Books, Movies and Life

A friend has offered me a new book, The Adventures of Cancer Bitch, by S. L. Wisenberg. I looked it up on Amazon, but you can't read excerpts, so I went to Wisenberg's blog. Some of the early posts were good, but she's now travelling the world and I'm not much interested in Grand Rapids. Although I actually have fond memories of the place. I was once there overnight on a business trip when I got a call from my boss, directing me to Houston.

"Hey, Andy!" I said. "I don't have any more clothes and it's winter up here and Houston is, I believe, in Texas, where it is summer. I'll have to go shopping." Andy just sighed. I found an open shop and bought a fabulous burgundy suede blazer, a grey wool skirt, a couple of blouses and other necessities. I can't remember what they turned out to be on my expense account, but I can tell you that shopping on other people's money is the most fun way to shop.

Anyway, Cancer Bitch's blog led me to CancerChicks.com, a support group with attitude, where the C.B. had had her head styled in a fetching anti-war slogan. It's not 10 in the morning and I already feel cancered out.

Odd, but I feel that all these people are concentrating on their cancer too much instead of having lives. Then I thought of my own blog, which must give the same impression. I don't, as one of the Chicks said, start all my conversations with "before I had cancer" or "after my cancer was diagnosed" (which has to be an improvement), but it must seem like I am cancer-centred because that's what I write about.

But I don't write as much as I do other stuff. The rest of my life is taken up with reading, the dogs, reading, the cats, reading, Yahoo groups, reading, and the daily rounds of village life. I feel no need to use my bald head as a statement; it just is. And although I think the Livestrong Foundation is a boon to cancer patients everywhere, I don't avail myself of their support group. You are my support group. And we don't have to sit around telling each other bad stories.

So, to lighten up a little, perhaps I should mention that a friend lent us the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice, which we watched this week. Oh, my! Even for the (old) BBC, it was a magnificent production. I may have to buy it.

And that there are a ton of movies in English at the cinema in Nyons for the next 3 weeks: Revolutionary Road (it took me quite some time to figure that out; in French it's Rebellious Wedding), Milk, Slumdog Millionaire (I'll be in the hospital for that one) and 3 old Alec Guiness comedies. We'll be too lazy to go, though, so I'm putting them on my rental list.

And that yesterday, I got a preliminary kitchen plan together, so that next week we can go let the experts have a crack at it.

And today is market day, so I'd better get going.

The book is a maybe.