Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts #12

Bookish and Not-so-Bookish Thoughts is hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. Here we can talk about our week or anything that pops into our minds, bookish or otherwise. Even rants are allowed (good or bad). You are welcome here. Come and share anything you want with us.

1.  I read a "Bookish and not-so-bookish" blog post recently where Lipsy was talking about bloggers that claim to read (and review) 25+ books a month.  I agree, I am not sure how you could keep the stories straight if you read almost a book a day . . . and where do you get the time to live life and also review the books.  How many books do you read in a month?  And if you do hit the 25+ mark, yay for you.  Please share your secret, how do you do it!

2.  Read THE GOOD HOUSE by Ann Leary.  Really enjoyed it and the narration was fabulous.  It is about the day-to-day life of an alcoholic that is not ready to admit it to herself.  And off course she is also a bit of a "busy body" that knows the secrets of the whole town.  I highly recommend the audio book.

3.  So many people recommended it after I finished THE HUSBAND SECRET that I got BIG LITTLE LIES by Liane Moriarty.  I listen to a few chapters every day in my car while I commute to and from work.  So far so good . . . the story takes place in Australia, so the narrator has a slight accent which I am loving.

4.  I started my new chemo treatment this past week and the side effects are a bit easier to handle than the first try.  Still nauseous but not as much.  It is just much, much more expensive.  This is what R 10,000.00 looks like . . . EX-PEN-SIVE!!!!!

Till next week

{Movie} Review: The Other Woman

The Other Woman (2014)
Starring:  Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton

After discovering her boyfriend is married, Carly Whitten tries to get her ruined life back on track. But when she accidentally meets the wife he's been cheating on, she realizes they have much in common, and her sworn enemy becomes her greatest friend. When yet another affair is discovered, all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on their cheating, lying, three-timing SOB.

This is a perfect chick flick for that lazy afternoon when you just want to enjoy a fun nonsense film.  There is absolutely no way that this could ever represent reality and that is what makes it so enjoyable.

And off course they are all so beautiful.  I loved how you could see the little laugh lines around Cameron Diaz' eyes.  I am so happy that she has not fallen into the "face lift trend" that some of more mature stars have fallen into.

Don't forget, there are loads of bikini scenes to keep your husband or boyfriend glued to screen next to you.

The three stars look like they enjoyed making the movie and it definitely translates to the screen. I had some "spit-out-the-cooldrink" moments.  And as you would expect, we get our happy ending with a little epilogue for each of our girls.

I would definitely recommend this one!

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts #11

Bookish and Not-so-Bookish Thoughts is hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. Here we can talk about our week or anything that pops into our minds, bookish or otherwise. Even rants are allowed (good or bad). You are welcome here. Come and share anything you want with us.

1.  My next door neighbor and I talk more via Facebook that we do face-to-face.  How life can changed!  It is sad really.

2.  Don’t you just hate it when some people can get away with anything?  In my workplace there are certain procedures that have to be followed in certain scenarios.  I have pointed this out to a client but when she complained to management, all rules were lifted so that she could get her way . . . hate that!  If something is enforced for me, it should also be enforced for you . . .

3.  Angela from Angela's Anxious Life spoke about the podcast of Welcome to Nightvale.  Like her, I am not a bit fan of podcasts.  But because she loved it, I listened to the pilot episode.  Definitely crazy and weird but that is not a bad thing.  I think I will listen to a few more episodes.  Like one of the reviews said, it is like a modern twist on The Twilight Zone.  It is a fictional story about the strange happenings in Nightvale told through the local radio show broadcasts.

4.  I think I might be addicted to Ebay.  This is what I bought this time.  It is a little owl flashdrive.

5.  I received the autobiography of PJ Powers from Penguin Books South Africa today.  Yay!  PJ Powers is one of the icons of South Africa - she was the lead singer of Hotline, a South African band that did not care about the apartheid rules of the time.  I can't wait to read her story - I love biographies.  Thank you, Penguin Books South Africa!!

6.  I am currently listening to two books.  The first one is in my car - The Sixteen Lives of Harry August.

When Harry dies, he is reborn at exactly the same moment in time.  His lives loops through exactly the same events in history every time around.  I have just passed Chapter 41 and I am enjoying it all but it definitely a book with a difference.

