LOTR Read-Along: The Fellowship of the Ring: The Breaking of the Fellowship

As the story relays, the Fellowship's quest is coming to an end. Our band of diverse heroes have come to a crossroads of what to do with themselves. Do they continue on to Mordor or follow Boromir into Gondor, do they all go their own way? A difficult question after all that they've been through together. The decision is laid before Frodo. Only the Ring bearer can decide the fate of all of them now.

Lovely Blog Party

Cordy from Any Merry Little Thought is hosting her month long Lovely Blog Party!

I participated in 2019 writing about Arthur & Gwen from BBC Merlin and a movie review of First Knight.

This year I'll be writing about Lynda Day and Spike Thomson from Press Gang. They were definitely a cute and unique couple, but they weren't without their problems either. 

LOTR Read-Along: The Fellowship of the Ring: The Great River

Upon leaving the safety of Lothlorien, the Fellowship now embark on a winding and twisting ride on the Great River, Anduin. And as you would expect from Tolkien, most of the chapter is nothing but descriptions of rocks, rivers, trees, banks and the occasional black swan. Oh, and the crazy little creature that keeps popping up in the corner of Frodo's eye. Of course, it's Gollum and he knows it. Frodo has figured that Gollum has been following them for some time. 

Spider-Man: Far From Home

The first post-Endgame movie arrives in the continuation of Peter Parker's transition from adolescence into adulthood. Not an easy feat when for the last five years you've been erased from the planet and return as the same 16 year old you were before. With great heroes such as Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff now gone, people wonder what will happen to the Avengers? Who will take over and lead them? However, Tony Stark was always the man with a plan, who always appeared to be two steps ahead of everyone else. 

I am a Logistician/ISTJ/Sentinel...

 So I took a personality test from 16Personalities, having no idea what I was going to come out as. So when I read the results, I was shocked at the full on accuracy that was laid out before me.

TYPE:	Turbulent Logistician	?
CODE:	ISTJ-T	?
ROLE:	Sentinel	?
STRATEGY:	Constant Improvement

MCU Blogathon: Tag of Ten

1. What is Your Favorite Movie?

- Either Captain America: The First Avenger or Captain America: The Winter Soldier

They're both so good! The First Avenger had such a classic, vintage look and feel to it and it was a strong origin story. Winter Soldier was just solid all the way through. It conveyed some of the strongest character performances in the whole franchise. From Steve's understanding of the modern day world, Natasha's inner fear, Bucky's abuse, all of it was on the table. 

2. What is Your Favorite Stan Lee Cameo?

- Spiderman: Homecoming

3. Who is Your Favorite Character from the Original Six?

- Steve Rogers/Captain America. I'm a sucker for the good guys!

4. Who is Your Favorite Sidekick (characters not from the Original Six who don't have their own movie)?

- That's tough! Either Rhodey or Sam. I love them both!

5. What is the Funniest Moment?

- When the Avengers are trying to wield Mjolnir in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was just the six of them (plus several others) having fun and relaxing.

6. Who is Your Favorite Villain?

- Red Skull! He's terrifying! 

7. What is Your Favorite Power or Technology?

- Everything that Wanda has. She's just an all around cool character. 

8. What is Your Favorite Sequel (no trilogies!)?

- There only non-trilogy sequels have been Ant-Man 2, which I haven't seen and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which I've only seen once...so I don't really have an opinion

9. What are Your Favorite End Credits? Or End Credit's Scene?

- The end of Captain America: Civil War, where Bucky is finally safe in Wakanda. There was so much peace in that scene which lead into the discovery of Wakanda. It was a brilliantly done scene.

10. Who is Your Favorite Ship?

- T'Challa and Nakia!  

My Year with Easy Company and WWII

My reading year of 2020 was a very different year. In 2018 and 2019 I took part in the Goodreads Reading Challenge. In 2018 I read 50 books; in 2019 my goal was set for 55, however I reset it to 30 and managed to read 37. By the middle of 2019, I was getting worn out with trying to keep up with my books which is why I reset my goal. So in 2020, I chose not to do the reading challenge, but I didn't know what to read. That's when I came across Band of Brothers.

As I've written before, I love WWII, but I never really studied the war or the battles. I was curious about the Band of Brothers mini-series, but before I watched it, I wanted to read the book first. I got the book from the library and was immediately immersed in the lives of the men from Easy Company. Afterwards, I saw the mini-series and from there till the end of the year, most of my 2020 reading was centered on the paratroopers of Easy Company.

Altogether, I read 10 books about Easy Company, therefore creating my own library. Although there are numerous biographies that are still being written about Easy Company, my own series consists of the the original book and the books that were primarily focused on the men that were featured in the mini-series and their biographies that were published from 2001 (when the mini-series premiered) to 2011. This also includes Parachute Infantry by David Kenyon Webster that was posthumously published in 1994. 

Reading Band of Brothers, watching the series and subsequently reading more about these men in 2020, was an unexpected miracle for me. With all the madness that was going on in the world, I would go and read about young men who left their homes, families, everything they knew and love to travel to the other side of the world and fight some of the greatest threats to mankind. They dealt with terrible leadership, harsh weather conditions, unspeakable horrors of battle and bloodshed, loss of comrades, PTSD, alcoholism, and trying to put their lives back together.

When reading about these men, reliving the war with them, gaining knowledge and understanding from their hardships, victories and defeats, all of a sudden what was going on in 2020 seemed so little and insignificant. I'm not saying that 2020 wasn't difficult, however, it's nothing compared to the real suffering of those who lived and fought in WWII. Even when I was having a difficult time returning to work, I would read about Dick Winters and what he endured under Captain Sobel and how he rose above and beyond all that Sobel threw at him. Remembering what I read helped me get through a lot of personal problems. 

• Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose

• Band of Brothers Pt. I - Pt. II

• Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man who Led the Band of Brothers by Larry Alexander

• Beyond of Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters by Major Dick Winters

• Parachute Infantry by David Kenyon Webster

• Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends by William Guarnere, Robyn Post and Edward Heffron 

• Easy Company Solider by SGT. Don Malarkey

• We Who Are Alive and Remain: The Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers by Marcus Brotherton

• A Company of Heroes by Marcus Brotherton

• Call of Duty by Lynn "Buck" Compton

• Shifty's War by Darryl "Shifty" Powers and Marcus Brotherton

These are other excellent books I read about WWII as well.

• The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsell

• Unbroken by Laura Hilenbrand

• The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw

• The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff