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 Mall by S L Grey
I must admit that the front cover is extremely eye-catching and that drop of blood gives a hint as to what the book's all about. There are two central characters and their stories are told in the first person in alternating chapters. So first up, is Rhoda - and boy does she have attitude. She's babysitting for a friend and decides to take the youngster to a local shopping mall. Nothing wrong there, you could say except that it's late at night (the boy should really be in bed) and the shops are starting to shut for the night. Rhoda is a bit of a mess. She takes drugs, although she says she's not reliant on them, so when the 'kid' goes and does a disappearing act on her, she's both fuming and scared. Grey locates her story in Jo'burg and there's an element of threatening violence within its pages. Full review...
Milly the Meerkat by Oakley Graham and Fenix
After years of no one knowing what a meerkat was they seem to be rather fashionable now and this delightful tale is a reworking of Aesop's fable about the boy who cried wolf. Milly was on lookout and was rather bored, so she shouted to the others that a snake was crawling up to the baby meerkats' burrow. Everyone dashed out to help her chase it away – and discovered that she thought her prank was quite funny. Even when it was explained to her that she shouldn't do this she did it again – and this time everyone was angry. Full review...
At the Water's Edge: A Walk in the Wild by John Lister-Kaye
This is a book that readers feel strongly about, and one with which I must confess to having a love/hate relationship! I loved the detailed observation, the sharing of knowledge that Lister-Kaye has built from a lifetime of close study of the countryside. He delights in and pays as much attention to the structure of a spider's web as to the rarest of meetings with a Scottish wildcat. Full review...
The End of Everything by Megan Abbott
On the surface this book is about the disappearance of a thirteen-year-old girl. Her best friend and neighbour Lizzie relates how she searches for clues, how she discovers that a local man may be involved, and how Evie and Lizzie's families struggle to cope. But look again at the title. What really unfolds here is the story of the effect a single incident has on three families, not two, how that one event came about, and why nothing will ever be the same for everyone involved. It is a book which is complex, deep and very, very intense. Full review...
Back of Beyond by C J Box
Connolly and Harlan Coben, both of whom I've read. So, it was off to a pretty good start. The front cover graphics and large print scream out 'thriller'. We get the essence of Cody early on. He's a man who likes to do his own thing and doesn't take kindly to orders or red tape. All that red tape is shit, is probably how Cody would describe it in his own colourful and down-to-earth fashion. He looks older than his years. Maybe that's down to a messy domestic life and also to the hours he puts in on the job. He lives on his own and has a teenage son he doesn't see often enough. Oh, and he smokes like a chimney and drinks like a fish. In short, he's a mess. But somehow he stumbles through his police work - with a lot of help and support from a long-suffering colleague. Full review...
The Stronger Sex by Hans Werner Kettenbach and Anthea Bell (Translator)
After reading the various comments on the back cover, I was looking forward to reading this book as I love a story with a psychological element. Young Alex is driven to the home of his latest client; a man called Klofft. The reader soon finds out that Klofft has plenty of baggage, as well as plenty of money. He's elderly and very ill and mobility is also an issue for him. So, while he may have set out to impress others with his large home and beautiful things, sadly he seems no longer to be able to enjoy life. His illness confines him to just a couple of rooms. It's apparent that Alex is rather taken with his wife, Cilly Klofft, who is still rather beautiful - for her age. The reader assumes she's in her late sixties or early seventies. But what is it they say about age being only a number for some of us? And age plays a big part, a very big part, in this novel. Full review...
Wish You Were Here by Graham Swift
I cannot tell you exactly how long after I finished this book that I sat, holding it, in stunned silence for - but it was light when I finished it and dark when I put it down. Some books can do that to you. This is one of them. Full review...
Bracelet of Bones (Viking Sagas) by Kevin Crossley-Holland
It's 1036 in Trondheim, Norway. Solveig lives with her father, stepmother and stepbrothers. Her mother died many years ago and neither Solveig nor her father Halfdan have ever truly recovered. Before his injury, Halfdan was a Viking mercenary and his dearest wish is to rejoin his old commander, Harald Hardrada in Miklagard (Constantinople). He promises Solveig that, should the call ever come, he will take her with him... Full review...
