Looking Back - Of Mice and Men

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Fiction - Classic

1937

Finished on March 6, 2002

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.”

They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.

While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing Of Mice and Men, creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.

A unique perspective on life's hardships, this story has achieved the status of timeless classic due to its remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films.

  

My Original Thoughts (2002):

I read this with the Banned Book Group (online). Quick novella. It's been awhile since I've read anything by Steinbeck. I enjoyed this straight-forward story about George & Lennie. I'm sure I read it in high school, but didn't remember any of the details except the scene with Lennie and the mouse.

My Current Thoughts:

I'm surprised I gave this book such a high rating. It's not one of my favorites by Steinbeck, and I doubt I'll read it again. Someday, I would like to make time to reread The Grapes of Wrath, though.

Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
Classic/Travel Memoir
2002 by Penguin (first published 1962)
Finished on July 23, 2018
Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

A quest across America, from the northernmost tip of Maine to California’s Monterey Peninsula.

To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.

With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. Along the way he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, the particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and the unexpected kindness of strangers.

It has been many, many years since I first read Travels with Charley. My memory of that first reading, while vague (and perhaps romanticized), is very positive. A dear friend sent me a copy several years ago and after Rod & I bought our travel trailer, I decided it was time to give the book a second reading. I began reading on July 30, 2017 and didn't finished until July 23rd - almost exactly a year later! Now, to clarify, I only read it while traveling in our RV, so it isn't as if it were a 1,000 page tome! Sadly, the book didn't live up to my expectations. I found it very dated and pedantic, which led to some skimming, which is not my style, but I was eager to finish and move on to something else. I'm sad that I didn't love it as much as I did that first time I read it, but I was looking more for inspiration about future destinations than for his message about mankind. So, with that said, I wonder if I should re-read The Grapes of Wrath, which I read and loved in high school (40 years ago!). I recently read East of Eden (reviewed here) and thought it was exceptionally good, so maybe there's a chance I'll still love The Grapes of Wrath.

Favorite Passages:

When the virus of restlessness begins to take possession of a wayward man, and the road away from Here seems broad and straight and sweet, the victim must first find in himself a good and sufficient reason for going. This to the practical bum is not difficult. He has a built-in garden of reasons to choose from. Next he must plan his trip in time and space, choose a direction and a destination. And last he must implement the journey. How to go, what to take, how long to stay. This part of the process is invariable and immortal. I set it down only so that newcomers to bumdom, like teen-agers in new-hatched sin, will not think they invented it.

and

Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process; a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. Tour masters, schedules, reservations, brass-bound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality of the trip. Only when this is recognized can the blown-in-the-glass bum relax and go along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. I feel better now, having said this, although only those who have experienced it will understand it.

and

Under the big oak trees of my place at Sag Harbor sat Rocinante, handsome and self-contained, and neighbors came to visit, some neighbors we didn't even know we had. I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation--a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here. They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every state I visited. Nearly every American hungers to move. 

and

The Pacific is my home ocean; I knew if first, grew up on its shore, collected marine animals along the coast. I know its moods, its color, its nature. It was very far inland that I caught the first smell of the Pacific. When one has been long at sea, the smell of land reaches far out to greet one. And the same is true when one has been long inland. I believe I smelled the sea rocks and the kelp and the excitement of churning sea water, the sharpness of iodine and the under odor of washed and ground calcareous shells. Such a far-off and remembered odor comes subtly so that one does not consciously smell it, but rather an electric excitement is released--a kind of boisterous joy. I found myself plunging over the roads of Washington, as dedicated to the sea as any migrating lemming.

"Rocinante"

Steinbeck's Truck & Camper

Steinbeck's Route

"Sweetpea"

Our first RV

In Search of Inspiration

Kingman, AZ - Route 66

Thursday, September 13, 2018
Blake Ranch RV Park & Horse Motel
Kingman, Arizona

Ahhh. We love having an extra day at an RV park. It gives us a chance to do a little sightseeing, as well as get a break from the driving. Three nights would be awesome, but two is a definite plus.

Rod & I prefer camping in the woods, near a lake or river, or along the coast, usually in a state campground. When those aren't available, RV parks are our next choice. The fancier parks may have multiple pools and trash pick up, but they tend to be pricey, especially if we need to stay a couple of nights. As we've been traveling these past five weeks, we've discovered some very nice RV parks that offer many of the amenities we look for, while maintaining a sense of ruggedness. Blake Ranch RV Park and Horse Motel fits this description. It may not have a pool & spa or pickleball courts, but the owners are very friendly and helpful and the grounds are lovely. There's plenty of shade, the sites are level and well-spaced, and while it's close to I-10 for easy access, the road noise was not an issue. To some, it may look like a gravel parking lot, but we've stayed in many of those and this one is charming. If we're ever in the area again, we'll book more than just two nights!

It was such a nice, peaceful morning. I went for a little walk around the park and watched the sun come up over the hills. There were only a few RVs in the park and the folks near us were all friendly and we enjoyed chatting with them before heading out for the day.

We're the third from the left.

Two fenced dog areas so the dogs can play off-leash.

Koi Pond

No crowds! This is definitely the 

time of year to stay at this RV park.

After breakfast, we headed into Kingman via DW Ranch Road and Hualapai Mountain Road. When time allows, we prefer to get off of the major highways and find a pretty drive such as this one. 

Powerhouse Visitor Center

The Burma Shave signs cracked me up!

Air Conditioning!

Willie Nelson's Electric-Powered Cart

(with an on-board wet bar)

Get your kicks, on Route 66.

Next stop, the Grand Canyon!