The community hall was playing this movie last night. It was excellent. It was about a guy who discovers he doesn’t have very long to live because of cancer, and he buys a motorcycle and rides from Toronto to Tofino. His bike breaks down (temporarily) at nearly the place that James and I broke down when we drove back from Winnipeg. It was a touching movie and gave a great view of Canada.

Since I did a movie review, I’ll do a book review as well. I just finished “Reading Lolita in Tehran.”

It was about an English Literary professor teaching in Iran during the revolution and the war with Iraq. It was very well written and gives a self-critical look at life in Iran during very tumultuous times. But it is from the perspective of a women, and it stresses the oppression that women face in Iran. The only downside to it for me was that it has long literary essays about Lolita, Pride & Prejudice and some of Henry James and Jane Austen’s other novels. Some of the theoretical stuff got a bit boring for me but I’m really glad I read it and finished it.

Before “Reading Lolita” I read “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” (placed in Afghanistan.) I was feeling trapped in the middle east, as I’m sure women who are there feel at times, so I have now begun a book called “Grub” which I borrowed from Cheryl.

I’m on chapter 4. The first 3 chapters are all about our food system in context of the industrial agriculture system. It talks about pesticides, corn syrup, organizations and studies that have shown different findings. It was rather depressing. But chapter 4 promises to take a closer look at small farms who are making a living at producing organic food. At least there is good news! The first 3 chapters are very scary in what pesticides do to our bodies.

What have you been reading or watching lately? Anything inspiring?