Seth, I'm so glad to discover your site! We met (online) in 2020 when you co-led a course on Social Threefolding and Agriculture, and I've been wanting to be in touch ever since. "But knowing how way leads unto way..." it has taken all this time.
What delights me about this post is how many of the books are already among my favorites or are waiting on my shelf to be read. Watch With Me is a treasure, of course, and I've had the pleasure of hearing Wendell read aloud from it, seeing as how he's a fellow Kentuckian. I've dipped a toe into Wilhelm Meister, though I confess it's not a real page-turner for me. And my wife and I read Cannery Row and are reading The Dispossessed aloud even now. So it's evident that you and I have some similar tastes in reading.
Another fine story is Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene. It tells about the title character, the typical self-doubting religious man of Greene's fiction, and his boisterous Communist friend, as they go on an adventure together. It is both humorous and touching.
Great to hear from you, Fred. Thanks for writing. It's true that Wilhelm Meister isn't a page turner at the beginning :) I'd say the first quarter or so felt a bit antiquated and slow moving, though once Wilhelm hits the road and starts traveling through 18th century Germany I became pretty fascinated. Then once he discovers Shakespeare, I was hooked. Then the last quarter has just this really powerful feeling to it. (On a practical note, I'm also a big fan of novels with short chapters, something that this book shares with Gandhi's autobiography, and I think also Tolstoy's Resurrection, if I'm not mistaken. I always read stories before bed, and if they have short chapters, then I can always get through at least one or two and start fresh the next night.)
Thanks for the Graham Green recommendation. I've never read anything by him, but I'll check it out. I'm always excited to find out about new authors. I've gotten a few good recommendations since posting this list. One that was especially enjoyable was The Free by Willy Vlautin. Ursula Le Guin actually wrote one of the blurbs on the edition that I was reading, and she compared it to Steinbeck. The down-to-earth characters are reminiscent of Steinbeck's, though Vlautin's language and imagination is much more pared down. But the characters were pretty fantastic. You get a window into a world where everyone is outwardly struggling - just barely scraping by - but there is a real poetic beauty to their relationships and inner life. I was pretty fascinated.
Also, I recently read The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which was also great. It's about the Underground Railroad and the story is infused with a kind of spirituality / magical realism which was kind of brimming over (one of the main characters was Harriet Tubman, who was historically a pretty mystical figure). It's also just seeped in questions of equality, not only racial but between the sexes and every group, which gave it the quality that you find in some of Ursula's work where the characters are really trying to live out of their ideals (for instance, anarchism in the Dispossessed) and so you get a window into that striving which is helpful for one's own.
Anyways - thanks again for writing Fred. All the best.
A book I found amazing, and that I can't help mention in addition, is Rabindranath Tagore's "The Home and the World." It has an incredible social dynamic between the three main characters -- a progressive Indian businessman who is a benefactor to his community, his childhood friend who is a fiery nationalist, and the businessman's wife who is in love with his friend. The story is told from all three points of view and is both powerful and heartbreaking. One of the most helpful things I found about the book though, is the picture it gives into the Indian nationalist movement. It's not a pretty picture, as Tagore was a severe critic of nationalism, and I would have to agree with him. I think nationalism is one of the most dangerous forces in the world today, so it's important to to learn to see it from the inside whenever we can.
Also, I wanted to say that if anyone wants to explore other works by Steinbeck, all of his books are socially insightful, but of course "The Grapes of Wrath" holds a special place in terms of digging deeper into society's systemic problems.
Seth, I'm so glad to discover your site! We met (online) in 2020 when you co-led a course on Social Threefolding and Agriculture, and I've been wanting to be in touch ever since. "But knowing how way leads unto way..." it has taken all this time.
What delights me about this post is how many of the books are already among my favorites or are waiting on my shelf to be read. Watch With Me is a treasure, of course, and I've had the pleasure of hearing Wendell read aloud from it, seeing as how he's a fellow Kentuckian. I've dipped a toe into Wilhelm Meister, though I confess it's not a real page-turner for me. And my wife and I read Cannery Row and are reading The Dispossessed aloud even now. So it's evident that you and I have some similar tastes in reading.
Another fine story is Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene. It tells about the title character, the typical self-doubting religious man of Greene's fiction, and his boisterous Communist friend, as they go on an adventure together. It is both humorous and touching.
Looking forward to reading more of your posts!
Fred Otto
Great to hear from you, Fred. Thanks for writing. It's true that Wilhelm Meister isn't a page turner at the beginning :) I'd say the first quarter or so felt a bit antiquated and slow moving, though once Wilhelm hits the road and starts traveling through 18th century Germany I became pretty fascinated. Then once he discovers Shakespeare, I was hooked. Then the last quarter has just this really powerful feeling to it. (On a practical note, I'm also a big fan of novels with short chapters, something that this book shares with Gandhi's autobiography, and I think also Tolstoy's Resurrection, if I'm not mistaken. I always read stories before bed, and if they have short chapters, then I can always get through at least one or two and start fresh the next night.)
Thanks for the Graham Green recommendation. I've never read anything by him, but I'll check it out. I'm always excited to find out about new authors. I've gotten a few good recommendations since posting this list. One that was especially enjoyable was The Free by Willy Vlautin. Ursula Le Guin actually wrote one of the blurbs on the edition that I was reading, and she compared it to Steinbeck. The down-to-earth characters are reminiscent of Steinbeck's, though Vlautin's language and imagination is much more pared down. But the characters were pretty fantastic. You get a window into a world where everyone is outwardly struggling - just barely scraping by - but there is a real poetic beauty to their relationships and inner life. I was pretty fascinated.
Also, I recently read The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which was also great. It's about the Underground Railroad and the story is infused with a kind of spirituality / magical realism which was kind of brimming over (one of the main characters was Harriet Tubman, who was historically a pretty mystical figure). It's also just seeped in questions of equality, not only racial but between the sexes and every group, which gave it the quality that you find in some of Ursula's work where the characters are really trying to live out of their ideals (for instance, anarchism in the Dispossessed) and so you get a window into that striving which is helpful for one's own.
Anyways - thanks again for writing Fred. All the best.
A book I found amazing, and that I can't help mention in addition, is Rabindranath Tagore's "The Home and the World." It has an incredible social dynamic between the three main characters -- a progressive Indian businessman who is a benefactor to his community, his childhood friend who is a fiery nationalist, and the businessman's wife who is in love with his friend. The story is told from all three points of view and is both powerful and heartbreaking. One of the most helpful things I found about the book though, is the picture it gives into the Indian nationalist movement. It's not a pretty picture, as Tagore was a severe critic of nationalism, and I would have to agree with him. I think nationalism is one of the most dangerous forces in the world today, so it's important to to learn to see it from the inside whenever we can.
Also, I wanted to say that if anyone wants to explore other works by Steinbeck, all of his books are socially insightful, but of course "The Grapes of Wrath" holds a special place in terms of digging deeper into society's systemic problems.