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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Young Houdini: The Magician's Fire by Simon Nicholson
As it happens, several facts about the childhood of the man who became world famous for his daring stunts and death-defying shows have been recorded. But fiction is the world of what-if, where anything can be imagined, anything can happen. So what if all those 'facts' were actually a cover, made up to conceal Houdini's earliest exploits? What if, as a boy, he ended up far away from his family and his native Hungary and all alone in New York, having to earn a few meagre pennies each day by shining shoes? And what if his fascination with theatre life led him into dangers even greater than anything he was able to create in his later stage act? Full review...
Train by Judi Abbot
Kids nowadays have far too many toys to play with; whilst I had to make do with a piece of string tied around a rock, today’s youth have rooms filled with more plastic contraptions than an aging Hollywood Starlet’s cheeks. Even with all this stuff at hand most parents will tell you that their child will still gravitate more to a few of their favourite things, ignoring a lot of the other offerings available. Perhaps they have a toy train that they are obsessed by? Train! Full review...
Chernobyl Strawberries by Vesna Goldsworthy
A book about a woman from a war-shredded country, who discovers she has breast cancer…Not a bundle of laughs, one would assume. One would be wrong. Chernobyl Strawberries is, amongst other things, very funny. Full review...
Professor Stewart’s Incredible Numbers by Ian Stewart
Incredible Numbers starts off easily enough, with a really interesting look at numbers as seen by the earliest people, before moving on to a brief explanation of natural numbers, rational numbers, negative numbers and complex and prime numbers. Subsequent chapters revisit old friends such as Pythagoras’s theorem, the Fibonacci cube, negative numbers, pi and quadratic equations, and other lesser known concepts such as kissing numbers, imaginary numbers and the winsomely-named Sausage Conjecture. Full review...
Waterloo: The Aftermath by Paul O'Keeffe
There have been several accounts of the battle of Waterloo and of the events that led up to it. But it is always interesting to discover a book which finds a different way of telling the tale, or in this case focusing more on what happened directly afterwards. Full review...
The Darkest Hour by Barbara Erskine
In the summer of 1940, at the start of the Battle Britain, Evie Lucas has two things on her mind. She paints pictures of the war and she has fallen in love with Tony, a young pilot.
Seventy years later, Lucy, an art historian, begins a study into Evie’s life. Lucy is recently widowed and hopes to find solace in the engrossing project. Instead, she finds secrets that people have been working hard to protect for over half a century – and her discoveries have a profound impact on her own life. Full review...
Flirting With French by William Alexander
I am not a bad linguist. I don’t tend to struggle with languages too much, especially when the goal is communicative fluency rather than precise grammatical accuracy, and I’ve taught English as a foreign language in a handful of countries too, so I have some ideas of what does and doesn’t work with language acquisition in adults. William Alexander is, perhaps, not so lucky. An American with a longing to be a Frenchman, he is devoting himself to learning the lingo and much more, and chronicles his efforts in this book. Full review...
Falling in Love by Donna Leon
Flavia Petrelli, who will be remembered by regular readers of the Commissario Guido Brunetti series as one of the suspects in the first case, Death at La Fenice, has returned to Venice to sing the lead in Tosca. But this time it's Petrelli who feels that she is a victim and for the strangest of reasons: she's being inundated with gifts. It began in other cities - the yellow roses thrown, in abundance, on to the stage, but this time there are even more roses. Her dressing room is filled with them and there's even a massive bouquet inside the locked apartment building where she's staying. It was Brunetti who proved her innocence the last time and it's to him that she turns with this latest problem. Full review...
Gagged and Bound: A book of puns, one-liners and dad jokes by Nick Jones
Ok. I am not a funny person. I come up deplorably short on the old wit and repartee. My puns are never new. I feel this lack of comic talent quite keenly and I think that's why I love other people's jokes so much. So Gagged and Bound was always going to be right up my alley - it's a collection of very short gags on any subject you can imagine. A stream of punny/funny consciousness, if you will.
The problem is this: how does an unfunny person like me review a funny book? I have no idea. Full review...
Bitter Sixteen by Stefan Mohamed
Stanly Bird is about to turn sixteen - a solitary teen in a small Welsh town, he has few friends. Unless you count his talking dog, Daryl...
A splitting headache on the eve of his birthday soon develops into incredible powers, and Stanly swiftly finds himself defending his neighbourhood, falling in love, and gaining his first real friends. When jealous rivals, a mysterious figure and a horrific evil come into play though, Stanly finds himself cast away from home, and struggling to save everything he has come to hold dear. Full review...
