Karl's Reading List

Published by Marshall Cavendish Ltd: Old Compton St, 1987. A facsimile reproduction of an edition published in 1933. First published 1819. Ivanhoe is an interesting one... I actually thought I'd read it a number of years ago - it appears on my 2018 list as a completed book - and at the time I enjoyed it. However, when I decided to re-read it, I realised that the book I have previously read was an abridged version of the story, and so I made sure that this time around I hunted out the full text. It was a much longer, slower process to read than I remember it being last time... Perhaps an abridgement is actually the right choice for the average reader! In terms of story, Ivanhoe makes the interesting choice on not mainly focussing on the titular character! Getting more 'screentime' than Ivanhoe are characters including the Saxon 'swineherd' Gurth, the jester Wamba, the Saxon thane Cedric, the mysterious 'Black Knight', the Jewish moneylender Isaac, his daughte...

Published by Penguin Books: New York, 2016. First published 1954. This famous book is a potential Year 12 text, on our English Department shelf near The Book Thief . It is also a book that I studied in high school myself, and have not revisited since - like To Kill a Mockingbird was before I re-read it last year. With that book, I remember the vague feeling of the book, and also that I enjoyed it on the whole. When I re-read it, those thoughts and feelings were validated, to the point where I ended up including To Kill a Mockingbird on my Top 5 List for 2025! This book, on the other hand, I remember thinking of in a slightly different way. I remember the overall plot. I remember a feeling of it being well written. But I also remember thinking it was a bit too intense, a bit bleak, a bit disturbing... and once again, those thoughts and feelings were validated. Let's begin with what Lord of the Flies has going for it, particularly if I was to choose to study it. Firstly, it is sho...

Published by Picador/Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited: 2020 (2005). This year, for the first time, I am teaching an 'Academic' Year 12 class. That means I am teaching a book study at Year 12 for the first time, which also means I need to find a book to study at that level as well! Thus, I am looking through some of the books that the English Department has 'earmarked' for Year 12, and this is the first of those.  I have heard of The Book Thief before. I have even seen the movie, which was appropriately moving. I remember that 'Death' was the narrator, although I don't fully remember how much the 'character' of Death came into the story itself. In the book The Book Thief, Death is once again the narrator, and plays an interesting role. He is kind of a character, commenting on proceedings, having a personality of sorts (he cares about some of the characters), even having the ability to take physical objects, in particular, the titular book. Yes, to ...

Published by Arrow Books Ltd/Random House UK Ltd: London, UK, 2000 (1999). A while ago, Elise and I borrowed three books from some friends. One of them was The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents , I don't actually remember what the second one was (perhaps it was the Scarlet Pimpernel Omnibus ? Or, was that the book we lent to them in return?), and the third one was this one. The aim was that we would read these books together, but that only happened with the omnibus. The Amazing Maurice was briefly explored by both of us, but I carried it on solo, and this one had something similar: Elise and I read about 100 pages together, but it was a little slow for that combined reading, so in the end, I finished it off myself. Looking back through my blog, I realise just how long we had Timeline sitting around before even beginning it, and then it took another (shorter) period of time for me to decide to carry it on after Elise and I gave up on it... It's definitely about time we gi...

Published by Fabbri Publishing Ltd: Barcelona, 1992. First published as a novel in Italian, 1883. What a truly weird book. This is the OG version of Pinocchio, and it feels very dated, and odd. I once read half of the book The Adventures of Roderick Ransom by Tobias Smollett, and it gives me vibes of that, in the way the story unfolds without much overarching structure; rather, it simply feels like a rambly bed time story being continuously extended with plot points that feel like the author is just going: "and then, this happened!"  In some ways this makes sense, as the original stories were published in serial format before being grouped together as a novel, but authors like Charles Dickens shows that these can still be coherent narratives. Pinocchio doesn't really worry about things like that! Sure, there is a through-line in that Pinocchio is a disobedient puppet who continuously makes poor choices - surely, meant to be a morality lesson for the reader - but other bit...

