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You're going to love this book, my friend. The Bible talk is a bit over my head (and boring to me) but the characters. Oh my, the characters! I have such a soft spot for Samuel Hamilton -- what a guy. And Lee -- how how I love Lee.
The narrator's name is "John" (as in Steinbeck) and there's been one mention so far of his last name being "Steinbeck" (as in John Steinbeck!), so I wonder how much of this story is autobiographical. I think I'll look into that after I finish the book. Or I might not -- sometimes some things are best left unknown.
Deb, if you prefer to read something else first, go ahead. Really, I don't want to pressure you.
Pressure, ME? Ha! I Scoff in the face of pressure... if there was pressure, which there is not.
How could I possibly pass up a chance to join a reading with the infamous DAWN?!
As for the Bible, all the really important bits were actually in the Torah, which I believe you may have the tiniest bit of knowledge of -- somewhere in the fibers of your being, or your mother's mother's mother is wringing her hands. Anyway, supposedly the story is Steinbeck's retelling of the story of Cain and Abel. And your Cathy is the dark side of Eve (according to a quick run through of sections of the wiki on the novel).
That's all we don't really need to know, because the reading is the thing, right?
So, I've just set aside everything and downloaded it. Even Steig Larrsson's "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is back on the shelf... on your mark, get set, here we go.
Uh, one thing, I DO reserve the right to devote some part of my days to holiday cheer, knitting Bigun's sweater, and -- only because I must... job applications.
(PS: According to my Kindle version, the book is based on his family history in the Salinas Valley.)
Last edited by LookinForMayberry; 12-15-2012 at 07:48 AM..
Reason: New info discovered in reading Intro... :)
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,023,154 times
Reputation: 28903
Quote:
Originally Posted by LookinForMayberry
Pressure, ME? Ha! I Scoff in the face of pressure... if there was pressure, which there is not.
How could I possibly pass up a chance to join a reading with the infamous DAWN?!
As for the Bible, all the really important bits were actually in the Torah, which I believe you may have the tiniest bit of knowledge of -- somewhere in the fibers of your being, or your mother's mother's mother is wringing her hands. Anyway, supposedly the story is Steinbeck's retelling of the story of Cain and Abel. And your Cathy is the dark side of Eve (according to a quick run through of sections of the wiki on the novel).
That's all we don't really need to know, because the reading is the thing, right?
So, I've just set aside everything and downloaded it. Even Steig Larrsson's "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is back on the shelf... on your mark, get set, here we go.
Uh, one thing, I DO reserve the right to devote some part of my days to holiday cheer, knitting Bigun's sweater, and -- only because I must... job applications.
Yes, yes, of course you get to knit Bigun's sweater. The rest of it? Uh, yeah, fine. If you must.
Oh, I definitely would have known the Cain and Abel tie, even if I hadn't known that before starting. It's VERY obvious. (I think it might even have been mentioned in the book, but I might be confusing what I read IN the book with what I read ABOUT the book.)
I did a little hunt to see if it was autobiographical and, apparently, it's not... except for that it does delve into his childhood memories of the Salinas Valley. I'm glad. Nobody should know that Cathy woman in real life.
I can't seem to stick with a book lately. I finally decided to reread a novel that I read a decade ago. Its title is Subterranean and the author is Rollins. The book is about a crew of scientific specialists who go into a cavern 5 miles below Mt. Erubus (sp) in Antartica. I can't spell this morning or any other one for that matter but I'll blame this morning on a rather strong pain med I am taking. Failed root canal.
Anyway, it's an interesting book and the reader has to deal with the unknown as the team heads into a mess of caverns and finds hints of a prehistoric culture and then team members start disappearing. I seem to be able to hang in with this one. Please, please, please let me hang in. I feel like a part of me is missing when I am not reading something that has my attention.
Meanwhile, my emotions are totally at rock bottom because of the murders in the elementary school in CT. I just can't bear to think of the loss the parents are trying to deal with.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,023,154 times
Reputation: 28903
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ketabcha
Meanwhile, my emotions are totally at rock bottom because of the murders in the elementary school in CT. I just can't bear to think of the loss the parents are trying to deal with.
I'm with you on that.
I lived about 40 miles away from Newtown, CT for seven years.
I always felt safe in CT.
The above two statements are meaningless. This -- sadly -- could have happened anywhere.
It's too sad to even fathom. Babies. They were babies.
okay the penny marshall memior my mother was nuts , is alot of name dropping , and nasty things said about alot of ppl the only thing I found interesting in her book was that she had debra winger cast as dottie in a league of their own and that her sister kitt played by lori petty already knew how to play baseball . Debra Winger quit cause she did not like Madonna and Rosie O donnell did not want to loose weight to fit in the uniform , ugh ... so much for that book huh ? Oh well not much to tell other than that .
I have to say I m right there with whoever said that their emotions are at rock bottom . well I was okay until i saw that teacher on abc last night tell dianne sawyer that she told all her kids that were locked in the bathroom with her , that she loved them all and she did not want them going to heaven not knowing that . Then the minister who said he baptized most of those kids and now he was going to have to perform their funerals and he broke down and I lost it after that . I thought how proud and honored those parents of children whom were saved must be and how grateful they must be to the young teacher who locked all her kids in a cabinet and told the gun man that her kids were in the gym he shot and killed her right there in front of the very cabinets where her kids were . i cannot imagine what kind of physcological damage this will do to these kids ten to fifteen years down the road . It is all just so sad and now the shooting at a hospital in alabama i mean really , have we not had enough ...
... it's an interesting book and the reader has to deal with the unknown as the team heads into a mess of caverns and finds hints of a prehistoric culture and then team members start disappearing. I seem to be able to hang in with this one. Please, please, please let me hang in. I feel like a part of me is missing when I am not reading something that has my attention.
Meanwhile, my emotions are totally at rock bottom because of the murders in the elementary school in CT. I just can't bear to think of the loss the parents are trying to deal with.
Not whining, and totally understandable. If you think about it, the book you are reading has a lot of parallels in our present life. As a people, we also seem to be heading into a lot of subterranean caverns and though there is evidence of civilization, all too many of us are being lost to circumstances of our unknowns. Indeed, what can the survivors' parents tell them to cope with a world where strangers pop up and destroy what we thought was safe? What miseries are wrought on the parents with a huge gaping abyss where their dreams once shone?
What fitness of survival can prepare us for the sickness of a darkened mind?
Only in our imaginations can we overcome this terror and feed the courage to face down this ugliness, and for those of us here much of that imagination is fueled by our reading.
So, please, Ketabcha, keep reading. Read as if life depends on knowing how this is comes out, because it just might.
Or, just pop bubbles and pray. Sometimes that works for me.
Just finished chapter six of "East of Eden." I am glad to have gotten past the scene setting and the family descriptions and into the characters' lives. Writing has come a long way in that regard, I think -- at least SOME writing.
For some reason I cannot put my finger on, reading this makes me want to go back and re-read some works by Henry James.
For some reason I cannot put my finger on, reading this makes me want to go back and re-read some works by Henry James.
I just checked and amazon has The Complete Works of Henry James for $2.99 for the Kindle.
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