Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

674 pages

"Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers,...who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones." -Back Cover

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked the Stark family, particularly Lord Eddard. He was about the only character with integrity and honor. He loved his family, his justice was fair, and he was loyal to the king. His sons are likable. His daughters are very different which creates an interesting dynamic. One is a tomboy, while the other is completely in love with the prince and the allure of the king's court. Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf and brother-in-law to the king, is the comic relief of this book. He has some funny one-liners. The political conspiracies and twists and turns were sometimes surprising. There are some intriguing mysteries, like the Others beyond the Wall, who Jon Snow's mother is, and the fate of Uncle Benjen Stark.

But...this is an adult's story. It is violent. These are hard people who are not compassionate. War is not sugar-coated and the men are not gentle. They rape and pillage without remorse. Common women are objects and not treated well. There is some language in this book. The characters are not black and white but shades of gray. Besides the Stark family, it's hard to find characters to root for. They all do some pretty despicable things. A couple of times I felt like I needed to rinse my brain out.

I had pretty much decided that I wouldn't continue on with this series. There are five books and each is well over 600 pages. Plus the series isn't finished and there's been a five-year gap between the last few books. It's quite an investment to see this story through. After reading reviews on Amazon for the next book it sounds like things get even more violent and dark. There were a few twists and turns right at the end of the book however, that made me rethink that decision. Right now the jury's out.

Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte

308 pages

"When Bob Tarte bought a house in rural Michigan, he was counting on a tranquil haven. Then Bob married Linda. She wanted a rabbit, which seemed, at the time, innocuous enough. But that was just the beginning. Wouldn't a parrot be cute?  Linda said. Bob suddenly found himself constructing pens, buying feed, clearing duck waste, spoon-feeding at mealtime. One day he realized he'd become a servant to a relentlessly demanding family, and a motley crew it was.

Writing as someone who's been ambushed by the way in which animals, even cranky ones, can wend their way into the heart, Bob Tarte reveals the truth of animal ownership - and who really owns whom."
-Back Cover

This book is a great way to figure out if you are an animal lover or not. I am not. I sort of already knew that. I feel compassionate towards animals; I'll pet my sisters' dogs. I'll make sure my chickens have food and water every day and occasionally, on a really cold day, even make them some oatmeal, but I would absolutely draw a line if one of them starting ringing a bell to have their every demand catered to. I would never let my pets destroy my house by chewing up furniture and power cords. I would not let my pets eat at the dinner table with me, especially if they throw their food all around the room. Therein lies my annoyance with the book: I don't believe in letting animals control your life. My other problem with this book was that the author spends so much time trying to make you believe that he really doesn't want all these animals or care about them, yet that's totally bogus. He loves them just as much, if not more, than his wife, and is the most heartbroken - even needing Zoloft to handle his depression - when they die. Just admit that you're totally smitten by your pets and then  write about the funny things they do and their quirky personalities. I think I would have enjoyed that more. Frankly, I almost stopped reading this book because he didn't.

I get that animals have personalities. I see that in my chickens. I know that pets can be very loving. I just don't think they should be treated as equals, particularly when they have a brain the size of a pea. I don't think they should get full run of the house and make you change the way you live to accommodate their every whim. They're birds and bunnies people!

If you are an animal lover, especially of birds, you will really enjoy this book. The author does have a great sense of humor and some of his analogies were laugh-out loud funny, I just didn't connect.

Favorite Books of 2011

I realized last year that once I delete these from my sidebar I don't have a short list of my favorites to refer back to. The search engine on this blog is lazy, as in it doesn't work. Some of the books that were on the list for the year didn't hold up as being one of my favorites by the end of the year. These did:

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: A classic. If Scrooge can change so can I.

The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner: As a huge fan of The Scarlet Pimpernel I was delighted to find a kindred spirit for Sir Percy in Gen.

Divergent by Veronica Roth: The best dystopian novel I read this year and I read a lot of them. (Crossed, Enclave, Uglies series, Ship Breaker, The Maze Runner trilogy, there might even be more, I can't remember.)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Rarely do you meet/re-visit literary characters as great as these.

A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck: Peck is the master of funny, every day characters that endear themselves to the reader in just a few short pages and make you laugh out loud.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett: Read it if you haven't already and then watch the movie. You will laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time.

Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan: Ten books (plus a bonus one) in the series and none of them disappoint. Tons of adventure. It's like Lord of the Rings for a younger reader.

Life is So Good by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman: Life is so good if you look for it.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba: You'll have a renewed sense of gratitude for the blessings in your life and be inspired by the strength of the human spirit.

Food Rules by Michael Pollan: If you can't pronounce it, you probably shouldn't eat it.

The Maze Runner series by James Dashner: It's like Lost - you'll enjoy the ride even if you don't quite understand it and you'll love or hate the ending.

Most of the books on this list are favorites because of the characters. I love well-written characters that come to life as you read. I'd thoroughly enjoy going to lunch with any one of them.   

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

364 pages

"The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history.

A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the "New Germany," she has one affair after another, including with the surprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance - and ultimately horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder unmasks Hitler's true character and ruthless ambition.

Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Goring and the expectedly charming - yet wholly sinister - Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts  lends a stunning eye-witness perspective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. The result is a dazzling, addictive readable work that speaks volumes about why the world did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler until Berlin, and Europe, were awash in blood and terror." -Dust Jacket

I went through a WWII phase early in my college years and read a lot of books about the war. I hadn't read anything about the years leading up to the war however. This book was very informative and well written. Erik Larson takes history and puts it together in a way that reads like an interesting novel.

Knowing what Hitler was and what he did makes it hard to envision a time where people thought of him as harmless and waited for him to go away, or worse, thought of him as the savior of Germany. He and his men were literally crazy lunatics but they were just sane enough to be feared and controlling. Dodd's daughter even got caught up in the enthusiasm of the Nazi party for awhile and the "good" things it was doing for the country. Almost 80 years (80 years?!) after the events in this book you want to scream, "Why didn't anyone do anything to stop them?" How did they manage to generate so much fear? It's hard to put yourself in that time and try to be objective with the facts that you're given. Still, there were people who tried to warn America and others about the dangers of the Nazi regime, a man by the name of Messersmith in particular, who wrote letter after letter to the State Department warning of the danger of not intervening in the events transpiring in Germany. It took Dodd awhile to figure out just how dangerous things were and then he did his best to speak out.

What I found most disheartening was the political influence that existed in America then (and even more so now) that made all decisions based on power and wealth rather than decency. Men in power love power and do whatever it takes to protect that power. Rich men conspired against Dodd and tried to play nice with Hitler and the Nazis. They did so under the guise of isolationism. Many didn't want to ruffle any feathers in Germany because of the German debt that was held by America. America wanted that debt repaid and felt like doing anything to insult the government would result in their defaulting on the loan, which at the time of the Great Depression, was not something that America wanted to have happen.

Above all, I think this book is a cautionary tale for us today. There were signs of what was to come and yet people/governments did nothing. The message I take away from this book is that it's our responsibility to take a stand for what's right and decent, no matter the subject.

On a separate note, this book reminded me of how important it is to keep a journal. Without Dodd's journal and others, this book wouldn't have been possible. And that Martha got around.

2011 Book Total

21,432 pages

60 books