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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Armadillos by P K Lynch
Aggie is one of Texas' downtrodden. Dirt poor and abused. a 'sub' from a 'sub' family … Her father and brother enact that 'sub'-ness on her, week in, week out. She has only the vaguest notion that there is something wrong with the abuse she endures.. Full review...
Murder at the Manor: Country House Mysteries (British Library Crime Classics) by Martin Edwards (editor)
I'm not big on short stories, but two factors nudged me towards this book. Firstly, it's broadly golden age crime, one of my weaknesses and secondly, the editor is Martin Edwards, a man whose knowledge of golden age crime is probably unsurpassed and he's done us proud, not only with his selection, but with the half-page biographies of the writers, which precede each story. There's just enough there to allow you to place the author and to direct you to other works if you're tempted. It's an elegant selection, from the well known and the less well known, all set in and around the country house. Full review...
Super Stan by Matt Robertson
Stan is no ordinary little brother, oh no, because Stan can run faster and throw further and jump higher than his big brother Jack. Stan can also fly, of course! Poor Jack finds that even when he is helpful and kind, his little superhero brother can go one better, so when Jack finds someone's wallet on the floor and returns it, Stan captures a burglar in his car & carries the car to the police! So when it is Jack's birthday he is hopeful that perhaps for just one day, he will be the special one in the family, and Stan won't do anything to spoil his fun. Full review...
Miracle: The extraordinary dog that refused to die by Amanda Leask
Amanda Leask has been obsessed with dogs all her life and it's been an obsession which needs the world and a lot of it's attitudes to dogs to change for the better. She's not daunted by the obstacles: she's simply determined to do all that she possibly can to make the world a better place for dogs. Amanda lives with her husband Tobias, son Kyle and more than twenty rescue and sled dogs near Inverness. Very nice, you're probably thinking. Wouldn't we all like to have that sort of lifestyle? But hold on a minute. Full review...
The Girls by Lisa Jewell
When Clare takes her two tween daughters Pip and Grace to live in leafy Virginia Terrace, she is hoping for anonymity, a blank slate and a fresh start. Not so long ago, her story was in all of the newspapers when her paranoid-schizophrenic husband burned down the family home. Her new house seems a world away from her previous life. The crescent has a communal garden at its heart, where friendly neighbours socialise and children can run free. But does this new freedom come with a price? Full review...
1,339 QI Facts To Make Your Jaw Drop by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin
A spermologer is a collector of trivia. Just that sentence tells you a lot – we're once more in the realm of the curt, succinct approach to the world's information and oddities. It says more, however – beyond the weirdness of the word is the obvious necessity for the word to exist – without people that could be called collectors of trivia you would not need the term. And rest assured, there are currently few people that stand as better spermologers than the chief QI elves. Full review...
Cold Calling by Russell Mardell
Five years on, Ray still can't get over the loss of his girlfriend. Five years is a long, long time to pine and mourn but Ray just doesn't seem to be able to get off the treadmill of it all. The only meaningful relationships he has are with his therapist and best friend Danny. And it's not as though his job provides much in the way of escape - Ray works for an insurance company as a cold caller. This is how, one day, he comes to speak to Anya. Full review...
Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo
It is the summer of 1975 and ten year old Ramie's dad has left home with another woman. Raymie is utterly heartbroken and believes that everything, absolutely everything, now depends on her, because Raymie has a plan. If she wins the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition her name and her photo will be in the paper and then, Raymie believes, her father may just possibly come back home. At least she hopes that he will. To win the competition she must carry out some good deeds and learn to twirl a baton so she enrols in a baton twirling class where she meets Louisiana, timid and prone to fainting, and Beverly, cynical and determined to sabotage the competition. As the competition draws nearer and Raymie starts to despair that her plan will work circumstances conspire to draw the three girls together in an unlikely friendship that will challenge and change all three of them. Full review...
Hugless Douglas and the Great Cake Bake by David Melling
One day, Douglas wakes up to find honey footprints all over his bed. He follows the footprints only to discover that not only is his house all sticky, but his honey is missing! Continuing to follow the trail, he discovers the honey-stealing culprits...the sheep! And what, do you think, are the sheep doing with all of Douglas' honey? Why, they're baking, of course! Full review...
Leviathan's Blood (Children) by Ben Peek
BEWARE, spoilers for Book 1 ahead: The immortal Zaifyr is now in prison on Wila where he's facing trial for the murder of Keepers Fo and Bau. Ayae, the former apprentice is no longer the small child who walked unscathed from a burnt out shop. All she wants to do now is save lives but she's frustrated at every turn. Captain Aned Heast is on a mission he won't let drop; he wants a name for his band of mercenaries but not just any name. Meanwhile be afraid; somewhere out there is the Child. The Child is coming. Full review...
