Kathryn's Inbox

Call Me By Your Name is a coming-of-age novel about a brief but intense love that will be remembered--and felt--for a lifetime. Seventeen year old Elio is used to his home on the Italian Rivera being opened to guests, his father's students, and he thinks nothing of this until the day Oliver, an American student, stumbles out of a taxi, saying a casual, 'Later' to the driver. Elio is immediately smitten, with his imagination going into overdrive as he struggles to reconcile with his feelings. What begins with Elio doing his best to avoid Oliver eventually turns to a discover of love and intimacy like no other he has experienced before. This was an empathetic and well crafted read about a young man struggling under the intensity of his feelings for another person. It is also a story of how two people find something so very rare--total intimacy with one another. That said, this isn't always comfortable reading and it should probably come with a disclaimer that many people ...

I had no idea this volume of sermons by history making and beloved activist and Baptist minister Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr existed, let alone been republished as a Penguin Modern Classic, until I stumbled upon it a several weeks ago at a beautiful bookshop in the Adelaide Hills. Intrigued, I purchased it immediately and over a coffee at a nearby cafe I immersed myself in a work that I soon discovered was both hopeful and beautiful.  Taken from some of the author's most powerful sermons A Gift Of Love was originally published in 1963, and updated after Dr King was assassinated in 1968, and again in 1981. The sermons focus on strength, the importance of activism and his vision for an America where people are not divided by race. He also speaks of his personal experiences of activism. Personally, I found his account of the Montgomery bus boycott, and his role in it to be absolutely fascinating. Though, it should be stressed also frightening, as Dr King's house was bomb...

Okay. I know these books are meant to be for kids. But the concept of a Little People Big Dreams book about Andy Warhol was just too much for me to resist. And let's face it, outside of all of the controversies there are many aspects of Andy Warhol's career that would be very interesting and inspiring for young, budding artists. Like the fact that he was a shy kid, plagued by illness and that he could take something as mundane as a soup can and use it to change the art world forever. Anyway ... this was a fun and age appropriate biography. I loved the illustrations, which felt very fitting--unique but with a definite Warhol flavour. There is also a longer biography at the back, which will probably be appreciated more by older children and any grown ups that are reading along. Understandably, the book does not mention that Warhol was shot or his unexpected death in hospital following a routine operation.  Overall, an excellent resource for kids and a bit of fun and inspiration f...

The BSC graphic novel adaptions are back and this time the focus is on oft-overlooked BSC character Mallory Pike. And it is one of the best instalments in the series to date. This one opens with a behind the scenes look at the Pikes, a nuclear family with eight kids. For Mallory, the oldest, this often means being expected to help her parents look after the younger kids, and also going without a lot of things that she secretly wants because her family cannot afford it. She's also fed up with being treated well ... like a kid. Mallory has the chance not only to prove herself as capable, but to earn some money to buy some of the things she wants when she is offered a regular baby-sitting job caring for eight-year-old identical twins Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold. There's just one catch. The twins are absolute terrors and just love to swap places. But with a little bit of ingenuity, Mallory just might be able to solve the problem and learn a thing or two about good communication. I a...

Originally published in 2018 (and later updated) Feminists Don't Wear Pink is an eclectic series of short pieces from various high profile women on what feminism means to them. Some of the pieces, such as the Bridget Jones piece by Helen Fielding are fiction, other authors share poetry and many, from Amy Trigg to Liv Little to Charlotte Elizabeth open up about their deeply personal experiences. Much like the writers, every piece is different and everyone has a different view on what feminism means to them. This was an entertaining, though often eclectic read. I enjoyed most of the pieces on their own, individual merit, but each did not always flow into the next one well which got a bit distracting after a while, and meant that I found myself putting the book down again after reading one of two short pieces. (And consequently, the book took my a while to get through.) The book was originally published in the United Kingdom meaning that some of the authors were completely unknown to...

