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The World of Ice and Fire: A Book Review

The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The majority of this book was great. It was very interesting seeing the back story to the story Martin is telling. Like my high school history teacher said, if you don't know where you've been, how can you know where you're going? Maybe there's some foreshadowing here... :-) maybe not. Enjoyable none-the-less. My one qualm was when I arrived in the section of the book dedicated to the principle city/states outside of Westeros... there was no map! So each section would begin by describing where the highlighted city-state was in relation to other things, but I, being so visually inclined, was completely lost at these junctures.


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The Books that Have Most Influenced Me

I am accepting the challenge of Kassia to list the 10 books which have most influenced me. These are not necessarily my favorite books (although most of them are) and are in no particular order. I challenge anyone who reads this to do the same!

Bible (favorite version for reading: The Books of the Bible, NIV) God

Harry Potter series (series favorite: Prisoner of Azkaban) Rowling

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series (series favorite: Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest) Larsson

The Most Dangerous Game --Connell

The Hunger Games series (series favorite: The Hunger Games) Collins

Pride and Prejudice—Austen

The Shack—Young
Redeeming Love—Rivers

Gone Girl-- Flynn
The Song of Ice and Fire series (series favorite: series currently incomplete, so I can't pick a favorite when the options are not all presented yet!)-- Martin

Runners’ Up/ More Distant (so the effect is weaker)

Mere Christianity-- Lewis

Looking for Cassandra Jane—Carlson
The Lord of the Rings series (series favorite-- Return of the King) Tolkien
The Inheritance Cycle series (series favorite-- Eragon) Paolini

Blood and Chocolate—Clause

Blue Like Jazz—Miller

The Cat Who series (can’t pick a favorite, really)-- Braun

King of the Wind—Henry

Island of the Blue Dolphins—O’Dell

The Ragamuffin Gospel—Manning (RIP)

Chronicles of Narnia (series favorite: A Horse and His Boy)—Lewis

Where the Red Fern Grows--  Rawls

The Picture of Dorian Gray—Wilde

Ghost Horse-- Simner

"Thank You for Your Service"

     Originally I was planning to just link to an article entitled 10 Things You Should Be Asking the Veterans in You Life on FB, but then I realized I had more to unpack than the few lines I limit myself to in FB posts, so here's the rest of the luggage.

     I found this article when I read another one from TEDTalks called Why Don't Civilians Ask Veterans More Questions? which denounces the comments most vets receive: "Thank you for your service," and "Did you shoot anybody?" and suggests the 10 questions outlined in the first article up there instead. After reading, I asked myself why I don't ask more question. I find that many of my patients are veterans on our first day together during evaluation and am terribly guilty of throwing out the "Thank you for your service," quip and then... I guess I do something a little more out of the ordinary, or so it would seem ... I usually have to remove myself a little from my patient and gather myself together as I fight back tears.

     This reaction has long puzzled me and I think I do a pretty good job of not letting others see it. For one reason or another, God saw fit to make my initial reaction to any emotion tears. Whether it's happiness, sadness, anger, confusion, fatigue I get tears. Which is SO annoying. In general, other people do not react well to tears. They often give me really confused looks, maybe thinking I'm at least a tad nuts and try to get away as fast as possible. Or on the flip side, are convinced that I'm falling apart and literally try to hold my physical being together with crushing hugs and assurances that I'll be ok. Look, I'm not crazy and I know I'll be ok, just back off, let me collect myself and pretend it didn't happen so I don't start blubbering under a new emotion--embarrassment--ok?

     End rant.

     But back to my initial question: Why do I react this way and have no desire to further this line of discussion? Or rather, which of the myriad of emotions of mine that triggers tears is the culprit here?

     As Shakespeare put it, "That is the question." And what a question it is.  I don't know, exactly. Or really I don't think it's just one.

     First, overwhelming gratitude to this individual who I didn't even know me until a few minutes before this one usually, who put him or her self in harms way so I could have the opportunity to live a pretty good life full of those freedoms everyone talks about.

     Second, anger that this stranger came home, but that several of my personal soldiers did not.

     Third, fear that the remainder of my friends that are still enlisted might not come home either physically, mentally, spiritually or a combination of the three.

     Then again, gratitude to God that this person's family and friends never experienced that anger and no longer have that fear for this soldier.

     And lastly, the embarrassment as I just can't get out anything else more inquisitive and appealing to the vet at that point. Not that I'm a particularly verbose individual to begin with, but definitely not in that moment.

     So, on this Memorial Day weekend, we celebrate those we've loved and lost for the sake of our freedoms, usually with some good cooking, hehe; however, they can't read this post. So to those vets and current service members out there that can read this post, "Thank you for your service."

The Book Thief: A Book Review

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It took me a while to really get into this one, but by the end, I was in tears. I (eventually) fell in love with the characters. They were a little rough in the beginning, but as the story went on, their personalities deepened. The storyline itself is beautifully woven and accessible to any age group. The main character begins the story at 9 or 10 and ages a few years in the book. I would say the book would be appropriate for a middle schooler/pre-teen. However, the writing is beautifully descriptive, but not annoyingly so like Dickens. What I think truly makes this book unique is that the narrator is Death. I haven't run across any other book with a personified Death being a main character, much less the narrator. I suppose it is rather appropriate that as I read along, I often forgot he was there telling the story. Overall, a good read, but just shy of amazing and making the favorites list.


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