Karl's Reading List

Published as an audiobook by Hodder Children's Books/Hachette Children's Books, 2013. Narrated by Jan Francis. Book 8 in the 'Famous Five' series. Preceded by ' Five Go Off To Camp. ' Followed by 'Five Fall Into Adventure.' Originally published 1949. In this entry, set in Spring (my favourite season), the four children and Timmy get permission to go on a cycling trip on their own, when Uncle Quentin has mistakenly double-booked himself elsewhere. They are only given permission because Timmy is 'such a good guard dog', but of course, the 1940s were a different time, when this sort of thing was probably seen as a little safer than now-a-days?? Of course, very quickly the five get caught up in a mystery, this time through association with a strange boy they encounter, named Richard. When I first heard Richard's name, I laughed to myself and wondered whether Enid Blyton had run out of names, seeing as how Dick (one of our main four characters) is...

Published by Victor Gollancz Ltd: London, 1974 (1963). First published 1949. I first read this story as a kid, and have fond memories of it. It is also very weird, something that Elise pointed out as well. This is the only book I have read (so far) of Robert A Heinlein, and yet I know by reputation that he was a prominent science-fiction writer in his day. This book, first written in 1949, is certainly of its day. We get a Mars with canals, native plant and animal life, and a sentient Martian species with ruined cities on the surface and still-thriving (if less populated) sections underground.  Our main character, Jim Marlowe Jr, is a teenager living in South Colony. He has befriended a local 'bouncer', a basketball-sized Martian creature that can perfectly mimic what it hears, parrot-like, and also has some level of intelligence. 'Willis', as Jim calls the creature, is a hugely important part of the plot, helping Jim and his friend Frank get out of numerous scrapes, as...

Published by Arcturus Publishing Limited: Bermondsey Street, London, 2019. First published 1905. Apparently E Nesbit is known for two books: Five Children and It, which Elise and I read a few years ago, and this novel, The Railway Children, which we have just finished now! Although The Railway Children is much more realistic than Five Children - in which the titular 'It' was a sand-fairy who granted wishes - both novels have a lot of similarities in style: both books have fairly self-contained and occasionally over-long chapters that follow a group of siblings in a remote location, without much parental oversight, who get into numerous adventures, many involving a level of humour but also a level of pathos... in this book, the latter is provided by the absence of the children's father, who - it emerges over time - has been imprisoned for some unspecified crime. So much for the similarities. In The Railway Children, it may come as no surprise that a railway features heavily!...

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. V...

Published by Dragon Brothers Books, 2020 (2017). Audiobook released 02-10-21. Narrated by the author. Book 1 in 'The Dragon Defenders' series. Followed by 'Book 2.' This is definitely a children's book, with its short chapters, simple plot, the decision of the main characters to purposefully side-line their parents rather than getting their support in dealing with the main issues, and its mild obsession with getting shot in the butt. It is also the first book in 'The Dragon Defenders' series, and one that impresses me by not having any other title than 'Book 1' and the series title! I believe the rest in the series have similar titles... wow. The author, James Russell, is a New Zealander and narrates his own book - it was quite odd to hear a Kiwi accent the whole way through the story, though I suppose Elise is more used to that than I am due to my narrating most of the books we read together. He reads it fairly well. The story revolves around two ...

Published by Gollancz/Hachette UK: London, UK, 2024 (2023). The back cover promises a story that will appeal to fans of The Princess Bride, and that - along with being a stand-alone book that isn't over 500 pages - was enough to sell this as Elise's first exposure to Brandon Sanderson. Tress (whose real name is Glorf, but who prefers to be known as Tress due to her unruly hair) lives on a planet where the 'oceans' are made up of spores dropped from the various moons, each one a different colour and having a different (usually deadly) reaction to water. When her true love gets captured by the evil Sorceress of the Midnight Sea, Tress must sneak off her island home and set sail to rescue him. Along the way she encounters numerous characters to aid or hind her, from the talking rat Huck, to the chronically-poor-aim assistant cannonsmaster Ann, to Fort, a huge mute who can only communicate via a magical writing board. In true Sanderson fashion, each of these characters has ...

Published by Hodder Children's Books/Hodder and Stoughton: London, 2017. Book 1 in the 'Toto the Ninja Cat' series. Followed by 'Toto the Ninja Cat and the Incredible Cheese Heist.' If the title didn't clue you in on it, this is a strange book.  I like a lot of strange books, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately, in the case of Toto the Ninja Cat and the Great Snake Escape, it feels like author Dermot O'Leary is trying just a little to hard to be weird. For example, Toto is introduced as a normal cat, who then says that she is blind, and whose brother (Silver) then says 'but you're a ninja, so it doesn't matter.' Why make her blind at all, if (as the plot shows) it doesn't matter at all that she is? She can still 'see' most of the time, and her ninja skills overcome anything that would potentially be an obstacle for a blind cat anyway! It might be simply because Toto is apparently based on O'Leary's own...

