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<metadesc>Book review site, with books from most walks of literary life; fiction, biography, crime, cookery and children's books plus author interviews and top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a book review 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 author [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[Featuresfeatures]] 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-->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Toby LesterSeishi Yokomizo and Louise Heal Kawai (translator)|title=The Fourth Part of the World: The Epic Story of History's Greatest MapHonjin Murders|rating=4.5|genre=HistoryCrime|summary=In 2003 a map was bought for $10 millionTo many readers, the highest price ever paid publicly for a historical document, phrase 'locked room murder mystery' is enough to make the book one to read; preferably quantified by the Library of Congresswords 'clever' or 'good'. For those who need more, where it here is now on permanent public displaythe extra background – we're in rural Japan in the 1930s. No ordinary mapThe oldest son of an esteemed family is belatedly getting married, this although the whole affair is sometimes described really not as ostentatious as America's birth certificateit might be – hardly anybody has turned up, what with it being arranged at great haste. She only has an uncle representing her family, for one thing. It is Either way, the celebrations have gone ahead as planned, only for the wedded couple to be slashed to death in their private annex before the sole survivor sun rises on their marriage. What with a man missing parts of a thousand copies printed early his fingers being in the 16th centuryneighbourhood, and was discovered by accident in some archives in mysterious use of a German castle in 1901. The sale and story behind it intrigued Toby Lester so much that he was inspired to discover moretraditional musical instrument at the time of the crime, and this book is case has a lot of the resultpeculiar about it.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1861978030</amazonuk>1782275002
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Steven Lowe and Alan McArthur Cixin Liu|title=Is it Just Me or Has the Shit Hit the Fan?: Your Hilarious New Guide to Unremitting Global MiseryDeath's End|rating=35|genre=HumourScience Fiction|summary=If I''The banks fell over like fat Labradors running over a wet kitchen floord been paying more attention when I picked this book up, I would have put it back on the shelf. Not because I didn't want to read it, but because I' Surely d have figured out that it was the final part of a trilogy. Coming in part way through a saga is never the wackiest, most inappropriate simile for the credit crunch easiest thing to do and all it has done for 's particularly true in science fiction because without knowing the worldback-story there are not just people whose names mean nothing to you (when it's assumed they will) but there are whole concepts that you won't understand. You wonThis latter is particularly true of Cixin Liu't get any such namby-pamby animal likenesses from these authorss work – his range is phenomenal. George R R Martin, instead with quite who knows a potty mouth on them they will lambast the modern thing or two about world-creation, the entire banking system, all those who failed to see described it comingas ''a unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, conspiracy theory and those millions just seemingly waiting for us all to revert to high-interest, high-risk, high-lending capitalism, so they can get back on the expenses train, cosmology''. All of that and back up the rich listsmore.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847443656</amazonuk>1784971650
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Andy Stanton1780894511|title=What's For Dinner, Mr Gum?|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=As soon as heroine Polly turns her back, and leaves the town of Lamonic Bibber for a day at the seaside, Mr Gum falls out with his best friend, causing carnivorous carnage all over the place. Meat is getting thrown around like it's going out of fashion, and we have to doubt whether Polly and her companions can ever utilise the power of love and put things to rights. Especially as this book does not contain a magic unicorn called Elizabeth.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405248246</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewDie Alone|author=Loose Women|title=Here Come the GirlsSimon Kernick
|rating=4
