Kathryn's Inbox

DK Yingst's debut Little Sister graphic novel adaption, Karen's Grandmother's (and ninth in the series overall) is a winner. This time around, we see Karen participating in a programme at school where the kids 'adopt' a grandparent at the local nursing home. Karen is very excited at the prospect. Thanks to her status as a 'two-two' this means she will now have five grandmothers overall--two biological grandmothers, two step grandmother and now an adopted grandmother. She thinks it might even be a record. The only flaw in this plan is that her little house bestie Nancy Dawes isn't sharing in her excitement. Nancy doesn't have a grandmother, she is afraid of old people and she most defiantly does not wish to take part in the programme. Karen needs a way to show Nancy that old people are pretty cool, but what happens when she sets Nancy and one of her grandmothers up as pen pals, and Granny from Nebraska starts taking more of an interest in Nancy and li...

In April 2024 beloved author Sophie Kinsella, whose bestsellers include The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (titled Confessions of Shopaholic in the USA) and Can You Keep a Secret revealed that she had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer and had been receiving treatment since 2022. What Does It Feel Like is a semi-autobiographical account of her experiences--of making it as an author, getting onto the bestseller lists, seeing a book made into a movie and then finding herself in hospital, unable to remember the past few months and being given a very scary diagnosis.  Evie, the protagonist in What Does It Feel Like is not Sophie Kinsella, but their experiences are very similar. Broken into small chapters we experience Evie's highs and lows, her success, her diagnosis, treatment and, ultimately, a sense of hope. I found myself reaching for the tissues on a few occasions while I became fully invested in Evie's journey. The ending is not a fa...

  I'm thirty. I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honour.  This quote, spoken by The Great Gatsby narrator Nick Carraway to his former love interest Jordan Baker sums up F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel of self-delusion perfectly. It is a hot summer in the midst of the roaring twenties when Nick Carraway takes up a residence in a small town just outside of New York. He soon becomes intrigued by his new neighbour, Jay Gatsby whose reputation for hosting the perfect party has stretched far and wide. No one knows exactly how Gatsby got his money, but people flock far and wide to his residence for a good time. A friendship between Gatsby and Nick develops, though it soon becomes increasingly clear that Gatsby wants a friendship with Nick so that he can access Nick's glamorous cousin Daisy, who also just happens to be married to the very wealthy brute Tom Buchanan. What follows is a story of utter self-delusion, selfishness and the perils of trying to rec...

Powerful. Tense. Thought provoking. These are the words that instantly come to mind when I think about Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell. Set in Ireland in 2018, Nesting tells the story of Ciara, who, when she discovers that she is pregnant with her third child knows that she must leave her controlling husband Ryan for good. What follows is a roller coaster ride as Ciara tries to make a new life for herself and her children, whilst battling a husband who uses every form of psychological control to keep his hold over her, inadequate government support and her family are all in the United Kingdom. As the seasons pass, so too do the hardships and the level of control that Ryan has over her, leaving her to wonder if she can ever really break free... If you have ever witnessed someone trapped in an abusive relationship and wondered why don't they just leave, then I strongly suggest reading this book. The hardships Ciara faces while trying to protect herself and her children from a husba...