The Listeners by Edward Parnell
May 1940. William Abrehart has not spoken since the mysterious death of his father, choosing instead to spend his days in the woods that surround his home. A promise he made to his dying father means that he is responsible for the wellbeing of his two sisters, and their withdrawn mother. Over the course of a weekend, ghosts of the past cause buried secrets, lies and promises to come spilling out - culminating in a series of shocking events. Full review...
The Good Girl by Fiona Neill
Romy is a sixth former who is unremarkable. A good student from a professional family, her aspiration is to become a doctor, and it’s an achievable, rather than lofty goal. Or it was. Because a video has surfaced and it shows Romy doing something that is hardly going to help her medical school application. Or her future career. Or her future life, full stop. For Ailsa, the head teacher, she has the double whammy of trying to keep the school out of the headlines and protect her child who is now at the centre of the controversy. And it’s clearly all the neighbours’ fault. Full review...
You Belong To Me by Samantha Hayes
Isabel is a Brit abroad who is running away from something, or someone. There are a lot of these about, in my experience, but few who have such an intriguing, and worrying, history. She left the UK to escape a controlling ex but now has to return suddenly, for family reasons, even though she swore she would never go home again. Full review...
On the Train by Carron Brown and Bee Johnson
There’s nothing me and the little ‘un like more than a good transport themed book. Tractors remain top of my toddler’s pops but trains run a close second. One glimpse of the cover of On the Train and his little feet did the happy dance. He hunkered down and the journey began. Full review...
The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature by Daniel Hahn
When I was a child, some sixty and more years ago, there were not many books for children or, indeed, much money to buy what was available. Forty years ago, when my daughter was a child there were more and the libraries were relatively well stocked. But in the last thirty years children's books have flourished. I'm no great fan of Harry Potter but even the most hardened cynic would have to admit that the wizard has brought a lot of children to reading - and to enjoying it too. In the same period we've seen books tackling difficult subjects become mainstream and the rise of young adult fiction. From near-famine we've moved to feast, but what we need now is guidance. Full review...
Pathlands by Peter Owen Jones
I have lots of walking books. All of them have been bought with a half-baked intention of actually doing the walks described within them… which of course, I've only partially succeeded in. I do have some books which I have fully ticked-off, but most of them, especially most of the later ones have (at best) been inspiration enough to get the boots on, but rarely more than once or twice. So many unfinished plans. Full review...
Waiting for the Electricity by Christina Nichol
Slims Achmed Makashvili is determined to leave his native Georgia. It's a country buffeted and often invaded by its neighbours and plagued with lack of amenities. On hearing that Hilary Clinton is running a competition, the prize for which is a trip to the States and knowing all he has to do is overstay his visa for a better life, Slims' letters to Hilary begin. Eventually he gets to the US but… Well, be careful what you wish for. Full review...
A Possibility of Violence: An Inspector Avraham Avraham Novel (Inspector Avraham 2) by D A Mishani and Todd Hasak-Lowy (Translator)
Someone leaves a bomb outside a children's nursery in Tel Aviv. This time it's a fake. Next time? Police Inspector Avraham Avraham wants to find the bomber before next time as then it may not be pretence. Meanwhile Chaim Sara has a special interest in the bomb as one of his two sons attends the nursery. But is that the only reason he's interested? Full review...
13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do by Amy Morin
When Amy Morin was just 26 and working as a psychologist and therapist her husband died suddenly, but even whilst she was reeling from the shock she realised that there were things which she must not do. She knew that she must not develop a sense of entitlement, feel resentment or succumb to self-pity. That was ten years ago: since then Morin has remarried and worked with numerous patients using the principles which she applied to herself. She's found 13 common habits which hold us back in life and developed strategies to combat them. But the best thing which she makes clear is that mental strength is not about acting tough - for instance, if you've suffered a bereavement, you need to grieve - it's about having the mental wherewithal to overcome life's challenges. Full review...
Brand Psychology: Consumer Perceptions, Corporate Reputations by Jonathan Gabay
Confession - I'm a bit of a brand geek. I do have some marketing work experience but that isn't the reason why I'm a bit of a brand geek. I think the attraction for me is that brands have, or in some cases, are, stories. I have always been fascinated by how and why people can relate to those stories, in the same way that I am fascinated by how anyone relates to any story! If you have any interest in the business of brands, this is a fascinating read and it delivers on far more fronts than just the business one. Full review...
In Dark Service (Far Called Trilogy 1) by Stephen Hunt
Jacob Carnehan has settled down. He's minding his own business while raising his son Carter, and his days of adventure are - thankfully - long behind him. Carter Carnehan is going out of his mind with boredom. His humdrum life is dull, and he longs to escape. To test himself against the world. Full review...
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Twins Noah and Jude used to be inseparable until tragedy tore them apart. Now Noah's changed utterly from the boy he used to be, and Jude is reduced to spying on him through his friend as she struggles with her own issues at the exclusive art school Noah was always supposed to go to, but Jude ended up at instead. Full review...