Published by Oxford University Press: Great Britain, 1992 (1987). First published in 1894 (The First Jungle Book) and 1895 (The Second Jungle Book). I probably could have broken this "book" in half, considering that it consists of both "The First Jungle Book" and "The Second Jungle Book", but as both Jungle Books are really just a collection of short stories - many of which (though far from all) are about Mowgli - they work together as one larger collection. Though, considering the whole collection as one book  did mean I messed up my reading challenge slightly (see the previous entry). What surprised me about the Jungle Books as a whole is that there are so many non Mowgli stories. We get a tale about a mongoose, a few from the perspective of humans that can't talk to animals, and even a few set in the Arctic region - which really stretches the idea of "jungle"...! Each of them feels a little like a folk tale or fable, and apparently some of...

Published as an audiobook by Audible Studios, released 04-05-2021. Audiobook narrated by Ray Porter. Originally published 2021. This book surprised me, despite being very much what I expected. I know that author Andy Weir wrote The Martian (aka, the book that the 'Matt Damon growing potatoes on Mars' movie was based on) and expected that, like that book, this one was going to be a science-heavy piece of science-fiction. Tick. The plot of Project Hail Mary unfolds gradually, with protagonist Dr Ryland Grace awakening from a medically induced coma in a mysterious location, being tended to by a mysterious medical robot. To begin with, he is suffering from amnesia (Grace tells us that long-term comas are not good for people, and that it must have scrambled his brain), but as he slowly regains his memories he realises he is on a mission to save all of humanity. A "space bacteria" - given the name 'Astrophage' by Grace - is slowly consuming the light from the sun, a...

Published by Little, Brown and Company: New York/Boston, 2016. This book was lent to me by a student, which is the first time I've had that happen! Thanks, Savana! I became interested in reading this story when I saw the first trailer for the upcoming movie version . That trailer, almost completely dialogue-free, seems to imply a beautifully animated and heart-warming story about a robot befriending wild animals and creating a home on a forested island, told entirely visually and musically. The book (as well as the second trailer ) have a lot more dialogue in them, and although I can confirm that the story is a good one, I do also kinda want to see that dialogue-free arthouse animated film. However, although I wanted a dialogue-free book, the book I did get was a sweet story, with some great messages in it. Roz is a robot that accidentally washes up on a small island after a shipwreck, and slowly adjusts to life on the island. To begin with, the local animals think Roz is a monster...

Published by Fontana Paperbacks/William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd: Glasgow, 1986. First published by the United States Naval Institute Press, 1984. I've seen the movie version of The Hunt for Red October years ago, and if you haven't, I reckon its a pretty good watch. Seeing Sean Connery play a Russian with his natural Scottish accent is worth the time, even before the story kicks in. However, if you are planning on reading the book and haven't seen the film, I would recommend not watching the film before reading the book. This is because, as much as the cover promises a thrilling action-packed edge-of-your-seat adventure, I didn't find that to be the case in reading Red October. Perhaps its because it is an 'action' book written in the 1980s, and the expectations of audiences have increased. Perhaps it's because I already knew the twists and turns. Perhaps it's because, for a long period of reading this book, I was reading it during silent reading time...

Published by Arrow/Random House: London, UK, 1996 (1995). This book surprised me. Usually when I read a John Grisham book I have some idea what to expect, particularly with the more 'famous' of his books, which include a number that have been made into movies. I knew that this was one of those 'famous movie' books, and assumed as a result that it would be a fairly straightforward Grisham novel. Well, in some ways, yes... but it also had a number of features that were a bit out of the norm. In general, Grisham's lawyer novels follow a case from near the beginning of the novel all the way through to the end, with the final verdict providing the climatic moment of the film. The Rainmaker starts off with its protagonist, Rudy Baylor, still finishing law school, and doesn't even focus in on one specific case until quite a long way through the book. Before we get there, we have Rudy working on passing the bar, being fired from an upcoming job before he even gets it, b...

