Book Reviews From 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 Big Short by Michael Lewis
So. The subprime mortgage crisis, the worldwide financial crisis, people losing their jobs, their money, their houses, their security. Unregulated greed, that went on and on and on. And the people who caused it all got rich during and after, very few felt any sort of consequences, and millions of other people worldwide suffered greatly. Strip away all the intentionally confusing terminology and it all amounts to bets with unbelievable amounts of money. How did it all come about and how did it play out? Michael Lewis explains the mess as only he can. Just as his earlier excellent work Liar's Poker encapsulated the excesses of Wall Street in the 1980s, so does The Big Short perfectly tell the tale of Wall Street in the 2000s. In fact, given the extent of the current global clusterfuck, it makes the shocking Liar's Poker look positively mild by comparison. Full review...
Rendezvous in Cannes by Jennifer Bohnet
It's the beginning of the Cannes Film Festival and for two women life is going to change completely in the coming weeks. Anna Carson has found the love that she thought would always elude her and can't quite believe her happiness. Daisy, here to cover the Festival as a journalist is coming to terms with being single. It's time for her to make some decisions, but what will she decide? The hurly-burly of the Festival is not the most peaceful time to make big decisions. Full review...
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink and Carol Brown Janeway
It's West Germany, 1958. A 15-year-old schoolboy, Michael Berg, is suffering a long bout of hepatitis. When he recovers he returns to the flat of a tram conductor, 36-year-old Hanna Schmitz, to thank her for taking care of him the day he fell sick. The two of them begin a secret affair that becomes a routine for months: after school and work, Michael would read to her, and then they would make love and bathe each other. Both of them fall in love. Full review...
Code Lightfall and the Robot King by Daniel H Wilson
Code Lightfall is on a school trip to a prehistoric mound when he falls through a trap into another world, where everything is made of crystal, or metal, and the only living 'animals' are all robotic. It's a world under threat, so can he journey across its bizarre landscapes and save it all? And what is the truth of the mound, where his grandfather disappeared a year ago? Full review...
The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes
Marian Keyes can usually be relied upon for a funny, moving story full of life-like, likeable characters. I was eager to read her latest novel, although somewhat daunted by the 600 odd pages! Here she takes us to an old, multi-storey house in Dublin that is the home of a variety of different characters. An unknown, magical narrator takes us through the house as we meet each tenant and discover what's happening in their lives. Full review...
The Stranger in the Mirror: A Memoir of Middle Age by Jane Shilling
Middle-aged women disappear. They are not see on television, their lives do not appear in newspapers, the legions of novels that are written each year rarely feature them. At least, that is what the author Jane Shilling believes as she wakes up aged 47 to find the narrative of her contemporaries and their lives which she has been reading about and living in parallel with since leaving university has vanished. She looks in the mirror and sees a face she does not recognise. Even with a punishing regime of early bed, no alcohol and litres of water, it refuses to regain its youthful bloom. So she decides to take a magnifying glass to this particular moment in time, this journey between youth and old age. Full review...
Half of the Human Race by Anthony Quinn
At heart, 'Half of the Human Race' is a 'will they, won't they' love story featuring an upper class, emerging county cricketer, Will Maitland, and a middle class strong, educated, cricket-loving woman, Constance Callaway. But this is so much more than a question of will the cricketer bowl a maiden over? It's a novel about friendship, love, fighting for what you believe in and, also, surprisingly, about celebrity. Full review...
Blood Rush by Helen Black
Lilly has had the baby she was expecting in the last book, and daughter Alice is the child from hell. Sweet and angelic with just about anyone other than her mum, she won't sleep at night, is prone to screaming fits and about as disruptive to a previously one-parent, one-child household as a baby could be. Fortunately father Jack (copper, ex-boyfriend, current status indeterminate) is welcome to come and lend a hand whenever he can spare the time. Of course, Alice adores him. Equally fortunately, first-born and now teenage son, Sam, is unbelievably cool about his baby sis. Just to round it off, Lilly and Sam's father are also on speaking and son-sharing terms (and sod his new girlfriend!). Full review...
