I recently went on a trip to Oahu, Hawaii to sing at a series of churches and schools with my university concert choir. While on this beautiful island, I got the chance to visit Pearl Harbor and take the short boat ride to the USS Arizona Memorial. It was a somber and reflective experience for which I am forever grateful I was able to experience. I prayed over the names on the shrine at the back of the memorial, knowing that I would never know all of their stories. But I was able to get acquainted with one Navy soldier's story -- a soldier who not only survived the bombing of the Arizona, but returned to the war effort to fight in the battles of Okinawa. This man is Donald Stratton, and his story can only be described as gallant. His book was the first one to catch my eye in the gift shop at the harbor. I walked in knowing that I wanted to buy a book to be able to better educate myself on all that there was to know and honor about the attack on December 7, 1941. And All the Gallant Men allowed me to catch a glimpse into not only the horrific elements of war that millions have had to face, but also the lessons and respect harbored in the life of a survivor. Donald's story takes readers through his childhood in a little town called Red Cloud, Nebraska to his exciting days of travel away from the flatlands and into the open ocean with the U.S. Navy. His story also allows readers to be exposed to the terrors of that surprise attack and how it forever affected his life and stuck with him forever. My favorite part of this book was the impression that Donald had poured his soul into the very words on the pages. He is incredibly open and honest about the fear and conflicting emotions he felt, the pain of his physical burns and scars, and the questions he asked himself concerning how to live a full life in light of being a survivor. I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone. It doesn't matter if you aren't a big fan of autobiographies -- this autobiography is one that truly touches the soul as well as educates about the implications and legacy of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Donald passed away on February 15, 2020, but his memory and vigor certainly live on in this amazing book. He asked himself in the book's epilogue whether or not he had lived a good life, as Private Ryan of Saving Private Ryan once asked himself. And according to the man portrayed in All the Gallant Men, Donald Stratton certainly lived a full life. 

My favorite quotes from All the Gallant Men:

"What happened on December 7, 1941, if it didn't kill us, changed us forever."

"Am I worth dying for?"

"If the good Lord isn't merciful, none of us has a prayer."

I have always been a sucker for a good rom-com, and I always will be. While I found some of its elements overly sappy and sometimes bland, I overall enjoyed this romantic comedy of a book. It's setting and circumstances are ideally romantic -- two strangers travelling together on a cross-country train, not expecting to fall in love but finding that through the making of a film about love, love is exactly what the universe has in store for them. Hugo and Mae were destined to meet from the moment that Hugo's ex-girlfriend, also named Mae, dumped him and caused him to have to search for another Mae Campbell in order to legally travel from his home in Surrey to America for the adventure of a lifetime. Mae, on the run from parts of herself that she ends of confronting, decides to take the risk that is travelling with a total stranger and becomes Hugo's new Mae Campbell -- in more ways than one. This novel does a great job at slowly developing its characters and making them more than mere stock. While falling in love in one week is highly improbable, it seems to be the staple of all romantic stories, and this novel does a pretty great job of making Hugo and Mae's relationship about more than the physical stuff. My favorite part about this novel was most certainly the setting. Love on a train is truly and classically romantic, and it was pleasurable to read and feel Hugo and Mae's romance slowly but surely evolve as cramped quarters and new cities pushed them closer to each other. I would love to see this book turned into a movie someday!


Some of my favorite quotes from this novel:

"Most things are easier than you think... It's deciding to do them that's hard."

"You almost never know when you're saying goodbye to someone forever."

"It's like I'd been living on a map my whole life and have only now realized the world is actually a globe."

Much Ado About Nothing: yet another play that I did not choose to read but one that I enjoyed immensely! This Shakespearean comedy is, as the title so plainly puts it, about nothing. I have only ever had the chance to read Shakespeare's tragedies in past English courses, so this was my first exposure to one of his comedies, and may I just say that I didn't realize how funny Shakespeare can be! I feel like more people need to give it his works a chance, and being exposed particularly to this play may help with that. I feel like it has many relevant and entertaining themes and events ranging from festivals, witty repertoire, love, betrayal, goofy villains, and a celebratory wedding to conclude the work. It is one of those plays that pokes fun at the fact that the human race makes such a big deal about sex, love, and marriage. Through its oftentimes ridiculous characters and funny situations, Shakespeare shows his audience that our dramatization of sex is exactly that: dramatic and uncalled for. Reading the play was an enjoyable experience, but being able to watch the movie brought the work to extraordinary life. It is really true what they say about plays being meant to be performed and not simply read. I must say that my favorite character in this play is Benedick. I find his steadfast stubbornness and proclamations against love and marriage to be perfectly ironic once he finds out that Beatrice loves him and he fully embraces falling in love. I also love Beatrice, because she acts and reacts in the exact same way, changing from a stony and fast-mouthed woman to a more tender and happy person. I think that both of these characters reveal that all any human really wants is to be loved. I also find it perfectly ironic that the characters have trouble believing things that they see with their own eyes, like when Claudio perceives Don Pedro to be wooing Hero for himself, but are willing to believe what they hear while eavesdropping. In all, this play is a genius work in its rather simple plot and fascinatingly well-crafted characters. I would recommend it to all types of readers. 

Some of my favorite quotes from Much Ado About Nothing:

​"I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me."

"Let me be that I am and seek not to alter me."

"There was a star danced, and under that I was born."

"When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married."

"I do love nothing in the world so well as you --is not that strange?"

"I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest."

 While it was not initially my choice to read this play, I have been wanting to read this famous Shakespearean work for quite a long time! My Introduction to Theater class has given me the opportunity to finally read it, and for that I am grateful! I was surprised to find this play incredibly relevant to someone like me, a young woman in the 21st century. I also must give a shoutout to the No Fear Shakespeare publishers who make reading very Old English a lot more enjoyable and understandable of a time. Its themes of living life to the fullest and viewing death as an unknown adventure reminded me of Peter Pan and challenged me to observe my own life and how I am living it. In essence, this play is surely a tragedy -- literally everyone dies. But I think that in this excess of death, the play, and subsequently Shakespeare, is trying to communicate how revenge can be poisonous and utterly destroy someone. The work highlights Hamlet's inability to act, a flaw that comes not only from the fact that he is a seventeen-year-old young man, but that what he has been called to do may have literally caused him to go insane. I think that a lot of readers throughout time have been able to see a bit of themselves in this character, however annoying he may be at times. All in all, I can finally say that I got to read this play, and I can most definitely say that I enjoyed it and recommend it to other readers.

Some of my favorite quotes from Hamlet:

"Listen to many, speak to a few."

"This above all: to thine own self be true..."

"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so."

"God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another."

"To be, or not to be, that is the question."