|genre=Home and FamilyThrillers|summary=This Ray Mason is the second volume by the panelists from that nice ITV series, ''Loose Women''. Just as promised on the cover, this book is an entertaining night with the girls. It turns out that they're just like us. The faces are already familiar in prison awaiting trial for murder and even if you donhe't know them yet, with nine contributors, you'll soon find a like-minded woman behind one of s in the celebrity faces. The women are universally warm-hearted and supportivevulnerable prisoner unit: there will be many a lonely woman who reads this book and feels as if she sat down with a group cop he's something of friends for a target, but the evening.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444700154</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jean Ure|title=Fortune Cookie|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Fudge Cassidy and the Cupcake kid are best friends. If the names remind you of a certain film then you'd be spot on unit is not as secure as that's where Fudge's father got the idea from. They're actually chalk inmates would have hoped and cheese – Fudge Mason is loud mouthed and opinionated and Cupcake is quiet and thoughtful – but the combination works. They've just started at secondary school and Cupcake has rather injured in a lot on her plateriot. Her brother Joey has muscular dystrophy and On his problems are becoming more obvious. Add way to this that her father couldnhospital he't cope with the problems s broken free by armed men and he now has another familyan offer is made to him. ItHe's just Cupcake, Joey and her mother – and not a lot of money.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007224621</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jenifer Roberts|title=The Madness of Queen Maria: The Remarkable Life of Maria I of Portugal|rating=4.5|genre=Biography|summary=Born in 1734 in Lisbon, at that time to assassinate the richest and most opulent city in Europe, Maria was destined man who is likely to become the first female monarch in Portuguese historycountry's next prime minister and he'll then be given a new identity so that he can start afresh abroad. Married to her uncle Infante PedroHis captors say that they're MI6, seventeen years her senior, she had six children (outliving all but one of them), and became Queen in 1777Mason has his doubts. A conscientious woman, she had the misfortune His choices are limited though and he has personal reasons to believe that it would be born in during the 'age of reason', when church and state were vying for supremacy. Instinctively a supporter of the old religion, with a humanitarian approach to state affairs, she better if Alastair Sheridan was no Queen Elizabeth, no Catherine the Great, and wore her crown rather reluctantlydead.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>095455891X</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=David HughesAkwaeke Emezi|title=Thomas Wogan is DeadPet
|rating=4.5
|genre=Graphic NovelsTeens|summary=WellThe people of the town Lucille believe that all the monsters are gone. Their children are raised to understand that they were saved by the angels, with a title like thatthose who rid the town of evil, need I bother with a plot summary? and there are no monsters anymore. A man has a But one day out in Morecambe, then the next thing he knows he's in the ultimate waiting roomJam accidentally cuts herself, with and bleeds a strange array little onto one of animals (her mother's paintings. The blood awakens a batbizarre, a toadterrifying-looking creature named Pet, a sea urchinwho somehow comes to life and declares that it is here to hunt the monster...) Though Jam tries to convince it that all the monsters are gone, all waiting for... wellPet is certain that there is one, something. Yupstill, as you didn't need tellingand that the monster is hiding in the home of her best friend, he's deadRedemption.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>095580888X</amazonuk>0571355110
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dave Eggers1686751680|title=The Wild ThingsMy Mummy does weird things / Maman fait des choses bizarres|author=Amelie Julien and Gustyawan
|rating=4
|genre=General FictionFor Sharing|summary=Meet Max. Which child doesn't think that there mother is, well, ''weird''? When I It might be that in the morning their mother doesn't like speaking much, when every self-respecting child knows that that is when you're at your brightest with lots to say he sometimes gets the wrong end ? ''Why'' then does Mummy stick her fingers in her ears? Then there's doing yoga in front of the stick about adultstelevision, or dislikes his motherwhich could be worrying if it wasn't so funny. We won's new boyfriendt go into too much detail about what goes on in the bathroom and the colour changes which have occured when Mummy emerges and frankly, or gets a bit feisty when he feels the need for revenge, I am certainly understating less said the facts. He is a bit of a rascal better about her reactions to say your artistic efforts on the leastwall. But all that might change when he finds himself travelling to a strange land of roisterous animalsI mean, and ends up installed as their king.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241144221</amazonuk>what else would you use paint for?
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jeremy StrongJustine Avery and Liuba Syrotiuk|title=Christmas Chaos for the Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog What Wonders Do You See... When You Dream?
