The Grapes of Wrath, The Conclusioning: "The break would never come as long as fear could turn to wrath."

Well. I don't know about you guys, but after I finished The Grapes of Wrath, I sure felt completely drained. That last section is just unrelenting awfulness, huh? Like... you feel like we've already had some dismal times, but nope, just had to throw a stillborn baby in there, didn't ya Steinbeck?

Let's see... So, the peach farm. That seemed like a pleasant place to work and live, huh? 'Oh hey, you can have this money while you're being scabs, but as soon as we PUT THESE DAMN REDS BACK IN THEIR PLACE, you've got to accept a pay cut. It was just kind of like the culmination of all the things Steinbeck's been warning us about all the time, and it. Is. Bitter.

And then Casy came back!

And it's like oh YAY, everything's going to be ok because my favourite character except Ma is back and he will MAKE SOCIALISM HAPPEN, only, no, wait, look, instead let's club him to death and get Tom in terrible trouble!

Do we feel like this is some kind of massively downer message from Steinbeck like 'yeah, I really want socialism to happen. But it's never going to happen, is it?' (God, Steinbeck, stop trying to make Socialism happen. It's never going to happen.) Or is it just meant to be like 'that dead guy was really nice and only tried to do good things for everyone, so we should RISE UP and be like him!' I don't know. All I know is that I did not like it! I never do.

I actually kind of misremembered that they snuck Tom out of the peach farm place and then he hid in those woods, because I thought he sort of ran off into the night a la Connie a few chapters back. But nope, he hid in the woods near some boxcars for no discernible reason (oh wait, were they going to have him back in when his face healed? But wouldn't everyone have still been like 'Where the hell did he come from?!') and then STUPID Ruthie went and told on him. I seriously... Like, I like the kids for the moments of comic relief they bring to the novel, but Ruthie is SUCH a cow and she really needs a good talking to! And Ma's just like 'oh... never mind. She's just a kid.' And yeah, she is, but she's also a dickhead and needs to be spoken to!

Anyway... So Tom had to leave. Which was totally sad, but hey! He's going to take on the Socialist cause! (I think) You know that whole speech he gives that reads kind of lamely? Well, in the movie, it sounds totally awesome, and not just because it's coming out of Henry Fonda's mouth. This is where I was going to link you to a youtube video of said awesome moment, but I can't find one. So you'll have to take my word for it. Instead, I offer you what I can only assume was Alice's reaction at Al Joad's marriage announcement:

Which, brings us neatly to the final scene. Which I know we're going to talk about, but I don't really want to. The thing is, it's so... creepy and beyond what we normally expect that the natural reaction to it is EURGH, which I do ALWAYS have and I fully blocked out the ending for probably the first 3 times I read it, but of COURSE I'm going to have to defend Steinbeck here like I've been doing for four weeks (you guys all love when I invade your comments and defend Steinbeck, right? I knows you do!). BECAUSE yes it's creepy and gross, but if you think around it and not about IT then it's a kind of wonderful thing for Rosasharn to do (and sort of makes up for her being a WHINY SHREW for the entire book) and Ma approves which is just GREAT, and then also... It's meant to be gross. It's meant to be like, no things AREN'T supposed to be this way, but look at the lengths people have to go to just to eat! WHAT IS UP WITH THIS SHIT?

Also, I think there's something about hope and survival against all odds in there, but who can really say?

So. It seems about right to wrap things up about now, so GUYS! You did it! (I assume). You read The Grapes of Wrath!

And sadder and wiser women we will rise the morrow morn. Or something. But yeah, I hope y'all got something out of it other than 'I wish Steinbeck would stop being such a damn red' and also, if you needs some more Steinbeck, imagine that in every bookshop you go into, I am SHOVING you towards East of Eden. But The Grapes of Wrath will remain an important book in my reading history, and I've come to believe it even bestowed me with some important Socialist ideals that will never go away. So NICE WORK, Steinbeck! *thumbs up at my indoctrination*

THE END (link up below, my pretties)

Devouring Books: Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

"He had never heard anything like it before. You don't cry like this. You're not allowed to cry like this. You die if you cry like this."

