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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<!-- Mick Herron -->|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:147365744X|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/147365744X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]''

| style=''"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;My name's Sebastian Cole,"|===[[Joe Country (Jackson Lamb 6) by Mick Herron]]===the boy said, "But you already know that."''

[[image:5starAnd indeed they do.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] IEver since the summer, when their friend Sarah'd like to say that all the old crew are in Slough House but the rate of natural (or unnatural) wastage is such as to have Health and Safety worried. Roderick Ho's there though, narcissistic as evers mother had moved her away, Oleg and so's Louisa GuyEmma have been unable to find a new friend to take her place. She's getting over the death of Min Harper to the extent that she's not ''too'' concerned when she gets }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1447281357|title=Salvation Lost|author=Peter F Hamilton|rating=4|genre=Science Fiction|summary=In the twenty-third century, humanity is enjoying a phone call from Clare Harpercomparative utopia. Yet life on Earth is about to change, Minforever. Feriton Kane's wife. River Cartwright investigative team has got death on his mind too, but in his case it's discovered the impending demise of his beloved grandfather worst threat ever to face mankind – and former spook, the OBwe've almost no time to fight back. Diana Taverner has taken over from Claude Whelan as First Desk The supposedly benign Olyix plan to harvest humanity, in order to carry us to their god at Regent Park and she's going to make changes: one the end of the first is a shockuniverse. An argument with Emma Flyte sees the head dog departing the service. Meanwhile at Slough House, Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Jackson Lamb is offensive And as ever and Shirley Dander and J K Coe do their best agents conclude schemes down on earth, vast warships converge above to gather this cargo. Some factions push for humanity to remain unnoticedflee, to live in hiding amongst the latter by saying nothingstars – although only a chosen few would make it out in time. But others refuse to break before the storm. [[Joe Country (Jackson Lamb 6) by Mick Herron|Full Review]] <!-- Laurain -->|-As disaster looms, animosities must be set aside to focus on just one goal: wiping this enemy from the face of creation. Even if it means preparing for a future this generation will never see.}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"1471186393|title=Photographer of the Lost|author=Caroline Scott[[image:1910477672.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910477672/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Historical Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain, Jane Aitken (translator) and Emily Boyce (translator)]]=== [[image:4May 1921. Edie receives a photograph through the post.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Vintage 1954 starts by thrusting several completely different characters upon us, before deciding to run There is no letter or note with them and formulate a plotit. So we have an American biker, just landing in Paris but unfortunately not with There is nothing written on the wife who shared his dream back of visiting the city togetherphotograph. We have a goth girl who everyone recognises from an American crime show, but actually It is a humble restorer picture of antiquesher husband, Francis. We have a cocktail barman Francis has been missing for four years. Technically, he has been "missing, infatuated with the goth girlbelieved killed" but that is not something that a young widow can believe. We also have a man ruling She hangs on the roost over a whole suite of individual apartments fabricated from the Haussmann-era mansion his family once owned. Finally something conspires to get them togetherword 'missing', and drinking from disbelieving the same bottle of a rare 1954 red wineword killed. Only, one of them has a bizarre incidence }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1783784350|title=This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted History|author=Esther Rutter|rating=5|genre=History|summary=It was December and Esther Rutter was stuck in his family history that also features the same plonk – where a grandfather imbibedher office job, writing to people she'd never met and walked out the door one rainy morning, never to be seen againpreparing spreadsheets. But of course nobody will be doing any disappearing now, though – will they? [[Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain, Jane Aitken (translator) The job frustrated her and even her knitting did not soothe her mind. January was going to be a time for making changes and Emily Boyce (translator)|Full Review]] <!she decided that she would travel the length and breadth of the British Isles with occasional forays abroad, discovering and telling the story of wool's history and how it had made and changed the landscape. She'd grown up on a sheep farm in Suffolk -'' a free range child on the farm'' - Ford -->and learned to spin, knit and weave from her mother and her mother's friend. This was in her blood.|-}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1401286208| styletitle="widthBlack Canary: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Ignite|author=Meg Cabot and Cara McGee[[image:0356510441.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356510441/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford]]=== [[image:4starMeet Dinah Lance.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] As the title suggestsFrustrated that her policeman father will not allow her to try and follow in his footsteps, this book is all about and seemingly lumbered with being a girlcheerleader at school, Teagan Frost, who has psychokinesis. Forced she is desperate to secretly work for the government along with a few unique (and shady) individuals, Teagan has to use find her power for unimaginable tasksvoice. All of this whilst under the pretence But it's actually more a case of working for a moving-company. After her latest job goes wrong and voice finding her and the team escape by the skin of their teeth, Teagan finds herself as a murder suspect when the victim is found in such a way that only she gets frustrated or plain dissed at school her vocal outcry can shatter glass better than any opera singer. You could have committed the crimealmost call it a weapon, or a power. The rest of the story unfolds But in a fast-paced race against time order for her to clear Teagan's name and find out exactly what has happened. Is it possible that someone with call herself a gift like Teagan's superhero, there has managed to fly under the radar? [[The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford|Full Review]]be a whole path of steps for her to take – one of which will be into her past…}}<!