God's Hotel - Victoria Sweet

Over the past few years, Dr Victoria Street has spent the majority of her career working at the Laguna Honda Hotel - a charity hospital in San Francisco.  It is a long term facility caring for the patients who are unable to be looked after in the community dealing with aids, stroke, alchoholics,  dementia and hospice care patients many of whom are discharged from local hospitals. 

It is the patients stories that shine and help to push the story foreward.  There is lots of pressure from administrators and accountants for the hospital to reduce admissions, discharge patients and cut staff costs.  Like all health care there are a lot of implications with cuts, and I think the author does a good job of talking about the consequences of putting these types of patients back home.  How that then they bounce back to the hospital more often increasing their medical costs, and how there is little community support to help these patients when they have needs 24/7. 

This is the type of book that I could have carried on reading  and just wanted more and more of her stories.  4/5

King Arthur - Legend o the Sword

Oh crazy hot mess of a movie - how do I write about you?  Whoever dreamed up this one must have been partaking of some special kinds of magic mushrooms while they watched too many Peter Jackson movies.  The problems of most movies of this ilk seem to be that they swing from one large action scene to the next and the story is made to fit in the quiet bits.

 I get that this is King Arthur for a new generation, but for me it failed as the legend and that sword did not seem to be the focus.  Instead we are shown scenes of gigantic fighting bats, and elephants  the size of mountains.  It felt messy as it swung back in forth in time instead of a straight narrative, it just felt disjointed and confused. 

I did like  a few things, the scenery was just beautiful full of lakes and green forests, and ancient Londinium in early scenes looked pretty epic and  King Eric Bana - yes please.  2/5

Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children

It has been a hot day in the city, and due to certain budget restraints a day at home was in order rather than a spendy day.  So chores were done and dinner cooked and then as the neighbors were noisily entertaining I thought it was a good opportunity to watch another movie.

This one is based on a book from a couple of years ago that I read, and I must say felt a bit meh about, so I didn't have high hopes.  Tim Burton films are a bit that way for me too.  Although often visually pleasing with high contrast bright images with great attention to detail I often find them long and a bit tedious. 

And that was the impression I was left with after watching the movie.  Like the book I came away not sure that I actually understood the plot, even after reading the Wikipedia description.  I am not sure that I am the target audience or have the necessary sense of whimsy that the movie was directed at.  Still it was a 99c special so I should not complain.  3/5

Embrace

Embrace is a 2016 documentary made by Australian photographer Taryn Brumfitt who talks about her experience with learning to love her body.  After 3 children and dissatisfied with her body shape she considered having plastic surgery, but instead did intensive training to enter a body building competition.  Upon competing though she knew she was hungry and unhappy and shocked that other contestants, instead of feeling positive and empowered where all focused on all the areas that they didn't believe to be perfect.  So she posted a body building photo with a recent photo on Facebook to encourage her friends, and this goes viral, on tv shows and in magazines worldwide.

This movie talks about how women are influenced by  all the images shown to them about what a perfect woman is, how she has to be tall and slim and athletic instead of celebrating all the diversity of shapes and sizes and celebrating the bodies we are in.  Probably for me the saddest part was when she asks women on the street to describe their bodies and they all reply with negative labels to describe themselves. It was also interesting when she speaks to the editor of Australian Cosmopolitan magazine who says when they first wanted to put a plus size lingerie layout in the magazine,  make up artists, designers and the photographer did not want their names mentioned in the article. 

I enjoyed it - Taryn is a lovely Aussie lady and her charm makes it very watchable. 4/5.

Slow Medicine - Victoria Sweet

Victoria Sweet is a doctor who after decades in medicine has written about her reflections on the sort of medicine she has practiced over the years. With more knowledge, more diagnostic tests available and more medications to prescribe, clinicians are often limited to spending 15 minutes to sort out their patients ails. Instead Dr Sweet looks at the time when slow medicine is able to assist patients, to help them heal and get better.

As well as sharing her own story, she starts the story by talking about her father and the treatment he received as a result of 'fast medicine'. The book then is full of her own experiences with many of the patients she has looked after over the years. I could have carried on reading her stories - so I have now got out her first book to read (it is not necessary to read it first).

It is such an important topic for those in the health field. As managers put more pressure on - constantly pressuring us to do more and more with less and less - I think that the effect on the patients is left behind when it should be more of a priority. 4/5

Music Monday - Dreams - The Cranberries (cover by Macy Garrett)

I loved the cranberries.  I may have slightly annoyed a group of friends in December 1994 by repeatedly playing their songs over and over on a car journey from London to Scotland to celebrate New Years.  I was lucky enough to see them play live at an Irish festival in a London park in the same year.   It was a beautiful summer evening in the park with cold cider and the haunting singing of Dolores O'Riordhan.  It did make me sad to hear of her death this week.  Another talented girl gone.