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited: Australia, 2017. First published 1999. Book 1 in 'A Series of Unfortunate Events.' Followed by 'The Reptile Room.' A well-known semi-gothic humorously dark children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events has been made into a movie starring Jim Carrey (based on three of the books) and a Netflix series starring Neil Patrick Harris (covering all thirteen). I have seen the movie, but only clips from the series. However, what comes through in both adaptations is the very particular style of the books. Lemony Snicket (the pseudonym of author Daniel Handler) is not just the writer or the book, but a character in his own rights, who comments on the proceedings throughout the book, generally lowering the expectations of any audience member who may wish for 'happy' parts, by assuring us that what begins badly will continue to get worse.  And it does, but in a strangely light, humorous and children'...

Published by Allen & Unwin: Crows Nest, NSW, Australia, 2008. Book snobs, block your ears. *whispers* I think the movie was better. Okay, book snobs, you can unblock your ears now. *waves to get the attention of book snobs* To be honest, a huge reason why I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society at this moment in time was that I thought it would be funny to have two books with ridiculously long titles appear back-to-back in my list. For anyone who thought that there were super-deep reasons why I picked the books that I did, I hope this helps you see the error of your ways. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (which I am refusing to shorten for the rest of this review) still tells the same story as that in the movie adaptation (also called  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ), but does so in a less gripping (though still interesting) manner. This is for a few reasons: firstly,  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ...

Published by Century Books: London, 1996. I had been interested in reading a John Grisham novel with Elise, and remember enjoying this one a lot when I last read it many years ago. A high-profile case of tobacco industry versus the estate of a smoker is being prepared in Biloxi, Mississippi, and both sides are anxious to have the right jury selected. We are introduced to Nicholas Easter, who is suspiciously non-suspicious, and soon are aware that he is positioning himself intentionally to get on to the jury. Once he succeeds in doing so, this mystery is increased when a woman named Marlee enters the scene and begins to interact with Rankin Fitch - a behind-the-scenes wheeler-dealer who is working to achieve a positive outcome for the big tobacco companies. Marlee begins showing her ability to influence the jury in subtle ways, and is obviously hoping to tempt Fitch into working with her for an undetermined outcome. As the story progresses we see a lot of elements in play, with particul...

Published by Hyperion Books for Children: New York, NY, 2007. First published 2003. This is a book I had as part of my classroom shelf until a student broke the spine. I sat it on my desk meaning to repair it, but started reading it anyway during silent reading times with my junior classes to help role-model. It's actually pretty good. A simple story, definitely based at older kids/younger teens, but entertaining, imaginative and occasionally going to darker places than I would have expected; there are a lot more deaths than in most children's books! The story begins by following an unnamed orphan girl who is the slave of Master Lan. Master Lan is a revolting and nasty man, who is also in charge of looking after the emperor's dragons (this is set in a fictionalised ancient China). As Master Lan is also quite lazy, this responsibility falls mostly to the slave girl. Near the start of the book one of the two remaining dragons die, and Master Lan tries to find a way to cover i...

Published by Aldine Paperbacks/J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.: London, 1968 (1952). This classic children's book introduces Pod, Homily and Arrietty, three tiny humans (borrowers) who live under the floorboards in the home of an elderly woman. The borrowers, as their name suggests, 'borrow' things from the human world and use it to furnish their own dwelling, along with gathering enough food to live on. As the story progresses, Arrietty, the daughter in the family, befriends a boy who is staying in the house. This is seen as something very dangerous (despite Pod having his own friendship with the mildly senile home-owner) and does eventually lead to a confrontation with the dangerous housekeeper. The story of the book is very simple plot-wise, leaving a lot up in the air for possible sequels (of which there are four). It is also slightly melancholic, particularly when talking about the number of borrowers in the house compared to in the past. The framing-device, which consists ...