To say that I have been 'enchanted' by Disney's Meant To Be series would be a massive understatement. The concept is surprising as it is brilliant. Classic Disney movies reimagined as contemporary romance novels, written by bestselling authors. And it works so well. If The Shoe Fits is the first release in the series. Penned by Julie Murphy, the author of Dumplin'  it retells Cinderella. Except this time, Cinderella is Cindy, she is an aspiring fashion designer who just loves shoes. And she is the first ever plus size contestant on a reality show that just happens to have been created and produced by her stepmother. Her stepsisters, both influencers, are contestants on the same show. The only catch is that Cindy has already met the man that she and the other contestants are competing for ... and there is a very real and very mutual attraction between them. This was a fun and lightweight romance set against the backdrop of a very well choreographed reality show. Cindy an...

Don't stay where you are needed. Go where you are loved ... So reads the blurb on the back of my copy of Love Looks Pretty On You, a delightful collection of poetry and short prose by Lang Leave. And what a teaser that proved to be as I read through the collection, with each offering speaking of one kind of love or another. All forms of love are mentioned, though the collection does focus on romance, particularly unrequited love. Some of the poems would most definitely be comforting to any reader who has a broken heart.  I absolutely adored this one, snatching bits here and there, though my favourite memory is taking it with me to a cafe on a cool Saturday afternoon, taking in the short works in between sips of coffee.  Recommended. PS Did you know ... author Lang Leav was born in Thailand, after her family fled the horrific Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. The author grew up in Australia and now lives in Sydney.

The Baby-Sitters Little Sister series gets spooky once again in a tale of Halloween, haunted mansions and families who just flat out don't believe a highly imaginative kid when she discovers that she is living with a ghost. The latest graphic novel adaption is Karen's Ghost, the twelfth novel in the original series and eleventh graphic novel in the series, opens with Halloween fast approaching and Karen becoming intrigued by the story of Ben Brewer, her reclusive great-grandfather whose biggest claim to fame was that he ate fried dandelions. Or, at least, that was his biggest claim to fame until one night when Karen hears some creaks and groans from the attic of the Brewer family mansion and becomes convinced that it is the ghost of Ben Brewer, who is haunting the attic and third floor. A trip to the attic with her stepsister Kristy leads Karen to discover a diary written by Ben Brewer's son Jeremy, who also believed that Ben Brewer haunts the house--and that every ten yea...

Can a dog be twins? That is the question which has catapulted the author's unnamed narrator to fame online. The novel begins as a satire of a life lived online, with the protagonists days spent scrolling through social media and the like, with much commentary on the ridiculousness of what appears online. Midway through, it takes a surprise turn. The narrator is pulled increasingly back into the real world as she learns that her sister is pregnant with a child that has a rare and severe disability. As she rushes to be by her sisters side, suddenly her life becomes more and more divided into two, with the absurdity of what she sees online, and the harsh and heartbreaking realities that are unfolding in front of her, things that are important in her life, but that no one in the outside world is talking about. This was an interesting read. After a while, the depictions of scrolling and online content became tiresome, while the truly interesting parts of the story was what was happening...

Art is so much more than a picture inside a frame. And nothing sums up that feeling more than My Friends the latest novel by Fredrick Backman. The novel opens with Louisa, a girl who was abandoned by her mother and who ran away from her foster home after the untimely death of her very best friend Fish. Seemingly a guerrilla artist, we meet Louisa as she attends an art auction with spray paint in her backpack, but slowly the author reveals something different--a sensitive young woman who just wants to look at a famous artwork titled The One of the Sea which she knows is a painting of so much more than the sea. After all, she can see the pier and the four young people depicted in the painting. Her fascination with the painting and lack of interest in certain rules does not bode well for the other people at the auction, which soon turns into a series of unexpected events, where she encounters the artist, and the story of the four teenagers on the pier--and the birth of the career of an a...