|rating=4
|genre=Confident ReadersFor Sharing|summary=Trevor's troublesome dog, Streaker, 'The day has had three puppies. They were fatheredended''<br>''Hasn't it been splendid?'' <br>''But now, according to local bully Charlie Smugg, by one of his Alsatians. Trevor would ideally like to keep them, at least until Christmas, but his parents have other ideas and put them up for sale. Charlie Smugg declares that heit's entitled time, to half of the money from the sale of the puppies, but before they can be sold the three puppies go missing in the park and itsure''s up to Trevor and his best friend Tina to try and track them down before Charlie demands his cash!|amazonuk=<amazonukbr>0141327243''For an entirely different adventure'' </amazonukbr>}}
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Iain Smyth and Michael TerryHarris|title=The Wide-Mouthed FrogSolitude: In Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World|rating=4.5|genre=For SharingLifestyle|summary=Do you know This is not the joke about the wide-mouthed frog? You must have heard book I was expecting itto be. It's a classic. It's one that you really need For some reason I expected it to be another self-help manual on how to tell in personfind calm, with your fingers pulling your mouth wide openhow to step outside the mainstream, but to hopefully spark your memoryit is not that at all. Instead of telling us how, it is more about the wide-mouthed frog introduces himself ''why''. Harries examines how we're eroding solitude, which used to be a number natural part of animals until our human life, and why that matters. Of course he finally comes across a crocodile who eats wide-mouthed frogstalks about how some people have found solitude and what has come of that, and eventually in the frog does final chapter he talks about his best to disguise who he is whilst saying ''Ooh, you don't see many own experience of those round here, do you?'' I'm hardly doing having deliberately sought it justiceout, but it's very cheesy mostly he wanders down the alleys and funny. Anyway, by-ways that his thinking about this is a book of that jokelost art led him.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408804964</amazonuk>1847947662
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Dr Aaron Carroll and Dr Rachel VreemanAndy Briggs|title=Don't Swallow Your GumCtrl+S
|rating=5
|genre=LifestyleScience Fiction|summary=Life in the near future'''BANG'''s not all bad. ThatWe's ve reversed global warming and fixed the sound of copious urban myths being shot downcollapsing bee population. We even created SPACE, a virtual-sensory universe where average guys like Theo Wilson can do almost anything they desire. '''BANG''But almost anything isn't enough for some. That's the sound of the old wives slamming the doorEvery day, normal people are being taken, as their tales get revealed as baselessemotions harvested - and lives traded - to create death-defying thrills for the rich and twisted. '''CLICK'''Now Theo’s mother has disappeared. ThatAnd as he follows her breadcrumb trail of clues, he's ll come up against the noise lots of illmost dangerous SPACE has to offer: vPolice, AI Bots and anarchists -informed websites make as they get closed downwell as a criminal empire that will kill to stop him finding her . . All noises come due to this brilliant book.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0141043369</amazonuk>1409184641
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Annie Taylor1609809378|title=VioletThe Rabbits' Rebellion|author=Ariel Dorfman and Chris Riddell
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Violet is a very special hippoWe're in the realm of the rabbits, only the foxes and wolves have taken over. She is extremely small King Wolf, His Wolfiness, has declared the rabbits don't exist, but the pesky birds have spread rumours from awing that does not make her adoptive parents Albert and Mavis love her any the lessbunnies are in fact still around. However Demanding a propaganda spree, King Wolf orders a humble monkey to be his official portrait photographer, they are slightly worried that Violet has but whatever the poor innocent monkey prints out in his darkroom there is a very unusual habit distinct leporine hint. Can King Wolf succeed in proving himself victorious, can the rabbits show their continued existence to all who need to know of turning pink without warning it – and for no explicable reason.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906847371</amazonuk>what can the poor monkey caught in between do?
