Karl's Reading List

Published by Orbit Books: Australia, 2018 (2017). Book 2 in 'The Licanius Trilogy.' Preceded by ' The Shadow of What Was Lost. ' Followed by 'The Light of All That Falls.' I recently read the first book in this series, and liked it enough that I ended up buying this second book in order to continue reading. I'm glad that I did, as the story picks up immediately after the end of Book 1, meaning that I'm glad that the first story was still fresh in my mind. Middle books in a trilogy often have a lot going against them, particularly when characters from Book 1 have been separated, and remain separated for much of the run time, so that they can be in the needed locations for the epic conclusion of Book 3 - The Two Towers is an example of a middle book that does this, and still does it well. An Echo of Things To Come also has this hurdle to jump, and does it well, but author James Islington has added more challenges for himself by choosing to add in plot-rel...

Published by Collins: London and Glasgow, 1954. First published 1847, originally in French. Book 3 of the 'D'Artagnon Romances.' Preceded by ' Twenty Years After. ' Followed by 'Louise de al Valliere.' This is the third of the D'Artagnon Romances by Alexandre Dumas, the first of which - The Three Musketeers - is by far the most famous, followed by the fifth and last in the series, The Man in the Iron Mask. Each book focuses more or less on the same core of individuals, with D'Artagnon being the most prominent in each entry. In this book he is by far the most important character in the book, despite the fact that some parts of the book do focus heavily on other characters altogether. One of these other characters is Raoul, the son of original Musketeer Aramis, who is also known as 'The Vicomte de Bragelonne.'  'Wait,' you might say, 'that's the title of the novel!' Yes it is! But don't get your hopes up! Raoul is a fai...

Published in an omnibus edition: "The Pale Horse"; " The Big Four " and "The Secret Adversary" as part of the "Agatha Christie Crime Collection", first published by the Hamlyn Publishing Group: London, 1970. This edition published by Lansdowne Press: Dee Why West, Australia, 2009. First published individually in book form, 1927. I usually like Poirot novels; there are a lot of twists and turns, with unexpected moments that - in hindsight - are clever solutions that fit the evidence better than the 'obvious' ones. Poirot is always the smartest person in the room, and the cases are ones that only he could solve. The Big Four is a little different, and - to me - a little underwhelming. This is mostly because of its structure: The Big Four originated as a series of short stories, each individually published, that eventually got collected into a book, with a little bit of connective tissue added in. Unfortunately, the short story aspect shows ...

Published by Wordsworth Editions Limited: Hertfordshire, 1996 (1994). First published 1858. Book 3 in 'The Chronicles of Barsetshire.' Preceded by ' Barchester Tower. ' Followed by 'Framley Parsonage.' The third Barsetshire book I've read, and the third in the series - meaning I've finally started going in correct chronological order! Doctor Thorne moves the focus of the series from the town of Barchester to nearby Greshambury, home of the Gresham family. Well-off and slightly snooty, the Greshams do however make room in their household for Mary Thorne, the niece of the titular Dr Thorne, and allow her to grow up with their children. Frank Gresham - the son and heir of the family - develops a crush on Mary, and gushes out an over-the-top proposal to her in a beautifully dramatic scene; Trollope is at his most comical in moments like this. However, Mary is from an unknown background, and (more shockingly) is poor(!) and Frank must marry rich in order to s...

Published by Faber and Faber Limited: London, 1993 (1989). After reading Klara and the Sun and really enjoying it, I finally to try this book, due to it being the same author. I had heard conflicting things about what the plot of this book entailed, and with it being a Booker book , had braced myself to face the worst, but to my (pleasant) surprise, The Remains of the Day is  one of the few Booker books I've read to not leave me with an unpleasant taste in my mouth. As with Klara and the Sun, this book is narrated by a character who doesn't always let us in on their thoughts - Klara was an android who thought in artificial ways, whereas our narrator here is a butler, Mr Stevens, who refuses to express his deepest thoughts and feelings even in his narration. Mr Stevens is obsessed with the idea of 'dignity' and 'professionalism,' and aspires to be a 'great butler' by keeping his emotional life separate from his work. His loyalty is to his master, above a...

