There Are No Goodbyes - Elizabeth Robinson

Elizabeth Robinson is a counselor and coach who has the ability to see into the spiritual realm and uses this in her work to help clients to understand their illness and problems and help them to heal.  As well as talking about people she has worked with and counselled, she tells us about her life, how when she was younger she was emotionally sensitive - picking up on things, and seeing things that others different. 

An interesting and intriguing read about her spiritual journey and understanding.  I felt lighter after reading this book. 4/5

In Every Moment We Are Still Alive - Tom Malmquist

This is a novel that reads like a memoir.  Toms life changes as his pregnant partner is taken to the hospital severely ill with what is first diagnosed with the flu.  As her condition deteriorates Tom is forced into a new world of Intensive Care and having to make decisions on behalf of his girlfriend.

The first half of the novel was incredibly tense and fast paced, and I felt myself drawn to the story, but I got a little lost in the middle section.  While I sympathized with the situation Tom was in, I found him a bit grating, and felt he was quite annoying.  3/5

When the English Fall - David Williams

Jacob and his family are Amish, and living on on their farm preparing for the winter ahead.  Their young daughter has been having visions and can see that things are about to change.  Soon planes fall from the skies, and there are rumors that in the outside world things are beginning to fail, with cars, engines, money machines and anything mechanical not working.

Things begin to impact on the family, as people realize that the Amish community has food stored and  pressure mounts on Jacob and his family to relinquish some of their supplies.

It made me feel a bit tense at the beginning of the novel, and maybe I expected it to head in a different direction than it did.  4/5

The Madwoman Upstairs - Catherine Lowell

Sadly, I seemed to only end up being annoyed at this novel.  I kept waiting for the magic to arrive, but instead I took a dislike to the main character, Samantha Whipple the last surviving member of the Bronte family.  Off to college at Oxford, she finds herself trapped in a dark and damp tower and having to defend all that she knows about literature to her handsome older tutor.

I was waiting for some Bronte secret to be unearthed or for the snarky Samantha to turn into a nicer character, instead I was annoyed with her from the beginning to the end.  She seemed a bit frozen into a immature  girl by her overbearing but dead father, home schooled by mainly reading Bronte novels which she seemed to hate

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman

Eleanor is a bit of an odd fish, not only lonely she seems to not understand people.  She lives alone and goes to her office job where she doesn't quite fit in, and on Fridays collects her supermarket pizza and 2 bottles of vodka and heads home for a weekend alone.  The only outside contact is a weekly phone call to her mother.

All this changes when she has contact with IT worker Raymond and they help an elderly man, Eleanors empty world begins to expand and with it changes that she does not expect.

I enjoyed this story, and understood the sadness, loneliness and isolation that Eleanor lives, and liked how she slowly was able to venture out, and how that brings her some type of happiness.  I am sure that this one will be made into a movie, and I hope they don't ruin it a la Bridget Jones style.  4/5

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Cafe Society

After an afternoon out with a bestie yesterday, I have no shame in being home by 7pm before it has got dark and cold.  A light supper and then time to relax with a movie before heading to bed suits me.  Cafe Society was a 99c special on Apple Itunes, and as I hadn't seen it at the cinema during its long run, I was glad to see it.

Set in the early 1930s in Hollywood,Bobby  a young New Yorker comes to seek out his successful uncle who has made a career as a talent agent.  His uncle sends him out with his assistant Ronnie, who he falls in love with, but she has a boyfriend.  So begins the love triangle that is the heart of the story.

While visually nice to look at it still felt like a series of overdone sets, and expensive designer outfits that seemed out of place.  For me there was something missing in this Woody Allen story, a lack of humor or charm maybe, but I didn't click with the whole thing and was quite bored.  2/5

Maudie

It was a cloudy Saturday in the capital city and the clouds were looming.   A friend and I met to wander just a couple of shops before settling for a couple of calorific treats, well deserved after a long working week.  This had been one of the movies that I had been intending to see at the film festival several months ago, but due to sessions at odd times I had missed it.  We got our favorite icecreams at the counter and had a secret snigger as we were the youngest in the cinema by a few years (we are edging close to 50 ourselves).

I didn't know much going in, except that Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke were in it.  What a special little movie this one is.  It is based on a real life Canadian painter, Maude Lewis and the story about her life and love with her husband.    I won't spoil it with the whole plot - have a nosy at the trailer if you are interested.

We did leave with smiles, even though there was some sadness, and an appreciation for our indoor plumbing, big couches and warm beds.  Also if we win lotto tonight we are going to go and rent a cottage for a month in Nova Scotia - just not in the winter time.  Also maybe I will dream of a husband who can push me round on a little wagon!! 4.5/5

Size Zero - Victoire Dauxerre

Discovered in the streets at just 17, Victoire seems to be living the dream as an Elite model.  She is quite blunt though about the perils of the industry, living on just 3 apples a day most days and fast entering into anorexic type behavior you could not help but feel that the industry takes advantage of these young girls.  I certainly wouldn't recommend it to any girls I know.  3/5

The Family Gene - Joselin Linder

Joselin Linder writes a book that is one half memoir and another medical mystery.   She describes watching her physician father become more and more unwell, while doctors struggle to figure out what is wrong with him.  It is not until other family members succumb to the same symptoms and problems, that the family and doctors begin to realize that this disease that only affects their family has a genetic cause.

