Kathryn's Inbox

After it was a best-selling series of books, and before it was a movie the Baby-Sitters Club was, you guessed it, a TV series. Comprising of thirteen episodes (unlucky for some,) the series had the same themes of friendship, fun, girl power and, of course baby-sitting. In Australia the series made its debut on VHS in 1991. For the super well, high, price of $19.99 fans could purchase a video that comprised of a single episode. Unsurprisingly, my parents opted to hire most of the videos from that really big Movieland store that used to be on Dyson Road (keep in mind, this was the early 90s,) and my Grandma bought me a copy of Dawn and the Haunted House for Christmas. I'm not sure how many of the episodes were released here, certainly not all thirteen. Anyway, in late 1993 the episodes finally aired as part of Channel 2's Afternoon Show line up. (Quite possibly, because the Afternoon Show had temporarily ran out of episodes of Grange Hill or Degrassi Junior High to r...

Well, it's been a long time since I did a best books of the year post. That's because in 2016 I didn't think that the any of the new releases that I had read deserved the honour. And perhaps that in itself led the choice I made in 2017 to become a more independent reader, one who didn't pay attention to market trends, or who bought and read a book just because it was being talked about. And you know what? It paid off. In 2017 I encountered many wonderful new books and authors. If I have to pick a favourite, then The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli most certainly deserves the honour. This is a great YA novel about diversity. Other books I loved this year include: Quicksand by Malin Person Giolito The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel The Many Ways of Seeing by Nick Gleeson A Talent for Murder by Andrew Wilson Tilly and the Time Machine by Adrien Edmonson The History of Bees by Maja Lunde Also this year, I discovered or rediscovered some g...

Anatomy of a Scandal is a well written legal drama with a he said-she said premise. Kate is a hard working lawyer for the crown who has tackled many high profile cases. When James, a spoiled and charismatic politician with an Oxford background, is accused of rape, Kate is keen to see justice served. Meanwhile, James' wife Sophie wholeheartedly believes that her husband is telling the truth.  Anatomy of a Scandal is sure to keep readers wondering, while the truth is fed bit by bit to the reader.  I have no doubt that there is going to be a lot of talk about this novel in weeks to come. This novel is an intelligently written story of wealth, bad behaviour and an unhealthy fixation. None of the characters are perfect--Kate, James and Sophie all have multiple failings. James is as sexist as Sophie is spoiled and weak, and Kate is obsessed with ensuring that James is convicted--and something seems horribly personal about her fixation. There are also some deeper secre...

The Aussie Author Challenge is back for 2018! Once again, I'm joining this excellent challenge, which is hosted by Booklover Book Reviews (a brilliant book blog--if you haven't stopped by this one yet, I highly recommend that you do.) After smashing the challenge in 2017, once again, I'll be going for Kangaroo, which requires me to read 12 books, four by female authors, four by male authors and four by authors who are new to me, as well as books in three different genres. And because this is a challenge--and not a competition--there are all kinds of levels of participation, and ways to participate, meaning that readers can pick the way that works best for them. I really hope that you can join me, and we can show the world just how many great Australian books, authors and book reviewers are out there! 

After enjoying two of the BSC Graphix novels recently, I decided to delve a bit deeper into author/artist Raina Telgemeier's work and discovered this cute little gem. It's all about a middle school drama production--but instead of focusing on the actors, it concentrates on the kids who work behind the scenes, in particular Callie, the set designer who is struggling with her first crush and being bullied by one of the other kids who is working on the play. Fortunately, a pair of twins bombastic Justin and shy Jesse offer Callie not only friendship, but a new outlook as well. Most of the novel deals with how things go wrong (and occasionally right,) behind the scenes, and the characters as they navigate various crushes and their sexuality. As an adult reader, this probably wasn't the best fit--although I could appreciate the good writing and illustrations, the life lessons that the characters learn along the way are more valuable to readers who are in the target audie...

Merry Christmas to all of my friends and followers (or Happy Holidays if you prefer!) Thanks for all of the love and support over the past twelve months. May you all have a happy and safe festive season,  Kathryn XXOO

BSC Graphix is back. Several years after Scholastic re-imagined four of the early Baby-Sitters Club series as graphic novels, the series has made a surprising but welcome return. This time around comic book artist Gale Galligan is the author/illustrator, taking the reins from Raina Telgemeier. Dawn and the Impossible Three  is the first novel to be told from the perspective of Stoneybrook newcomer, Dawn Schafer. Dawn's life isn't easy at the moment. Along with her brother Jeff, she has been relocated from sunny California to a small town thousands of miles away. Although homesick, she tries to make the best of the situation, first by making friends with Mary Anne and joining the Baby-Sitters Club. If club president Kristy (who is Mary Anne's other best friend,) would give her a chance, things would be much easier. Anyway, Dawn finds herself stuck with a pretty heavy duty challenge baby-sitting for the Barrett's, a single parent family with three kids and a mot...

