Karl's Reading List

Published as an audiobook by Hodder Children's Books/Hachette Children's Books, 2013. Narrated by Jan Francis. Book 7 in the 'Famous Five' series. Preceded by ' Five on Kirrin Island Again. ' Followed by 'Five Get Into Trouble.' Originally published 1948. Well, originally we thought this entry in the series was going to be set at a summer camp or something similar. However, in a far more straightforward interpretation of the title, book 7 of the Famous Five series has our heroes go off to pitch some tents and do some camping. The main adult in this story - only there to provide an excuse for four children going to a remote area for camping - is Mr Luffy, a 'master' from Julian and Dick's school, who is almost as absent-minded as George's father, but far more friendly. Mr Luffy, an avid insect-collector, has come to camp on a remote moorland in order to look for bugs, and has agreed that the children could come along and camp with him. Ver...

Published by Multnomah Publishers/Random House, Inc.: Atlanta, Georgia, 2006. Elise and I, both separately and when we got married, have collected a number of relationship books, often using them as references or reading sections, but not generally getting through the whole book. Recently, we had the privilege of running our first pre-marriage counselling session for a younger couple in our church, and hunted out our books both to resource ourselves and to offer resources to them. Long story short, I then picked up this book and decided I'd have a go at reading it in its entirety. I recommend doing so. For Men Only is the companion book to For Women Only, which was written by Shaunti Feldhahn as a solo author, helping women understand their men a little better. In this book, Shaunti joins with her husband to write the flipped version, helping men understand their women a little better. Both books (I believe, from what Elise has mentioned of the other book) contain numerous polls th...

Published by Golden Press: Auckland, Christchurch, Sydney, 1975. First published 1845. This abridged edition (by Joan Stevens) first published 1955. This book is part of the New Zealand Classics series, which I have several of. It also has the distinction of forming the basis for a recent historical novel, Jerningham, which creates a fictionalised version of the author's life.  As the title suggests, Adventure in New Zealand tells the story of Edward Jerningham Wakefield's adventures in New Zealand. Jerningham was the son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, and nephew to both William Wakefield and Arthur Wakefield, the former of whom was one of the founders of Wellington, and the latter of whom was notably killed during the Wairau Affray.  All of the Wakefields were involved in the New Zealand Company, an organisation that today is viewed with much suspicion. Jerningham, of course, paints a much rosier picture of the NZ Company's dealings, putting any fault over land-sale controver...

Published by Scholastic Children's Books: London, 2007. The title is a pun! I didn't pick up on it right away, but it totally is! Here Lies Arthur is a retelling of the Arthur legends of ancient Britain, from the perspective of Gwyna, a young girl who becomes the assistant of Myrddin (Merlin). But rather than tell the stories in a 'straight-forward' way, Here Lies Arthur creates whole new versions: deconstructed, demythologised, and with Arthur nowhere near as heroic or noble. In fact, the Arthur of legend is shown to be a creation of Myrddin, who tells tales of Arthur's exploits to build him up and make him seem more heroic, hoping to unite all of England behind him to drive out the Saxon invaders. The 'real life' Arthur of the book doesn't deserve this praise; he is violent, stubborn, set in his ways and only out for his own rewards.  Other characters too are reimagined. Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) is a 'pale heron' of a woman, whom Arthur never rea...

Published by Noisy Crow Ltd: Crosby Row, London, 2021. Having finished Scavenger: Zoid too quickly to use in the Reading Challenge, I needed another book featuring AI or robots, and got this one from the school library, knowing nothing about it except what I saw on the cover. In a lot of ways, Adam-2 is similar to Scavenger: Zoid. It is set in the distant future, in a world where robots have turned on humanity and now pockets of humans try to resist against them. Like in Scavenger: Zoid, a more sophisticated robot is introduced who starts trying to help the humans. That robot develops a friendship with a main human, while other main humans remain suspicious. The difference here is that the robot - the titular Adam-2 - is the main character, whereas the robot in Scavenger: Zoid was a supporting character. Having the story be told primarily from Adam's viewpoint is an interesting touch, particularly as Adam learns about both sides in the conflict and begins to have doubts about the ...

Published by Voyager/HarperCollinsPublishers: Hammersmith, London, 1996 (1995). Book 1 of 'The Farseer Trilogy.' Followed by 'Royal Assassin.' Hey writers. Have you ever had trouble coming up with a name for your protagonist? It is possible that Robin Hobb did, as the main character in Assassin's Apprentice is a nameless boy, whose father happened to be the heir-in-waiting to the Seven Duchies. As a bastard (a term that gets flung his way often throughout the book) the boy is mistreated by many of the people in his life, with the main result being that it takes a long time for anyone to get around to giving him an actual name, and even longer for him to be given a name that everyone accepts as his name. It's quite an interesting element in a fairly interesting story, one that I got through a lot quicker than the much shorter Jungle Books.  Our protagonist - generally called 'Fitz' (which, if you know your etymology, means bastard) - is adopted into the r...

Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 2014. Audiobook published by Penguin Audio, 2014. Narrated by Sean Pratt. Usually when I finish an audiobook I remove it from my phone, in order to create space for the next one.  ...Yeah, my phone is a little old. I'm trying to not replace it for as long as I can... With this book on prayer, I'm holding off. I have considered a number of times simply starting it again and re- listening to it, because of how inspiring and insightful it has been. Keller is a good author - I already knew this - but Prayer is a really good book.  Keller admits at the outset that he was not good at prayer, and that this book arose from his desire to have a deeper prayer-life himself. In sensing my own stirring to pray, I relate to how he felt, and also find myself being challenged and stirred along with him throughout the journey of this book. In different sections, Keller looks at the history of prayer, prayer in other faiths, some of the great theological wo...