Happily Ever Esther - Steve Jenkins, Derek Walter and Caprice Cane

I had never heard of Esther the Wonder pig until I found this book staring at me from the library shelves.  Apparently it is the second book, that tells how her two fathers, after realizing that she is indeed getting too big for their suburban house,  decide to move to rural Canada, buy some land and set up a pet sanctuary. 

Part of the story are amusing, and I had to admire their determination to look after so many animals that had been abandoned, and it made me want to pack in my job and do the same.  I did find some of it a bit bitchy and wondered if they should have just stayed quiet on their opinions about some of their helpers.  A quick light read it did make me go and look at Esthers Instagram posts.  3/5

Music Monday - This Must Be The Place - Talking Heads

This always reminds me of teenage years.  Must have been too many Saturday nights with the cassette player blasting loud.

The Lost Vintage - Ann Mah

Kate needs to pass the Master of Wine test and so returns to her families ancestral vineyard in France. Here she runs into old boyfriends, meets new loves and digs into the families hidden past. A lost diary answers some questions about what happened during the second world war.

Look it was ok for me but I was pretty sure I knew how it was going to end right from the start. I also kept wondering how a wine sommelier could keep affording to jet to and from Europe so often. Anyway it is always nice to escape into a French vineyard. 3/5

Meet the Frugalwoods - Elizabeth Willard Thames

This is the story based on a blog, of Elizabeth and her husband Nate who decide to go frugal so that they can live the life they want to.  Hats off to them, I don't know if I could  give up as much as they did to get their goals.  Even in a low paying job living in New York, Elizabeth was able to save money as an intern sharing a grotty flat. 

I do watch a few home reno programs from the US and it seems to me that is possible in many towns and cities to buy an affordable home, and  it is not too hard to see how people can decide to opt out of the rat race moving to somewhere rural.  I am not sure if the country dream is for me, but I do enjoy reading others who do make the transition.  3/5

Music Monday - I Say A Little Prayer - Aretha Frankin

Thank you for the music.

Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker

It is always interesting to read a book about sleep, something we spend almost a third of our lives doing, yet scientists can't actually tell us why we do it, just that it is important.  In fact reading this book scares you with all the problems that can be linked to getting less than 8 hours per night - something I struggle with each night. 

There were lots of interesting bits about various studies looking into different aspects of sleep, how we dream, sleep deprivation, sleep at various stages of life and how not sleeping can even lead to an early death.  I do find this type of non fiction can often send me to sleep too - so that is quite helpful.  3/5

The Last Black Unicorn - Tiffany Haddish

Now I don't know much about Tiffany Haddish except for a few interviews I have seen on television shows with her, and as a comedian she is smart and funny and seems to be able to hold her own.  She seems young to be bringing out her memoirs, but that seems to be the way it is nowdays.  She has a tough upbringing, with a mum who had a bad accident when Tiffany was young, often leaving her in charge of younger siblings, and then having to negotiate her way through foster care and battle it out with LA judges.

The main stories in this book though center around her struggles with a dodgy ex boyfriend and she is pretty blunt and graphic about some of theses goings on.  At times I admired her ability to get herself together but there were moments when she annoyed me, that she couldn't see the obvious ways she allowed herself to get used and sometimes her behavior towards other people was a bit disappointing.  Still she had it pretty tough, going from foster home, to living out of her car to starring in movies and being interviewed on late night television shows.  She is certainly an ambitious woman who has worked hard to earn her chance in the spotlight. 3/5

Dear Mrs. Bird - AJ Pearce

Emmy Lake has dreams of being an important war correspondent, so when she spies an ad in the newspaper for a office junior at a large paper she applies and gets the job.  She finds herself working at a ladies magazine assisting the formidable Mrs Bird in replying to letters about womens problems .  As the Germans are still bombing London she also helps at the fire service, taking calls for the crews to respond to. 

A sweet book that transported me to wartime London which I could easily see being a masterpiece theatre movie.  4/5

USS Indianapolis

Oh holy moly of bad movie cliches and terrible model visual effects this was a bad movie.  It was like the team had watched Pearl Harbor and read the Wikipedia cliff notes about the USS Indianapolis.  Now I remember  reading In Harms Way - Doug Stantons 2001 book about the 1945 sinking of the boat.  Taking the part of the Atomic Bomb to its destination, the boat with 1200 crew aboard were hit by a Japanese torpedo on the return journey with 300 men killed and 900 going into the water.  As it was a top secret mission, no one was expecting them back and it was 5 days before any survivors were rescued.  By then many had succumbed to their injuries, or died due to shark attacks in the water. dehydration and salt water poisoning.  316 crew survived.

