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.
There are currently 16,100 reviews at TheBookbag.
Want to find out more about us?
Reviews of the Best New Books
Read new reviews by genre.
Read the latest features.
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
Amber is an inmate at Aurora Hills, a juvenile detention centre reserved for the most serious young criminals. She was convicted of murdering her stepfather but maintains her innocence. Amber speaks to us from the past and she details life at Aurora Hills and the relationships and hierarchies that exist between the inmates and the guards. One night, there is a storm. The prison's electrical system fails and the girls spend a glorious and dangerous night out of their cells. During this night, Amber has a paranormal experience, during which she "meets" Orianna. Full review...
Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Sputnik Mellows set himself a mission – to discover whether Earth exists. Now he's found it, he needs to prove it should exist and, to do this, he enlists the help of schoolboy Prez Mellows. Together they need to find ten things that will justify Earth's existence. If they fail to do this by the end of the summer holidays, Earth will be shrunk by Planetary Clearance as part of the pan-galactic decluttering programme. Full review...
Alfred Hitchcock by Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd has established a reputation for himself in recent years as the master of the pithy biography, particularly but not exclusively of those with a strong London connection. J.M.W. Turner, Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins and Charlie Chaplin are among those who have come under his scrutiny, and now he looks at the noted film director and producer, the 'Master of Suspense'. Full review...
The Calling by Philip Caveney
Well-informed young readers will always welcome a new book from the extremely gifted Philip Caveney. This time, he places his poor hero right in the middle of not one but two mysteries. Firstly, why has said hero (we'll call him Ed as he's forgotten his real name) woken up on a train to Edinburgh with barely any money, a bump on the head and no memory whatsoever? And secondly, why does the whole human world freeze for a day right in the middle of the Fringe? The answers, when they come, are as intensely thrilling as they are wildly imaginative. Full review...
The Silver Tide (Copper Cat) by Jen Williams
The Black Feather Three - Copper Cat Wydrin of Crosshaven, Lord Aaron Frith and Sir Sebastian - the sought after sell-swords are always looking for their next adventure and, more importantly, their next pay day. Sebastian is still feeling lost after having to leave his love behind but he'll come around. He has to; they've just been given a job by renowned pirate captain Devinia the Red. They've been commissioned to help her and the crew of the aptly named Poison Chalice to go into a land famed for its monsters and ghosts. A place deep in magic where people vanish. A place where none of the three really want to go but they have no choice: Devinia the Red is Wydrin's mum. Full review...
Make Me by Lee Child
Keever is dead. We know this from the outset, because in the opening lines of Make Me he is being buried under the hog pen. There are reasons for this, not least because the ground is already churned up by the hogs, and anywhere else in this vast mid-west expanse of wheat fields would be terribly visible from the air. Full review...
The Beauty by Jeremy Haun and Jason A Hurley
Don't we all just want that one little fillup to our looks – that tuck there, those pounds or wrinkles vanished, that little tweak to make us more sexually attractive and virile? Well, if you catch The Beauty, you will indubitably end up, in what colloquial language has it, fit. But The Beauty is not to be caught as in a passing fad or itinerant beautician, but as a sexual disease. And it's hit half the population – most of those willingly. You feel feverish with it, but it's taken off big time, and Big Pharma is happy with the situation. Some violent anti-Beauty activists aren't, so special police units exist regarding it, but they, the Powers That Be, and the underground scientists working against the disease are only going to be swamped when The Beauty shows its true face… Full review...
Jolly Foul Play by Robin Stevens
In the fourth adventure in the Murder Most Unladylike series, we return to the setting of the first book – Deepdean School for Girls. But things have changed. For the first time a Head Girl has been elected and Elizabeth Hurst didn't get the position based on popularity. Instead, she manipulated and blackmailed her peers and, supported by her five prefects, she's now terrorising the school. Responsible for so much misery, its little wonder everyone wishes Elizabeth dead. But someone has gone one step further – committing a murder and presenting it as an accident. None of the adults even suspect 'foul play' so it's up to Daisy, Hazel and their Detective Society to uncover the truth. Full review...
