No Friend But The Mountains - Behrouz Boochani

This is a confronting book to read.  Behrouz Boochani is an Iranian journalist and poet who tries to seek a better life by trying to reach Australia.  After weeks in Indonesia, he and other desperate individuals and families try to cross the sea in a leaky boat.  They end up not in Australia, but a small place called Manus Island, where conditions are pretty grim.  It is hard to believe that people are held in these sorts of conditions not far from where we live, but I know that realistically this is a reality for millions of people around the world. 3/5

Pride & Prejudice - Thug Notes Summary

Happy ending for all them white girls.  Actually it is a pretty good explanation of the book.

Grace and Frankie

This weekend I'm all about the binge watching of the latest series of Grace and Frankie on Netflix.  Everyone on the show makes me smile.  The grown ups who are all around the 80 year old mark, and their kids have more crazy adventures together.  82 year old Jane Fonda plays Grace, newly married but having trouble now with moving around.  Frankie (Lily Tomlin),  has invented a new seat to spring you off the toilet.  The boys are dealing with their own issues, and of course the kids are screwed up as usual. 

The Hidden Life of Trees - Peter Wohlleben

I guess I have looked at trees my whole life, and not considered how they live.   This book is such an interesting read, educating us about trees and forests.  I had never considered that trees lived as families, helping each other, feeding each other, and how they interact with other species.   How they breathe, and eat, how they know when to grow and when to slow down, how they hibernate and survive invasion from insects and other animals, how they protect themselves from fire, snow and other natural disasters.

The author is German and so the book is based on Northern Hemisphere forests.  I was unaware of how much native forests had been destroyed and how much we need areas of forest left to thrive without human interference.   That giant trees we thought were hundreds of years old, may in fact be thousands of years old, and how leaves from the trees that are swept out to see in rivers help to feed the oceans.  It made me want to go out and hug a big tree or take a walk in the forest. 4/5

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Three Identical Strangers

This documentary was at the film festival a year or so ago, but now is available to stream on many sights.  It starts by telling the story of three young 19 year olds who find out that not only do they look alike, but that they were triplets separated at a young age, and brought up by different families in a similar area.   Once more into the movie, it takes a more serious turn, as it shows that they may have been given to families and followed as part of a study, with no information given to the families at the time.  4/5

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Mission Impossible Fallout

I know that I sound old when I remember going to the cinema to see the first Mission Impossible movie in 1996 when it was new and original.  This one, the latest in the series follows on in what to me has become a tired and boring formula.  Watch Tom run, watch him jump, hang from a rope, drive a car fast, drive a truck fast, drive a car fast, jump out of a plane, fly a helicopter (that is kind of impressive), and have him look constipated for half of the movie.  I don't know, he just kind of looked a bit tired to me, and I wanted to get someone to bring him a chair so he could sit down.

In the end I ended up browsing the internet half way through and got a bit muddled up with who the good guys were, and who the baddies are.   I wonder if he will keep playing the super spy as he nears retirement, or in a wheelchair.  Those knees and ankles have got to be hurting now.  2/5

Astrophysics For People In A Hurry - Neil DeGrasse Tyson

I guess the whole point of this book was to talk about Astrophysics and try to explain it in short digestible chapters.  I struggled to understand a lot of it, it went way over my head but I did learn some facts.  I think most of us want to understand about the earth and space, how we came to be and where we are going, and this little books helps to explain these concepts.  It also makes me realize how insignificant we are in the universe, how large space is and how small we are hidden away.   And how happy I am if we don't search for life anywhere else in the universe.  4/5

How To Grow Old - John Bishop

I enjoy seeing John Bishop perform as a comedian, as he is less of a joke teller, but keeps us amused with lots of stories about his family and his marriage.  This book is much of the same, but now as he has become a middle aged man, he finds humor in how his body is changing, how not to dress as an old man, and taking city break holidays with his wife.  As they have become empty nesters this also provides a few more tales to tell.

Being in the same age range, I can sympathize with many of the issues he raises - a body that now gets sore just sleeping, and trying to keep the weight off.  I don't want to wear what 20 year olds wear, but I'm not ready for the elastic slacks and slippers yet.   Reading this book, felt like John Bishop was sitting next to me reading it, which made it a quick and easy read. 4/5

1917

It is a windy cool Saturday in our city, and I was surprised when I went to the cinema to find it almost full at 3pm.   1917 is pretty intense, but in a good way.  Written and directed by Sam Mendes, it is a movie that is propelled by telling a story, rather than just being a way to string together several battle scenes and explosions.  Two young soldiers Schofield and Blake are sent on a mission to cross the German lines to deliver a message to prevent two battalions who are preparing to go over the top, falling into a trap. 

