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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The Warrior Sheep Go Jurassic by Christopher Russell and Christine Russell
It all started so simply… Tod and his nan, Ida, were only hopping across to the Isle of Wight to lead some people in creating the world's best carnival float, but they had to demand their five rare sheep went with them. Crossing to the Isle, the motherly one, Sal, saw an advert for the Dinosaur Museum, and remembered a rare piece of sheep mythology, stating how the world needed saving from the hatching of the last dragon's egg. Still, there wouldn't be any trouble for these experienced Warrior Sheep to track it down, would there? Oh yes, what with not one but two groups of humans trying to get their hands on it at the same time… Full review...
Shine by Candy Gourlay
This is not a ghost story even though there are plenty of ghosts in it. And it's not a horror story though some people might be horrified. It's not a monster story either, even though there is a monster in it and that monster happens to be me.
Thirteen-year-old Rosa doesn't get out much. She lives with her father, a doctor, and their housekeeper-come-governess in the remote island community of Mirasol. It's always raining on Mirasol. And it's a superstitious place. People believe that if the rain stops, evil will come. And they also believe that monsters can stop the rain. Monsters like Rosa. Full review...
The Pet Itch by Elli Woollard and Elina Ellis
Most children want a pet at some point. Mossy Monster wants a pet itch more than anything else in the world. But his family (refreshingly consisting of a Granny, an Uncle and a sister) have all sorts of reasons why he shouldn't have one and his sister just seems to delight in tormenting him - as sisters do. But Sister comes though in the end with a crafty plan that will help Mossy get the Itch of his dreams, and make sure the grown ups do all the work as well. There is never a dull moment in this book with temper tantrums, rude rhymes and absolutely delightful illustrations. The best part of all though is the way the adults are so easily bamboozled. Full review...
ABC and Do by Leo Singh and Karen Wall
Being able to recognise letters is an essential aspect of emergent literacy. I know so many parents and children who feel that being able to sing their ABC's is the same as knowing the alphabet. It isn't. A child must be able to recognise the letter forms, in upper and lower cases, identify them by name and understand the sound or phoneme made by each. Learning the alphabet is something that most children will need some help with at home. No matter how good the school your child attends, it is impossible for a teacher to give each child the individual attention required to master this subject easily, and failure to do so often leads to lifelong difficulties in literacy. Full review...
A Kind of Eden by Amanda Smyth
Martin Rawlinson has escaped from the cold dreary English weather to the exotic heat and exotic women of Trinidad. He might have a wife and a daughter back home, but home is a long way away and here is the young and beautiful Safiya. She's a journalist and could easily have just dismissed him as some sad old white guy, but somehow she didn't. Somehow they talked, and walked, and she showed him the real Trinidad and he fell in love with her, and with her home. Full review...
The Book of Fungi: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around The World by Peter Roberts and Shelley Evans
Fungi are the fifth order of the natural kingdom and it’s estimated that there are approximately one and a half million species, found throughout the world. ‘’The Book of Fungi’’ looks at six hundred of the known fungi and each is pictured at its actual size in full colour and there’s a scientific explanation of its distribution, habitat, form, spore colour and edibility. The tone of the book is academic but don’t let this put you off - before I began reading my knowledge was broadly restricted to knowing that it was better to discover fungus growing outside your house than attached to the structure inside - and I found it interesting, entertaining (which I didn’t expect) and accessible. Full review...
Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess
Set in a world only a book could inhabit - half in a post-apocalyptic future, half in the mists of the myths of the past - Bloodtide retells part of the Volsunga saga - Icelandic tales of gods and heroes and villains. Civilisation has long abandoned London to its criminals and its gang wars, going so far as to surround its borders with released halfmen, genetically manipulated creatures with a lust for violence. With the population trapped inside the city walls, Val Volson has risen to a position of power. Only King Conor is left standing in his way. But Val wants peace. He wants unity so that his people can break out of the city and prosper. Full review...