Published by Tyndall Momentum/Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.: Carol Stream, Illinois, 2017. Devotionals, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, are like a box of chocolates. Sometimes you get one that is super sweet and a bit sickly. Sometimes you get one that takes a bit of chewing to get through. And depending on your taste, you can sometimes find one that ticks all the right boxes , really satisfying your palate. Often, a single devotional will have days in it that get the flavour combination better than others, days that really speak to your soul (as only the best chocolate can), while others ever-so-slightly miss the mark.  Yet, a good quality box of chocolates will still be strong even when you find those slightly 'lesser' flavours. You can still appreciate the quality, flavour and craftsmanship that went into that coconut rough, and you eat it happily, knowing that tomorrow you'll get that salted caramel you were secretly hoping for. On the other hand, sometimes you get an expe...

Published as an audiobook by Hodder Children's Books/Hachette Children's Book, 2013. Narrated by Jan Francis. Book 6 in the 'Famous Five' series. Preceded by ' Five Go Off in a Caravan. ' Followed by ' Five Go Off to Camp. ' Originally published 1947. The interesting thing about this entry in the Famous Five series is summed up by a comment Anne makes towards the end of the story. As things are wrapping up, she tells the rest of the group that she is happy the adventure is almost over, and that she didn't even realise they were having one for most of it. Out of the series so far, this entry has perhaps the best balance in this regards. The second book, Five Go Adventuring Again , tried a similar slow-burn approach to the story and still held our interest, but seemed to be waiting for a revelation to come, whereas the third book, Five Run Away Together , simply made the heroes miserable until they did what the title suggests they did! In Five on Kirri...

Published by Bethany House Publishers: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1991. Book 2 in 'An Emerald Ballad.' Preceded by ' Song of the Silent Harp. ' Followed by 'Land of a Thousand Dreams.' Last year, Elise and I read Song of the Silent Harp , the first book in this series, and we blown away by how sad it was. Heart of the Lonely Exile still has some sad moments, but these are more spread out, and now the characters even get to have some good experiences!! We pick up where we left off: Nora and Daniel Kavanagh are living in New York, where Nora is being wooed by her old friend Michael Burke. Meanwhile, Evan Whittaker - the one-armed and stuttering Englishman - is also harbouring feelings for Nora, and Sara Farmington may have some feelings towards Michael.  A class love-square situation. Yes, the word 'heart' in the title of this book does have some significance, as much of the book is filled with angst, pining, and sweet declarations of love. And, having walked...

Published as an audiobook by Hodder Children's Books, 2013. Narrated by Jan Francis. Book 5 in 'The Famous Five' series. Preceded by ' Five Go To Smuggler's Top. ' Followed by ' Five on Kirrin Island Again. ' Originally published 1946. Done with Paddington for now, this became our next 'dishes audiobook', and our first Famous Five book in two years (wow, time flies)! Five Go Off in a Caravan is a simple set-up, with the four kids and Timmy - wait for it - going off in a caravan together for a holiday (what a surprise!), yet the story surprised us by introducing some quite intense elements, even for a story in this series! Making friends with a boy - Nobby - who has grown up in the circus, our heroes must deal with Nobby's evil 'relative' Uncle Dan, as well as Dan's associate Lou. Dan and Lou are extremely unpleasant, both in appearance (this book does continue the unfortunate habit of having the kids decide the villains are evil ...

Published as an audiobook to YouTube by InkReads, Feb 24, 2022. Narrated by InkReads. Originally published 1958. Book 2 in the 'Paddington Bear' series. Preceded by ' A Bear Called Paddington. ' Followed by 'Paddington Helps Out.' After enjoying the first Paddington Bear book while doing dishes, Elise and I decided to move on to the second one. Rather than finding another Stephen Fry narration, though, we stumbled across this version, read by a YouTube called InkReads. She has a very gentle reading voice, which did make certain parts harder to hear whilst doing dishes, but also has quite a lot of variety in the voices she uses, and her take on the characters, though quite different from Stephen Fry's, suited them beautifully. As in the previous volume, chapters in More About Paddington each follow Paddington Bear getting into some sort of misadventure, only for things to eventually turn out better-than-expected for him. Whereas the first book (after a few c...

It's been a while since I've acknowledged Ezekiel, so here is another list of picture-books we are reading to him, most of which he is enjoying quite a bit. Now that he is beginning to 'interact' with things a bit more (he's almost a year old!!!), you will notice that a lot of these books have a common element... Karl's List: Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct - Mo Willems. Published by Hyperion Books for Children: New York, NY, 2006. This one is almost a cheat. I have known about this book since it was first published, and love its humour, so recently purchased a copy just so I could read it to Ezekiel and put it on this list. I've only read it to him once so far, and probably won't read it to him much until he's a little older, but I like it, and so here it is! The basic story of Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct is that Edwina is (surprise) a dinosaur who doesn't know she is extinct. She is friends ...

