Just finished reading "The Grapes of Wrath." Steinbeck never ceases to stretch my mind. It took me about a month to read it as I would read a chapter here and a chapter there. At first I was frustrated that I wasn't getting through it quickly as I usually like to devour a novel in a couple days. Although my reason for trudging through it was more apprehension about what I knew was coming, I realized Charlotte Mason (look here if you don't know who she is) recommends reading books slowly like that in order to get more out of a book. She says that if you allow a few days between chapters your mind can contemplate what you've read and let the book make an impression on you. I started out reading it slowly because I didn't want to see what was next because it might be depressing. But I ended up living the book because of that leisurely pace. And I think this was the perfect book to digest in this way. A thought from the Romans - Read much, but do not read many books.
Here are my favorite quotes from the book:
Pa: "Kin we feed a extra mouth?" (asking if they should take the Preacher with them to CA)
Ma: "It ain't kin we. It's will we? As far as 'kin,' we can't do nothin, not go to California or nothin'; but as far as 'will,' why, we'll do what we will. An' as far as 'will'-...I never heerd tell of no Joads ever refusin' food an' shelter or a lift on the road to anybody that asked. They's been mean Joads, but never that mean."
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Ma: "They's times when how you feel got to be kep' to yourself."
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Preacher: "If (someone) needs a million acres to make him feel rich, seems to me he needs it 'cause he feels awful poor inside hisself, and if he's poor in hisself, there ain't no million acres gonna make him feel rich, an' maybe he's disappointed that nothin' he can do'll make him feel rich... I ain't tryin' to preach no sermon, but I never seen nobody that's busy as a prairie dog collectin' stuff that wasn't disappointed."
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