Karl's Reading List

Published by Word Publishing: Austin, Texas, 1995. I first read this book when I was around 13 years old, and have read it again at least once in the intervening years. It is an interesting genre, which I have not seen represented often: what I would refer to as "Christian Horror." Already that seems bizarre, right?! And it is, but it also works amazingly well. The set up of the story is that Cliff Benson, a nature photographer, is found dead - and seemingly bitten in two! - in the wilderness near Hyde River, with his wife Evelyn stumbling from the wilderness, terror-stricken, covered in blood and unable to recall what has happened. Cliff's brother, Steve, turns up to investigate, and is soon partnered with local sheriff's deputy Tracy Ellis. Blame is originally put on a bear - mostly because no other animal can explain the horrific death - but as the investigation continues, Steve begins to suspect something else is going on. Meanwhile, the town of Hyde River is conc...

Published by Wordsworth Editions Limitied/Classics: Hertfordshire, 1993. First published 1818. I don't think this needs a lot of introduction. Frankenstein is a very popular book, having been continually in print since it was first written in 1818 by a then 18-year old Mary Shelley. A young scientist, mad with power, creates a creature and brings it to life, only to be overwhelmed by what he has done and reject the creature, leading to the monster growing up alone, isolated, and resentful.  The question "Which one of the two is the real monster?" has been asked ever since the book's publication, a fact not helped by the public association of the term 'Frankenstein' with the monster, when it is the name of the scientist - it's almost as if the question could be "Which is the real Frankenstein?" However, in the book the creature is a little more monstrous than I had anticipated: he is lonely and misunderstood, but he is also quick to violence, and ...

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 by Egmont UK Limited/Electric Monkey: London, UK: 2012 (2009). First published by HarperTeen: New York, USA, 2008. Book 1 in the 'Gone' series. Followed by 'Hunger.' I borrowed this book from a family member knowing nothing about it except that some of my students like it. I soon learned it was seen as a combination of Stephen King meets Lord of the Flies - neither of which are my usual jam (he says, having literally just finished reading a different book by the author of Lord of the Flies ). Yeah, it is like that. Particularly Stephen King's Under the Dome, which I know from the mini-series of the same name. Plus, it also has similarities to Lost (which I loved) and X-Men (some of which I enjoy). So, anyway... The basic premise of Gone  is that all of a sudden everyone fifteen and older who lives in or near the town of Perdido Beach mysteriously disappears, and the remaining children discover that they are now trapped by a mysterious barrier that has a ...