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 Hodder & Stoughton/Hachette: London, Great Britain, 2014. Book 1 of the 'Red Rising' series. Followed by 'Golden Son.' I have heard of this book series for a while, and had been curious to check it out. The cover suggests that it is a Young-Adult series in the vein of The Hunger Games or Ender's Game , while being set on Mars. There seems to be a school of some sort which the hero is going to fight their way through in order to be accepted into a future role - so, The Will of the Many ? Or even Harry Potter ? So far, so Young-Adult cliche. And, yes... to some degree it is. But, what was very unexpected (by me, at least) is how violent this book is! Our main character, Darrow, faces the execution of his wife in the first few chapters, before being executed himself (I didn't see that coming!). Then, after being saved at the last minute, he is enlisted by an underground network of saboteurs to be 'reborn' or 'upgraded' and sneak in...

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 The Text Publishing Company: Melbourne, Australia, 2023. Book 1 in 'The Hierarchy.' Followed by ' The Strength of the Few. ' Recently, I came across some "Book-Tok" style videos on YouTube, and this book was one that I began seeing reviewed favourably. I kept an eye out for it, wondering if I could borrow it from the local library, but finding it consistently on loan (perhaps others had been watching the same videos).  Then, one Saturday morning, I went to get coffees for Elise and myself, and on the book-swap shelf of that particular cafe, this book was proudly displayed. So, I took it. Hooray! And, now having read it... ...I can see what the fuss is about. This is a well-written high fantasy book set in a Roman-Empire-style society called Caten. The Catenan Empire has conquered the known world, with the help of their 'Will-infused' magic system/social hierarchy. Lower ranked individuals 'cede' half of their available 'will...

Published by SCM Press Ltd: London, 1959. I enjoy early church history, and the commentaries of William Barclay, so learning that he had written a book about the twelve apostles, telling their history, was intriguing. Unfortunately, there are certain aspect to Barclay's writings that I have some issues with, and The Master's Men leans far enough into those issues that I struggled with the book as a whole - actually, I started this in the middle of 2024, and only picked it up recently in order to finish it off, rather than from a sense of enjoyment. Firstly, the good. Each chapter looks at one of the '12 disciples' named in the gospels (as well as some extra individuals - there are 15 chapters), giving the list of scriptural mentions (which, for some, are not very many), and then going into the 'historical' accounts found of them outside scripture. Barclay is quite good at joining the dots, and it is in these moments that the book becomes to most interesting. An ...

Published by JM Dent & Sons Ltd: London, UK, 1973. First published 1939. A slightly old-fashioned book, seemingly written to intentionally resemble fairy tales or 'older' stories (though, being written in 1939 it may also just be old-fashioned), Robin Hood is a collection of stories about the titular outlaw, collected and retold by the author when she was approached and asked to do so. The book begins with Robin Hood already established as an outlaw, and we never get a definitive answer about his origins or family - although we do eventually meet some relatives. We also stay at a distance from his relationship with Marian; she does come into the story eventually but Robin is reluctant to pursue a relationship with her, and the reasons for this are hidden until very near the end of the book. Mostly, then, this is a series of short adventures that are vaguely linked. Different sections of the book may promise that they are about 'Robin and Sir Richard' or 'Robin a...

Published by Puffin Books/Penguin Random House: Great Britain, 2013 (2009). Book 5 in the 'Percy Jackson' series. Preceded by ' Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth. ' This final book in the Percy Jackson series does all the things final books should: it turns into an epic battle, it has some (mostly minor or villainous) characters die, and it wraps up the major story-arcs while allowing some characters to have room for development in the future. Knowing that there is a number of other stories featuring Percy Jackson following this series, it makes sense that another 'Great Prophecy' is also featured near the end of the book. In being all of these things, the story of The Last Olympian is in some ways the most predictable of the series: we know that Percy will face off against Kronos. We know that Grover and Annabeth (and in these later books, Rachel) will also have a part to play. We know that some people will die. We know (well, assume, but come on, i...

