Kathryn's Inbox

  Blushing is caused by a rush of adrenaline.

It has been a heck of a wait for fans but, finally, the second instalment in the Fangirl Manga series is here. Adapted from Rainbow Rowell's brilliant novel of the same name, the series tells the story of Cath, a first year college student who is navigating social anxiety whilst being abandoned by her beloved twin sister Wren who has plunged headfirst into student life. A talented writer, Cath hides behind her popular fan fiction series, but it seems that life is going to happen to her whether she likes it or not ... Volume two picks up right where the first volume left off. We see Cath and her friend Levi race to a bar to find Wren, who has sent Cath an SMS indicating that she may be in trouble. Of course, the SMS is a misunderstanding, and the situation between the sisters becomes increasingly tense, leaving Cath with more feelings of abandonment, though it soon becomes clear that her friendship with Levi may be developing into something else. There are some extremely cute and h...

Model, actor, entrepreneur and influencer Emily Ratajkowski knows better than most about the perverse dynamics that exist within the film and fashion industries, and it was for this reason that I opted to pick up a copy of her memoir, My Body. And it is true. Ratajkowski does know better than most, and lifts the lid on the blatant sexism and objectification that she has been subject to.  The memoir soon takes a dark turn as the author describes a shocking instance of sexual assault on the set of a music video. From there we get a very real--and horrific--glimpse into the many, many ways that models can be treated, and taken advantage of. From no longer having ownership of intimate photographs, to sexual assault, the stories that the author tells of her experiences are so utterly horrific that I had to occasionally put the book down. Ratajkowski raises an important question of who truly has ownership of her body, and why so many people think they have the right to objectify it. And...

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  My dear, I don’t give a damn ~  Gone With the Wind

  Earwax is a type of sweat.

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  And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. ~  The Great Gatsby

  Avocados are single seeded berries.

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Neighbours bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbour. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good luck pennies, and our lives. ~  To Kill a Mockingbird  

Beautifully illustrated Chivalry is the graphic novel adaption of Neil Gaiman's beloved short story of the same name. It tells the story of an older lady who purchases the Holy Grail from a secondhand shop. Into her life comes a good-hearted knight, keen to exchange the Holy Grail for all manner of gifts, until both discover that the true exchange going on is friendship. This was a beautiful adaption. It is clear on every page that Colleen Doran truly loves Gaiman's work and appreciates the subject matter. Every part of the story is lovingly recreated and brought to life through her superb artwork. Apparently this adaption has been a long time in the making--according to the notes Doran had to wait a whopping twenty-five years to secure the rights. Now that in itself is a labour of love. (And I'm so glad she got there in the end.) Overall, this is a terrific adaption, suitable for readers of varying ages and backgrounds. Highly recommended.

  This post was created a year ago and scheduled for today.

Award winning short story writer Anne Casey-Hardy never fails to awe the reader in her debut collection of stories, Cautionary Tales For Excitable Girls. Blending the inner and outer lives of each of her protagonists, the author never fails to surprise, and kept me turning pages all the way to the end. It didn't matter whether I was reading about a pair of teenagers who had abducted a baby, a young woman who was employed by a drug outreach service that had something more sinister going on, or a character haunted by the murder of a child that happened in their town, each time I found myself wanting more. I found each of these stories to be well written, and haunting. My personal favourite was New Years Eve which was about a teenage party down by the creek that goes very wrong. The author is adept on playing on the fears of every day people, and blending the imagined inner worlds of the characters with the outer world. In some ways, the collection reminded me a little of The Yellow ...

Reminiscent of After by Anna Todd Good Girl Complex is a story of a nice girl who meets a bad boy. Mackenzie, or Mac as she prefers to be known, has just started college after taking a year off to start her own, very successful online business. A wealthy but sheltered daughter of a politician and a socialite, Mac has always played by the rules and lived a charmed life. She's gained the attention of a cute boy from an equally wealthy family and she has no reason to question her life ... until she chances upon bad boy Cooper at a local bar. Unbeknownst to Mac, Cooper has a score to settle with Mac's boyfriend, and as far as he and his friends are concerned, the best way to do that is to steal Mac away from him. Soon, there's a bet on that Cooper can seduce Mac. But what happens when Cooper falls for Mac instead? What follows is a bit of light weekend reading. The scenario is entertaining enough, the romance gets delightfully heated at times and there are some amusing and oc...

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  At the temple there is a poem called "Loss" carved into the stone. It has three words, but the poet has scratched them out. You cannot read loss, only feel it ~ Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

  Swearing is banned at Wimbledon.

Three women, all loosely linked by various connections to family, friends and colleagues are all hurtling toward a tragic event in The Accident, the second novel by Katie McMahon. There's Grace, a single mother of a teenage girl who is having an affair with her former university sweetheart, Zoe who, after being dumped, has just found a new and better man, and Imogen, a registrar at a hospital who is struggling with the pressures of work. Each of them have more in common than they realise, chiefly, all have experienced painful forms of rejection, and each cope differently ... and some better than others. This was an interesting read and meditation of how rejection and various painful experiences can shape us. The actual event is, of course, quite shocking, as is the reasoning behind it. I felt no sympathy whatsoever for a certain character, though I appreciated the insight into their behaviour offered by the author.  Overall, a twisty, suspenseful read about the interconnected live...