JOHNNY LOST HIS WHAT?

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” George R.R. Martin

I no longer read as much as I used to; I do read every day, however. My normal reading time is twenty minutes to an hour in bed before going to sleep. If I read during my waking hours, I'd never do anything (back in the day, I once read five books in a weekend, but that was then, and this is now).

My reading of choice is fiction - thrillers, suspense, mysteries, horror, and the like. I am not much on non-fiction; I never have been.

A friend recently let me borrow a copy of Tough as they Come by SSG Travis Mills. It is a biographical memoir. He became one of only five soldiers from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to survive a quadruple amputation. The story showed who he was, who he became, and how he got to who he now is. The book can be summarized by a paragraph near the end: "To live in freedom. To go forward. To love your family. To make something of your life. To never give up. To never quit.That's success." Actually, never give up, and never quit are even more to the point. 

The book was incredibly moving and awesomely inspirational! I even got a little misty in a few parts. I think if I met him, I'd probably just break down in tears and hug him. What a success story - I doubt many others in the same boat could endure, grow, and succeed the way he did.   Salute!

The book reminded me of another book I used to teach - Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. I have often maintained it is one of the greatest horror novels ever written. "This is no ordinary novel. This is a novel that never takes the easy way out: it is shocking, violent, terrifying, horrible, uncompromising, brutal, remorseless and gruesome... but so is war." (Goodreads). It's a tough book to read on many levels - it all takes place in the mind of the main character.

In this story, a young man makes his way back to consciousness to find he has no arms, no legs, no face, no eyes, no hearing, etc., but his mind is fine. He's basically a thinking piece of meat. The book is a worst-case scenario, but it's how it turns out that will make people think twice (or a dozen times) about going to war too easily.

Both books are well worth the read. The first will leave you hopeful; the latter, angry.