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.

The Winter of Our Discontent

The Winter of Our Discontent was book #26 and John Steinbeck book #2 and on my 2005 50 book challenge. Published in 1961, this was Steinbeck's last major novel. The book originally received luke warm reviews from the press, but despite the initial poor reviews it was chosen for a Noble Prize for Literature in 1962.

The novel tells the story of Ethan Allen Hawley, a Harvard educated descendent of New England shipping captains. Hawley has lost his family's fortune during the Great Depression and is now working hard to support his family as a small town grocery clerk. Hawley is an honest man who seems content with his lot in life, but the people around him convince him that his high morals are holding him back and that if he were just more ambitious he could regain the wealth that he deserves. As he attempts to regain his lost legacy, Hawley is led down a path of morale destruction which eventually leads him to plot a potential bank robbery, betray his best friend, and turn his mentor/boss over to the INS.

Of the Steinbeck books I've read, this was probably my least favorite. The story is interesting and Steinbeck always does a great job with characters, but at times I found the plot wondered a bit. Overall it's still an enjoyable read, but I would recommend Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, or Cannery Row as better starting points.

Irony Alert! While browsing around, I found a site which offers 'free' essays about the book. It cracked me up since in one of the side plots in Steinbeck's story Ethan's son Allen enters an essay contest and gets caught for plagiarism. I'd love to be a teacher and catch some unsuspecting cheater who tried to pass one of these 'free' essays off as their book report :-)

Cannery Row

John Steinbeck's classic Cannery Row was book #16 in my 2005 reading quest. The book has been reviewed a bazillion times, so I'll spare you the redundancy of writing another one here. This was the first Steinbeck book that I've read since I finished Of Mice and Men in high school. Reading Cannery made me realize what I've been missing out on all this time and has definitely sparked my interest in reading more of his works. I'm thinking possibly The Winter of our Discontent or Tortilla Flat next, but if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

While writing this post, I also found out that you can still visit the real Cannery Row in Monterey, CA. You can even stop by Steinbeck's Spirit of Monterey wax museum which features characters from the book.