Reading has been one of the important things in my life along with writing.   They both can teach and transport us safely to unknown places.  Some books whether fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s, etc. can add value to our lives. 

One of the eye-opening books of my life is John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath published in 1939.   It alludes to White people treating other White people criminally during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl.   A mass migration began from Oklahoma and other states to California.   Along the way, we find why there developed a need for unions (who will pick a bushel of fruit for a $1, then .75, then .50, and before you know it your family has to pick several bushels at .25 per bushel.  Certainly not enough to feed a family after buying essentials in that same farmer’s store), tenant farmers who gave their lives to work land they would never own, and man’s inhumanity to mankind.  Even in the Bible, the Jews were instructed to leave some of their crop for the poor.

“Steinbeck’s book is historical fiction and was banned and burned by citizens although it was the best-selling book of 1939.  It won the National book award and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the Nobel Prize for Literature.   The most fervent attacks came from the Associated Farmers of California, and the book was challenged off and on into the 1990’s.”  (Wikipedia) Director John Ford made the book into the movie Grapes of Wrath in 1940.

Don’t be afraid to tackle a thick book.   The more you read the better you get.   Some books are now in audible form and can be borrowed from the library, my favorite place.

Written by Rosa L. Griffin