A Royal Affair

A Royal Affair (2012)

A young woman leaves her native England to travel to Denmark and become the Queen to a young prince.  Told that he is handsome and smart, she finds that he is unstable and demanding and she is trapped in a loveless marriage.

The arrival of a new physician leads to a secret love affair, which they try to hide from the court.  Leading social changes across Denmark, the stepmother and her cronies become suspicious, and the affair is about to be revealed.

A lovely movie, although the Danish language and a warm cinema almost lulled me to sleep in the first half hour, however the story was great and I enjoyed the lovely visuals, both the scenery and the amazing costumes.

A great winters evenings watch 4/5.

Share It Maybe - Cookie Monster

Mr Cookie Monster is trying to get us to share the cookies - awesome!

Amazon Kindle Ripoff

Same book - same day.  UK readers can buy this through UK amazon for their Kindle for 20p or 40c NZ.  We get charged a pacific/asia rate of $9.91(US), which for us is around $12 NZ.   A ripoff me thinks.

Dying to Be Me - Anita Moorjani

Dying to Be Me - Anita Moorjani (2012)

Anita is in her early forties and is in the end stages of Lymphoma, when her husband and mother take her to the hospital.  Doctors admit her to the ICU, and although they do all they kind, they advise the family that she is likely to die very shortly.

Although intubated and in a coma Anita has a near death experience, and is able to recall all the treatments, and even discussions that were held outside her room.  She is able to recognise staff that treated her, and remember everything that went on in her room.

She also recalls being connected with her dead father and having a great sense of peace and wellbeing.  She is able to understand what has made her sick, and how to heal.  She is given the choice to stay with her father or return to her body, and sensing a need to continue she returns.

After awakening from her coma, doctors search for signs of cancer and are unable to find any, leaving them puzzled.  Many are interested in hearing her story and with the internet her story becomes well known and leads to a publishing deal.

I like near death experience stories and I liked here explanations about religion and death.  An interesting and thought provoking read.  4/5

That Woman - Anne Sebba

That Woman - Anne Sebba (2011)

This book is a biography about Wallis Simpson the Duchess of Windsor, who was involved in one of the biggest scandals of the 20th century.  I enjoyed reading about her early life, much of which I didn't already know.

Although much of it was interesting, I found that there would be a few odd things that just seemed to be thrown in.  There seemed to be quite a few paragraphs devoted to her masculine appearance and rumours about both her being sexually frigid and then her sexual prowess, that seemed to be included to provide shock value.

It seemed to gloss over their later years, and in the end I just felt sad for the both of them.  2/5

Le Havre

Le Havre  (2012)

We'd considered going to see this one several weeks ago, but were first put off as it was described as a childrens movie and we weren't in the mood for that.  Today, although lovely out in the direct sunlight, it was still getting chilly as the sun went down.  We went to the Lighthouse cinema in Petone, which has a little ten seater cinema, so the session was packed out.

There is something about a French movie in a heated cinema which puts me to sleep, so I have to admit to snoozing on and off in the middle of the movie.  Basically it is the story of an elderly shoe shine guy in a port town, who comes to the rescue of a young Aftrican boy who has been smuggled illegally into France.  In trying to help him find his mother in London, he has to avoid the local police who are searching for the fugitive.

It was very slow, and quite French, and I couldn't really seeing it appealing to my own niece and nephew, I am sure they would have been very bored and be wondering where the car chases, aliens, vampires are.  2/5

Blue Asylum - Kathy Hepinstall

Blue Asylum - Kathy Hepinstall (2012)

Iris is  the wife of a Virginia plantation owner, who in the middle of the civil war diobeys her husband, is taken to trial and then sent to a lunitic asylum on a sunny island.  Once there she forms friendships with a woman who eats everything, a depressed soldier and the superintendents confused young son.

I know the author has done a stellar job, when I can picture the characters and the scenery in my head, and I could visualise the  poor women in their big hooped dresses wilting away in the heat in their rooms with barred windows.

It is challenging as a reader, to think of a time when as a woman you had no say in what happened in your life.  That you might be married off to someone your family approved of, and that would then make you the property of your husband, and that you may have no say in what goes on around you.  You can't help but feel for Iris, and how trapped she was, and how hopeless she feels being sent away.

A 4/5 - I am so glad that I found this book on my library shelf.

Dirty Secret - Jessie Sholl

Dirty Secret - Jessie Sholl (2010)

In her twenties, the author Jessie begins to come to terms with her mother who is living in a house crammed full of stuff and is a compulsive horder.  She begins to realise how her mothers hording is affecting her own life and relationships and begins to resist the urge to go into her mothers home and help clean.

A lot of the book is devoted to the itches that the family suffer after going to the house.  They all spend months suffering from scabies, which made me itchy too.

It does make you want to clean out the cupboards, which I do need to do.  For a person living alone I have more than enough stuff, and am trying to get rid of clothes I haven't worn, read magazines and old lipsticks.
3/5

I'll Scream Later - Marlee Matlin

I'll Scream Later - Marlee Matlin (2009)

Goodreads has made me have a huge collection in my wanting to read pile, as of last night there were at least 430 books piled up inviting me to read them.  I seldom just go to the library to browse, I do all my choosing sitting on the couch.  Cold and chilly nights are making me head to bed early to read too, which is much more relaxing than trying to choose what rubbish to watch on tv.

Marlee Matlin was a  unknown deaf actress who won an oscar at 21 for Children of a Lesser God.  I enjoyed hearing about her growing up and her career in acting, although I was a bit surpised by her being in such a bad relationship for so long with her co-star William Hurt.

I like that the memoir reveals what a normal person she is, that her head hasn't been turned by Hollywood fancies, that she lives a normal life with a policeman husband and four children.  3/5

An Apple a Day - Emma Woolf

An Apple a Day - Emma Woolf (2012)

Emma Woolf is 32 when she decides to tackle her anorexia head on, and try to start eating again.  With the help of her boyfriend, her goal is to gain enough weight to be able to conceive.

On her journey we get to join her from eating only an apple and low fat yoghurt a day to being brave, and tasting chocolate after a ten year break and eating carbs.

I admire her bravery for allowing others to read about her battles as she does look at all the reasons that may have caused her eating disorders and allowed it to rule her life for so long.  Having seen it in someone I know, I know how hard it is for them to face their demons, to eat enough every day, to eat with friends and family and discuss their issues without retreating.

For myself, I now weigh too much and have my own issues with food as most of us do.  A long time ago, in my teens I spent a crazy year with eating.  I survived on 500 situps , and a diet of an apple,  crackers  and a cup of chicken noodle soup a day.  The weight slipped away, and for a brief time, my size ten miniskirt could be spun around my hips.  I was seduced by being skinny for a moment, and enjoyed seeing bones that had been hidden.

I can see how easy it would have been to stay in that place, with a feeling of control and order.  It's easy to put rules in place, and punish ourselves for straying.  We all have our own issues, those things we won't eat, judging other by what they eat or my own favorite or judging people by what they buy in the supermarket.

So a good read - a 4/5 from me.  Worth picking up if you no someone who is struggling, to give you an insight into their lives.