Karl's Reading List

Published by Harper/HarperCollinsPublishers: 2008. First published 1990. It's been a while since I finished a book, which feels strange! I know why though! In the background I have been reading Moby Dick , which is taking a long time to get through. I've also traded my shorter audiobooks (like Thursday Murder Club and its sequels) for The Institutes of Christian Religion by John Calvin, and that is gonna take a long time to finish! Finally, I've also been reading a few books to do with recent or upcoming sermons, and neither Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard or Jews and Jesus   by Zola Levitt are quick reads. Anyway, all this to say that I picked up Eric from the school library on a whim the other day, and was happy to read something I could finish quickly. This is the 9th Discworld novel chronologically and 4th involving the wizard Rincewind, although the first Rincewind novel that I have reviewed here - previously only having reviewed the 31st Discworld novel Mons...

Published by Corgi Books: London, UK, 2003. Originally published 2002. The twenty-seventh Discworld novel (all of which can be read as standalone entries), Night Watch follows Ankh-Morpork watchman Sam Vimes, who has (throughout the numerous Discworld novels he has appeared in) been repeatedly promoted until he has become Commander (a role he sometimes finds tedious). When the book opens, Vimes is helping his colleagues bring the psychopathic Carcer to justice. However, due to a lightning strike on the Library of the Unseen University (home to the wizards of Ankh-Morpork) both Vimes and Carcer are accidentally thrown back in time. Carcer quickly kills the man who taught young Vimes the ropes and who overhauled the Night Watch, leaving Vimes to fill the role himself and become his own role-model. This becomes more difficult as a rebellion against the ruler of the city is brewing, and Vimes knows it won't end well. Discworld is an interesting mix of fantasy and satire, often basing i...

Published by Corgi Books: London, 2006 (1997).  First published 1996. I remember Hogfather being one of my favourite Discworld novels when I was younger, mostly because of one scene in particular. The wizards of Unseen University become aware that there is an 'excess of belief' in the world (because, unbeknown to them, the 'Hogfather' - who is Discworld's equivalent of Santa - has been 'killed'). This excess of belief, coupled with the wizards being in a fairly magical location, means that as they discuss hypothetical beings who could conceivably exist - such as a 'hair-loss fairy' or the 'god of hangovers' - these beings begin to spring into existence. The wizards joke about this, positing the existence of an "odd-sock monster" who eats one sock from pairs put into the laundry. Then, when the odd-sock monster inevitably springs into existence, the wizards discuss going into the laundry area to look for it, while also admitting some...

Published by Corgi Books/Random House Children's Books: London, 2011 (2001). Surprisingly, this is only the second Terry Pratchett novel I have ever reviewed on this blog. I say surprising because I have enjoyed Pratchett's works, particularly his the novels set in the satirical fantasy world of  Discworld  for years. This book is the first one written by Pratchett to be aimed at a slightly younger audience than the 'main' Discworld books, and bases the plot around a parody of the Pied Piper story. Maurice is a talking cat, given the power of speech (and intelligence) around the same time and in the same location as a group of rats he now works with. The rats received their intelligence after eating rubbish left outside the Unseen University (a wizarding school). How Maurice received his intelligence is left a mystery for much of the book - but will be fairly obvious if you think about it. Now Maurice and the rats, with the help of a 'stupid-looking kid' who pl...

Published by Penguin Books: London, England, 2003 (2001). The quote on the cover of this book compares it to Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I get mostly reminded of Terry Pratchett  and Discworld. It is bizarre but humorous, full of wordplay and plot diversions; a world where seemingly anything goes. A world where the protagonist's fugitive time-travelling father will pause time and show up mid-scene in order to query his daughter - literary detective Thursday Next - about whether bananas exist in her version of reality or not. A world where characters from classic fiction are beginning to cross over into 'the real world' and vice versa. A world where vampires and werewolves exist, but its not the main thrust of the plot at all. A world where cloned dodos are now so common as to be a bit of a pest. A world where literature is so popular that the audience is able to perform entire Shakespearean plays from memory at sold-out venues. ...

Published by Corgi Books: Great Britain, 2004 (2003). I love Terry Pratchett's writings, particularly his Discworld series which - at over 50 books - have gone into so many different parts of the world and feature so many different characters that it's hardly right to call it a "series" anymore... Though a substitute term would be hard to come by. Anthology? History?  Many of the Discworld novels follow particular groups of characters as the grow from novel to novel, but some, like Monstrous Regiment, follow a group of individuals for a "one-off" adventure. Polly Perks disguises herself as a boy and joins the army in order to find out what happened to her brother. In the process, she finds a number of other women, also disguised as men for various reasons, and works her way up the ranks due to her intelligence. This is the basic plot, but of course being a Discworld novel there is far more to the story than that.  Discworld novels are heavy s...