Happy Summer Solstice to everyone in the Southern Hemisphere. (Just thought we could all do with a break from the memes with snow and cute fuzzy sweaters.)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is more or less considered a modern classic these days, so it is somewhat surprising that this one managed to pass me by until recently. Sure, I remember hearing about it when it was released (about fifteen years ago,) and I've seen it included many times on various top 100 book lists, reading challenges and there always seems to be a copy for sale at my usual reading haunts, but for one reason or another, I never bought a copy. In fact, I don't think I ever even picked up a copy until a couple of weeks ago, when I saw it sitting on the shelves at my local Vinnies, and decided that it looked more interesting than the other books on offer. (To explain, the book section at my local Vinnies isn't terribly big.) Anyway, what a joy reading this book turned out to be. Fifteen-year-old Christopher is book smart, has a photographic memory and understands many complex mathematical problems. What he does not understand is peo...

Wow. Just wow. What a big year it's been--this time around, I didn't just complete the Aussie Author Challenge, but I absolutely smashed it! In 2017 I read a whopping 41 titles for the challenge--more than three times the requirement for the challenge. Big shout out and thank you to Jo for organising the challege--love your work. Really enjoyed the newsletters too :) I wonder how many books I will read in 2018 ... 

Longtime readers and fans of this blog may recall that during 2012 I committed to reviewing what was then four books in the BSC Graphix series. For one reason or another, I never published a review of the fourth novel in the series, Claudia and Mean Janine. As a fifth book has just been released in the series (and as of December 2017 is sitting on my to-review pile,) I decided to re-read this one and publish a review. Ps I ramble on a bit in the first paragraph of this review so if you would rather just read a review of the book, it's probably best to skip to the second paragraph.  The BSC Graphix series was always going to be a little different from the books that inspired them. For one thing, technology has changed considerably since the early novels in the Baby-sitters Club series were published in 1986. And there is also no arguing that Claudia's second novel in the original series, Claudia and Mean Janine , which contains themes of sibling rivalry and illness, pack...

To say the truth, every physician almost hath his favourite disease, to which he ascribes all the victories obtained over human nature. Tom Jones  by  Henry Fielding

A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathrynsinbox) on Dec 8, 2017 at 3:38am PST I spotted this brilliant Christmas tree on Flinders Street in the Adelaide CBD recently. Love the beautiful and environmentally friendly way this "tree" was created.

And then there were five. Darker is the newest book in the Fifty Shades series, and the second to be told from the perspective of Christian Grey, the perverse and psychologically damaged billionaire whose love for the innocent and wholly good Ana Steele may just be the one thing that saves him. This novel is essentially the same story as was told in Fifty Shades Darker, but told from the male's perspective. And while Christian Grey may not have any inner goddesses or surprising conscious subconscious's to deal with, he does have his problems, chiefly that he wants to be with Ana, and a couple of women are jealous of that and go to somewhat surprising and obsessive lengths to let him know that. The whole sexual violence and control element is there, though Christian is apparently happy enough to at least pretend to himself and others that he is having a normal relationship with Ana.  Although the author's writing has improved somewhat, the book itself was not up to ...

"Can a husband ever carry about a secret all his life and a woman who loves him have no suspicion of it? I knew it by his refusal to talk about some episodes in his American life. I knew it by certain precautions he took. I knew it by certain words he let fall. I knew it by the way he looked at unexpected strangers." The Valley of Fear  by  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Lincoln in the Bardo is one of those Literary titles. The kind that when read at the right time can be worth more than their weight in gold. The flip side to this is, of course, when read at the wrong time, reading such a book can be a painful, thankless chore. Unfortunately, I read this book at the wrong time, and for the wrong reason. I bought it because it had been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. As we now all know, Lincoln in the Bardo was chosen as the winner. I think that the buzz about the book has settled enough for me to publish my review--something that I didn't want to do when there was a lot of high excitement about the title, and when it was most likely to reach those readers who would cherish it.  From a shred of historical fact about the death of Abraham Lincoln's ten year old son, author George Saunders creates a rich and colourful world, where the recently deceased Willie Lincoln finds himself living in a cemetery among ghosts, each one quite liv...

