OK. So I've spent one evening starting Cannery Row. WOW! I had to read several paragraphs aloud to Jack. The opening paragraph describing Cannery Row in Monterey, California was amazing!
So far two people have killed themselves and there sure are a lot of eccentric characters. So far my favorite is Lee Chong, the grocer. I'm only on page 29 but I feel like I have known these people personally. I feel bad now about hating Steinbeck for his short story "The Pearl."
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About Me
- Heather
- I teach middle school band and choir and conduct a community chamber ensemble. I travel a lot in order to see my friends and family scattered around the country.
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10 comments:
I know what you mean. It took me a long time to forgive Steinbeck after reading The Grapes of Wrath -- oh, how I hated it. But he has so much to offer!! I'm glad you're enjoying Cannery Row so far.
I loved "The Grapes of Wrath" but "The Pearl" was a real downer.
I haven't read "Cannery Row" yet, but I've read some of the short stories with the same characters.
Have Fun
This'll hook ya:
Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses. Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, "whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches, by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, "Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men," and he would have meant the same thing.
Isn't that cool? It's the very first paragraph.
"The Grapes of Wrath" was hard since our parents lived in the dust bowl. My favorite was "Travels with Charlie" that Steinbeck wrote.
how about for a quote "It was the best of times. It was the worse of times."
That does it. Now I have to read the book.
What I love about Stienbeck is that he can see the extrodinary in people that society in general looks down on.
He's not the first author to do that, but he's really good.
I understand the biologist in the book is based on a guy that Stienbeck actually knew and worked with.
According to the intro in this edition, Doc is based on Steinbeck.
Look at all the time Kelly and I wasted getting degrees in Eglish
I just started reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union, and I'm already a little overwhelmed by the lingo. I need to brush up on my Yiddish. Otherwise, it's a very interesting noir detective story. I'll keep you posted.
I'm not a reader, but your collective love of reading is astounding! Genetic - I'm sure. Tanner, if he could type, would likely pipe in that Dr. Seuss' 'Hop on Pop' was his most recent read (all by himself!). The writing is simple, but absolutely inspring to a beginnig reader. :) Thought I'd pass on the recommendation just in case Steinbeck gets too heavy for you ;)
Amy, we've all read "Hop on Pop," and "Green Eggs and Ham," and "The Cat in the Hat" . . .
You should try "Travels with Charlie." It's Steinbeck Lite.
I don't know when you or Jim could find a minute to read for yourselves, but in those last five seconds before you crash for the night you could get a few lines in.
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