Published by The Text Publishing Company: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2025. Book 2 in 'The Hierarchy.' Preceded by ' The Will of the Many. ' The sequel to one of my top books from last year , The Strength of the Few picks up immediately from where the previous entry ended, without even bothering to give the sort of recaps and reminders that many sequels do. Motivations, loyalties and betrayals must therefore be recalled from Book 1, which, fortunately, do come back to mind as the book progresses. Book 1 also ended in a very unusual situation, and one which made me curious as to how this second book could work. Mild spoilers for Book 1's ending fill the remaining review... So, our main character, Vis, ended Book 1 by being split into three distinct individuals in three distinct worlds! In two of the worlds - the Egyptian-inspired Luceum and the Celtic-inspired Obiteum - he has lost an arm, while in the original Roman-inspired world he is from - Res - he has been ...

Published by Penguin Books Limited: Middlesex, England, 1977. First published 1973. This is a book that took a long time to get through, partially because it is quite dense, and partially because it was the book I was reading while we were in the process of moving from my parents' house in Monaco to our new house in central Stoke. When you're busy packing and unpacking boxes, it can get in the way of turning pages... The topic of Cape to Cairo is quite interesting, though. In various sections - based on sections of railway track - it traces the history of the attempt at building a cross-African railroad from Cape Town all the way to Cairo, originally envisioned to show the spread and power of the British Empire. Each section covers a period of time and shows not only the building of the railway, but everything leading up to that point. This adds to the denseness of the book, and - although the book's focus is clear - also means that it can feel a little disjointed at times,...

Published by Little, Brown and Company: Great Britain, 1999. A book that makes it clear from the title what it will be about, The Year 1000 is an easy read about life in the Year 1000, specifically, England in the Year 1000. The authors have taken a 'work calendar' from the era, decorated with images from everyday life, and have used those images as a launch-pad, letting each chapter be based on a 'month,' and a 'theme.'  We get looks at the Church, at farming, at trade, and even at the roles of women, which turn out to have been a lot more 'equal' than we might stereotypically think such an era would have been! For example, the authors point out that various wills from the era show that women could own and inherit property, with examples including: "Aelfflaed, a noblewoman [who]...had supervised the farming of many acres with apparent success, while Wulfgeat of Donnington clearly found nothing unusual in leaving his lands to be run by his womenfolk...

Published by Gollancz/Hachette UK: London, 2019 (2018). Book 2 of the 'Skyward' series. Preceded by ' Skyward. ' Followed by 'Cytonic.' Two years ago I read the first book in this series, and quite enjoyed it. Our main protagonist, Spensa, followed her dream of becoming a pilot on a planet that was constantly fighting off alien invaders. She found a hidden ship, M-Bot, with an advanced AI system (that often uses what I now recognise as Sanderson's trademark quipping style), and helped save the day, while unlocking her special 'powers' - very on point for Sanderson, but not at all a negative. This book, like so many of Sanderson's sequels, ups the stakes considerably from what has come before. Suddenly, Spensa is thrust into a far greater universe than she had previously known, having to impersonate an alien species and infiltrate Starsight, an advanced space-station that is home to the aliens who have been attacking Spensa's planet, but who m...

Published by Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press: USA, 2025. Each month on LibraryThing, an 'Early Reviewers' list is posted with books that you can win, in return for reviewing them. I have occasionally won eBooks to review through this format, and although the eBook format is not my favourite, I realise that being in New Zealand means that I'm less likely to win physical books. Indeed, usually physical books that are a part of the 'Early Reviewers' list are simply listed as 'Not Available in Your Country.'  Towards the end of last year, however, I noticed that a physical book was available in my home country! It looked interesting, so I put my name into the draw for it, despite the fact that with only a handful of copies available, over 100 people had registered interest. Lo and behold, I won it! And after waiting about eight weeks (international postage takes time) it finally arrived! And this is that book! Aside from being the first physical book ...

