Finished

Thank goodness the World Cup of Soccer is over. I have not watched any of it, I hate most sports, particularly team sports which seem to have a rabble following them. Individual against individual is different; swimming, golf, eventing, tennis - these sports have style and endeavour, not the team sports which seem to have gone beyond the sport and into every other field. 

I finished Committed  on Saturday afternoon and felt some relief that Elizabeth Gilbert had finally taken the plunge, albeit at the behest of the US Government, marrying Felipe in a rather Bohemian ceremony. I am not sure it has made me think about anything other than my failed marriage and the descent people make into nothingness when they link their lives to others for all of eternity. Marriage is not something I ever wish to be involved with again, the single life is so exhilarating.

  

I then began reading this wonderful memoir of Nicole's adoption search. I turned off the TV, turned on the radio and sat and read this on my Kindle until my eyes began to strain and the words blur. Yesterday I finished it, a book read in record time. For anyone searching for birth family this book provides subtle guidelines, particularly around the disappointments which are inevitable when we meet our birth families. Unusually, Nicole found her father first, a tenuous relationship from which she gained more than Phillip did. Her mother, Eve, was cruel and self centered, seemingly unable to divulge her daughter's presence to anyone. As Nicole and her half sister Angela developed a beautiful if at times difficult relationship I began to see how the dreamt of reunion impacted on me also when I met my birth mother. I would recommend this book to anyone searching for or trying to understand their relationship with their birth family.

   

I did not really know what a Kindle single was but purchased this book a while ago as I really enjoy Susan Hill's books. I read it in about an hour but enjoyed the analogy of real hunger with a hunger similar to mine - the desire to be alone; writing, reading, sleeping, hobbies filling my day and dreams. A really quick but good read, particularly for those who enjoy a short story.

 
So I began reading this last night, starting where Will asks his mother who is attending a clinic for chemotherapy what she is reading. This is a question I often ask people, this book follows his mother's decline from cancer after a trip to Afghanistan for work. As I have only read a few pages, which seemed very interesting, I think I will pursue this book. I did keep stopping to watch the drama about the Air NZ crash on Mt Erebus, an insightful and well put together docu/drama. A great watch and disbelief that there was no debriefing for those who went down there to retrieve the bodies. Many of us, particularly those who knew someone on the plane will have had many memories revived.