Travels With Charley

So I don't know if any of you are still reading and if you read this month, but I LOVED this book. I had never read it and I just finished it for my English class. In fact, I loved it so much, I am writing my final paper about it.

Steinbeck has an amazing way of describing the landscape of the great country we live in. All of his words in this book are so beautiful.

When he visits Wisconsin, Steinbeck describes it like this,
"When I saw it for the first and only time in early October, the air was rich with butter-colored sunlight, not fuzzy but crisp and clear so that every frost-gay tree was set off, the rising hills were not compounded, but alone and separate. I remember now that that I had been told Wisconsin is a lovely state, but the telling had not prepared me. It was a magic day. The land dripped with richness, the fat cows and pigs gleaming against green, and, in the smaller holdings, corn standing in little tents as corn should, and pumpkins all about."

Wonderful.

And, when he describes the redwoods and Northern California. This book stole my heart.

It was fantastic.

March

I am still here. I've been busy reading for school. I forgot how exhausting it is to be in a literature class. It's my own fault, though, since I am a Lit major :)

So, I'm going to cheat for March. I'm going to choose a book that I have to read for my class anyway. Good idea, huh?

We are going to read Travels With Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck.

This is what Wikipedia says:

Travels with Charley: In Search of America is a travelogue written by American author John Steinbeck. It recounts tales of a 1960 road trip with his French standard poodle, Charley, around the United States. He wrote that he was moved by a desire to see his country on a personal level, since he made his living writing about it. He wrote of having many questions going into his journey, the main one being, "What are Americans like today?" However, he found that the "new America" did not live up to his expectations

My Professor says it's good, so take that with a grain of salt. But, it's a short, easy read so it should be pretty fun. I'm excited to see you in all in less than 2 months!