Karl's Reading List

Published by Ferguson Publishing: Nelson, New Zealand, 2024. Once a month, the Nelson Ministers Fraternal meets on a Tuesday morning. I try to attend as often as I can. Last time, another minister had brought this book along with them, and was offering it around for someone to read. I jumped at the chance, especially when I realised it kinda fitted the brief for 'Black History' in my Reading Challenge this year.  I mean, it's about the history of an African man! Neither writer is a professional author - Ross Ferguson is actually a local dentist and retired minister - and that lack of professionalism does show at times - there are random quotation marks at times; some sentences are incomplete; the authorial voice changes from Ross to Custodio and back without warning or reason - and yet the story is an interesting one, if (sadly) similar to others you may have read. Custodio was born in Angola, grew up during a civil war in the country, had both parents die when he was young...

Published by Nana Fox Publishing: New Zealand, 2022. This is a really odd book, like many of the fiction books I have read this year!!  Lada is a young girl growing up in the Ukraine. She has odd-coloured eyes and is picked on by the girls in her village. Her grandmother looks after her while her father is away fighting in an unspecified war. This could be the set-up for an emotional drama. But no. Lada quickly meets a magical fox with mind-control powers who, nevertheless, is unable to control Lada. This upsets the fox no end. The fox can also talk, explained by the fact that 'of course foxes can talk. They just don't usually have anything they want to say!' A nearby house has a ghost in it that used to be friends with both of Lada's parents. The ghost writes letters to Lada, that Lada never reads. In fact, throughout the book the ghost never once actually interacts with Lada. There is a seven-legged spider in the cellar that can collect tears and 'spin' the...

Published by RWG Publishing: Litchfield, IL, 2021. This book is written by a good friend of mine who also attends ChristFirst Church! This is the first time I've reviewed a book written by someone I know well and its an odd experience (I also know the author of The Earth Cries Out which I rated last year as one of my top 5 New Zealand-authored books , but I haven't done a full review of it yet).  Not Many Fathers  follows Kenaz, and later his son Othniel, as they take part in the wilderness wanderings and eventually the conquest of Canaan. Othniel is mentioned only occasionally in the Bible, but one thing that is known is that he becomes the first Judge (as in 'the book of Judges'). Cottle points out that as a close relative of Caleb, Othniel was one of the few men in that generation of Israelites to have a 'father figure' survive into Canaan, and suggests that this is one of the reasons why Othniel could rise to prominence, since most other men didn't have ...

Unpublished at time of review. After I put up last year's list I was contacted by Marie, who is a friend of mine on Facebook, and asked if I would like to read a copy of her (currently) unpublished autobiography. Knowing only a little bit of her story, I realised that it was likely to be quite a heavy read. Wow. It is. Marie tells her life story openly and bluntly, not shying away from the 'ugly' elements, including a lot of drug use, taking up a life of prostitution, and even some mental health struggles. It is not an easy read at times, but Marie keeps the story moving along. Eventually she meets Jesus and we begin to see His power at work in her life. This is not the end of the story, however, and Marie goes through a number of further ups and downs, battling her addictions and desires even as she becomes more and more aware of God walking with her. This  is  a story of redemption and hope, but the raw unedited look at the pre-Christ portion of her life (a much larger se...

Published by Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd: Newtown, Australia, 2014. This book was written by the friend of a friend, and was recommended to me by them as a good local book written in the Young Adult genre.  The first thing that comes to mind when talking about Spark is the amount of longing in the book. Wow! It's like Twilight- level desire. The main characters are deeply attracted to each other, and it oozes out of the page, never to an explicit or deeply uncomfortable level, but it is still a main feature of the book. It is also not just a longing between two romantically-inclined characters; there are also other types of longing in the book that are not attached to emotional desire. The longing involved is a major part of the story, too. Evie Everton is living with her aunt after the death of her mother, when her friend Kitty and former flame/Kitty's brother Jamie arrive back in the area. Evie is suffering from strange hallucinations and bursts of strength, and when she t...

Published by CP Books: Nelson, New Zealand, 2013.   A locally written book,  Silvana: The Greening  is perhaps not greatly thought through in terms of plot, but is still an engaging read.  We meet Fabiom at the age of sixteen, dreaming of gaining a wife from among the Silvana - tree-spirits that inhabit various trees within the woods near his house. In order to do this, any young man can sleep in a particular grove for the seven nights following his seventeenth birthday, but the risk is great; three out of every four young men who attempt this are driven mad in the process. Fabiom, of course, is unlikely to befall such a fate, being our hero.  But the problem (in terms of plotting) is that Fabiom is a fairly  flawless  kind of individual. He is kind, faithful, patient, intelligent, and a brilliant archer on top of that. He is able to befriend the right people at the right time, and is willing to sacrifice his own desires if it will help the bigger pict...

Published by Vintage/Penguin Random House New Zealand: NZ, 2019 (2008). This novel is primarily known as the book that inspired Taika Waititi's Oscar winning film Jojo Rabbit. It is also fairly well known that the book is quite different from the movie, particularly in tone. Waititi's films generally have a light-hearted quirky humour to them, even when dealing with weighty themes, and the adaptation Jojo Rabbit also makes the choice of including "imaginary Hitler" as a major character, something that does not happen in the book. The closest we get to anything like that is when the main character, Johannes Betzler, is wrestling with his 'non-Nazi' thoughts, and narrates: "If it's true I'd tried to get the young woman off my mind, by that time I was also trying to get Adolf Hitler off it. His constant reproach about my shortcomings irked me: my incapability, indecorum, infidelity, all starting with in and ejecting me out of his good opinion. Wh...

Published by DayStar Books: Auckland, 2017. This is a book by a local (Nelson, NZ) author, Russell Smith, and covers the earliest days of Christianity reaching New Zealand, in fact, the first ten years (1814-1824). This is a very specific period of time, and lends for an interesting angle. Gone is the controversy of the Treaty of Waitangi, because the Treaty wasn't signed until 1841. Instead we get a glimpse into the politics and faith of the 'motley crew' of first missionaries, some of whom seemed to arrive with more 'pure' motives than others. There is treachery, there is adultery, pride and power. But there is also a drive to see the nations reached by Jesus. An interesting, if not life-changing book. Completed 28 September 2019. Previous Book ~ Next Book