Tales From Witchway Wood: Crash 'n' Bang by Kaye Umansky
The Whichway Rhythm Boys is a band made up of Filth (who is Witch Sludgegooey's fiend) on drums, Arthur the Dragon on piano (he lives with his mum and likes a nice hot curry) and O'Brian the Leprechaun on penny whistle who is often mistaken for a Pixie, much to his disgust. Together they play gigs in the woods, for Zombie balls and suchlike, but the music they really love to play is Crash 'n' Bang! Full review...
A Cat Called Ian by Wolfren Riverstick
The lad was trouble. He was a bully, a thief and a liar. We've all known someone like him – the company into which you hope that your own child doesn't fall. He's cocky with it too, convinced that he can do whatever he likes and get away with it – and that's when we meet him on his way to climb the great white oak at the top of Sunrise Hill, despite the fact that his mother has told him he's not to. It was a difficult climb and it wasn't long before he remembered the old story that some people climbed so far up the tree and then were never seen again. Full review...
The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Times says on the front cover that Bennett is 'clearly a writer to watch' so I had high hopes for this novel. We meet two of the central characters, American policeman Garvey and Englishman Hayes. Garvey's working cv is straightforward enough - he carries out police work, some of which is pretty grisly. But what about Hayes? He appears to be all things to all men but at the end of the day well, he's 'The Company Man' which gives the book its title. And so a complex scenario starts to unravel ... Full review...
The Cambridge Companion to Cricket by Anthony Bateman and Jeff Hill (Editors)
Cricket has an international reach which can be rivaled by few other team sports, and this book looks at the history of the game going from England around the world to the other major Test-playing nations. While it's packed full of initially rather dauntingly dense prose, none of the 17 chapters are particularly long – most weighing in at a little under 20 pages – and the writing styles of all of the various authors are very accessible. Full review...
The School of Night: Creeping Terror by Justin Richards
When a boy and his father enter a village asking for directions, the unexpected happens. They find all the inhabitants observing a WWII blackout, and thinking it's 1943. But it's definitely 2011. Luckily the lad belongs to the School of Night, an arcane institute of ghost-hunters where merely talking to the shade of your dead sister could come across as a fail. It will still take a lot of pluck and smarts from staff and students to solve the problem of the ghost village of Templeton, and the evil barriers surrounding it. Full review...
Great Food: A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig and Other Essays by Charles Lamb
A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig is a collection of food-related essays from the early 19th century, with a humorous bent. They're but a few pages each - a light read to bring a smile to your face, then on to the next little foodie treat. Full review...
Not Funny Not Clever by Jo Verity
Elizabeth was rather looking forward to her trip to Cardiff. She and Diane hadn't got together for a really good chat for a long time and with Laurence being away on a cookery course in France it seemed like the ideal opportunity to take advantage of Diane's invitation. She had visions of girly chats – if you can still have girly chats at nearly fifty. But her plans were going to be disrupted. Her son blessed her with his partner's teenage son 'for a few days in an emergency' and she had no option but to take Jordan in – and then to take him to Cardiff with her. Full review...
Advice for Strays by Justine Kilkerr
If you have ever fancied a grown up version of The Tiger who came to Tea, the cover of this Vintage edition should hook you into reading Justine Kilkerr's first novel. Here sits a sad and patient-looking lion, and the female figure beside him, hidden by an umbrella, has that same vulnerable look of mother and child in Judith Kerr's classic children's picture book. At first this seems like a ridiculous connection, but thinking about it later I'm struck with the analogy, not to mention the similarity in authors' names. Full review...
Jinny at Finmory: The Summer Riders by Patricia Leitch
On the first day of the summer holidays Jinny was looking forward to riding her horse, a beautiful Arab mare called Shantih, over the moors for the summer and life seems just about perfect when she meets a girl of her own age who's camping on the beach with her family and her pony. What could spoil that? Well, Jinny's father used to be a probation officer and he's agreed to take a boy and a girl from the city to give them a holiday for a couple of weeks. The boy has been in trouble with the police for stealing and the girl walks with a limp. Just having them around is going to be bad enough, but there's worse to come. Full review...
