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Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|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 , the charity shop 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 [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.

'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->{{Frontpage|isbn=1780724047|title=A Dictionary of Interesting and Important Dogs|author=Peter J Conradi|rating=4|genre=Pets|summary=I struggle to resist a book about dogs, but I did wonder why this one was so ''thin'': given that I've never encountered a dog who wasn't interesting or important - and probably both, I was expecting a massive tome. But ''A Dictionary of Interesting and Important Dogs'' is actually ''a rich compendium of the world's most significant and beloved dogs'' and it's certainly a rich treasure trove. We begin with Peter J Conradi's four collies: Cloudy, Sky. Bradley and Max. They're consecutive rather than simultaneous dogs, but what comes over is Conradi's love for each and every one of them. I knew that I was in safe hands.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1785769294|title=Man at the Window (Detective Cardilini)|author=Robert Jeffreys|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's when we read that a young boy is creeping reluctantly to a teacher's bedroom one October night that we realise something is badly wrong. Nowadays you ''might'' hope that something would be done about it fairly quickly but this was 1965 and child abuse was generally regarded as malicious mischief on the part of the child. The boy would be safe that night though - albeit in the most horrific fashion. When he reached Captain Edmund's bedroom he found the man dead on the floor, the top of his skull missing. The school's initial reaction was that this was a dreadful accident: there had been a cull of kangaroos in some nearby fields and it was obviously a stray bullet which had killed the Captain.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786695227|title=Invisible in a Bright Light|author=Sally Gardner|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=The beginning of this excellent story will leave the reader more than a little confused: who is the man in the green suit, what is the Reckoning, and why are rows of people in a cave? But stick with it – Ms Gardner is very cleverly letting us experience the same disorientation as our heroine. We watch in dismay as the strange man, who seems to have no eyes, does his best to persuade her to answer his questions. But for some reason Celeste, despite her bewilderment, remains wary and gives nothing away.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1912374854|title=Violet|author=S J I Holliday|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=I've never been but understand that travelling is all about meeting new people and forming instantaneous bonds with people in often chance situations. Well that's exactly what happens when the two main/only characters meet in a travel agency in Beijing - Carrie is unsuccessfully trying to get a refund on an extra ticket for the Trans-Siberian train and Violet is trying to unsuccessfully buy a ticket for the same sold-out journey. As the two team up, travelling through Mongolia, Serbia and into Russia, it could've been the start of a beautiful friendship but this a thriller after all so it quickly becomes a tale of obsession, manipulation and toxic friendships.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1912374838|title=Nothing Important Happened Today|author=Will Carver|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Nothing Important Happened Today is a dark, twisted, difficult read. Stories about cults often are, but this is different; it's written with a sense of style that is quite unlike anything I've read before. I can't remember ever having read a novel with such an odd, distinctive narrative voice. While a slim and relatively small book, the slow-moving nature of the plot makes it feel far larger than its 276 pages.}}{{Frontpage|isbn= williamabbey|title=The Pursuit of William Abbey|author=Claire North|rating=3.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=When William Abbey fails to prevent the lynching of a young boy in 1880's South Africa, he finds himself cursed by the grieving mother. A naïve English Doctor, he slowly learns the weight of the curse upon him, as the shadow of the dead boy begins to follow him across the world. Never stopping, always growing – it crosses oceans and mountains in pursuit of William. As he finds himself unable to resist speaking the truths that he hears in others, he also learns that the dark shadow is deadly – and seeks to kill the one he loves the most…}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1643785036|title=The Wondrous Apothecary|author=Mary E Martin|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Those who have known Alexander Wainwright, the landscape artist famous for his Turner prize winning ''The Hay Wagon'', and Rinaldo, renowned conceptual artist would say that they're chalk and cheese, if not sworn enemies. If you've watched the relationship, as has our narrator, art dealer Jamie Helmsworth, you'd have said that they were magnets, drawing and repulsing each other in equal measure. Wainwright was at the socially acceptable end of the artistic continuum, but with Rinaldo it was all too obvious that there was but a fine dividing line between conceptual art and public nuisance. As time has worn on, he's frequently been brought to the attention of the police. On this latest occasion we see him charged with arson and theft of ''The Hay Wagon''.