Kathryn's Inbox

Those of you who have been following this blog from the start may be very surprised to learn that I had never even heard of this classic Australian novel until very recently, when HarperCollins decided to rerelease it, along with several other classics under their Angus and Robertson imprint. Come in Spinner  was first published in 1951 amid a wave of controversy, whereby both of the authors saw much of their novel hacked and cut because much of the content was considered far too inappropriate for the times. It was not until the 1980s and after the death of one of its authors that the book was eventually published in full and went on to become a top-rating miniseries on none other than the ABC.  (Note to my international followers, ABC stands for Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is a government owned television station.) Come in Spinner is set in Sydney during the tail end of World War Two and opens with what else, but a game of two up that is taking place in a hot...

One of the biggest problems that I have with popular culture is that we tend to stereotype, or remember various pop culture icons for one thing, forgetting that they are often well-rounded people with a variety of talents. For example, Margaret Thatcher is often made a fool of in popular culture for her politics, while no one cares to remember that she was one of a team of chemists who invented soft serve ice cream. Yes. You heard it here. The Iron Lady invented soft serve ice-cream. Anyway, moving on, today, I am paying tribute to a largely overlooked piece of popular culture. While many remember the popular Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote for his inability to catch the Road Runner and his penchant for purchasing faulty consumer goods, I like to remember him for his spectacular ability to paint tunnels. Yes. Tunnels. Wile E. Coyote was an incredibly talented artist. With a few simple strokes of a paintbrush, he was able to create pictures of tunnels in the sides...

My recent post on Stephen King and the lack of success he would have if he was an unknown writer attempting to publish his first novel, Carrie,  in the current era make me think of another author and the lack of success they would have writing for the modern market. Lousia May Alcott is another brilliant writer who probably wouldn't be able to find either publication, or an audience of willing readers, if she were alive today and trying to get published. Granted, Alcott's most famous novel Little Women  was written purely for commercial purposes. Prior to that, Alcott had attempted to write and publish several novels that were of little interest to anyone, due to their lack of marketable content in the time and era where she lived. And then there is that whole urban myth about how she hated little girls. Anyway, Little Women, proved so popular with it's themes of loyalty and living right that it soon spawned a sequel titled Good Wives where the March sisters grew up...

This week I am taking part in Feature and Follow Friday, an awesome weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read , designed to help like-minded book bloggers meet, reconnect and make some fantastic new connections. This week's all-important question is: Q: Happy Mother’s Day! Who is your favorite mom from fiction? Wow, you folks don't ever make it easy for us, having to pick just one favourite. There are plenty to choose, though I'm willing to bet that plenty of book bloggers today placed Molly Weasley as their favourite. So, as much as I love Molly, I'm not choosing her. =P My choice is Marmee March from Little Women . She loves all four of her daughters equally, though for different reasons. Her advice is always fair and sound, even if it isn't what her children always want to hear. In Good Wives it is Marmee who offers Jo comfort when she feels (quite wrongly) that her life is not working out.  So who did you choose? PS I'm...

Time again for Think Out Loud, an awesome weekly meme hosted by Thinks Books . The purpose of Think Out Loud is for book bloggers to think outside of the square and post on topics other than books.  This time around, I am going to post about 419 email scams. I'm sure you know the ones. You get a poorly expressed email with an offer that is too good to be true. I always just delete them, but sometimes I'm tempted to give them a crazy answer. Here are some examples of real scam/scam emails and the replies I would secretly like to send: Sender: Forrest Gimp    To: Undisclosed Recipient  Of course you have never heard of anything like that before  because it was impossible for average people! Welcome to the brand new revolutionary website! There are over 5,000 people on it already;  all of them are busy making money - $70 Every single minute!  Do not miss your chance to check this out! [Link to "course" here] As soon as you click on the...

Matched is yet another YA book that has been sitting on my to-read pile for a while (which poses the question how come there are so many YA novels on my to-read pile, if anyone has a theory please comment below,) and turned out to be yet another worthwhile read. Matched is another dystopian novel, this one about how ever faucet of the lives of the citizens of an unnamed country are dictated by a governing body known as 'the Society'. The Society are basically Big Brother with more mind control and less hate. The citizens are so controlled that they have all been brainwashed into believing that everything the Society does is good, just and for the betterment of humankind. The Society controls every faucet of its citizen's lives--from where they live to what they eat and who they marry. The novel opens on the day of seventeen year old Cassia's matching ceremony. This is basically like a debutant ball, but instead of being introduced, the young women learned who t...

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