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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Magna Carta: The Making and Legacy of the Great Charter by Dan Jones
For what do we – and by courtesy of a lengthy timeline in history, would the Americans likewise – most likely owe thanks to a spigurnel? What is the most revered legal document in history, which sets out the rights of man – but also has time to talk about widows' rights, fish traps, and to be both sexist and to discuss the importance to people's estates to debts owed Jewish moneylenders? What will probably be the only notable historical experience of Britain in 1215, when we finally get diverted from thinking about WWI and discuss the 800 years of something else, even though the authority of no less than the Pope declared it null and void within ten weeks of its being finished? Full review...
Honeyville by Daisy Waugh
The story is told by Dora Whitworth, a call girl in one of the most exclusive brothels in Trinidad, Colorado. At the time, the town was the only place in the West where prostitution was legal and it was infamous for its red-light district. Dora’s voice rings true and her life is convincingly described. The sumptuous brothel in Plum Street, with its smells of perfume and disinfectant, is as claustrophobic as a prison and Phoebe, the madam, particularly chilling. Full review...
Unforgotten by Tohby Riddle
Think of fallen angels, and Lucifer and the like come to mind. But they don't have to have fallen with such speed, for such a distance or with such effect. This book concerns one such creature, and while it's not named as an angel as such, and it's identified only by nobody knowing from where it comes yet everyone silently gets to appreciate its presence, it certainly looks like a Western, Christian, angel form. And so the plot of this gentle, poetic picture book looks at the chance of such a bad thing as the fall of an angel being followed by anything more positive. Full review...
The Barchster Murders by G M Best
Anthony Trollope was very taken with Barchester when he first visited the city, but pausing to look out at a pleasant view he discovered the body of Thomas Rider, a bedesman at Hiram's Hospital. At first it was suspected that Trollope might have been the murderer - for this was no natural death, but a stabbing - but once he proved that he was a professional man there on business for the first time, he found himself drawn into the investigation. There is a secret which the warden, the Reverend Septimus Harding has hidden for well over a decade and it looks as though Rider might have been murdered to prevent the secret coming out. Full review...
The 13-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
Andy and Terry live in a tree house so fantastic it caters for every whim – as long as you're a primary school-aged boy, that is. There's swimming on one level, bowling on another, as much marshmallow as you could eat and all the gadgets and gizmos their brilliant imaginations could come up with. But this idyllic life also comes with responsibilities – one moment you're painting a cat yellow to see if it becomes a canary and flies away (no spoiler – it does), the next you get reminded of an overdue deadline to write a book. What on earth could possibly happen to inspire such a book overnight? Full review...
Red Rose, White Rose by Joanna Hickson
Cecily Neville, daughter of Ralph, Earl of Westmorland and Joan Beaufort, puts her obligations above all else which is why she marries Richard Plantagenet, third Duke of York and her father's ward. Together they will start a royal line that will go down the centuries but not without pain, conflict and, of course, the Wars of the Roses. Full review...
The Midnight Witch by Paula Brackston
London 1913: The Sixth Earl of Radnor dies, passing his mantle on to his daughter Lady Lilith Montgomery. No, it’s not the earldom he passes on (that goes to her brother Freddie) but the position of Head Witch of the Lazarus Coven. With the position comes responsibilities and secrets that have been kept for generations. Divulging the secrets would break the coven code but there are dark entities abroad that want them, no matter what… or who… it costs. Full review...
Bobcat and Other Stories by Rebecca Lee
The first story in Bobcat is the title story, and this alone is worth the price of admission. Plaster it with prizes, put it in anthologies; it deserves every accolade it can get. However, the last story echoes the first, and the five tales in between are strangely repetitive, most with Midwestern North American narrators and 1980s university settings. Moreover, all seven are in the first-person; I would have appreciated more variety of perspective. Full review...
Dying for Christmas by Tammy Cohen
The book starts off promisingly enough with an introduction by Jessica, the narrator, who informs us that she is imprisoned by a stranger who is handsome and charming and extremely sadistic. Jessica then recounts the events leading up to and during her incarceration, which takes place over the Christmas period. Her jailer, Dominic, has prepared twelve presents for her, for the Twelve Days of Christmas, and each present-opening episode builds up a sense of dread while providing a deepening understanding of the sinister and bitter mind at work. Genuinely creepy stuff. Full review...
Desirable by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Poor George. He knows that he is not popular but when even his own Grandad doesn't want to stay around for his birthday party he realises that things are even worse than he thought. However this was before he discovered the contents of the present from his Grandad and experienced the dramatic impact on his life an aged bottle of aftershave would bring. Although George tries to think himself invisible in order to cope today he is not invisible. In fact he is not only visible but desirable too! Full review...
