If I Were Westerosi...

This spring and summer I spent every free moment engrossed in the current five novels of the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin, aka The Game of Thrones books. I entered the world of the seven kingdoms with excitement and vigor – devouring the first two books in a few weeks but by book five I was exhausted, burned out. Tired of all the characters I still couldn’t keep track of, tired of all the cliffhangers with no resolution in sight. I needed a nap. Actually, more like book detox. I quickly read Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed so I could find myself devouring a book that is both beautiful and important. While I have to say that I didn’t enjoy And the Mountains Echoed as much as Hosseini’s other two books (A Thousand Splendid Suns being my favorite), it was still a beautiful story and did the trick of detoxing me from Westeros.

Now that I can look back on A Song of Ice and Fire series with more prospective and as I am going back to my daily suburban housewife/stay at home mom routines... I wonder, if I were a character in The Game of Thrones, what kind of Westerosi would I be (assuming, of course, that I would be a Westerosi and not from over the narrow sea somewhere)? Would I be highborn or lowborn? Would I live in King’s Landing or one of the seven kingdoms? Would I be a southerner, a northerner, or a widling mayhaps? Would I worship the new gods or the old? What is the equivalent of a Christian American middle class suburban mom?

I did find a Game of Thrones Name Generator:

My GoT name is Alerie Antaryon.
Take Ladies of Westeros today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Based on A Song of Ice and Fire Wiki, the character with that last name Antaryon is a Braavosi but I don’t see myself as living anywhere other than the seven kingdoms.

Here’s what I can say of myself based on my life decisions:
I like to be in a suburb that’s close to the city but feels far removed. I like summer. I like to be near water. I like the idea of being rebellious, but it’s too risky so instead I just stray slightly left or right of the norm. While I am certainly not upper class, I’ve lived a pretty comfortable life and have had minimal struggles with money (besides the usual middle class single income woes). I am fairly intelligent and educated, but certainly not maester-level.    

I  figure, I’d probably live somewhere in The Reach, somewhere outside of Highgarden. Maybe the daughter or wife of one of the lesser houses sworn to the Tyrell’s, like House Crane of Red Lake.
.
I’ve spend WAY too much time of this today but it was fun. Would love to hear what you think – what kind of Game of Thrones character would you be? Where would you live?

A Daily Tribute Through Reading

My family is big on reading. Take a trip with any member of my family, and you'd better bring several books because that is what we will be doing: Reading. I think my grandmother was the driving force behind our love of books. She was the one who gave us many of the books that we cherish today. She was the one who introduced me to so many books -- books like the Secret Garden or Jane Eyre I read because of her energetic descriptions of them. As I grew up, I loved to discuss books with her even though we didn't always agree (she being conservative and me being, well, not). And try as she might I never got into Wind in the Willows or Little House on the Prairie but did pass these books along to my children.

When I was pregnant with my first child, my grandmom gave me the book, The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease -- lauding this book as essential to my child's upbringing. I read this book and refereed to it often while my daughter was little -- reading many of the recommended titles including Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little to her when she was just three years old. Reading aloud to our children continues to be a cherished part of our daily routines. We have read The Little House on the Prairie; The Wind in the Willows; The Secret Garden; Heidi; Anne of Green Gables; numerous Beverly Cleary books; Roald Dahl; almost the entire Magic Tree House Series; The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe; and recently we've begun the Harry Potter series.

My grandmother passed away a year ago but when I see the love of reading that my 9 year-old daughter has, I feel my grandmom. That spark was started by her and lives on in my family every day. It lives on when I can't get my daughter to do anything because she can't/won't put her book down. It lives on when the last thing my daughter sees at night are the words in a book and the first thing she does in the morning is pick up her book. My daughter makes a little tribute to my grandmother everyday through her love of reading.

Thanks GGMom for being a wonderful example to your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. We miss you and think of you daily when we pick up a book!

(If you haven't read The Read Aloud Handbook I highly recommend it, link below:)



The Read-Aloud Handbook: Seventh Edition

I Would Like Endless Summer #Reading

My kids tell me that tomorrow is the first day of fall. I am not ready for it. Not that I don’t like the fall, I do, I’m just not ready for summer to end.

I am not ready for summer to leave. Make it stay! How can I make it stay? If I avoid doing the last of the summer laundry, will it stay? Will we still have our long afternoons together reading in the sun? Or will it try to flee unnoticed like a drunken co-ed waking up at some random guy’s beach house? If I keep that pile of beach towels in the corner of the laundry room, will summer be mine forever? If there still is a bathing suit hanging on a hook in a bedroom, does that mean summer is here to stay? If only… I can hope that summer returns for a quick fling in October. Maybe summer will give me an affair-to-remember around Halloween….

Nonetheless, summer and I did have a good time together this year. My only goal was to read...

Here is a quick review of my summer reading with my GoodReads.com ratings:

• Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl , ****
• The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Scwalbe, ****
• Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, ****
• The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick, ****
• The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar, ***
• Inferno by Dan Brown, ***
• Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia, **
• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, ****
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel, ****
• Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen, **

I am still holding onto one book I started this summer (Personal Recollection of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain), but it’s not looking good (I am either going to finish it or abandon it soon).  I suppose I will move on and embrace fall…