Book recommendations....

[SeaEagleRock8]

Just finished Steinbecks In Dubious Battle (1935), the first book in the Dust Bowl trilogy, the others being Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. I wasn't aware this book even existed (apparently they made a movie based on it in 2016 and I wasn't aware of that either).
In Dubious Battle is arguably the most overtly political of the three books. As the book opens, one of the main characters, Jim Nolan, joins the Communist Party. For his first assignment, Nolan is sent with Mac, one of the Party veteran organisers to help foment a strike among migratory fruit pickers in a small California valley. When the pickers arrive in the valley for the yearly harvest, the Grower’s Association announces that their wages would be dramatically reduced, creating the perfect conditions for the organisers to capitalise on the anger of the pickers . The book follows their efforts to get the strike off the ground and Jim’s growth as an organiser as he learns from his more experienced partner.
Mac is ruthless and in his own way equally manipulative of the workers as the Grower’s Association . To Mac, the workers are merely a means to an end and the potential suffering that the strike might inflict upon them doesn’t even merit consideration. The most likeable character is probably Doc Burton who doesn't let ideology get in the way of his humanity. Great book and well worth a read.

A year or so ago I read Of Mice and Men. Had never read any Steinbeck and I thought I'd check out some classics for a change. Set during the Great Depression. Well worth it (and a very short book!)

 

[Captain Moondog]

A year or so ago I read Of Mice and Men. Had never read any Steinbeck and I thought I'd check out some classics for a change. Set during the Great Depression. Well worth it (and a very short book!)

Cannery Row and The Grapes of Wrath are also worth a look.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Couple I've read lately are by Jack Beaumont, (pen-name) who is actually a former French spy and now author living in Australia. The Frenchman and Dark Arena.
Spy novels set in current day with chilling detail about how spies are operating amongst us and some of their 'craft'. Found them really interesting and he actually writes well (his second one possibly slightly slicker than the first)

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Cannery Row and The Grapes of Wrath are also worth a look.

depressing or uplifting?

 

[Captain Moondog]

depressing or uplifting?

Grapes of Wrath is depressing but still worth reading. Cannery Row is funny in parts.

 

[Captain Moondog]

Grapes of Wrath is depressing but still worth reading. Cannery Row is funny in parts.

Springsteens song The Ghost of Tom Joad is about the main character in Grapes.