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.