I've been meaning to read Let The Right One In for a couple of years now, but I somehow just never got round to it. It's weird, because it's something my friend Christina is always telling me to read, and it involves Sweden and vampires, and the combination of those two things always ends up being my favourite thing:

But yeah, somehow this just ended up staying on the shelf (or, more accurately, in the bottom of my wardrobe) for a while. But now it has been read, and all the world did rejoice!

So. Eric Northman does not appear in this book. I know. I KNOW. What is the point of even being Swedish and writing about vampires, if the greatest Swedish vampire of all isn't included? It's just like... Whatever. 

I'm going to start again. 

So, Let the Right One In is a vampire novel, but also it's a really novel vampire novel- I feel like I've said before how much I enjoy it when authors add new things to the vampire canon (like, artificial blood substitute drinks, and having a soul makes you good, and, well, being super emo about being a vampire...) and Let The Right One In does that in a number of different ways that I don't really want to tell you about because, hey, you want to discover them for yourself, don't you? You surely do! Although, let's just say that saving someone you love after they've been bitten? Maybe not the best thing you can do.

There are a LOT of different characters in Let The Right One In, a lot of things going on at once, and it's not always clear who you're supposed to be rooting for; or how everyone fits into the bigger picture. This is both a blessing and a... non-good thing, in that, hey, I don't really want to be told who to root for, and I don't even know if I'm sure now if what happened should have happened, and I like that. But then there are a lot of characters introduced who seem like they're going to be important and then turn out not to be (I'm thinking specifically of Tommy right now) or, it's not even that they're not important, but that their stories just aren't properly ended, which kind of bugs me. The fact that I want to know about what happened to them? The mark of a good book.

I read this over two weeks, because of reasons, and I would recommend NOT doing that if you want to read it. I mean, it was still a good read, but I'd kind of forgotten details and who was friends with who, and there's a kid called Tomas and one called Tommy and that got confusing, and I'd just say... aim to read it in less time. Which is probably good advice for any book, but still. The fact that the movie(s) have been such a big thing is kind of annoying too, because the word vampire doesn't appear in this book until the middle. And even though you can kind of guess what's going on before that, it would still be a lot more effective, atmosphere-wise, if you didn't know at all that it was about vampires (the blurb DOES NOT help, either). But I guess that's the price you pay for something having become popular and you having not read it for ages after you got it. Hmph.

Now, since this was my very last RIP read of the year (my tenth, I might add. Wow.) I should probably ask myself the question 'Do I feel lucky?' I mean 'Was this book scary?' and you know what... Yeah. It was. Kind of. I mean, it wasn't so scary that I couldn't sleep, or that I couldn't read it before bedtime, but it was definitely gory enough, and creepy, and also at one point this guy shits his pants with fear, which is both disgusting and... Understandable, in his circumstances. I'd say it's maybe more thriller-y than horror, but it's hard to define in any way because it really has everything- Paedophilia, vampires, murders, blood, bullying, hospitals, glue sniffing, alcoholics, useless parents, and even, in the strangest of places, love.

I'll bet you never knew Sweden was so dark.

Sunday Sundries: Workety Work Work

Happy Sunday guys! I'm kind of understanding this weekend thing more now that I have a job again, so yay to weekends! Not... that I did anything with my Saturday other than watching Girls and knitting and writing blog posts. But still! These are things I enjoy! A lot.

So, it's weird. Because I'm working part time (2-6pm, daily) I theoretically have time to do things in the day, but it's kind of like... it gets to 1pm and I haven't done anything and then I have to have lunch and leave, pretty much. This is mainly because I'm really bad in the mornings, but also because I haven't really settled into this new schedule of things, and I guess still subconsciously think that I will have the afternoon to do things (this is when I used to like blog and read blogs and read and stuff, is why I'm bringing this up) and... I do not. So, OBVIOUSLY the answer to this is to get my shit together and get things going in the mornings (and getting up earlier... Wednesday I woke up at like 10.45am, which is clearly NOT OK) and yeah. Get stuff done.

But it's like, the things I haven't been getting done have been RIDICULOUS because I wrote this blog post about Haworth I think last weekend, and then just kept forgetting to post it until Thursday, which is just stupid! So... I'm going to get my shit together and try not to be stupid! I just need time and a new brain...

