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Intuition, Allegra Goodman’s absolutely fascinating novel about the world of cancer research, has received such good reviews that I was afraid it might not live up to my own expectations. How wrong I was. A wide, sweeping tale of how a team of cancer researchers at a lab in Cambridge make a startling discovery only to have it followed by crippling accusations of fraud, Intuition isn’t just a book about science, but of the interpretation of science. The book tells an elegiac tale of how science, regardless of method, madness and the push for results, remains a remarkably human conquest.

The lab, run by two headstrong people, pure scientist and overt genius Marion Mendelssohn, and Sandy Glass, a bombastic, brilliant oncologist, employs a dedicated number of postdocs toiling away at the seemingly endless quest to discover more information about cancer. When a bright but disorganized postdoc named Cliff starts to show dramatic results in terms of one of his experiments, the entire lab reels in the glory of the findings. Yet, when Robin, Cliff’s volatile, yet noble, girlfriend (then ex-girlfriend) questions his research, a wave of controversy engulfs every single person it its wake. No one comes out the other side unscathed.

Goodman’s rich and fascinating book engulfed me in the same way. The science in the novel isn’t so dense that it’s impossible to understand or follow; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. And I love how the whole book sort of sets out the argument that science itself, despite its very definition, is not infallible. It’s one hell of a captivating novel, and I’m sincerely glad that I managed to finish it for the Book A Day challenge.

Thankfully, someone, somewhere has finally acknowledged that Joan Clark’s An Audience of Chairs is award-worthy. In all seriousness, it was the very best book I read last year and I sincerely think that she’s one of Canada’s most underrated authors.

In fact, I’d even go out on a limb and say that this book should (if there’s any justice in the world) become part of the canon, to be read after The Stone Angel and The Stone Diaries, and then dissected for its absolute brilliance of character and impassioned story. Do yourself a favour and read it. I’ve recommended it to so many people and I have not had a dissatisfied customer yet.

I Faux-Voed Dot The “I” from TMN the other night because it stars Gael García Bernal, and damn, I’d watch him in just about everything. When I looked at it on the IPG, it screamed “ADULT FILM” in brackets, so I felt a bit dirty putting quasi-porn on the fancy new TV machine. Well, only for a second, because he’s so hot…oh, wait, what was I stalking about?

Annnywaaay, it’s a little indie movie about this crazy, self-obessed filmmaker who shoots a reality movie wherein one of the main characters (Carmen, played by Natalia Verbeke) doesn’t know she’s involved. There’s a boring, predictable love triangle, and a boring, predictable outcome. It’s kind of a silly movie, but I sort of liked the statement that it made in terms of examining how reality television has impacted popular culture. It’s just too bad there wasn’t really anything fresh or new in the film.

And the supposedly “ADULT FILM” aspect? Oh, so tame, I’m guessing that no one over at the TMN rating committee has even seen Y tu mamá también. Now there’s a film worth have something in block caps on the IPG. Ahem. Is it hot in here?

I watched this film on Thursday, and then that evening I went to see V For Vendetta, but I don’t consider that cheating, if only because when I thought up the Movie A Day challenge, it was to curb the amount of time I spent in front of the boob tube, so I think I’m still doing okay.

Regardless, The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio is the story of a mid-1950s housewife who raises her large brood of kids up out of poverty by winning jingle contests. Based on Terry Ryan’s memoir (one of said 10 children) of the same name, it’s a saccharine film of the hard knock life and eternal optimism of the main character, Evelyn Ryan. Julianne Moore plays the lead, and she’s good (but because she’s always good and not because the role is particularly challenging and/or interesting). But on the whole, the film was more like a movie-of-the week than a feature film. I’d give it a six out of ten.

As my life is the list and the list is my life these days, here’s where I stand:

5. Get groomed – essentially get my hair done. I haven’t had it cut or coloured since before the non-wedding. I’ve also made an appointment to tame my ridiculously overgrown eyebrows. They’re frightening these days.

