Kathryn's Inbox

Today this blog passed a massive milestone and one that several months ago, I never would have imagined possible. I'm now fortunate enough to have just over ten thousand hits. Or to put it another way, my little blog has been viewed ten thousand times. Sure, it's small compared to the really popular book blogs out there, but that's still a lot of people reading my blog. Since February, I've had a lot of fun reading and reviewing. Here are some of the highlights: Garfield Goes KaBOOM I love Garfield and when I discovered that KaBOOM were releasing Garfield comic books, I just had to read it and write about it. I was the first Australian blogger to do so, and also one of the first reviewers in the world. Within hours the review was one of the first pages to come up when anyone googled Garfield KaBOOM comics. Destined to Play By far my most popular blog post, this one received over one hundred hits within the first five hours of posting and still receives...

Addie Pray is a book that has received consistent five star reviews, has millions of copies in print and was made into a successful feature film that earned Tatum O'Neil an Oscar, but chances are, you have never heard of it. That is because the book was retitled in 1972 to fit in with the film it inspired, Paper Moon . I'm sure that most of you are aware of the film, which tells the story of a young girl, who, following the death of her mother is taken partway across the country by a man who may or may not be her father. The man, Moses Pray is a terrific conman and the girl, Addie, soon displays a talent in the same area. Set against the backdrop of the depression, the pair have a good time and learn a few harsh life lessons as they indulge in get rich quick schemes and rip-off various people, most notably by selling bibles to rich widows. The leads were played beautifully by Ryan and Tatum O'Neil, who are, of course, father and daughter in real life.  Reading Addi...

Further to my post about the mystery novel that arrived on my doorstep this week, I'm now quite convinced that the book is One Hundred Names  by Cecelia Ahern. You can check out more about the book here .  PS I'm hoping to writing a review closer to the official release date.

It's time for another Feature and Follow Friday. For those of you who don't know, Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by  Alison Can Read  and  Parajunkie's View  designed to help like-minded bloggers to connect. This week's all important question is: Q: What hyped up book was worth all of the fuss? I'm going to state the obvious first with the Harry Potter series. When I first encountered the books as an 18 year old university student, I was a bit skeptical (at that stage, only three books had been released and the release of the fourth was imminent,) and thought it was probably just an overhyped kids series. Obviously, I was wrong. My second choice is Water For Elephants which I read last year. When it was first released, I dismissed it as a piece of wannabe Literature (i.e. one of those books that appears more literary and intelligent than what it truly is, just pick up anything that has ever written by Jodi Picoult and you'll...

As regulars visitors to this blog will no doubt be aware, I am a fan of V.C. Andrews. I began reading the authors work during high school, starting with My Sweet Audrina , then moving on to her most famous work, Flowers in the Attic and then the other books in the Dollanganger Saga. And when I was done, I moved on to the Casteel series. As true V.C. Andrews fans know, the author died shortly after the release of the second novel in the Casteel series, Dark Angel . In the years that followed three more books in the series were released, Fallen Hearts , Gates of Paradise and Web of Dreams . While V.C. Andrews influence was clear in Fallen Hearts and Web of Dreams , Gates of Paradise  has long been the weakest link in the series and this was something that did not escape my attention as a sixteen year old reader. In fact, despite considering myself a fan, I never even finished the book. It was not until many years later that I decided to read Gates of Paradise ag...

Or, Kathryn has a mystery to solve ... Earlier in the week I entered and was one of the winners of a competition that was running on HarperCollins Australia's facebook page. The prize was an advance copies of an upcoming release. But, there just happens to be a catch. A very, very intriguing catch. The book, which arrived on my doorstep today, has a white cover and the mysterious words, Everyone has a story to tell ...  written on the front cover. It is up to me to guess which bestselling author has written this upcoming release.  And well, because keeping something like this to myself would be no fun, I decided to share my guessing journey on my blog. I have read the first few pages. So far, I am aware that the lead character is named Kitty and she is visiting her terminally ill friend Constance in hospital. The names alone suggest that the book is set in either the United Kingdom or Ireland. Reading further, I discover that the book is ind...

Okay, I confess. The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots is the first novel I have ever read where the lead character is an engineer. In fact, it is the first time that I've ever been attracted to a novel which is about the lives of engineers. The novel is essentially a romance set in remote Australia (a popular genre of late,) but I found that as well as the romantic element, I really enjoyed the setting, the technical detail (Loretta Hill is an engineer who did indeed work on the Pilbara in 2001,) and the concept of a lone female surrounded by men. (Maybe its the fact that I am the only female in my own workplace that helps me to identify with this last part.) The novel tells the story of a young engineering graduate who is sent to a remote part of Western Australia. While making progress with her career (and, she hopes, making up for mistakes of the past,) she meets a number of colourful characters and slowly reaches out and falls in love with a man who is haunted by his ow...