}}{{Frontpage|author=Mary H.K. Choi|title=Permanent Record|rating=4|genre=Teens|summary=Pablo, a college drop-out, is working at a New York bodega. He's massively in debt, he's avoiding his mother, and he finds his joy in creating unusual snacks with random ingredients! Whilst working one evening, he's surprised to discover that the girl he is chatting with as he serves is a super-famous pop star and, as unlikely as it may seem, they start a relationship. With one character who is trying very hard not to be seen or noticed by anyone, and the other who is seen and followed and hounded by everyone all over the world, it's an interesting clash as they come together. This isn't just a love story though, and actually it's really just Pab's story, about the journey he takes in his life via his meet-up with Leanna Smart.|isbn=0349003459}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1609809319|title=Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub|author=Etgar Keret, Aviel Basil and Sondra Silverston (translator)|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=One day a boy is in the zoo with his father, when the man gets called away on urgent business. The boy isn't hustled into a cab and taken home first, though, no – he's given hot dog money, and taxi money, and told to just stick around on his own and enjoy himself. Well, it's no surprise that the orphan-for-an-afternoon sensation the lad feels doesn't make him happy, and so he thinks of a species name for himself, and curls himself up into an empty cage, as if he were a new exhibit. And it's then the drama begins… }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1785785516|title=Fucking Good Manners|author=Simon Griffin|rating=4|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Manners maketh man, they say. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by a set of conventions, some of which are ages old and other which have evolved over time. Manners are not about how much to tip or how you should behave if you get an invitation to Buckingham Palace, they have nothing to do with class or financial status: they're about getting the basics right before we try to deal with more difficult matters. Of course we all have more relaxed manners when we're with family and friends, but it's best if we learn to distinguish between our public and private lives and to act appropriately. ''Fucking Good Manners'' aims to help us on the way.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008324859|title=Fowl Twins|author=Eoin Colfer|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Relax, everyone – our old friend Artemis may be off planet, but the baddies aren't getting away with skulduggery any time soon because they now have not one but two members of the Fowl family to contend with. Those cute little twins are now eleven (and, frankly, cute no longer) and in this, their first independent adventure, they meet a troll and without even trying manage to make two deadly enemies: a nobleman obsessed with immortality whatever the cost (to other people), and an unusual interrogator-nun. The boys are chased, kidnapped, arrested and even killed (though not for long), all with the help of one trainee fairy.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1472255798|title=The Bad Fire (Bob Skinner)|author=Quintin Jardine|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Nine years ago local councillor Marcia Brown took her own life after being accused of shoplifting from a local supermarket. It's always been assumed that she couldn't live with the shame. People were surprised that she committed suicide just before the court case when she had been adamant that she would fight to clear her name. She said that she'd been set up because she was hot on the trail of corruption in the council. Her ex-husband has contacted Alex Skinner, Solicitor Advocate as well as retired Police Constable Bob Skinner's daughter, and asked that she look into clearing Brown's name: it's something which he feels that he has to do in memory of his son who was murdered recently.}}

{{Frontpage|isbn=B07X6GLQ3Q|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingtitle=See Them Run|author="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->Marion Todd<!-- Kidd -->|rating=4|-genre=Crime| stylesummary="widthD I Clare Mackay is still relatively new to St Andrew's: 10%; verticalshe was previously at Maryhill Rd station in Glasgow. She's left quite a lot behind including a relationship that wasn't going anywhere after Tom failed to support her when the chips were down. She also left a nasty situation, of her own making but not her fault, and St Andrew's is a fresh start. Not long into the job she's faced with a hit and run death and there's little doubt that it wasn't accidental -align: top; textthe card with the number five suggests murder. Andy Robb was married to Sandra. You could say that they had an open marriage but there seemed to be a lot of the 'open' and very little of the 'marriage' left -align: center;"on both sides, but would she want him dead?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786540991|title=The Impossible Boy|author=Ben Brooks[[image:1786893762|rating=4.jpg5|genre=Confident Readers|linksummary=http://www''Oleg and Emma entered their den to find a cardboard spaceship standing where they usually sat. Slowly, the front door opened.amazonSmoke billowed out.coAnd out stepped a boy, dressed in a long coat with an even longer scarf, wound around his neck.uk/dp/1786893762/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]''

| style=''"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;My name's Sebastian Cole,"|===[[Things in Jars by Jess Kidd]]===the boy said, "But you already know that."''