Gerry Anderson's Gemini Force One, Black Horizon by M G Harris
Life is changing very fast for Ben Carrington. He is at the opening of a huge skyscraper hotel his late father founded in Abu Dhabi when disaster strikes – the chap is hardly cold in his grave when Ben's mum and the lad have to prove how adept they are at her old job, of mountain rescue. She feels like setting up a new rescue agency with her nous and the family fortunes, but someone who can just amble into the opening/memorial ceremony is Jason Truby, a monumentally rich Internet magnate, who actually has a modern-day Thunderbirds entity already, the top secret Gemini Force. Truby starts to get close to the family of two, but the school-aged Ben isn't going to be allowed to learn just what dramatic escapades the agency has to cover – is he? Full review...
The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other) by Geoff Rodkey
There are two kinds of children in this world, those who are repulsed by farts, and those who delight in letting them rip, or regale their friends for their efforts – or wilfully accuse the innocent of dropping one. You can argue til the cows come home as to what the ratio of those two camps is – which is pretty much what Claudia and Reese, two 12-year old siblings in New York City, do – argue. This time the problem is that Reese loudly announced his sister to have a windy arse right in the middle of the school canteen, which led her to retaliate with a means to make him embarrassingly smelly, which led him to – well, let's just say that when Claudia defines the result as war, she's not far off. Full review...
Young Skins by Colin Barrett
We're taken into the lives of the youthful inhabitants of small town Ireland in seven short stories of differing styles but a shared setting. Barrett writes of a doorman at a suburban nightclub, known and respected by all the locals, although we only read about a brief affair and his vulnerability. Another tale portrays a young rocker and his emotional state, years after an incident that scarred him both physically and mentally and made him the talk of the town. Other tales all share the same focus on people and small but meaningful personal events in their lives. Full review...
Chicken Mission: The Curse of Fogsham Farm by Jennifer Gray and Hannah George
Life is hard for a chicken. Threat comes from anywhere you look – which is where the Elite Chicken Squad comes in. Last time they had a nasty fox and his friends to counter, but this time they've got it worse. A local legend speaks of a vampire mink, concerned only with draining all fowl of their blood, and all indications suggest the legend is actually a lot more real and worrying. Even the barman – sorry, bar-chicken, Ichabod Comb, has vanished after an attack on his juice bar. What's more, it seems the mink's victim becomes a zombie soldier, fighting for her cause. Can the three plucky stalwarts of the Squad – Amy, Boo and Ruth – prove themselves a match for such evil? Full review...
A Wish Your Heart Makes : From the Grimm Brothers' Aschenputtel to Disney's Cinderella by Charles Solomon
It's not a useful thing, to have sniffy presumptions, when you're a humble book reviewer. The same applies of course in the world of cinema, and a lot else besides, but I do have to admit to be really quite dubious about the thought of a live action remake of Cinderella, even before seeing, reading or hearing anything on which to form a proper judgement. Did the world need it, I wondered – the original was great enough, and surely so much a sine qua non in animation history. What would some new young cast members, and Kenneth Branagh, add to – or possibly would they overlay – decades of cinema audiences' joint memory? Surely it would be a pig's ear. Well, if this luscious first book regarding the new film is any indication, it's actually going to be pretty good. The format of film tie-in guides itself doesn't always engender much hope in the likewise prejudiced – but I confirm this, too, is an item well worth bearing in mind. Full review...
Humber Boy B by Ruth Dugdall
We've all read the stories in the papers: children who kill, particularly children who kill children. We've always wondered what went through their minds as they did it. We've also wondered about what happens to them once they're no longer children, when they've grown up in prison and are then deemed fit to be freed back into real life. Full review...
Caring for Shirley by John Kemp
John Kemp's wife, Shirley, suffered from dementia and loss of coordination and for eight years he was her full-time carer as she was unable to walk unaided (well, she could - but it was likely to result in a serious fall) and took care of all her most personal needs. Probably the most heart-breaking part of this is that Shirley didn't recognise John as her husband - apart from 'give us a kiss', the question 'where's John?' was usually the first which sprang to her lips in any situation. Although she could often have quite an affable disposition she was capable of kicking and biting when she was being 'encouraged' to do something which she didn't want to do. Full review...
Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines by Katy Cannon
Grace is looking forward to being the star in the upcoming school production of Much Ado About Nothing, but after missing the audition, she's relegated to understudy and making costumes in sewing club. Being a costume mistress definitely wasn't the plan, but it may leave her in a position to step into the lead role if needed - and there's a compensation in the form of new boy Connor, who's stage managing and after initially appearing to dislike Grace starts to warm to her. Will Grace get the part and the boy? Full review...