Published by Walker Books Ltd: London, UK, 2017. This is a book that has been on the English Department shelves since I started at Nayland, and is often recommended to me as a good book. It is also one that I have used as an option for students to study at Level 1, having gathered themes and resources from other teachers to help support students choosing it. However, it is not a book I have read, until now. It is also a book that has been banned in some states in America, and so - looking for a "banned book" to finish off my reading challenge for the year - it finally seemed time to pick it up and give it a go. It is a very well-written book. It does have a lot of language in it, and it does talk a lot about violence - particularly police brutality - and because of those aspects I can understand why some groups might not enjoy it as much, BUT it is quite insightful and has a lot to say about racism (including subtle racism), standing up for your beliefs, and even the balance ...

Published by The Folio Society: London, 1976. First published 1855. Book 1 in 'The Chronicles of Barsetshire.' Followed by ' Barchester Towers. ' This is the third Anthony Trollope book I have read, and is the second of his Barsetshire Novels I have read, though in fact it is the first in that series. Barchester Towers , being the second book in the set, was the only one of his that I owned when I first read it, and fortunately worked as a stand-alone. It is interesting returning to Book 1, now, though, as I have more insight into the motivations of various characters in that second book! But anyway, for those who haven't read either: The Warden follows the story of Septimus Harding, the titular Warden of Hiram's Hospital, as well as a precentor in Barchester Cathedral. Hiram's Hospital was set up generations earlier based on a bequest from a John Hiram, who asked that twelve elderly men would be looked after in the role of "bedesmen", with the War...

Published by Victor Gollancz Ltd: London, 1974 (1963). First published 1949. I first read this story as a kid, and have fond memories of it. It is also very weird, something that Elise pointed out as well. This is the only book I have read (so far) of Robert A Heinlein, and yet I know by reputation that he was a prominent science-fiction writer in his day. This book, first written in 1949, is certainly of its day. We get a Mars with canals, native plant and animal life, and a sentient Martian species with ruined cities on the surface and still-thriving (if less populated) sections underground.  Our main character, Jim Marlowe Jr, is a teenager living in South Colony. He has befriended a local 'bouncer', a basketball-sized Martian creature that can perfectly mimic what it hears, parrot-like, and also has some level of intelligence. 'Willis', as Jim calls the creature, is a hugely important part of the plot, helping Jim and his friend Frank get out of numerous scrapes, as...

Published by Verso: London, UK, 2014. It wasn't as easy finding a book featuring pirates as I thought it was going to be. I've read plenty in the past -  Treasure Island is a classic I thought of revisiting, and more recently enjoyed Tress of the Emerald Sea had a good sci-fi twist to the pirate tale - but in the end I decided to read this non-fiction nautical history that I had on the classroom library shelf. It did take a while to get the hang of what was being written about in this book - the endnotes clarified that originally each chapter was published separately, and that makes a lot of sense! - but overall Rediker seems to be focussing on the lesser told stories of nautical history, often focussing less on the prominent figures (the Columbuses and Cooks of history) and more on the crew and slaves who also featured heavily at these times. Two chapters even focus on individual accounts, and these are fascinating, especially when giving a different perspective on the polit...

Published by Golden Press: Auckland, Christchurch, Sydney, 1975. First published 1845. This abridged edition (by Joan Stevens) first published 1955. This book is part of the New Zealand Classics series, which I have several of. It also has the distinction of forming the basis for a recent historical novel, Jerningham, which creates a fictionalised version of the author's life.  As the title suggests, Adventure in New Zealand tells the story of Edward Jerningham Wakefield's adventures in New Zealand. Jerningham was the son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, and nephew to both William Wakefield and Arthur Wakefield, the former of whom was one of the founders of Wellington, and the latter of whom was notably killed during the Wairau Affray.  All of the Wakefields were involved in the New Zealand Company, an organisation that today is viewed with much suspicion. Jerningham, of course, paints a much rosier picture of the NZ Company's dealings, putting any fault over land-sale controver...

