I read this on on a 10 day backpack in the high Sierra. I did not enjoy
it as much as some of the other Steinbeck books. And what a grim story. Whew!
What struck me about the book was how much Steinbeck knew about various things.
For example changing out a con rod bearing. I have done a bearing replacemnt
and he got it just right. He must have had some other jobs before becoming a writer,
jobs where he got his hands dirty. But, hey, this is Steinbeck, go read his other stuff.
Hmmm. Historical fiction. This is the story of a socialist playboy
in 1930's Europe and Germany. This was a long book and it dragged in places.
I haven't read much Sinclair, but it is obvious he is interested in politics and
class struggle. By coincidence, the book's final scenes are of the Röhm Putsch
(
Night of the Long Knives) which came up on Wikipedia only a few days after
I finished the book. I am always interested to compare the real event to
the fictional treatment of same.
OK we are now into the war years. I liked this book immensely.
It is not a long book so you could read it in a day. I guess I liked
it because I could identify with the hero. Sometimes you want to do
a good thing and it seems like the whole world working against you.
This book would be on my top ten list. (Hmmm that is a good idea).
This was my third southern novel in a row (Gone With the Wind, The Yearling,
then this). Whew, y'all! I did not see the recent movie, but the book was
great. It is written in a very laconic style, possibly more to my taste
that to others taste. As with several of the other books, this is really
the story of a 'secondary' character to the nominal title role. It makes me
interested to see what character Sean Penn played in the movie. I can't
imagine him as Jack Burden.
I read this while in Africa in 2008.
Michener's first novel, loosely based on his experiences
in the navy in W.W.II. It is a series of linked short stories.
I actually like Michener's later works (Hawaii, Space, etc.) more,
and believe they are better written. But I do wish he would
limit himself to 1000 pages or less. :-)
The late 40s. A very contemporary story. It is about an Army Air unit
in Florida. Like Advise and Consent (later in the list, I got out of order),
it goes into the minutiae of daily
life, but does not stint on character development. It was a very readable book.
If you like W.E.B. Griffin, or Harold Coyle, you will like this one.
