January 2008 Newsletter

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January's News from Bookbag Towers

Did you have a good Christmas? Are you now virtually bankrupt, or did you save some money to spend in the January sales? We're now faced with the long slog of cold and wet weather until we finally make it to spring. What better way to pass the miserable evenings indoors than by reading a good book, or two, or three... You'll find our round up of the best books recently published below. But before you rush off, don't forget the Richard and Judy bookclub. It started 2008 with Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. You can find our review of it, and all the other Richard and Judy books here on the site.

What we've been reading...

In fiction, Sue thought Barbara Nadel's Pretty Dead Things was an excellent police procedural, handling difficult subjects exceptionally well. If you've been reading K J Parker's excellent Engineer trilogy, don't miss the last instalment. The Escapement will not disappoint.

In non-fiction, Zoe thoroughly enjoyed herself reading about The Naked Man, the latest in the Desmond Morris series about humankind. We don't like to quiz her too hard about which parts she liked best! Jill thinks you should pluck up the courage to read Jean Hatzfeld's fine work on the Rwandan genocide, A Time For Machetes. It's not easy to read, but it is necessary.

In children's books, and for the littlest ones, Magda loved James Mayhew's Where's My Cuddle?. It's perfect for a bedtime winding-down story. Sue liked David Melling's The Scallywags for some moral ideas with a light touch. Newly confident readers will love the reissue of Paul Fleischman's classic, Weslandia. Wes was an early eco warrior! Teens are well-served with Jenny Valentine's kitchen sink drama with a twist, Broken Soup, and the paperback of the stonking Melvin Burgess satire on celebrity culture, Sara's Face.

Reviewers

We're always on the look out for people to join our panel of reviewers at Bookbag. We need people who understand that the reader wants to know what the reviewer thinks about the book and not just what's written on the back cover. If you think that you're one of these special people that we're looking for, we want to hear from you. You can find details of how to apply here on the site. Don't be shy!

Competitions

We have competitions for some great books going this month, and every month, so get entering!

And that's about it for this month.

If you're passing Bookbag Towers do pop in and see us – we're at www.thebookbag.co.uk.

All at Bookbag Towers

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