Karl's Reading List

Published by Victory Press: London & Eastbourne, 1976 (1962 - fourth edition). First published in 1957. Wow, it's been five years since the last time I read a book by Watchman Nee ! Time flies! I got this book from a box gifted to me by my late grandpa's wife, Leone - very generously. I think I have another copy of it somewhere, by it jumped out at me, and I decided to have a browse. A browse turned to a read quite quickly. Sit, Walk, Stand is based on a series of sermons that Watchman Nee did, which were inspired by the book of Ephesians. From that book, Nee draws the titular words out as key: "1. Our position in Christ - 'Sit' (2.6) 2. Our Life in the World - 'Walk' (4.1) 3. Our Attitude to the Enemy - 'Stand' (6.11)" (page ix). The rest of the book is broken into three chapters (sermons?), each of which focuses on one of those keys, unpacking them in the insightful and slightly foreign (culture) style that I have come to recognise as Nee...

Published by Hodder and Stoughton: Great Britain, 2020. I read this book after some co-workers were talking it up. These Violent Delights is a retelling of (the first half of) Romeo and Juliet, but set in 1920s Shanghai. Oh, and there is a monster that is making people kill themselves. Yeah. It is a well-written book, a bit of a page turner, though also quite violent. When the monster strikes, its victims will rip their own throats out, and this does happen on occasion fairly descriptively. Fortunately most of those scenes are fairly short. Our main point-of-view character is Juliette Cai, heiress of the Scarlet Gang, who has recently returned from four years living in America and is now stepping up into her role within the gang. She has already had a relationship with Roma Montagov (heir of the Russian gang the White Flowers) that ended in heartbreak and betrayal, but the two are thrown back into each others' worlds thanks to the arrival of the monster. They must learn to work tog...

Published by Hyperion Books for Children: New York, NY, 2007. First published 2003. This is a book I had as part of my classroom shelf until a student broke the spine. I sat it on my desk meaning to repair it, but started reading it anyway during silent reading times with my junior classes to help role-model. It's actually pretty good. A simple story, definitely based at older kids/younger teens, but entertaining, imaginative and occasionally going to darker places than I would have expected; there are a lot more deaths than in most children's books! The story begins by following an unnamed orphan girl who is the slave of Master Lan. Master Lan is a revolting and nasty man, who is also in charge of looking after the emperor's dragons (this is set in a fictionalised ancient China). As Master Lan is also quite lazy, this responsibility falls mostly to the slave girl. Near the start of the book one of the two remaining dragons die, and Master Lan tries to find a way to cover i...

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 Puffin Books/Penguin Group: London, England: 1994 (1990). First published in French, 1872. My second Jules Verne book on this blog. I began reading this one, was surprised by the level of humour involved, and decided to keep it to read with Elise once our previous book had been finished. I'm glad I did. Most of us probably have some idea of the plot of Eighty Days , probably through having seen a movie version - the most recent one being the Jackie Chan one - and there are certainly a number of the major beats of those films in the book. But, as is the case with many adaptations of older adventure books, a movie is developed to be more 'cinematic', and therefore bigger in scale than its source material. In terms of Eighty Days, that means that the movie versions cram in more locations and more modes of transport, whereas the book mostly focusses on passenger liner ships and trains. Phileas Fogg also has carefully plotted his course to be the most direct route ...

Published by Sure Foundation: Indianapolis, Indiana, 1965. This little book (94 pages long) took quite a while to read, not because it is hard-going, but because it a book you need to chew on a bit. Watchman Nee talks about 'breaking' the hold of our 'outer man' (aka, our soul, or our flesh) and letting the 'inner man' (our spirit, and in a Christian, the Spirit of God) shine out more prominently. " How sad that some still imagine that if they could only absorb more teaching, accumulate more preaching material, and assimilate more Bible exposition, they would be profitable to God. This is absolutely wrong. God's hand is upon you to break you - not according to your will, but His; not according to your thoughts, but His; not according to your decision, but His." (page 36) The challenge, according to Nee, is not to strive for perfection in our own rights, but to truly lay ourselves down before God and allow Him access to every part of our life. He ta...

Published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.: Wheaton, Illinois, 1979. First published 1957. This is one of those 'solid' theology books that take a bit of time to read, as you need to chew over what the author is saying. But it is also a very stirring and challenging read as well. I had heard of Watchman Nee many times, but this is the first book I have read of his. Something that I really enjoy about reading books by authors from a different culture is that they can come at something from a different angle. That seems to be the way here. Watchman Nee talks about the transforming power of the cross and the Spirit, but presents it in simple (yet challenging) terms - the "normal Christian life" is anything but 'normal'! "Do you know that God is asking of you your very life? There are cherished ideals, strong wills, precious relationships, much-loved work, that will have to go; so do not give yourself to God unless you mean it. God will take you seriousl...