Karl's Reading List

Published by Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd: Edinburgh, date unknown. First published 1823. Sir Walter Scott was an author who lived and wrote in the 18th and 19th century, and was one of the most popular authors of his day. He also was an author of predominantly "historical fiction," meaning that many of his books (this one included) were set in a far earlier time period than he was writing.  This makes reading his works doubly fascinating for me, because we aren't just getting a glimpse into the time period of the novel; we are getting a glimpse into the time period of the novel as interpreted by the time period that Scott lived in. Both are different from our modern culture, and they are individually different from each other as well. So, in Quentin Durward we get a tale of chivalry and honour set in 1468, with the norms of that time explained and justified by the norms of Scott's time - a setting and culture  doubly  removed from ours. What about the story, though? We...

Published as an audiobook by Dragonsteel, LLC., 2023. Narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Originally published 2023. As the title might suggest, this is a humorous book about a modern-era man who ends up posing as a wizard in a medieval-style England. As we dig into the story a little, we learn that he's not technically in the real medieval England, but rather a parallel dimension that resembles medieval England. He's also not technically a modern-era man, with the book being set a little into the future (allowing for dimension travel, as well as minor technological augments and nanites). This is smart writing from Sanderson, as it allows him to create a world that seems medieval, without needing to do too much worrying about absolute historical accuracy. In terms of story, our hero awakens in a field, surrounded by scorch marks and the scattered pages of a half-burnt copy of the titular handbook. He has amnesia, which is a great way for us to learn about him as he lea...

Published by Profile Books in association with National Trust: London, 2012 (2011). This is a very readable history of England, from the time of the early Saxon kings up until the publication of the book in 2011. Jenkins clarifies early on that his focus is on England itself, rather than Britain as a whole, only bringing in other parts of the world as they interact with England. In practice this does mean that Britain often features (particularly once Wales and Scotland are to some degree 'absorbed' into the larger nation) but on the whole a reader of this book would need another resource to find out about those nations. I've always enjoyed English history, and my interest in it grew after working at Westminster Abbey from 2008-2009 during my OE. Although I knew some of the main facts of the various monarchs, particularly post-William the Conqueror, Jenkins fleshes them out well, somehow making certain elements more memorable than I had previously found.  The feud between H...

Published by Book Club Associates/Hodder and Stoughton: Suffolk, England, 1974 (1973). This one took me a while to get through. I've been reading it in the background while other books have been on the go for a couple of months at least, far longer than I'd usually take to get through a fiction book. Part of this is that the Alphabet Soup challenge took some of my focus, but part of it is also that the book is quite slow. Not boring. Just slow. Able to be read as a stand-alone book (as indeed I have done so), The Hollow Hills is actually the second book in a series following the life of Merlin. This book follows Merlin from the morning after he has helped Uther to 'have his way' with Ygraine (the event that leads to the birth of Arthur) and ends with Arthur being proclaimed king at age 14. In between, Merlin has a number of adventures, including a time of overseas pilgrimage, finding the sword of Macsen Wledig (which Arthur will name 'Caliburn') and avoiding as...

Published by Penguin Books: London, England, 1977 (1951). Translated by Nevill Coghill. First published in Middle English in the 12th Century. Overall, this is not a book I'd recommend. It is interesting in some ways, giving an insight to the different social strata of 12th Century England, as well as discussions about the sorts of things considered socially acceptable(!), but it is also (in some of the stories) very bawdy and in fact rather coarse. I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that old books will have more 'conservative' sensibilities, but although this is somewhat true if you go back to, say, Victorian Literature, going too far back comes out the other side of that era of history and back into the ribald. The structure of The Canterbury Tales is that a group of travellers, making pilgrimage to the grave of St Thomas Beckett in Canterbury, are challenged by their first-night host - who will be travelling with them - to each tell two stories in order to win th...