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
I’ve been waiting for Broken Homes to come out for months. Months. When it arrived on my doorstep, I whisked it away, cackling like Gollum over my new precious and was no use to anyone until I’d finished it. Then sat and thought about it for a while. Then re-read my favourite bits. The considered further. This is the conclusion I reached: if there are no further Peter Grant books, Mr Aaronovitch, you and I are going to have words. Full review...
Night Witches by LJ Adlington
Rain Aranoza comes from Rodina. It's a nation of science and rationality. It holds no truck with superstition and religion. And, in the tradition of all authoritarian societies, it is ruthless in stamping out traces of the Old World and its belief in witches. Rodina is controlled by a network known as Aura and Aura encourages denunciations. Control is enforced by the Scrutiners and Aura instructs citizens in even the minutiae of their daily lives. Full review...
Beneath an Irish Sky by Isabella Connor
In a hospital ward, Luke Kiernan is stirring from a tranquiliser-induced sleep following a serious car accident. His ribs and legs hurt and he has an awful feeling that his mother is dead. But who is that stranger sitting beside the bed? Surely it can’t be his father, the father who pushed his mother away twenty years ago because he was ashamed to have a gypo kid around? Luke wants answers. But more than that, he wants revenge. Full review...
Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door by Ross Montgomery
If there's a young reader in your life who loves mystery and adventure stories with a large dollop of the eccentric stirred into the mix, then you could do worse than point them in the direction of this silly (in a good way!) book. What happened to Alex's dad that makes him constantly run away, even when he's promised not to? Why does he think he's not human any more? Why does he keep shouting squiggles? And what really lies at the centre of the mysterious forest on the edge of town? Full review...
Not What It Seems by Pamela Fudge
Owen was a widower with two young children and Evie was recently divorced with three children of about the same age. Friends introduced them - in the way of doing a little matchmaking - but although they liked each other and the kids all got on well there was no spark between them. They both needed help though and they made a business arrangement. Until the children were old enough to leave home they would share a house and the parenting of the children but they would not be involved in a sexual relationship. Friends and acquaintances found this difficult to accept and Evie grew tired of explaining that the setup was Not What It Seems. When we meet Owen and Evie the last child has just left home and as the arrangement has come to an end they're both moving into their own houses. Full review...
Sandrine by Thomas H Cook
Sam and Sandrine Madison live the American dream. Both have jobs that they love, lecturing at the same college, an adult daughter and many memories that include a beautiful holiday in the Med. However the dream goes tragically sour. Sandrine is found dead and Sam is charged with murder despite his protestations that it was suicide. The court case begins and Sam starts a fight for his own life as the past catches up with him in unusual and unexpected ways. Full review...
A Marker to Measure Drift by Alexander Maksik
Jacqueline roams the beaches of the Greek islands offering massages for money to ward off starvation. It helps but hunger is always with her, lurking alongside the memory of a former life in Liberia and the mind's ear voice of her mother. Jacqueline is at least alive and existing, but at what cost? Full review...
Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Unemployed and desperate, Clay Jannon wants a job, any job! So, despite not having touched a paper book in years, he jumps at the chance of working the night shift at Mr Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore. Mr P is a very particular employer. The books are lent (not sold) to members of a unique club. Clay is to serve these visitors, log their visit in the smallest detail (including their mood, their choice of clothing and what they say). Oh and Clay must never open any of the books. He doesn't but he's curious. Perhaps if he realised where his curiosity would lead he'd be a little more cautious. Full review...
High Sobriety: My Year Without Booze by Jill Stark
On the first of January 2011 Jill Stark woke up with the hangover from Hell. She was no stranger to them: at thirty five she'd been binge drinking for more than twenty years and was in the dubious position of being the health reporter who wrote herself off at weekends. And by 'wrote herself off' I mean being seriously drunk on a very regular basis, having consumed vast quantities of alcohol and having regularly put herself in danger of serious illness, unwanted pregnancy and assault. But on that first day in January Stark decided that she was going to do something about it and the initial decision was that she would spend three months on the wagon. Full review...