The Final Testimony of Raphael Ignatius Phoenix by Paul Sussman
On the eve of the year 2000, Raphael Ignatius Phoenix decides that he has had enough. Having lived for a century, he takes his own life on the roof of his castle, swallowing a small white pill he has kept on his person for almost 90 years. In the days before, he had written his story all over the walls of the castle - a story that takes in an Edwardian childhood, Hollywood in the 1920's, the Second World War, life as a butler in a stately home, life in a rock band in the 60's, time spent in a nursing home, and finally life in the castle - amongst other, enchanting tales. Full review...
Academy Street by Mary Costello
It is 1944. Tess Lohan's mother has just died at age 40, of tuberculosis. Seven-year-old Tess is one of six children in a rural Irish family. They live at Easterfield, a centuries-old manor house. A teacher later tells Tess the history of her home: built in 1678, it was a famine hospital in the 1840s; there are numerous corpses buried on the land. He hints there may be many ghosts on the property, but the only one that haunts Tess is her dead mother. 'Memories and traces of her mother must linger all over the house – in rooms and halls and landings. The dent of her feet on a rug. On a cup, the mark of her hand.' Full review...
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
When I saw Helen Macdonald speak at a nature conference, she recounted a conversation with a Samuel Johnson Prize judge. S/he had remarked that Macdonald's was three books in one: a memoir of grief after her father's unexpected death, a biography of T. H. White, and an account of falconry experiments with Mabel the goshawk. Macdonald quipped that the description made her book sound like washing powder, but it's accurate nonetheless, and explains why the book won the Samuel Johnson Prize (the first memoir to do so) and is shortlisted for the Costa Biography award. Full review...
The Christmas Surprise by Jenny Colgan
I do like Jenny Colgan’s books. At least, that’s my impression although I’m surprised to discover that I had only previously read two of them. Her titles seem to feature food-related topics, and this particular one is third in a series about a young woman called Rosie Hopkins. She lives in a small village in Derbyshire with her boyfriend Stephen, and runs a sweet shop. Full review...
The Man Who Loved Dogs by Leonardo Padura
In Cuba, a mysterious man walks on the beach, always with two Russian wolfhounds. Watched by a writer, he soon comes to share his story, and it becomes clear that he is Ramon Mercader - the man who killed Trotsky. Full review...
The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries by Otto Penzler (editor)
Nostalgia is a big part of the Christmas experience, and that's provided in sack-loads by this hefty tome of short stories. Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and Brother Cadfael jostle Morse, Rumpole and Vic Warshawski for space on these tightly packed pages, while lesser known and long since forgotten writers furnish new and unexpected pleasures for even the most well-read of book worms. Full review...
Paul Smith for Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry
The pig family are heading out for a picnic and – goodness – they are going to have some ride! This is the loose story line that functions as a vehicle (pun intended) to introduce a mind boggling array of ‘things that go’. In and around Ma and Pa Pig’s house there are no less than seven motors. That’s a quiet page in Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. Prepare to be dazzled along the journey by more vehicles than you ever thought existed all illustrated and labelled. This is an American book so some of the cars, trucks and fire engines may look a little unfamiliar. However, I’m pretty sure though that I never saw a shark car, wolf wagon or pickle truck on either the M5 or the I5. Full review...
The Book With No Pictures by B J Novak
My favourite moments of reviewing books are ones just like this; when I decide to take a chance on a book that I have no idea about but which looks like it might be just a little bit interesting, and it turns out they are. The Book With No Pictures by B J Novak isn't just a little bit interesting, it is staggeringly original and so much fun. Full review...
Thornfield Hall by Jane Stubbs
I can't say that I'm a fan of reworkings of classic books: some suck the life out of the original, others fail to add anything - and why would you want to read an inferior version when you can read the real thing? Generally, I try to avoid them - and I'm still not certain why I made an exception for Thornfield Hall - it certainly wasn't the headless woman (sigh...) on the cover - but I added it to my reading pile. I'm glad that I did. Full review...
Ultima by Stephen Baxter
In Proxima, alien hatches were discovered across the galaxy, hatches that when opened caused completely unimaginable events to occur - amongst many strange happenings, one character suddenly had a twin she didn't have previously , and one hatch led to a different earth, where the Roman Empire never died.
It is there that Ultima begins - on a world where the Roman Empire never fell, and the technology and culture is markedly different as a result. Full review...