The other book that I am listening to is Afterparty.   

This is the story about a drug that makes it users discover (experience) an ever-present God.  We meet Lyda who is a neuroscientist that was part of the group that developed a drug that sounds very similar but was abandoned because of the danger it caused. The story begins with her interview to be released from the mental hospital where she had been admitted after her multiple breakdowns.  She needs to get out to stop this nightmare from repeating itself.  

The story is somewhere in the near future and I am enjoying the little snippets of the world of tomorrow but the story is really about people and their emotions, motivations and actions.  I am more than halfway through and enjoying it.

7.  Tomorrow starts our training for a new computer program being introduced at work.  Three hours a day for the next month or so on top of the daily work that needs to be completed.  This is going to be interesting to say the least.  But I love learning new computer programs, so maybe it will also be a little fun.  We will see.

Until next time . . . 

{Movie} Review: After the Dark

After the Dark (2013)
Starring:  James D'Arcy, Sophie Lowe, Freddie Stroma

When the last day of school comes for a group of students in a philosophy class, their instructor, Mr. Zimit, challenges them to different sorts of exercises that take place in a post-nuclear apocalyptic world. While there, they each get chosen professions and have to decide whether who is valuable or not because the bunker they will be staying in for a year has only enough oxygen for 10 people. Mr. Zimit challenges them in different rounds to see how they could survive. Issues arise when they notice Mr. Zimit is disruptive to the game.

My thoughts: 
We watched this movie last night and I have to admit that I would not make a good philosophy student. Even though the questions and scenarios were all hypothetical, I really hated Mr Zimit for even the suggestions he made.  I take things way to personally and I am sure I would have felt like some of the students in the class did.

It was fun watching the three games - in the first game, the students were given professions only;   anything from an opera singer to an engineer.  In the second, there was something extra added.  The opera singer could speak 7 languages but would die of throat cancer in three years for example.  That made the choices much harder to determine who would enter the bunker and who would not - the existence of the human race is at stake after all.

The final game was led by one of the students making all the choices.  In this game, I had a bit of an issue with the storyline that went off track a bit - only one point did not make sense for me.  But it is just a movie, so I could overlook it to enjoy the story until the end.

Talking about the ending . . . if someone could explain that to me . . . .

It was an enjoyable movie but I would recommend.  Just remember this is fiction!

Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts #10

Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. This is the place where we can talk about anything that pops into our minds, bookish or otherwise. Your rants (good or bad) are welcome here too. Come and share anything you want with us.

1.  My husband bought me a little Sansa-clip for Xmas so that I could enjoy the goodies from Audible (and I am) but I am not too fond of having to use little earphones all the time.  Then I found this cute little speaker on eBay and I am loving it!  No more having issues with losing my place in a book.  If I am alone, I can just plug out the earphones and plug in the little blob (especially when driving!).  Works great!!  I love technology!!  And yes, I got a pink one :)

(photo from eBay - works with phones too)

2.  Still reading the THE HUSBAND's SECRET and enjoying it a lot.  I have gotten to the secret part :)  I am not so sure of the actions of all the characters . . . I am hoping they will redeem themselves.  On the other hand, what would I do in such a situation . . . difficult question.  This would make a great bookclub book - the discussions that could come out of it!  *update:  just finished it now - a five star read!*

This contain spoilers - highlight below only if you do not plan to read it.

By coincidence I have also watched some Crime & Investigation TV and it also featured a case where a young girl is murdered.  In both incidents, the daughter is murdered and the mother's whole existence becomes the murdered daughter.  I cannot imagine being in such a situation but I felt so sorry for the other siblings.  The mothers just kind of forgot about the other members of the family.  So sad . . . 

3.  My husband asked me if he should start worrying about closing his eyes at night.  Apparently I like the Crime and Investigation channel too much.  LoL

 

4.  Sunday was a super moon!  Hubby took this photo - isn't it pretty!  Apparently there is another super moon next month.

5.  So sad to hear of Robin Williams' suicide this week.  It is so sad that loads of comedians suffer from depression, we hear it more and more.  They make us laugh but deep down inside, the are battling enormous illnesses.  I am so grateful that this is one illness I do not suffer from.  I can't even imagine how terrible it must be not to be able to lift yourself out of the darkness.

Until next week . . .