East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

“But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.”

Well, damn. Why did it take me so long to read this? WHY? People have been telling me for years that East of Eden was their favorite by Steinbeck and that it ranks up there as one of the best of the best. And all that hype and pushing made me just ignore it sitting on my shelf, while I read all of its other brothers. But while The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl and Of Mice and Men all have their glory and beautiful language and messages and themes, they aren't East...) of Eden. 

Maybe that's exaggerated because I love all those other Steinbecks as well (maybe not The Pearl), but there is something about East of Eden that I think will sit with me for a long time. 

In short, it's a novel about family and how families function. It's also a story about hope, goodness, and perseverance. It's also about a woman who I can't make my mind up about-was she just a crazy lady? Was she an early feminist, trying to push away from the role others were trying to force her into? Or was she something else entirely? I think I'll be mulling that one over for weeks.

But really, the novel is about the Trask family-Adam and Charles, the sun of Cyrus Trask. It's also about Adam's two sons, Caleb and Aron. It's also about the Hamilton family-wise old Samuel being my favorite. The story evolves over time, spanning from Adam and Charles' childhood in the East, to Adam moving west with his bride Cathy (see crazy lady from above), to the lives of Cal and Aron as they grow up and learn to be men. It's filled with secrets and devastation. There were moments when I gasped and kept flipping pages, resulting in some very rough mornings. But it left me with a sense of hope.

I think one of the things I really took away was Timshel, the word highlighted in the passage above. A lot of the novel mirrors the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, and a couple of the characters-Sam and Adam-discuss that story. Was Cain destined to be evil? Was it his choice? 

It's an interesting discussion, and the events of the novel explore the idea of what it means to be good, what it means to bad. It contrasts truly good characters, like Lee, against those who are evil-like Cathy. It gets you thinking about what it means to be good, and what it means to be evil. Do we have to fight to be good? Are some of us born with evil in our hearts? It makes you wonder.

The language, as expected from Steinbeck, is flowing and rich. As a majority of the story takes place in the Salinas Valley, a place Steinbeck knew well and wrote about often, it flies off the page in lush detail, drawing you in. I've come to love Steinbeck's depictions of nature and American life, and he is at his best in East of Eden. 

I can't believe I waited this long to read it.

“I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart. I guess a loving woman is indestructible.” 

I loved this novel and I feel as though my words don't do it justice. But I'm going to cherish it as a favorite and join all those "pushers" to get more people to read it. 

“And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.”

*This was the second book from my 2018 TBR Challenge that I read! 2 books down in the first month-go me!

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork.

“The right note sounds right and the wrong note sounds wrong.” 

I'm not quite sure where to begin to talk about Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork. I suppose I should mention that this was the first book I read this year for my TBR Challenge List. And I loved it. I did. 

I added this book to my Goodreads "To Read" list way back in 2010, and finally got around to checking out our copy from the media center before my Christmas break. It was one of the few books I kept out in the open while packing, etc in hopes I would have a spare moment to read (HA), but it sat patiently on my nightstand until I finished book 1 of 2018. Then it was all mine.

I wasn't sure what to expect reading this, but I loved it. It's a very...calm book. Things happen and they're exciting and dramatic and heartbreaking and warm all at the same time, but because Marcelo is who he is, it's calm. It sinks in and surrounds you and you become Marcelo and hope that he doesn't see the evil and sorrow in the world. But he does. Because that's what the real world does to you.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Writing about books is hard after so long away from it that everything wants to come out all at once and I'm discombobulated. See? I should take this out, but I won't.

Marcelo is a 17 year old boy who has been diagnosed with something like Asperger's, but is so high-functioning that it isn't Asperger's. He has spent most of his life attending Paterson, a school for students like him, and because of that, has been sheltered from the "real world." His father, a very successful lawyer, tells Marcelo that he will spend the summer before his senior year working at his law firm instead of at Paterson working with the horses. Arturo (his father) has hopes that once Marcelo is in the "real world," he will see that he can function just fine with regular people and can attend a normal high school for his senior year. Marcelo hates the idea, but does it. 