[[image:4And indeed they do.5starEver since the summer, when their friend Sarah's mother had moved her away, Oleg and Emma have been unable to find a new friend to take her place.jpg|link=Category:}}{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime (Historical)Frontpage|isbn=1447281357|Crime (Historical)]]title=Salvation Lost|author=Peter F HamiltonA child has gone missing|rating=4|genre=Science Fiction|summary=In the twenty-third century, humanity is enjoying a comparative utopia. The detective asked to take Yet life on the case Earth is still struggling with the shame and frustration left by a previous caseabout to change, where forever. Feriton Kane's investigative team has discovered the child was not found in worst threat ever to face mankind – and we've almost no timeto fight back. Hardly original themes for a private eye thriller. And yet . . . take another look. This detective is a woman, and the setting is Victorian London, with all The supposedly benign Olyix plan to harvest humanity, in order to carry us to their god at the rich and colourful paradoxes end of that era: technical and scientific progress jostling for space beside superstition and a fascination with the bizarre and the downright hideousuniverse. And before you're more than a couple of pages inas their agents conclude schemes down on earth, you realise just how much more unusual our heroine is than you expectedvast warships converge above to gather this cargo. Bridie Devine may dress Some factions push for humanity to flee, to live in half-mourning, with a widow's cap and stout, shiny boots, but hiding amongst the stars – although only a chosen few would make it out in time. But others refuse to break before the tobacco she smokes in her pipe (my dearstorm. As disaster looms, what an utterly ''fast'' thing for a lady animosities must be set aside to do!) is mixed with a nugget focus on just one goal: wiping this enemy from the face of something, well, let's say recreational, created by her chemist friend Prudhoecreation. The fact that Even if it's actually meant to cure bronchial problems is by the bymeans preparing for a future this generation will never see. Her housemaid, being seven foot tall, is also somewhat remarkable. And then, }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1471186393|title=Photographer of course, there's the ghostLost|author=Caroline Scott|rating=4. Ruby Doyle, world famous tattooed boxer (deceased) accompanies Bridie all through her investigation, and it's clear he has 5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=May 1921. Edie receives a soft spot for photograph through the determined young womanpost. If he really exists, that There isno letter or note with it. [[Things in Jars by Jess Kidd|Full Review]] <!-- Beckett -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center; There is nothing written on the back of the photograph. It is a picture of her husband, Francis. Francis has been missing for four years. Technically, he has been "|[[image:1786491559.jpg|link=http://www.amazonmissing, believed killed" but that is not something that a young widow can believe.co She hangs on the word 'missing', disbelieving the word killed.uk/dp/1786491559/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"1783784350|title===[[Beneath the World, This Golden Fleece: A Sea by Chris Beckett]]Journey Through Britain's Knitted History|author=Esther Rutter|rating=5|genre=History [[image:3|summary=It was December and Esther Rutter was stuck in her office job, writing to people she'd never met and preparing spreadsheets.5star The job frustrated her and even her knitting did not soothe her mind.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] South America, 1990. Ben Ronson, a British police officer, arrives in a mysterious forest January was going to investigate be a spate of killings of Duendes. These silent, vaguely humanoid creatures - with long limbs time for making changes and black button eyes - have a strange psychic effect on people, unleashing she decided that she would travel the subconscious length and exposing their innermost thoughts and fears. Ben becomes fascinated by breadth of the DuendesBritish Isles with occasional forays abroad, but discovering and telling the closer he gets, story of wool's history and how it had made and changed the more he begins to unravel, with terrifying resultslandscape... [[Beneath the World, A Sea by Chris Beckett|Full Review]] <! She'd grown up on a sheep farm in Suffolk -'' a free range child on the farm'' - M J Lee -->|-| styleand learned to spin, knit and weave from her mother and her mother's friend. This was in her blood.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1401286208|title="widthBlack Canary: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Ignite|author=Meg Cabot and Cara McGee[[image:B07P6P4S7H.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon3.co.uk/dp/B07P6P4S7H/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Confident Readers|summary===[[Where the Dead Fall (DI RidpathMeet Dinah Lance. Frustrated that her policeman father will not allow her to try and follow in his footsteps, Book 2) by M J Lee]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It really shouldn't have happened. DI Ridpath, conscious that his relationship and seemingly lumbered with his wife and child is hanging by being a threadcheerleader at school, she is off desperate to collect them at his mother-in-lawfind her voice. But it's house for an evening out. Traffic was heavy on the M60 (actually more a match at Old Trafford wasn't helping) but case of her voice finding her, as when she gets frustrated or plain dissed at school her vocal outcry can shatter glass better than any opera singer. You could almost