Kathryn's Inbox

A few months ago, this mysterious clothesline and outdoor chairs appears in the Food Underground (otherwise known as the basement of the Myer Centre). I'm not sure what they were trying to promote, but anything with lots of colour and a Hills Hoist has to be good, in my opinion.

How many readers and followers here are familiar with a site called Book Crossing ? I had never heard of the site, until recently when, I arrived at my day job at the post office one Monday lunchtime and found a paperback sitting at my counter. Being a bit of a book person, I was keen to reunite the book with its owner and opened the front cover hoping that I might be able to find a name and a telephone number, or any other detail that would help me track down the owner. Instead, I found this: A travelling book. Cool! It turns out that Book Crossing is a massive site that promotes reading by asking its members to distribute books in unusual places. For people who find the books, the idea is to them read the book the book, log their journey at the site and share it along. This sounds like a lot of fun, and so after I've read this book (and reviewed it on here, of course,) I'll share it along ...

I was a little surprised to receive this quirky novel in the mail, one which seemed to be more middle grade than YA, but it proved to be a great deal of fun and I am glad that I read it, as it proved to be a an excellent and light hearted distraction while I recovered from a serious injury that I sustained earlier this year. The first in a series, The Potion Diaries is set in a world that is almost like ours, but with a few key differences, most notably that the world has been heavily reliant on potions and the art of potion making, though that is slowly dying out due to the manufacture of synthetic potions. The synthetic potions is something of a problem for our protagonist Samantha Kemi, who is an apprentice potion maker and set to take over the running of her small, family owned business one day. Then there is the smaller matter of her feelings for Zain, a young man who just also happens to be the son of the biggest synthetic potion maker in the kingdom. Anyway, things all come

Welcome to another great edition of Writers on Wednesday. This week I am chatting with Eugenia Pantahos, author of the brilliant cultural cookbook Greek Life ... Tell me a bit about yourself … My name is Eugenia Pantahos, however friends call me Jeanie. Together with my husband George, we are proud parents to three amazing daughters, Anna, Mary and Helena. I am passionate about my family and home life, and dedicated to continued learning and personal excellence. Since 2003 I’ve been employed as Manager Finance & People for a consulting practice that is based in Melbourne that provides services nationally and internationally. I am a valued member of the executive team and I very much enjoy the contribution I make to the business.   In 2014 I completed a Masters of Business Administration (MBA), and launched my self-published cultural cookbook titled Greek Life (family, culture, food). Tell us about your most recently published book? Greek Life is a cu

Sleazy, totally unnecessary and oddly entertaining are the first words that come to mind when I think about Grey the new companion novel to Fifty Shades of Grey, which is basically the same story as Fifty Shades, but told from the perspective of Christian Grey, the young and emotionally damaged billionaire who has a penchant for sadism and a weakness for the impressionable and virginal university student, Ana Steele. There are a few flashes of insight into the character, though author E.L. James' writing remains as odd and trashy as ever. (I think I had lost count by the first half of the novel of how many times Christian had said "My cock hardens." And then there is the fact that his penis is treated like a separate entity capable of thought and hearing.) By this point, of course, readers know what they are going to get, and if they liked the first three novels, they will probably like this one, and if they hated the first three novels, well ... you get the idea. 

I'm not quite sure about the significance of these colourful oddities that were decorating the northern end Victoria Square a few weeks ago, but they look pretty interesting. This picture was snapped from onboard a bus, hence the poor quality.

The publication of Go Set a Watchman was a surprise for a number of reasons, the biggest of which was that this novel by Harper Lee was actually the original manuscript for her classic and beloved novel To Kill a Mockingbird . The second reason is, obviously, the decision for the book to be published at all, after so many years.  Go Set a Watchman is a book that in one sense needs to be viewed very much in its historical context--its not a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird and nor it is a prequel. What is it, is an earlier draft of the same novel, one that was not accepted for publication. And that said, it is still a brilliant book. Go Set a Watchman is uncomfortable reading at times, but I strongly suspect that it was supposed to be. It opens with an adult version of Scout Finch, now better known as Jean Louise Finch, returning home to Maycomb from New York (where she has been working,) to visit her ailing father Atticus, her aunt and her sort-of beau, Henry. Through the

Yep. I feel your pain, Lucy.

