Kathryn's Inbox

  Another Peanuts video by Garren Lazer this week. This time the gang sings Sprit in the Sky. Although the lip syncing isn't perfect, this song is just so fitting given that the song is happy and innocent, with obvious religious overtones, a description that could also be applied to the Peanuts comic itself. 

Wiradjuri author Anita Heiss has created a powerful historical fiction novel shaped around true events with Bila Yarrudhanggalanghuray. A story of home and belonging, the novel opens with an event that should be known to many Australians, the great flood of 1852 that almost destroyed the town of Gundagai and the local Wirajuri man, Yarri who saved the lives of many locals in his boat, working tirelessly to rescue all who were stranded. In  Bila Yarrudhanggalanghuray the author blends fact with fiction to tell the story of Wagadhaany, the daughter of Yarri who survives the flood.  Wagadhaany is working as a domestic servant for the powerful Bradley family. The Bradley family's ways are not like hers. They have imported many customs and traditions from England and believe their ways to be superior to the Wiradjuri people. Steadfastly ignorant and arrogant, they rename Wagadhaany "Wilma" pay her in rations for her services and leave her to sleep in a windowless room, w...

Ann Patty was a well-known, New York based editor when she decided to retire. Bored and lonely, she decided to take up learning Latin and found herself as the oldest member of the class by a couple of decades. Devoted to learning this dead language, she gives it her all and then recounts it in this unusual memoir.  What had the potential to be Patty's own version of Eat, Pray, Love --a biography of personal growth--is let down by the author's dull and self-indulgent retellings of her experiences and her meditations on language. There is little in this memoir that readers can take away. This is doubly disappointing given that learning Latin is hardly the most interesting part of Patty's career, which includes editing Booker Prize winning novel The Life of Pi, the creation of Simon and Schuster's hardcover imprint Poseidon Press and the part that is of most interest to me personally--that when she was a relatively young editor she discovered a short manuscript by an unkno...

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  The Peanuts Parody I shared last week was just so awesome that I had to share another one ... and this time it's the gang singing Sweet Home Alabama. It looks like creator Garren Lazar has made lots and lots of these videos. I look forward to viewing them all.

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  Spotted this hilarious clip on YouTube earlier in the week and I just had to share it. The Peanuts gang are perfectly cast in this parody, signing the Bee Gees classic hit Stayin Alive. 

Spanning a timeframe of about twenty-four hours, A Room Called Earth tells the story of a girl who goes to a party and meets a boy. A Room Called Earth is also much more than that. It's the story of a day in the life of a neurodiverse young woman with a rich and complex inner world that she cannot easily communicate and share with others, and that others cannot--or will not--take the time to see.  I struggled with this one a little at first. The protagonists need to describe everything in detail took some time to get used to, as did the many judgements that she made about the people around her. After a while, however, it becomes clear that the protagonist is sensitive and has a lot of depth to her, and much of her frustration with other people comes from the fact that one, people don't like having certain truths pointed out to them and are more comfortable living a lie and interacting in a way that is not true to themselves and two, a lot of those people look down on her and ...

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Breaking Glass reimagines DC Anti-Hero Harley Quinn as eccentric, misfit teen Harleen. Harleen has experienced her fair share of injustices and prejudices by age fifteen. And things have compounded again, now that she's just arrived in Gotham City and discovered that her grandmother--who she was supposed to live with--has passed away and no one bothered to tell her, or her mother. Fortunately, she's taken in by her grandmother's dear friend, drag queen Mama, who becomes a solid role model. At Gotham High, she becomes firm friends with Ivy, an activist who truly wants to make a difference. But then more challenges arise when a powerful real estate company moves to take over Mama's apartment block. To stop it, Harleen needs to make a tough choice. Should she stand with her friends, who are campaigning tirelessly against the changes. Or should she join with her new friend, the Joker, who promises faster and more decisive action against the corporation who want Harleen and...

Sarah Crossan's debut novel for adults is the story of Ana, a lawyer who's affair to her client, Conner, comes to an abrupt end when he passes away suddenly.  Told completely in verse, Here is the Beehive is a story of loneliness and how Ana begins to grieve for the man that she mistakenly believes is her true love. As well as a meditation on grief, it is one on sexual attraction and selfishness. The author also plays a few clever tricks on the reader. As the novel opens, Ana speaks with Conner's wife, who just happens to be named Rebecca. Her manner, and outlook, it would seem are similar to the title character of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.  Ana leads the reader to believe that Rebecca has phoned her to punish her for being the other woman. Over time, however, it becomes clear that Rebecca has no knowledge of Ana at all. Just as it becomes clear that Rebecca is a perfectly nice and kind human being, while Conner is not.  Judgements aside, this is a story about a mar...

Exciting Times is the story of Ava, a twenty-two year old university graduate with no money and even less self-esteem who travels to Hong Kong to take up a job teaching English to rich local children. It is also the story of a love triangle between Ava, a wealthy banker named Julian who is trying to get over his ex and allows Ava to stay in his apartment for free, and Eileen, a razor sharp local who is the only genuinely decent person of the lot, or so it seems at first.  Initially, I wasn't sure that I liked this story. The first part drags considerably, and there is little to like about a story where the main character basically puts up with being treated like live-in mistress by a man who doesn't love her, simply because her self-esteem is so low that she doesn't think she deserves anything better. And certainly, Ava is an expert in pushing people away. On several occasions, I wrote this off as being just yet another Literary novel that puts the sex life of the dysfunct...

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  Happy Easter, Everyone!

  Gotta love Animal ... No matter what the circumstances, he's always up for a party. 

Mass market Regency Romance isn't usually my thing, so what am I doing reading The Duke & I? Is it because I secretly became addicted to the recent Bridgerton Netflix series? Did I want some chill out time and a light and frothy read? Do I have secret plans to start writing mass market romance? Nope. I read The Duke & I because I lost a bet.  And ... I liked it. The Duke & I is a fun frothy read, set in Regency London. The Bridgerton's are a large, wealthy family and part of the ton, London's rich and fashionable set (for want of a better description.) The eldest Bridgerton girl, Daphne is amiable and well-liked, but no one really desires her, apart from the odd unsuitable match. And this is bad news, because at twenty-two, Daphne is quite keen on marrying and having a large family much like her own. Enter Simon, a Duke, who just happens to be an old friend of Daphne's oldest brother. Best known for the massive chip on his shoulder, Simon never wants to m...