call it was moving steadily. Then a man wearing only weapon, or a pair of blue boxers dashed out into the trafficpower. But in order for her to call herself a superhero, briefly put his hands on Ridpath's car then ran into the there has to be a whole path of an articulated lorry. The driver had no chance steps for her to take – one of stopping which will be into her past…}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1789017977|title=Ronnie and the naked man was killed instantlyHilda's Romance: Towards a New Life after World War II|author=Wendy Williams|rating=4|genre=History|summary=Ronnie Williams was the son of Thomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Wall. Glancing to the hard shoulder Ridpath glimpsed a man with a gun. This was now a crime scene and the resulting seventeen-mile tail back of traffic would be the least of RidpathThere's worries, although no one would let him forget about it some doubt as to whether or not they were ever married or even Harry's birthdate: he claimed to have been born in a hurry. [[Where the Dead Fall (DI Ridpath1863, Book 2) by M J Lee|Full Review]] <!but he was already many years older than Ethel and he might well have shaved a few years off his age. For a while the family was quite well-to- Anstruther do but disaster struck in the 1929 Depression and five-year->|old Ronnie had to adjust to a very different lifestyle. One thing he did inherit from his father was his need to be well-| style="width: 10%; verticalturned-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1784631647out and this would stay with him throughout his life.jpg|link=http://www.amazon He joined the army at eighteen in 1942.co.uk/dp/1784631647/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"1542015421|title=The Royal Baths Murder|author=J R Ellis|rating=3.5|genre=[[A Perfect Explanation by Eleanor Anstruther]]===Crime [[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=CategoryWhen Damian Penrose was murdered there was no shortage of suspects:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Enid Campbell he was a woman who, on deeply unpleasant man. In fact the face only surprising thing was that there wasn't more of it, had everythinga queue waiting to do the dirty deed. Leading the life What was a bit of an aristocrat – full a headline maker was that Penrose was a crime writer and that he was strangled in the midst of inherited wealth and splendour, glamourous locales and high expectations. Only EnidHarrogate's life has been plagued by mental illness – undiagnosed, untreated and threatening both Enid and those close to hercrime writing festival. After losing custody of her children, Enid sells her son to her sister He went for £500 – but is this an act of greed, or an act of desperation? Exploring a swim at the true story of her own grandmotherRoyal Baths and never returned, Eleanor Anstruther has his body being found by the perfect subject for an explosivereceptionist. DCI Jim Oldroyd was the man tasked with investigating the crime. It would not be the only death, moving and beautifully well written debut. [[A Perfect Explanation by Eleanor Anstruther|Full Review]]it was only because of the quick actions of his sergeant, Andy Carter, that Oldroyd's was not one of them.}}<!-- Delargy -->{{Frontpage|-author=Daniel Kraus| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Blood Sugar|rating=4[[image:1471177521.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471177521/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] General Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[55 by James Delargy]]=== [[image:4This is a difficult read.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Two men enter a police station, both tell And not because of the dark subject matter – that'll come later – but because of the same story; they were kidnapped way in which it's told. This might put a lot of readers off, and narrowly escaped the clutches of a man who intended to kill be honest it'd be hard to blame them. As they escaped they ran through Kraus tells the story in a graveyard distinctive voice unlike any other I've read; an erratic dialect with heavy and they were not the first victimfrequent slang. The stories match, the evidence immediate effect is compelling disorientating and each man blames the other. Now the question isdistracting, who is guilty? [[55 by James Delargy|Full Review]] <!-- Cercas -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0857058320and it takes some time to feel natural. It's a struggle to acclimatise to Jody's voice, to get acquainted with his mannerisms, but the story wouldn't be the same without it, and somehow it works.jpg|link=http://wwwIt shouldn't, but it does.amazon.co.uk/dp/0857058320/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|1789091934===[[Lord Of All the Dead by Javier Cercas and Anne McLean (translator)]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]], [[:Category:Biography|Biography]] ''Lord Of All the Dead'' is a journey to uncover the author's lost ancestor's life and death. Cercas is searching for the meaning behind his great uncle's death in the Spanish Civil War. Manuel Mena, Cercas' great uncle, is the figure who looms large over the book. He died relatively young whilst fighting for Francisco Franco's forces. Cercas ruminates on why his uncle fought for this dictator. The question at the centre of this book is whether it is possible for his great uncle to be a hero whilst having fought for the wrong side. [[Lord Of All the Dead by Javier Cercas and Anne McLean (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- Pearson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1401286399.