When Kellie Finlayson was just twenty-five years old, she received a shocking diagnosis--she had stage four bowel cancer. Four years later and (thankfully) she is still here and raising awareness, shattering myths about bowel cancer and being a passionate advocate for bowel cancer awareness and an ambassador for the Jodi Lee Foundation. There Must be More is her personal story, detailing her diagnosis, treatment and the ups and downs experienced along the way.      This was a powerful read. Bowel cancer isn't always the easiest of things for people to talk about. It is also something that, here in Australia we often associate with aging--so much so that every Australian receives a bowel cancer test kit from the government on their fiftieth birthday. In reality it can happen to anyone, and Kellie Finlayson has played a huge role in creating that awareness in me, and, I suspect people like me. However, There Must Be More is not only a book about raising awareness. It is a...

Beautiful World, Where Are You, the third offering from Booker Prize long-listed author Sally Rooney has one failing. It isn't very good. The novel tells the story of four very different thirty-somethings living in Ireland, Alice, an internationally renowned author who suffered a nervous breakdown after the publication of one of her novels, Alice's best friend Eileen who lives in Dublin, is equally as miserable as her best friend and can't admit that she's in love with Simon, a devout Catholic with whom has she as friends with benefits relationship, and Felix, an angry creep that Alice met on Tinder. And so the novel goes from there with each of the characters being miserable and slowly trying to work through their various communication issues and quarter life crises.  Unfortunately, Rooney works so hard on trying to create mystery and well-crafted prose at the expense of her characters and, dare I say it, a plot. The novel starts slowly, improves after the first seven...

There is something delightful about the Dinosaur Couch comics that seem to pop up on my social media feeds every now and again. The combination of the clean lines, musings on life and well ... dinosaurs, just seem to make it a hit. Worked on by a team--James Stewart comes up with the words and plot and K Romey does the illustrations, the whole thing has a very gentle feel. When I discovered that an entire collection of these cute comics was available, I just had to find a copy.  And it doesn't disappoint. Divided into seven different sections, the comics talk about various parts of life, from relationships to happiness to feeling anxious and overthinking. I love the simplicity and the way it breaks it all down, leaving any reader who might be struggling with an issue (or who has struggled in the past,) feeling seen. I found this one more enjoyable when I read just one or two comics at a time, rather than binging on them. Recommended. 

Ash London's debut novel is a fun, frothy and upbeat glimpse into the cutthroat Australian media landscape. Leveraging on her personal experiences as a top rating radio host in Australia and New Zealand, Ash London tells the story of radio superstar Alex York, who goes from being unemployed, broke and living in her auntie's spare bedroom to hosting a top rating breakfast show in Sydney. It all sounds to good to be true, but for Alex, fame also comes with a condescending CEO, a rival, but less talented host who is convinced that the job should be his (and he'll do anything to steal it,) and some romantic misunderstandings with the incredibly attractive executive producer of her show. This one is a fun and very light escapist read. Alex makes for an interesting lead--she's very extroverted, flies by the seat of her pants and spends her money quite impulsively, yet we also see that she truly loves her job and takes it very seriously. I loved the scenes where she stood up t...

Oh Karen Brewer, why are you being such a pain, P-A-I-N, pain? Karen's Prize, the tenth Baby-Sitter's Little Sister graphic novel takes us into the exciting world of competitive spelling. Well, at least Karen is excited about it. When her class has a spelling bee, she declared the winner (though her friend Nancy came close) and now she gets to compete with the winners in the other first, second and third grade classes. Karen senses victory in the air, especially when she discovers that the winner will get to compete in a district spelling bee. She practices and practices, and begins to annoy and alienate everyone around her with her constant spelling. Then she keeps on winning spelling bees. Everyone should be happy for her right? Well, not when Karen's ego keeps getting in the way of things. And now the state championship is coming up, it is being televised live and Karen is absolutely certain that she is going to win.  This was an entertaining read. It sticks very close t...

