Karl's Reading List

Published as an ebook by Shadow Dragon Press: Tijeras, New Mexico, 2026. Comedy is hard to write. What seems hilarious to one person can come across as just-plain-dumb or confusing to another.  Or, just not that funny. Dr Gnoll is meant to be a comedy. It is loosely a parody of James Bond, particularly 'Dr No.' It is also billed as a humour-filled parody of "everything from spy movies, role-playing games, and video games." I appreciate what the authors are intending to do here. I just didn't find it that funny. The 'humour' comes from wordplay (such as Dr Gnoll being a gnoll, James Bond's Q becoming "Kew", and the lead female being called Maxine Charisma), some innuendo (particularly regarding the MacGuffin rod that Dr Gnoll is after, and the way it is described once Dr Gnoll has it), and then very out-of-place references to the fictionality of the world being described.  This latter element is a little jarring at times, as it is referenced s...

Published by Amulet Books/Abrams Books: New York, NY, 2020 (2019). I came across this book when I saw a student reading it in class, and was curious enough to get it out after them. As the title may give away, this book is inspired by the game Cluedo (or Clue in America). It is even subtitled 'A Clue Mystery', although it is a fairly loose adaptation, with the characters now almost all being high-school students, and their names and characters being reworked to fit that setting better. So, instead of 'Professor Plum' we now have Phineas 'Finn' Plum, who is a science geek but very much not a professor. And instead of Colonel Mustard we have Sam 'Mustard' Maestor, a relative new-comer to the school with a military school background. Mrs White, however, remains pretty much identical to her character in the game. The setting is much closer to the game, with the house in question - Tudor House - being an old accommodation building in the school grounds, with ...

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited: Australia, 2017. First published 1999. Book 1 in 'A Series of Unfortunate Events.' Followed by 'The Reptile Room.' A well-known semi-gothic humorously dark children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events has been made into a movie starring Jim Carrey (based on three of the books) and a Netflix series starring Neil Patrick Harris (covering all thirteen). I have seen the movie, but only clips from the series. However, what comes through in both adaptations is the very particular style of the books. Lemony Snicket (the pseudonym of author Daniel Handler) is not just the writer or the book, but a character in his own rights, who comments on the proceedings throughout the book, generally lowering the expectations of any audience member who may wish for 'happy' parts, by assuring us that what begins badly will continue to get worse.  And it does, but in a strangely light, humorous and children'...

Published by Redhook Books/Orbit/Hachette Book Group: New York, NY, 2020 (2019). This is one of those books that caught my eye on a library shelf, and I got out with very little knowledge apart from judging it's cover. It is also one of those books that turned out to be very enjoyable. Charley Sutherland is a lecturer at Prince Albert University (a riff on Victoria University) in Wellington, New Zealand, and has the unusual ability to 'summon' characters to life from books he is reading. He has been able to do this since at least the age of four, when his mother found him playing with the Cat in the Hat, and demanded that he put it back. Charley's brother Rob (the main point-of-view character in the novel) is a bit embarrassed by Charley's 'weirdness' and wants to keep it a secret, including from his long-term girlfriend Lydia. This becomes more difficult as strange events start to escalate, including a Uriah Heep becoming an intern at Rob's law firm, an...

Published as an audiobook by Naxos Rights International Ltd./Naxos Audiobooks, 2008. Narrated by Neville Jason. Originally published in 1938. This is a apparently a very well-known version of the King Arthur legend, and is the basis for the 1963 animated Disney movie of the same name. Elise suggested that we find an Arthur version, I suggested this one, and we gave it a go. If you've seen the Disney movie (I have, Elise has not so far) you would know that its quite different to many versions you've heard before: Merlin refers to modern (by 1960s standards) knowledge, Arthur is known generally as 'Wart', much of the runtime is spent transforming Arthur into various animals in order to teach him life lessons, and Merlin also does battle against 'Madame Mim', rather than one of his more traditional enemies like Morgan le Fey. So, going into the book I expected it to be somewhat different, but still to have a recognizable 'Arthurian' story to it. The book is...

