Tuesday, April 26, 2011

A Life of Meaning

I am reading East of Eden. I will probably finish it soon. As in tonight.
It is wonderful. I have a feeling it may not end wonderfully though.
It won a Nobel Prize, I'm not sure why I didn't read it before.
I really dislike that my school work takes me away from pleasure reading.
But I still get it done.
If you don't read, you should. It enlightens an individual.
It brightens the day.
It illuminates the mind.

"It was natural that their minds leaped on and recoiled, and they would not speak of that, but their minds said, There can't be any world without Samuel."

This is said of his many children sitting together (all grown) discussing how their father had suddenly become an old man. How did this happen? Where did his youth go? But their father was immortal.

"There can't be any world without Samuel."

That is such a lovely thought. The children did not know what to do.
How to go on.
To live a life where others thought that of you.
To wonder how life continues once you have passed?
His children conspired on how to prolong the event.
But it still came. And they were greatly grieved.

It is beautiful.
Of Mice and Men is one of my favorite books, and yet I've never read another Steinbeck.
I plan to purchase the Grapes of Wrath soon.
Steinbeck is a lovely author. Lovely.
Not for everybody, but he brings tears to my eyes as I read.
I enjoy a good read.

Even though I have not finished it, I highly recommend East of Eden.
I know it probably won't end well. It is literature.
The story of every man.
Not much room for happy endings.
But it is beautiful, all the same.

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