I Spent My Day With Jack Reacher

I had so many things I wanted to get done today...Then I started reading Personal, the newest Jack Reacher book by Lee Child.  Everything else fell by the wayside.  Thankfully, I started reading AFTER my dentist appointment, so I did make it there.  I started it last night and finished it the afternoon.  That's how good it was.  I liked it better than the last two.

"Hope for the best, plan for the worst."  That's Jack Reacher's life motto, and it serves him well in this book.  "Personal," takes him to Europe to investigate a failed assassination attempt against a French diplomat.  While in Seattle, he is summoned to meet with an old army acquaintance and his help is solicited to pay off an old debt.  Of course, he goes.  Of course, his security clearance was never revoked so he can work this case.  Of course, he drinks lots of coffee.  The series may be a bit formulaic, but Reacher is one of a kind and the formula is often just because Reacher is a creature of habit.

As always, I enjoyed myself.  I don't understand the naysayers, Jack Reacher is truly a hero.  America is lucky to have him on her side :)

Also, in reading this book I decided that he is an INTJ.

What Type of Robots Would the 16 Types Be?

I found this post to be exceptionally insightful and hilarious.  Enjoy!  http://funkymbtifiction.tumblr.com/post/96400711470/on-the-same-vein-as-the-spaceship-question-what-types

The Painted Veil

Yesterday I watched The Painted Veil after being intrigued by a reference to it on one of my favorite blogs.  Happily, I was able to rent it from Amazon Instant Video.  The movie is about a spoiled socialite named Kitty who marries a lowly doctor who fancies himself in love with her, just to get away from her domineering mother.  Kitty and her new husband go to China where he (Walter), works as a bacteriologist.  They have a rocky first few months of marriage which includes an affair between Kitty and one of Walter's acquaintances.  After Walter finds out, he gives her an ultimatum- either she go with him to a remote village during a cholera epidemic or he will divorce her.

The movie explores themes of love, forgiveness, marriage, and infidelity.  It was great to watch Kitty and Walter both develop individually and in their marriage.  I felt a deep empathy towards both characters and grew to like them and desperately wanted a happy ending for them. I found the historical backdrop of China in the 1920s interesting and now I'd like to learn more about the turmoil of those times.  There were some intense scenes depicting the cultural divide between the Chinese villagers' superstitions and Walter's desire to promote cleanliness and prevent the spread of disease.

The soundtrack was one of the most beautiful I've ever heard and I re-listened to it on YouTube as I was reading last night.  The scenery was incredible as well and was filmed on location in China.  Naomi Watts and Edward Norton both gave amazing performances and I am now interested in watching more the films they are in.  Some might consider this a slow movie but I loved everything about it except the ending, which was not what I had expected.  The Painted Veil definitely takes the viewer on an emotional roller coaster, but it was totally worth it.

Shelby Sporting a Mohawk!

All the Light We Cannot See

I just finished All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  Wow.  Where do I start with this book?  It took me longer to read it than most books, not only because of the physical length but also because of the weight of the writing.

The book told the stories of two separate characters- Marie-Laure, a young, blind French girl; and Werner Pfennig a highly intelligent German boy.  It follows their early lives in France and Germany.  The book has many lesser characters whose foreign names made them difficult to keep track of in the beginning.

The story deals with topics about the Nazis, fate, the meaning of relationships, technology, and the small choices we all make that effect the rest of our lives.  That is a very simple description of a book that I will not soon forget.  I felt many emotions while reading it- curiosity, sadness, exhaustion, elation, the whole spectrum of human emotions.  I highly recommend this book.  Now excuse me please while I try to overcome my book hangover.

The Spiritual Life

This ISFJ is Headed to L'Abri!

Wow, it has been so long since I've blogged that I actually considered just starting a new one.  But I'm back on here for however long that may be :).  Recently I've been interested in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and how personality type affects relationships.  I read a good book on it called, "Gifts Differing."  In it, I learned about how the different letters interact based on whether you are an introvert or extravert, and based on the last letters of your type- either a P or a J.  (I happen to be an ISFJ).  I also have a book that I've only read parts of called, "Was That Really Me?" which examines how a person's inferior function acts out under stress.  I encourage you all to take the test and find out what you are. This website is super helpful in displaying types in an easy to understand way, by analyzing the types of well-known book, movie, and TV characters- http://funkymbtifiction.tumblr.com/.

Something I'm super excited for is my upcoming trip to L'Abri in October.  I'll be going for a week to L'Abri Center in Southborough, Massachusetts.  L'Abri directly translated means shelter.  The L'Abri communities are a ministry started by Francis and Edith Schaeffer in the 1950s.  It was a place for people to come with their questions about theology, philosophy and the meaning of life.  Francis and Edith loved ministering to adults of all ages and helping people come to understand the truth of the Bible.  I first heard about L'Abri a few years ago when I discovered Francis Schaeffer's books by reading the "God Who Is There."  Ever since, I have been wanting to go.  There are L'Abri centers all over Europe and two in the US.  You can attend for a short period of time or an entire semester.  I have to pick a topic to study and then the staff will help me to determine a self-study program for the week.  I'm not sure what to study yet but I am leaning towards prayer.  A typical day at L'Abri is divided into four hours of studying and four hours of helping out around the campus.  The rooms are set up in a dormitory style, so I'll probably have a roommate.

Other than that, nothing is really new.  I'm still working at the same hospital on the same floor- Med/Surg.  I am a staff nurse and charge nurse.  I still love taking pictures of my adorably photogenic dog, and I spend lots of time reading.  My latest fiction read was the "Winter Sea" by Susanna Kearsley and I highly recommend it.  I finished it a week ago and am still thinking about it.  Also highly recommend the show the "Bletchley Circle." The first season is available to stream on Netflix.  It is about a group of women who were code breakers during WWII who come together ten years later to solve a string of murders.  It's set in England, so the awesome accents alone make it worthwhile ;).

I'd better sign off, working charge in the AM.