Karl's Reading List

Published as an audiobook by Librivox. Accessed via Fabuly. Narrated by Mark F Smith. Originally published 1922. I recently (the end of last year) got a new audiobook app, which (like Librivox, on which it is based) is made up of mostly public domain audiobooks, making it free to listen to. With a limited range of books to choose from, I've had to be a bit more creative in my choices (this is the app I listened to The Age of Innocence on), and, without knowing much about it, I decided to give this book a go. What a weird book! It is supposedly a biographical account of the author, Ferdynand Ossendowski, who travels from Russia, across Siberia to Mongolia, attempting to avoid the Communist takeover of the area. In his journeys he has many narrow escapes, and encounters a number of prominent (to that area and at that time) historical figures, often becoming quite close to them, regardless of whether they are friend or foe.  I say supposedly because parts of the account seem incredib...

Published by Penguin Books Limited: Middlesex, England, 1977. First published 1973. This is a book that took a long time to get through, partially because it is quite dense, and partially because it was the book I was reading while we were in the process of moving from my parents' house in Monaco to our new house in central Stoke. When you're busy packing and unpacking boxes, it can get in the way of turning pages... The topic of Cape to Cairo is quite interesting, though. In various sections - based on sections of railway track - it traces the history of the attempt at building a cross-African railroad from Cape Town all the way to Cairo, originally envisioned to show the spread and power of the British Empire. Each section covers a period of time and shows not only the building of the railway, but everything leading up to that point. This adds to the denseness of the book, and - although the book's focus is clear - also means that it can feel a little disjointed at times,...

Published by Little, Brown and Company: Great Britain, 1999. A book that makes it clear from the title what it will be about, The Year 1000 is an easy read about life in the Year 1000, specifically, England in the Year 1000. The authors have taken a 'work calendar' from the era, decorated with images from everyday life, and have used those images as a launch-pad, letting each chapter be based on a 'month,' and a 'theme.'  We get looks at the Church, at farming, at trade, and even at the roles of women, which turn out to have been a lot more 'equal' than we might stereotypically think such an era would have been! For example, the authors point out that various wills from the era show that women could own and inherit property, with examples including: "Aelfflaed, a noblewoman [who]...had supervised the farming of many acres with apparent success, while Wulfgeat of Donnington clearly found nothing unusual in leaving his lands to be run by his womenfolk...

Published by Bethany House Publishers/Baker Publishing Group: Bloomington, Minnesota/Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2005. Book 1 of 'Chronicles of the Kings.' One of my favourite Old Testament figures is King Hezekiah. I've even done two sermons talking about him. So, when I noticed this book series on my mum's book shelf (while we are staying at their house, between house purchases) I was interested enough to pick it up. The book is an easy read, and only took a few sittings to get through, but despite the easy nature and a subject that I was predisposed to like, Gods and Kings didn't really 'grip' me as I read it. I was wondering why, and eventually clicked that the narrative is a very 'literal' read - every feeling of every character is explicitly stated: he felt sad, she was angry, etc. This all makes it feel very... shallow. Weirdly. I miss the metaphors. I miss the 'show, don't tell.' I want to feel engaged by the text, but I only feel inf...

Published by Everyman’s Library/David Campbell Publishers, Ltd: London, 1993. First published 1939. Congratulations to The Grapes of Wrath on becoming my first unfinished Pulitzer Prize winner. There were moments I thought TheAge of Innocence would be it, but Grapes pushed on in by dint of its slow pace, casual blasphemy and coarse characters. Innocence at least had pace, suspense, and clean language. Grapes was long, slow, and often felt grubby. One of the main characters was also a preacher who gave up on being a preacher because he couldn’t stop sleeping with young women who joined his congregation. I persevered with it longer than I should have, due to it being quite well known, but in the end decided to give up on it officially after about 100 pages – out of a 500-plus-page book. In making this entry I have also made a decision, which I plan to apply to both Booker and Pulitzer books from this point on. If I have tried one of those books and given up on it, I will still...

Published by Hicks Smith & Sons Ltd: Wellington, Auckland, revised edition 1954. First published 1947. We three had a few days in a friend’s bach this week, and as is the case when in a new location, the first thing I did was check out the bookshelf (especially as I was struggling with The Grapes of Wrath, which I gave up on soon afterwards). Anyway, out of the fairly meager offerings available, I chose this book on the basis of it being a) not too long, b) not too dark, and c) not a hunting or fishing guidebook. I didn’t really know what I was getting into – particularly as the dust-jacket was missing - but it turned out to be quite unique, and fairly enjoyable. From N to Z is a slightly satirical look at New Zealand, by an author writing in the late 1940s (and revised in the early 1950s). He begins by telling us that “No attempt was made to make it a truthful description of New Zealand and therefore it qualifies as a Guide Book.” (pg 9). This gives the author leeway to ex...

Published by Penguin Books: London, England, 1992. Sacred Hunger has an interesting topic, an interesting theme, and interesting characters.  The majority of the narrative takes place aboard a slave-ship as it leaves England, travels to Africa, and begins 'trading' for slaves. Our main protagonist in this section of the ship is doctor Matthew Paris, the nephew of the ship's owner, who has come on the voyage to atone - or punish himself - for actions in his past that he believes led to the death of his wife and unborn child. Paris dislikes the whole venture, but is still willing to be a part of it... this will impact events as they unfold. This part of the book is powerful, fairly graphic in patches, far too coarse for my liking but with enough interest that I decided to give it a bit more time than I normally would have. Scattered throughout this narrative, we also get chapters focussed on Eramus Kemp, the son of the ship's owner, who has a strong and fairly irrational ...

Updated and Expanded version published by Zondervan Books: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2016. Originally published 1998. In Christian circles, The Case for Christ is an extremely famous apologetics book. Author Lee Strobel - a journalist who often covered court cases - felt challenged when his wife became a Christian, and set out to investigate the claims of Jesus himself. The Case for Christ was written much later, when Strobel took that base journey and re-enacted it by interviewing various experts to present the court-room style 'case' for Christ. Chapters have titles like "The Medical Evidence", "The Fingerprint Evidence" and "The Eyewitness Evidence" and are presented as interviews between 'prosecutor' Strobel and his interview subjects playing 'witnesses for the defence.' I first read The Case for Christ when I was much younger. I have always enjoyed it as a resource, and as a result, have given away my personal copy numerous times...

Published by Gefen Publishing House Ltd: Jerusalem, Israel, 2026. A very interesting book about a little-known community of people, Endless Exodus tells the history of Ethiopian Jews, from the stories about their possible historical origins, to the the modern desire for many of them to undertake ' aliyah ', or emigration to the nation of Israel. The book is presented in coffee-table format, with wide pages and prominent photographs throughout. Indeed, the history - while interesting - is less of the focus than the photographs themselves, providing a context for the photographs rather than the other way around.  I found this book fascinating, in highlighting a faith community that I had very little knowledge of, and providing an insight into how people in other parts of the world live. Recommended for anyone who enjoys history, geography, religious studies, and anthropology. Completed 10 February 2026. Previous Book ~ Next Book (LibraryThing Prize Books) Previous Book ~ Next B...

Published by Tyndale Publishers. Accessed via the Bible App at: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/10819-the-one-year-chronological-bible Five years ago Elise and I spent a year reading a chronologically arranged NLT version of the Bible , occasionally using the NIVUK audiobook version narrated by David Suchet to give my narrating skills a rest. This year, we once again did the chronological plan, but this time around chose to listen to the entire thing rather than use our physical copy (which we have lent to my parents anyway). This is, I think, the first time since beginning this blog that I am re-reviewing a previously reviewed book. I have re-read some books, but so far only ones that I read before I was writing reviews. But, this is a good book to break that trend, both because it is the Bible(!) and because listening to a (mostly) different version in a (for me) different format means that there were some different things that jumped out this time around. I do remember point...

