Kathryn's Inbox

Beautiful World, Where Are You, the third offering from Booker Prize long-listed author Sally Rooney has one failing. It isn't very good. The novel tells the story of four very different thirty-somethings living in Ireland, Alice, an internationally renowned author who suffered a nervous breakdown after the publication of one of her novels, Alice's best friend Eileen who lives in Dublin, is equally as miserable as her best friend and can't admit that she's in love with Simon, a devout Catholic with whom has she as friends with benefits relationship, and Felix, an angry creep that Alice met on Tinder. And so the novel goes from there with each of the characters being miserable and slowly trying to work through their various communication issues and quarter life crises.  Unfortunately, Rooney works so hard on trying to create mystery and well-crafted prose at the expense of her characters and, dare I say it, a plot. The novel starts slowly, improves after the first seven...

There is something delightful about the Dinosaur Couch comics that seem to pop up on my social media feeds every now and again. The combination of the clean lines, musings on life and well ... dinosaurs, just seem to make it a hit. Worked on by a team--James Stewart comes up with the words and plot and K Romey does the illustrations, the whole thing has a very gentle feel. When I discovered that an entire collection of these cute comics was available, I just had to find a copy.  And it doesn't disappoint. Divided into seven different sections, the comics talk about various parts of life, from relationships to happiness to feeling anxious and overthinking. I love the simplicity and the way it breaks it all down, leaving any reader who might be struggling with an issue (or who has struggled in the past,) feeling seen. I found this one more enjoyable when I read just one or two comics at a time, rather than binging on them. Recommended. 

Ash London's debut novel is a fun, frothy and upbeat glimpse into the cutthroat Australian media landscape. Leveraging on her personal experiences as a top rating radio host in Australia and New Zealand, Ash London tells the story of radio superstar Alex York, who goes from being unemployed, broke and living in her auntie's spare bedroom to hosting a top rating breakfast show in Sydney. It all sounds to good to be true, but for Alex, fame also comes with a condescending CEO, a rival, but less talented host who is convinced that the job should be his (and he'll do anything to steal it,) and some romantic misunderstandings with the incredibly attractive executive producer of her show. This one is a fun and very light escapist read. Alex makes for an interesting lead--she's very extroverted, flies by the seat of her pants and spends her money quite impulsively, yet we also see that she truly loves her job and takes it very seriously. I loved the scenes where she stood up t...

Oh Karen Brewer, why are you being such a pain, P-A-I-N, pain? Karen's Prize, the tenth Baby-Sitter's Little Sister graphic novel takes us into the exciting world of competitive spelling. Well, at least Karen is excited about it. When her class has a spelling bee, she declared the winner (though her friend Nancy came close) and now she gets to compete with the winners in the other first, second and third grade classes. Karen senses victory in the air, especially when she discovers that the winner will get to compete in a district spelling bee. She practices and practices, and begins to annoy and alienate everyone around her with her constant spelling. Then she keeps on winning spelling bees. Everyone should be happy for her right? Well, not when Karen's ego keeps getting in the way of things. And now the state championship is coming up, it is being televised live and Karen is absolutely certain that she is going to win.  This was an entertaining read. It sticks very close t...

New York born and bred Sylvie Deveraux is having a bad day. First her high successful, wealthy and almost comically negligent parents cut her off. Then she discovers that her boyfriend is having an affair with her best friend. Then she gets a phone call that changes everything. Three months ago, Sylvie had broken in to the castle that belongs to Killian Barclay, a reclusive and incredibly fierce member of Scottish nobility. And now, in a surprise twist, Killian's family approaches Sylvie with an offer. Marry Killian, restore his public reputation and they will pay her ten million dollars. The whole thing seems ludicrous. But Sylvie is desperate for the money ... This novel doesn't have the most realistic premise, or execution, but it certainly is entertaining. I've never read a book where a Scottish nobleman spoke like a sassy teenage girl before, or based all of his important decision making entirely on emotional outbursts, but it certainly made for some fun escapism. Ther...

Booker Prize nominated author Patricia Lockwood had a very unusual childhood. So much so that she has written an impressive, darkly comic memoir about what it was really like to grow up in a household where her father was a gun-toting, guitar playing Roman Catholic priest. Children of Catholic priests are few and far between in the United States where Lockwood grew up--in fact her father who was already married with children when he converted to Catholicism due to a special, and still very new at the time, exception by the Catholic church that allowed Anglican priests or in Lockwood's case, Lutheran ministers, to become priests on conversion. Provided, of course, that the entire family passed a number of tests. Anyway, Lockwood was inspired to write the memoir when she and her husband returned to the family home after being away for twelve years. As is characteristic of Patricia Lockwood's writing style, Priestdaddy is written in short paragraphs and snippets that often feel d...