Karl's Reading List

Published by Bantam Books: New York, 1996 (1995). This is the first ever 'Expanded Universe' Star Wars novel I've ever read, and is part of what is now considered the 'Legends' universe (aka, all of this was considered Star Wars canon until Disney took over Lucasfilm and decided to reboot everything). This makes Children of the Jedi an interesting read. It is apparent while reading that many of the characters referenced have turned up in other novels previously (novels I have not read). It is apparent that characters we know from the movies, such as Luke, Leia and Han, have also had numerous other adventures that likely feature in other novels I have not read. And yet I also know that according to current 'canon' none of these stories actually happened (I know, I know, all of this is fiction and none of this happened, but its still confusing...). So... its like reading some sort of complicated fan-fiction. It's also a very weird novel. Luke gets trapped

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 Pan Books: London and Basingstoke, 1997. First published 1996. Alexander Kinloch is a reclusive artist, living in the highlands of Scotland and trying to stay off the radar as much as he can manage while still earning an income. One day, after learning that his step-father has had a (non-fatal) heart attack, he arrives home to his remote stone cabin to find four thugs demanding to know "where is it?" When Al fails to gives them a satisfactory answer they beat him up and leave him for dead. This mysterious event is the beginning of an adventure that sees Al reconnect with his estranged wife, help a horse disappear, do battle against his antagonistic step-sister and figure out the mystery of what has happened to the embezzled funds of his step-father's brewery. If that sound like a lot of disparate plotlines, it is, though writer Francis does manage to weave them together in a fairly readable fashion. This is the first book I have read by this author, and altho

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 The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited: Middlesex, England, 1977 (1967). After a few 'heavier' or 'denser' books, I felt the need for something a bit 'lighter', and so pulled an older anthology off my bookshelf where it has been sitting for years. This is definitely an older- style book as well - very English and mildly dated, though not distractingly so (the most notable example is one character who keeps saying "I dig it"). There are eight stories within, and although they are all fairly straightforward, I was surprised that some took a slightly darker turn! High Quest by Donne Avenell stands out to me as the most unexpected of the stories. We follow John Killick as he travels to the Alps, retracing the footsteps of his grandfather, Henry Killick. Henry and his climbing companion Albert Blythe were killed trying to climb the north face of  'the Henker', which so far no climbers have successfully scaled. When Killick arrives in the r

Published by Puffin Books: London, England, 2000 (1994, 1984). When I was reading this book, I had somehow come under the belief that it was written a very young author - that Swindells had perhaps even been in high school when he wrote it. Since finishing it, I have learned that Swindells was actually much older, and that this wasn't even his first book. I tell you this, because the revelation that Swindells was an author well in to his literary career came as a bit of a shock to me. Brother in the Land tells the story of Danny Lodge who, with his younger brother and parents, is living in the little English town of Skipley. When nuclear war breaks out Danny's life changes forever. As the book progresses life in Skipley goes from back to worse; by the end of the novel most of the people in Danny's life have died in one way or another, and although the book has a 'happy ending' of sorts, this is fairly 'tacked on' (literally. Swindells apparently added the la

Published by Pearson Education Limited: Essex, England, 2007. First published 1967. The Outsiders is notable for a few reasons: it is one of the first 'Young Adult' books to be given that title, and its author was only 17 when she wrote and published the book. It was also made into a film by Francis Ford Coppola (that I haven't seen), starring, among others, Patrick Swayze and Tom Cruise! The book follows Ponyboy Curtis, a 14 year old member of the Greasers gang. Ponyboy is mostly in the gang because his brothers are; he is kind and considerate and loves reading (although he does also get involved in gang fights). When a fellow gang-member kills someone from a rival gang, he and Ponyboy are forced to flee, and end up saving some children from a life-threatening scenario. I began this book without knowing that the author was 17 at the time of writing, but when I found out that information it did make a bit more sense, as the book does go in a few different directions over th