Published as an audiobook by Audible Studios.  Uploaded 14-08-2018. Narrated by Rosamund Pike. Originally published 1811. After listening to Rosamund Pike's audiobook version of Pride and Prejudice Elise and I were keen to listen to the other Austen book she has narrated. Sense and Sensibility was Austen's first published work, and there are occasions where that comes through a little - some scenes go on a little long and the book as a whole takes a while to find its rhythm - but some individual scenes are brilliantly written and quite funny, showing the strength of Austen's writing.  The book follows the Dashwood sisters, primarily Eleanor (aged 19) and Marianne (aged 16), although a younger sister Margaret, who is 13, does feature on occasion. At the beginning of the book the sisters and their mother are pledged financial aid when the girls' father dies, however their sister-in-law manages to talk their easily-led brother into reneging on his promise in a fairly comi...

Published by John Murray (Publishers): London, 2003 (1975). I'm trying to be a bit more picky with my Booker books these days, while still aiming to get through the ones that aren't too explicit.  Heat and Dust tells two stories: the first is of Olivia, the young wife of Douglas Rivers, an English civil servant living in Satipur, India in the 1920s. Although the couple are very loving towards one another, Olivia feels isolated, unable to relate to the other (older) local British women and unable to mix much with the local English men who, because of her gender, choose not to explain the politics of the area to her. She befriends Harry, another Englishman, who is living in the palace of the local Nawab (a prince), and whom the novel implies he is in a very controlling homosexual relationship with. As time goes by Olivia is drawn more and more to the Nawab, and eventually she begins her own relationship with him, resulting eventually in her decision to elope with him. This is not...

Published by Transatlantic Press: Amersham, Bucks, UK: 2012. First published 1726. Another book that I picked up as I was researching for Worlds and Journeys.  Gulliver's Travels is a true classic, but also one that has a number of versions of it, most of which cut out the vast majority of the original story. Anyone familiar with the various movie versions will be aware that Lemuel Gulliver is shipwrecked on the island of Lilliput, where the inhabitants are all miniscule compared to Gulliver, but less well known are the subsequent lands he visits: Brobdingnag, where Gulliver is now the only small-scaled person in a land of giants; Laputa, a flying island populated with impractical scholars who make life difficult for their ground-based subjects; and the land of the Houyhnhnms, sentient horses who rule a relatively peaceful society while the humanoid 'Yahoos' are the beasts of burden. Other lands briefly visited by Gulliver include Luggnagg, where a small population of immor...

Published by Ebury Publishing: England, 2019. This odd little book has had a short film adaptation made of it that yesterday won an Oscar! I had heard of it, but only read it because a student left a copy on my desk. It didn't take very long to read as most pages have very little text. It also has no page numbers and little punctuation, so I've kept that element in my quotes.  Really, there is very little to this book other than cute drawings and fairly twee life lessons. " "What do you think is the biggest waste of time?" "Comparing yourself to others," said the mole"" It definitely is cute, and there is a nice through-message about accepting one another and friendship that could be helpful for parents reading to their children.  There are also some fun jokes...  "I got you a delicious cake," said the mole "Did you?" "Yes" "Where is it?" "I ate it," said the mole "Oh" "But I got...

Published as an audiobook by Naxos Rights International Ltd./Naxos Audiobooks, 2008. Narrated by Neville Jason. Originally published in 1938. This is a apparently a very well-known version of the King Arthur legend, and is the basis for the 1963 animated Disney movie of the same name. Elise suggested that we find an Arthur version, I suggested this one, and we gave it a go. If you've seen the Disney movie (I have, Elise has not so far) you would know that its quite different to many versions you've heard before: Merlin refers to modern (by 1960s standards) knowledge, Arthur is known generally as 'Wart', much of the runtime is spent transforming Arthur into various animals in order to teach him life lessons, and Merlin also does battle against 'Madame Mim', rather than one of his more traditional enemies like Morgan le Fey. So, going into the book I expected it to be somewhat different, but still to have a recognizable 'Arthurian' story to it. The book is...