The Moon Is Down

Okay, first off I am pathetically, woefully, embarrassingly behind on my book blogging. It's sad I know. I will try to catch up rapidly over the next few days so expect the posts to be short, sweet and not particularly insightful. Then again if you're here for insightful you're probably in the wrong place...

Book #45 on my reading list was John Steinbeck's The Moon is Down.

Quick, name five John Steinbeck books. Did you name The Moon is Down? I didn't think so. Know why? Because it's not one of his best. It's still Steinbeck though and The Moon is Down definitely has its stellar moments especially early on. I wouldn't start here if you haven't read Steinbeck before but if you're a fan it's a nice treat.

A co-worker recently asked my how I select the books I read. I muddled my way through an answer but the more I thought about the question the more I realized it's difficult to explain. I find I'm never at a loss for reading material and that one book just leads to another and another eventually piling up faster than I can read them but how that happens I suppose is a bit of magic. Anyways, I realized that how I select my books might be an interesting topic to speak to here (what with this being a personal blog and all) especially since most books already have a gazillion well researched reviews and synopsi (is that a word? if not it should be) you can find on the internets elsewhere.

Wanna hear it? Here it goes. This particular selection hit my radar for two reasons. Firstmost is that I really like Steinbeck, in fact I might even put him in my top 10 or so (ever-evolving) favorite authors. I've read a lot of his more popular stuff so I thought this might be a chance to get off the beaten path so to speak. The second reason this one piqued my interest is that it was referenced in Norway's Resistance Museum which we visited a couple of years ago. The story is set in what seems to be a Nazi occupied Norway (though that's never explictly made clear in the novella) and centers around the people's resistance to the occupying army. The book caused a bit of an sensation during the war, even inspiring it's own military operation. It also won Steinbeck Norway's Haakon VII Medal of freedom.

"The people don’t like to be conquered, sir, and so they will not be. Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who
win the battles and the free men who win wars."

Did I say this was gonna be a short post? Sigh.