Anyway I found this sweet cover on youtube.  Enjoy!

The Last Girl - Nadia Murad

This is a book everyone should read.  Nadia Murad tells her story of growing up in a poor Yazidi family in rural Nothern Iraq, where she lives with her family.  The arrival of the Islamic State with fighters seeking to wipe out the Yazidi community.  Men and women are murdered and the young women and girls are taken to be used as sexual slaves, to be bought and sold for as little as $20.

This is shocking stuff - so sad and hard to believe that this has happened within the past few years, that this is the reality for many girls and women.  Nadia was able to indure unimaginable abuse and was able to finally escape to return to her family.  To then stand up and tell her story is another remarkable feat - a modern hero. 5/5

The Shape of Water

It is a hot summers day here in the city, and sometimes you have to go inside to escape the afternoon heat.  We went and saw The Shape of Water, which I have been waiting for ever since seeing the trailer months ago.  Gosh I loved it. 

I don't want to give the story away but it is set in 1962, but feels modern in its telling of essentially a love story, a tale of the beauty and the beast.  It also though talks strongly about friendship and manages to bring in conversation about sexism and racism, about being unseen and how the monster maybe not the person you think it is.

Every little touch seemed perfect - the cars, the costumes, the music, and even the wallpaper.  The scenery looked like it had been there for 70 years and time had just passed it by and I want to live in their apartment - just with maybe better soundproofing.

A movie I know I will enjoy again and again.  5/5

In Shock - Dr Rana Awdish

Rana Awdish was a busy ICU doctor - working hard even when heavily pregnant trying to tough it out.  Then she suffers a crippling pain - sending her to hospital where she  worked to be treated by medical staff she knows.  We share her journey - which she was lucky to survive after being terribly unwell and it is presented as her experience as a patient that is humbling and one that every doctor and medical professional should read.

As she recovers - she then is able to talk to the staff who looked after her about how they made her feel and uses it as an opportunity to educate the clinicians. This book is a lesson to us all about remembering that the things we do in hospital may be routine to us, but to a patient they are scared and vulnerable.   5/5

Crater's Edge - Michal Gierdroyc

In the second world war, Michal Giedroyc and his families fortunes were to change as the Russians took over their Polish village.  As a wealthy landowner,senator and jud his father was taken away by the Russian Secret Service, and his mother and 10 year old Michal and his sisters were put into a train and sent to Siberia for forced labor and starvation rations.

Eventually they went onto Persia, Beirut and ending up in the UK.  It is hard to imagine 10 year olds surviving such conditions and hardships and being able to start a new life from nothing. 3/5

Music Monday - Fireworks - First Aid Kit

There is something about these girls singing that puts me back to the 70s growing up.

Wiener-Dog

11.30pm seemed too early to go to bed on a hot night, so last night I put this movie on.  It is the story of Wiener-Dog (or sausage dogs as we usually call them in NZ).  From his birth this story is told in four separate stories with four different lots of owners. 

In the first he is given to a young boy as a present, then after an accident is taken to a vet to be put down where in his second story he is rescued by the vet nurse.  In the third story he is living with a depressed New York screenwriting Professor.  Lastly he ends up with an elderly woman who is being visited by her grand daughter.

I don't know what about this movie slightly annoyed me.  Whether it was the naturalistic style or  trying too hard to be too hipster vibe but somehow the movie seemed quite depressing and sad with no real moments of joy.

  I am glad it was a cheap special rather than having had paid for a cinema seat.  2/5

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Captain Fantastic

This was a little gem of a movie.  It could have gone either way, either it was going to be watchable or it was going to be too over the top weird that it wouldn't work, but I found it kind of sweet.  Viggo Mortensen plays Ben  a father raising his six kids in the forests of North West America.  Killing wild animals for meet, and being educated by his series of anti establishment books he raises the kids to mistrust the majority of capitalist America.  Then they find out that their mother has died and the family must venture out of their forest home to attend her funeral.

I like the way this movie was handled - not trying too hard to be too oddball and zany, I liked that it was a family that seemed to love and understand each other.  The funeral scene at the end may be the oddest that I have seen for some time. 4/5

The Sky Below - Scott Parazynski

This is one of those memoirs that leaves you wondering what you have achieved with your own life as it is a chapter after chapter of personal successes.  Scott Parazynski writes about various times in his life and career with NASA. From  growing up in various hotspots around the world, to being a young doctor spending his weekends climbing rocks and mountains the author seems to excel in most things he attempts.  He  attended a winter Olympics supporting a Philippine sportsman who he had trained with while trying to get his own spot.  It was however his childhood dream to become an Astronaut that he thinks about most, and he was able to achieve this, flying on several space shuttle missions and doing a spacewalk while making a repair to a solar shield.

Returning to earth he then had a personal mission to climb Mount Everest, which  I get is quite the achievement, but couldn't help but think it must have taken a lot of time away from his family.  He doesn't talk a lot about his personal life, except when his first marriage crumbled .  Luckily he was able to meet his second wife and travel in a new role to Antarctica with her. 4/5

The Anatomy of a Calling - Lissa Rankin

This was a bit of a mixed read for me.  Lissa Rankin was an obstetrics doctor who was finding herself at work running from one crisis to another while working, with care of the patient getting left behind in the rush to  put out fires.  Burnt out and over it, Lissa left to search out her own way of practicing healing.

I enjoyed the telling of her story - how it was not only about her needs to be able to work in a safe and supported environment, but to provide a better experience for patients, and to be able to teach other medical professionals about how they can achieve better results for them and their patients using holistic and healing techniques.

There were moments though that the book got a little preachy about telling the reader what they should do and I kept thinking that it verged into a bit too much witchy woo hoo for me. 3/5.

Music Monday - Time Will Tell - Gregory Alan Isakov

I found this sweet song on youtube and I have been listening to it on the way to work in the mornings.  I would like to find some more music to listen to this year as I haven't listened to a lot last year. 

This is Just my Face - Gabourey Sidibe

This girl sure can write.  Gabourey Sidibe is a young actress who with no experience shone in the movie Precious released in 2009 and has graced our screens in various tv shows since such as the Big C and Empire.  In this book she takes us through her tough childhood - growing up with an immigrant taxi driving polygamous father and a mother who made money singing in the subway, to being able to support herself, while still helping out her mother and brother.

I was surprised by this book.  I am a bit skeptical of someone writing their memoir in their 30s but it seems to be the done thing now, and so many celebrities just drop names and write a whole lot of waffle.  Instead Gabourey writes about her own experiences and challenges and still manages to stay honest and funny even when writing about race, dating, sexism and weight issues.  She also talks about poverty, being a celebrity and eating disorders and weight loss far more honestly than other actress/authors.    This is a woman who has heard a lot of comments from others about what she should be, and manages to keep her head up and show people that she can be herself and still be important and special, even when they seek to try to bring her down.

I went into this book knowing nothing about her other than seeing her on screen, and came away with a big dose of admiration and thinking that she sure is awesome. 4/5

Koh-I-Noor - William Dalrymple - Anita Anand

A fascinating history about one of the worlds most infamous diamonds - the Koh-I-Noor.  Tracing back the authors write about all of its fascinating owners and it is amazing to hear about how it got passed along over the years. 

I didn't realize that it had such a sordid history and was most fascinated with the second part of its book, as the diamond was taken from India and given to Queen Victoria.  It seemed to all happen in an underhand way and the diamond seemed to be tainted with a little bit of a curse.  3/5

The History of Bees - Maja Lunde

This story tells three slightly connected stories.  One in the 1800s we meet the inventor of modern beehives, desperately trying to keep his son on the straight and narrow.  In modern times another father is trying to keep his beehive business afloat while trying to influence his son into following into his footsteps.  Then we get a glance into a futuristic China - where pollination is done by people in a ruined economy.

I just felt all a bit disconnected from all the characters.  I kept waiting for the twist, that bit of magic that holds a book together, but for me it just seemed to plod on and I have walked away not really understanding what I should have taken away from this novel. 2/5

Happy New Year 2018 - To Walk Invisible

New Years Eve is a quiet one at my place.  Much of the neighborhood has retreated to summer holiday homes, or family in distant places and it is nice to have the doors and windows open with little noise about.  With some treats to eat and drink I watched a couple of shows and thought I would watch this movie - To Walk Invisible - a movie about the Bronte sisters.

It is very much a masterpiece theater movie and I loved the production side of it.  The Yorkshire Moors and small village, the stagecoach and the naturalistic hairstyles, makeup and costumes.  It is hard to imagine the lives of these sisters who are left to care for their aging father and their alcoholic/drug addicted brother - a story which in itself translates quite well into modern times.  How hard it must have been when you are at the mercy of the men in your life, when you cannot choose how you wanted to live.  Where your talent cannot be shared, how the three sisters had to get published in secret under male names, with only Charlotte having some fame later in her life and marrying only to die pregnant at age 38. 

The tragedy too is that all sisters died young, all under 40 - and how they were not to know how their stories are still read and  are treasured 200 years later.  I wonder what modern books will be being read in another 2 centuries?  Much of the film is pretty grim, I get that life was hard work at the time, although part of me wonders if it was quite as simple as is portrayed on screen.  The books are full of lots of characters and conversation and I think that there must have been more friends and visitors than are shown.    4/5