The Ocean of Time by David Wingrove
The War for Time continues. From the frozen tundra of 13th Century Russia to the battle of Paltava in 1709 and beyond, Otto Behr has waged an unquestioning, unending war across time for his people. But now a third unidentified power has joined the game across the ocean of time, and everything Otto holds dear could be unmade… Full review...
The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood
I do love it when I read a book that stays with me after I've finished reading. This was one of those books, rootling its way a little more into my heart each time I picked it up to read. It's the story, mostly of Miss Ona Vitkus, a one hundred and four year old lady who has a young boy scout come over to help her with jobs and how he ultimately ends up changing her life, and not at all in the way you might imagine since before we even begin the story the boy is dead. Full review...
Broken Vows: Tony Blair The Tragedy of Power by Tom Bower
In May 1997 we went to vote gleefully, sure that there was going to be a change from the tired, sleaze-ridden Conservative government we'd been suffering. The Blairs' entry into Downing Street the following day - through crowds of well-wishers - was like a breath of fresh air and (perhaps fortunately) it would be years before I discovered that the 'well wishers' had been bussed in for the event. Looking back now it seems that our hopes for what the 'New Labour' government could achieve were unreasonably high and there's a special place in hell reserved for those who disappoint us in this way. I've often wondered quite how history will see Blair: Afghanistan and Iraq as well as his failure to deal with Gordon Brown would always sour his premiership for me, but to what extent could his achievements such as the Good Friday Agreement, the minimum wage and higher welfare payments be balanced against his failures? Full review...
Little Bits of Sky by S E Durrant
I've put this story together from the diaries I kept when Zac and I were children. I wrote them in the hope that life would get better for the small unloved girl that was me, and my even smaller unloved brother. And if life didn't get better or at least more interesting I was going to make it up - to put witches and castles and rides in fast cars. But I didn't need to. Life got exciting all by itself... Full review...
Love Song by Sophia Bennett
The Point is the hottest rock band in the world, in every sense of the word. While Nina has always enjoyed their music, she isn't one of the millions of fan-girls utterly obsessed with the four 19 year-old boys. She prides herself on being more than just a girl girl. So when a chance encounter ends up with her being offered the job of assistant to the lead singer's diva fiancée, touring with the band, she takes it simply as an opportunity to travel the globe as part of the entourage, and inject a little bit of excitement into her life. Little does she realise the craziness that she is getting herself into, as she finds herself unwittingly drawn into the lives of the boys and all their messy drama. Full review...
I Am Radar by Reif Larsen
Racial tensions, identity, parental responsibility, a child's best interest, love, science, war – Reif Larsen's I Am Radar falls nothing short of having rich thematic content. Its cornucopia of thematic explorations is interwoven into a complex web of stories, taking the reader on a journey, both literal and figurative, from suburban New Jersey to an Arctic no man's land to Congo and the Bosnian warzone. Full review...
The Bursar's Wife by E G Rodford
Private investigator George Kocharyan struggles along on the seedy side of Cambridge, following the odd unfaithful spouse or checking up on benefit claimants for the Department of Work and Pensions. This just about pays for his invaluable part-time assistant Sandra who knows how to work the office computer, and her teenage son who George occasionally hires to do some of the leg work. Into this grubby world walks Sylvia Booker, wife of the bursar at Morley College, overprotective mother, glamorous middle-aged woman. Worried that her daughter has fallen in with a bad crowd she hires George to look into it. Then one of the unfaithful wives George had been following turns up dead, and life begins to get complicated. Full review...
The Woolworths Girls by Elaine Everest
It is Christmas, 1938, and three young ladies are excited about starting their new jobs at Woolworths in Erith. For each one of them, the job is a means of escape: Sarah wants to escape her snobbish and controlling mother; newlywed Maisie can't abide her bullying mother in law; and shy Freda is running away from her abusive stepfather and searching for her brother, who has escaped from prison. The Woolworths Girls soon become close friends, but with the threat of war looming large, and tragedy just around the corner, they are going to need to rely on each other more than ever before. Full review...
