.
After getting onboard the Steinbeck train, I got stuck at the station, undecided on my connector. I could do
The Grapes of Wrath, which passes through my hometown and was banned in county schools and libraries for decades, but which is hella long, or I could read
East of Eden, one of my wife's absolute favorite books that I've "meaning to read" for nigh on twenty years now, but which is even longer. And so I hesitated.
I finally acted because the Relief Society book group picked it. I got started early enough that I could, feasibly, have finished in time with dedicated effort, but that moment coincided with all my waking moments being spent working on my fireside, which thus came together nicely but, ha ha, I wasn't reading East of Eden in the moments leftover.
Which was fine, actually. Four months is about the right speed. Slow enough to really savor, but not so slow that I could forget the characters or the meaning of timshel.
When the book began (with a gorgeous rendition of the California landscape) I came to the theory that this would be Middlemarchy---about a community more than any one person or family. And then it swung to the East Coast and I was, like, HOW BIG IS THIS THING?
Lady Steed, rereading it for the book club. had forgotten everything before the final third or so. And I can understand why. Although I loved the history of the family (and it does focus in on one family, then one generation, then one person in the final pages) I expect it will be those final relationships and pages that are most likely to remain vivid as the years past.
That said, add Cathy to literature's great villains. Add Lee to literature's wisest observers. Add Sam to literature's great holy men. And so on.
Lady Steed says that when she read it in high school, a lot of the students struggled because the novel is controlled by a single Bible story, and the number of characters whose names start with C or A is not exactly subtle. But what Steinbeck does with those initials is subtle. All things are rich and complex, much like real people.
One thing Steinbeck does that I'm still mulling is make himself a character. Only barely. I think we see him as a child, once, but his realness does color the narration now and then. It's a curious choice and one I'm still deciphering.
over four months
I have always wanted to read and to like Pogo. But I've had this and another collection for about a decade now and this is the first time I've made it through. It's a bit wordy, and its wordiness is made more problematic by its idiosyncratic idioms---each character seems to have their own. Some have over-the-top faux intellectualism, some are more simple Southern boys.
I finally picked it because the baby wanted us to start a new booklength comic and it was handy. I knew it would be child-friendly at least inasmuch as it would be moral and wholesome. Whether she would enjoy it was a big tbd.
She did, though we have also started volume one of the Complete Peanuts to supplement. Between the two, we have something nice going. I think I'll bust out the bigger collection and see how it goes.
Pogo has nice, lived-in feel to it. The situations are absurd and satirical, but the characters aren't aware of this. They just live in this world and hafta make their way through it.
One thing worth mentioning. Based on
a couple reputable sources, the line "We have met the enemy and he is us"---arguably
Pogo's greatest legacy---was born in an Earth Day poster (1970) and then appeared in the Earth Day strip of 1971. This is not true.
Impollutable Pogo was published in 1970 of strips that had previously appeared in newspapers. The final strip of the collection appeared on an August 8 (I'm not sure what year). This could feasibly place it after the Earth Day poster, but it most certainly comes before the Earth Day strip---a strip so famous
it represents Pogo on Wikipedia.
Perhaps most interestingly, instead of a line Pogo says <i>to</i> Porky Pine, it is something Porky Pine says:
All yall comics folks and specialisterans needs to update your researches.
(I have contacted both pages shared above.)
almost a month
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The Regrets by Amy Bonnaffons, finished November 3
I don't remember how I bumped into this online. But the conceits intrigued. The cover (though I liked it and I like it even better live and in person) seemed small-press but I wandered over to my library and they had it! How about that!
Here's the gist: A man has died. But something's gone wrong and he can't quite leave this world. While stuck behind he falls into a relationship with a woman---as he slowly disappears.
There is more to it of course (and so much more sex than you may be imagining). The writing is lovely and, as appropriate, often right on the cusp of being a bit too much.
For an October book, it was a lovely read. Haunting but not scary. Romantic and philosophical. Speculative yet grounded.
Worth checking out.
about three weeks
I've been meaning to reread these books prior to ever finishing volume one, so this is overdue for me. Reading aloud has been pretty great, too. Although she doesn't really understand all that much, she loves looking and listening. And I do too. It's delightful to watch the characters make first appearances and develop into themselves. Reading these early volumes the first time over fifteen years ago, I was constantly exclaiming in delight as every piece of Peanuts first arrived.
These characters are important and I'm so glad they are fully available to us.
maybe a month?
Before we could move to volume two, Colleen came into about a dozen midcentury massmarket Peanuts collections in excellent shape. So we got her a box and tossed in our other ones (of which this is one) and now these are our nightly reading. So far so fun!
two nights
I cannot think of many history books I've enjoyed reading more than this
one and vanishingly few, among those I've read, as thoroughly
documented.
I
think I remember being skeptical of the topical organization when I
began, but it actually was a great way to explore McKay's life and
ministry. It was like the tide, coming and going. As each chapter ended,
I met him again as a younger man and followed him into old age, over
and over. Echos upon echos.
I also enjoyed meeting the men at the top as men, with their foibles and politics in addition to their heroics and depth. I doubt I'll see it, but I would love to see similar books written, most especially of Gordon B. Hinckley, who is but a bitplayer in this volume.
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