So, I’ve got a hair appointment for next Thursday and on Wednesday I’m getting my weedy eyebrows done. I’m spreading out the love. Grooming is relaxing, right?

10. Clean out the fridge (completely, that means, like washing everything).

Done and done. The fridge is bea-u-ti-ful. The scariest thing I found? A bottle of ranch dressing from when my brothers were staying with us. It expired last June. You know those are the things in the fridge you just never get around to throwing out, yeah, well, they’re all gone. I even put everything back in its proper place, dairy with dairy, fake meat products with fake meat products, fruits and veggies in their proper bins. It’s a sight to behold. Now the fridge is prepared for my mammoth meal plan undertaking; and I’m starting that today.

The companion novel to Emily Giffin’s Something Borrowed, Something Blue picks up with Darcy’s story; remember, she’s Rachel’s best friend, the main character from the other book.

When we last left them, Darcy and Dex had broken up, he and Rachel were together, and she was with Marcus, one of her ex-fiance’s groomsmen. Only there’s a twist, not only was Darcy also cheating on Dex (as he was with Rachel), but her affair has one kicker of a result: she’s pregnant. And when her love affair with Marcus collapses (as you know it should), for the first time in her life, she’s completely alone.

As a golden child, beautiful, popular, and all the other cliches, Darcy doesn’t deal well with her life falling completely and utterly apart. She goes off to stay in London with a childhood friend and, of course, ends up finding love and happiness in the end. And thankfully, two books later, Rachel and Darcy sort of make up, which is nice too. All in all, both novels were ‘brainless’ books—things I read as easily as I would watching a rerun of Friends.

You know, thank goodness for EW‘s Chicklit 101 or else I’d have no idea what books to read in that particular genre. And is it established enough to call itself a genre? Huh, that’s something I might mull over for a while today…

Annnywaaay, the Book A Day challenge is going well, I think. I’ve managed to keep it up for four days and have read some good books. I’ve started a more substantial book for tomorrow’s entry, Intuition by Allegra Goodman.

Book A Day book number three is Emily Giffin’s Something Borrowed. It’s a chicklit book (as you can tell from the pink cover and wedding-centric title) about two girls, Rachel and Darcy, best friends forever until the former falls in love with the latter’s fiance.

Giffin’s twist, to tell the story from Rachel’s point of view, the one doing the cheating, was a solid decision. It makes the book less about the drama and more about the human side of affairs, how sometimes they just happen because people make mistakes, how they fall in and out of love. Even though everyone knows the mistakes they are making, they still make them, and the whole book ends predictably.

However, it was a good, quick read, which is what I’m looking for these days.

Taddle Creek accepted another one of my poems! I think it’ll be in the Summer issue of the magazine, but I’m not sure if it’ll be online or in book. Very exciting!

You know, I find this commitment completely and totally noble in this day and age, and would like to imagine myself trying something like it. But I think I’d get as far as my next ‘mall’ day and completely give up. But maybe there’s a ‘Compact Compromise Lite’ I could take?

Because really what happens when you’ve got a bunch of holes in your socks and underwear, lose your favourite toque, get sick to death of scouring Kensington Market for just about everything and piss off all your friends because you’re too cheap to shell out for something that you need?

But then again, it’s only for a year.

I loved this movie.

Noah Baumbach’s portrait of a disintegrating family might just be the best film that I’ve seen in months, if not all this year. Two of the worst parents in the world, Bernard Berkman, a failed writer struggling to stay relevant, and Joan Berkman, an up-and-coming novelist, tell their sons they are divorcing.

As the two boys, Walt and Frank, struggle to deal with the news, alongside the most painful parts of adolescence, they can not escape their upbringing unscathed. It’s this coming-of-age aspect of the movie that deeply affected me most likely because of my own insanely messed up childhood.

The film has that painful quality to it; the sense of reality that’s so hard to capture where everything is awkward and unforgivable, sort of like watching the original version of The Office. The deft writing and superb performances are so real that the film hits you exactly where you like good art to go, and it doesn’t let up.

And ain’t that just right, my brother, as Ivan would say.