Nine Perfect Strangers - Liane Moriarty

9 people gather at a rural Australian retreat to refresh their lives.  Cellphones are turned off and all are hoping in some way to have their lives changed after 10 days of yoga and salads.  Some are here to save their marriages, some to lose weight, others to help grieve, a variety of reasons to escape and regroup.

I did enjoy the first half of the book, but felt the last half was a bit of a letdown.  It felt like the author had a great idea but was unsure of how the story would finish and it all felt a bit overworked to me and turned a bit into silliness, which was a shame.  Not my favorite by Liane Moriarty.   2/5

Music Monday - Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

I work with lots of young people in their early 20s.  It was surprising to find out that many of them didn't know this song, but I guess it is old, and they don't listen to music like many of us older folk did.  Hours of listening to the radio, listening to albums over and over and all the hits played at every party I went to gave me a pretty varied musical education.  I guess for young people now there are lots of different mediums fighting for time to entertain them, and it is a very generational thing.

The Dressmaker

Mmm - this middle aged lady viewer is a bit confused by this one.  Tilly (played by Kate Winslet) returns to the small country town where she grew up in as a young girl called Myrtle, as an adult with her sewing machine in hand.  When she was young, a bully who was taunting her ends dead and she is labeled as a murder and sent away.  Now she is back to find out the truth.

With a group of quirky locals she uses her skills as a dressmaker to make over the local ladies and add a bit of swish to the beige town. 

Kate Winslet is of course gorgeous and I always like her movies, and you can't be sad when you are seeing Liam Hemsworth with his shirt off.  I just found it hard to think of them as the playing the same age in the story.  What could have been a goodish drama just felt a bit over acted and over stylized to me. 2/5

Music Monday - Gloria - Laura Branigan

I was thinking of this song after hearing it on the I, Tonya soundtrack at the weekend.  I wouldn't have heard of it in years, but still knew all the words.  It was released in 1982 and still brings people to the dancefloor - at least us oldies!!

Book Art - Elizabeth Sagan

I found these beautiful pictures on Elizabeth Sagan Instagram.  She uses her book collection to make wonderful shots. 

I'Tonya

I'Tonya is a biographical movie following figure skater Tonya Harding.  From a brutal childhood with an overbearing abusive mother to a marriage as a teenager with an abusive husband, you can't help but admire the portrayal of Tonya by Margot Robbie.  Against all the odds stacked against her, she still managed to rise in the ranks of US figure skaters to be able to skate at the Olympics and was the only US woman to perform two triple axel  jumps in competition.

Of course the main reason she will be remembered, will be for her involvement with the injuring of her competitor Nancy Kerrigan.  I thought they did a great job of keeping the tension throughout the movie, and it rocked along with possibly the best soundtrack I have heard in years.  It actually had real songs that filled the radios throughout the time period, and I was singing along to Gloria and The Chain in my living room.  4/5

I'll Be Gone In the Dark - Michelle McNamara

I guess if you turned this true crime book into a novel, you might walk away from it thinking it unbelievable at the scale of one mans crimes.  I had to give it 5 stars, as I have thought about it often since reading it, although I must say it is a pretty brutal and intense read.  For over 10 years in California there was a series of burglaries, rapes and then murders that terrorized many neighborhoods.  Still unsolved and unlinked until years later, modern forensic evidence and with the ability of teams of people looking over case notes, professionals and amateur sleuths were beginning to recognize the patterns and mo of the attacker.

The author Michelle McNamara ran her own true crime blog and the search for this Golden State Killer became one of her pet projects.  Speaking to many of the investigators and detectives involved in the case as well as victims, she pieces timelines and stories together, searching for clues and evidence using the internet.  Sadly she passed away,  before somebody was arrested for the crimes in 2018 which makes the story all the more intriguing.  5/5

This Is Me - Chrissy Metz

I did actually finish reading this book last week, and at the time I enjoyed reading about Chrissy Metz, the actor who plays daughter Kate Pearson on the hit show This Is Us.  I like the show, and I enjoyed reading her book, although a week later I am struggling to remember a lot about it - although that could be down to my middle aged lady memory.

Most of the book focused on her pretty difficult childhood.  A stepfather that was unsupportive and a mother struggling to bring up her children.  A career where she spent most of her time fighting for jobs for others as an agent, when she was rejected time and time again but still believing in her dream to succeed. 

I was left with the impression of what a nice woman she is, how far she has come and still remains humble.  How by being out and about in her latex dresses and red carpet looks, other girls get to see someone who might look like them.  How being on a hit show - she is not just the joke fat girl - she gets to have real feelings and relationships.  4/5

Music Monday - Everybody - Choir! Choir! Choir!

I'm not a major fan of the Backstreet Boys - I think I was too old when they came out to enjoy a boy band, or it could have just been during a rocker phase.  Still I can see the joy in this song when sung by Choir! Choir! Choir!

Everything I Know About Love - Dolly Aderton

I guess I have to start by saying that I am 20 years older than the target audience for this memoir by Dlly Alderton, a Dating columnist for a UK paper - a modern day career.  Her stories of dating, casual sex and drug taking are peppered by amusing stories although somehow I came away thinking that the author was just a bit spoilt and it she could do with helping out some folks with real problems. 2/5