaurs? Full review...
My Funny Family Gets Funnier by Chris Higgins and Lee Wildish
Mattie is nine years old and the second child in a wonderfully big and loving family, where all sorts of very funny things are prone to happen. Like the day Uncle Vez's brother and his wife, Uncle Bruce and Aunty Sheila (not their real names!) turn up on the doorstep. They're visiting from their home in Australia and it isn't long before they're causing quite a stir in the Butterfield household – and beyond. Full review...
Savage Lane by Jason Starr
Savage Lane – a peaceful suburb of New York. When Karen Daily moves there following a marriage breakdown, she expects to find a quieter, calmer lifestyle, and soon becomes friends with her neighbours – Mark and Deb. Mark and Deb seem happy, but their marriage is failing fast, and Mark is slipping into fantasies of a new relationship with Karen. As Deb's suspicions grow, dangerous obsessions and deadly decisions will come to haunt the group – leaving Savage Lane irrevocably changed. Full review...
Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back by Shel Silverstein
Meet the finest shooter in the world. No, not one of those hunters, who go to Africa and kill off all the wonderful wildlife there, but Lafcadio. He's a lion, and his real name might have been something more like Ruggrrg or Grummfgff, but one day when a hunter was about to shoot at him (with an unloaded rifle), he ate the hunter and picked the gun up to try out – then carried on shooting until he was the world's best, standing on his head or with paws tied behind his back. His new life gives him a new name, but is that really what he would have wanted as a young lion cub? Full review...
Once Upon a Place by Eoin Colfer (editor)
You know the bit of the blurb on every Artemis Fowl book, where Eoin Colfer had it said about how you pronounce his name? That wasn't the intention of an up-and-coming author to be recognisable; rather, it was pride. Pride in the difference of it, of the Irishness of it. Ireland, it seems to me, is more full than usual of people, things and ideas, and places that are different by dint of their singular nationality – and so many deserve to have pride attached to them. The places might not be the famous ones, but they can be the source of pride, and of stories, which is where this compilation of short works for the young comes in, with the authors invited to select their chosen place and write about it. Full review...
Not Without My Whale by Billy Coughlan and Villie Karabatzia
It feels at times that children's books are the last place left that the surreal can thrive. Whilst adult fiction is dominated by the gritty and realistic, children still get the chance to read about flights of fancy. Why do I want to read about the latest Scandinavian murder when I can read about one boy and his whale? Surely a whale is too big, smelly and wet to take into school? Full review...
Hitler at Home by Despina Stratigakos
Please do not make Hitler look good. Words to live by that the author of this volume received from her mother, a Kefalonian who knew Nazi abuse when she saw it. Rest assured that the book does not do that, but it certainly provides a much fresher, more eloquent and interesting look at certain aspects of his life, and introduces us to someone else from the Nazi times – Gerdy Troost, who might as well be summarised as Hitler's interior designer. In picking apart the entire life of Troost, the nature of her work and how the buildings and décor she surrounded Hitler in became a part of his propaganda, we get a refreshingly new yet authoritative book, that for those with an interest in this side of our recent history will easily be considered one of, if not the, best book of the year. The person who does come out with the laurels worn highest is our author. Full review...
The Tiny Tree by Allan Plenderleith
Deep down in the woods there was a tiny pine tree, stranded in a clearing and surrounded by BIG pine trees. She dreamed of being a big tree and hoped that one day she would be beautifully dressed and surrounded by laughter and love. The other trees thought that she was being silly. Actually, they were quite nasty to her and rather too full of themselves. Then one day the big machine came and started cutting down trees - and Tiny Tree was cut down by mistake. But who is going to want a tiny Christmas tree? Full review...
