Karl's Reading List

Published by Arrow/Random House: London, UK, 1996 (1995). This book surprised me. Usually when I read a John Grisham book I have some idea what to expect, particularly with the more 'famous' of his books, which include a number that have been made into movies. I knew that this was one of those 'famous movie' books, and assumed as a result that it would be a fairly straightforward Grisham novel. Well, in some ways, yes... but it also had a number of features that were a bit out of the norm. In general, Grisham's lawyer novels follow a case from near the beginning of the novel all the way through to the end, with the final verdict providing the climatic moment of the film. The Rainmaker starts off with its protagonist, Rudy Baylor, still finishing law school, and doesn't even focus in on one specific case until quite a long way through the book. Before we get there, we have Rudy working on passing the bar, being fired from an upcoming job before he even gets it, b...

Published by Egmont UK Limited/Electric Monkey: London, UK: 2012 (2009). First published by HarperTeen: New York, USA, 2008. Book 1 in the 'Gone' series. Followed by 'Hunger.' I borrowed this book from a family member knowing nothing about it except that some of my students like it. I soon learned it was seen as a combination of Stephen King meets Lord of the Flies - neither of which are my usual jam (he says, having literally just finished reading a different book by the author of Lord of the Flies ). Yeah, it is like that. Particularly Stephen King's Under the Dome, which I know from the mini-series of the same name. Plus, it also has similarities to Lost (which I loved) and X-Men (some of which I enjoy). So, anyway... The basic premise of Gone  is that all of a sudden everyone fifteen and older who lives in or near the town of Perdido Beach mysteriously disappears, and the remaining children discover that they are now trapped by a mysterious barrier that has a ...

Published by Simon & Schuster, 2022. Audiobook uploaded to Audible 2022. Narrated by the author. In reviewing this book, I find myself strangely glad that I have such a small readership for my blog. Why? Because in seeing how Scientology attacks those who speak up against them, it would be more intimidating to publish this review if I was well-known! I mean, I still would ... but I'm not sure I'd enjoy being picketed and torn apart in the media for it. I kinda doubt they'll bother for me presently. This was a free book on Audible. It tells the life story of the author, Mike Rinder, who grew up in Scientology, rising to various prominent positions, before eventually leaving the organisation and turning whistleblower. When he joined it was still the early days of Scientology, and many of the 'higher-level' beliefs of Scientology (such as the existence of the evil alien Xenu) were either not-yet-developed or were closely guarded secrets, only revealed to members on...

Published by Hazard Press Limited: Christchurch, New Zealand, 1993. First published 1965. I think I first heard about this book in an article written by Margaret Mahy, or possibly Joy Cowley - two of the great New Zealand children's writers - in which the writer praised this book as being an early inspiration for them. Having now read it, I can see how reading this could help a young writer to realise that New Zealand stories could be told and told well. The Runaway Settlers tells the true (but fictionalised) story of Mary Small, who, along with her six children, escape from life with her abusive husband in Australia, and resettle near Lyttleton in Canterbury, New Zealand. Mary shows a lot of forethought when it emerges that she has been planning their escape for some time, sending small amounts of money to a friend in Sydney and putting it aside to enable the family to fund their escape. She also shows a lot of determination when facing various disappointments, even standing up to...

Unpublished at time of review. After I put up last year's list I was contacted by Marie, who is a friend of mine on Facebook, and asked if I would like to read a copy of her (currently) unpublished autobiography. Knowing only a little bit of her story, I realised that it was likely to be quite a heavy read. Wow. It is. Marie tells her life story openly and bluntly, not shying away from the 'ugly' elements, including a lot of drug use, taking up a life of prostitution, and even some mental health struggles. It is not an easy read at times, but Marie keeps the story moving along. Eventually she meets Jesus and we begin to see His power at work in her life. This is not the end of the story, however, and Marie goes through a number of further ups and downs, battling her addictions and desires even as she becomes more and more aware of God walking with her. This  is  a story of redemption and hope, but the raw unedited look at the pre-Christ portion of her life (a much larger se...

Published by Wordsworth Editions Limited: Hertfordshire, England, 1992. First published in 1847. This is my first time reading anything by one of the Brontë sisters, and whoa, its fairly intense! I thought I knew a bit of the plot, but upon reflection I think I might have been thinking of Jane Eyre instead. In this story, we meet Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, two siblings living in the titular Wuthering Heights, a remote farmhouse in West Yorkshire. At a young age a third child joins their household, 'Heathcliff', a child found by Mr Earnshaw and brought home to be raised with the family. Heathcliff and Catherine are close, and it becomes more and more apparent that Heathcliff is in love with Catherine. These two wander the moors together, and when spying on their neighbours at Thrushcross Grange, Catherine is attacked by the family's dogs and is forced to recover there. This causes an attachment to grow between her and Edgar Linton, the son in the Thrushcross Grange hous...

