“This year’s most notorious piece of work!” –Susan
If you like Ab-Fab, you’ll love this Alien. Mary is our foremost authority on the pop-culture merit of music, fashion, design, nightlife, tv, celebrities, alcohol, and art. This is not to be confused with Travis’ or Kai’s expertise in music which are from completely different angles.
Mary writes the most quotable one-liners. Often drunk, she is a trendsetter and has an uncanny ability to spot a humorous word or phrase from something like spotting the only single in a garage band’s five-year repertoire. Once Mary brings this word into our collective lexicon, it is quickly adopted by all aliens without us even noticing.
She has superpowers none of us completely comprehend – namely, the ability to get away with murder where the only consequence is that everyone involved merely shakes their heads and goes ‘that Mary!’
Mary is a chain-smoker and will always be freshly showered and coifed when seen in public – even if public is a quick run to the gas station. She will probably be wearing big shoes and rock star sunglasses when you see her.
When Mary reads this review, she will shake her fist at me, flip her hair, and puff her cigarette. Though the plot line suffers, the cinematic imagery is entertaining and Mary is sure to be a contender this award season.
I was excited to see this film because it looked pretty darn funny. All in all, it was amusing, and there were some laughes, but it didn’t live up to the hype as far as I’m concerned. 
Ok, so this is a novel set during a bubonic plague epidemic in England, 1665-1666. When plague hits a small rural village, they volunteer—at the urgings of their persuasive and passionate minister—to place themselves in quarantine and cut themselves off from the outside world, to avoid spreading the plague all over Europe. As a result, more than half of the village dies, religious faith unravels, and the main character, a humble maid named Anna, discovers her true strength as she becomes a nurse to her community. The basic scenario, and a few of the main characters (Anna, the minister), are very loosely based on a true story, and the historical detailing is really well-done. The descriptions of the buboes are rivetingly gross! All in all, the book is pretty good…until the plague passes. All of a sudden there’s this major shift in character, which is then explained by this sudden shocking confession, followed by this sudden escape. It’s an escape in the novel, but it also feels like an escape on the part of the author (“how do I get out of this novel? How do I end the darn thing!�). I just didn’t find the final couple chapters convincing or satisfying at all. I’d give the book about a B-. Good. But not great.
I borrowed this book from my midwife friend, and it was great fun! It chronicles the experiences of a pioneer of the modern midwife movement. It is a fascinating look at the issues of racism, sexism, arrogance and power in the medical industry over the past 50 years, as well as the unfairness and absurdities of the medical insurance system. But more importantly—it’s so gripping and funny and well-written, it’s really hard to put down! It’s written in short little chapters, each one focusing on a different birth experience, so it’s a great book for a super-busy person who doesn’t have time to spend hours on reading at a time. You get totally glued to it—what’s going to happen next?—and you can’t put it down— are they going to make it to the hospital on time?!—and you take an extra long lunch when you really should be working—is the baby going to live??— and… and then the chapter’s over, so you can finally pull yourself away and get some work done…or…you could just read…one…more…chapter…