Karl's Reading List

As I said in my review of Peter Rabbit's Storytime Collection , I am wanting to find a way to acknowledge the books I read to Ezekiel without adding individual picture books to my reading list - I feel that would dilute it a bit much. So in this post, I've decided to look at a group of picture books all together. I've picked five picture books that I like (with a notable and noteworthy exception), and also asked Elise for five picture books she is  enjoying reading to Ezekiel. It's interesting (and helpful for this list) that our lists haven't overlapped at all this time around. So, here are ten picture books (plus one bonus 'book') that Ezekiel has been exposed to in the first 7ish months of his life: Karl's List Bunnies on the Bus - Philip Ardagh and (illustrator) Ben Mantle. Published by Walker Books Ltd: London, 2020 (2019). This is one of my favourites among our current picture books. A group of bunnies hijack a bus and hurtle through the town on th...

Published by Zondervan: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2004. This book is the second I have read in the Counterpoints series of theological/apologetic debates, and the first I have reviewed on my blog. In each of the Counterpoints books, a topic will be decided upon, and then contributors from the various viewpoints will submit a chapter about their perspective, following that up by writing a response to each of the other chapters submitted. In this particular volume, the contributors talk about six different styles of worship, and why they and their congregation hold to their particular style. These styles are: Formal-Liturgical, Traditional Hymn-Based, Contemporary Music-Driven, Charismatic, Blended (a mix of contemporary and liturgical) and Emerging.  What I appreciate about this topic is that, on the whole, each contributor is happy to acknowledge the strengths of the other viewpoints, and even applaud the heart of their fellow writers. There is no division here, no claiming that othe...

Published by Corgi Books/Random House Children's Books: London, 2011 (2001). Surprisingly, this is only the second Terry Pratchett novel I have ever reviewed on this blog. I say surprising because I have enjoyed Pratchett's works, particularly his the novels set in the satirical fantasy world of  Discworld  for years. This book is the first one written by Pratchett to be aimed at a slightly younger audience than the 'main' Discworld books, and bases the plot around a parody of the Pied Piper story. Maurice is a talking cat, given the power of speech (and intelligence) around the same time and in the same location as a group of rats he now works with. The rats received their intelligence after eating rubbish left outside the Unseen University (a wizarding school). How Maurice received his intelligence is left a mystery for much of the book - but will be fairly obvious if you think about it. Now Maurice and the rats, with the help of a 'stupid-looking kid' who pl...

Published by Canongate Books Ltd: Edinburgh, Scotland, 2020. Audiobook released by Audible 13-08-2020.  Narrated by Carey Mulligan. A book that I only listened to because it was offered for free by Audible and a book with a little bit more language than most I would read, I found The Midnight Library to fairly enjoyable. Considering it is a book that begins with the main character attempting suicide ('offscreen'), I am surprised to announce that it is quite an uplifting and encouraging book overall. Nora Seed's life is going from bad to worse. Not only is she estranged from her brother, regretting past decisions and being made redundant from her low-paid job at a music store but this morning her cat was found dead on the road as well. Convinced that she doesn't want to live anymore, Nora attempts to end her life. Instead of dying, however, she finds herself in the titular Midnight Library, where Mrs Elm - her former school librarian (!) - gives her the chance to live al...

Published by Multnomah Books/WaterBrook Multnomah: Colorado Springs, CO/New York, 2003. This short book (even shorter than I realised as a section at the back is made up of 'group study questions' rather than being part of the book proper) is all about worship - what it is, why God is worthy of it, and some ways in which a person can engage with worship in their day to day lives. Louie Giglio is a fairly well-known speaker in Christian circles, and although he is not known as a singer he writes as the head of sixsteprecords, a worship-centric music label in the USA. Not that worship is about music per se. The book is intentionally a fairly easy read rather than a dense theological tome, and as such some of the insights Giglio shares are not 'new'... but they are good reminders. "We may say we value this thing or that thing more than any other," Giglio writes, "but the volume of our actions speak louder than our words. In the end, our worship is more about...

With Margie Thomson. Published by HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Ltd: Auckland, NZ, 2020. Wow. So, Stan Walker is a New Zealand singer/songwriter who came to prominence as an 18-year old when he won the 2009 season of Australian Idol. I knew that about him. I knew he had a faith of some sort. And Elise has been listening to a lot of his more recent music lately, including some beautiful pieces in Te Reo. That's really it. Elise is actually the one who found this book at a second hand shop, and we decided to check it out. I say again, wow. Stan has had an incredible life. Incredible highs, and incredible lows. He talks about his journey candidly, sometimes too bluntly for comfort - including his abusive upbringing, his abuse and repeated rape at the hands of a relative, his diagnosis with cancer and subsequent operation to remove his stomach... and his career, his journey on Idol, and his faith journey - coming to know the love, forgiveness, and transforming power of Jesus. I...