Karl's Reading List

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers: USA, 2022. I got this book on a whim from the school library when I noticed the words "Agatha Christie" on the cover, and enjoyed it enough that, a day later, I am writing the review. The Agathas stars Alice Ogilvie - a rich, formerly popular girl, who as been a bit of an outcast after she disappeared for five days over the summer - and Iris Adams - a poorer, slightly nerdy girl, who has been assigned to tutor Alice. Both girls have secrets of their own and certainly mistrust one another, but also begin to work together to solve a mystery when one of Alice's ex-friends, Brooke Donovan, goes missing after a late night fight with Steve Anderson, who is Brooke's current- and Alice's ex-boyfriend. The title The Agathas refers to Alice's love of Agatha Christie novels - she has a seemingly perfect memory of plots and quotes from Christie's books, something that I find impressive, if slightly farfetched, considering how many...

Published by Walker Books Ltd: Vauxhall Walk, London, 2008. Book 1 in the 'Chaos Walking' series. Followed by 'The Ask and the Answer.' I knew of this book. I knew it had also been made into a not-very-well-received movie. I knew that it was set on a planet where all of the men uncontrollably broadcast their thoughts and the women had disappeared. I knew it was a Young Adult novel and part of a well-loved trilogy. I didn't know it would be so gory and heavy. There is a lot of death in The Knife of Letting Go, including much loved supporting characters, and even (keeping it a little vague to avoid spoiling too much) some characters that most books would avoid killing in order to keep the audience from disliking the narrative too much. The main character even has an arc where he is unable to kill people, and as a result, things keep getting worse. Considering this to be a weakness, he eventually pushes himself to kill - a horrific moment in the book that I felt sure w...

Published by Fabbri Publishing: Barcelona, Spain, 1991. First published by The Thames Publishing Company, 1857. When I recently reread Lord of the Flies it noted that William Golding wrote that book after having read this one. Apparently he decided that this book was too happy, and that it wasn't realistic, so wrote the far heavier version he is known for. I had a copy of this book on my shelf, so felt it only appropriate to see what I thought, myself. The Coral Island is, as Golding pointed out, a far more positive experience than Lord of the Flies. There are only three boys who end up shipwrecked on the island (with all the adults adrift in a separate boat and possibly ending up elsewhere), and two of them - Ralph and Jack - have had their names repurposed for the main characters in Golding's book. The third book, Peterkin, does not appear in Lord of the Flies, but perhaps his 'P' name inspired the character of Piggy - the third 'lead' of Flies. Whereas Flies...

Published by Allen & Unwin: NSW, Australia, 1997. First published in 1995 as Vallen. Translated from Dutch by John Nieuwenhuizen, 1997. Another book I read as I look for a Year 12 text. This is a very well written and slightly disturbing book, which follows Lucas Beigne, a teenager from Belgium living with his mother in the house of his late grandfather. There is some scandal in the past that involved his grandfather, but Lucas is unsure what the details were; his mother won't tell him. Lucas also has a neighbour, Caitlin, who has returned from America, who he remembers not being allowed to play with when he was younger, but who now he is captivated by. To begin with, the book looks like it might follow the growing feelings between Lucas and Caitlin, but we are also aware, from the book's framing device, that there will be some sort of accident ahead, in which Caitlin gets terribly injured and which Lucas feels guilty for. This gives a mild sense of unease to the proceeding...

Published by Penguin Books: New York, 2016. First published 1954. This famous book is a potential Year 12 text, on our English Department shelf near The Book Thief . It is also a book that I studied in high school myself, and have not revisited since - like To Kill a Mockingbird was before I re-read it last year. With that book, I remember the vague feeling of the book, and also that I enjoyed it on the whole. When I re-read it, those thoughts and feelings were validated, to the point where I ended up including To Kill a Mockingbird on my Top 5 List for 2025! This book, on the other hand, I remember thinking of in a slightly different way. I remember the overall plot. I remember a feeling of it being well written. But I also remember thinking it was a bit too intense, a bit bleak, a bit disturbing... and once again, those thoughts and feelings were validated. Let's begin with what Lord of the Flies has going for it, particularly if I was to choose to study it. Firstly, it is sho...

This is the first time I have done a 'yearly' top 5 (although I did a ' Top 5 Top 5s ' previously, after my 5th book list), but it seems to fit with the year ending in a 5. Anyway, this is entirely subjective, and is an indication of where I currently sit in regards to these books. The list might even be different if I was asked on a different day. The following are not reviews of these books per se, but each one has been reviewed, and that review can be found by clicking on the title of the book in question. Also, these are ranked in the order that I read them, rather than specifically 1-5 or 5-1. That would take a while longer to sort out! The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. I will give this one the award for 'Best Audiobook of the Year' and 'Best Whodunnit of the Year'. I listened to this over the Summer holidays last year, and enjoyed it enough that I listened to the rest of the series in the same year. Twisty, humorous, a bit unpredictable (a...