These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf
Golden girl Allison Glenn was living the perfect teenage life until she was imprisoned for a monstrous crime. Now she's twenty-one and has been released from prison to live in a halfway house. Allison is keen to put the past behind her, but when she returns to her home town of Linden Falls she soon discovers that no one has forgotten her crime, least of all her parents and her little sister, Brynn. Full review...
The Summer of Drowning by John Burnside
The story is narrated in the first person by the daughter a decade or so after the tragedy. So, she has a healthy dose of hindsight which shows itself time and time again with sentiments such as ... if only I'd have known back then ... and ...I thought it was a bit strange at the time ... if you get my drift. Burnside takes his time to set the scene (spartan) and his characters (a mere handful). His chosen location is the arresting emptiness of somewhere deep in the Arctic Circle so straight away he's caught my imagination - with his. Full review...
Kati Hirschel Murder Mystery: Hotel Bosphorus by Esmahan Aykol and Ruth Whitehouse (translator)
Kati has a lot to impart to her readers. She burbles on right throughout the book about all sorts of things which are on her mind. So we learn about her colleagues, friends and neighbours which all gives a nice hint of the Turkish way of life. As a German national, Kati can stand back and take a cool look at all things Turkish. But does she like what she sees all of the time? She soon tells us. She's not slow to highlight stereotypical German traits - the lack of humour, the discipline etc which can be at odds with Kati now living amongst the more laid-back Turks. We also find out that the locals are passionate about the telephone and mobile phones in particular. Forever glued to an ear apparently. So much so that she thinks 'Alexander Graham Bell must have had Turkish genes.' She also likes to go on and on about the terrible parking in Istanbul informing us that 'It takes thirty minutes to get from home to the shop, on foot or by car. I go by car.' I particularly liked that line. Full review...
Unleashed : A Life and Death Job by Ali Sparkes
A new series about what happens when Britain's most important and secret assets - teenagers with paranormal abilities - get a week's holiday. In book one, Lisa gets involved with kidnapping and assassination attempts. And she only wanted to go shopping at Harvey Nicks! Full review...
The Kitten With No Name by Vivian French and Selina Young
The Kitten With No Name lives under a hedge with his mummy. It's a very big hedge but it's very cosy and The Kitten's mummy has told him that one day, they will all go and live in a new home with someone who will love them both and hug them just the right amount. Full review...
Hex Hall: Raising Demons by Rachel Hawkins
Raising Demons (published in the US under the title Demonglass) is the second book in a planned trilogy about a teenager who has strong magical powers. This review may contain spoilers for the first book in the series, Hex Hall; the book certainly does. Full review...
At Last by Edward St Aubyn
In At Last, Edward St Aubyn returns to the Melrose family, the subject of both Some Hope and of his Booker-shortlisted Mother's Milk. I confess that I have still not got around to reading the first of the trilogy, but loved Mother's Milk and found that I wasn't greatly disadvantaged by not having read the previous book. At Last could also be read as a stand-alone book, but I wouldn't advise this approach. You will miss out on so much that if you are planning on reading it, you really should read at least Mother's Milk first. This isn't much of an inconvenience as it's a terrific book. Full review...
True Things About Me by Deborah Kay Davies
Take one benefit office worker; bored, listless, a walking study in destructive human behaviour. Add a recently released, jobless ex-con with a glint in his eye and taste for masochism. Throw all caution to the wind and collide these two ingredients by means of visceral, brutal and almost wordless sex in an underground car park and you have the opening chapters of Deborah Kay Davies's debut novel. Full review...
Great Food: Buffalo Cake and Indian Pudding by Dr A W Chase
Think of a slim, American Mrs Beeton (her cookbook, not her) and you've got a rough idea of the premise of Buffalo Cake and Indian Pudding. It includes recipes for such treats as Minnesota corn bread, popcorn pudding, pumpkin pie and pork cake. The recipes aren't the whole picture, though. Dr Alvin Wood Chase was a travelling salesman as well as an author, so being blessed with the gift of the gab, he peppers his recipes with anecdotes and comments to amuse and entertain the reader. Full review...