-- Caro Ramsay -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1789017977| styletitle="widthRonnie and Hilda's Romance: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Towards a New Life after World War II|author=Wendy Williams[[image:0727887602.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0727887602/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 4| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"History|summary===[[The Suffering Ronnie Williams was the son of Strangers by Caro Ramsay]]=== [[image:4starThomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Wall.jpg|link=Category There's some doubt as to whether or not they were ever married or even Harry's birthdate:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Roberta (please call her 'Bobby') Chisholm is sleep deprivedhe claimed to have been born in 1863, but he was already many years older than Ethel and he might well have shaved a few years off his age. SixFor a while the family was quite well-weekto-do but disaster struck in the 1929 Depression and five-year-old Sholto doesn't ''ever'' seem Ronnie had to adjust to sleep, so Bobby's like a robotvery different lifestyle. There's a little light on One thing he did inherit from his father was his need to be well-turned-out and this would stay with him throughout his life. He joined the horizon, though: her husband James is up for a new job, which could mean quite a bit more moneyarmy at eighteen in 1942. When he rings to tell her that he's got it he's obviously over the moon and tells Bobby to go to the local shop and get a bottle of champagne so that they can celebrate}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1542015421|title=The Royal Baths Murder|author=J R Ellis|rating=3. For once Sholto has dropped off to sleep and when Bobby gets to the shop she's reluctant to disturb him5|genre=Crime|summary=When Damian Penrose was murdered there was no shortage of suspects: surely there won't be he was a problem if she dashes into deeply unpleasant man. In fact the shop only surprising thing was that there wasn't more of a queue waiting to get do the bubbly? dirty deed. She can keep an eye on the car through the shop window, but when she comes out, What was a bit of a headline maker was that Penrose was a crime writer and that he was strangled in the car has gone... [[The Suffering midst of Strangers by Caro Ramsay|Full Review]] <!-- Christopher Edge -->|-| style=Harrogate''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1788004949.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.cos crime writing festival.uk/dp/1788004949/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[The Longest Night of Charlie Noon He went for a swim at the Royal Baths and never returned, his body being found by Christopher Edge]]===the receptionist. [[image:5starDCI Jim Oldroyd was the man tasked with investigating the crime.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category: Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] ''If you go into It would not be the woodsonly death, Old Crony will get you.'' Secrets, spies or maybe even a monster... What lies in and it was only because of the heart quick actions of the wood? Charliehis sergeant, Andy Carter, Dizzy and Johnny are determined to discover the truth, but when night falls without warning they find themselves trapped in a nightmarethat Oldroyd's was not one of them. Lost in the woods, strange dangers and impossible puzzles lurk in the shadows. As time plays tricks, can Charlie solve this mystery and find a way out of the woods? But what if this night never ends...? [[The Longest Night of Charlie Noon by Christopher Edge}}{{Frontpage|Full Review]]author=Daniel Kraus <!-- Rachel Lynch -->|title=Blood Sugar|-rating=4| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|General Fiction[[image:B07P1T8H6J.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwThis is a difficult read.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07P1T8H6J/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Bold Lies (DI Kelly Porter 5) by Rachel Lynch]]=== [[image:4starAnd not because of the dark subject matter – that'll come later – but because of the way in which it's told.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It was This might put a lot of readers off, and to be honest it'd be hard to blame them. Kraus tells the smell which announced the presence of the body story in the wheelhouse of a boat and identification wasndistinctive voice unlike any other I't going ve read; an erratic dialect with heavy and frequent slang. The immediate effect is disorientating and distracting, and it takes some time to be easy as the man was stark nakedfeel natural. There were all the signs of It's a brutalstruggle to acclimatise to Jody's voice, cold-blooded execution but gradually the man was traced back to Allendale Houseget acquainted with his mannerisms, but the estate of story wouldn't be the former Lord Allendalesame without it, and then to Londonsomehow it works. It shouldn't, where two more bodies, naked, in a staged setting in a garage, were discovered. Senior Investigating Officer DI Kelly Porter had to go to London and was shocked to discover that the SIO for ''that'' case was DCI Matt Carter, her manipulative and untrustworthy ex-lover. It was going to be anything but easy to work alongside Matt the Tw... Ah, well let's not go there. [[Bold Lies (DI Kelly Porter 5) by Rachel Lynch|Full Review]] <!-- Jonathan Meres -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1781128693.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1781128693/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Special Delivery by Jonathan Meres]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] How do you explain to children about dementia? Injuries or illnesses are obvious, but when the problem is the brain which isn't functioning quite as it used to it isn't as easy to grasp. Frank was a normal nine year old and like many nine year olds what he wanted was a new bike. He'd had his for about seventy-eight years and he didn't want to raise the seat any more. Mum pointed out that it wasn't his birthday or Christmas any time soon and bikes cost a lot of money, which didn't grow on trees. His sister Lottie had a solution: Frank could help her with her paper round. Frank agreed despite thinking that it would take him a thousand years to save up the money for a bike AND he had to get up at six o'clock in the morning. [[Special Delivery by Jonathan Meres|Full Review]] <!