Karl's Reading List

Published by Penguin Books/The Penguin Group: London, England, 2005. First published as Frygt og Baven in 1843. Translated from Danish by Alistair Hannay, 1985. If I told you I "got" all of this book, I would be lying. There are definitely aspects that went over my head, even if I thought I got the gist of them. It is not an easy book. It is interesting, though. Which makes sense. Søren Kierkegaard is a philosopher who fascinates me, because of the way in which he chose to write: under different pen-names that each took a different position on what he was writing. This book, for example, is written under the name 'Johannes de silentio' (John the Silent), and is a meditation on the faith of Abraham, particularly regarding the sacrifice of Isaac. It is also the only Kierkegaard book I have ever successfully read the whole way through (so far). I think this is because "John the Silent" is a writer that appeals to me, being interested in what we can learn about ...

Published by New Directions Publishing Company: New York, 1973 (1958). Translated from Japanese by Donald Keene. First published, in Japanese, in 1948. For the second time ever, a student recommended and lent a book to me to read. This one is an odd book. I've now had a few students tell me they enjoy it, and I find myself curious as to what exactly it is that they enjoy... The main character, Yozo, is met as a young boy, seeking to entertain those around him, and already beginning to put on masks in order to do so. He begins to see himself as 'no longer human' pretty quickly, due to the disconnect he feels between the things he does and the things he feels 'humans' would do. Throughout the book, Yozo gives in to his worst impulses more and more, feeling himself drifting further from the morality of 'humanity', and seemingly powerless to stop his descent. He takes up drinking and womanizing, and has at least two suicide attempts in the course of the book. A...

Published by Penguin Books/Michael Joseph: Middlesex, England, 1986 (1954). First published 1951. A classic title by a classic sci-fi author, The Day of the Triffids is one of those books that I know the premise of - to a degree - but am not entirely sure whether I have read it before. I thought I had, but there was a lot I didn't remember.  To my knowledge, the premise was 'a world where everyone goes blind and killer plants (triffids) roam around preying on the blind humans.' That is true, but a surprisingly large amount of the runtime doesn't focus on the titular triffids at all - or if it does, they are more in the background. This seems to be largely because Wyndham has resisted the urge to 'over-humanize' the plants; they are not 'plotting' against people, they are simply taking the most of the opportunity presented by the blinding of humanity in order to do what they do best. Although they are shown to 'communicate' to some degree and gath...

Published by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd: London, 2017 (2008). I first realised I was going to enjoy this book when I opened to the introduction and saw that the first epigraph was a quote from Darth Vader. Timothy Keller was a well-known theologian and pastor who died earlier this year. Browsing in Manna (my local Christian book store) I saw this book on display and decided to give it a go.  It was really worth the read. Keller outlines the reasons for belief in God in general and Christianity in particular, pushing back against common secular arguments thoroughly and firmly, while still maintaining a spirit of dialogue. In opening the book, for example, he argues that believers should be more open to admit doubt ( "A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenceless against either the experience of tragedy ...

Published by Dragonsteel Entertainment/Tor Books: New York, NY, 2008. The third book in the 'Mistborn' trilogy: ' The Final Empire '; ' The Well of Ascension '; ' The Hero of Ages .'   It wasn't long until I got out book three (spoilers for book two will follow). The Hero of Ages wraps up the first Mistborn trilogy, following Elend, Vin and their allies as they seek to defeat the ever-expanding reach of the mists, as well as facing the increasing power of Ruin, a dark 'god' who Vin inadvertently released from its prison in the second book. Now that Elend is a Mistborn Allomancer as well, he is finally able to be more hands-on in the warfare side of the struggle, and the dynamics between he and Vin are more complicated than before, but also more trusting. This is particularly important because Ruin is able to hear whatever someone speaks, meaning that the duo must occasionally keep their plans secret even from one another. Between books two a...

Published by Wordsworth Classics: Hertfordshire, England, 2010 (1996). Translated from Russian by Constance Garnett, 1913. Originally published in Russian 1868-1869. This was a hard slog. You may have noticed lately that my reading output has dropped. Although I can put some of it down to busyness or other external factors, a good chunk of my actual reading time over the last month (at least) has been devoted to getting through this novel. It is a slightly longer novel than some I've read this year (559 pages), but the style has been the hardest factor - I have managed to get through longer novels far quicker.  I'm still a little torn as to why this is, particularly as I really enjoyed The Brothers Karamazov , which is also by Dostoevsky. For a while I thought it might be the translation, but both novels were translated by the same person, so that also seems unlikely. One thing that might explain it came up when I began looking into the book's creation a bit further after f...

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 Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd: London, Edinburgh, Paris, Melbourne, Toronto and New York, 1940. "Religio Medici" first published 1642. "Christian Morals" first published 1716. This is technically two books in one cover, but as both are quite short, as they are 'quite complementary' to each other, and as I didn't know they were two separate works until I started reading them, I've decided to keep them as one entry on my list. I had never heard of Sir Thomas Browne before picking up this book, but apparently he lived during the reign of Charles II of England. His main occupation was that of a doctor, and he became a writer without really intending it. He had written Religio Medici as an essay for his own satisfaction, and when it was published without his permission, then embraced the release, editing the work further and writing a foreword.  This first work (and Christian Morals afterwards) is written as reflections on life and Christian liv...

The end of 2021 marks the end of 5 years of book-list keeping. The aim of keeping these lists in the first place was the hope that it would inspire me to read more. Each of the years I have kept this list I have ended up reading more books than the previous year, so I guess it has been successful! In fact, in 2021 I have read so many books that I think I'll have to reign myself back in a bit next year, slow down a bit (although I have said that before). At the start of last year I decided to start reviewing the books I was reading (I had already been doing so with the Booker books before that). The aim of this element was to inspire me to write more, something I've been telling myself that I want to do since I was a child. And, although this has been a slower process than getting back into reading, I am also seeing growth in that area. Some day maybe I'll have something I can show for my efforts there too. Anyway, with this fifth year of reading lists drawing to a close, ...