Mathematics of Life by Ian Stewart
Mathematics and biology don't traditionally mix. As science develops, the boundaries between maths and physics, physics and chemistry and chemistry and biology have become more and more blurred. As it is now, biology requires many mathematical techniques, and it's fair to assume that major biological breakthroughs over the next hundred years will also have a strong basis in maths too. Ian Stewart looks at the major steps forward in the history of biology, and the areas where maths is at the forefront of development. Full review...
Love is the Reason by Mary Malone
Lucy Ardle was driving home, wondering what sort of a mood her husband would be in. When she'd left earlier, words had been spoken. She was nearly home when she was overtaken by the fire engine: the house was in flames and it was touch and go as to whether or not Danny would make it. Thankfully Lucy's friend, Carol Black had seen the flames and called the fire brigade or the outcome would have been much worse. Full review...
Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
It's been a long time since I read 'Goodnight Mister Tom' at school. Picking it up again twenty five years later I wondered how good I would find it. I needn't have worried. This wonderful story captured my attention from the very beginning and I became so caught up in Tom and Will's lives that I didn't want it to end. Set during World War Two, William Beech has been evacuated from London and is placed with Tom Oakley, thanks mainly to his proximity to the local church, as Willie's God-fearing mother requested he be close to a church. They seem an unlikely match, the gruff old man who keeps himself to himself and the thin, timid young boy, but there lies the joy of the story, in watching their relationship grow. Full review...
The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer
Dory and Robby Lang had one of those marriages that everyone envies. They're not just lovers, they're best friends too and they never seem to tire of each other. They're both popular teachers at Eleanor Roosevelt High School ('Elro' to those who know it well) where their daughter is a student. It's sometimes difficult to have your parent teaching at your school, but everything seems to rub along reasonably well and Dory was delighted when daughter Willa got a part in the school play. It's Lysistrata and whilst the drama teacher has to tone it down a little it still the play about the women who refuse to have sex with their men until they call a halt to the war they're fighting. Full review...
Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979-89 by Rodric Braithwaite
In 1979, the Soviet Union decided to move into Afghanistan, and special forces killed the Afghan president. What was initially planned as a fairly modest expedition which would see them stabilise the government, train up the army and police, and then withdraw within a year, turned into a war lasting nearly a decade which left both the Russian army and the Afghan civilians counting the cost of the intervention and with their lives changed forever. What went wrong, and why has Afghanistan proved such a difficult place for foreign powers – ranging from the British in the 19th century, to the Russians in this book, to the current armies engaged in the country – to get any sort of foothold? Full review...
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
Let's start, as Geraldine Brooks has, with a fact: in 1665 the first Native American, Caleb Cheeshateaumauk, graduated from Harvard College. Around this, Brooks has created a wholly fictional story (the known facts are so few that this is largely unavoidable). The stroke of genius here is to put the story into the words of the entirely fictitious Bethia Mayfield, the daughter of an English minister on what we now call Martha's Vinyard, where Caleb lived in the Wampanoag tribe. At various points in her life, Bethia sets down events concerning her early secret friendship with Caleb on the island, to accompanying him and her brother to Harvard and the subsequent events. Full review...
How Not To F*** Them Up by Oliver James
Child psychologist Oliver James can be relied on to fight his corner, whether it's about affluent society or toxic parents. Now he puts the first three years of life under the microscope and argues equally vehemently that parents need to identify their own needs accurately and build their children's care into a 'good enough' framework, in order for the whole family to flourish. He's a controversial figure whose interest in parenting goes back to his own childhood (yes, you've guessed it, his parents where psychoanalysts). He argues the case for modifying childcare decisions to accord with parenting styles while avoiding working mums' guilt trips: “'Why embracing your own parenting style is best for you and your child,' as the cover has it. Full review...
The Happy Passion: A Personal View of Jacob Bronowski by Anthony James
Jacob Bronowski was a scientific administrator, poet, philosopher, dramatist, radio and TV personality, best remembered for the series 'The Ascent of Man'. This short book, about 90 pages long, is partly biographical sketch, partly – in fact largely – an overview of his major published works, occupying about two-thirds of the book. In the author's words, it is intended as a personal view of Bronowski as a philosopher. Full review...
