My TV ban has been going alright. One thing it has pushed me to do is listen to more podcasts lately. I had a friend recommend two and stumbled on a third that was really good. I thought I’d pass on the recommendations.

Dirty John

From their website:

Debra Newell is a successful interior designer. She meets John Meehan, a handsome man who seems to check all the boxes: attentive, available, just back from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders. But her family doesn’t like John, and they get entangled in an increasingly complex web of love, deception, forgiveness, denial, and ultimately, survival. Reported and hosted by Christopher Goffard from the L.A. Times.

Dr. Death

From the website:

Dr. Christopher Duntsch was a neurosurgeon who radiated confidence. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. If you had back pain, and had tried everything else, Dr. Duntsch could give you the spine surgery that would take your pain away. But soon his patients started to experience complications. And all they had to protect them was a system ill equipped to stop the madness.
From Wondery, the network behind the hit podcast Dirty John, DR. DEATH is about a medical system that failed to protect these patients at every possible turn. Reported and hosted by Laura Beil.

Bear Brook

From the website:

Two barrels. Four bodies. And the decades-long mystery that led to a serial killer.
A podcast about a cold case that’s changing how murders will be investigated forever.

No spoilers but I listened to the podcast on the genealogy side of this story separately and it was so so so so good.

All three of these were really good! Thanks Stephen for the original suggestion.

RELATED: Podcast Listening Tips

experiencing: all the weather excitements. We’ve had more and more 80 degree days here in Savannah. I spent one sunrise on the beach already but it was chilly. We’ve had one pool day too! I’m excited when I will consistently wake up early on Saturday mornings to move from my bed to a nap at the pool.

appreciating: my job. The last two weeks at work have been hard (in a good way!). I’m tired and my brain feels a little fried. It also feels amazing. Being in a job that is hard and uncomfortable but where I’m in a phenomenal team with great leaders is an amazing formula for personal growth. I’m savoring it and appreciating how much I’ve grown because of it.

wishlisting: books. Here we are in Month 4 of the year and I have not yet bought a book. The Amazon wishlist/cart keeps growing, though. The good news is my sister is also on a book kick right now, which is good. I’m trying to do a good job of reading my shelves and taking advantage of my library, but give me all the books!

posting: I wrote two “Life Lately” style posts last month for the first time in… a year? I really liked the memory-keeping-style post and hope to be inspired to do more of those in the near future.

considering: the details of our honeymoon. We’ll finally be going on our honeymoon in June and there are a lot of tradeoffs to consider!

👋 Tata for now!

I’ve read 3 books in the last month: one great, one very good, and one meh. Interestingly, those reviews correlate with their length. Pure coincidence.

Red Platoon by Clinton Romesha

Netflix has a new docuseries called “Medal of Honor”, sharing the stories of valor of the recipients. Clint Romesha was profiled in the second one. That spurred me to buy this book at the end of last year. When we celebrated NYE at a friend’s and I saw it on display, I knew I had done the right thing!

Red Platoon chronicles the 14-hour Battle of COP Keating, as told by Romesha and his fellow soldiers’ memories. This was a long (nearly 400 page) read, but well worth it. Despite being closely tied to the Army, some of the more technical details went over my head, but this book is very, very accessible to those who know nothing about any branch of the military. This book is a great reminder that there are still soldiers deployed overseas defending our freedom right now. 

A couple of years ago, I read Sacred Spacies by Corie Weathers. She talks about the FRG (Family Readiness Group) and homefront side of the Battle of COP Keating. I’m glad to have read that too.

The Warrior’s Silence by Ord Elliot

I bought this book back in college hoping to read it right before I met Mr. Elliot. I never got around to it then. I thought a Vietnam veteran’s perspective on the Global War on Terror might be interesting to juxtapose with Red Platoon, which it what prompted me to read it now.

This book was okay, but it wasn’t what I wanted. It’s one veteran’s thoughts and evolution as he goes from yearning for war as a young, testosterone-driven, collegiate male to a veteran jaded by death and the effects of returning to civilian life post-combat. The invasion of Iraq brings him back to feeling like a twenty-something and prompts many buried feelings to return.

My biggest criticism here is the Google-able facts that were just plain wrong. He refers to the Invasion of Iraq in 2001. That wasn’t til 2003. Those small details really do matter.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

I’ve had this one of my shelf since 2016 when I got it as a birthday gift. I’m not really a fiction reader, but this year I’d really like to push myself outside of my reading comfort zone.

Since I’m not very good at reading fiction, it took me a bit to get into this one. I had to draw a character map on the inside cover. Once I was into it, though, I could not put it down. It was absolutely wonderful. I now understand why it’s called a thriller! I see myself definitely reading more fiction thrillers this year.

Protagonist Rachel’s life is a bit upside down. She’s an alcoholic whose husband left her for a younger woman with whom he’s started a new family. Rachel’s regular train rides to London turn out to be much more when she inserts herself in a local murder investigation.

I have not yet watched the movie, but now I’m excited to!

Up next: The Female Brain by Louanne Brizendine, M.D.