Karl's Reading List

Published by Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK): London, 2011 (2006). Back in 2018 I read three books by Tom Wright: Simply Jesus, How God Became King and this one,  Simply Christian. Each of them had similar themes, and really interested me. In fact, they interested and impacted me enough that when I made a post called " The 5th Year 5 Top 5s " I included Simply Jesus as one of my top 5 theology books, despite admitting that I didn't remember the specific  focus of that particular book... rather, acknowledging that all three books together had meant something to me. I also acknowledged that "I will eventually reread these books and give a more detailed review." Now, four years after writing those words and seven years after last reading a Tom Wright book, I have finally reread Simply Christian. Whereas last time around I started with Simply Jesus due to it being the first Tom Wright book I had come across, I made the choice to start with Simply Ch...

Published by InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, Illinois, 2010. Recently, I met someone who is theologically suspicious of Constantine. I realise that numerous people are, but this person is of the opinion that Constantine was 'playing' the Council of Nicaea, cynically attempting to take over the Church, and even changing Scripture! As someone who has studied Theology, including Church History, this hasn't sat well with me - it doesn't feel accurate to the historical record, or to my theological understanding of the purpose of Scripture.  So, I have been re-reading some theological works I enjoyed in years past, and making sure I understand the arguments for and against Constantine. Guess which side Defending Constantine takes! This book begins with a focus more on the history of the time period and a biography of Constantine. Author Leithart gives the reasons why he is convinced that Constantine experienced a 'genuine' conversion to Christianity, and argues per...

Published as an audiobook by Dragonsteel, 23-04-2023. Narrated by William DeMeritt. Originally published 2023. This is one of four 'secret project' books that Brandon Sanderson released in 2023, along with Tress of the Emerald Sea , The Frugal Wizard's Guide to Medieval England , and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and is the third I have read. It is also the one of the four that has the strongest connection to Sanderson's 'cosmere' universe, often referencing characters and even events from his Stormlight Archives series, that began with The Way of Kings. If all this sounds like a lot of connective tissue, then brace yourself. The Sunlit Man may take place on a planet that has previously not been visited within the cosmere, but the main character, Nomad, is someone who has in the past been a knight radiant on Roshar (the main setting of the Stormlight Archives ). Not only that, but as the story progresses, it is revealed that he is a specific character from the...

Published by The Crime Club by Collins: St James Place, London, 1959. I wasn't intending on reading another Agatha Christie book for a while, simply because of having read one so recently , but a friend lent me this one, telling me that it was their favourite, so I thought I better check it out. To say a particular Agatha Christie book is your favourite is quite high praise! After all, Christie wrote over 50 books, including such famous examples as Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, And Then There Were None , and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . I enjoy Christie's books (there is a reason she is called the 'Queen of Crime Fiction'), and particularly like the way that she - within her chosen genre of crime fiction - could play with styles, from dark thrillers (like And Then There Were None ) to slightly lighter comical entries, like Partners in Crime .  Cat Among the Pigeons plays with style again, framing the book as a spy and espionage tale, but with the twi...

Published as an audiobook by Penguin Audio, 25-09-2025. Narrated by Fiona Shaw. Book 5 in the 'Thursday Murder Club' series. Preceded by ' The Last Devil to Die. ' Earlier this year I practically binge-listened to the entire Thursday Murder Club series, beginning my final review by saying that  The Last Devil to Die felt like a suitable finale. However, I also wrote that the series had ended "for now" twice, and...well... I guess I was right! About a month ago, wandering through the Richmond Mall, I noticed that a fifth book was now on sale in Whitcoulls, so I raced home and purchased my audiobook copy that same day (it feels appropriate now to keep this as an audiobook series). So, considering how 'final' the previous series finale was, how does The Impossible Fortune fare? Well, to be honest, there are moments where, for me, it felt slightly 'lesser' than what had come before it. On occasion the characters (particularly, for me, Joyce and Ibr...

Published by Walker Books Ltd: London, UK, 2017. This is a book that has been on the English Department shelves since I started at Nayland, and is often recommended to me as a good book. It is also one that I have used as an option for students to study at Level 1, having gathered themes and resources from other teachers to help support students choosing it. However, it is not a book I have read, until now. It is also a book that has been banned in some states in America, and so - looking for a "banned book" to finish off my reading challenge for the year - it finally seemed time to pick it up and give it a go. It is a very well-written book. It does have a lot of language in it, and it does talk a lot about violence - particularly police brutality - and because of those aspects I can understand why some groups might not enjoy it as much, BUT it is quite insightful and has a lot to say about racism (including subtle racism), standing up for your beliefs, and even the balance ...

Published by Fabbri Publishing Ltd: Barcelona, 1992. First published as a novel in Italian, 1883. What a truly weird book. This is the OG version of Pinocchio, and it feels very dated, and odd. I once read half of the book The Adventures of Roderick Ransom by Tobias Smollett, and it gives me vibes of that, in the way the story unfolds without much overarching structure; rather, it simply feels like a rambly bed time story being continuously extended with plot points that feel like the author is just going: "and then, this happened!"  In some ways this makes sense, as the original stories were published in serial format before being grouped together as a novel, but authors like Charles Dickens shows that these can still be coherent narratives. Pinocchio doesn't really worry about things like that! Sure, there is a through-line in that Pinocchio is a disobedient puppet who continuously makes poor choices - surely, meant to be a morality lesson for the reader - but other bit...