Celebrity Chefs
For my column this week, I wrote on celebrity chefs and reflected on whether or not they ran the risk, through over-exposure, of going past their use-by date. If you’d like to read it, click here: Karen\’s Courier Mail column 27 April 2011 Interestingly, back in 2003, I wrote a quite risque piece on the […]
Paper Giants and Women’s Magazines
‘Paper Giants, the birth of Cleo’, which screened on ABC Sunday and Monday nights, told the story of how, against a background of emergent feminism, the victory of the Whitlam government, and the Packers’ shedding part of their media empire, the talented Ita Buttrose was made editor of a new and controversial magazine. Against great […]
Defence Force Behaviour and Reviews
A new inquiry into the treatment of women in the forces was announced by the Minister for Defence Stephen Smith and the Head of the Defence Forces, Angus Houston on Monday 11 April 2011. Headed by Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, it’s believed that unlike previous reviews, this one will be ‘an important step in […]
Children’s Beauty Pageants: The Ugly Truth
This is my column that appeared in the Courier Mail on Wednesday the 30th March. It had an overwhelming response. Please feel free to add your comments and pass on the message. THE US children’s beauty contest, the Universal Royalty Beauty Pageant, is coming to Melbourne in July and, according to reports, some mothers are […]
Book Review: The Transit of Venus
This is one of the most exquisitely rendered novels, where not a word is out of place; where you find yourself savouring sentences, clauses and repeating them over and over admiring the craftsmanship and originality. It’s also a tale that lingers long after you’ve finished it. The Transit of Venus tells the story of Grace […]
Review of TV show: Winners and Losers
Last night, the much-hyped Winners and Losers screened on Channel 7. The story of four chums, reunited at their surprise ten-year high school reunion, replaced the spot left vacant by the incomplete season of the hit family show, Packed to the Rafters. The idea behind taking Rafters off air and replacing it with a new show […]
Book Review: Nemesis Jo Nesbo
This is the second Jo Nesbo book I have read and I am in awe of this man’s talent and ability to draw together a complex plot and develop already strong characters as well as bring fascinating new ones into the mix. It’s two years since the events in The Red Breast and Harry Hole, […]
Book Review: Grave Sight, Charlaine Harris
Having read and loved all the Sookie Stackhouse books, I was really looking forward to my first foray into the Harper ‘Grave’ books. Harper, a troubled and intense young woman (all for very good reasons) and who is managed by her tall, acne-scarred older half-brother, Tolliver, senses dead people. In fact, she has a tidy […]
Book Reviews: Sara Douglass’ Darkglass Mountain Trilogy
Having followed Sara Douglass’ career from the very beginning and being thoroughly captivated by her works, The Serpent Bride is another fantastic read. Her imagination and flair for writing page-turners just gets better and better. I particularly liked this book as it draws together characters and plots from not only her major Axis series, but […]
Book Review: The Red Tent
This book was given to me as a Christmas present – appropriately, by a dear female friend – and what a gift it’s turned out to be. Told from the point of view of Dinah, a minor character in a well known Biblical tale, the story tracks the life of not only Dinah, but the […]