Take a photo of a barcode or cover
mimi_me 's review for:
Travels with Charley in Search of America
by John Steinbeck
I loved this book because it made me understand and respect John Steinbeck as a man and as an author. Separated from the depressing, demoralizing tales that we all read in High School (that's how I viewed the Grapes of Wrath when I was 17--and I'm not about to revisit that book any time soon...), his words ring clear and true and his abilities to craft phrases and invoke time and place and feel are fabulous. This for me, was more a collection of Steinbeck's thoughts and feelings about the state of America and Americans in 1960 and a glimpse into his character and values than a true travelogue, but all the more wonderful because of this fact.
The money quote appears early in the book when Steinbeck is musing about a recent bout of ill-health and the possibility that this trip may be too much for him:
"For I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard or too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I've lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not a punishment. I did not want to surrender my fierceness for a small gain in yardage.... And in my own life I am not willing to trade quality for quantity. If this projected journey should prove too much then it was time to go anyway. I see too many men delay their exits with a sickly, slow reluctance to leave the stage. It's bad theater as well as bad living."
The money quote appears early in the book when Steinbeck is musing about a recent bout of ill-health and the possibility that this trip may be too much for him:
"For I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard or too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I've lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not a punishment. I did not want to surrender my fierceness for a small gain in yardage.... And in my own life I am not willing to trade quality for quantity. If this projected journey should prove too much then it was time to go anyway. I see too many men delay their exits with a sickly, slow reluctance to leave the stage. It's bad theater as well as bad living."