Literature
Steinbeck is quickly becoming one my favorite authors and a large part of that has to do with his very intimate, honest and simple, yet thematically rich stories filled with such memorable characters. There is a reason George and Lennie are iconic American literary figures. By "simple" I do not mean to say his writing is prosaic. Steinbeck does not strive for pretentious stylistic flourishes a la Faulkner but rather employs economic prose with a keen insight into the human condition that is accessible in its brevity without sacrificing articulation or pathos. It's embarrassing to admit that I never actually read Of Mice and Men until now. For some reason, it was not a part of my high-school curriculum and nor did I ever possess any desire to seek it out at any particular time. Oh, what a poor fool I am for having neglected reading this masterpiece for so long! I realize that this novel has been studied and analyzed to death so I'll be brief: An eloquently sincere story of friendship, the burdens of the lower rural working class, the fallibility of the American Dream full of sadness, loneliness and despair but containing such rich humility that is deeply moving beyond almost everything I have ever read -- and that ending...wow. Heartbreaking.
Read on May 10, 2011
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Literature
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
"A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick."
"Maybe everybody in the whole damn world's scared of each other."
Steinbeck is quickly becoming one my favorite authors and a large part of that has to do with his very intimate, honest and simple, yet thematically rich stories filled with such memorable characters. There is a reason George and Lennie are iconic American literary figures. By "simple" I do not mean to say his writing is prosaic. Steinbeck does not strive for pretentious stylistic flourishes a la Faulkner but rather employs economic prose with a keen insight into the human condition that is accessible in its brevity without sacrificing articulation or pathos. It's embarrassing to admit that I never actually read Of Mice and Men until now. For some reason, it was not a part of my high-school curriculum and nor did I ever possess any desire to seek it out at any particular time. Oh, what a poor fool I am for having neglected reading this masterpiece for so long! I realize that this novel has been studied and analyzed to death so I'll be brief: An eloquently sincere story of friendship, the burdens of the lower rural working class, the fallibility of the American Dream full of sadness, loneliness and despair but containing such rich humility that is deeply moving beyond almost everything I have ever read -- and that ending...wow. Heartbreaking.
- Everything Is Illuminated By Jonathan Safran Foer
?The more you love someone, he came to think, the harder it is to tell them. It surprised him that strangers didn't stop each other on the street to say I love you.? Dear Mr. Foer: I am in awe of your talent. And envious. I still can't believe...
- Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books On My Fall To-be-read List
It's been a while since I last participated in the Top Ten Tuesday held by the Brooke and the Bookish so let's give this another go. As the first day of fall, this weekly meme is quite appropriate and asks fellow book bloggers to list their...
- The Classics Spin #5
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I stumbled upon this site by accident and it seems like the perfect way to get back into reading! In conjunction with my literature frenzy challenge, here is a condensed list of 50 "classics" (subject to change) that I hope to finish by 2017: ...
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"Winter is coming." Perhaps it was happy coincidence that Gabriel's challenge and the HBO series George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones piqued my interest around the same time. I have always been fond of the fantasy genre: The Lord the Rings,...