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Hilary DixonInnosanto Nagara|title=When Rooks Speak of LoveM is for Movement
|rating=4
|genre=Literary FictionEmerging Readers|summary=Arthur Transcombe Set in Indonesia, in the not too distant past, this is a middle-agedstory about social change. Dealing with some difficult issues, grey-hairedsuch as political corruption and nepotism, self-effacing poet. Unremarkable really - on the outsidebook is neither boring nor preachy. He hasIt educates gently, howeverwith vibrant, managed to achieve some success with his poemschallenging illustrations, and it portrays how social movements need people who will try, even when it seems that they will fail. (Being The message is a guest speaker at positive one; that in an increasingly uncertain world, we do still have the Cheltenham Literary Festival is no mean feat)power to instigate change. He is also a babe magnet!|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1904529429</amazonuk>1609809351
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=A J Healy1780724047|title=Tommy Storm A Dictionary of Interesting and the Galactic KnightsImportant Dogs|author=Peter J Conradi|rating=3.54|genre=Confident ReadersPets|summary=Meet Tommy StormI 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. HeBut 's one 'A Dictionary of five teenagers snapped up from around the universe to be Interesting and Important Dogs'' is actually ''a gang rich compendium of heroic detectives charged with rescuing EVERYTHING from destruction. Not just the planet, or the solar system, or even the galaxy, but EVERYTHINGworld's most significant and beloved dogs'' and it's certainly a rich treasure trove. Nobody seems to know whatWe begin with Peter J Conradi's going to cause this destructionfour collies: Cloudy, or when, but he Sky. Bradley and his friends and their ship seem to be the only people proactively going about saving the dayMax. So itThey's a pity that they start this book strung up by a nasty loony whore consecutive rather than simultaneous dogs, but what comes over is Conradi's about to kill love for each and every one of them.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847247555</amazonuk> I knew that I was in safe hands.
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Graham McCann1785769294|title=Bounder!: The Biography of Terry-ThomasMan at the Window (Detective Cardilini)|author=Robert Jeffreys
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Spam E-Mails can be incredibly annoying, but most of us will have had to deal with them. Fortunately, It's when we can hit the delete button and forget about them as quickly as they came. I certainly prefer not to torture my friends by sending such rubbish on, no matter how bad my luck read that a young boy is supposed creeping reluctantly to become if I dona teacher'ts bedroom one October night that we realise something is badly wrong. But I wonder how many of us Nowadays you ''might'' hope that something would react if a spam E-Mail actually be done about it fairly quickly but this was a matter of life 1965 and death, rather than just claiming to be?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749007079</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jeanette Winterson|title=The Battle child abuse was generally regarded as malicious mischief on the part of the Sun|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=London 1601child. Elizabeth I is getting on The boy would be safe that night though - albeit in years. Her capital city is a busy, bustling place. Boats fill the river and people fill the streetsmost horrific fashion. Jack is happy because it When he reached Captain Edmund's bedroom he found the man dead on the floor, the top of his birthday and his present is his heartskull missing. The school's desireinitial reaction was that this was a dreadful accident: an excitable black puppy named Max, who's there had been a ''licking cull of kangaroos in some nearby fields and it was obviously a running and a leaping and a jumping and a tummy in stray bullet which had killed the air and a tail wagging and a barking, racing, braking, spinning energy dog of delight''Captain. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>140880042X</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jean Ure1786695227|title=Love and KissesInvisible in a Bright Light|author=Sally Gardner
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Tamsin and Katie were just thirteen and worried that they were boring. They'd been best friends since forever and were The beginning of this excellent story will leave the reader more than a little confused: who is the man in the good girls. Neither missed schoolgreen suit, skipped her homework nor had boyfriends. Well, that what isthe Reckoning, not so far. and why are rows of people in a cave? Up until then Tamsin had been But stick with it – Ms Gardner is very cleverly letting us experience the boffin head – consistently strong academically and looking forward to going on to universitysame disorientation as our heroine. All that seemed We watch in dismay as the strange man, who seems to change when she met Alex. Wellhave no eyes, when I say 'met' I should perhaps clarify and say that Alex pushed does his wheelbarrow into best to persuade her, from the building site where he workedto answer his questions. OhBut for some reason Celeste, and did I mention that he was seventeendespite her bewilderment, Polish remains wary and spoke very little English?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007281722</amazonuk>gives nothing away.