Unbearable Lightness - Portia De Rossi

Unbearable Lightness - Portia De Rossi (2010)

I have only just been able to get the channel on my tv that broadcasts the Ellen show, so I have only seen about 8 episodes this year. Recently she interviewed her wife Portia, about the book she wrote, and has been hawking it ever since. I steered clear of any reviews, and reserved it, and only waited a week for it to arrive.

Portia started modeling in Melbourne, at age 12 and since then has constantly worried about her figure, always controlling her food intake and becoming obsessive about it. It all reached a head when she got her part on Ally McBeal and her weight dropped to 85 pounds. Forced to deal with both her anorexia and her sexuality makes it any interesting read. I was pleasantly surprised that it was as open as it was, and that she writes very well.

I timed the read at only about 2 and a half hours to read the book, but came away thinking that she did a good job. She was pretty blunt about her anorexic behaviour, and how close it almost came to destroying her and her career. Worthy of a 4/5.

Eating Pomegranates - Sarah Gabriel

Eating Pomegranates - Sarah Gabriel (2010)

Sarah Gabriel discovers that she carries the BRCA gene, one which increases the chances of ovarian and or breast cancer in female family members. After losing her own mother in her early forties, she first gets her ovaries removed but finds that she has tumours alrady growing in her breasts. As a young mother to two little girls, it is a pretty raw account of her journey, and as a female it is apretty compelling read. Especially when she asks her father for more information about her own mother, who was a mother of five, when she died aged 42.

I think this one is worthy of a 4/5, and although not the cheeriest of books, I did enjoy it.

Recipe for Life - Nicky Pellegrino

Recipe for Life - Nicky Pellegrino (2010)

You know the scenario, disturbed English girl goes to Italy to see if she has a passion for cooking - many a story done the same way, but this one had a few interesting twists. I like the story from the Italian elderly neighbours perspective, and I liked that it wasn't all eat, pray, lovish and about discovering yourself too much. Maybe it's because we all dream of running away to Italy, I'm going to give it a 3/5.

Return to Cranford - DVD

Return to Cranford - DVD (2009)

Oh my middle aged gosh, this is pure middle class white woman heaven. Just a delight to watch, with the nosy group of friends who gossip about all that happens in Cranford. You just want Judi Dench to be your friend, and to go shoppng for silks and bonnets.

So, back to the packing, I was watching it while bubble wrapping pictures and doing stuff in the living room - honest!!

4/5 - hard to fault, unless you are a fella.

Because of You - Rebekah Gibbs

Because of You - Rebekah Gibbs (2009)

Being a middle aged woman, who has escaped any scary health things (thankfully), I sometimes delve into the world of health story auto biographies. In this one, 35 year old ex-casualty actress Rebekah is 7 months pregnant when she discovers a lump on her breast. It turns out to be a nasty agressive one, so as well as dealing with a new baby, she has to go through surgery and chemo at the same time.

A bit of a quick easy read, I think I managed this one in about 2.5 hours or so, thus earning it a 3/5. It was an interesting patient perspective without turning preachy. You know the books? The ones that say the author changed their diet to only eating carrots and yams and drinking cat urine, and now the cancer is gone forever!! They annoy me - oh yes they do. I guess people have to find their own path when dealing with cancer, but I think you still have to do things that make you happy, when you can while you can, and if it means a bit of cake and a drink of whatever you fancy, then I say go ahead.

All Pets Go To Heaven - Sylvia Browne

All Pets go to Heaven - Sylvia Browne (2009)

I've always thought that when thing are over, I'll be surrounded by all the pets we have ever had. It is funny, if I talk to my dad he doesn't remeber all the cats we have had, when I had thought they were important members of the family. I guess though we had a few birds, and I don't remember their names.

2/5 - I found this one a bit dry and repetative, but it was a quick and easy read.

Under this Unbroken Sky - Shandi Mitchell

Under this Unbroken Sky - Shandi Mitchell (2009)

Brutal is a word to describe this story of a poor immigrant farmer, who is struggling with his family to make a living in the late 1930s in the praries of northern Canada. After getting out of prison, Tredor Mykolayenko returns to his wife and five children and tries to make their lives better. Disputes occur over the ownership of the land, which has been in his sisters name and resentments between Tredor and his brother in-law loom large.

4/5 - it is quality writing and a compelling story, but somehow it made me a bit depressed, with the grim dark farm, I looked forward to steping out into our summer sunshine.