It was with great surprise--and delight--that I discovered recently that the first sixteen books in the Babysitters Club series have been reprinted. These books were a huge part of my childhood. I still remember the first BSC book I ever read, and how my reading habits changed--for the better--after I discovered a copy of Kristy and the Snobs at my school library. Before then, I was barely interested in reading. One chapter in and I realised that I had discovered something very different, and special. This was a series about a group of girls who had got together, formed a successful business and were having a lot of fun along the way. Each girl had a unique personality, whether it be Kristy, an ambitious tomboy, artsy Claudia, fashionable Stacey or shy and sensitive Mary Anne. It was totally different from the types of books that I had read up until that point--Ann M Martin had a unique way of speaking to her readers and explaining a number of otherwise complex issues, such as Sta...

Running a giveaway or two for their book has always been an essential part of marketing for any indie author and for small publishers. Goodreads giveaways allow authors and publishers to go straight to their target audience--readers--who are then able to pick and choose which giveaways they enter, which books they shelves and that small but vital group of readers who are interested enough in a particular book to go out and buy it if they don't win the competition. Goodreads would also create widgets linking to the giveaway that an author could list on their site. The site itself is impossible for authors to ignore, full of a community of passionate book lovers who can speak, largely uncensored, on all of the books they loved and loathed. Sure there are a few challenges associated with running a goodreads giveaway--stumping up for postage if the winning reader, or readers, live overseas, or competition winners listing their books for sale on Goodreads, but the benefit of the g...

At least Peppermint Patty meant well. Actually, this one is a great reminder of how the advice of adults can be so easily misconstrued by children.

Imagine a time when children and teenagers are taken and forced to perform gymnastics for the amusement of aliens. That is the premise of this now-classic Australian YA novel by Gillian Rubinstein. As the novel opens, Joella informs us that she and her siblings Peter and Liane are on the run. The trio have experienced a terrible ordeal. Abducted by a human talent scout, the trio are taken and held captive in an arena. Peter and Liane are forced to be performers along with a group of other kids, while Joella (an unsuccessful gymnast,) is taken away to become a pet for one of the aliens. Joella has to use her will--and her wit--to survive, but who can she turn to? More importantly, who can she trust? And what is the terrible secret behind the Galax-Arena? I first read this novel when I was in my early teens, and I was surprised by how much I had forgotten when I picked it up again. Possibly, I was a little too young when I read it and much of it went over my head. In any case, I ...

The underbelly of Sydney's corporate world--one full of cocaine and corruption--is the setting for this entertaining and well written legal thriller. Peter Tanner is a maverick barrister with a distaste for many of the people that he represents. When he is called in to defend Tina Leonard, a woman accused of murder, Tanner finds himself delving deep into the corporate worlds of banking and construction, where everyone has an agenda and where everyone will do anything to save their reputation. Nothing about this case is straightforward, least of all Tina.  This is the first novel by Richard Beasley that I have read. The genre is a world away from the things that I usually read, but when the authors' Australian publisher, Simon and Schuster, offered me the opportunity to review this one, I decided to take a bit of a chance. I found myself thoroughly entertained by Tanners thoughts about corporate world and the people that he represents (a cricket bat scene early on is qui...

Candice Phee is twelve years old, beautifully honest and just a tiny bit different from the other kids in her class. When she is asked to write an autobiography for a school project, she takes the task very seriously, documenting her life from A to Z. And what a life it has been. Candice might be a bit unusual, but she certainly cares about her family--her mum, her dad and her rich uncle Brian, and her friend/boyfriend Douglas from another dimension--and she does her best to make them happy, with some hilarious results. This was a wonderful and fun read about a young woman who doesn't always fit in, but who manages to come up trumps despite the odds. Candice doesn't really get along with the rest of the kids in her grade, who have dubbed her S.N. or Essen (short for special needs,) but she rejects that, and other labels that adults try to give her (such as being autistic, or on the spectrum.) She tells people, "I'm me," and I think that is all readers real...

Found this online recently and nearly died laughing. Diversity and role models are a great thing. But we should never one, take ourselves too seriously and two, speculate about other people's lives just to prove a point.

