Kathryn's Inbox

Time once again for Think Out Loud, an awesome weekly meme hosted by Thinks Books . Think Out Loud is a meme where bloggers can post about any topic they like. And so, this week I am posting a clip from The Simpsons. The reason is pretty simple. The clip is funny and I need some cheering up ...

First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me. ~ Martin Niemöller

I'm taking part in the Australia Day Book Giveaway Hop, which is being hosted by the very awesome Book'd Out and Confessions from Romaholics . Up for grabs are autographed copies of my novels Being Abigail and Best Forgotten. Both novels are, of course, completely brilliant (or maybe I'm just biased). You can enter the competition via the rafflecopter widget below. a Rafflecopter giveaway

The moment that I read the summery for The Rainbow Troops on Netgalley, I knew that I just had to request a review copy of this one. And why not? Since its publication in 2004, The Rainbow Troops has gone on to be the highest selling Indonesian novel of all time, which I think is an absolutely fantastic achievement. Now, in 2013 an English translation is available for the first time, meaning that readers like me now have access to this book for the first time. The Rainbow Troops  tells the story of a group of ten children, all from impoverished backgrounds who attend a small local school. Corrupt officials want to close the school down, but the children and their dedicated teacher Bu Mas who is just fifteen years old when the novel opens, triumph on. Each child has their own talents and story and it is surprising where each of them, particularly the brilliant Lintang end up in later life. The novel is somewhat based on the personal experiences of the author and explores the lim

Big shout out to an old uni friend of mine for letting me know that Penguin are updating the cover for 1984. The new cover with the (almost) blacked out text is simple, but surprisingly effective. For those of you who don't know, 1984 is one of my favourite novels ... Also had to smile at today's Wizard of Id comic, which in a funny way also reminded me of 1984 ...

I thought I'd share one of my favourite Chuck Jones cartoons, The Dot and the Line. This simple but brilliantly animated tale tells two stories. One that is quite simple in nature and one that is quite complex. I'm interested to hear your thoughts What do you think the story was about?

I purchased The Engagement some months ago, as it was included as part of the Get Reading! 50 Books You Can't Put Down promotion. It ended up staying on my to-read pile (which is, in reality, a stack of books that sit atop of a white ottoman,) for months. And then I devoured the entire book in an afternoon.  The Engagement tells the story of Liese, a young British woman who is difficult to like and who, I felt was somewhat impulsive and over-confident. After losing her job as an architect, she has travelled to Australia to work as a real estate agent for her uncle. Stuck in a mountain of debt and wanting to return home, the attractive Liese comes up with an ingenious but utterly repulsive solution. Knowing that one of her Uncle's clients, Alexander, desires her she offers him sex in exchange for money. What seems like a game continues for a while, and the Alexander asks her to stay at his country house for the weekend. Trapped in the middle of nowhere, Liese suddenly di

I'm a little late with the Think Out Loud meme this week, but hey, better late than never. Think Out Loud, is weekly meme designed to give book bloggers the opportunity to think outside the square and write about topics other than books. So for this week, I'm going to write about the famous, talented and eccentric artist Salvador Dali. Although while I was studying art in my upper years of high school I became fascinated with surrealism, particularly the works of Rene Magritte (and the fact that it meant I could just draw random objects on the same page and then claim that it meant something,) Dali more or less passed me by. He probably would have continued to pass me by forever, had it not been for that damn social network that we all know, love and hate called facebook. Basically facebook recommended that I might like the Salvador Dali page and that I should check it out. And well, you know, seeing as I liked some of his contemporaries I thought that I would check

Seduction is the perfect lighthearted, escapist read. Although I rarely read books of this type, something about the blurb, introducing me to an out of work Australian actress who was living in London, drew me in. I'm glad it did. As it turns out, Seduction tells the story of a variety of quirky characters, all of whom are unhappy and want something more out of life. There is the leading lady, the annoying and selfish Willow Carruthers, whose marriage has just broken up and who seems to have an endless capacity to ignore reality (i.e. spending more money than she earns, refusing to admit that her son may have learning difficulties). We are then introduced to her young nanny, Kitty, who suffers from a low self-esteem and is hiding from a surprising problem of her own. From there, we discover that Willow is about to be evicted, but Kitty has a surprising solution. She is the joint owner of a large, unkempt country house so they can live there. They family arrives at the cottage

Time once again for Feature and Follow Friday, an awesome weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read designed to help like-minded bloggers connect. This week's all-important question is: Who is your favorite villain from a book? This was a difficult choice for me, but one villain clearly stands head and shoulders above the rest. Who could possibly ignore that dreadful, disgusting Lyman from the early Garfield comics, whose biggest claim to fame is being the original owner of Odie and who allowed Garfield to shed orange hairs on his white disco suit. Lyman. Ugh. Who lets a bossy tabby shed hair on his white disco suit.  In all seriousness, I'm having a lot of trouble thinking of my favourite villain. Maybe this is because no one compares to my favourite television villain, Mr Burns from the Simpsons.  Help me out here. Tell me your favourite literary villain and why. And don't forget to add links.

