Kathryn's Inbox

Pumpkin Heads is a cute graphic novel, written by Rainbow Rowell (best remembered for Fangirl and the sort-of spin off series it inspired,) and beautifully illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks (best known for Friends With Boys, ) which tells the story of the importance of friendship. Every autumn Deja and Josiah work together at the pumpkin patch. This shift is different. Tonight it is Halloween, and they are high school seniors. This means it is the last opportunity for this pair of seasonal best friends to work together. And they are determined to make the most of it. Their last night becomes something of an adventure as they travel through the patch looking for the girl who Josiah has never been quite brave enough to talk to. But what they find is something far sweeter than either ever intended. This was a fun, cute read, that examines the nature of friendships and relationships, while using the fun parts of Halloween as a backdrop. The story itself does not require a lot of an...

Love him or loathe him, one thing is certain. You will have heard of Stephen King. And even if you haven't read any of his novels, it is likely that you can name at least one of them. And you've probably see at least one (or even part of one,) of the films based on his works. On Writing is a unique book in that the first half is King's memoirs. The second half is a collection of tips for aspiring writers, things that King has learned over many, many years of writing.  I am not going to lie. The whole thing is fascinating reading. King certainly had a unique upbringing, the younger son of a single mother who often struggled to make ends meet, during an era when people weren't necessarily kind to single mothers. He also speaks honestly about his struggles with addiction (his drug habit was so huge at once stage, there are entire books that he cannot remember writing,) and the near-fatal accident in 1999 that received a lot of press coverage. (He was midway through...

Started by the author and eventually completed by his wife and daughter based on his notes, Robert C O'Brien's final novel is a haunting meditation on the rivalry between nature and science. Ann Burden is living alone in a small valley for over a year, perhaps the only survivor of a nuclear war. She has just enough to get by and to live a peaceful existence. That is until Mr Loomis arrives in his radiation proof suit. What follows is a battle of wills between a terrified young woman and a man determined to control every aspect of the valley. I first read this one in year ten of high school when it was set as a class text. The story has stayed with me ever since and I was surprised when I re-read it just how much I remembered--in particular Ann's exile to the cave and the deadly cat and mouse game that followed. Much of the narrative is haunting, but believable. Loomis is, by all accounts, the worst that humanity has to offer--boorish, bossy, dismissive of the things...

View this post on Instagram All aboard the Almond Train! I had a lovely trip to McLaren Vale this morning and stopped by the Almond Train for a lovely Devonshire Tea. (Or in my case, coffee.) #almondtrain #almondtraincafe #mclarenvale #fleurieupeninsula #adelaide #southaustralia A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathryns_inbox) on Oct 18, 2019 at 7:30pm PDT

What happens when, one day, your older brother announces that he is actually your sister? British author John Boyne who you may know best as the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas ponders this question in My Brother's Name is Jessica , a book about Sam, a boy in his early teens, who struggles to find acceptance when his beloved older brother Jason makes the tough decision to tell his family that he is a transgender woman. Their parents, their mother a conservative MP with ambitions of becoming Prime Minister and their father who acts as her Secretary, do not want to know and hope to shove the whole thing under the carpet. Sam, meanwhile, just does not understand. And that is what the crux of this story is about. One kid, struggling, and often sadly failing, to understand just how difficult life is for another.  There is no doubt about it, this is a compelling read. Sam is an interesting kid, one who loves his older sister, but just doesn't understand Jessica's...

There is nothing like a PG Wodehouse novel to brighten one's spirits on an otherwise dull day and Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit is no exception. Originally published in 1954 and number 11 in the Jeeves series, most of the characters including the minor ones are, by now, well and truly established. Consequently, the reader knows that that they are to be entertained by a story of Britain's bumbling upper classes and it is just a question of who features in this volume to create a bit of trouble for Bertie Wooster, what this will lead to and how Jeeves is going to get him out of it. Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit opens with Bertie opting to grow a moustache that doesn't suit him, much to the annoyance of Jeeves who strongly advises against it. Unfortunately, the moustache soon catches the eye of Lady Florence Cray, a writer who is currently penning a serial for a magazine owned by Aunt Dahlia that she is hoping to sell for a hefty sum. Worst still for Bertie, Florence is...

Until it was announced, I never believed that Raina Telgemeier would pen another autobiography. After all, what was left to tell, after she had penned about her adolescent adventures following on from the loss of her two front teeth in Smile , or about the awkward relationship that she had with her younger sister in Sisters ? It turns out that there was something more. Guts is a prequel of sorts to Smile and tells about the author's final year at elementary school. Beautifully illustrated, this graphic novel depicts her struggles with anxiety that begin shortly after she experiences a tummy bug. After seeing another kid teased for puking at school, Raina begins to fear that this too could happen to her. And she becomes determined not to allow it to happen, which means being very, very particular about what she eats and about other things. She also has some problems with an outspoken girl from her class who isn't always very kind to her and some of the other kids. As h...

