I was forced to read as a kid, which made me despise books and go through school avoiding them at all cost. I can count on my hands the number of books I actually read. Half of which were when I met Nicole and took interest in the books she liked. It’s a sad fact, but literature eventually found its way via music with Brel & Brassens. I could at least enjoy some good prose but I still avoided boring paper for decades. Learning English eventually made me more interested in language. Lately I’ve felt like friends were getting something out of books that I wasn’t, and so that I should try again. I’ve also been interested in refactoring media habits, less algorithmically fed bite size outrage, and more human chosen focused & continuous.
How to pick a first book in decades, and not get burnt? Well I decided to stick to classics thinking they were well liked for a reason. The current economic context led me to pick The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck.
It took me a while to get through it, reading is really not natural and I need to establish the habit. And I loved it. I loved recognizing a uniquely American hardiness in Tom & his fambly. Nicole & I have observed well before this book that Americans have a particular way of going through hardships. Resigned, no push back, just acceptance and enduring. Sometimes, and that may be the latin in my own cultural mix, you kind of want to shake them and ask why they are just accepting things that could be pushed back on. This cultural trait is well illustrated in this book. It was rough to read at first and it took me a while to understand some of the words. The illustration of economic exploitation was also well received and helped me understand a pan of US history, and present state. Everyday economics here is objectively a lot more cutthroat than western Europe. This can be a good or bad, much like unquestionably enduring hardships. More freedom to do great things, and more freedom for greedy predators to help you hang yourself.
I know it was a good book because it stays in my mind well after having read it. I hope I can keep fanning that flame going forward.