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1401286399/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Super Sons: The PolarShield Project by Ridley Pearson and Ile Gonzalez]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Graphic Novels|Graphic Novels]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] It's the near future, and every coastal city – including Metropolis – is in need of a huge flood barrier, built on its coast by Wayne Enterprises. But the rising sea levels have put even those constructions under threat, forcing many people to relocate in America's biggest exodus for decades. Superman is helping out, of course – first he was patching up the dams, but now he's mining the asteroid belt for a rare dust that's perfect for blocking the solar energy from making further polar ice melt. Inland, in Wyndermere, the refugees from the coast are suffering bigotry and intolerance for being newcomers, but something else is much worse. A major bout of food poisoning is hitting the city. But it can't possibly have anything to do with what looks like sabotage of the flood barriers and the efforts to correct the climate, can it? Four young children begin to piece together clues that it can… [[Super Sons: The PolarShield Project by Ridley Pearson and Ile Gonzalez|Full Review]] <!-- de Bois -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785903357.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785903357/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Confessions of a Recovering MP by Nick de Bois]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] I should warn you in advance: this may not be the best time for me to review the memoir of a Tory MP. Not only am I a left-of-centre - to put it mildly - voter and so probably have next to no points of political agreement with Nick de Bois, but I, along with everyone else, am currently subject to the debacle of parliament, government and Brexit, a dog and pony show currently revealing in hideous technicolour the absolute dearth of competent leadership among our political classes. And yes, opposition parties: I'm looking at you as well. You're just as useless. Sigh. Desperate cry into the void over. Sorry about that. At least Nick de Bois made me laugh! [[ Confessions of a Recovering MP by Nick de Bois |Full Review]]  <!-- Paige -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:140128339X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/140128339X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige and Stephen Byrne]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Graphic Novels|Graphic Novels]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Meet Mera. She's the latest in a line of young women intent on fighting against their intended destiny for one only they can see for themselves. Her father, the king of Xebel, sees some cotton wool and a hunky man in an arranged marriage as her future – after all, Mera's mother, the territory's warrior queen, is long dead. Mera doesn't fancy the cosseting or the fella involved at all, and is in fact trying to get Xebel out from under the cosh of Atlantean power, for Xebel's royalty are merely puppets of Atlantean masters. So when she overhears her father request that her intended goes to the world of us air-breathing humans, and kill the Atlantis heir, she rushes off to get the quest (and the promised throne) all for herself. But of course, she has no idea what kind of person she will meet, and how hard it will be to get the job done… [[Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige and Stephen Byrne|Full Review]] <!-- Crosskey -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789550149.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789550149/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Poster Boy by N J Crosskey]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] I first read 1984 in school, in the late seventies when 1984 still seemed like a long time in the future. It came and went quickly enough. Some of us may have breathed a sigh of relief that Orwell's nightmare had not (quite) come to pass. Others, I think, were out there already working on making sure that all he got wrong was the date. Crosskey hasn't put a date on the nightmare. If she had, I suspect it would not be as far in the future are 1984 was when I first read Orwell. If she had, I suspect it might hardly be in the future at all. A lot of what happens in ''Poster Boy'' is already happening. Sadly. Frighteningly. In the blurb, Christina Racher says "…but keep it far from anyone who might be tempted to turn its fiction into reality". My only response to that is: too late! [[Poster Boy by N J Crosskey|Full Review]] <!-- Lucie Whitehouse -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008268991.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008268991/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Critical Incidents by Lucie Whitehouse]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] When you reach a certain stage in life the phrase 'going home' when it refers to your childhood home is best if it means a short and hopefully harmonious visit. The woman who used to be DCI Robin Lyons, but was now just Robin Lyons, went home with her thirteen-year-old daughter after she was dismissed from the Met. She was going home to the room which she'd had as a child: she would have the bottom bunk and Elena - Lennie to those who knew her well - would have the top bunk. The room was redolent of the time she'd shared the room with her brother Luke - and they weren't good memories. [[Critical Incidents by Lucie Whitehouse|Full Review]] <!-- Martine -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1529001579.