Blinded by the Light by Joe Kipling
Some time in a near-future Britain, things look very different. The Sandman virus wiped out most of the population. The fortunate few live in one of three Neighbourhoods, each protected by the Boundary. Beyond the Boundary is Outside - a wasteland populated with infected feral Echoes. Luckily for MaryAnn, she lives in the Neighbourhood that was once known as Manchester. And she's a rich and privileged Alpha. Although her parents aren't celebrities - which MaryAnn would like, because then she'd be invited to cooler parties - they are influential in the Light, the Neighbourhood's leadership. So MaryAnn has designer clothes, servants, and nothing more to worry about than bagging a date with peer group kudos. Full review...
Pea's Book Of Birthdays by Susie Day
It’s a busy month for Pea and her family, with four birthdays! Clover has an Alice in Wonderland-themed party to celebrate her upcoming starring role in a play, Tinkerbell has a magician booked for hers, but what kind of party could Pea have? What she wants most of all is to have her long-lost father appear… could her wish possibly come true? Full review...
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
I'll break from my usual reviewing style of starting off with a plot summary here, for reasons which will shortly become obvious, and just start by saying The Testing is an interesting dystopian read, with a wonderful narrator, which I'd definitely recommend. Full review...
Atticus Claw Lends a Paw by Jennifer Gray
Things are quiet in Littleton-on-Sea, now that Atticus is no longer the world's greatest cat burglar. All he has to contend with is a mischievous bunch of kittens that might cause trouble for the male in the human family he lives with, him being a policeman and all. But nothing breaks the quiet like an old noise, and when people learn that the previous owner of the local mansion discovered the remains of the ancient city of the Cat Pharaoh and left his secrets locally, many ears are pricked, both for good and bad. But what does buried treasure protected by curses have to do with a spate of guerrilla knitting? Full review...
Beautiful Owls: Portraits of Arresting Species from Around the World by Marianne Taylor and Andrew Perris
Owls are strange birds: because they're crepuscular and twilight isn't the best time for seeing birds with any clarity they tend to be the stuff of legend and we don't know as much about them as we might. On the other hand, they're the most recognisable of birds, perhaps because of the forward-facing eyes and would look almost human if it was not for that uncanny ability to swivel the neck to almost 360°. Marianne Taylor has gone some way towards correcting this lack of knowledge in Beautiful Owls. She gives us an overview of the species, traces them back to the earliest civilisations and shows their evolution. Full review...
His Father's Son by Tony Black
Joey Driscol and his wife, Shauna, left Ireland for Australia on a 'wet May morning in 1968'. It was supposed to be a new start. It is now 1978 and the dreams of an idyllic escape have slowly crumbled, and Joey is forced to admit that 'a fresh start cannot last forever'. Marti, their eight-year-old son, watches his parents' marriage collapse firsthand, yet he asks the same question as the baffled reader: why? But before he has had time to answer this conundrum, his mother whisks him off to Ireland. The rashness of the move ensures Joey must follow his son, and so begins his frightful odyssey back to the Old Country. You see, 'Marti was his son, the one pure and good thing in his life', and he wasn't going to let Shauna just take him. But why Ireland, a place they both hated, a place to which they vowed never to return? Full review...
The Phenomenals: A Game of Ghouls by F E Higgins
Once again, I’ve jumped right in here – going straight to the second book in a series. As it happens, A Game of Ghouls is not a bad one to do that with. You’re never left confused because you haven’t read the first one (A Tangle of Traitors) because they keep you up to date enough for it to be a fairly good stand alone. You want to find the first one though, because if it’s going to be anywhere near as good as this one it’s a book you want to read. Full review...
The Never List by Koethi Zan
Friends since childhood, Sarah and Jennifer had always admitted that they were so cautious it was daft. They'd even composed their own 'Never List'. As long as they stuck to it they'd be safe, and safe they were until that one night. The night after the college party they forgot 'Never get into the car'. They did. The next thing they're aware of is waking up in a dark cellar with two other girls; four of them altogether but only three of them will emerge. A decade later, Sarah is safe once again, living under a new name with all connections to the past wiped. But then the letter arrives; he's coming for her. It's not over after all. Full review...