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Henry Mintzberg1912374854|title=ManagingViolet|author=S J I Holliday|rating=3.5|genre=Business and FinanceThrillers|summary=I''Study after study has shown 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 managers work at an unrelenting pace'' How true, though it always makes me wonder why, as s exactly what happens when the two main/only characters meet in a result, there's such travel agency in Beijing - Carrie is unsuccessfully trying to get a market refund on an extra ticket for bulky management the Trans-Siberian train and leadership and general business books like this oneViolet is trying to unsuccessfully buy a ticket for the same sold-out journey. How does anyone who needs or wants to read one ever find As the time to do so? This title actually has an answer to thistwo team up, by providing two books in onetravelling through Mongolia, Serbia and into Russia, it is such could've been the start of a simple yet effective solution that I have to start there. You can read beautiful friendship but this book in one a thriller after all so it quickly becomes a tale of two ways. Option one is to read every word, chapter by chapter, cover to cover. If you have the time I would recommend this approach because the book is very readable, not too repetitiveobsession, manipulation and quite thought-provokingtoxic friendships.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0273709305</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kathryn Fox1912374838|title=Blood BornNothing Important Happened Today|author=Will Carver
|rating=4
|genre=CrimeGeneral Fiction|summary=To give support to Nothing Important Happened Today is a vulnerable gang-rape victimdark, twisted, forensic pathologist Anya Crichton offers to drive Giverny Hart to the courthouse on the day she is due to testify against the notorious Harbourn brothersdifficult read. But when Anya arrives at the house she finds Giverny close to death and faces a battle against time to save her. In the panicStories about cults often are, Anya fails to take note of an important clue which might help tell whether but this is different; it really was suicide or a cleverly staged murder. Worse still, in trying to save the girl's life, Anya has interfered written with a crime scene and the case falls apart. She blames herself for the Harbourn brothers being allowed to walk free and only hours later there sense of style that is news of another attackquite unlike anything I've read before. A pair of sisters have been stabbed and raped resulting in the death of oneI can't remember ever having read a novel with such an odd, while the other clings to lifedistinctive narrative voice.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340933097</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Leah Fleming|title=Remembrance Day|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=In the year 2000 an old lady in While a wheelchair watches slim and relatively small book, the unveiling slow-moving nature of the new war memorial in the village squareplot makes it feel far larger than its 276 pages. There's pride in what has been achieved, in the family who are gathered around her and there are memories too. Some are good but many are not.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847561039</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Neal Laytonwilliamabbey|title=Surf's Up (Mammoth Academy)The Pursuit of William Abbey|author=Claire North
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident ReadersParanormal|summary=Having successfully seen off When William Abbey fails to prevent the rather unpleasant humans lynching of a young boy in earlier volumes1880'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, our favourite junior mammoths Oscar as the shadow of the dead boy begins to follow him across the world. Never stopping, always growing – it crosses oceans and Arabella have nothing much else to do apart from return to Mammoth Academy for lots more double periods mountains in pursuit of Difficult SumsWilliam. They're supposed As he finds himself unable to be making presentations about what they did during resist speaking the holidays tootruths that he hears in others, but Oscar hasn't done any preparation he also learns that the dark shadow is deadly – and, frankly, seeks to kill the one he can't really remember what he actually did do with all that free time other than no Difficult Sums. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>034098967X</amazonuk>loves the most…
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ursula Jones and Sarah Gibb1643785036|title=The Princess Who Had No KingdomWondrous Apothecary|author=Mary E Martin
|rating=4
|genre=Confident ReadersGeneral Fiction|summary=Those who have known Alexander Wainwright, the landscape artist famous for his Turner prize winning ''The princess who has no kingdom wanders around in a cart pulled by her horse PrettyHay Wagon'', and Rinaldo, renowned conceptual artist would say that they're chalk and cheese, if not sworn enemies. She If you's very politeve watched the relationship, friendlyas has our narrator, and kind-heartedart dealer Jamie Helmsworth, but she feels like something is lacking because she doesnyou't d have a kingdom said that they were magnets, drawing and repulsing each other in equal measure. Wainwright was at the socially acceptable end of her own. The other royals she meets treat her nicely enoughthe artistic continuum, but with Rinaldo it was all too obvious that there's always was but a feeling that shefine dividing line between conceptual art and public nuisance. As time has worn on, he's not quite as good as them because she isn't frequently been brought to the attention of the princess police. On this latest occasion we see him charged with arson and theft of anywhere''The Hay Wagon''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846160421</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Mij Kelly and Louise NisbetMary H.K. Choi|title=The Happiest Man in the World or the Mouse Who Made ChristmasPermanent Record