Published by Wordsworth Classics: Hertfordshire, England, 2010 (1996). Translated from Russian by Constance Garnett, 1913. Originally published in Russian 1868-1869. This was a hard slog. You may have noticed lately that my reading output has dropped. Although I can put some of it down to busyness or other external factors, a good chunk of my actual reading time over the last month (at least) has been devoted to getting through this novel. It is a slightly longer novel than some I've read this year (559 pages), but the style has been the hardest factor - I have managed to get through longer novels far quicker.  I'm still a little torn as to why this is, particularly as I really enjoyed The Brothers Karamazov , which is also by Dostoevsky. For a while I thought it might be the translation, but both novels were translated by the same person, so that also seems unlikely. One thing that might explain it came up when I began looking into the book's creation a bit further after f...

Published by Orion Books: London, England, 2014 (2013). Over the past few days Elise and I had a mini-holiday in Wellington, staying at the home of some friends. Rather than take a lot of reading material I looked through their bookshelf and ending up reading this novel. I had never heard of Linwood Barclay before, but he is a Canadian author, and writes a lot of detective stories. This is one such story, which borders on the 'thriller' genre in patches. Private detective Cal Weaver, stopped at traffic lights on a rainy night, is approached by a teenage girl wanting a lift. At first he refuses her, but when she admits to knowing Cal's now-deceased son Scott, Cal decides to pick her up. After a confusing set of circumstances Claire goes missing and now Cal is determined to figure out what happened to her. He must face off against a fairly corrupt police force, a killer on the loose, the antagonistic mayor of the town, and try to repair the relationship he has with his wife w...

Published by Huia Publishers: Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2013. This one wasn't for me. A Young Adult novel written by a Kiwi author (and one whom I had previously enjoyed reading ), Bugs seemed like a good book to try as we look for more English curriculum books in my college. But, nah... Bugs is a Maori teenager living in Taupo with her solo mother. We never learn Bugs' real name (although it starts with 'Al'), with her nickname being given early on in life - based on Bugs Bunny. Bugs is tough, argumentative, and very intelligent, although none of her teachers seem to see it. Bugs' mother does , and is trying to push her daughter to study law at university. Bugs resents the amount others in her life are focused on her future, just wanting to enjoy being a teenager, and hanging with her good friend Jez (Jeremy). The arrival of a new rich white girl, Charmaine 'Stone Cold' Fox, threatens to upset even this, as Jez develops a crush on the new girl, and ...

Published by Chatto & Windus: London, England, 2002. Translated by Esther Tyldesley. When I started the Alphabet Soup challenge, I knew that some letters would have a few less options to choose from, and felt that X would probably be the hardest. As I approached this letter I did occasionally glance ahead, and would see one or two books at most on display at any one time. In the end, when I went to get a book out for X there was only one fiction book currently in the library by an X author. Skimming through it I was unimpressed, so I browsed through non-fiction for only the third time in this challenge.  The Good Women of China is a collection of biographical stories told by Xinran, who for eight years ran a radio programme in China called Words on the Night Breeze dedicated to telling the stories of Chinese women. Fifteen such stories, including Xinran's own upbringing, are presented here, including some so traumatic that she was never able to share them on air.  The f...

Published by Penguin Books: North Shore, NZ, 2004. This book tells the story of three Maori brothers, Pita, Rangi and Tu, who one by one join the Maori battalion and end up fighting in Egypt and Italy during World War 2. Tu, our narrator, is the youngest of the three, and the vast majority of the book is presented as his journal entries from the war, with an additional framing device being that he is handing these journal pages on to his niece and nephew in order for them to understand their father, Pita, more. While Tu's journal entries are obviously mostly focussed on his own experiences, other chapters are interspersed with the 'journal entries', telling Pita's story in a third-person narrative. It is a little confusing as to how these may or may not be being presented to Tu's nephew and niece, as if we are to take the narrative at face value all of these chapters should be Tu's journal, but obviously are not. However, putting that aside we get a good idea of...

With Margie Thomson. Published by HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Ltd: Auckland, NZ, 2020. Wow. So, Stan Walker is a New Zealand singer/songwriter who came to prominence as an 18-year old when he won the 2009 season of Australian Idol. I knew that about him. I knew he had a faith of some sort. And Elise has been listening to a lot of his more recent music lately, including some beautiful pieces in Te Reo. That's really it. Elise is actually the one who found this book at a second hand shop, and we decided to check it out. I say again, wow. Stan has had an incredible life. Incredible highs, and incredible lows. He talks about his journey candidly, sometimes too bluntly for comfort - including his abusive upbringing, his abuse and repeated rape at the hands of a relative, his diagnosis with cancer and subsequent operation to remove his stomach... and his career, his journey on Idol, and his faith journey - coming to know the love, forgiveness, and transforming power of Jesus. I...