The Cursed First Term of Zelda Stitch has something for everyone--witches, a class full of crazy kids and one very sulky and badly behaved cat. Zelda Stitch is not exactly what you would call a terribly good witch. Actually, she's rather bad at it, and has decided to try her hand at something else--being a primary school teacher. Through her diary entries, we laugh and cry with her as she navigates her first term as a primary school teacher. Not only does she have naughty children to contend with, but there is MM the uptight Vice Principal and she must keep her witchcraft under control, or else her career as a teacher is finished. And then there are all the problems that are caused by her cat/companion Banarby. A rather discontented and disagreeable puss, Barnarby would much rather be the companion of someone who was a proud and capable witch--basically the opposite of Zelda. But through her first term at the school, Zelda learns some valuable lessons about working with others...

Firelight would have made an absolutely ripping short story or novella. There's a lot of romantic and erotic potential in this paranormal story about a poor young woman with a strange gift who is more or less forced into marrying a rich man who always wears a mask. And while there is a good lot of chemistry between the characters, and a lot of mystery, the story itself feels too long. The mystery lacks depth, as do most of the characters.  Miranda Ellis is a young woman living in London in 1881. She is forced to marry the disfigured Lord Archer, a man who never shows his face and who has secretly been admiring Miranda from afar for the past three years. Archer makes Miranda's father an offer he can't refuse for her. The pair marry, realise that they're hot for each other, don't do anything about it for far too long, and then, one by one, a number of Archer's old friends start getting popped off. Most of the story focuses on whether or not Archer might b...

Above the rumbling in the chimney, and the fast pattering on the glass, was heard a wailing, rushing sound, which shook the walls as though a giant's hand were on them; then a hoarse roar as if the sea had risen; then such a whirl and tumult that the air seemed mad; and then, with a lengthened howl, the waves of wind swept on, and left a moment's interval of rest. Barnaby Rudge  by  Charles Dickens

Love this Peanuts comic

Arguably Klein's best work, there's a strange sense of hope in this novel about friendship and addiction. Seymour is a bored and lonely kid who has been sent to stay with a family friend in suburban Melbourne while his mother tries to sort out a bitter custody dispute with his father. Forbidden to leave the house, eleven year old Seymour sneaks out one day and soon finds himself being chased by a local gang. He stumbles through a back gate where he meets Angie, a friendly and imaginative young woman. The pair soon develop an unlikely friendship and help one another out. It's difficult to believe that someone as lovely as Angie might have a dark side, but that is exactly what Seymour discovers as he learns more about Angie and slowly puts the pieces together. This is the first time that I have read Came Back to Show You I Could Fly in over twenty years--I can't quite remember how or when I read it the first time, only that our local KMart had a copy that I could...

If Colin Thiele had written an episode of Home and Away,  the result would have been something akin to The Secret Pony,  a  children's novel from the mid-1990s that I found secondhand recently. Scartlett is a good kid who is, essentially, just trying to roll with the punches. The past year hasn't been great--her parents have split up and now she and her two younger sisters are trying to get used to life in a small, beachside town in New South Wales. The local kids don't really accept Scarlett, and she feels quite lonely. She misses her Dad, and her old friends. Most of all, she misses being able to go horse riding, something that she did often back when she lived in Sydney. (There are no stables near her new home, and in any case, her family can no longer afford to pay for riding lessons.) One night, a kind of miracle happens, when a white stallion just happens to stumble into her yard. Scarlett knows that the horse, who she names Silver, has been mistreated--and inst...

Autumn  left me marvelling at its brilliance and wondering how on earth this shit got published. It's the story of a little girl and her friendship with an elderly neighbour, it's a story of a grown up woman visiting a dying man in a nursing home, it's the story of how one man escaped the holocaust and lived a long life in England, it's the story a nation in political turmoil, and it's something of a modern tribute to Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. In other words, this book is everything and nothing, it's brilliant and it's stupid, it's good enough to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize but, evidently, it was not good enough to win.  And that's really it. Everything and nothing. Yet strangely addictive. This may well be a book that needs to be read two or even three times to be appreciated. Recommended. 

Lest we forget.

Johno Harcourt is a seasoned journalist living in Sydney. Made redundant on Christmas Eve, he finds himself a little lost--he's the wrong side of fifty and the rest of his family, wife Tess and children Jack and Kirsten, are going from strength to strength with their own careers. He spends his days surfing and hanging around with his old mates until one day, the opportunity comes up to be the ghostwriter for the biography of Australia surfer/Hollywood legend Mike Vargas. Soon, Johno finds himself on a bigger adventure that he had counted on ... This story is, essentially, about a man who defies the odds and finds a new path after he finds himself without steady employment. It's also a rollicking adventure featuring some mad keen surfers. I think this one will appeal very much to any reader, particularly an older male reader, who has found themselves at a bit of a crossroad and want that sense of hope, that it is possible for life to begin again after a redundancy. I fel...