|rating=4
|genre=For SharingTeens|summary=Mouse doesn't like anyone and keeps herself to herself. Her things are her things and she Pablo, a college drop-out, is too selfish to share them with anyone elseworking at a New York bodega. One day, an old man moves in to Mouse He's house. He used to be the happiest man massively in the worlddebt, but now he's sad. Heavoiding his mother, and he finds his joy in creating unusual snacks with random ingredients! Whilst working one evening, he's fed up of having givensurprised to discover that the girl he is chatting with as he serves is a super-famous pop star and, givenas unlikely as it may seem, given all his life and never got anything backthey start a relationship. He just sits quietly and mopes. This makes Mouse miserable, so With one day she decides character who is trying very hard not to cheer him up be seen or noticed by giving him a clementine...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340931558</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Nick Bland|title=The Very Cranky Bear|rating=4|genre=For Sharing|summary=Mooseanyone, Lion, Zebra and Sheep head into a cave to get out of the rain, but little do they know that Bear other who is fast asleep in there. When they wake him upseen and followed and hounded by everyone all over the world, he roars at them, chasing them outside, so it's an interesting clash as they decide to cheer him up somehowcome together. Zebra paints stripes on him This isn't just a love story though, Moose fashions antlers for him and Lion sticks a mane of straw on him. Unsurprisingly, this makes Bear even crankier, so actually it's down to Sheep to save really just Pab's story, about the day..journey he takes in his life via his meet-up with Leanna Smart.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0340989424</amazonuk>0349003459
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kes Gray and Lee Wildish1609809319|title=Mum and Dad Glue|rating=4|genre=For Sharing|summary=A young boy's parents are splitting up. He's going through the usual emotions that children of divorce go through: worry, feeling unsure, blaming himself, anger, denial, and then trying to get them to stay together. His method for this isn't the usual response though: he looks for glue to stick his mum and dad together. Thankfully, he finds some wise and kindly advice in the process.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340957107</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Clara Vulliamy|title=The Bear With Sticky Paws Won't Go To Bed|rating=4|genre=For Sharing|summary=It's Pearl's bedtime, but she says she's really busy and isn't going to sleep. She just wants to play and play and play. When the bear with sticky paws rings the doorbell, he whisks her away on an amazing adventure Long-Haired Cat- although as you might expect, the bear has a little more energy than Pearl and eventually she does get a little sleepy.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408300648</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewBoy Cub|author=Stephen Mackey|title=Miki|rating=4|genre=For Sharing|summary=It's coldEtgar Keret, dark Aviel Basil and icy, and Miki and Penguin are trudging through the snow. But it's Midwinter Eve, when wishes come true. They wish for a tree, lights, someone strong to power the lights, and finally a star that will shine brightly forever. Miki is taken deep below the ice to find the star, whilst up top Penguin and new friend Polar Bear start to worry about her.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>034095065X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Kristin Cashore|title=FireSondra Silverston (translator)
|rating=5
|genre=FantasyConfident Readers|summary=Possessed of great beautyOne day a boy is in the zoo with his father, when the kind that drives men mad, Fire is used to people trying to kill herman gets called away on urgent business. She The boy isn't used to them doing it by accident. When hustled into a poacher in the woods outside her cab and taken home accidentally shoots herfirst, though, no – he's given hot dog money, and taxi money, Fire is hard pressed and told to keep the temperamental Lord Archer from killing himjust stick around on his own and enjoy himself. But as sure as Fire is the man did not mean to cause her harm Well, she is made unsure by it's no surprise that the strange fog that exists in orphan-for-an-afternoon sensation the manlad 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 mind.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905200129</amazonuk>then the drama begins…
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Justin Scroggie1785785516|title=Eye Spy: Uncovering the Secrets of the World Around YouFucking Good Manners|author=Simon Griffin
|rating=4