-- Vivian French -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1781128707.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1781128707/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Spectacular Revenge of Suzi Sims by Vivian French]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Suzi Simms loved running and it was her ambition to win the 100 metres race on sports day at the end of term - and that was next week. We're going to read about what happened in her diary, although there's a warning that we really shouldn't be reading it, particularly as it's about Barbie Meek. To say that the two girls don't get on at all well is a bit of an understatement. Suzi wouldn't actually do anything about it, but Barbie is a troublemaker and she wants to win the 100 metres race too - by fair means or foul. [[The Spectacular Revenge of Suzi Sims by Vivian French|Full Review]] <!-- Pye -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471170233.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471170233/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Adventures of Harry Stevenson by Ali Pye]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Meet Harry Stevenson. He's a typical guinea pig, except he's perhaps a bit more ginger than normal. And more lazy than usual. And his appetite is possibly bigger than the norm. Apart from that he's a regular guinea pig. But the stories in which he features are nothing like. In the first one here, the lad who owns and looks after him is being forced to move house. It should be a simple journey for Harry, safe in his cage from all the predators that watching nature documentaries have put into his imagination, but he gets distracted and – shock horror – left behind. It takes some bravura slapstick and a charming contrivance for him to be found again. In the second, for we get two full-length stories in this volume, there's a party being held to get the lad used to his new schoolmates, and Harry used to life in a garden hutch. And one more wonderful conceit that drives high drama. [[The Adventures of Harry Stevenson by Ali Pye|Full Review]] <!-- Angie Kim -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1529374944.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529374944/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Miracle Creek by Angie Kim]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] The Yoo family originated in Seoul. Yoo Young and her daughter Meh-hee came on ahead of the father of the family, Yoo Pak, as a couple in Baltimore offered to provide accommodation for Young and Meh-hee in exchange for assistance in their grocery store. What Young had not appreciated was that she was to work from 6 a.m. until midnight, seven days a week. For years she hardly saw her daughter except when the Kangs brought Meh-hee to see her at the store. Meh-hee became Mary and struggled at school: her fellow pupils were no exceptions to the rule that children can be cruel and Mary was an easy target. [[Miracle Creek by Angie Kim|Full Review]] <!-- Megan E O'Keefe -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0356512223.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356512223/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Velocity Weapon by Megan E O'Keefe]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction]] The last thing Sanda remembers is her gunship exploding. She expected to be recovered by salvage-medics and to awaken in friendly hands, patched-up and ready to rejoin the fight. Instead she wakes up 230 years later, on a deserted enemy starship called The Light of Berossus - or, as he prefers to call himself, 'Bero'. Bero tells Sanda the war is lost. That the entire star system is dead. But is that the full story? After all, in the vastness of space, anything is possible . . . [[Velocity Weapon by Megan E O'Keefe|Full Review]] <!-- Parker -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789018269.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789018269/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Chessmaster's Secret by Mary Parker]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]  Belle and Joe travel to London in 1944, towards the end of World War II. Orphaned evacuees, they haven't had a good time of it - especially Joe, who is a sensitive child and was badly bullied. Meeting them is Uncle Griff, a kindly man, but one without much money. He is more than happy to have the children stay during the school holidays. Uncle Griff owns the ''Shop of Mechanical Marvels'' and the children love all the old things it contains. Uncle Griff hopes to restore it to profitability and bring some wonder back into London's bombed out streets. [[The Chessmaster's Secret by Mary Parker|Full Review]] <!-- Rob Walker -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1529104432X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529104432X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You by Rob Walker]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] The curse put on reviewers is that we get to read through a book which is really better dipped into, or read gradually and thoughts allowed to be provoked. And so it was with ''The Art of Noticing''. It's a simple premise: the pace of modern life and rapidity of technological advances means that we are constantly overwhelmed and distracted. Rob Walker wants us to be able to steal our attention back. He gives us his thoughts on various areas of our lives and then provides 131 exercises to help us recover our attention. [[The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You by Rob Walker|Full Review]] <!-- Lesley Thomson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786697246.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786697246/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Playground Murders by Lesley Thomson]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Rachel Cater was having an affair with her boss, Chris Philips, an auctioneer. It was, she told her mother, love at first sight. Her mother was more sceptical and wondered why, if it had been love at first sight, it had taken him so long to do anything about it. Still, more than anything, she wanted her daughter to be happy. That was what Rachel wanted too and it was why she went to the Philips' family home, determined to have it all out in the open. Instead she was stabbed fifteen times. Her lover was convicted of her murder. [[The Playground Murders by Lesley Thomson|Full Review]] <!