New York born and bred Sylvie Deveraux is having a bad day. First her high successful, wealthy and almost comically negligent parents cut her off. Then she discovers that her boyfriend is having an affair with her best friend. Then she gets a phone call that changes everything. Three months ago, Sylvie had broken in to the castle that belongs to Killian Barclay, a reclusive and incredibly fierce member of Scottish nobility. And now, in a surprise twist, Killian's family approaches Sylvie with an offer. Marry Killian, restore his public reputation and they will pay her ten million dollars. The whole thing seems ludicrous. But Sylvie is desperate for the money ... This novel doesn't have the most realistic premise, or execution, but it certainly is entertaining. I've never read a book where a Scottish nobleman spoke like a sassy teenage girl before, or based all of his important decision making entirely on emotional outbursts, but it certainly made for some fun escapism. Ther...

Booker Prize nominated author Patricia Lockwood had a very unusual childhood. So much so that she has written an impressive, darkly comic memoir about what it was really like to grow up in a household where her father was a gun-toting, guitar playing Roman Catholic priest. Children of Catholic priests are few and far between in the United States where Lockwood grew up--in fact her father who was already married with children when he converted to Catholicism due to a special, and still very new at the time, exception by the Catholic church that allowed Anglican priests or in Lockwood's case, Lutheran ministers, to become priests on conversion. Provided, of course, that the entire family passed a number of tests. Anyway, Lockwood was inspired to write the memoir when she and her husband returned to the family home after being away for twelve years. As is characteristic of Patricia Lockwood's writing style, Priestdaddy is written in short paragraphs and snippets that often feel d...

Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are back in their fourth Sweet Valley Twins graphic novel. This time around the twins are divided when a mysterious new girl arrives at Sweet Valley Middle School. Nora Mercandy is quiet, slightly depressed and has a goth look about her. If that alone doesn't make her enough of a target in Sweet Valley, the world's capital of pointless and excessive schoolyard bullying, the fact that she is living in the old Mercandy house which is supposedly haunted and everyone thinks her grandparents are creepy certainly is.  This one was an interesting addition to the series. As is often the case in Sweet Valley, centres around Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, highlighting the differences between the twins. While Elizabeth takes the time to get to know Nora, and finds her to be a sweet kid who is grieving for her mother and has little support from her ailing grandparents, Jessica is more focused on outward appearances and the opinions of her snooty friends--...

Acclaimed comedian Bill Bailey takes us well behind the scenes and into his other life as an animal lover in his memoir My Animals and Other Animals. (The title, of course, being a play on My Family and Other Animals. ) The stories are many, and mostly self-contained, telling the stories of beloved family pets (or should that be family members,) and various amusing encounters with animals as he travels across the globe. This book is a lot of fun. It is also fairly short and given the size of the font and spacing I'm a little surprised that publisher Hachette decided to print it as a trade paperback. The other unfortunate part of the book is that it isn't terribly memorable. I remember many of the stories made me laugh, but I actually remember very little of them. Still, it was a great way to spend an afternoon and one that I would recommend as a fun book to read between more serious reads or if you are in need of cheering up. Recommended. 

What if, the most famous man on the planet and one of your heroes was also the worst kind of human being? That is the reality experienced by Rose, the twenty-something protagonist of Gold Rush by Olivia Petter. Chance and circumstance leads Rose to strike up a friendship with rock star Milo Jax, but things take a strange turn after he invites her to his home. Rose can remember a night of drinking and flirtation, but her body is telling her a very different story... Olivia Petter tells a convincing story of what happens when women and their bodies are treated as commodities. Rose's confusion over the events of that evening, denial and a search for evidence then answers, and questions of self-worth are entirely convincing. It is also a story of celebrity culture and how some celebrities are able to use their fame in the most vile way possible--and how that same fame allows them to get away with it. The story isn't easy reading, and nor is it meant to be. Olivia Petter creates a s...