Under the Skin, Michel Faber's debut novel is a great many things. It's creepy, it's unnerving, it pulled me well out of my comfort zone and it offers surprising but credible arguments in favour of both veganism and the legalisation of marijuana, as well as there being some solid commentary on the way that women are often regarded as little more than sexual objects.  The novel opens with Isserley, a woman who spends most of her time driving through the Scottish Highlands searching for hitchhikers. The hitchhikers are collected, drugged and returned to her employers and left to a surprising fate. Over the course of the novel, the author cleverly drip feeds information, which left me guessing as to who and what Isserley was precisely. Her lot in life is a sad one, while her breast implants make a sad but relevant commentary about sexism. (I would go into details, but these are things best discovered as the individual reader turns the pages of the book for themselves.)

What kind of a woman would marry a man who has married five times previously and had two of those wives beheaded? One who does not have a choice and who thinks, perhaps, that she may just be the one woman who can survive him. That is the premise of British author Philippa Gregory's latest Tudor Court novel, which can be enjoyed either as part of the series, or as a stand-alone work. This time around, the author gives readers an in-depth glimpse at an often overlooked part of the history of the Tudors, the brief marriage of King Henry VII and his sixth--and final--wife, Kateryn Parr. Although a little long and tiresome in places, Gregory offers a compelling portrayal of a young widow who puts aside her love of another man to marry an overbearing and eccentric monarch and during the course of her marriage educates not only herself but sees to the education of her stepchildren, and who actively participates in the reformation of the church, translating parts of the bible into

When Rundle Mall was updated in 2014, it came complete with a new bench ... that lights up in the rain. The new bench is located on what was once the site of Buskers Cafe, just a stones throw away from Haighs and Beehive corner. This photograph was taken on Easter Monday, during a downpour!

While many readers will already be aware of the great artist Camille Pissarro, known affectionately as "The Father of Impressionism," few will know of the beautiful story of the artist's mother, Rachel and of her defiant and passionate love affair with his father, Frederick. In The Marriage of Opposites accomplished American author Alice Hoffman ( The Dovekeepers , The Museum of Extraordinary Things ,) beautifully brings the story of Rachel to life, portraying her as a strong, capable and loving woman who triumphs time and time again over adversity and against the odds. I loved reading this one from start to finish, reading the account of Rachel's childhood on the island of St Thomas, her arranged marriage to a much older widower and her eventual love affair with the young and quiet Frederick which sees her banished from the close-knit and incredibly fundamentalist Jewish community on the island, of which she had been a lifelong member. As little as known abou

NOWHERESVILLE, AUSTRALIA--A would-be burglar sent his local bank a very strongly worded letter of complaint this week, after his attempts to break inside the bank were foiled by staff. At 4.31pm last Friday, Frederik Fredrikson attempted to force his way inside the Rich Bastard's Bank as staff were closing for the day. His attempts were soon foiled, however, when a savvy staff member noticed Fredrikson outside, clad in a motorcycle helmet and clutching a gun. The staff member then activated the banks security system. Police were immediately dispatched to the bank and Fredrikson was arrested. "I felt the bank's customer service was appalling," Fredrikson told one of our reporters from his current residence, the Nowheresville Remand Centre. "I'd gone to the bank with the intention of sticking a gun in the face of someone who worked there and potentially causing them years of psychological harm, along with being allowed to take a considerable sum of cash t

The following photographs are of the artwork that was commissioned for the 150th anniversary of South Australia. Sitting in the plaza just between Parliament House and the Festival Theatre (and to the side of Adelaide Railway Station,) these once proud works of art have fallen into a state of neglect and may or may not still be open to the public at the time this post is published. They are to make way for newer and brighter artworks.

I actually have no idea whether the above is true or an urban myth. But, if it is real ... was there a similar backlash against Porky Pig?

This is one of many murals that sits on the upper level of Noarlunga Interchange. I like this one, as it reminds me of many the childhood trips to the city, usually taken during the holidays or on a day that my parents deemed special enough to allow me to skip during school--and usually on a rattly old Red Hen! Anything else, such as a Super Train (aka Jumbo,) or the shiny new 3000 class trains was rare on the Noarlunga Line until the mid-1990s!  If you look closely, in the window in the background, you can see another mural from the station.