Flip by Martyn Bedford
With no warning, no hint of anything wrong or out of the ordinary in his life, Alex wakes up one morning having lost six months of his life and in a foreign house filled with strangers; the morning turns from weird and scary, to outright crazy and terrifying when Alex discovers that the body he has woken up in is not his own but that of a boy called Philip, or Flip for short. Before he has time to even contemplate the horrifying possibility that he isn't dreaming or hallucinating, and is actually stuck in the body of a boy who he has never seen before, Alex is forced to face a day in the life of Philip Garamond, literally. As he goes through every possible route of enquiry, every logical way to at least make sense of his situation, if not try to reverse it, growing panic sets in and a chaotic, thrilling, and truly frightening sequence of events are set off. Full review...
The Novel in the Viola by Natasha Solomons
Elise Landau arrived in England in 1938, a refugee from Vienna where she and her family had had a good lifestyle. In England she's destined for Tyneford in Dorset where she'll be a parlour maid at the big house. She's not exactly looking forward to it, but she's escaped Vienna with some of her mother's jewels sewn into the seams of her dresses and her father's latest novel, in manuscript, is hidden in the body of her viola. Her sister is leaving for the USA and her parents hope to follow. Surely Elise will be able to join them before too long? She knows that she won't like England. Full review...
The Bride That Time Forgot by Paul Magrs
Christmas is approaching in the seaside town of Whitby and Brenda is busy sprucing up her B&B. She hasn't seen her best friend, neighbour and investigating partner Effie for a few weeks, since Effie's strange gentleman friend Alucard has reappeared. Brenda and Effie are the guardians of the gateway to Hell which just happens to be right on their doorstep in Whitby, but since Effie has shut herself away, Brenda has turned to her friend Robert, the owner of the local hotel to help her with her investigations into the ever present strange goings on in the town, involving vampires, monsters and a rather strange car. Full review...
Ginger, You're Barmy by David Lodge
Jonathan is a few days away from completing his National Service. Within the week he will dash off to Majorca with his girlfriend, and who knows, he might even do more than chastely cup her breast under her clothing. But it's a bittersweet week for Jonathan, as he looks back on the beginnings of his two years spent most reluctantly in the army, and especially the time spent with his best companion, and his girlfriend's ex, Mike. Full review...
The Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington
It's the 1500s in Europe, and two women are being transported against their will across the continent. One, an African Moorish beauty is being delivered to the King of Spain as ransom payment, but she and two servants are to end up in the home of a mighty necromancer instead. Elsewhere, a Swiss soldier taking a young witch to those in charge of the Spanish Inquisition finds his cargo is even more dangerous than he thought. Full review...
The Heart Specialist by Claire Holden Rothman
We first meet teenager Agnes at home - dissecting a recently-dead squirrel in secret. She knows full well that her family would not approve of this unseemly behaviour, especially from a girl. She's expected to be a young lady and enjoying ladylike hobbies, like playing with dolls. Fat chance. Feisty Agnes is her father's daughter and she has an interest in medicine. It must be in the blood, in the genes. If that's the case it's skipped younger sister Laure. The two sisters are very different. Laure is a gentle and pretty girl but her health is rather delicate. Agnes is a bit of a tom-boy and a go-getter. Their grandmother despairs of young Agnes - what's to become of her? The norm is marriage and a family, this medical nonsense must be stamped out. It's out of the question. This profession is strictly for the men. Try telling that to Agnes. Full review...
Run Rabbit Run by Barbara Mitchelhill
dad in Rochdale, Lancashire. Two months ago their mum was killed by a bomb which fell on her shop. Lizzie is being bullied and taunted at school and on the way home, because her dad won't join the army. He is a conscientious objector who doesn't believe it's right to kill people. As conscription has been introduced making nearly all men aged 18-51 liable to be called up for military service (and therefore required to fight), this means he is breaking the law and may well be treated as a criminal. Dad has decided they are going to move to Whiteway, a Colony (a sort of alternative community), for people who don't believe in war, in Gloucestershire. Full review...
