REVIEWS

This is the page where you link to the Reviews.

The full list of reviews is available in two places:

CATEGORISED BY THEME

ALPHABETICAL BY AUTHOR

When The Book Bags had been running for a year or two, I (C) decided to write a few lines on our choices, fearing that otherwise they would slip through the sands of time. A stark distillation of the books to date highlighted the fact that while we had read some crackers, there were some real stinkers in there too, and there was often a massive schism between What They thought and What We thought.

If you have been disappointed by the failure of a book to live up to the ludicrous trumpeting on the back having been seduced into purchase by review phrases like "One of the great books of the century", "I have rarely read a piece of writing so poetic", "The greatest love story of our age: incomparable", or "A beautifully written, luminous novel", only to find on actually reading the thing that it most certainly wasn't, then you are not alone.

Who are we to trample on the thoughts of professional reviewers and find fault with respected authors' work? Why, as book-buyers we're the ones who keep the tills ringing at bookshops and frankly we have come to shun rapturous praises, we shy clear of words like "evocative", "lyrical", "subtle" and "important". For these, read "repetitious", "boring", "tedious", "baffling". Much fairer, coupled with its refreshing honesty, is the rare approach of Iain Banks whose novels cheerfully include reviews like "As a piece of writing, 'The Wasp Factory' soars to the level of mediocrity ... perhaps it is all a joke, meant to fool literary London into respect for rubbish."

From there it was a hop, skip and web-literate member's jump away from turning these reviews into a website. Initially, I wrote just a few lines about each book, but gradually these grew into something more concrete. Consequently, the coverage of some of the early books is patchy.

In laying them out for this website, each "review" has been prefaced with all or most of the blurb from the back of a random copy of the book in question. (Note: other equally irresponsible and misleading editions are available to purchase.) It is deceptive of publishers to dress up every mangy dog in a smart coat and we grow to distrust them. The blurb is often a deciding factor in choosing to buy a book and therefore it should be a fair reflection of the book's contents, but frequently it is not, and is liable to prompt book-rage. It also seemed pertinent, in view of our own dissatisfaction, actually to include a selection of (unattributed) reviews, to compare paid critics' thoughts, with our own findings.

We have the utmost respect for authors, and a world without books is an unimaginable place but there can be an unequal balance in their presentation. Authors in a rush of exhaustion, pride and anxiety proffer their literary baby to the world, and critics (who are generally authors too) hasten to receive the delicate infant with the reverent love of a blind grandmother nursing it through the review pages with tender respect. Smiles all round, gurgles of approval, pats on the back. We are rougher midwives. The book-child is snatched by the leg and slung in a cot while we dispassionately record gummy eyes and cauliflower ears, laughing at the short, fat legs and triple chin. If it is more cabbage than child we say so. Just because something has been printed and bound, to drop the baby analogy, does not mean that it is any good.

I have tried to be fair to all member's opinions (although I fear that sometimes I fail on this count if they seem truly deranged on a given salient point - reviewer's perks), and also not to give away endings, but there again, please forgive me if I trespass into this area. I can get over-excited.

Often, to be fair, the success or failure of a book in our hands can rest in its discussion-worthiness, and this is generally indicated. This is not something you can predict, for a book which is actually extremely enjoyable to read can fail to generate any conversation or kick-start much of a controversy; conversely a dullish book can surprise us in throwing up much of interest on the evening itself. Where a book could be classified as "a good read", by dint of its style or language or even content, it is often the case that this is not sufficient to sustain a desperately interesting debate. (This is part of the joy of being in a book group, that you can go along to the evening not quite sure what you think about that month's novel and end up talking about it for two hours.)

In addition, we go through phases where certain themes and devices surge with unpleasing frequency causing them to acquire bête noir status such as the child's perspective; use of fairytales and myth; racial stereotypes and the fictionalising of history, and this, too, can colour our collective view and drag the argument into a swift downward spiral.

What we have put here is not necessarily reasonable or balanced, and certainly does not pretend to be a definitive view. We understand that no book can be all things to all people. However, we don't set out to be unkind or glib, it just sort of happens … but we have no axes to grind, we are sadly fee-free and nor do we owe any favours. I hope we haven't trampled on any particular favourites, but there is a sea of stinkers out there albeit interspersed with the odd jewel.

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