It's Complicated

Finally the curse has been lifted and I have read some books that have nothing to do with work. Yea!
Life With My Sister Madonna by Christopher Ciccone with Wendy Leigh.
Oh, to be Madonna's pet brother. Seems like a shitty job, but class, who wants a shitty job? Shitty people do! Give them a life they were never intended to lead, a pen, some paper, and a ghostwriter (is that you Madonna?), and you have a hilarious, sad, gossipy, petulant, occassionaly enlightened rag of a book. Like this one, for instance.

Life With My Sister Madonna is not a terribly difficult book to read; I read it in under 24 hours. The author does, however, provide some insight into a strange filial relationship based on the common responses most people have toward their siblings: love, hate, jealousy, pride, spite, indifference. But this man happens to be the brother of Madonna and she apparently drives him mad-and doesn't care! He is humiliated to be in her shadow yet he craves her presence. He is innocent where she is damned. She leeches his creativity and then abandons him. Madonna is a tyrant? Get out!

I would be more inclined to empathize with Christopher Ciccone if he didn't whine quite so often, or demand so much from his sister. He loves her lifestyle-houses, parties, celebrities-but he wants her to pay his way. He is jealous of her lovers, husbands, and friends yet his own possessiveness of her is perfectly legitimate. Madonna, for her part, doesn't really treat him as an equal or as family or as a friend-she's controlling, manipulative and nasty to him. At the same time, there is something endearing about it all; they are family after all. However strange and creepy his affection for her manifests itself, or however much she is blinded by her ego, Christopher is protective and kind and human towards her. Good for a snapshot of a unique American family.

The Children of Men by P.D. James. This book was published in 1992 and was recently made into a movie starring Clive Owen and Julianne Moore. I remember the trailer and thinking, "Blah. Another futuristic/Euro/crime/action film. Never seen that before." The book features all of these labels but it is soooo much better (and radically different) than that trailer appeared to be.

The story begins with Omega, the end of times. There has been a mass infertility epidemic in men across the globe, the last generation to be born are now in their twenties, and Humanity is dying a slow and certain death. Our narrator and unlikely hero is an Oxford professor of History and our setting is England 2021. Through his quiet acquiescence, his calm reasoning and stoic pity we are guided through the pathetic and meaningless last days of our species but there is a catch. He is also the cousin of the "Warden of England" who as the most powerful man in England is the keeper of peace, security, and is the embodiment of rational government. The Warden also keeps a tight reign on the number of the elderly, criminals, and potentially fertile citizens. See if you can guess where this is going. You might be right, but then you might be surprised how this story unfolds. Trust me, it's never boring and the ending is killer. Good for civil conspiracy fun.