With advances in genetic testing many of the family bring themselves forward to be tested, and after Joselin and her sister both test positive, it them forces them into making many ethical choices about whether to have children or not and what treatments to undergo, when there is no proven treatment plan.

Fascinating stuff - it makes you wonder what you would do in a similar circumstance and you have to admire her bravery for writing this book. 5/5

I Am, I Am, I Am - Maggie O'Farrell

Fiction author Maggie O'Farrell writes a very different type of memoir.  This one is about her moments over her life, when she has felt the touch of death or violence come close to her.  Illness and incidents as a child, almost drowning as a teenager, to coming into close contact with a killer.  With a few descriptive sentences she is able to capture the essence of being a teenager, the smells and sounds of a group gathered together of a Friday night in a seaside town.

Being an adult she still has some encounters that are scary, her description of a difficult childbirth made me hold my breath as did the final story when she talks about her daughter, fragile and at risk of anaphylaxis to a multitude of allergies.

The book itself did feel a bit disjointed to me, maybe because it was not in chronological order.

The Jane Austen Project - Kathleen A. Flynn

Two time travelers, Liam and Rachel are chosen to go back in time to 1815 to meet Jane Austen and secure an unfinished manuscript and letters before her known death in 1816.  How would you integrate yourself in her life in a society full with many social rules and what if every decision you made may have consequences for the future?

A very interesting premise and I loved the idea - who wouldn't feel a bit giddy at the chance to become involved in the world of Jane Austen and meet the author herself?  I did feel that the sense of wonderment was a bit lacking in the story, how even with all the training the main characters underwent how the sights and smells would have been quite astonishing even for us.  How hard it must have been to not talk or act in a modern way.  4/5

Big Pig, Little Pig - Jacqueline Yallop

Big Pig, Little Pig is the non fiction  story about author Jacqueline Yallop and her husband.  Living in a small rural holding in France, they decide to get two pigs to be raised for meet.  This is the story of their year together,  where they get to know and love the two animals in their care.

I enjoyed reading about the relationship and could see how easy it would be to bond with these intelligent animals.  I would find it hard to think of killing and eating my own animals, and if I think about it too hard, it makes me want to turn vegetarian straight away.  So I understand the author being conflicted about thinking about killing their pigs. 4/5

Passengers

After an evening working, a visit to the supermarket it was time for me to collapse on the couch and not move for an hour or so.  Thanks to Apple TV this was the 99c movie of the week, so Passengers it is.  Thanks to dodgy wifi at home though, I only got to watch 20 minutes worth before giving up and going to bed.

Obviously the neighborhood youth do not arise before 10am, so I was able to get up this morning and watch the last of the movie over breakfast.  So Chris Pratt,  is Jim, an engineer who finds himself awaken aboard his spaceship.  The problem is that he is the only one awake, and they are 30 years from earth, and 90 years from their destination.  What to do?

This is one of those movies that felt like a little more style over substance.  While Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence are hugely watchable, and the special effects were pretty amazing, I just wasn't touched by the story and wished that somehow the plot was a bit more developed.  3/5

The Cause of Death - Dr Cynric Temple-Camp

An entertaining read about a pathologist working in small town New Zealand.  Palmerston North may not be a hot bed of crime, but Dr Temple-Camp is able to keep us amused describing many of the cases that he has been involved with over the past few decades.

I guess these are his dinner party stories, which he probably couldn't tell over dinner as most would upset sensitive diners.  Me - well I like such tales and so I enjoyed it. 4/5

The Choice - Edith Eger

This is quite the amazing memoir.  Edith was 16 years old when the Nazis sent her and her family to Auschwitz.  There through a remarkable set of challenges her and her sister were able to survive when many others perished.

As an adult she has become a renowned psychologist and in this book she describes how many of the things she learned have been able to help her with her own healing.  Remarkable.  5/5

Victoria & Abdul

Today was a day off work, and after the chores were done it was a quick stroll into town to see Victoria & Abdul.  I had been looking forward to seeing this, and now my local cinema has dropped ticket prices to $10 it fits more into my budget.

I guess you know the story, Dame Judi Dench plays the elderly Queen Victoria who becomes enamoured with a young handsome servant Abdul, who had been sent from India to present a coin to the Queen. 

Depressed and lonely, the friendship develops and he helps to teach her about the Indian culture and language.  Family and staff though are suspicious especially as they spend so much time together.

Wonderful performances, sensational interiors, beautiful costumes and lots of actors of all ages without any botox in view all make it my type of favorite watch.  4.5/5