I went searching for more King Arthur collections a few weeks ago. When I asked the girl at Barnes and Noble, she read off a list including "the Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by Steinbeck". I froze. "Wait...huh? Steinbeck? John Steinbeck?
I mean seriously, King Arthur has nothing to do with the Great Depression or Central California, it's the last thing I'd expect for him to write.
I need to do some research. It seems he built a house and named it "Joyous Gard" after Lancelot's castle. That's awesome.
I admit, I'm very mad at him for dying before telling the story of Sir Beaumains.
edited 9th Mar '12 10:53:43 PM by Rotpar
But don't give up hope. Everyone is cured sooner or later. In the end we shall shoot you.I found Grapes of Wrath to be tl;dr. I mean, it takes what? Six chapters before we meet the Joads? And that whole damn chapter on a turtle crossing the road? SYMBOLISM!!!!!!!!!!!
I did like Of Mice and Men and The Pearl, though. Granted I read both when I was 14, and had to have some things explained to me.
Thought Grapes of Wrath was amazing, and Cannery Row is one of my favourite books of all time.
Also highly recommend Tortilla Flat.
"You want to see how a human dies? At ramming speed." - Emily Wong.John Steinbeck was the iconic Early 20th Century writer for me, as his general theme was of everyday people living in a depressing environment trying valiantly to make their lives somehow less depressing. And - depressingly - failing nine times out of ten.
He's one of the best writers of the "life is hard" message I've ever read - even when the tragedy is at it's strongest it still feels real and saddeningly relatable.
Actually, I'm also reading The Grapes of Wrath. The dialogue's very good, and surprisingly funny, but a lot of the description is reeeeeally drawn out, like the aforementioned turtle chapter. Still good, though.
"DURANDAL AND GLADOS WILL MAKE BEAUTIFUL CYBER SEX AND HAVE SNARKY PILLOW TALK" - The Freeman
The anecdote about beating a man with a live chicken didn't do anything for you?
Of Mice And Men is good as a commentary on the effects of the Depression, but it isn't really much cop as a story. Nothing much happens until the end, which is really depressing.
"Steel wins battles. Gold wins wars."Interesting thing with Of Mice And Men, it actually took me a while to get to like it. I stumbled upon the movie first, liked it somewhat, then bought the book to read. The book impressed me less, probably because I knew how it would end. And then I watched the play. By now I somehow got so used to that story that it became one of my favorites and I managed to understand a lot of things I had overlooked at first. It's heartbreaking and wonderful, especially since I can understand the characters and their decisions, but felt conflicted about them.
Another interesting book of his I read was the short story cycle The Pastures of Heaven. That one was easier to like and understand, because stories about families from small, closed communities are quite common among classical writers in my country, and I myself have spent a lot of time during my childhood visiting a similar community often. There are always related patterns in which people behaved in such stories and several types of characters that stand out. It's surprising what similarities exist between these communities, even in different cultures.
Please don't feed the trolls!

I could not locate a John Steinbeck
thread or a thread about his novels, so there might as well be one. I already tore through Of Mice and Men this week and loved it. The ending made me teary eyed and so I decided to read through another famous novel of his, Grapes of Wrath. I'm 4 chapters in and since I used to live in the south, I feel well connected with the character diolague. I hope the book turns out to be great. Thoughts?
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