We truly are entering a great age in movie making.  It is now possible to recreate the French trenches, have thousands of extras and special effects that make the  movie seem real, rather than the models of old that pulled you out of the story.  It felt like one continuous take, over a couple of days and I was exhausted by the end of it, and somewhat sad to think that all these lads that lived through such days are now long gone.  Definitely worth seeing in the cinema on a large screen.  5/5

Inside Out - Demi Moore

Demi Moore was one of those actresses that seemed to be everywhere in the 90s, showing up in mega movies and having her face plastered all over magazines and celebrity focused shows.  I quite enjoyed this autobiography, where she gets a chance to tell us her story.  She had a chaotic childhood with unstable parents and moving home all the time, and very little stability.  She gives an honest account of her marriages to Bruce Willis and to Ashton Kutcher and I didn't realize that she had dealt with addiction in her life.  She doesn't name drop much in her book and it isn't too long which made it a quick and easy read. 4/5

A Single Thread - Tracy Chevalier

This was a quiet little book about I guess what is a quiet little life.  Violet is considered a spinster in 1937 after losing her young sweetheart in the first World War.  She leaves her overbearing mothers home to make a new life for herself in Winchester.  There, on a  visit to the cathedral she comes across a group of women who making kneelers and cushions for the church.  She makes new friends and begins to find a place for herself.

I enjoyed this little read - Tracy Chevalier has a way of dropping me right into the time period she is writing about, and I often think about women like Violet, who try to make a life away from the family and how hard it must have been for them, and how easy we have it in comparison now. 4/5

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Poms

Its a chilly summer night at this middle aged ladies house and it is time to grab a merino jumper and sit on the couch while the electric blanket warms the bed up.  I feel like the invisible woman of a movie going audience.  Not wanting to watch murder fests/car chases/manboys or super heroes and yet I am not quite ready for the grey parade of movies appealing to the pensioners.

This one which is set in a retirement home follows Martha (Diane Keaton), who refuses her cancer treatment, sells up everything in New York and heads to a retirement community in Georgia to live out her days.  She then forms her own club of cheerleaders to have a little fun.

Looks it is harmless fun and I did smile several times watching it, and I enjoyed watching Diane Keaton.  I sense I would be one of the girls with no rhythm and slow on the up keep. I have serious Diane Keaton hair envy and I like the bossy  independent streak of her character. 

I was annoyed that when you take driving lessons you might want to be wearing a seatbelt (a sure sign of getting older when all you can think of is safety first).

A harmless 4/5

Best of 2019

1.  War Doctor by David Nott.  If anyone asked me all year what book I would recommend to them this would be it.  Dr David Nott is a Consultant General/Vascular surgeon who would volunteer to spend his holidays working in the most war torn regions, helping to operate on the wounded and to help train the local teams to be able to cope with the severe trauma they encountered.  So much of the story though is about the man, and even though it brought me to tears it also made me smile and his story about his meeting with the queen is one of my most favorite parts about this book.  He is a star too on his episode of Desert Island Discs where I first heard about his story.

 2.  Once More We Saw Stars - Jayson Greene.  Out of a great tragedy there comes moments of beauty, about love and forgiveness.  Jaysons and his wife Stacey took his two year old daughter  Greta to stay with Staceys mother for a sleepover.  A terrible accident occurred and all of their lives broke apart.  It is a grief that could have destroyed them all, but in the aftermath there is some hope, and it is a beautiful book dealing with love and grief and honoring their daughter.  Profound and moving, I had a few tears reading this one.

 3.  The World That We Knew - Alice Hoffman.  Recommending fiction is such a tricky thing, as we all have books that we love, but others hate and I know that this will be a hard fit for many.  I read a lot of so so fiction in the past 12 months, but I know that I will think about this one for a long time.  Alice Hoffman is a master storyteller, and I loved The Dovekeepers that she wrote a few years ago.  This new book is hard to describe.  It is a holocaust novel, but it is unlike any other one I have read.  She manages to weave in mystical elements that help to tell the story without distracting from the main narratives.  I also enjoyed that it was not too long and felt complete upon reading it, as it wasn't building up to a series of strung out sequels.

4.  Everybody died, so I got a dog - Emily Dean.  Emily Dean hosts one of my favorite podcasts - Walking the Dog with Emily Dean.  This book is the true story of how she had a slightly bohemian childhood and as a young adult her 43 year old sister became ill and died.  Then within 3 years she lost both of her parents, and so her life long dream had been to get a dog, and she adopted Ray who helped her to heal.  She also has a Ted talk about this if you wanted to look it up, but I would recommend the book.


So as you may gather I am not such a fan of the comedy section, and my selection may appear slightly glum, but that's what I like to read.  I have a big pile beside my bed ready to be started for 2020!!!

Little Women

It was overcast here today with the promise of rain, and seemed the perfect day to go to the movies.  Little Women was the only one that I was wanting to see, and there was quite the crowd which  with the same idea which was somewhat annoying.  Young people now days cannot seem to sit still at the movies without huge amounts of noisy drinks and popcorn, shoveling it in like they haven't eaten in months.  I feel like a dinosaur thinking like that, but often it ruins my movie going experience and should go to the old people cinema.

Little Women is a new take on the same familiar story.  The director starts with what is the ending of the book, with Jo March trying to make it as a writer in New York.  She takes us back to the story of her life with her sisters as flash backs, weaving the two stories in and out of time lines, and takes a bit of artistic licence of also incorporating some of Louisa May Alcotts story within the main story.  It is so well done, and beautiful that even though I knew the story was about to end I wanted it to keep going.  I even may have had the smallest of tears building up several times.  The audience laughed and cheered and sniffled at several occasions, but even the teenagers reduced their rustling to a minimum and so I would recommend spending the money to see it on a big screen.  A big 5/5.