Published by The Watts Publishing Group: Great Britain, 2018. I picked up this book in a cheap sale at a local book shop, and began reading it in class to see what it was like. Having finished a few other books so far in the holiday period, I now have had the time to finish this one as well. Set in a future where most of the world has had technological implants allowing them to see and interact with augmented reality at all times, Nova is a hacker who uses her skills to skim money and survive. When she manages to hack her way into a fairly 'unhackable' program, she catches the attention of a master hacker named The Moth, who hires Nova to go undercover in Bliss Inc - who manufacture the vast majority of the tech people use - and learn what they are planning.  It is an interesting set-up, and much of the story is an interesting variation on some stock-standard science-fiction tropes, but probably isn't one I'll hang on to going forward. There are a few twists and turns t...

Published by Scholastic Australia Pty Limited: Gosford, NSW, 2025. Subtitled A Hunger Games Novel, Sunrise on the Reaping is a prequel to the main series - the second Suzanne Collins has written in recent years, actually. I have yet to read The Ballad of Snakes and Songbirds, which tells the story of a young President Snow, but I spotted this one - telling the story of a young Haymitch - at the library, and got it on a whim. Fans of the original Hunger Games series, particularly the first book , will remember that Haymitch was introduced as a perpetually drunk, cynical, checked-out past winner of the Hunger Games, who doesn't see any point in training Katniss or Peeta because they are not going to win anyway! Throughout the book - and the series as a whole - we see him regain his spark of life, and eventually become a true protagonist, working to bring about the downfall of the corrupt Capitol and its evil President. And of course, if you are looking for a subject to write a spin-o...

Published by William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd/Armada: London, 1962 (1938). Book 14 in the 'Biggles' series. Preceded by 'Biggles Flies South.' Followed by 'The Rescue Flight.' I have never read a Biggles book before now, but having received this one for free, I decided to check it out. Yes, it is book 14 in the series, but I get the feeling that they are fairly stand-alone stories, and certainly didn't have trouble picking up the general plot in this one, anyhow. James 'Biggles' Bigglesworth is a British pilot, having flown in battle in the past. Along with his friend Algenon 'Algy' Lacey and the somewhat-less-experienced trainee Ginger Hebblethwaite, Biggles is approached by the ambassador to Maltovia to help develop an airforce. At first, Biggles declines, not wanting to get involved in a foreign conflict, but soon after the Maltovian ambassdor has departed, Biggles is threatened by the ambassador of Lovitzna (the enemy of Maltovia) not t...

Published by Allen & Unwin: Crows Nest NSW, Australia, 2015. This Young-Adult book follows a group of teenagers with unusual super-powers. Ethan/Scam has a voice that can be used to reveal secrets and manipulative people but that he cannot filter or control when he is using it, Riley/Flicker is blind but can see through the eyes of nearby people, Chizara/Crash can 'feel' electronic signals in the air around her (that cause her discomfort) and can also 'crash' them, Thibault/Anonymous has the (uncontrollable) power of being forgotten and diverting attention from himself, and Nate/Bellwether (the self-appointed leader of the group) can influence people's behaviour by talking to them. The group also meet a sixth individual, Kelsie/Mob, who can influence the emotions of groups of people. As may already be apparent, most of these powers have a downside to them. Thibault, particularly, finds friendships difficult to maintain, while Ethan's power gets him into trou...

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 Definitions/Random House Children's Publishers: London, 2014 (2013). This is an odd book. It is a little bit fairy-tale - a label that is made more explicit by the inclusion of Jacob Grimm's ghost as the narrator! It is a little bit horror, but only subtly, particularly to begin with. It is a little bit young adult romantic drama, but with one of the pair possibly under an enchantment. It is a little bit coming-of-age and taking responsibility for the difficulties of life, but this is told through the main boy's father's storyline (a very distant B-Plot), as well as through a Mastermind style TV show. It feels old-fashioned, but also is set in a vaguely contemporary world. It is also a book I almost accidentally got through. I picked it up off my classroom shelf and had finished it in two days.  As mentioned, the narrator is the ghost of Jacob Grimm, a spirit who can only be heard by the main protagonist, Jeremy Johnson Johnson (both his parents had the sam...

Published by Candlewick Press: Somerville, Massachusetts, 2012. The main character in this book, Daniel, is obsessed with death. Ever since his older brother, Eli, was killed in the Iraq War, Daniel has been keeping a 'book of the dead', writing down the cause of death of various historical figures. Although Daniel doesn't recognise it, this is his way of coping with the grief surrounding his brother's loss. His parents are coping far worse. Although the 'book of the dead' is an important feature of After Eli, the plot doesn't focus on it too much, mostly including facts from the book as epigraphs to open each chapter (and tie into the theme of the chapter slightly). Instead, After Eli is far more reminiscent of something like Bridge to Terabithia : a slightly melancholic story about a young boy falling in love with a girl who draws him out of his shell, even though foreshadowing makes us predict they will not end up together. In After Eli, the girl is quest...