Published by Huia Publishers: Wellington, Aotearoa, NZ, 2023 (2021). This is the second book I've read by this author, and - I think - the second book by this author, too! The first book, Flight of the Fantail , was very weird, and in my review I mentioned that I was still processing whether I liked it or not. Falling into Rarohenga is somewhat similar in that way. We follow twin siblings, Tui and Kae, who live with their mother after their no-hoper father left. Tui is the academic, Kae is the musician slacker, and both have that semi-antagonistic-but-secretly-looking-out-for-one-another thing that many siblings do, both in fiction and real life. The twins arrive home from a bad day at school (Tui loses her prefect status and Kae is suspended) to find that their mother has gone missing, kidnapped by their father and taken into Rarohenga - the Māori Underworld. Tui and Kae then also end up on Rarohenga, and must try to rescue their mother while resisting the urge to eat anything fro...

Published by Puffin Books/Penguin Group: London, England, 2013 (2008). Book 4 in the 'Percy Jackson' series. Preceded by ' Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse. ' Followed by 'Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian.' I finally found a cheap copy of this book to add to my school library shelf, and - home sick for a few days - picked it up and raced through it. As book 4 in a series of 5, it is obvious that things are building towards the epic conclusion. Kronos (like the Voldemort of this series) is taking form and will soon be free to wreak havoc on the world, Percy's nemesis Luke continues to be a hindrance, and - at the end of the book - Percy turns 15. Considering that there is a prophecy that most characters believe refers to Percy, saying that when he turn 16 terrible things will occur, this is also significant. In this particular entry, Percy and his friends must journey into the Labyrinth of Greek mythology, searching for the inventor Daedalus who the...

Published by Puffin Books/Penguin Random House UK: Great Britain, 2013 (2007). Book 3 in the 'Percy Jackson' series. Preceded by ' Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters .' Followed by 'Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth.' After The Sea of Monsters left me a little underwhelmed, it has taken me a while to revisit the Percy Jackson series. However, finding this third book in a book exchange seemed like a good sign. The Titan's Curse is a much stronger entry in the series, and as I suspected, the pieces that were moved into place in Sea of Monsters now begin to play a more prominent role. Thalia, for example, is a great new addition to the series - as a daughter of Zeus who feels she has been let down by her father once too often, it makes sense that in certain moments she is tempted to mistrust the gods in general. Other new characters in this book include twin siblings Bianca and Nico, who have a somewhat mysterious past, and the hunters of Artemis...

Published by Audible Studios for Bloomsbury. Released as an audiobook 24-02-2017. Narrated by Neil Gaiman. First published 2017. Neil Gaiman begins this book by admitting that Norse Mythology is his favourite type of mythology. I agree. The Norse gods have epic adventures, fight giant beasts, and generally are a part of a highly bizarre worldview. A lot of mythology is fairly bizarre, you might say. Well, yes, but Norse mythology includes the first gods being born when a cosmic cow licks a frost giant, all nine realms being linked by the Yggdrasil world tree (which is also home to a squirrel whose entire job it is to pass on insults between an eagle in the branches and a serpent at the roots), and explain the origin of poetry as being mead made from the blood of a god who in turn was made from the spit of all the other gods mixed together. Gaiman narrates the book himself and does a fairly decent job, even if a few of his voices get a bit similar. He has written the prose in a purposef...

Published by Puffin Books: London, England, 2008 (2006). Book 2 in the 'Percy Jackson' series. Preceded by ' Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. ' Followed by ' Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse. ' As with the previous entry in this series, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters follows the titular Percy Jackson, son of the Greek god Poseidon, as he journeys around modern day America facing updated versions of various Greek legends. In this entry, Percy Jackson's satyr friend Grover has gone missing, and Camp Half-Blood is coming under attack by more and more monsters as its border-magic is beginning to weaken. Percy and Annabeth, along with Tyson (a young Cyclops) set out to the Sea of Monsters to both save Grover and hopefully retrieve the Golden Fleece, which will be able to help strengthen the camp's border-magic. Once again Luke, son of Hermes, appears as one of the villains, and the over-arching plot of Kronos seeking to be resurrected is a...

Published by Puffin Books: Great Britain, 2013 (2005). Book 1 in the 'Percy Jackson' series. Followed by ' Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters. ' This year our school library has been a little less available than in past years due to some building projects on the go in the school, so I have slowly been collecting a variety of books that (hopefully) my students will enjoy. And at times, when the classes are doing independent work and I don't need to be monitoring them as much, I've been reading some of those books for myself.  Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is the first in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and was made into a movie which I have seen. However, it is one of those movies that fans of the books were relatively unhappy with, and having read the original book I can now understand why. The differences are numerous. In the book Percy is only 12, Grover the satyr already has his horns, and many elements of the book's quest are ignor...