I have officially decided to give up my Bookerworm quest. I still intend to at least try to read the majority of the books, but after truly disliking some of the Booker books, I have also decided not to bother pushing through ones that I begin to get 'funny' feelings about. This is also tied a bit to my faith; I want to grow in my sensitivity to the voice of God, and that does at times meaning walking away from worldly things. I'm sure this will be an ongoing conversation I have with God, but for now, this plot is to acknowledge which books I have begun and subsequently have decided not to finish, along with a (much smaller, as I want to at least give books a chance to surprise me) number I have decided not to bother with in advance. I will also give brief reasons why these books have made this list, rather than my actual 'completed books' list. Ironically, although I felt to give up on the books I'm going to list below, most of them weren't as bad as som...

Published by Scholastic New Zealand Limited: Auckland, New Zealand, 2020 (2010). First published in the 'My Story' series as 'A New Song in the Land', 2004. I saw this book in the local library on the same visit that I saw Sunrise on the Reaping, and wondered if it might be a topic and book that could possibly work for a high school text.  The author, Fleur Beale, is someone I have read in the past , and usually find her books decent, if not super gripping. This follows that trend, telling the story of a young Māori girl named Atapō, living around the time of the Treaty of Waitangi being signed. Indeed, the narrative includes Atapō being present at the signing. It's an interesting setting and topic, with Atapō having been a slave in a local village before escaping to a mission station. She receives dreams that she interprets as visions from her grandmother, but is also interested in this new 'atua' that the Pākehā speak of. Over time, she begins to embrace...

Published by Hyperion/Disney Book Group: New York, 2013 (2012). When I was training to be a teacher, this book was recommended by a particular vlog post we were directed to during one lesson. I hunted out a copy, read it, loved it, and started recommending it to others.  That was before I started my book list, so was at least nine years ago. Having finally picked it back up, I think I spent about the right amount of time between reads, because although I could remember some of the main beats, I was able to discover the specifics afresh and once again enjoy the process of discovery. The premise of Code Name Verity is quite sad: our Scottish (don't call her English!) protagonist (whom we eventually learn is named Julie), has been captured in Nazi-occupied France during World War 2, and is now being tortured and interrogated as a spy. In order to avoid further torture, as well as hopefully delay her execution, Julie has begun revealing secrets from her time with the Allies, starting w...

Published by InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, Illinois, 2010. Recently, I met someone who is theologically suspicious of Constantine. I realise that numerous people are, but this person is of the opinion that Constantine was 'playing' the Council of Nicaea, cynically attempting to take over the Church, and even changing Scripture! As someone who has studied Theology, including Church History, this hasn't sat well with me - it doesn't feel accurate to the historical record, or to my theological understanding of the purpose of Scripture.  So, I have been re-reading some theological works I enjoyed in years past, and making sure I understand the arguments for and against Constantine. Guess which side Defending Constantine takes! This book begins with a focus more on the history of the time period and a biography of Constantine. Author Leithart gives the reasons why he is convinced that Constantine experienced a 'genuine' conversion to Christianity, and argues per...

Published by Corax Books: USA, 2025. Looking for a book for my reading challenge that was "set in the Arctic or Antarctic", I noticed this book on the LibraryThing giveaway list for July. Nome seems Arctic-y, right?  Well, author Engelhard points on out, on page 259, that: "You may think of Nome as "the North," but its as far south of the pole as Mexico City from Kansas, one hundred miles shy of the Arctic Circle, at the same latitude as Fairbanks (Yet it decidedly looks and feels like the Arctic)." That last bracketed part is my salvation for this challenge. And anyway, the challenge says "set in the Arctic," not "set in the Arctic circle," so I'm calling this close enough. Early on in No Place Like Nome, the author mentions an online review that accuses his books of being "embellished ramblings" (page 40). He embraces this term, insisting that he will not be telling all the well-known stories of the area, but instead foc...