Who would have thought ... 200 years have passed since Jane Austen's most famous novel,  Pride and Prejudice  was first published in the United Kingdom. Opening with the immortal line, It is a truth, universally acknowledged that any man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife,  the novel goes on to tell the tale of the unlikely romance between the middle-class and outspoken Elizabeth Bennett and the stoic upper-class Mr Darcy, while poking gently fun at British society along the way. It is a story that has inspired many film and television adaptions (including the truly awful 1940 version starring Greer Garson,) and numerous rip-offs, most notably Bridget Jones's Diary , which in turn has inspired film adaptions and many rip-offs. Pride and Prejudice was Austen's second published novel, her first was the slightly less mature (but no less enjoyable,) Sense and Sensibility . Austen would go on to publish two more novels in her lifetime, Mansfield P

To be honest, I would really like to review Gabriel's Inferno without making comparisons to a certain other title that belongs to the same genre. However, this has proven to be a somewhat difficult task as, on the surface at least, the similarities are many. Both novels tell the highly unbelievable story of a young virgin who falls hopelessly in love with incredibly wealthy men with dark pasts and kinky sexual fetishes. Both novels were originally published in niche markets before the worldwide rights were picked up by major publishing houses. Both started out as Twilight fanfictions. ( Gabriel's Inferno started out as a Twilight fanfiction titled The University of Edward Masson .) Both authors use pseudonyms. Fortunately, however, this is one difference that sets Gabriel's Inferno apart from it's companion. While the tale may be highly unbelievable and, at times, misogynistic, the book itself is well written, decently researched and tells a much sweeter romantic

I was trawling the net earlier for hair salons (of all things) when I suddenly thought of this brilliant Garfield comic from the late 1980s. (Back in the days when Garfield was, arguably, far sharper than its current form.) Basically, Jon comes home with an awful looking hat and is happily showing it off and Garfield points out with his usual thought-bubble sarcasm that he is amazed at what people will happily exchange for money. Which is precisely how I felt when looking at the prices and services offered by several Adelaide-based hair salons. That's not to say that I thought any of the haircuts were ugly, tacky or in any way comparable to Jon's hat, just that I'm unwilling to part with that much money for a hair cut and it surprises me that other people do, probably on a regular basis.  Yes, I'm aware that some of these are owned and run by people who are at the top of their field and are very selective about who they employ. I also imagine that they would t

Check it out. Not only is Spiritual Wisdom Magazine an awesome new publication that will be launched on January 21, but guess who is their official book reviewer? I will be penning the aptly titled White Feather Book Review Column and my first review will be of I'm a Believer by Jessica Adams. Really happy to be a part of this one ...

Time again for Think Out Loud, a fantastic weekly meme hosted by Thinks Books that encourages book bloggers to think outside the square and post about any subject they please. This week, I'm going to post a small tribute to Marie Curie, a Polish born physicist who became the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Curie's work is among the most important of the twentieth century, thanks to her discovery of two elements, polonium and radium. In later years, she founded the Marie Curie institute, which still operates today and conducts medical research. Marie Curie died of radiation poisoning in 1943. Marie Curie

Just had to share this photograph, which came up on my facebook newsfeed mid-yesterday (and yeah, I totally stole,) because I think it makes a valid point. Clothing does not dictate whether or not is acceptable to sexually harass or sexually assault another person. The blame for sexual assault should never be put back on the victim--it is the perpetrator who made a choice to do so.  But all of that is overlooking one important fact anyway. Sexual assault and sexual harassment isn't about sexual desire. It is about holding power over another person. What I love about this picture is that the woman in it is no doormat. She's turning and pointing the finger straight where it belongs. With the perpetrators of sexual assault. 

After thoroughly enjoying Girl, Stolen , a YA novel that had been on my to-read pile for practically forever, I decided to take another look at Melody Burning , another YA novel that has been waiting patiently on my to-read pile for the best part of a year. The result was, well ... perhaps a bit of a let down. Melody Burning tells the story of a pair of unlikely lovers. Beresford is a teenager who has grown up living in the chutes and crawl spaces of a large high rise in LA. Melody is the latest teen rock sensation. Beresford watches Melody sleep every night and has convinced himself that he is in love with her. Melody finds him watching, discovers how much he cares and falls in love with him. Oh and there's an assassin that wants Beresford out of the way and Melody's stage mother doesn't want him around either. The owner of the high rise is going to set fire to the building and claim the insurance money. And that's about it, really. An unbelievable plot comes t

Time once again for Feature and Follow Friday, an awesome weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read designed to help like minded book bloggers connect. This week's all-important question is: Q: What New Years Blogging or Writing resolution have you placed on yourself? Hmm, you know, I had lots of different ideas. For a while there, I was considering changing my blog wallpaper to a series of pictures of the boys from One Direction, you know, because all the kids seem to be doing it, but then I realised that I have absolutely no idea who One Direction actually is or what their music sounds like, owing to the fact that I don't listen to much commercial radio, or watch much commercial television. (Though I have been informed that just mentioning their name on my blog will guarantee me thousands of hits.) Seriously, my New Years Blogging resolution is just to keep trying different things and to keep having a lot of fun with it. I like the eclecti

Loretta Hill's novel The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots was such a fun, romantic read that it is no wonder that she wrote a sequel. In The Girl in the Hard Hat, readers are reunited with the Pilbara albeit with a new heroine. Wendy Hopkins is a woman with a mission. Not only is she the new safety officer at the somewhat complacent Barnes Inc, but she has come to the Pilbara in the hope of finding the father who abandoned her at birth. Considering that she has only a first name to go buy, and the one family member who could help (her Uncle Mike, yes the same bitter Mike Hopkins who appeared in The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots ,) keeps telling her to leave it alone, Wendy isn't poised for much success. There is false hope, followed by a surprising revelation. Meanwhile, many of the other characters from The Girl in Steel-Capped boots are back. Readers get to learn what becomes of Lena and Bulldog's romance as well as seeing a new side to resident larrikin Gavin Jones, who makes