Over The Top - Jonathan Van Ness

Jonathan Van Ness has come to my attention via Queer Eye on tv, but I have listened to some of his podcasts and watching his Instagram feed always makes me smile.  He is charismatic and real, and I always watch him and think how he would be the perfect party guest and a bonus as a hairdresser he could fix your hair.

In this book he is pretty honest about his past, his childhood sexual abuse, growing up knowing he was gay, being bullied for a lot of his life and his sometimes dubious lifestyle choices as an adult.  It may be challenging reading for some, but I enjoyed it and his real voice came across in this memoir.  I think as I finished this book, that I just liked him even more that I had when I started. 5/5

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Ben is Back

This is one of those movies that I no longer go to the cinema to see.  That kind of all too serious drama just gets me down, and often watching at home I find myself wandering away from the television or getting distracted.  Ben is Back is about the relationship between mum Holly (Julia Roberts) and her drug addict son Ben, who surprises the family by turning up at Christmas when he is meant to be in rehab.

Although a somewhat predictable story line, I was surprised that I watched the whole movie.  Great performances from everyone especially Julia Roberts.  I thought at first she was a bit sappy, but as the movie went on she showed her strength.  4/5

The Work I Did - Brunhilde Pomsel

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked up this slim book.  I had seen a couple of small clips about this woman Brunhilde Pomsel, who during WWII worked as a secretary to Goebbels, and seemed to flit in the inner circles of Nazi elite.

 I found her memoir somewhat contradictory, she was of the opinion that she was unaware of what was happening, but knew the Jews were being sent away to camps.  I also understand that at the time she was probably a bit of a young woman more interested in fashion and men, rather than politics, but she was right in the midst of everything living and working in Berlin.  Still for a woman who lived to 106, you can understand that her memories of what happened 70+ years ago must have faded somewhat, there is no remorse or accountability.   2/5

The Volunteer - Jack Fairweather

This is the true story of Polish farmer and reserve Calvary officer Witold Pilecki, who volunteers to enter Auschwitz to try and get honest reports or what is happening inside the camp and forming some type of resistance.  What he finds of course, is far and beyond what he had imagined, the murder of thousands of men, women and children which at the time was mostly unknown to the wider world.

It is at times quite the harrowing read, and I had to set the book aside several times in order to process what I had read.  His story though deserves to be more widely known, and I am sure many more people will know who he is because of this book.  4/5

The Mother-In-Law - Sally Hepworth

Lucy is married to Ollie with three small children, and no matter what she says or does, she can't get along with her mother-in-law Diana.  This story gives us multiple points of view and swings between the past and present, but for once I didn't get to confused and could follow the storyline pretty easily, which made it a quick and enjoyable read for me. 4/5

Lock Every Door - Riley Sager

Jules has just about hit rock bottom, when she applies for a job working at a famous New York landmark  All she has to do is to house sit a fabulous penthouse apartment for 3 months and be paid for it.  Of course nothing is quite as simple as it sounds, and things begin to look sinister quite quickly.  I did feel the menace in the story and was waiting for probably more spookiness than it offered, as I realized about half way through what was going on.  Still it was a pretty evenly paced Gothic horror that didn't fizzle out at the end like so many.  4/5

Music Monday - Justin Timberlake & Chris Stapleton - Say Something

I seldom listen to the radio anymore, and find new songs, or old songs like this one on youtube.  I have been out of the loop for sometime now that I keep finding songs that I haven't heard before like this one.

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Saturday Night needed filling in before the rugby game started late, so it was time to catch up on some of the 99c specials I have on my apple tv.  I really like Melissa McCarthy as a person when I have seen her being interviewed and in many of her roles.  I am not a big fan of most of her movies however, as they all seem to be the same over played simplistic plots, with stories that seem to be written by 12 year olds.  She - I believe is better than that.

So in this movie, it is nice to see her take on a more dramatic role, and a more realistic wig/no makeup look to play author Lee Israel.  When she loses her job and with nothing waiting in the wings for her to write, she takes it upon herself to embellish and forge letters from celebrities from the past.  Passing them off as real, she realizes that she may be able to pay for her rent and drinks as long as the scam lasts.  Melissa does a stellar job of playing the acerbic and at times rude Lee, who seems to not realize that her star has ascended and her glory days are behind her.  Yet we can see that she is witty and clever and like most of us, is just looking for love and a way to survive the rat race.

I did however find it a bit drab and was shocked by what was under her bed!!  3/5

Mad Girl - Bryony Gordon

Mad Girl is a memoir by Bryony Gordon about her experiences with mental health issues.  She talks about growing up with alopecia and OCD, and dealing with drinking and drug addictions in her twenties.  She is honest and funny, although at stages I just wanted to sit her down and tell her to grow up and act like an adult. I guess she came to that conclusion on her own, with a little bit of help. 

The more stories that get told like this though the more it must help people realize that they are not alone , that everyone  has their own issues to deal with.  4/5

Downton Abbey

I have been wanting to see this one for a while and thought I had better get to it, before it disappeared from the cinema.  It is worth it to go and see on the big screen and I don't think that about many movies.  I would have to say that it was pretty much perfect and exactly as you would expect.

All the team showed up, and they are busy getting the big house ready for the royals, so they are all a flutter dusting, polishing and getting all spiffy.  I kept thinking, that in these crazy times, we all yearn for a bit of simplicity, for going back to the good old days, and Downton encapsulates all that.  Characters we know, going about their business as usual. 

So I'm going to say that it did bring a tear to my eye, so for that it is worth a big old 5/5.