The story of the Captain of the boat is a sad tale too.  Look I guess they only had a couple of hours to cover a huge story, but in this case I think they did a true story of real bravery and courage a disservice.   They had a chance to tell a real story that seems almost impossible, and if it were a based on a novel you might have thought it unbelievable.  The saving grace was to hear the real stories of the sailors at the end of the movie.  Don't switch off as the credits roll - it is only a short few minutes but has real footage of their rescue.  3/5

Goodbye Christopher Robin

As I have been stuck at home with a dreaded viral infection of the horrible kind, I have alas not been able to view any further film festival movies.  I today was able to manage to actually sit up for a few hours in the living room, and watch the movie Goodbye Christopher Robin, which I had been meaning to see for some time.

In this biographical movie, we get to see the relationship between Christopher Robin, and his parents, Alan Milne a playwright suffering after serving in World War 1, and his beautiful but distant mother.  We see that his main source of comfort is the nanny who cares for him for most of his youth, although I wonder how true this representation was - in my mind a father writing such a book as Winnie the Pooh and When We Were Young must have had a deep deep love and understanding of play than the cold and aloof father portrayed in the movie. 

Still the young actor playing Christopher Robin was riveting to watch, and the beautiful forest and home were lovely (which I hope were English).  I can imagine in making this movie that balance between drama and magic was a difficult balance - I was just hoping for a few more reflective moments, some more visuals to stick with me.  I did love one of the final photos - of Christopher Robins real toys - the real Pooh, Eyeore, Tigger, Piglet and Roo that now live in the New York Public Library.  3/5

The Banker's Wife - Cristina Alger

This one reminded me of reading a John Grisham thriller from years back, except the clever main characters who figure it all out are a couple of women, and instead of courtroom drama we are dealing with banking which sounds boring, but it was a good well paced thriller.  Don't be too put off with the thought of a boring banking novel, I was expecting to be bored, but found a bit of the background quite interesting.  4/5

Bono - Helen Brown

With a bad bout of flu confining me to bed, this was the perfect read when my cough was keeping me and my own cat awake all night (she fled to sleep on the couch to escape my annoying her).  Helen Brown is the author of Cleo, her book about another little cat that came into her life and helped her through the grief of losing her young son, and through many changes in her life. 

In this book, she decides to make a bit of a new change decades on, by escaping life in Melbourne and spending a month in New York. Her editor suggests while she is there that she foster a shelter cat and then write about that experience.  Joined initially by her daughter, they take on the worldwind that is Bono, a highly strung black cat that spends most of his time under the bed at the studio flat they have rented.

What is unexpected for Helen, and maybe for the reader is the deep connection that she finds with this little cat, and anyone that enjoys time with their own cats and dogs should enjoy this light read. 5/5

The Neuroscientist Who Lost her Mind - Barbara K. Lipska

Neuroscientist Barbara Lispska has spent her career focusing on other peoples brains, yet when her own begins to fail her, she is quick to decide it is a brain tumor causing the problems. I was surprised though at some of her decisions like continuing to drive and work, putting others at risk with some of her decision making. After a resection and biopsy she is diagnosed with malignant melanoma and she undergoes some pretty intense treatment and therapies. The recurring tumors affect her cognitive decision making, and it is pretty scary that she was getting lost, unable to remember where she parked the car, the way home or in some instances how to drive. I know here that with such a diagnosis, neurosurgeons would recommend not driving at all until treatment is undertaken and clearance is given at a later date.

Her family seem reluctant to discuss the issues with her, and although concerned at her behavior changes they continue on as normal. Still it is interesting to read about her version of what is happening to her at the time and you have to admire her determination to continue keeping fit and doing a triathlon in the midst of her recovery. 4/5

There Are No Grown-Ups - Pamela Druckerman

There were some moments in this book that did make me laugh out loud, as Pamela Druckerman explores what it means to be in your forties, and how it maybe finally makes you a grownup.  Living in France, she finds that she is now getting ignored by men and waiters address her as Madame. 