|genre=TriviaLifestyle|summary=Signs are everywhereManners maketh man, they say. I wasn't really one of those who thought our roads were littered with too many traffic signs until the day I was driven past It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by a pair set of speed regulation signsconventions, positioned at the exit end some of a one-way street but facing the illegal way up itwhich are ages old and other which have evolved over time. Not all signs, of course, Manners are quite as unnecessarynot 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 indeed as blatantly visiblefinancial 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, which is where this pictorial guide but it's best if we learn to countless coded messages, signifiers distinguish between our public and private lives and other similar factoids comes into act appropriately. ''Fucking Good Manners'' aims to help us on the way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340994487</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jose Saramago 0008324859|title=Small Memories|rating=4|genre=Autobiography|summary=Having been born in 1922 and lived through so much of the twentieth century, with an author's view of change and people, Jose Saramago has certainly experienced a lot. Civil Wars in the neighbouring Spain; the growth of his country - which still left it as western Europe's poorest. Here he allows us witness to his mind drifting through his childhood, in the country and in Lisbon, and provides a subtle and gentle memoir.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184655148X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFowl Twins
|author=Eoin Colfer
|rating=5
|genre=General FictionConfident Readers|summary=I've been meaning to get around to reading some or all of Harlan Coben's workRelax, because if the reviews are to everyone – our old friend Artemis may be believed and you are a fan of the 'Bloody Knife /Blunt Instrument' thrilleroff planet, but the man is quite simply not capable of turning out a duff novel. But you know how it is, what with one thing and another and a bulging pile of books to be read and reviewed, I just somehow hadnbaddies aren't managed to give him my full attention. Until getting away with skulduggery any time soon because they now.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409117022</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=John Peel and Sheila Ravenscroft|title=Margrave of the Marshes|rating=4.5|genre=Entertainment|summary=John Peel was without doubt have not one but two members of the most important disc jockeys of all time. Born in Merseyside in 1939, he began his career in mid-60s America before returning home Fowl family to join Radio London and then become one of the original Radio 1 team, where he stayed until his death 37 years latercontend with. I admired the man for his passion for playing the music nobody else would give the time of day Those cute little twins are now eleven (even if I didn't always enjoy it myself) and his readiness to say exactly what he thought, even if it was not what his employers at the BBC wanted to hearfrankly, cute no longer) and I always enjoyed reading his columns in the music weeklies this, their first independent adventure, they meet a troll and later Radio Times. Nevertheless I found much of his show unlistenable towards without even trying manage to make two deadly enemies: a nobleman obsessed with immortality whatever the end, recall some of his rather curmudgeonly remarks on air cost (guest slots on Radio 1's Round Table review programme come to mindother people), and thought his build-'em-up, knock-'em-down stance rather irritating after a while. So I approached this book with an open mind as a fan, but not an uncritical one.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552551198</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez |title=Perfumes: The A unusual interrogator- Z Guide|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Wonderful, wonderful, wonderfulnun. The only thing that could be conceivably better than reading ''Perfumes'' would be to read it while sampling the scents it reviewsboys are chased, but even without the olfactory componentkidnapped, ''Perfumes'' is a delight: Turin (a lyrical scientist) arrested and Sanchez even killed (an analytically enthusiastic collector) though not only treat perfume creation as high art, but turn perfume criticism into an art form (or at least a sophisticated genre of writingfor long) too. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681278</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=David Malouf |title=Ransom|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Taking his theme from a small part of Homer's Iliad, Malouf tells all with the story help of the king of Troy, Priam's grief-stricken voyage into the Greek camp to ransom Troy's wealth for the body of his fallen son, Hector, killed by the equally grief-stricken Achilles whose great friend Hector had killed in battle before Achilles took his cruel revengeone trainee fairy. Malouf tells the story in sparse, yet lyrical and poetic fashion suggesting the personal stories behind the epic themes that Homer related. It is an exquisitely written piece managing to be both deeply moving as well as a great piece of story telling.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701184159</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Steven M Gillon|title=The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After|rating=4.5|genre=History|summary=The assassination of President Kennedy came at a pivotal moment in my life and for more than forty years I've read most of what has been written about the event. It's been of variable quality, but the books fed the curiosity of people entranced by the charismatic young President who died so publicly. I'd come to the point of wondering if there was anything new to be said, but Stephen Gillom has looked at what happened from an unusual and largely overlooked angle – the first twenty four hours of Lyndon Johnson's Presidency.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>046501870X</amazonuk>
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