The Summer We All Ran Away by Cassandra Parkin
This is a summer of running away. Davey runs away from home, beaten and drunk. He meets Priss, a sixteen year old, who is also running. Tom and Kate accept them both into a huge, mysterious house, a house that doesn't belong to any of them. Thirty years ago, Jack Laker bought the house to run away from his superstar lifestyle. Young girls, drugs, and touring had caused him to take an overdose. As his agent tries to convince him to tour with the new album he has written, Jack meets a young actress at the house party being thrown in his honour. The same party he is desperately trying to avoid. Full review...
After Flodden by Rosemary Goring
Scotland 1513: Louise Brenier believes her family to be cursed. Her father dead, her elder sister dying during childbirth as the result of an affair with King James IV and now her brother Benoit missing after the Battle of Flodden. It would be easy to believe Benoit dead too, but, whatever state he's in, Louise must know what happened. This is what drives her on a journey across a land ravaged by war, providing more challenges than answers and encounters with those for whom Flodden remains a recurring nightmare. Full review...
Master of War by David Gilman
Young Richard Blackstone is accused of the rape and murder of a village girl and sentenced to hang. Protestations of innocence on his behalf mean nothing and the fact he's a deaf/mute means even less. His elder brother Thomas has protected him as much as possible throughout their lives but can do nothing this time. However, help is at hand; Sir Gilbert Killbere ensures that the judge changes his mind and Richard is released but not completely. Richard and Thomas are excellent archers so they're rescued in order to join the army that the King is amassing. It's not an easy option: the year is 1346 and the conflict that history will call 'The Hundred Years War' is about to begin. Full review...
Woodworking for the Weekend: 20 Projects Using Reclaimed Timber by Mark Griffiths
I realised a long time ago that there's a great deal to be said for reclaimed timber. Not only is there virtue in reusing wood (and it's often hardwood) which might otherwise end up on a bonfire or in landfill, it has character, with marks and shadings which speak of its history. Used in the right place it can sing as no completely new piece could ever could - but the trick is in knowing the right place and how to use the wood. Mark Griffiths has come up with twenty projects, most of which are likely to be complete in a weekend and all of which will give pleasure to the woodworker and to the people who use the end results. Full review...
The Next Time You See Me by Holly Goddard Jones
Small Town America. What's the betting you already have it pictured? The downtown area. The upmarket suburb. The downbeat housing district. The High School with all its little league (in every sense of the expression) dramas and drama queens. Full review...
Goldblatt's Descent by Michael Honig
Dr Malcolm Goldblatt has just started another temporary Senior Registrar's role in yet another hospital. However this time it's different. This is his last attempt to springboard his career into a consultant's grade. Whether he succeeds or not depends on so many factors: his two-faced, murderously ambitious colleague, the patients and Fuertler's Syndrome, a condition that may be obscure and comparatively unimportant but still has the power to make or break him. Full review...
The Engagements by J Courtney Sullivan
Although you might not immediately realise it, this is the story of a ring, the people associated with it and of one particular real woman who created something of which few people can be unaware. That woman was Mary Frances Gerety, a copywriter with Ayer and Son - one of of the eminent advertising agencies in the nineteen forties. Under some pressure to come up with a phrase for de Beers adverts, Frances scribbled A Diamond is Forever - one of the most memorable lines in advertising. Frances never married but was probably single-handedly responsible for diamonds being the favoured stone in engagement rings. Her story weaves its way through the stories of our fictional couples. Full review...
Up In Flames by Nicole Williams
Elle Montgomery has spent her whole life doing exactly what she's supposed to - what everyone else thinks is how she should live her life. Outside, Elle is smiling politely and perfectly happy with her perfect-fit boyfriend. Inside, Elle is screaming for the chance to do something a bit wild. Full review...
