droolie's corner o' the planet

another book post

Things are very quiet on the migraine front, so I can't say much there.  I did tempt fate yesterday and tried Coca-Cola Blak, even though it has some aspartame in it, but it didn't seem to bother me at all.  Unusual that, but I'll take it.  :)

But I have been reading, and the latest book that I finished is one I absolutely adored.  It's called The Girls, and was written by Lori Lansens.  The basic premise is that it's the story of conjoined, craniopagus twins.  Nearing thirty when the story starts, Rose decides it's time to write her/their autobiography.  Her sister Ruby adds a few "chapters" from her point of view, too.  I haven't read a book with so much heart in a long time.  The sisters are born during the worst tornado their town had ever seen, which also claimed the life of a little boy, who was never found.  The birth scene I found a bit far-fetched, there being no electricity whatsoever at the hospital, chaos and people everywhere but in the young mother-to-be's room, and no C-section.  That's right.  By lantern light alone, this mother, young and small, births twins joined at the sides of their heads.  Naturally.  That was a bit of a stretch, I think.  At any rate, the sisters are whisked off to Toronto for specialist care right away, and when their mother takes off from the original hospital and abandons them, they are taken in and raised by the nurse who attended them and her Slovak husband.  The family is a delight all the way around, and the observations and musings of Rose and Ruby ring true.  There is tragedy in this story, but also a lot of joy.  It's a story that clearly and richly celebrates life, warts and all.  The characters are lively and nearly tangible.  The interplay between the two sisters, who are mostly unalike, but manage phenomenally to cope with being permanently thrust together is a wonder.  You can't help but be mesmerized by their tale.  There really are some truly comic moments, and the writing itself is brisk and clean.  It's very compelling, and it's not a book that can be easily forgotten.  I can't liken it to anything else I've ever read, either.  I can't recommend it highly enough.  There aren't words for that type of thing. 

the right side being the wrong side...

Phooey!  Last night, out of the blue, with a proverbial whiz, bang, POP...a wrong-sided migraine.  I'm at a loss for what triggered the dang thing, unless it was a delayed reaction thingie tracing back to the day before, when I walked right into the edge of the dutch door top to my ticket office with a resounding THWACK.  Plus maybe the weather change, threatening a storm. 

I've lost track of when the right-sided wrong-sider was, it's been so long.  Probably over a year.  But I sure didn't miss them any.  This one refused to budge with Midrin, so I had to haul out a Lortab, and then deal with the Vivarin-like effect of it.  It's not a climb-the-walls insomnia thing.  Just an awake-and-blinking, but comfy thing.  At least that did the pain in.  Usually nothing at all touches wrong side o' the track beasties. 

Oh, well.  At least it didn't come back for leftovers today.  :)

more movies and a book

And you fine people probably are thinking that all I do is read and watch movies.  Really I don't.  Honest.  It's just that this week I've had off, and I don't sit around well, so I got movies to help pass the time.  So here we go...

Sophie's Choice  Now, mind that I didn't care for the book much, and found it overrated.  The reason centers around that fact that it really wasn't focused on Sophie and her choice so much as Stingo's lustfulness and bemoaning his lack of a sex life.  The movie I liked better, mostly because I really like Meryl Streep, and her perfomance in this movie was fabulous.  It kind of eclipsed the Stingo's fantasy world emphasis some.  In a way I'm glad I finally got around to renting it, but it's really not a movie I'd watch again, either. 

Game Over This one's a documentary on Garry Kasparov's loss to Deep Blue in 1997 that I accidently stumbled upon.  Considering it's from 2003, I'm kind of surprised it was a VHS rental and not DVD.  It looked a little dated, all things considered, and I never did figure out what was up with the creepy twinkly music throughout.  But I really liked this one.  Perhaps it's only because I'm a chess junkie.  Perhaps it's only because I think Kasparov is the coolest chess player ever.  But it was well worth my buck ninety-nine. 

Trapped This one's the movie version of Greg Ile's 24 Hours, which  I read over Memorial Day weekend.  It's basically a kidnap for ransom scenario.  I wasn't expecting Charlize Theron or Kevin Bacon.  It was very interesting, as Iles tweaked some major details (including the ending) between the book and the screenplay he wrote, but it didn't hurt the story any.  It was descent.  I just love how they change character names between book and movie though.  Same character, different name. 

Return to Paradise This happens to be one of my favorite movies from the last decade.  Vince Vaughn, Joaquin Phoenix, and some other dude wrapped up in a foreign prison snafu over hashish.  Phoenix's character is in prison, and is to be executed in eight days for drug trafficking unless the other two go back to Malaysia from New York and serve their time for the drugs.  Strong characters, great casting, and a compelling tale. 

And the book happens to be Miracle in the Andes, by Nando Parrado.  Yes, I've read Alive.  More than once, as a matter of fact.  Probably closer to 4 or 5 times.  And I've seen the movie version twice.  I've always thought that Alive is probably the ultimate survival story.  It's definitely among the best I've ever read, and for inspiration you can't beat it. Until now.  I can unequivocably say that I much prefer the new retelling.  It's not that Alive wasn't thorough.  It was researched to the max, and written after hours of interviews with the survivors.  But with Miracle in the Andes, you get the perspective of Parrado himself, who was instrumental in getting them rescued.  And this makes it a much richer reading experience.  It's wellworth the read, and I'm sure I'll revisit it again at some point.