Kathryn's Inbox

What if someone wrote a high fantasy novel, something sort of akin to a game of Dungeons and Dragons, but veered off on a different path, creating a cozy, low stakes read that was just pure entertainment? Okay, it's been done before--and exceptionally well by authors like Terry Pratchett--but there is something that feels very new, and appealing, about Legends & Lattes. Viv is hanging up her sword, literally. After a long and successful career of slaying monsters she has decided to turn her hand to a peaceful enterprise, running a coffeeshop in a small town where none of the residents know what coffee is. Chapter by chapter we watch as she builds the cafe up from scratch, makes many friends along the way and resists the urge to pick up her sword once again. It is light and addictive, (of course there is a hint of foes and danger in there but nothing too heavy,) and ultimately it is entertaining. I found this one to be an enjoyable read, though its best asset, the cosy nature of...

American artist Andy Warhol found fame from transforming the everyday into art. His portrait of Campbell's Soup Cans still garner much attention today. He was also unafraid to use and try multiple different mediums to capture the everyday and the mundane and one of his favourite tools was a polaroid camera. In Andy Warhol polaroids the authors compile an interesting collection of Warhol's photographs, many of them featuring the rich and famous that surrounded him at the factory. There is also a lot of discussion on Warhol's style, a brief but comprehensive biography of his career and glimpses of insight into life at the Factory. This was a striking, well put together book that I found myself flicking through over the space of about a week. (As is often the case with art books, I preferred not to read it all at once so I could feel the full impact.) Warhol fans will no doubt enjoy the selection of polaroids and it is an interesting, though perhaps not groundbreaking, Warhol ...

After: The Graphic Novel was such a hit that volume two (based on the second part of the original novel) is now on the shelves. And what is it? Well, broadly speaking, it is a lively graphic adaption of the second half a novel about a very toxic relationship. Volume Two sees innocent Tessa break up with her high school boyfriend to pursue an often sexual and very confusing relationship with Hardin, a rough, tough and emotionally damaged student from college. Tessa has found a job at a local publishing house, cut ties with her controlling mother and she and Hardin are moving in together. The whole thing is ludicrous--the job is too good to be true, her relationship with Hardin has barely began and their already moving in together and her mother is reduced to a role that would seem almost comical if it weren't for the fact that she is every bit as emotionally abusive of Tessa as Hardin is.  Despite the many flaws, I found myself keen to keep reading and wanting to know what would ha...

Let's face it. Anyone would have had to have been living under a rock (and consequently not listening to rock,) to have not heard of Dave Grohl. The frontman for the Foo Fighters, occasional member of Queens of the Stone Age and former drummer of Nirvana has a huge part in rock and roll history from the last thirty-five years. In The Storyteller Dave Grohl tells his unusual life story in his own words. (And yes, there is plenty of swearing.) The memoir is an intimate and amazing glimpse of a life well lived. From recollecting his childhood in a single parent working class household to being a kid who didn't fit in at high school and eventually dropped out to pursue a dream (being temporarily disowned by his father in the process,) to the parts that the public already know this is a compelling story. As is the behind the scenes look at Nirvana and its inner workings, the tragic and deeply personal impact of Kurt Cobain's suicide and how Grohl achieved the impossible with th...

Kristy and the Walking Disaster is now my favourite of all of the Baby-Sitters Club graphic novel adaptions. The original captured an important part of the series--Kristy has now settled into her new life and stepfamily. And now she is up for a new challenge. When she discovers that her younger brother David Michael desperately wants to play on a baseball team but isn't quite good enough to make it, she gathers around some neighbourhood kids and some of their baby-sitting charges and they form their own neighbourhood team--Kristy's Krushers. The kids aren't exactly stars, especially Jamie Radowski (the series beloved clumsy kid,) but what they lack in talent they make up in determination and team spirit. But what happens when the other neighbourhood softball team challenges them to a game. The kids from Bart's Bashers are slightly older, tougher and mean. And to make matters worse, Kristy finds herself with a crush on their coach. This was such a fun read. The idea of ...

What do six very different people have in common? One tweet, concerns of climate change, the fractured nature of modern life and the fact that each are living in their own, very seperate bubble that others cannot understand. In The Temperature Katrina Gibson takes the reader through the lives of six very different people, whose lives intersect in a surprising way. There is Fi, a young woman who unpopular, angry and surrounded by people who don't have her best interests at heart. She's also the author of one tweet that gets her fired, and another that gets her former employer Lexi fired. Then there is Sidney, Lexi's much younger ex, Tomas, Sidney's former housemate. Gotivia, Sidney's best friend and Henry a Vietnam veteran living in isolation round out the six characters.   Very few authors can claim to be award winning writers before the release of their debut novel, but Katerina Gibson has the rare distinction of being just that. With that kind of honour which, in ...