Sim and Milla are as different as two teenagers can be. Sim lives in Byron Bay with his foster family who spend their evenings dumpster diving for food. Milla lives in California with her rich and famous parents. When the pair are forced to email one another for a school assignment, they discover that they may have something in common--each has a dark secret, and they both just might be able to help one another ... This was an entertaining read, told from the duel perspective of two kids who appear to be quite different on the surface. The early interactions between Milla and Sim were extremely amusing, particularly as each one was keen to assert themselves. Over time a genuinely friendship develops, so much so that Sim becomes the one person that Milla can confide in--and it turns out that her problems are pretty serious, though believable. Parts of Sim's family story are quite gross, but in a way that is more amusing than offensive. It's interesting to watch the chara...

A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathrynsinbox) on Oct 24, 2017 at 12:23am PDT I spotted this tram mural in Adelaide recently. It pays tribute to the old H-Class trams that ran along the route for many years. New trams were purchased in 2007 when the line was extended and the H-Class trams were reduced to special historic weekend services before eventually being decommissioned.  Some of the trams now live at the St Kilda Tram museum, while another is on permanent display at Glenelg. 

While Rebecca, or My Cousin Rachel, or even her short story The Birds may get all the fame, Jamaica Inn is most certainly Daphne du Maurier's finest novels. A gothic romance of innocence lost, it tells the story of Mary Yellan, a young woman sent to live with her aunt and her aunt's abusive husband in Jamaica Inn. The hotel is a front for such terrible criminal activity that no one even dares speak of it. What Mary uncovers at Jamaica Inn is so terrible that she will never be the same again.  This is a page turning novel of murder, greed and innocence lost. It is difficult not to get caught up in the flowery prose and twist upon twist as Mary uncovers murders, thefts and shipwrecks and learns some painful lessons about what makes a good man. Like many gothic novels, a theme or two is lifted out of the works of the Bronte sisters, but the story works better for it. The author has a solid understanding of male-female politics, which adds a pleasing level of depth to th...

I'll just leave this here ...

Imagine being a kid looking for eels and stumbling upon an ancient sword. Not only is the sword ancient, but it is enchanted and it can speak. Better yet, it turns out the one who pulls it from the water will be a knight. That's the opening premise of Have Sword, Will Travel , the first book in an exciting new series for kids, written by Aussie Authors Garth Nix and Sean Williams. (Fans of the genre might recognise these two as the authors of the Troubletwisters series.) Odo and Eleanor are out looking for eels when they discover the enchanted sword. Only trouble is, that it is Odo who pulls out the sword and it is Eleanor who wants to be a knight, just like her mother was. As for the sword, well, Biter, just won't stop shouting instructions and he wants to send these kids on a mission to slay a dragon, immediately! Lots of fun and adventure follow. I absolutely enjoyed reading this one for its clever humour, adventure and the sage lessons that Odo and Eleanor learn a...

Well, I can't argue with that logic.

"I love them," said Dorothy. "They are so nice and selfish. Dogs are too good and unselfish. They make me feel uncomfortable. But cats are gloriously human." Anne of the Island  by  Lucy Maud Montgomery

The latest Literary YA offering from John Green starts off strong, and ends on a depressingly real note. Aza Holmes is sixteen years old and is basically a good kid. She tries hard at school, gets along well with her best friend Daisy and loves her Mum, who also happens to be a teacher at her school. (Aza's Dad died a few years earlier.) Aza also happens to have anxiety. Aza and Daisy get caught up in a missing person's investigation--the father of Aza's childhood friend Davis has gone missing--and she learns a few important lessons about life, and managing her mental illness along the way. This is a difficult book for me to review as I very much enjoyed the opening chapters, and the realistic depictions of what it is like to be living with a mental illness. The reader travels with Aza through her obsessions, thought spirals and how she navigates her first relationship when her illness threatens to get in the way. I also liked how the author showed the impact that A...

Exciting news! I have a new (very) short story available for download on Smashwords. Love, Unrequited is a Literary short story about a young woman who develops a crush on an older man. She starts to lose her mind a bit, as you'll see as the narrative goes on. I wrote this one a long time ago (back in 2012) but I've only plucked up enough courage to publish it now. Anyway, the link if you'd like to read it is:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/754531 Hopefully the story will be available on iTunes, Kobo, B&N etc. soon.