Kathryn's Inbox

There is a reason why The Importance of Being Earnest is still a very much loved play today. A comedy of mistaken identity, it perfectly sends up the 19th century British upper class. (It is branded as a trivial play for serious people and, somehow, the title fits perfectly.) The plot revolves around two friends, Ernest and Algernon. Jack wishes to marry Algernon's cousin. Algernon is opposed to the idea, and when he discovers that Jack has been taking on two different identities--he is Jack when he is at home in the country and Ernest when he is in the city, Algernon comes up with a plan. He visits Jack in the country posing as Ernest, where he unintentionally falls in love with Jack's ward. Suddenly all hell breaks loose and things become more and more farcical and, consequently entertaining. (The resolution certainly is fun.) This is such a fun examination of mistaken identity, manners and ego. Obviously it is a play, so reading it doesn't give quite the same impact as ...

Bestselling British author Heidi Swain delights readers with her latest offering. The Book-Lovers' Retreat tells the story of Emily, who, along with her two friends has booked the holiday of their dreams. They are to stay at a cottage in Lakeside where the adaption of their favourite book Hope Falls was filmed. (And also became their favourite movie.) Things soon start to go wrong--Emily loses her job and suddenly has to make a huge decision about whether to keep working in the same unfulfilling field or if she should risk everything and start her own business with her true passion, sewing. Rachel's boyfriend is becoming more and more controlling and as for Tori, well, she can no longer afford the trip because her wealthy father has cut off all of her income and is insisting that she (finally) make her own way in the world. Fortunately, the owner of the cottage is able to set Emily and Rachel up with Alex, another avid Hope Falls fan who is keen to stay at the cottage.  Then ...

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There is no denying that Osher Günsberg is a household name across Australia. From starting his career as a midnight to dawn on-air host on B105, a top rating radio station in Brisbane, to hosting popular television shows like The Masked Singer, The Bachelor and Australian Idol Günsberg's career has certainly had some bright moments. (And we hope it continues for a long time to come.) For those things alone, his memoir would make an entertaining read. Back, After the Break goes much deeper than that, and Günsberg speaks confidentially to the reader about his experiences with mental illness and addition and how he has come to live a healthier and more authentic life. Back, After the Break makes for entertaining and, occasionally heartbreaking, reading. The author details his childhood, born in London but moving to Adelaide with his parents--both doctors--and his brother when he was just a few months old. While he was still in junior primary the family would move to Brisbane and h...

Beyah's childhood has been one of neglect--most of her childhood has been spent living with her mother, a meth addict while her father has been, well, off doing something else and scarcely bothering to stay in touch. Still, Beyah is getting things sorted. She has a job at the local McDonalds and she has worked hard to earn herself a scholarship to a good university. Then, two months before she is due to leave for college, she arrives home to find her mother dead of a suspected drug overdose. With the rent due on the family trailer that she cannot afford to pay, Beyah does the only thing she can think of to survive. She tracks down her dad, fails to tell him that her mother is dead and asks if she can come for a visit. Surprisingly, her dad pays for her airline tickets and asks no questions. Then Beyah makes a surprise discovery. Her dad is wealthy, has a wife and a stepdaughter and the whole family is welcoming her into the fold with open arms. Surely something is amiss ... right? ...

Love her or loathe her, there is no escaping the fact that Clementine Ford has started a very raw and real conversation on what it means to be a feminist in twenty-first century Australia. In How We Love she offers readers an honest and tender memoir about her own experiences of the many different types of love she has experienced in her lifetime--from her relationship with her mother, to the idolisation of a predatory manager, to her friendships, to various romances, to her ex-husband and, finally, to her son. Each is a unique story and the reader learns how love can shape a person. This was an interesting memoir on a number of levels. Like me, Clementine Ford spent her adolescence in the outer suburbs of Adelaide albeit at the very opposite end of Adelaide. In the same way, her experiences of life and people have been very different to my own. Yet there were many things that felt so universal--as though in telling her own story, the author was in a way telling the story of what it m...

Lindsey Kelk's first stand-alone novel tells the story of Rachel, a women in her twenties who has her life sorted. Or so she thinks. She has a long term partner, a well paying job as a make-up artist and a mortgage. Then her partner dumps her, she loses a significant amount of work after she insults a model and she has no idea how she is going to keep the home that she loves. Fortunately, her friends are there to help her get over her break up by creating The Single Girl's To-Do List, a long list of things that she needs to do to keep her mind off her ex-partner and to move forward. The only problem is, the list is intended as a joke, but Rachel can't stop doing the things on the list ... and she soon learns that life is much better when you start taking chances. This book had a huge amount of potential, but is let down by the selfish, cynical main character and the near constant one-line jokes that simply aren't funny. Rachel has little empathy for the people around he...

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When I found a copy of A Guide to Berlin at the beautiful Matilda Bookshop in the Adelaide Hills I was instantly intrigued. A story of six visitors to Berlin from various parts of the globe who meet in empty apartments to share their stories and to discuss their mutual appreciation for author Vladimir Nabokov, in particular his short story, A Guide to Berlin? It looked interesting. So did the hint on the back cover that there would be an act of violence and the relationship between the group would not end well. Add the fact that it was written by Gail Jones, a much respected Australian author of Literary fiction and I could not resist buying this one and reading the first few chapters in a nearby cafe.  I was immediately taken by the beautiful prose, which as I was soon to discover was the novel's greatest strength, along with its depictions of Berlin through the eyes of Cass, an Australian who had grown up in Broome, and now found herself in Berlin in mid-winter. The two places c...

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There is something really charming about the Baby-Sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel series, so much so that I keep coming back. In fact, I think I may have now officially read more of the Little Sister books in graphic novel format than I did the originals. (Though to be fair, when I was the right age for Baby-Sitters Little Sister, there were less than ten novels released in Australia--we were a bit behind the United States.) Anyway, the latest Little Sister book to get the graphic novel treatment is Karen's Haircut. (Which is, incidentally one of the books that I read and I remember being shocked by Karen getting what was, in Australian terms, a mullet.) The story opens with Karen playing dress ups, or Lovely Ladies with her best friend Nancy at the Little House. The pair are having fun until, suddenly, Karen begins to feel self conscious about her appearance. The feeling doesn't last--Nancy assures Karen that she looks fine and soon enough it's time for Nancy to go hom...