Okay. Just as the title suggests, I did not actually ask for this book. (Well, technically I did. I went to my local bookshop and asked if they had a copy.) Anyway, the fact that I didn't ask for this to be published doesn't mean that I find it any less funny. In this book, Jimmy & Nath from the radio show of the same name share a curated selection of jokes from listeners and various celebrities. And well ... they made me laugh, which is all the book had to do now that I stop and think about it. In all seriousness, this was a fun read, with some great jokes and illustrations, and I found myself picking it up on a few occasions when I was having a bad day. I was a bit hesitant to write a review for a couple of personal reasons, but then I figured stuff it. The book is a lot of fun and it gave me a few laughs and I would like to think that it might make other people laugh as well. Recommended. 

DK Yingst's debut Little Sister graphic novel adaption, Karen's Grandmother's (and ninth in the series overall) is a winner. This time around, we see Karen participating in a programme at school where the kids 'adopt' a grandparent at the local nursing home. Karen is very excited at the prospect. Thanks to her status as a 'two-two' this means she will now have five grandmothers overall--two biological grandmothers, two step grandmother and now an adopted grandmother. She thinks it might even be a record. The only flaw in this plan is that her little house bestie Nancy Dawes isn't sharing in her excitement. Nancy doesn't have a grandmother, she is afraid of old people and she most defiantly does not wish to take part in the programme. Karen needs a way to show Nancy that old people are pretty cool, but what happens when she sets Nancy and one of her grandmothers up as pen pals, and Granny from Nebraska starts taking more of an interest in Nancy and li...

In April 2024 beloved author Sophie Kinsella, whose bestsellers include The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (titled Confessions of Shopaholic in the USA) and Can You Keep a Secret revealed that she had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer and had been receiving treatment since 2022. What Does It Feel Like is a semi-autobiographical account of her experiences--of making it as an author, getting onto the bestseller lists, seeing a book made into a movie and then finding herself in hospital, unable to remember the past few months and being given a very scary diagnosis.  Evie, the protagonist in What Does It Feel Like is not Sophie Kinsella, but their experiences are very similar. Broken into small chapters we experience Evie's highs and lows, her success, her diagnosis, treatment and, ultimately, a sense of hope. I found myself reaching for the tissues on a few occasions while I became fully invested in Evie's journey. The ending is not a fa...

  I'm thirty. I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honour.  This quote, spoken by The Great Gatsby narrator Nick Carraway to his former love interest Jordan Baker sums up F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel of self-delusion perfectly. It is a hot summer in the midst of the roaring twenties when Nick Carraway takes up a residence in a small town just outside of New York. He soon becomes intrigued by his new neighbour, Jay Gatsby whose reputation for hosting the perfect party has stretched far and wide. No one knows exactly how Gatsby got his money, but people flock far and wide to his residence for a good time. A friendship between Gatsby and Nick develops, though it soon becomes increasingly clear that Gatsby wants a friendship with Nick so that he can access Nick's glamorous cousin Daisy, who also just happens to be married to the very wealthy brute Tom Buchanan. What follows is a story of utter self-delusion, selfishness and the perils of trying to rec...

Powerful. Tense. Thought provoking. These are the words that instantly come to mind when I think about Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell. Set in Ireland in 2018, Nesting tells the story of Ciara, who, when she discovers that she is pregnant with her third child knows that she must leave her controlling husband Ryan for good. What follows is a roller coaster ride as Ciara tries to make a new life for herself and her children, whilst battling a husband who uses every form of psychological control to keep his hold over her, inadequate government support and her family are all in the United Kingdom. As the seasons pass, so too do the hardships and the level of control that Ryan has over her, leaving her to wonder if she can ever really break free... If you have ever witnessed someone trapped in an abusive relationship and wondered why don't they just leave, then I strongly suggest reading this book. The hardships Ciara faces while trying to protect herself and her children from a husba...