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529001579/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] The problem with Martine's fiction debut is that she makes the two commonest errors in SF writing: she tries to be too clever and she wants her fictional languages to be complex and rich and errs on the side of making them unpronounceable by most readers. I can see why she does both, but it's a disappointment because they're the blocks against which the brilliance of the book stumbles. [[A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine|Full Review]] <!-- Lee -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0874869722.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0874869722/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[When Spring Comes to the DMZ by Uk-Bae Lee]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] There is a place on this earth that, at the time of writing, is resplendent with life. In the spring seals gambol in the river – not venturing too far, for fear of being slashed open on the razor wire the humans have put in place. In the autumn, salmon come upstream, looking doleful as well they might, for they will spawn and die, if they reach their birthing grounds. Mountain goats gambol prettily among the hills – if the landmines men left behind do not prevent them from doing so. This is a snapshot of life in the DMZ, the demilitarized zone between the two countries with Korea in their name, and it's the world's least welcome wildlife sanctuary. [[When Spring Comes to the DMZ by Uk-Bae Lee|Full Review]] <!-- O'Reilly -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:147367235X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/147367235X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[M for Mammy by Eleanor O'Reilly]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] The Augustts are, like all families, a bit complicated. A loving irish family, their love binds them together – but all express that in very different ways. However, when misfortune strikes the family they are forced to work together in order to understand each other again, as with a family as complicated as the Augustts it's not always what is spoken that makes the most sense. Things are shaken up further when Granny Mae-Anne moves in and takes charge. Full of stern words and common sense, she's a force of nature who must try her hardest to hold the family together. [[M for Mammy by Eleanor O'Reilly|Full Review]] <!-- James Wallman -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0753552655.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0753552655/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days by James Wallman]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] Most things you can replace, but one of the things which you simply can't replace is time. Even though we know this, we fail to use what we have wisely. We have more leisure time, but that's not how it feels: a high value is put on how we spend our working hours, but there's a low value on leisure. Unfortunately we now know how to work and not how to ''live'': we need to ''learn'' how to spend our leisure time wisely and James Wallman has taken on the onerous task of teaching us how to do this. [[Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days by James Wallman|Full Review]] <!-- Jonnes -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1609809173.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1609809173/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Eiffel's Tower for Young People by Jill Jonnes]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Non-Fiction|Children's Non-Fiction]] Brash and elegant, sophisticated, controversial and vibrant, the 1889 World's Fair in Paris encompassed the best, the worst and the beautiful from many countries and cultures. The French Republic laid out model villages from all their colonies, put on art shows, dance performances, food festivals and concerts to stun the senses. And towering above it all, the most popular and the most hated monument to French accomplishment and daring – the Eiffel Tower. [[Eiffel's Tower for Young People by Jill Jonnes|Full Review]] <!-- Johnson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471178471.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471178471/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew by Milly Johnson]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] I liked this book. Whilst not necessarily a page-turner, this was a thoroughly enjoyable heart-warming read from the Queen of chick lit, Milly Johnson. [[The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew by Milly Johnson|Full Review]] <!-- Kate Tough -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:034914365X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/034914365X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Keep Walking Rhona Beech by Kate Tough]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] Life has just hidden behind a corner and stuck a foot out as Rhona Beech came past. She and Mark had been together for nine years and it was beginning to feel ''settled''. Then Mark announced that he'd got a job in Canada and he was going whether Rhona wanted to come with him or not. The ''not'' bit of the sentence was the way it worked out and Rhona was left on her own. Well, she wasn't completely on her own: she had friends and family, but it's not the same as having that special someone in your life, that someone who makes you part of a couple. So Rhona had to start again, rejoining a world that bore little resemblance to the one she'd left nine years ago - and there's a lot of difference between being in the middle of your twenties and the middle of your thirties. [[Keep Walking Rhona Beech by Kate Tough|Full Review]] <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|}}