Buried Thunder by Tim Bowler
On a walk in the woods near the family's new home, Maya is suddenly compelled by a glinting pair of yellow eyes to run away from her brother and deep into the trees. What she finds is shocking - three dead bodies with a figure standing over the third. Terrified, Maya stumbles back and recounts the horror to her parents, who call the police. But the police can't find any bodies, and it's clear they think she's a prankster. Even Maya's parents don't really believe her. They think she's seeing things and they're worried that she's ill. Full review...
Will Gallows and the Snake-bellied Troll by Derek Keilty
Will Gallows is not your average boy. Finding out the name of the baddie who gunned down his policeman father, he takes it upon himself to get revenge, by bringing him in - even though he's the nastiest gunslinger around. Oh, and a troll with snakes coming from his belly. Will, being not your average boy, is half-elf, however, and can talk to his flying horse to help him on his way. But is there more to the story of his father's death than he thinks, and just what is it with all the earthquakes his town is suffering? Full review...
The Lost Relic by Scott Mariani
Ben Hope went to Italy to visit a former SAS comrade and offer him a job, but he's got marriage and happiness – and Ben's trade is far from the front of his mind. It's whilst he's driving away that Ben nearly runs down a small boy and unwittingly walks into a deadly heist which will see the boy and his mother – and many others – brutally murdered. It's only the beginning for Ben though as he find himself fleeing for his life and accused of murder. When the state needs to act people – even heroes – are disposable. Full review...
The Hammer by K J Parker
The met'Oc family have three sons. One is strong, super-industrious, but too busy to do more than patch up their farm. The second is a vicious thing, eager to ride roughshod over people like a western film's worst bandit, even when it belies the met'Oc's noble origins. And the youngest, Gig, is... not employed. Not thought highly of. Not allowed out of their compound, or to think too much. But he is courageous enough to try and leave, firm of mind to ignore something horrific that happened seven years before, and gutsy enough to succeed in escaping. Or is he? How far can he ever leave his destiny behind in this backward frontier town? Full review...
I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson
It's the 70s, and 13 year old Petra is in love, and not with a silly boy at school, but with a man. He's not from Wales like she is, or even from Britain. He's much more mysterious and alluring. He comes from across the pond and his name is David Cassidy. The David Cassidy. Full review...
The Lonely Beast by Chris Judge
The beast likes to garden. And drink tea. And read. And bake cakes. But he lives by himself, and he is lonely. So one day he decides to go on a journey to try to discover whether there are any other beasts in the world. Full review...
The Heron and the Crane by John Yeoman and Quentin Blake
Heron and Crane live at opposite ends of the swamp. One day Crane decides that he is lonely and he would like to get married. Heron seems the only suitable potential mate, and so he makes his way over to propose. Heron, taken completely by surprise, reacts badly to this sudden proposal and rejects Crane, rather insultingly. Poor Crane. As he makes his way home, Heron is overcome with guilt and decides perhaps she would like to marry him after all. Full review...
Treason by Berlie Doherty
Forced by his power-hungry aunt and uncle to leave the comfort of his modest family home, Will Montague finds himself utterly overwhelmed, as he works as a page to Prince Edward under the keen eye of the temperamental King Henry, just as prone to unexpected bursts of compassion as he is to brutal cruelty. Just as he begins to find his feet in this new position, Will finds himself suddenly on the run, desperately trying to clear the name of his father, convicted of treason for failing to revert to the Protestantism led by the King, and simultaneously gaining more awareness of the world he lives in and the plights of the working class. Full review...
Neversuch House by Elliot Skell
Omnia is a girl who likes to know things, and when she sees something unusual she sets out to find out what is happening. It is a decision which almost kills her. Something is not right at the heart of Neversuch House, and at least one person is determined to stop her finding out what it is. Full review...
Norris is a bear – a large, brown bear. He's also a very wise bear because he knows something which will always be useful to him. He knows about sharing. It all began when he saw the plorringe on the tree and he knew that plorringes are the best fruit of all. All he had to do was to wait for the fruit to fall. In the meantime Tulip and Violet discovered the plorringe too. They had a sniff at it – and it was gorgeous – and even a squeeze which showed that it was soft and fluffy – but what were they to do about Norris who was much bigger than them and could easily run away with the fruit? Full review...
