Karl's Reading List

Published in flipback format by Hodder & Stoughton: London, UK, 2011. First published 2003. A book marketed right at me, seemingly, The Adventure of English is a history of the English language, from around 500 AD through til just after the year 2000. The subtitle is The Biography of a Language , and this feels fairly accurate: the focus is always on the language itself, and how the various influences of history has shaped it; events come and go within the pages only as needed for explanation. As a result, we get chapters on figures like Chaucer and Shakespeare, chapters on areas where specific branches of English have developed - such as USA, India and Australia - and even a few chapters devoted to Church History figures like Wycliffe and Tyndale, and their efforts to translate the Bible into English. It's all fascinating - far more than it might at first appear. Although the book eventually dragged on a bit (understandable, as it is covering almost 2000 years of history in a ...

Published by Arrow Books: London, 2018 (2017). This collection of short stories, published to celebrate 40 years since the release of A New Hope (aka the original Star Wars movie) retells scenes from that movie from the perspective of 40 minor (or greater canon) characters from the film itself. Story perspectives include those of more well-known figures such as Greedo, Obi-Wan, and even Yoda, Lando and the force-ghost of Qui-Gonn, as well as far more obscure ones, such as one of the Jawas, members of the Cantina Band, and the trash-monster from the Death Star. Each story is told by a different author or authors, and therefore the stories range in genre from comedic to dramatic, to a parody of Shakespeare (the latter being the contribution of Ian Doescher, who has also produced full-length parody 'plays' of Stars Wars in Shakespearean form elsewhere ). It would take too long to review each of the 40 stories, but as with any short story collection, some are good, and others are j...

Published by Faber and Faber Ltd: London, 2005. As the extended title states, 1599 tells a history of London and England in the year 1599, while continually suggesting how the local, national, and occasionally international events mentioned would have, could have, or possibly might have impacted on the life and works of William Shakespeare. Shapiro has done his research thoroughly, and the book - broken into sections by season - gives a clear feel about life in a particular year of Elizabeth's England. The concept is an interesting one, and the quotes on the back cover of the book would have us believe it is "Quite brilliant" (Andrew Motion), "passionately written" (Stanley Wells), that it gives us "a Shakespeare both for his time and our own" (David Scott Kastan), and that, "As a yarn, this is up there with The Da Vinci Code - but in 1599 it's all true!" (Gandalf, aka Sir Ian McKellen). Well... I enjoyed it. But I must admit, I...