Published in an omnibus edition, 'Treasury of World Masterpieces: Herman Melville': 'Moby Dick'; 'The Confidence Man'; 'The Piazza Tales'; 'Billy Budd' by Octopus Books Limited: London, 1984. First published individually 1851. A number of years ago, when I was working as a milk runner, I used to listen to audiobooks while working, and one of the books I listened to was Moby Dick. I remember enjoying it quite a bit, and "getting" some of the choices the author made. For example, a number of chapters in Moby Dick stop following the plot entirely in order to instead talk about different species of whales, or the physical characteristics of a whale, or the history of whales, or to give a sermon about whales.... all of these could be seen as slowing down the book and giving unnecessary and somewhat dull details. But when I was listening to it all those years ago, I completely understood why they were included. Moby Dick is about obsession. A...

Published by Definitions/Random House Children's Publishers: London, 2014 (2013). This is an odd book. It is a little bit fairy-tale - a label that is made more explicit by the inclusion of Jacob Grimm's ghost as the narrator! It is a little bit horror, but only subtly, particularly to begin with. It is a little bit young adult romantic drama, but with one of the pair possibly under an enchantment. It is a little bit coming-of-age and taking responsibility for the difficulties of life, but this is told through the main boy's father's storyline (a very distant B-Plot), as well as through a Mastermind style TV show. It feels old-fashioned, but also is set in a vaguely contemporary world. It is also a book I almost accidentally got through. I picked it up off my classroom shelf and had finished it in two days.  As mentioned, the narrator is the ghost of Jacob Grimm, a spirit who can only be heard by the main protagonist, Jeremy Johnson Johnson (both his parents had the sam...

Published in flipback format by Hodder & Stoughton: London, UK, 2011. First published 2003. A book marketed right at me, seemingly, The Adventure of English is a history of the English language, from around 500 AD through til just after the year 2000. The subtitle is The Biography of a Language , and this feels fairly accurate: the focus is always on the language itself, and how the various influences of history has shaped it; events come and go within the pages only as needed for explanation. As a result, we get chapters on figures like Chaucer and Shakespeare, chapters on areas where specific branches of English have developed - such as USA, India and Australia - and even a few chapters devoted to Church History figures like Wycliffe and Tyndale, and their efforts to translate the Bible into English. It's all fascinating - far more than it might at first appear. Although the book eventually dragged on a bit (understandable, as it is covering almost 2000 years of history in a ...

Published by Jonathan Cape/Vintage Publishing: London, 2017. Looking for a book that had something to do with a plague or a virus (for this year's Reading Challenge) brought me to this non-fiction work about the Spanish Flu. It was either that or reading a fictional work including a flu or virus, but most of those end up being about zombies or vampires, or are in other ways dark and brooding - and I wasn't feeling like slogging through one of those! This book had moments of heaviness, when the toll from the flu was mentioned, but overall was an interesting work that taught me a lot about that pandemic in particular, as well as pandemics in general and a bit of human nature. I learned, for example, that the Spanish Flu (probably) killed between 1.5 to 2 percent of the people it infected, and yet it was one of deadliest pandemics that we know of. That puts the fact that Covid-19 (according to a very brief Google search) ended up killing about 1.4 to 2.7 percent of those it infect...

Published by Verso: London, UK, 2014. It wasn't as easy finding a book featuring pirates as I thought it was going to be. I've read plenty in the past -  Treasure Island is a classic I thought of revisiting, and more recently enjoyed Tress of the Emerald Sea had a good sci-fi twist to the pirate tale - but in the end I decided to read this non-fiction nautical history that I had on the classroom library shelf. It did take a while to get the hang of what was being written about in this book - the endnotes clarified that originally each chapter was published separately, and that makes a lot of sense! - but overall Rediker seems to be focussing on the lesser told stories of nautical history, often focussing less on the prominent figures (the Columbuses and Cooks of history) and more on the crew and slaves who also featured heavily at these times. Two chapters even focus on individual accounts, and these are fascinating, especially when giving a different perspective on the polit...