To Kill For (The Killing Machine) by Phillip Hunter
- Contains To Die For spoilers**
Ex Falkland Campaign para Joe is out for revenge. Brenda, a woman he could have loved, is murdered and Joe himself may have been the one forced to kill Kid, an abused young girl he'd sworn to protect. Joe will find the name behind the deaths and make sure they too suffer fatally. The only thing is, in a world of fluctuating loyalties and deceit, he may not survive long enough to carry out his ambition, even if he was the only one searching… But he's not! Full review...
Talking to Ghosts by Herve Le Corre and Frank Wynne (Translator)
French Police Commandant Pierre Vilar's young son Pablo went missing a while ago but he believes him to be alive; a belief that has wrecked his marriage. Meanwhile elsewhere, 13-year-old Victor comes home to a brutally murdered mother. Is there a connection between these two tragedies? That's something that Vilar is desperate to find out, no matter what he has to do or what it does to him. Full review...
Here Are the Young Men by Rob Doyle
Here are the Young Men surges forward, oozing edginess, from the very first sentence. Is that a bad thing? Probably not. It just means that readers may at times slip out of the story, feel themselves taking a step back and admiring the spare coolness of the novel before easing back into the narrative. Full review...
The Magic and Mystery of Birds by Noah Strycker
Sometimes it is easy to overlook the wonder all around us. For example, that scruffy looking starling sitting on your garden fence may look unassuming and commonplace, but type murmuration into the search bar on Youtube and prepare to be mesmerised as a huge flock of the birds perform a gracefully hypnotic aerial ballet which has an almost alien quality. If we take time to stop and look at our feathered friends, we will see that they are anything but ordinary. The bird world is full of unsolved mysteries that humans are only now beginning to unravel: How do pigeons navigate? How do vultures find food? What are penguins afraid of? How do nutcrackers find their hidden food caches? The Magic and Mystery of Birds searches for the answers to these questions, as well as many more, opening our eyes to the hidden world of birds. Full review...
The Last of the Spirits by Chris Priestley
Teenage Sam and his little sister Lizzie are starving on the streets of London, which is gripped by terrible cold. Asking an old businessman for money, a man who looks at them with such sheer contempt that Sam's heart fills with hate. He swears that he will seek vengeance and rob the old man, not caring whether his victim will live or die. But before he can do so, a strange spirit appears to him, and warns him about the terrible path he will put himself on with this violent act. Can Sam resist the temptation to gain revenge? Several more spirits show him the possible consequences of his action, as we see Dickens's classic A Christmas Carol from a new viewpoint. Full review...
The Test Book: 64 Tools to Lead You to Success by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler
The title of the book intrigued me: The Test Book and the offer of sixty four tools which would lead me to success. I'm happy with where my life is but it struck me that only a fool doesn't see room for improvement - and besides, it's a slim book, ideal for popping into a bag or pocket for those waiting room moments. It was only the reputation of the authors - and the value of their earlier books - which made me realise that this wasn't going to be a light-hearted series of 'tests' such as those favoured by some magazines and newspapers. For the most part these are serious, well-established tests used by professionals. Full review...
Bear and Hare: Snow! by Emily Gravett
Emily Gravett is, let's face it, always good. There are books upon books which are well written and well thought out for the preschool market, but I can't help but feel like very young tots are often an after thought. Gravett, however, takes her sweet and witty style and gives it to just this market, and she is repeatedly excellent at it. There is just as much thought in her work as with any picture book for a slightly older reader, but it speaks to small ones in particular and I cannot do anything other than applaud her for that. Full review...
Chop Chop by Simon Wroe
'Monocle' isn't his real name, but that's what the brigade at The Swan would call him once they knew him well enough to insult him. He has an English Literature degree, you see, and the chefs think that's what he would have worn. He'd no interest in cooking, but was two months behind on his rent and being the lowest-rung chef in a gastropub in Camden was the only job that he could get. His co-workers are deranged and borderline criminal whilst the head chef, Bob is a top-rank sadist constantly on the look out for material on which to practice. Monocle has little choice but to stay - given the situation between his parents, going home isn't really an option. Full review...
Massacre Pond by Paul Doiron
What is best for the great outdoors? Is leaving it to nature is the most sustainable option or does hunting help to protect the ecosystem? Each group has opposing viewpoints and are unlikely to reach common ground, therefore someone is going to have to stand between the two of them and make sure nothing bad happens. Something like murder. Full review...
The Lost Child by Suzanne McCourt
Sylvie lives in a small Australian fishing village with her mum, dad and elder brother, Dunc. However all that is about to change and little Sylvie finds herself in the middle of dramas she neither understands nor controls. Her world may never be the same but she tries to make sense of it, Trollop, clingy mother, moody father and all. Full review...