Published by Tui/HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Ltd: Auckland, NZ, 1994. Book 3 in 'The Solar Colonies.' Preceded by ' The Ghosts of Triton. ' Elise and I (along with Ezekiel) have just returned from a two-week holiday/church ministry time in Australia, visiting friends in Tasmania and Melbourne. It was a great trip, with lots to unpack, but one without a lot of time for reading. Also, the main book I've been working my way through - Moby Dick - is in a big omnibus, which would have weighed too much to justify taking on the plane.  So, instead, I took two books with me that were a little bit smaller, one of which - Fear and Trembling - I was already part of the way through, and the other - this one - a book that I knew was an easy read to unwind with in the little bit of downtime I would find. Both were finished while in Australia, but this one (the easier read) was the first I completed. Both of the two Solar Colonies books I have read have had a differen...

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc: London, 2000. First published 1998. Ages ago I saw the film that this book was based upon. Except for the physical appearance of the main character (who in the book is quite fat but in the film is portrayed by a young, slim Shia LaBeouf) the film turns out to be quite faithful to the plot. That makes sense, because the plot is one of those intricately constructed ones where there are a number of factors that all come together at the end - think of the way the movie Signs makes sense of every character quirk and random non sequiturs in the final showdown with the alien. Holes includes a lot of back-story, interspersing it with the 'current' events, and each event and quirk from the past (a family curse, the family name, onions, etc) all come together at the end to help resolve the plot. So, its an interesting story. I wouldn't say I was 'gripped' while reading it, but it still gives that sense of "oh, clever!" at the ...

Published by Noisy Crow Ltd: Crosby Row, London, 2021. Having finished Scavenger: Zoid too quickly to use in the Reading Challenge, I needed another book featuring AI or robots, and got this one from the school library, knowing nothing about it except what I saw on the cover. In a lot of ways, Adam-2 is similar to Scavenger: Zoid. It is set in the distant future, in a world where robots have turned on humanity and now pockets of humans try to resist against them. Like in Scavenger: Zoid, a more sophisticated robot is introduced who starts trying to help the humans. That robot develops a friendship with a main human, while other main humans remain suspicious. The difference here is that the robot - the titular Adam-2 - is the main character, whereas the robot in Scavenger: Zoid was a supporting character. Having the story be told primarily from Adam's viewpoint is an interesting touch, particularly as Adam learns about both sides in the conflict and begins to have doubts about the ...

Published by Macmillan Children's Books: London, Basingstoke and Oxford, 2014. I began reading this book in class when I was nearing the end of reading The Jungle Books , by Rudyard Kipling. I had selected The Jungle Books to fit the next category on the reading challenge I'm doing this year, and decided that I was near enough the end of that book that starting this one (which fits the   category after that one) was safe enough, especially since I would only be able to read this during silent reading times, and it would likely take a while. Whoops. I under-estimated how busy my home life would be, how slow The Jungle Books would be, and how quickly I'd get through this book, which probably took just over a week of class time! So, now, I find myself in the mildly annoying situation of having read a book that fits the 'robots or AI' category of the challenge, but - because of my self-imposed rule of doing them in order - not being able to use it. And I only finished i...

Published by Walker Books Ltd: London, 2018. There was a Christmas tree at work set up with mystery books underneath it. The wrapper for this one said something like 'Young adult dystopian climate change.' That about sums it up! When I think of Young Adult dystopias I usually think of a futuristic science-fiction world, either fallen apart (like The Hunger Games ) or still pretending to hold it all together (like Starters ). Dry is quite interesting in its difference; it takes place in a world that is - to all intents and purposes - our own. There is no futuristic science going on, no government conspiracies to deal with, no underground rebellion seeking to take down the president... its far more 'real.' And that adds to it's power. The only change from our reality is one that we feel could happen - an extreme drought has meant that the state of California is entirely out of water. This is the set-up, and the driving force of the plot: how do you survive, what do yo...

Published by Puffin Books/Penguin Random House: Great Britain, 2013 (2009). Book 5 in the 'Percy Jackson' series. Preceded by ' Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth. ' This final book in the Percy Jackson series does all the things final books should: it turns into an epic battle, it has some (mostly minor or villainous) characters die, and it wraps up the major story-arcs while allowing some characters to have room for development in the future. Knowing that there is a number of other stories featuring Percy Jackson following this series, it makes sense that another 'Great Prophecy' is also featured near the end of the book. In being all of these things, the story of The Last Olympian is in some ways the most predictable of the series: we know that Percy will face off against Kronos. We know that Grover and Annabeth (and in these later books, Rachel) will also have a part to play. We know that some people will die. We know (well, assume, but come on, i...

Published by Simon and Schuster UK Ltd: London, 2014. This is a weird book that's been on my classroom library shelf for quite a while. The main character, Travis, had terminal cancer five years ago, and agreed to have his head cryogenically frozen, in the hope that in the future it would be possible to attach it to a donor body. Now, he has woken up, only the second patient to successfully have the procedure complete, to find that everyone in his world, including his parents, his best friend and his girlfriend, have lived five extra years of life. Travis is sixteen, and the difference between a sixteen-year-old and a twenty-one-year-old is a much bigger difference than it would have been had Travis been an adult. Also, his girlfriend Cate is now engaged to someone else. The difference between a sixteen-year-old and a twenty-one-year-old is also small enough that it is conceivable that Cate and Kyle (his former best friend) would also still be keen to in-some-way have Travis back i...