God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
A truly complex and emotionally raw portrayal, that seeks to cover issues of race, gender, and paedophilia. A slim volume, yes, but one that is powerful in its punch. Full review...
Goodnight Tiger by Timothy Knapman and Laura Hughes
It was the middle of the night, but Emily could not sleep for the noise. There was bellowing and stomping and growling and trumpeting. Brave girl that she was, she got out of bed and looked out of the window, thinking that the animals had escaped from the zoo, but the street was empty. Then she checked all the usual hiding places as well as her toy box - and suddenly realised that the noises were coming from the animals in her wallpaper. Emily's not just brave - she's resourceful too and she set about settling the jungle down for the night. And one solution turns out to work just perfectly. Full review...
This House of Grief by Helen Garner
This is an account of a harrowing event in Australia's recent history: the drowning of three young boys when the car being driven by their father, Robert Farquharson, veered off the road and fell into a dam. The father escaped unhurt. The tragedy was appropriated by the national media and led to a drawn-out prosecution of the father for murder. Full review...
Elephant's Pyjamas by Michelle Robinson and Emily Fox
I've read a lot of stories recently about animals who don't have many friends, at least at the beginning of their tale. For this age group it's pretty much a given that by the last page they'll have lots of lovely companions with whom to spend their days. Elephant is not one of those unlucky souls, though. He has TONS of friends and he's just been invited to a party with all of them. Lucky thing. Full review...
Tiger in a Tutu by Fabi Santiago
Everyone should have the chance to dance, non? Especially in such a wonderful city as Paris, bursting as it is with artists and appreciators of the arts. It is with a sad heart, then, that I must tell you about Max. Every day, he goes to ballet school, and every day he is turned away. Not only is he lacking the requisite attire, but he's a boy, and a tiger. And apparently that is not allowed. Full review...
Cook. Nourish. Glow. by Amelia Freer
It's just about a year since I read Amelia Freer's Eat. Nourish. Glow., a book which quietly impressed me and which I hung on to (not something I do regularly) and have referred back to many times for inspiration and a quick boost to the spirit. Most of the principles behind the book seemed sound, although I wasn't prepared to go down the wheat-free road as I've no reason to think that I'm sensitive to gluten - and I do wonder how most of the world would be fed if we all gave up eating wheat - but if I felt the book had a shortcoming, it was the lack of recipes. Well, that's now been remedied. Full review...
Star Wars The Force Awakens Illustrated Storybook by Elizabeth Schaefer and Brian Rood
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Well, ours, last year, really… A film came along that seriously impressed lots of mature audience members who had very valid reasons to doubt it, and that made goggle-eyed popcorn munchers of a lot of youngsters. It had rollicking spacecraft dog-fights, it had emotional revisits for well-loved characters, and had a sting in its tail that lasted at least a couple of days before being leaked to the wider world. I know there is a DVD and Blu-Ray of it coming within days of me writing this, but I can only assume the reason the junior books about the film are being released now and not in time with its cinematic release is down to the chatter of the young and their rampant ability to say what they shouldn't – which includes what happens about eighteen pages before the end of the story here. Full review...
Star Wars The Force Awakens Novel by Michael Kogge
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Actually, it was any place on this planet you care to mention. Adults took their children along to see a proper time machine – one that would take the parents back to a future-seeming science fantasy action film, and would transport children to an ideal place where derring-do did, where spacecraft never bothered with taking fourteen parsecs to do the Kessel Run when they could do it in twelve, and where high-octane action was to be had. The time machine was called The Force Awakens, the seventh film in the enduring series. But when they got home there were no books suitable for the young readers to use to engage with what they'd just seen. The Alan Dean Foster adaptation of the script was for adults – it was a lot longer and more wordy than they were used to. They had to wait months for a book telling the story their way. But now it’s arrived. Full review...
Ace of Spiders by Stefan Mohamed
Stanly is frustrated. Having set himself up as London's protector, he's finding that the everyday practicalities of superheroism are challenging at best, and downright tedious at worst. So it's almost a relief when an attempt is made on his life and Stanly finds himself rushing headlong into a twisted adventure, with enemies new and old coming out of the woodwork. However, even with his friends and his ever-increasing power behind him, he may have bitten off more than he can chew this time. The monsters are coming… and nothing will ever be the same! Full review...