Shadows Of War (Traitors) by Michael Ridpath
A year after returning from Germany and an unsuccessful attempt on Hitler's life Conrad de Lancey finds himself in the British army preparing for war. His friendship with Theo remains strong despite Theo now wearing an Abwehr uniform. De Lancey still does work for British Intelligence therefor when they hear about another proposed Germany coup de Lancey seems the natural choice to investigate. It's not straightforward though. As the days darken, allegiances aren't always what they seem and betrayal can cut both ways. Full review...
The Society of Blood (Obsidian Heart book 2) by Mark Morris
In order to find his kidnapped daughter Alex Locke still needs to find the Obsidian Heart. The trail leads back from 21st century gangland London to the dark, dirty 19th century version of the capital. Here the streets that witnessed Jack the Ripper's murders only a couple of years before are just as lethal but the danger isn't totally human. Alex doesn't quite know how you'd classify it, but it stands between him and the person who means the most to him so walking away isn't an option. Full review...
Moone Boy 2: The Fish Detective by Chris O'Dowd and Nick Vincent Murphy
Christmas is coming, and Martin Moone's family are on a strict budget. Placed in charge of finding the family a Christmas tree Martin, actually, is more worried about how he'll ever manage to get a Game Boy. He decides to get himself a job but of course, being Martin, he can't get himself the usual paper round. No, Martin Moone becomes a butcher's boy! Full review...
Harbour Street (D I Vera Stanhope) by Ann Cleeves
Detective Sergeant Joe Ashworth was escorting his daughter home from a pre-Christmas school concert using the Newcastle metro, not least because the snow had started. A rather smart, elderly woman took a seat but when the train was stopped because of the bad weather Jessie noticed that the old lady had not left her seat and went to wake her - only Margaret Krukowski had been fatally stabbed as she sat on the train. Christmas wasn't D I Vera Stanhope's favourite time of year and she wasn't upset to have work to do to break up the festivities; far better to be on her way to the Northumberland seaside town of Mardle with Joe Ashworth. Margaret Krukowski had lived in the boarding house at 1 Harbour Street as well as working there. In fact, she'd lived there before it became a boarding house. Full review...
Sons of York: Volume 2 (The Sprigs of Broom) by Lesley J Nickell
15th Century London: Through a quirk of fate young widow Janet Evershed finds herself running her late husband's cloth business, far from her York home. It's in this very shop that she meets Richard Neville, Duke of Warwick and his ward Edward, Earl of March. They may be much higher than commoner Janet but she has caught Edward's eye and what Edward wants, he gets, be it a woman or, indeed, the crown of England. Full review...
Battlemage by Stephen Aryan
Vargus has milked the legend of the Gath, an avenging man of violence for hire, for as long as possible. Being the Gath has had its benefits but time to move on. As it happens a war is brewing in Seveldrom so Vargus is going to fight on the side of right against the evil that is King Taikon. For Balfruss Seveldrom is home so he's honoured to be one of the six Battlemages King Mattias has selected to be the backbone of his defence now that Taikon has Zecorria. As fate unfolds the future, Mattias' daughter Talandra will also play her part as the King's spymaster. Vargus can kill an armed gang singlehanded. Balfruss can summon fire, command storms and unmake stone. Talandra? She just hopes she can help save her country but as yet she doesn't realise quite how much it will cost her. Full review...
Doctor Who: Time Lord Fairy Tales by Justin Richards and David Wardle
One of the ways Doctor Who has esteemed itself through belonging on our screens so long is the way the title character has slowly become an archetypal figure. We know what he's supposed to do – save the day, and we also know that if he's at either extreme of the scale – falling on a case through mishap, or being omniscient and bang on time and perfect, it doesn't work. But there's a lot of middle ground there, and countless tales for him to wander along with his knowledge, his TARDIS and a sonic screwdriver, and put things just so. His fifty years on screen have allowed him to become a stock figure almost – pretty much with a set task, as if he were, perhaps, a character in a routine story, such as a fairy tale. And as if to prove that genre can host him, here is a whole book of short stories in his universe – although that's not to say he's in every one… Full review...