It is over this summer that Marcelo becomes a part of the real world. He befriends Jasmine, his boss in the mail room, and learns the ins and outs of functioning in the world. It comes with rough patches, with bad days, but Marcelo begins to learn that things are not always so black and white. That there is gray, which is hard for him to determine and understand. 

I was shocked by how much I enjoyed this book, especially as it took me a few chapters to get into the story. But by the end, I was rooting for Marcelo, encouraging him in my own head as he challenged the delicate social constructs he had lived his life by. It was inspiring-to see the dramatic changes in a person once they are set free from an environment in which they are comfortable and are forced into awkward positions-making real decisions that could have life-altering consequences.

Most of all, I loved Marcelo's voice. It felt authentic. His confusion, his anger, his frustration-it all felt real and the language was beautiful to read. 

“Then it comes to me. It cannot be that this is the first time I realized this, but it is. We all have ugly parts. I think of the time in the cafeteria when Jasmine asked me what the girl in the picture was asking me. How do we live with all the suffering? We see our ugly parts, and then we are able to forgive, love kindness, walk humbly.”

In some ways, this reminded me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, but this was better (is that an unpopular opinion?). I definitely want to read more by Stork (The Memory of Light is calling my name). Overall, a wonderful book that lifted my spirits in the gloom of winter.

“My brain is like a water faucet that I can turn on or off. Only now there is no off and the water of thoughts just flows.”

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on My Summer TBR List.

It's Tuesday, and that means the folks over at The Broke and The Bookish are hosting "Top Ten Tuesday." Each week they pick a topic and bloggers count down their top ten in the given category.

This week is the "Top Ten Books on our Summer TBR Lists." These lists are some of my favorites-I love making lists for my TBR piles. :) And since I am just getting back into the swing of blogging on a regular basis, I think counting down the ten books I most want to get to this summer is great inspiration.

In no particular order:

1. Under the Dome by Stephen King: I'm actually already reading this. I heard there was a readalong going on a couples weeks ago, and I knew I would pick this up as soon as school got out. The only other King book I've read is On Writing, so this is a new experience for me. :) I've been wanting to read this since it came out, so I'm glad the opportunity is here!

2. The Odyssey by Homer: I'm hosting a readalong of this starting on July 1. I'm excited to reread one of my favorite books of all time and share my love and passion with all of you. It's also been a few years (4) since my last reread (the first book I read for my classics project), so I'm hoping this will further inspire me to tackle the remaining titles on my classics list.

3. On the Road by Jack Kerouac: I only have a few more days to finish this for Adam's The Beats of Summer event. This is a title that's been on my mental TBR for a long time, and I think the timing is perfect. Assuming I can tear myself away from King for a day or two, this will be my very next read. :)

4.  The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather: This is the next title for my Willa Cather Project, and I'd really like to finish it (I actually started it and finished 50 pages this spring but set it aside in favor of sanity. From what I read, I know I'm going to love it, so it's just waiting on my nightstand.

5. Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: I'm thinking of hosting another Victorian Event come late summer since last year's was a blast. This title was one I really wanted to read last year, but I never had a chance...and it has been calling to me ever since. Even if I don't host another Victorian event, I'm still going to read this!

6. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: I started reading this back in January and got pretty far before setting it down...and never picking it up again. This is a title I'm ready for, so I think this will become a priority come July.

7. Teaching with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and David Funk: The closest I can come to explaining my classroom teaching style is "Love and Logic," but it has been a really long time since reading this (and I know I don't follow it to the letter, but I don't think I need to). I do want to read this again as a refresher before school starts up again in the fall. While I was happy with how I ran things this past year, I have a lot to learn.

8. Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien: This is another one that has been on my mental TBR for a long time. I've only ever read The Things They Carried by O'Brien, so I'm looking forward to another O'Brien experience.

9. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: This is a title that has been calling to me from my bookshelf for a while. I haven't read it since my miserable experience has a high school sophomore, so I think it's time to give it a go! It can't be as bad as I remember, right? :)

10. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: I haven't read Plath's novel since I was in college, but I think I need to read it again! One of my groups of sophomores researched her for their American author project, and that spurred a desire to pick it up again.

There you have it-the ten books I most want to read and finish this summer! Let me know what you're planning to read!