View this post on Instagram Spotted in Franklin Street #streetart #stickerart #franklinstreet #adelaide #southaustralia A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathryns_inbox) on Aug 14, 2019 at 1:39am PDT

Opening shortly after the ending of Throne of Glass, we meet Celaena once again. Having recently done the impossible and won the coveted spot of the Kings Assassin, Celaena is now torn between what may just be her destiny and the expectation that she will kill for the King of Ardalan. It's lucky that this young woman is so strong willed. Unfortunately, she is also about to be sorely tested--who can she trust? And what is she going to do about a love triangle that is developing between her two protectors, a captain and a prince.  This one starts off slow--by the time I was halfway through, I was fairly convinced that this one was mostly filler, intended to explain what the character did between the first and third books in this series. (That talking door knocker really annoyed me, by the way.) Fortunately, at about the halfway mark, the story gains a lot of momentum and certain themes that were present early on begin to make a lot more sense. As well as a lot of action, ther...

Australian author writes about a young woman with a severe case of eczema with a lot of warmth, empathy and just enough reality to stop the whole thing from going over the top. Samatha is thirteen years old and has just moved to a new town in South Australia with her family. Starting at the local high school, she is keen for her peers not to know of the chronic eczema and other allergies that she suffers from. This is not easy, thanks to an over-protective mother, various doctors who do not always know best, and classmates who have troubles of their own.  This isn't a book that is so much about finding a miracle cure for an illness that can be quite uncomfortable, especially during the teenage years, as it is about a young woman who learns to cope with her flare ups and journeys toward a place of self-acceptance. It's also a story of how treatments can be mismanaged by so-called experts and others who only want to help.  An ideal read for those in their early teens...

A retelling of Shakepeare's The Tempest by Margaret Atwood? How could this one possibly be anything less than brilliant? Then again, I think the bigger question is how come this one turned out to be even better than I had expected? Set in modern times, Felix is a Canadian based director who has led a rich and varied career, culminating in him directing various Shakespeare plays at a very prestigious festival. This year he plans to put on a showing of The Tempest. Unfortunately, this is also the year that nasty social climber Tony has decided to knife him in the back and take top spot. Disgraced, Felix retreats to a run down and isolated house in a small town, where he talks to his deceased daughter and plots the perfect revenge.  Hag Seed is easily one of the best Shakespeare adaptions I have ever read (and that is saying something, considering just how much I loved reading New Boy a few weeks ago.) Atwood takes readers on a ride that is both believable, facile and ...

View this post on Instagram Spotted on the corner of Morphett Street & Hindley Street #publicart #hindleystreet #westendadelaide #adelaide #southaustralia A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathryns_inbox) on Aug 18, 2019 at 11:23pm PDT

One of the most raw and brutal young adult novels I have read to date, How I Live Now tells the story of Daisy, a fifteen-year-old American who, when the world is on the cusp of a war that no one quite understands, is packed off to live in England with her aunt and four cousins that she has never met by her spineless father and domineering step-mother. It soon becomes clear that her cousins have some very unusual talents. While Daisy is in England, war breaks out. Separated from the adults, Daisy soon falls in love with her cousin Edmund. Soon though, the pair are separated by circumstances beyond their control--and Daisy will learn a brutal lesson in what it means to love someone. I am not going to lie. This book is not pleasant reading. Most of the adults in this book are either arseholes or kind but extremely negligent. Nor does it shy away in depicting the brutal reality of war, and the fact that when put to the test, some will not rise and become heroes, while others will ...

In Paris Savages , Australian author Katherine Johnson tells the story of a shameful and little known--but extremely important--part of Australian history. The year is 1882. The Badjala people have been facing many problems since white settlers arrived in their island home K'Gari (a place which contemporary readers may also know as Fraser Island,) including the fact that their population has faced a steady decline due to a number of massacres and also illnesses. Among the white settler population on the island is German scientist Louis Muller and his daughter Hilda. Louis has received an offer--for him to take three of the Badjala people with him and Hilda to Europe--where they will perform as part of a human exhibition for large crowds. Louis welcomes the idea, believing that it will help, rather than harm them. Meanwhile, three of the Badjala people agree--Bonny, Jurano and Dorondera--mostly because headstrong Bonny believes that he will be able to meet with the queen and tel...