GRAMNIPOTENCE

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

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Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Where do we learn kindness? We learn it bit by bit as we see people in our environment practice it. I don’t remember any example of kindness at school, so I must not have learned it there. No memory comes to mind of early kindness, but surely it was there. It was practiced in my home. I saw it there. My father was a kind man.

He was a man who felt injustice strongly. He taught me empathy and kindness. He told stories from his work and was always able to put himself into another person’s shoes. Looking at another person’s side of things is a very important skill. I’ve seen so many instances where someone couldn’t put themselves into another person’s shoes. We should all try to learn to do this.

When I saw the picture of the drowned boy, I felt my heart break because that little boy had a mother and a grandmother, and other family. But I personally identify with the mother and the grandmother because I am both. What horrible conditions would lead someone to think that the sea would be safer than the land? I cannot even imagine.

I can tolerate many conditions if I am safe, have shelter, and food to eat. I know if I have these basic things, I can put up with a lot of external circumstance that many would find intolerable. What was it his parent’s didn’t have that they risked the trip? The grief invoked by this image is overwhelming.

I try to be conscious of my actions so that I practice kindness every day in my home and other places that I frequent. My circle of influence is very small physically. I have to believe that kindness ripples out like water disturbed by a stone penetrating its surface. The tiny waves go out and touch things we cannot imagine. This is the only way I can live in this world.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/europe/migration-crisis-boy-washed-ashore-in-turkey/

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Magnus Chase and The Gods of Asgard

MAGNUS CHASE

And the Gods of Asgard:

The Sword of Summer

By Rick Riordan

Hyperion, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-4847-1932-9

This is the opening paragraph: “Yeah, I know. You guys are going to read about how I died in agony, and you’re going be like, “Wow! That sounds cool, Magnus! Can I die in agony too?”

Magnus dies retrieving the Sword of Summer and checks into the Hotel Valhalla where the slain heros go as guests of Odin. He is an einherjar, one of the soldiers in Odin’s eternal army. This is when his adventure begins. He must retie the wolf and keep the Sword of Summer from Surt who would bring about the end of the world is he were able to get the sword.

It is the relationships of Magnus that keep the story rolling along. I enjoyed the bigger than myth aspects of Valhalla that the author develops as part of the story. Magnus makes friends and finds his old friends from life to help him on his quest

After his mother dies, Magnus is left along and becomes homeless. He is befriended by two characters, one is deaf. They are sent to guard him and keep him safe, but they fail and he still ends up being taken to Valhalla by Sam the Valkyrie after he dies on the bridge defending his friends.

His quest takes him on many adventures with his relatives because his dad is one of the gods of the nine worlds. As the worlds are developed in the story they add settings and other characters to this tale. The rules of this world are a little confusing, but since this is the first book of the series we can cut the author some slack. All in all the story moves along briskly, the dialogue is realistic, and the settings draw the reader in. I enjoyed it and I would recommend it for the reader seeking adventure.

Magnus has a successful quest. He and his friends are given wonderful awards and privileges in the nine worlds by Odin, the all father.

I give it a five out of five.