I know it is mainly tongue in cheek, and after a brush with serious illness she is able to address being older without being too whiny.  I did find that I wanted to find out what she thought about turning 50, but I will have to wait 10 years for that book, and that by then I will be older and won't care. 4/5

McQueen

Even with a bad cold breaking, I dosed up on cold meds to head into town to meet a bestie to see this documentary, which was sold out.   Every year there is usually a fashion themed documentary to watch, and they are always fascinating, even the ones where I don't know much about the designer.  I knew a little about Alexander McQueen, and the movie helped to put his story in a logical order for me.  His talent and skill were just outstanding, such a creative eye although I do wonder about the wear ability of his outfits - I guess they were never designed with mere mortals in mind.

The whole movie though was an interesting look at both his public and private lives, with interviews from most of his inner circle including his sister and nephew, ex partners and work colleagues.  The pressure to put on 14 shows a year must have been intense and it is hard to watch as it all begins to unravel.  5/5

Dead If You Don't - Peter James

Peter James is pretty consistent in this latest Roy Grace story.  Mungo Brown is meant to be attending the local football match with his father at the new stadium, but is abducted outside and now his father is getting demands for cash he doesn't have or he is told his son will be killed.  Look it was pretty standard fare this novel, I wasn't shocked by any of it or surprised by where the story went to or how it ended.  I did think there was not enough Roy Grace in the story for my liking, as I like his character and humor.  3/5

Beirut

This seemed to be a bit more of a big budget movie than I have been seeing at the Film Festival, but who can resist seeing Jon Hamm?  In this movie he starts off as a diplomat  in Beirut in 1972, where he has been a rising star for the US government in the Middle East.  After an incident at an evening soiree, he leaves to return to the US working at negotiating in labor relations and drinking far too much. 

10 years later he finds himself back in Beirut, and has to try and figure out who the good guys are and who is going to help him get his friend out of trouble.  Rosamund Pike does a good job of playing a straight laced super spy - one who can leave all of her shirt buttons done up and wear sensible shoes.  4/5

In the Aisles

In the Aisles is a German film with English subtitles that was a bit of a random pick to go to.  It is the story of Christian who starts a new job training to work in the supermarket in the drinks aisles supervised by the serious Bruno.  It is a quiet movie, showing the repetition of the job, of showing up each day and restocking the shelves, taking breaks and clocking out.  I was impressed that as they clocked out each day, their boss stood there and shook the workers hands and thanked them for their work - wow wouldn't that be nice if all bosses did that?

It is a story that most of us understand - the ebb and flow of working, learning to get along with colleagues and the frustration of trying to learn new techniques and master new skills.  3/5

Wildlife

This movie started off another cool winters day here in the city.  Wildlife is based on a Richard Ford novel of the same name, not an author I have read, but I have seen other movie adaptions of his work.  Set in 1950s Montana, Joe and his parents have recently moved to a small town, surrounded by hills affected by out of control wildfires.  His father is fired from his job as a golf pro, and things begin to change in the family.   Not so shocking to our modern sensibilities but maybe at the time it would have all been quite the shock.

It was a quiet movie, and you felt for Joe who I think did a great job in his role.  Although I am a big fan of Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal I sometimes felt like I could see them acting - and the fights felt like something was lacking.  3/5

And Breathe Normally

So day 3 of the Film Festival and  this one was playing in one of the smaller cinemas which was quite nice.  Set in Iceland it was another touch of social realism,  with this story.  We get to meet Lara, a single mother who is struggling to pay the bills and rent, and raise her small son.  She gets a job training to be a customs agent, and it is here that she encounters Adja who is trying to get to Canada, but is stopped at the border. 

I did like that this story was an original slant on the single mother story, and even though it was a bit grim and bleak, it was still touching and sweet without being predictable.  4/5

Bombshell

Bombshell is the story of the life of the 1940s actress Hedy Lamarr.  From starting off acting as a teenager in Austria, she was able to leave prior to the war to come to Hollywood after coming to the attention of Louis B. Mayer.  She certainly was stunningly beautiful in her prime, courting many famous men and acquiring a few husbands along the way.

The documentary was more than talking about her beauty.  As well as hearing from her children and grand children, we get to hear her own voice as a reporter has found some long lost tapes that her recorded with her decades earlier.  It seemed as well as acting, out of hours she had an interest in science and inventing, with Howard Hughes financing her own lab.  One of her inventions which she held the patent on was for a frequency hopping technology to aid submarines guide torpedoes to their target.  This was submitted to the US navy during the second world war, but not developed until later, and she was not given credit for her input until many decades later.  This technology is also credited for being used to help with the development of the internet, bluetooth and wifi. 

So such an interesting documentary about someone whose name may soon be forgotten and hopefully this will help to introduce her to a new generation of audience.  4/5