Published as an audiobook by HarperAudio, April 21, 2005. Narrated by Stephen Fry. Book 1 in the 'Paddington Bear' series. Followed by 'More About Paddington.' Originally published 1958. Elise and I both love the Paddington movies. We've seen the first two, and are hopeful that the third will also be worth a watch. So, after getting into the habit of listening to 'light' audiobooks while washing the dishes, we decided that this first Paddington Bear book would be worth a go. Happily, we can report that the book, like the movies, is a mix of light-hearted whimsy and awkward scrapes for our hero. A trip to the seaside, or to the shops, can result in Paddington bumbling into a situation that escalates out of his control. More so than in the movies, Paddington also occasionally does something that he realises may get him into trouble on purpose(!) , although he still always has the best of intentions in mind. There is a real pattern to these episodes, as things ...

Published by Puffin Audiobooks. Date unknown.  Narrated by James Bolam. Preceded by 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.' Wow. The contrast between this book and the previous book in the duology is incredible. Both focus on Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka, but whereas the earlier book has the tight narrative structure of the competition and the factory tour to keep it bound, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator has no such limitations, and gives Dahl the free reign to go into out-of-this-world (literally, of a good chunk of the book) weirdness. Picking up right where Chocolate Factory left off, Glass Elevator follows Charlie, Willy Wonka, Grandpa Joe, Charlie's parents and (in the greatest increase of relevance to the plot) his other three grandparents, who remain bed-ridden for almost the entire book. Of the protagonists of the first book, Grandpa Joe's role suffers the most, with the elderly man reduced to a supporting role, and being left out of one side-quest altoget...

Published by Naxos Audiobooks, 2006. Narrated by Juliet Stevenson. First published 1815/1816. Emma is the final work published by Jane Austen during her lifetime, and is very well written. Apparently Austen spoke about creating a protagonist that no one but herself would much like, and in one sense she accomplishes this: Emma Woodhouse is spoiled, has a high opinion of herself, and is quite ready to meddle in other peoples' affairs whether they want her to or not. And yet, in another way, Austen fails, because Emma is somehow immediately likeable, despite her obvious flaws. We groan when she makes an obviously bad decision, and yet we still understand her rationale, and wait for her to start learning the error of her ways. The plot, in true Austen style, is all about relationships, but the foreground relationships in Emma are not even 'real' relationships at all! Rather, Emma is trying to be a matchmaker, and is convinced that her choice of a husband for Harriet Smith (her ...

Published as an audiobook by HarperFestival, 1 November 2002. Narrated by Eric Idle. Followed by 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.' First published 1964. We found this audiobook to put on the background while we washed dishes. I think we finished it about a week later. Roald Dahl and Eric Idle - what a match! The narration being done by a member of Monty Python really highlights the ludicrous nature of Dahl's writing. This is one of Dahl's most popular stories, for a reason. The scaffold of the chocolate factory tour and the slowly reducing number of contestants helps to focus in some of the author's more eccentric story-telling habits (something that is much more on show in the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator ,  that Elise and I are now listening to!), and even the bizarre additions to the story are all quite on theme - like the 'square sweets that look round'. Having not read the story in years, I forgot how much the early half of the boo...

Published by Collins (Wm. Collins and Co. Ltd.): London and Glasgow, date unknown. First published in 1871. The sequel to ' Little Women/Good Wives. ' Followed by ' Jo's Boys. ' Two random points of information to note regarding this particular entry on the list: 1) This is the first book that Elise and I have finished together this year! I think this is the longest we've taken to finish something since we've been married, and that reflects mostly on the busy-ness (and resulting lack of energy) of life with a baby. 2) When we finished this book, I read out 'The End' and Elise queried my pronunciation of the word 'the.' This led us down a rabbit hole in which we suddenly realised that we all pronounce 'the' differently depending on whether it is followed by a vowel or a consonant! How have I reached this age and not realised that before!! Anyway... Little Men is the sequel to Little Women (and Good Wives, if you count Good Wives as a s...

As I said in my review of Peter Rabbit's Storytime Collection , I am wanting to find a way to acknowledge the books I read to Ezekiel without adding individual picture books to my reading list - I feel that would dilute it a bit much. So in this post, I've decided to look at a group of picture books all together. I've picked five picture books that I like (with a notable and noteworthy exception), and also asked Elise for five picture books she is  enjoying reading to Ezekiel. It's interesting (and helpful for this list) that our lists haven't overlapped at all this time around. So, here are ten picture books (plus one bonus 'book') that Ezekiel has been exposed to in the first 7ish months of his life: Karl's List Bunnies on the Bus - Philip Ardagh and (illustrator) Ben Mantle. Published by Walker Books Ltd: London, 2020 (2019). This is one of my favourites among our current picture books. A group of bunnies hijack a bus and hurtle through the town on th...