-- Dare -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:191303674X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/I191303674X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Billion Pound Lie by Bill Dare]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Can you imagine what it would be like to win a billion pounds? The UK's biggest ever lottery winners were a couple from Ayrshire, who won a £161 million EuroMillions jackpot a few years ago. That's so much money that it landed them on the Sunday Times Rich List of the UK's thousand most wealthy people. So a billion pounds. That's a lot, right? Can you imagine it? What would you do? Would you try to remain anonymous? And, if you did, how would this affect your relationships with your nearest and dearest? What it would be like? How could you keep your friends and family from knowing that you were now one of the richest people in the country? [[The Billion Pound Lie by Bill Dare|Full Review]] <!-- Vaughn -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0751568228.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0751568228/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Across the Void by S K Vaughn]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] Sea epics? So 20th century. Try a space epic. [[Across the Void by S K Vaughn|Full Review]] <!-- McLean -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786076071.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786076071/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Felicity McLean]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] When Tikka Molloy was eleven and one-sixth years old, the Van Apfel sisters disappeared. In the long hot summer of 1992, in an isolated suburb of Australia surrounded by Bushland, the girls vanished during the school's Showstopper concert at the riverside amphitheatre. Did they run away? Were they taken? While the search for the sisters united the small community, they were never found. Returning home years later, Tikka must make sense of that strange moment in time – of the summer that shaped her, and the girls she never forgot. [[The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Felicity McLean|Full Review]] <!-- Stowell -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788000269.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788000269/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Dragon in the Library by Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu (Illustrator)]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Emerging Readers|Emerging Readers]] It is the start of the summer holidays and Kit has plans. These plans involve climbing trees, getting muddy and being outside. Her friends, Josh and Alita, on the other hand want to go to the library. Kit hates reading and can't see the point of books at all but is very reluctantly persuaded to go with the others to the local library. Once there the children meet the librarian and Kit makes an incredible discovery; the librarian is a wizard! Even more incredibly, Kit is a wizard too and she and her friends have an important task. They must save the library…and save the world! [[The Dragon in the Library by Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu (Illustrator)|Full Review]] <!-- Stuart MacBride -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008208263.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008208263/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[All That's Dead (Logan McRae 12) by Stuart MacBride]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It seemed like a good idea. Logan 'Lazarus' McRae was back at work after a year off sick. He'd been stabbed in the line of duty and recovery had been slow: he still had some pain. His first case was to be a simple one - just to ease him back into work - but it turned out to be anything but. Professor Wilson, a high-profile anti-independence campaigner has gone missing, apparently abducted from his home, but nothing was left behind except some bloodstains. In much the same way that Brexit is dividing people south of the border, there's going to be a war between the pro- and anti-independence factions in Scotland - and the police are not above being involved. [[All That's Dead (Logan McRae 12) by Stuart MacBride|Full Review]] <!-- Louise Voss -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07MWXBTV8.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07MWXBTV8/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Last Stage by Louise Voss]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] If you were looking back to when it began you'd have to say that it was before 1995. Meredith Vincent (that wasn't her name then) had gone to Greenham Common on her seventeenth birthday, dressed as a teddy bear, to protest about nuclear weapons. It was whilst she was there that she met Samantha, fell head over heels in love with her and went to live in a squat in London, leaving behind her A levels, her recently-widowed mother - and her twin brother, Pete, to look after her. Samantha was there occasionally but Meredith was drawn into forming a band with the boys from the squat and against all the odds Cohen went on to become a sensation and it wasn't long before Meredith was living in a mansion rather than the squat. [[The Last Stage by Louise Voss|Full Review]] <!-- Ian Mathie -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1906852472.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1906852472/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Wild Child: Growing Up a Nomad by Ian Mathie]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]] For Ian Mathie fans there is good and bad news. Ian has come up with the missing link in his narrative, the story of a very unusual childhood (yes, the very years that made him the amazing man he became). The bad – well it's hardly news two years later – is that the book is published posthumously. As always, it's beautifully written, with many exciting moments. What I most enjoyed was the feeling that many of the questions in Ian Mathie's later books are answered in ''Wild Child'' with a satisfying clunk. Seemingly all that's now left in the drawer is unpublishable. [[Wild Child: Growing Up a Nomad by Ian Mathiebut it does.|Full Review]]isbn=1789091934 <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|}}