The Lost Soldier by Diney Costeloe
Rachel is a journalist covering a local conflict between a land developer and the small village community of Charlton Ambrose. The developer wants to level Ashgrove, a group of nine trees planted to commemorate those in the village who died serving in World War I. As she investigates, Rachel realises that only eight of the trees have corresponding names of the fallen. The ninth is for a mysterious unknown soldier. Why unknown? Rachel is determined to discover his story and, in so doing, she also discovers part of her own. Full review...
Rose Campion and the Stolen Secret by Lyn Gardner
The Victorian era in London – a time of expansion and exploration, but also of poverty, dark alleyways, youthful pickpockets and moustache-twirling villains. Well, so writers like Charles Dickens would have us believe, and readers can be pretty sure that a detective mystery set in the glittering world of the nineteenth century music hall will have colour, excitement and danger in profusion. Full review...
The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan
Dylan walks away from this family's small London indie cinema in 2020 to live on a Scottish caravan site. His new neighbours Constance and her transgender 12 year old Stella have troubles of their own, but the odd British winter isn't helping. As the country faces true Arctic temperatures life goes on… or at least it tries to. Full review...
The Leopards of Normandy: Duke: Leopards of Normandy 2 by David Churchill
Normandy 1037: Duke William at 9 years old is surrounded by guardians and advisors but not all of them have his interests at heart. In fact whether he lives or dies will have more to do with William's resilience than the custodial duty of those around him. Meanwhile the fight for the English throne across the channel seems remote and none of his business as the sons of Queen Emma jostle for Canute's old crown. It's getting closer though; one day William Duke of Normandy will be William the Conqueror. Full review...
Fault/lines (Hadron Damnation Book 0) by Mark Lingane
What starts off as a day that should be remembered for a medical appointment soon becomes anything but for DCI Tracey Hanson. When planes start falling from the sky she and DI Reggie Chambers are thrown together in the thick of it. In the midst of the carnage, a teenager is orphaned. Definitely a tragic event but is there more to it than that? Full review...
The Hunt by Paul Bird
This is Britain after the Very Big Crash. Life is very different, especially if you live in one of the lower suburbs under the Local Government's authority. Cush lives in one such suburb. He works as a detective in the floating Krawczyk building and, though he thinks it himself, is pretty good at his job. His wife Samir doesn't work, even though she'd like to, and spends her days at home reading those most antiquated of things: books. Their son Nim is sixteen and is obsessed with a video game called The Hunt. Cush and Samir fall out constantly over their differing approaches to Nim's obsession. Full review...
Bossy Jonathan Fossy (The Ever So Series) by Julie Fulton and Elina Ellis
Jonathan Fossy was ever so bossy, demanding that his Mum bring him chocolate and gum and then paint his bedroom bright blue. He made demands of everyone, including the neighbours (a ten feet wide boat with a cabin for him) and you might wonder why anyone put up with it. (I had in mind a sharp slap across the back of a couple of bare legs, but that's probably illegal, albeit effective, these days.) Finally PC Moran hatched a dastardly plan: I'm not going to tell you what it was, but suffice it to say that he got his comeuppance in a most effective way and was a decidedly more pleasant young man thereafter. Full review...
Big Nate Blasts Off by Lincoln Peirce
First things first, no – that title is not the puerile British schoolboy's meaning of blasting off. I'm not entirely sure why the book is called that, to be honest. But I do know that said British schoolboy – and many from many other countries too – will take to these pages, even if they have never seen any of the other books in this series. The humble hero with the spiky hair and quick wit is in trouble with (a) his comics of the teachers, (b) his finding the time to practise Ultimate Frisbee for an interschool cup, and (c) his emotions, as he falls big-time for the delightful Ruby Dinsmore. Yes, the very Ruby Dinsmore the main school bully also wants to hang out with… Full review...
The Body on the Doorstep by A J MacKenzie
On the marshes of Kent in the late eighteenth century, Reverend Hardcastle discovers a dying man on his doorstep. Narrowly escaping a bullet himself, he is entrusted with the dying man's last words which leave him questioning the mystery behind this anonymous man's death. With smugglers rife along the Kent coast, it seems as though it was a simple falling out amongst thieves, but the Reverend believes the answer to this crime lies deeper. Assisted by the brilliant Mrs Chaytor they set off to solve the mystery – but with smugglers lurking all through the county and the French threatening to invade, there are unsuspected dangers around every corner. Full review...
Lucinda Belinda Melinda McCool by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
Lucinda Belinda is extremely beautiful and she feels it's her duty to bring beauty to the world. And if this means telling others to sort out their eyebrows, lose their big behinds, file their nails or just up their grooming generally then so be it. Full review...
Love from Paddington by Michael Bond
Consider some of the more pertinent questions of literature. Would things have been better if Rhett Butler did give a damn? What would Jane Eyre have done if the men with the truth hadn't made the church in time? And, of course, how does a little bear with a fondness for marmalade actually turn up in Paddington Station, so very, very far from home? Well, while the actual short stories may never have answered any of those questions, this work does – in amongst suggesting why bears don't play cricket, and a host more. As a result it may have a very different structure to the original books of linked short stories, but it's just as wonderful and characterful. Full review...
