Here is what i read and watched on the 8 planes i took this week.

This post was going to be a travel journal, but instead it's going to be about what i read and watched during my time on air on the route Istanbul-Washington DC-Belize and back.

Books:

Cutting for Stone  by Abraham Verghese
The name of the book has a dual meaning, one for its place in the Hippocratic Oath ("I will not cut for stone, even for the patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners,") and one for Doctor Thomas Stone, who is a focul character in the novel.

The novel starts with Sister Mary Joseph Praise, a very young Indian Nun, on her way to a post in Yemen meeting Dr. Thomas Stone on the boat and on his way to a post in Ethiopia. Sister Mary saves Dr. Stone's life, and refuses his offer to come and work with him in Ethiopia. On her way to Yemen, she lives a tragedy she declines to talk about until her death, and makes it to the hospital Dr. Stone works. Years pass, she becomes his assistant, and one day to everyone's suprise, including Stone, she doesnt come to work. They find her in her room, passed out with labour pain, she gives birth to Siamese twin boys joined at their heads. The procedure kills her, because Stone refuses to cut her and perform C Section, instead he tries to crush the skull of one of the twins, assuming the baby already dead. Everyone assumes Stone is the father of the boys. Stone disappears after the death of Sister Mary. The boys both live and survive a seperation operation on the day of their birth. They are adopted by two doctors who work at the same hospital. This book is the narrated by one of those twins, Marion. He tells of growing up in Ethiopia, the relationship between their adopted parents, sibling rivalry, sibling love, carnal love, eternal love, parent love. He makes a very good story in telling all these.
7 (R)
7 (V)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

This is the story of the woman behind the Hela Cell Line, which could not only be  kept alive but grown in labs as well. No other cell was able to do that before.
7 (R)
6 (V)

Movies:

Melancholia

6 (W)
4 (V)
I try to be fair but cannot. This is afterall the last movie of Lars Von Trier. and I know he can make great movies that can shake the core of  anyone. And yes he can really direct people, especially women. He has made every one of his protagonist female roles into the all time best performances of the lead actresses. This includes Kirstin Dunst as Justine.

Melancholia tells the story of two sisters in Two Parts.

Before Part One, there is a short part where there is a  kaleidoscope of scenes that really look beautiful but for me is the insolence of the director (yes i admit i have a thing for Von Trier, i do not like the fact that  he acts as a rule bender, but himself creates all the dogma rules for others to follow)  as if saying, i could tell this story in 3 minutes and you would have still liked it.

Part One: Justine.
The setting is Justine's wedding party to which she and groom are two hours late. They seems like a giggly, young, happy in love couple. Justine's sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is the hostess of the party and we can see the stress growing on her. We meet their parents, who are divorced but continue to not stand each other. Charlotte Rampling and John Hurt show  great performances as one being a bitter (or an adjective that is the antonym of loving) unsupportive almost abusive mother, the other a drunk uncaring father. Disappointedly they disappear after a couple of scenes that serve their purpose. As her wedding party continues, her  melancholy of which only a glimpse can be seen in the beginning, moves in more and more, in the time of the party she abandons her groom a couple of times, sleeps(maybe called rapes) with a guy  she just met, verbally abuses her father in law/boss (Trivia: Alexandre Skarsgard playing Michael is the son of Stellan Skarsgard playing his father). Part one ends with the groom leaving the wedding and the bride.

Part 2: Claire
The setting is Claire and John's home (which is more of a mini castle) in which they try to help almost catatonic Justine into life. The most important detail is of course the world is about to end in a few days. How?, A planet called Melancholia will most likely hit Earth, and annihilate it altogether.
We see Claire turn into a nervous wreck as a mother to small boy and Justine gaining more substance from her catatonic state as the end nears.There are really beautiful scenes shot with the two sisters riding their horses and a very erotic scene where a naked Justine Melancholia bathes at night under Melancholia while her sister watches her  hidden behind a tree. I am strangely reminded by Sade's Justine in this scene (and also in the last scene more strangely)

John (Keifer Sutherland) as the rich rational husband is irrevelant, even his cowardly suicide does not move the sisters.

Overall I was disappointed with the movie.


Tomboy
8 (W)
8 (V)
I found Tomboy to be a fairy tale with hope in the ending.
And  it was what I needed when I watched this movie.