Thursday, March 17, 2016

A Classic Stays a Classic

Happy St. Patrick's Day friends!
Here we are this fine, green, day with a brand new blog post about a not so new book.
I'm not going to lie, I don't have much to say about this post's book-but I'll do what I can!

Jumping straight in, we have-

Book #7 A Book You Haven't Read Since Highschool

So, when I first saw this category, I was quite excited because it reminded me of all the books I loved as a kid (Yes, I'm old enough to think of  teenage years as nothing but older children now---I only cry sometimes) and revisit them. I joyously pondered which of my old literary friends I would be reintroduced to...and it didn't matter because the choice was made for me by one of my students.

My grade 12 English student was reading Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and needed help with it, in a few weeks I inadvertently read the entire small book. Now to be fair, I could just read a different book to scratch this off the list, but according to my data I'm already behind, so that won't be happening.

Which means:
Lets talk about Mice and Men baby,
Lets talk about George and Lennie.
Lets talk about all the other ranch hands
and Depression Era American poverty!

Well look at that- main characters, setting, and theme all good and done! And to the tune of Salt-N-Pepa, no less! That's my work done then- go home you crazy folks!

But seriously, when I first read this book, I had a super hard time getting into it. I always got bored before I finished the first chapter. It could have been because I was a teenager more interested in watching Digimon, or it could have been my complete lack of interest in the subject matter...whatever it was, I never finished the book. That's one of the best things about revisiting this particular novel-I actually got to finish it.

Like I said, I don't really have much to say about this book. It's a solid story that has stood the test of time: People still read it, schools still teach it...and in many ways it really shows the harsher reality of the "American Dream". Of course the book is also a product of its time; which means it has language that we (rightly) find offensive now, but does teach a lesson about alienation and loneliness.

The book's biggest strength is definitely its foreshadowing and ability to show layers of relationship and social structure all in the subtext of the dialogue the characters have. So much is told about the characters, time period, and people in a few short pages.

I don't know if I want to openly promote this book, but its not a bad one to read. Its well written, especially if you can get past the first two chapters, and pulls at the heartstrings.

That's all for this post I guess!
Be sure to join me for the next post-It's a special one!  I'll be interviewing two authors about their processes and favourite books! They're two delightful ladies who have some great insights!

Until next time friends!



No comments:

Post a Comment