Karl's Reading List

Published by One Tree House Ltd: New Zealand, 2021. A very easy book to read, The Tomo follows Phil Davidson, a New Zealand teenager who is sent to work on a sheep farm over the Christmas holidays when his father - sick with cancer - is undergoing special treatment. Phil doesn't want to go, and so the family allow him to take Blue, his dad's beloved dog, with him as a treat. When Phil arrives at the farm, he firstly meets Chopper, the grumpy farm manager who sets him to work on the most menial jobs, and then later meets Emara, a girl his own age who becomes his potential love interest. Emara is also quite environmentally savvy, and has discussions with both Phil and Chopper about ways to run the farm in a more environmentally-friendly fashion. A Maori farm worker, Toko, brings the Maori perspective to the story as well, making this a book which has clear study-able themes (should a teacher choose to do it with a class of English students).  Drama arises when Blue falls down a t...

Published by Cape Catley Ltd: Whatamongo Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound, 1991. When I was in primary school, I remember reading Uncle Trev stories; I guess there was a book of them in the school library. I have an Uncle Trev of my own, who is also a bit of a storyteller, so this book must have struck a chord with me. Having found this copy at a book sale somewhere, I began reading it quite some time ago with Elise. Then, I 'stole' it away to school, where I used chapters of it to help craft a new Level 1 (Year 11) English course that was focussing on Kiwi identity. For the rest of this year it has been sitting on my desk at work, so when I packed up for the year, I brought it home and finished it off myself. The set-up of Uncle Trev is very simple: a nameless young narrator, living in the 1930s or 40s, often sick at home, is regaled by the tall tales of his Uncle Trev. Uncle Trev will have some farfetched idea that will make farming life easier, or some farfetched adventure involvi...

Published by Hodder Moa Beckett Publishers Limited: Auckland, NZ, 1997. First published by Barry Crump Associates Ltd, 1988. A collection of short stories and poems by Crump. Some elements are a little dated/offensive by modern standards, but otherwise they are an interesting mix of stories, covering a lot more genres than I expected.  'Warm Beer' is a ghost story with a punch of an ending. 'That Way' is a dark drama involving a ruthless man quick to kill his pets. 'Cave' is a slightly supernatural poem involving possible time travel. More than one story has a protagonist contemplating, if not outright committing murder!  And of course, there are a number of the humorous slice-of-rural-life yarns that Crump was well known for. My favourites include 'Overheard in the Pub' which tells a shaggy dog story about a live fish being transported in a four-gallon kerosene tin through the outback, 'Double Scotch', in which the protagonist believes his publi...

Published by Te Herenga Waka University Press: Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. Eleanor Catton has the privilege of writing one of the few Booker books I can actually say I enjoyed! She is also a Kiwi author, which works well for the current reading challenge I am a part of. Birnam Wood is Catton's third book, and follows a group of 'eco-activists' who plant gardens in 'wasted spaces' throughout various cities, using reserves, the sides of motorways, unsuspecting people's backyards etc. The group calls themselves 'Birnam Wood' after the wood from Macbeth, which "moved"... Birnam Wood the group consider themselves to be planting 'moving' gardens. Through a series of circumstances, the founder of the group, Mira, meets Robert Lemoine, a shady American billionaire, who offers the group the chance to scale their operations way up (by planting the property of the recently knighted Sir Owen and Lady Jill Darvish), and possibly even be...