Gallipoli by Peter Hart
Early in 1915 the Allied Powers attempted to seize the Dardanelles, capture Constantinople and eliminate Turkey, who had joined the Central Powers, from the First World War. The campaign ended in failure and retreat, yet for many years it was portrayed as a brilliant strategy undermined by bad luck and incompetent commanders. This painstakingly-researched account shows that this was not the case. It was more a matter of a wild scheme which was poorly planned and doomed from the start, compounding the Allies' problems by diverting large numbers of troops from attacking Germans on the Western Front, where they would arguably have been better employed. In his introduction he calls the eight-month exercise 'an epic tragedy with an incredible heroic resilience displayed by the soldiers', yet ultimately 'a futile and costly sideshow for all the combatants.' It was a huge drain on Allied military resources, involving nearly half a million troops, with the British Empire losing about 205,000 – 115,000 killed, wounded or missing and 90,000 evacuated sick – while the French lost 47,000, and the Turkish over 251,000. Full review...
Why Don't You Come For Me? by Diane Janes
Over a decade ago Jo's daughter was abducted from in front of a shop whilst she and her husband were on holiday. The pushchair was found on a cliff edge but there was no trace of Lauren, even on the beach below. Occasionally Jo receives postcards with an old picture of her daughter on the front simply saying that the writer still has Lauren. The police, the people who know what happened believe the cards to be a hoax. Jo believes differently. She also realises that as she has moved house and remarried and the story has faded from press attention someone is going to a great deal of trouble to keep track of her. Full review...
Sons and Fascination by G S Mattu
This book concentrates on emotions. Take an impressionable young man, add in a chance (?) encounter with an attractive older woman and then stand well back as the fireworks explode and as family, friends and colleagues get sucked in to their deepening relationship. I must say I'm not keen on the title (a little pretentious for a work of fiction in my opinion and more suited to poetry) and even when it was ever so gently explained later on in the book (twice) I still didn't warm to it. All in all, not off to the greatest of starts. Full review...
Cross Country Murder Song by Philip Wilding
The novel opens with the (unnamed) central character in a therapy session in downtown New York. The air is charged and tension is present, big-time. This is one troubled human being. And of course, childhood issues and experiences are dominant in this question and answer session. We soon find out that this individual has secrets in his basement. It all becomes too much, he packs a bag and hits the road and so the story starts proper. Full review...
Driving with Plato: The Meaning of Life's Milestones by Robert Rowland Smith
Driving with Plato is a companion book to Breakfast with Socrates, in which former Oxford Fellow Robert Roland Smith took various elements of a 'typical' day and provided insight into what a collection of thinkers might have to offer to make these mundane routines more interesting. Here, in the company of a similarly eclectic range of writers and thinkers, he considers the key aspects of a life, from birth, through school and riding a bike, to your first kiss, losing your virginity, having a family before a mid-life crisis, leading to divorce, old age and death. Montaigne said that to philosophise was to learn how to die, and here Roland Smith ensures that we think about each stage leading up to that moment. Full review...
Funny Face by Nicola Smee
The young boy is playing with his ball, when along comes a bear who steals it. The big meanie! He takes the only sensible action when faced with a big scary bear: he sticks his tongue out and pulls a funny face! Full review...
Who Stole Mona Lisa? by Ruthie Knapp and Jill McElmurry
Taking in a history of its production, as well as its theft, Who Stole Mona Lisa? is an intriguing look at La Gioconda. The story is told from the point of view of Leonardo da Vinci's painting herself, and will strike a chord with any intelligent and curious youngsters. Full review...
Frank and Teddy Make Friends by Louise Yates
Professor Frank Mouse loves to build things in his workshop, but he's envious of the wild creatures that make things in the company of others. He does what any sensible engineer does: he makes a friend for himself. Teddy and he have a lovely time building things together, until Teddy's attempt to do something nice for Frank goes wrong, and the two friends fall out. Thankfully, a reforming of the friendship isn't too far away, and the two chums are back stronger than ever. Full review...
Ribbit Rabbit by Candace Ryan and Mike Lowery
Frog and bunny are best friends, but from time to time they fall out. However, after a bit of a sulk and a bit of a think, they soon remember why they were best friends again. Full review...