Published by Voyager/HarperCollinsPublishers: Hammersmith, London, 1996 (1995). Book 1 of 'The Farseer Trilogy.' Followed by 'Royal Assassin.' Hey writers. Have you ever had trouble coming up with a name for your protagonist? It is possible that Robin Hobb did, as the main character in Assassin's Apprentice is a nameless boy, whose father happened to be the heir-in-waiting to the Seven Duchies. As a bastard (a term that gets flung his way often throughout the book) the boy is mistreated by many of the people in his life, with the main result being that it takes a long time for anyone to get around to giving him an actual name, and even longer for him to be given a name that everyone accepts as his name. It's quite an interesting element in a fairly interesting story, one that I got through a lot quicker than the much shorter Jungle Books.  Our protagonist - generally called 'Fitz' (which, if you know your etymology, means bastard) - is adopted into the r...

Published as an audiobook by Recorded Books, 2000. Narrated by Barbara Caruso. First published 1886. The sequel to ' Little Men. ' This is the last book in the series that began with Little Women , and, like the book before this one , focuses more on the next generation, particularly the boys who attended the school run by Mr and Mrs Bhaer (that latter of whom began life as Jo March). Now those boys have grown up, and as such this book has the distinction of being the only book in the series to almost exclusively focus on adult characters (unless you count Good Wives as its own entry, rather than part 2 of Little Women ). This really changes the feel of Jo's Boys, and unfortunately it is not always for the better. Good Wives at least had the ongoing relationship issues and tight family unit of the Marches to focus on. Jo's Boys, on the other hand, has a number of boys, now young adults, who have gone their own way and don't have much interaction with each other. Thi...

Published in an omnibus edition: " Ordeal by Innocence "; " One, Two, Buckle My Shoe "; " The Adventures of the Christmas Pudding " as part of the "Agatha Christie Crime Collection" by Lansdowne Press: Australia, 1985 (1973). First published in omnibus edition 1970. First published individually 1940. Another Poirot mystery, I picked up this book as a 'light read' following my successful completion of Can You Forgive Her? Like most Poirot mysteries, the plot is so twisty that it is unlikely anyone would be able to unravel it entirely on their own; however, I did manage to pick up on some hints and clues so felt not-entirely-worthless-as-a-detective by the end. Poirot visits the dentist, and notices a little bit of suspicious behaviour going on in the waiting room. When the dentist is later found dead by suspected suicide, Poirot feels like murder was more likely, even as motives for a suicide come to light. Suspects include a vanishing mi...

Published by Oxford University Press. First published 1864-1865. Some books take longer to read than others. This book took me quite a while. I have read it as my main book, read it as an occasional book, put it down for periods, picked it up again.... overall I think it's taken me four distinct periods of time to get through, with the last period (back as my main book) taking eleven days. It is an older book, written in a slower style, and having previously read Barchester Towers by the same author, I was aware of that going in. And yet Can You Forgive Her? was a much harder read.  In saying that, the book was still enjoyable. Mostly.  At other times (particularly when my brain wasn't in a 'slow-and-steady' place) attempting to read it was a struggle, even boring. So, do I recommend this book? It depends. How good are you with slower paced reads? How much do you appreciate texts from another era, with social norms far different to your own? Do you enjoy satire touchin...

Published by Penguin: UK, 2023. Audiobook by Penguin Audio, 2023.  Uploaded to Audible 28-09-2023.  On the surface, Unruly is a history of England, like other histories that I have read in the past - this one outlining events from the early kings through to Elizabeth I. However, author David Mitchell is more well-known as a comedian than as an author, and Unruly leans heavily into that.  So, unlike a regular history of the kings and queens of England, this one includes commentary on Brexit, comparisons of historical figures to Mitchell's daughter, ranting tangents on why history is occasionally so bizarre (eg. if the Bayeux Tapestry is not technically a tapestry and yet is the most famous 'tapestry' in the world, why has the definition of tapestry not broadened to include it?!) and a bit of colourful language here and there. I am not a fan of the last of these, but I do generally enjoy David Mitchell's comedic style - which also doesn't include swearing as much as s...