Goodnight Spaceman by Michelle Robinson
'Goodnight Spaceman' is a warm and tender look at space exploration told through the eyes of two young boys who have an astronaut for a Dad. On the upside, this seems to mean that you get to keep moon rock in your bedroom. On the downside, space is too far to reach out for a hug. So, the boys blast off to see Dad's workplace before bed time. Not only is this topical when the International Space Station currently orbits with a British astronaut on board, there is an introductory letter from the great man himself, Tim Peake. Sounds like a winning formula when for so many tots space is the favourite frontier. I was eager to read this with my three year old. Full review...
The Missing Hours by Emma Kavanagh
Selena Cole has an unusual job, working in the field of Kidnap and Ransom, but this time she's the one in trouble. While playing in the park with her children she vanishes, and returns 24 hours later with no recollection of where she's been. Oh and in the meantime, a man has been murdered. It's probably completely unconnected, but this is a reasonably small town and for the local police it's unusual to have two such infrequent events in quick succession. Full review...
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
I'm hardly the first person to comment on the saturation of the young-adult fiction market in recent years. I've several friends who love YA so much they seem to exclusively read this genre, and here's the thing – I really want to like it, too. I know there's good stuff out there, but it seems like the more I look the less I find. I've slogged my way through dozens – maybe even hundreds, who knows – of formulaic, samey and often downright repetitive books which didn't inspire any of that passion in me. Full review...
The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas, Torbjorn Stoverud and Michael Barnes (translators)
We're somewhere in rural Scandinavia, on the shores of a large lake, but in a community relying on the farmland that is scattered in amongst the woods. Our chief concerns are brother and sister – Mattis and Hege. He, Mattis, is what the other villagers call 'simple' – sure, he knows a few things about life, and what makes a clever person and what makes a well-turned phrase, and how to talk to girls and when to not stare at them, but he is definitely not quite as the others would wish. Those others include his sister, who is seeing her life waste away in listening to his chatter, knitting jumpers to make ends meet, and regretting in her own small way what has got her to middle-age in this situation. But from this galling introduction, you should take away the bigger picture – even if there is no way out, the life in this countryside is brilliantly conveyed, full of sun as well as shade, of labour and of idleness, and wit and charm as much as hardship. I defy you to read this and think this corner of Scandinavia bleak. Full review...
The Disappearance by Annabel Kantaria
Audrey, widowed mother of grown up twins, is setting off for one last hurrah, taking her children on a Greek island cruise. It's quite a nice gesture for the pair, to whom she's starting to feel something of a burden, but she has the time and the means to treat them, so why shouldn't she? There may be more to it than that, though. Full review...
Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie
I often feel that short stories are an indulgence on the part of the author, they get to write down a lot of their ideas that don't really fit into a larger story. The stop/start nature of them never sits well with me, just as I am starting to get to know a character they are gone. One way of solving this would be to use characters that a fan will already know; perhaps explore the past, or the future. That sounds great for a fan, but how do you do this whilst also catering for a new reader? Full review...
The Girl With No Name by Diney Costeloe
Thirteen year old Lisa escapes from Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport and arrives in England in August 1939. She can't speak a word of English and her only belongings are crammed into a small suitcase. Among them is one precious photograph of the family she has left behind in Germany. Lonely and homesick, not knowing if she will ever see her family again, Lisa is adopted by a childless couple, and then bullied at school for being German. But worse is to come when the Blitz blows her new home apart, and she wakes up in hospital with no memory of who she is, or where she came from. The authorities give her a new name and despatch her to a children's home. With the war in full swing, what will become of Lisa now? Full review...
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick
On the first anniversary of his wife Miriam's death, Arthur Pepper feels he might finally be up to the task of clearing out her wardrobe. He hasn't got far when he stumbles across a gold charm bracelet he doesn't recognise. If he hadn't been feeling so out of sorts because of the anniversary he would never have rung the phone number he found engraved on the golden elephant. That would have been a shame, because then he would never have set out on his peculiar quest to find out who his wife used to be before she met him. From York to London, Paris and beyond, Arthur pursues Miriam's past and learns things about his wife, his children and himself that he never imagined. Full review...
Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos by Philip Martin
If only those critiquing Doctor Who had access to a time machine, they would be able to temper all their responses. When Mary Whitehouse found the likes of Genesis of the Daleks to be too violent, she and her coterie had no idea the series would soon turn to a prison world, where soon-to-be victims of snuff movies are trapped in a reality-show styled existence, and a hard-done-by populous are sat at home doing nothing other than watching the feeds from the executions, the morgues and worse. If those watching Doctor Who had the benefit of foresight they might have responded to Vengeance on Varos differently. They were quite vocal in complaining about a horrific character being a trade delegate who is half-man, half-slug and wholly stupid evil laugh, and such an artificial premise. Little did they know the series would soon lumber people with Bonnie Langford, and aliens looking like liquorice bleeding allsorts… Full review...