Claude Going for Gold! by Alex T Smith
I've been a fan of Claude from the beginning. He charmed me from the start, with his plump tummy, little legs, red jumper and rather fetching beret. I can't help but love a dog who wears a beret! He also has a charming best friend, Sir Bobblysock, (who is indeed a woolly sock) who always makes me laugh. In this particular book they are off on another hunt for an adventure, and although it seems for a while that there is simply no fun to be had outside of the house they finally fall, literally, into a Very Exciting Sports Competition! Full review...
Keep Me Posted by Lisa Beazley
'Keep me Posted' is written in a light-hearted, informal style, narrated by a young mother called Cassie who lives in New York. She and her husband Leo have twin toddlers, and her life is busy, full of technology and fast food. Her older sister Sid is more laid back, and something of a technophobe; although they used to be close, they haven't really been in touch much since Sid and her family moved to Singapore. Full review...
Do You Remember? by Helen Docherty and Mark Beech
We have various picture books in our house that have a tendency to leave me a little blurry eyed, whilst my children remain entirely nonplussed! Aimed at sparking some parental emotion, the stories behind them are often a little lacking. This book, however, works for both children and grown ups, in a really lovely way. Beginning with a small child's cry of I can't do it! the mum in the story reminisces about all the many different (and funny) things that her child has learned to do over the years, encouraging her that she has always got there in the end. Full review...
What Will Danny Do Today? by Pippa Goodhart and Sam Usher
Every day we face a multitude of choices, from what to wear and what to eat to what to do when we get home in the evening. This book is all about making decisions, but in a very simple and fun way that encourages discussion with your toddler. The character we are deciding for is a little boy called Danny, and we follow him through the course of one day, thinking about what he will decide on each page. Full review...
The Boy and the Globe by Tony Bradman and Tom Morgan-Jones
This lively and enjoyable story is set in early seventeenth century London where young orphan Toby Cuffe is living on the streets where life is hard. In order to survive, the resourceful Toby joins the gang of boys who work for Moll Cut-Purse as thieves. Moll sends Toby to the Globe Theatre to do some pickpocketing where Toby becomes so engrossed in the play being performed that he forgets about his own safety. Caught by the theatre's owners Toby meets the writer of the play he has just seen performed, the famous playwright William Shakespeare. Then our young hero is given an opportunity that he had not expected. Toby is full of enthusiasm for the theatre and rekindles the Bard's enthusiasm too so that together they team up to save the threatened theatre. Full review...
The Brilliant and Forever by Kevin MacNeil
You know sometimes when someone tells a joke, everyone else laughs, and you're sat there wondering what was so funny? Full review...
Chasing the Stars by Malorie Blackman
Olivia - Vee - and her brother Aidan are trying to get back to Earth after a mystery virus killed everyone, including their parents, on their ship. It's been a lonely three years and a dangerous one, too, as they've tried to avoid the dangerous and xenophobic Mazons. But sometimes the Mazons can't be avoided and this is one of them: when dozens of human beings are being attacked and only Vee and Aidan close enough to launch a rescue mission. Full review...
The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild
It's set to be the sale of the century: Russian oligarchs, Arab sheikhs, rappers and heiresses are all lined up to bid for The Improbability of Love, a small Antoine Watteau oil painting depicting a courting couple overlooked by a clown. The painting was missing until six months ago, when Annie McDee bought it from a junk shop for £75 as a birthday present for an incompatible fellow she met through Internet dating. When he didn't show for dinner and the junk shop mysteriously burnt down so that she couldn't ask for a refund, the painting became hers. Thirty-year-old Annie had been in a rut: after a painful break-up from Desmond, with whom she ran a cheese shop and café in Devon, she moved to London and was working as a PA to randy Italian film director Carlo Spinetti. She also acquired an unwanted roommate: her alcoholic mother, Evie. Full review...
