Karl's Reading List

Published by Picador/Pan Macmillan: London, 2019. Translated by Geoffrey Trousselot, 2019. Originally published in Japanese as  Coffee Ga Samenai Uchini,  2015. For the second time this year , I have been lent a book by a student to read (though a different student), and once again it is a book originally written in Japanese! The similarities end there, however. Where No Longer Human was bleak and depressing, Before the Coffee Gets Cold is wistful, whimsical, melancholic and also somewhat sweet. It is also science fiction, with a hint of fantasy thrown in (there is a ghost, who can curse people; its not a big deal). Author Kawaguchi has adapted the storyline of the book from a play that he wrote, and at times that previous format shows through. Characters speak their feelings out in order to give us context, even when the narration has already told us the relevant information, or will go on to do so. The book also keeps its one setting very strongly, although the set up helps...

Published by Pan Books Ltd/Fabbri Publishing Ltd: Barcelona, Spain, 1992. First published 1895. One of HG Wells' most famous stories, The Time Machine is an 1895 novella that popularised the term 'time machine' itself! The novella is a very easy read, and not quite as grim as some of HG Wells' stories - though it still manages to be mildly cynical about the development of humankind. Our protagonist, only ever referred to as 'The Time Traveller', is an inventor who, at the beginning of the book, hosts some dinners, where he firstly demonstrates a model time machine, and then - arriving late and in quite a bad state to the second dinner - tells his guests (including our un-named narrator) the tale of time travelling that makes up the rest of the main narrative. The Time Traveller tells how he travelled forward to the year 802,701, where he encountered two species descended from modern humans: the innocent child-like Eloi, and the subterranean cannibalistic Morloc...

Published by Harper/HarperCollinsPublishers: 2008. First published 1990. It's been a while since I finished a book, which feels strange! I know why though! In the background I have been reading Moby Dick , which is taking a long time to get through. I've also traded my shorter audiobooks (like Thursday Murder Club and its sequels) for The Institutes of Christian Religion by John Calvin, and that is gonna take a long time to finish! Finally, I've also been reading a few books to do with recent or upcoming sermons, and neither Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard or Jews and Jesus   by Zola Levitt are quick reads. Anyway, all this to say that I picked up Eric from the school library on a whim the other day, and was happy to read something I could finish quickly. This is the 9th Discworld novel chronologically and 4th involving the wizard Rincewind, although the first Rincewind novel that I have reviewed here - previously only having reviewed the 31st Discworld novel Mons...

Published by Corgi Books/Doubleday: Great Britain, 2012 (2011). Book 1 in 'The Books of Beginning' series. Followed by 'The Fire Chronicle.' I'm going to burn this book. Wow! What?! Karl! Yeah, I thought that would be an interesting way to start this review, but it's far less dramatic than it may appear. In The Emerald Atlas we are introduced to siblings Kate, Michael and Emma. They have grown up in various orphanages after their parents mysteriously abandoned them in an event involving some monstrous adversaries that we see portrayed in the prologue, but that the siblings don't clearly remember. The first main chapter of the book has the siblings trying to get adopted but failing when the woman trying to adopt them turns out to be a weirdo. The head of the orphanage them ships them away to the only orphanage she can find that will take them, in a journey that reminds me a bit of Series of Unfortunate Events and some other mildly supernatural series... mayb...

Published by Puffin Books/Penguin Group: London, England: 2013. Book 1 in the 'WARP Series.' Followed by 'The Hangman's Revolution.' This at times surprisingly violent young-adult novel begins in Victorian London, where we meet Riley, a stereotypical Victorian street urchin. He has been trained by Albert Garrick, a stage magician and true psychopath, who has turned to the life of an assassin following the on-stage death of his lovely assistant. When we first meet Riley, Garrick is supporting him to attempt his first assassination, something that Riley is understandably a bit reluctant to do (thus the title). However, as the attempt goes sideways, Riley is sucked into a time portal, and emerges in the present day. Here he meets Chevron 'Chevie' Savano, a 17-year old FBI agent, hired under a now defunct youth programme. Chevie, who was somewhat responsible for the programme being shut down, is impulsive and a bit over-confident, and becomes our second protagon...

Published by Corgi Books: London, UK, 2003. Originally published 2002. The twenty-seventh Discworld novel (all of which can be read as standalone entries), Night Watch follows Ankh-Morpork watchman Sam Vimes, who has (throughout the numerous Discworld novels he has appeared in) been repeatedly promoted until he has become Commander (a role he sometimes finds tedious). When the book opens, Vimes is helping his colleagues bring the psychopathic Carcer to justice. However, due to a lightning strike on the Library of the Unseen University (home to the wizards of Ankh-Morpork) both Vimes and Carcer are accidentally thrown back in time. Carcer quickly kills the man who taught young Vimes the ropes and who overhauled the Night Watch, leaving Vimes to fill the role himself and become his own role-model. This becomes more difficult as a rebellion against the ruler of the city is brewing, and Vimes knows it won't end well. Discworld is an interesting mix of fantasy and satire, often basing i...

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 as an audiobook by Podium Audio, uploaded 21-07-2020. First published 2015. Narrated by Tracey Llewelyn. This free audiobook caught my eye when I was browsing Audible, probably partially because it's series title is " The Old Curiosity Shop ", which ties to my love of Dickens (a link that even the characters acknowledge). In this book, the first of that series, we follow Sarah Lester, who has become the owner/operator of the second-hand store 'The Old Curiosity Shop' following the mysterious disappearances of both of her parents. Sorting through a pile of postcards, Sarah suddenly finds herself transported back in time, taking on the identity of a maid in the home of Lord Grey. Just as she getting used to this life she ends up back in the present, only to later 'lump' into another life, then another and another...  It's an interesting premise, and Sarah is an interesting protagonist in that she knows a lot about historical artifacts (it comes...

Published by Huia Publishers: Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2018. Riki is the great-great-grandson of his namesake, Te Ariki, a soldier who fought in the First World War with the Maori Contingent. Riki lives in Wellington with his mother, who is obsessed with the story of Te Ariki, and has been listening to cassette recordings of interviews that Te Ariki's grandson Alamein made with Te Ariki in the 1970s. When Riki is unexpectedly hit by a bus while taking Te Ariki's diary to his mother, he wakes up in 1915 in Egypt, where he becomes mistaken for his ancestor. Now Riki must figure out why he is here, what happened to Te Ariki, and how - if at all - he can get home to the present. This is a great set-up for a story that examines racism, history, what defines a Maori, free will vs destiny, and the different ways in which New Zealanders can view their history. Hereaka has created an authentically 21st century voice with Riki, and is able to use her protagonist to analysis both...