May 2008 Newsletter

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May's News from Bookbag Towers

It's sunny! It's warm! There are no clouds in the sky!

Of course, Bookbag's thoughts have turned immediately to its summer holiday and in turn to its summer holiday reading. There's some great stuff out this month and you might like to get ahead on volumes for your own time away, so read our round up below.

If there's anything you'd like to tell us, or anything you think we've left out, please drop us a line and let us know.

What we've been reading...

In fiction, Sue has several recommendations. If you're a crime fan, she loved The Man in the Window by K O Dahl. This second Gunnarstranda and Frolich novel to be translated into English delivers a complex plot and excellent characters. The Palace of Strange Girls by Sallie Day is an evocative story set in the nineteen fifties which had Sue, a former visitor to Blackpool, smelling the salt again. In All We Ever Wanted Was Everything by Janelle Brown, three women in one family have their lives torn apart and have to confront their demons. It's an excellent story with strong female characters.

In non-fiction, Lesley loved Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop, a delightful and disturbing homespun history of an English girl's discovery of China through its food. For the green amongst you, Sharon found On Guerrilla Gardening: A Handbook for Gardening Without Boundaries by Richard Reynolds an informative, entertaining and inspiring book.

In children's books and for the littler ones, Sue thinks Jamie and Angus Together by Anne Fine is one of the better first readers around at the moment. The vocabulary is just the right side of challenging and the book is filled with some delightful drawings. For older readers, Jill thought The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett was a beautiful and troubling fable about the search for love and The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness was a compelling, original and pacy future dystopian book with great originality and a dollop of wonderfully observed humour. If you're looking for something to keep them occupied, then search no further. 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some You Wish No One Had by Richard Horne and Tracey Turner has lots and lots of fun trivia, combined with great ideas for things to do.

Reviewers

We're always on the look out for people to join our panel of reviewers at Bookbag. We need people who understand that the reader wants to know what the reviewer thinks about the book and not just what's written on the back cover. If you think that you're one of these special people that we're looking for, we want to hear from you. You can find details of how to apply here on the site. Don't be shy!

Competitions

We have competitions for some great books going this month, and every month, so get entering!

And that's about it for this month.

If you're passing Bookbag Towers do pop in and see us – we're at www.thebookbag.co.uk.

All at Bookbag Towers

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