Kathryn's Inbox

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  “All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.”  ~ J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

The tenth BSC Graphix novel turns its attention to BSC President Kristy Thomas. This isn't much of a surprise, given that Kristy had one of the strongest plot lines of the early novels. A tomboy, well organised and occasionally a little too bossy, she's the perfect character to find herself in a rags to riches storyline. Her mother has now married millionaire Watson Brewer. Kristy has not been affected by her new lifestyle. She's still Kristy, she still wears the same clothes, she has the same friends and she still goes to the same school. It is just that Kristy is having problems with the kids in her new, wealthy neighbourhood.  The main instigator is Shannon, a girl the same age as Kristy, who makes fun of her clothes, the Baby-sitters Club and she even makes fun of Kristy's beloved collie Louie, who is old and sick with arthritis. But when Shannon starts playing mean pranks on Kristy while she's baby-sitting, and potentially puts the kids in danger, it's obvi

  Actor Melissa George made her fortune in part by the invention of magnetic, removable hem clips. 

The fifth Bridgerton novel turns its attention to Eloise, the fifth born Bridgerton and best friend (and now sister-in-law) of Penelope Fetherington. Eloise is twenty-eight years old, outspoken and a spinster by choice, having now turned down six proposals. She also enjoys writing letters and will find any excuse to write one. When she sends a short note of condolence to Sir Phillip Crane after his wife passes away, she does not intend for it to eventually lead to a proposal of marriage. Or that she would run away from the family home to meet him. Or that the pair would be complete opposites, and unable to get along. This was an entertaining, light romance about a pair of opposites who turn out to be the perfect match for one another. There are lots of laugh out loud Bridgeton moments (the shotgun wedding is a particular highlight,) in between a few raunchy scenes and a bit of romance. I enjoyed this one as just a bit of fun and I will probably read the next book in the series soon.  R

Published many years before Animal Farm (and, consequently 1984, ) Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London is a work of auto fiction, based on two stints the author spent in poverty. The first was a deliberate act, with Orwell posing as a tramp for two months in London. The second arose while living in Paris, Orwell was recovering from an injury when he was robbed. Down and Out in Paris and London takes these two experiences and changes a few of the details and some of the names around, presumably so that people wouldn't recognise themselves or suffer any embarrassment, so that he can expose a bigger issue--of what it really means to be living below the poverty line and how easily those who have nothing can be exploited. The novel opens in Paris (see, I told you some of the details had been changed,) with Orwell unemployed and living in a cheap hotel. An entire chapter is devoted to a vile man he meets there (basically, the man goes about in pubs bragging about how he had r