What I've been reading 3

Once again I'm enjoying some of my free time by reading some good books. 

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins:



I enjoyed this one the best of the three books in the series in my opinion.  In this book all the characters get to show their true colors and are forced to take a stand for what they think is right.  It is not always easy to tell what the truth is and decisions have to be made quickly and based on incomplete information.  As in real life these characters have feelings and some try to ignore them, some are overwhelmed by them and need help and support from others to live their lives while dealing with them and still others try to anesthetize themselves to keep from feeling them.  It seems realistic in a very foreign world and the book concludes on a good note.  I would recommend this series despite the distasteful idea of the competition of the killing games that is forced on the population.  It deals with important concerns like how to decide what is true and what to support and how much freedom a government should give it's people and how influential and important and individual can be.  A good read.  If young kids are reading this book I would recommend a parent read along so the hard topics (killing, government oppression and the associated feelings be discussed so the kids can understand). 

Snow Rising by Matt Baldwin



This is one of those books that are in a niche that I'll call "Self help fiction".  The style is similar to the Peace Giver.  And this book is equally as well done and covers important information.  This style of book seems to really do some good teaching and when you are done you feel like you need to read it again to let is settle some more in you.  I found lots of great things in this book.  The lists at the back unrelated to the story are well worthwhile as well.  I highly recommend this book if you want to figure out what you personally can do to help the problems in your life, particular problems with relationships in or out of the family. 

Hero by Mike Lupica














This is a fun book about a young boy finding and discovering he had super powers and determining what his role is in the world.  A couple adults try to tell him what to do with his powers and he has to determine which is trying to help and which is trying to hinder.  It is a quick and fun read.  It is a YA book that really is best for young people and not adults.  The feelings and situations of the main character are not gone into in a depth that would be preferred by this adult at least, or maybe I'm just accustomed to how Orson Scot Card writes.  A good kids book that doesn't trash families or government or anything and is not gruesome.  A generally wholesome book. 

This is an electronic format science fiction/fantasy magazine edited by Orson Scott Card. I'll list the short stories included in it separately with a brief synopsis. 

Respite--Rachel Ann Dryden--an interesting story about a married couple trying to reach safety.  Both the husband and wife think the wife is the strongest of the pair until a moment of truth comes.

A Rarefied View at Dawn--Dave Wolverton--This is an interesting little story about a young man nearing the beginning of adolescence.  He lives in a city with only women and girls and very few boys.  The qualities of men are detested in this city and men must live outside the city in primitive conditions while the ladies live productive and modern lives inside the city protected from the men by robots.

Loose in the Wires--John Brown--In this fantasy a brother-in-law back from the Peace Corps brings home god in the form of a beetle.  What then happens tests those who are sane. 

Trill and the Beanstalk--Edmund R. Schubert--A chess loving American finds himself out maneuvered by a Chinese person in the race to get the wealth of Mars. 

Night Walks--Robert Stoddard--a husband is treated for cancer and survives only to fall prey to depression that almost takes him and his wife's life. 

Taint of Treason--James Stone--A son's treason is needed to protect the family from the false accusation of treason by the king. 

Eviction Notice--Scott M. Roberts--This is a story about a Vietnam vet who can't shake the horrors of the war or the later abuse of his son until he finds a way for emancipation. 

Mazer in Prison--Orson Scott Card--This is the best story of the bunch.  If you are an Ender fan and wondered how Graff got to be head of the battle school this will answer your questions. 

Hopefully you are doing some reading as well. 

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
Henry David Thoreau

Warrior Dad

I found myself at work talking to a co-worker and my father came up in conversation.  My Dad has been dead for sixteen years.  He was a military man having spent 25+ years in the Army.

I told my co-worker that my Dad volunteered to serve in the Army during World War 2.  He was married and had two sons another had been born and died at birth.  Dad went to war and when he came back his wife felt he had changed so much that she wanted a divorce.  So they ended up divorced and his son's of course stayed with their Mom.  The older son remembered his Dad and kept in contact with him to some degree through the years.  The younger son didn't remember his Dad too much and relied on what his mother said about him and so didn't have any contact with Dad until my Mom invited him to come to my Dad's 70th birthday many years later and he came.  He said he probably wouldn't have come except his own son wanted to come to meet his grandfather for the first time. 

My Dad told me the story that he was so disgusted with the Army that when WWII was over and he got out of the military that he used his uniform to wipe his feet on on the back porch of the house.  Dad worked as an ice man providing ice for people's "ice box" after the war.  He went back into the military to go to the Korean conflict and then stayed in after that.  He met my Mom and married her with her three children.  Then they had me. 

When Vietnam came around Dad volunteered to go to war for the third time because he was a true believer in America.  At that point in his military career he didn't have to go but wanted to go.  I turned 8 while he was gone and in our religion that is a big time.  Because my Dad was gone my older brother baptized me a member of the church and Brother Lewis confirmed me.  (For those who might remember this is the Brother Lewis who lined up a second time to kiss my wife after we were married!) 

In years to come my Dad would talk about the war occasionally but was most comfortable talking to other veteran's.  Other than being polite he often didn't have deep or long conversations with other people.  When my Mom would have a party at the house (she loves people and having visitors) he would often spend most of the time in his room...unless there was a veteran there in which case he would get in a deep conversation about war and the military. 

When the first Gulf War happened and he was an elderly fellow and couldn't get around well but I remember him getting agitated and standing up and saying very animatedly that if they would take him he would go and fight that war too! 

My Mom always calls him a warrior and I would have to agree.  He felt very strongly about supporting the government's decisions in matters of war.  No complaining, second guessing but just ready to line up and do the hard work that had to be done because in his view that is what kept our country free.  Maybe he was right and the way we think now (soldiers purposely hurting themselves to get out of Afghanistan, killing themselves to keep from going, going AWOL to avoid it and generally not being willing to do the hard work needed in a war.) 

In comparison with my Dad it appears our country has lost something important in it's people as a whole and it may be that what we are missing today is something vital to maintain our freedom.  Where do we go from here?  Or maybe the better question, Where will we go from here.  How can our young men learn patriotic duty from fathers who themselves don't have the devotion needed in something bigger than themselves to sacrifice at war?