Kipper by Mick Inkpen
Kipper's blanket stinks, his ball is chewed and his bone is soggy. He's in the mood for some tidying up, so he tosses them and gets everything spick and span. Sans blanket, his basket is suddenly very uncomfortable, so he looks around to see how animals get comfy. You know Kipper, right? You've read the books and seen the TV series narrated by Martin Clunes. You'd like a dog, like a dog, like a dog like Kipper. Now we're treated to a 21 year anniversary edition of the original book, complete with a 10 episode DVD. Full review...
The Illustrated Mind of Mike Reeves by Asa Jones
Mike Reeves doesn't have his troubles to seek. His wife was brutally raped some four or five years ago and whilst she might seem to be recovered she cannot stand to be touched by a man – any man, Mike included. Quite suddenly Mike was alone, in every way – until he found himself drawn to the darker arts and began to dabble in Tarot, the Runes and I Ching. He's guided by two spirits. Sean is a wise and benevolent older man and Debbie, well she… isn't. She's the one who satisfies Mike's sexual needs. If that's all sounding rather good, then hesitate a moment, for with the good comes the bad and the bad is in the form of Tony a (very) real-life gangster who's been doing his own dabbling in the spirit world. When their worlds clash Mike has a problem which could well be more than he can handle. Full review...
Oliver and the Noisy Baby by Mara Bergman and Nick Maland
We've met Oliver Donnington Rimington-Sneep before - he has had trouble sleeping and travelled far and wide. This time, he's suffering with a noisy baby. He does what every sensible older brother does: he goes and plays with his toys, retreating into his imagination and flying around the world, taking in all the sights and sounds. Full review...
Nutmeg Says Yum! by Caroline Jayne Church
That Nutmeg is one naughty mouse. First she won't go to bed, and now she's turning her nose up at all the delicious fruit that's on offer. She doesn't want apples as they're too crunchy. Pears are a funny colour. Bananas? Too squidgy. She wants strawberries. Thankfully, Nutmeg's mummy is a wise and sneaky mouse, so she whips up a delicious strawberry surprise, with an interesting mix of ingredients. Full review...
The Tale of Georgie Grub by Jeanne Willis and Margaret Chamberlain
Georgie Grub flat out refuses to have a bath. His mother is fed up of trying to get him clean, so she throws in the towel and leaves him to his filth. As the week goes on, he gets dirtier and dirtier. People hold their noses when he walks by, his teacher throws him out of school, and Georgie ends up scrabbling around in bins. Happy ending? Oh no no no. Georgie Grub gets his comeuppance, and quite right too, the mucky pup! Full review...
Diary of an Ordinary Woman by Margaret Forster
After reading the introduction, I couldn't help but sneak a sly read at the author's note right at the end of the novel. I don't usually do this. I'm glad I did as the information is both surprising and revelatory. Back to the beginning and Chapter 1 ... We meet the 13 year old Millicent in 1914. By her written statements and recorded mannerisms, we see that she's a girl who knows her own mind. For example, she thinks writing in her diary every single day could be dull and boring so she's made a golden rule that she's only going to write something down when she feels like it. Some may call her precocious but I liked Millicent right from the start. Courtesy of her diary we find out that she's part of a large and boisterous family. She doesn't appreciate all the noise and chatter from her siblings. She craves peace and quiet to think and to read. She's a prolific reader. She also believes that she's smart and clever and wants to 'do' something with her life when she grows up. She's not sure what exactly but she certainly doesn't want to be a mere housewife and mother. Full review...
Belle by Lesley Pearse
Belle's story begins in London in 1910. She is fifteen years old and lives an innocent life in her mother's brothel, with no understanding of what really takes place there. Her mother has encouraged her to read and write, wanting her kept away from the harsh realities of the brothel and the rough streets of London that surround her. But Belle's innocence is shattered when she witnesses the murder of one of the brothel's most popular girls, and is subsequently grabbed from the street and trafficked to Paris as a prostitute. Full review...
The Kiss That Missed by David Melling
The king is in an awful rush, and doesn't even have time to read the prince a bedtime story. He blows him a kiss, but it misses! So, he dispatches his knight to track it down, and an elaborate and bizarre adventure ensues. Full review...
Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
There's something very satisfying about a good picture book. With a pre-schooler at home with me all day we get through a lot of books, so I've seen hundreds, from dazzlingly brilliant through to terribly dull. There are times when my daughter at I look at each other at the end of a book and shrug in disbelief that a publisher thought it worth printing, and there are times when we read something over and over (and over!) because it's so good. This particular book is one of the brilliant ones I'm happy to say, and let me tell you why... Full review...
Zimbabwe in Pictures by Keith Hern
I'm a bit of an amateur photographer, and since the advent of digital cameras I always come back from holidays with thousands of photos, over-excited by the fact that I am no longer limited to 24 or 36 exposure films! I enjoy, therefore, flicking through photography books, to see the images that have captured someone else's imagination and to see if I can pick up any interesting framing ideas, or subject settings. Full review...
Passing the 11+ with NLP: NLP Strategies for Supporting Your 11 Plus Student by Judy Bartkowiak and Carolyn Fitzpatrick
The 11+ process is nerve-wracking for parents and children alike and many parents find it difficult to know how best to help their child. Over-enthusiastic intervention can make a child more nervous and conscious that there's a lot at stake, whilst leaving the child to get on with it can well make the child feel that their success or failure doesn't matter to you. It's also important that any preparation is built up in a steady way and that it leaves the child feeling confident of their success. 'Passing the 11+ with NLP' is a dual purpose book: there are the strategies for giving your child self-esteem, focus and concentration along with the other skills needed to pass and then there are details of the type of questions your child will face in the exam. Full review...
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (Gallagher Girls) by Ally Carter
When your average girl wonders what a boy is really like, she and her friends will maybe ask around among brothers and lab partners, or even, if he is majorly good-looking, try to trail him around town on a Saturday morning. But the girls of the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women do things differently. They have access to top-secret files. They have been trained to disguise themselves for covert operations. They know how to read the slightest hints drawn from a person's body language. When they get curious about something, there's very little chance it will stay hidden. But now their skills are really being put to the test. Cammie's room-mate Macey, the daughter of a senator on the campaign trail, has been attacked. It will take everything her friends have learned, and more, to protect her and solve the mysteries which surround them. Full review...
Spindlewood: Pip and the Wood Witch Curse by Chris Mould
Pip doesn't want to be sold to Captain Snarks as a pirate's cabin boy. He is sure he'll get sea-sick, and he would far rather continue to work at the stable yard. But the foul-breathed drunkard who runs the orphanage refuses to listen: he will receive more money for the lad if he sends him to sea. On the way to the docks Pip manages to escape, and he stows away in the rear carriage of the Stage Fright Theatre Company, charmingly described as 'dancing masters of the macabre'. Our hero remains there for many days, hidden from everyone and only occasionally sneaking out to find a bone to gnaw, until the travelling troupe arrives at its destination, Hangman's Hollow. And then Pip's troubles begin in earnest. Full review...
Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love by Xinran
Xinran first came to my notice with her 2002 book "The Good Women of China" which retold tales of the women she had come across through her work in Chinese radio, where for many years she had hosted the local equivalent of a cross between Woman's Hour and a late night phone-in talk show. She has been busy bringing us other stories in the meantime, but in this latest work she returns to those early days in radio and the stories she learned. Many of these stories she decided were too painful to tell. They speak of children, specifically daughters, abandoned by their Chinese mothers one way or another. Full review...
The Accidental Proposal by Matt Dunn
Edward Middleton seems like a pretty decent guy. He always stops to buy a Big Issues from Billy, a local homeless man and he takes his elderly widowed neighbour shopping once a week. These are some of the reasons why his girlfriend, Sam, loves him so much. One night, after a friend's wedding, Sam asks Ed if he would also like to get married to which Ed enthusiastically replies 'yes'. However, the following morning, whilst nursing his hangover, he cannot work out if it was a hypothetical question or an actual proposal. His best mate Dan is no help at all and is quite incredulous that anyone should ever want to marry Ed. Full review...
The Suicide Run by William Styron
A WW2 naval soldier, guarding a prison island for those found guilty at courtmartials, is forced to wonder if he is winning his own battles against those arriving and leaving. A soldier remembers calming memories, and those causing tension, as he rests up before action. And for a highly-charged young man, there may be too much risk to be found in his high-octane downtime. Full review...