Published by Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd: London, Edinburgh, and New York, date unknown. First published 1900. This obscure book by a fairly obscure author (one who does not even have a wikipedia page at present, and who was actually an English clergyman writing under a pseudonym) has a special connection to me. This book, in fact this copy of this book, was originally given to my grandfather, Leslie Howan, and in turn was read by my mother when she was young. And, as a result, it is the book she credits with inspiring my first name, Karl. It is not a book I have ever read before though. It turns out that Prince Karl is quite a "wholesome" (as Elise described it) adventure story, and one that sucked us in despite being fairly straightforward. Hermann Reichal, his wife Elsa and son Michael live in the Black Forest in Germany, and are preparing for the annual trip down the Raal river on a raft of logs to sell. However, their preparation is cut short by the arrival of Princess El...

Published by Pan Books/Maxmillan: London, England, 2014 (2013). Sequel to Saxon: The Book of Dreams . Like its predecessor, The Emperor's Elephant follows the adventures of Sigwulf, a Saxon serving in the court of King Carolus of the Franks, who would become Charlemagne. This time around, Sigwulf and his former servant Osric are tasked with tracking down a number of exotic creatures and presenting them as gifts to the Caliph of Baghdad. They are helped in this task by Walo, a simple young man who has a gift of caring for animals. This book, by nature of the plot, is far more episodic than the previous one. We get a journey to the north to collect various animals, then the journey south stopping at various locations, an arrival at Baghdad, and then another journey resulting from a meeting with the Caliph. In each of these 'episodes', it feels as though the author is seeking to show what the world was like at this time, and that perhaps the plot is secondary to this task. Onc...

Published by Pan Books/Macmillan: London, 2013 (2012). Followed by Saxon: The Emperor's Elephant. This book is set in an era I have not often read about, during the rise of Carolus, the king of the Franks who would become Charlemagne. The story follows Sigwulf, the son of a conquered Saxon king, who is sent as 'tribute' to Carolus's court, and befriends Carolus's nephew Hroudland. Sigwulf has eyes that are different colours, and for much of the book hides this fact by wearing an eyepatch. He also is visited on occasion by the fetch (ghost) of his dead twin brother. Yet neither of these facts are really that important to the story, only adding a bit of variety to a character who, otherwise, is a fairly passive figure. He goes from event to event, gaining a lover, growing in influence, becoming an archer and a spy, but most of these things happen to him rather than from his own initiative. I realise that the author is trying to show that Sigwulf must do a lot of these...

Published in an omnibus edition "The Complete Illustrated Works of Mark Twain" by Bounty Books: London, 2004 (1986). First published 1889. The basic story of Connecticut Yankee is one I've heard before, and seen variations of in movies (I recall a Martin Lawrence version called, I think, Black Knight ). A "modern day" Yankee falls asleep for some reason (here he is struck in the head during a fight) and wakes up in sixth century England, where his modern-day knowledge allows him to survive, and even pass himself off as a magician greater than Merlin. Reading the original version of this story is both interesting and surprising.  Mark Twain seems to be writing a satire here. I say "seems to" because I get the feeling that most references go over my head. Certain things I can figure out from the context (such as the term "hello-girl" referring to a phone operator), but with so much of the plot wrapped up in showing the superiority of Tw...

Published by Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.: New York, 1979. This tale is a modern "prose adaptation" of "a poem written about 1400 by an unknown author" (page ix). It tells the story of Gawain, a knight from King Arthur's court, and his encounter with the magical Green Knight. The knight arrives at King Arthur's court and challenges someone to give him a single blow with an axe, which he will return a year and one day later. Gawain takes up the challenge, removes the knight's head with a single stroke and is then horrified when the knight picks up his severed head, reminds Gawain of his promise, and leaves. The story follows Gawain as he seeks the whereabouts of the Green Knight to honour his promise, and spends a lot of time at a castle he encounters on his travels where the queen seeks to seduce him! The story is a fairly simple one, but there are times you can tell the original text was written in a very different time to our own. Durin...