Published as an audiobook by Audible Studios and released 30-11-2012. Originally published by Macmillan Publishers, 2012. Narrated by Lauren Fortgang. I recently got an offer of 2 months of Audible for 99c a month, so will have access to a few more audiobooks for a little while (though I'm still pacing myself with them better than in the past). Shadow and Bone was actually free to listen to for the month of June, so it seemed like a good excuse to check out a series I've only vaguely heard of until now. This is a Young Adult novel through and through. It is the most Young Adulty of any fantasy book I've ever read. The main character, Alina Starkov, is a typical Young Adult female protagonist: spunky, learning slowly about her special talents (in this case, 'sun-summoning') that will lead her to eventually be recognised as the book's 'chosen one', no real family connections (she is, in fact, an orphan), and, of course, becoming attracted to two different ...

Published by Fontana Books: London and Glasgow, 1966. First published 1934. I hunted out this book when I heard that Hugh Laurie had made a miniseries based on it. It is classic Agatha Christie in that it has a twisty mystery plot, and a little different in that it has a little more humour than most of her books, and also in that the protagonists are two very amateur youngish sleuths who are investigating mostly out of boredom, rather than being one of Christie's more established sleuths. Bobby is the first character to get involved in the mystery. He is the fourth son of a vicar, is fairly absent-minded and clumsy, and when playing golf (badly), comes across an almost-dead man who, presumably, has fallen off a bluff and is now near death. The man utters his final words, the mysterious phrase "Why didn't they ask Evans?", before dying in front of Bobby. There seems to be nothing suspicious about the death, and this leads to the first part of the plot meandering quite ...

Published by Arrow Books: London, 2018 (2017). This collection of short stories, published to celebrate 40 years since the release of A New Hope (aka the original Star Wars movie) retells scenes from that movie from the perspective of 40 minor (or greater canon) characters from the film itself. Story perspectives include those of more well-known figures such as Greedo, Obi-Wan, and even Yoda, Lando and the force-ghost of Qui-Gonn, as well as far more obscure ones, such as one of the Jawas, members of the Cantina Band, and the trash-monster from the Death Star. Each story is told by a different author or authors, and therefore the stories range in genre from comedic to dramatic, to a parody of Shakespeare (the latter being the contribution of Ian Doescher, who has also produced full-length parody 'plays' of Stars Wars in Shakespearean form elsewhere ). It would take too long to review each of the 40 stories, but as with any short story collection, some are good, and others are j...

Published by Overseas Missionary Fellowship (IHQ) Ltd: Singapore, 1991. Based on an Indonesian original. The subtitle of this book is Cleopas Lumbantobing, Challenger of Demons, Evangelist, Educator and Peacemaker, and is not only a biography of that individual, but also of Ingwar Ludwig Nommensen, a German missionary (and later Bishop) to the Batak Highlands of North Sumatra, Indonesia in the late 19th century. Cleopas was born the third son of a raja (chief) and was prophesied of by the local batu (witch-doctor) as being someone who was destined to overthrow his father's kingdom, "and the very foundations of Batak tradition...He will lead our people astray into a strange new teaching." (prologue) The batu told Cleopas's father to kill him (thus the title of the book), but instead the raja sent his son and first wife away. When Cleopas grew up he became a Christian through Nommensen's teaching, and for the rest of his life served as a missionary to his own peo...

Published by Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.: New York, 1979. This tale is a modern "prose adaptation" of "a poem written about 1400 by an unknown author" (page ix). It tells the story of Gawain, a knight from King Arthur's court, and his encounter with the magical Green Knight. The knight arrives at King Arthur's court and challenges someone to give him a single blow with an axe, which he will return a year and one day later. Gawain takes up the challenge, removes the knight's head with a single stroke and is then horrified when the knight picks up his severed head, reminds Gawain of his promise, and leaves. The story follows Gawain as he seeks the whereabouts of the Green Knight to honour his promise, and spends a lot of time at a castle he encounters on his travels where the queen seeks to seduce him! The story is a fairly simple one, but there are times you can tell the original text was written in a very different time to our own. Durin...