I really liked this book mainly because I related so much to Catherine. I know I can accidentally offend people and reading about characters like me help me understand why I can upset people. Reading about a situation, knowing that I would've probably made the same decisions as Catherine and seeing how people react really helps me in day to day situations. I ended up kinda shipping Felix and Catherine mainly because I really liked Felix, and FELIX IS SO OBVIOUSLY ALIKE TO RICHARD FEYNMAN LIKE HOW DOES CATHERINE MISS THIS! Anyway, I think they should get together because clearly Felix is never going to have an equal relationship with anyone else in the school because they all look up to him! Nevertheless, the book shouldn't be about the relationship and I'm glad it doesn't and focuses more on friend and family relationships. (not that I would object to a sequel where they got together (much to the shock and horror of everyone else) and plus issues with her friends that liked Felix...) ( )

This is really a 'nothing' book and I have no idea why it has been shortlisted for Book of the Year. Written solely in letter format, nerdy, science loving Catherine decides to write to her hero, Richard Feynman, creator of the atom bomb, about her life. I found Catherine to be very annoying and inflexible in her outlook and although I had to smile at a few of her observations, three quarters of the way through I was skimming the book, willing it to end. ( )

Excellent book. Written as series of letters from self-confessed nerd Catherine to the late physicist Richard Feynman, whose poster she has on her bedroom wall. It documents Catherine's journey through year 10 dealing with teachers, her friends, her parents, boys, the popular people, the odd maths equation. ( )