So, yeah. I'm slightly overwhelmed by the change in schedule, but I'll be fine. I did manage to fit in an opticians appointment and lunch with a couple of my friends in the mornings before work, so... it's not like I haven't done anything! And yesterday I finished my first book in 2 weeks, I'm aiming to finish The Grapes of Wrath today... Shit is happening. Just... slightly slower than usual. I'll get better at this schedule thing, I swear! (This is mainly for me rather than for you guys. I should probably shut up now.)

So! It's a bit of a short one this week, but I don't really have anything else to tell you! I got two exciting packages in the post this week, so that was awesome, and I've realised that I have no suitable officewear, so it's a good job I don't work in a formal office! All of this feels really boring (except for the packages, they were awesome!) so tell me, TELL ME about your week please? It was good? I sure hope so!

The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop

Hey, you know what time it is? Time for me to give away another book!

Since I gave away a zillion books a week or so ago (this was not the best thought out of my actions) I'm just giving away one book today to one extremely lucky winner, cause you know what that book is?

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins! (The internet didn't have any big pictures of it, which is why the cover is all blurry and all. Stupid internet). I only discovered WILKIE (as he is so epic that he can only be referred to in all capitals) this year and already I've read 3 of his books and he's a firm favourite of mine. The Woman in White was my first, so if you've never read WILKIE before then this is an awesome, nay, the only place to start.

I know you're dying to read it now, so here's what you have to do. Don't worry about being a follower or anything like that (although, you know, don't feel like you can't follow... do what your heart tells you to) but leave me a comment with your email address (seriously, if you don't leave your email address, I'm not even entering you, because that shit tires me out) and some kind of reason why you're awesome and so will be able to appreciate the awesomeness of this book. Sounds good? I know. A free book! *ADDS* This giveaway is open internationally, and will close at 12pm on 31st October (known in the normal world as Halloween).

Annnnd, that's about all I have to tell you! Make sure you go and visit all the other giveaways, and have fun hopping! Over and out.

Leeswammes Read in a Single Sitting Ephemeral Digest My Devotional Thoughts Devouring Texts Tony's Reading List Nishita's Rants and Raves Too Fond The Parrish Lantern Kristi Loves Books The Book Club Blog Sam Still Reading Silver's Reviews (USA) Bibliosue Heavenali Under My Apple Tree Misfortune of Knowing (North America) Lena Sledge's Blog Lost Generation Reader Seaside Book Nook The Relentless Reader Rikki's Teleidoscope Monique Morgan That READioactive Book Blog kaggsysbookisahramblings Ragdoll Books Blog Kate's Library The Book Garden Uniflame Creates Curiosity Killed The Bookworm

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Devouring Books: Burton on Burton

"I never think of things as dark or light. I've always felt that you couldn't even pull apart light and dark, they're so intertwined."

The first thing I'm going to say about Burton on Burton is, if you're looking for some access into Tim Burton's private life (and, let's face it, who isn't? [everyone]) then you're going to be disappointed- there's no blow by blow account of his meeting and wooing Helena Bonham Carter, no deep dark teenage secrets, and you know what? I prefer it that way. It feels like now, we know waaay too much about people in the public eye, when really all we need to know is about their body of work. Which is what Burton on Burton focuses on excellently.

I mean, I'd be lying if I said that the book revealed nothing about Burton apart from his work, but it's almost like... Because the structure of the book is Burton talking about himself and mainly his work, it's like you get to know him through the context of his work. I mean, in the early years section, you find out that he was an awkward, shy, artistic kid who grew up in suburbia, hating it; but that's nothing you wouldn't have been able to figure out by watching Edward Scissorhands, for example. So yeah, there are a few things like that that the book 'reveals', but mostly it's about Burton's work and how he feels about it, which is fine by me. Perfect, even.

So, that's what you don't get. But what you do get is a lot of information about how Burton envisaged his films, what it was like making them, and the strangely disturbing fact that he doesn't like comic books (doesn't he seem exactly like a kid who was obsessed with comic books? Apparently it's because he could never figure out which box to read, which is just adorable, actually!) Add this to the 2 (TWO!) introductions by Johnny Depp, both of which are extremely articulate and just make me go 'Oh Depp, you talented bastard *sigh*'; and to the fact that it stops juuust before his films started becoming very very similar (except for Sweeney Todd, which is awesome) and Burton on Burton becomes a fairly comprehensive, and above all interesting perspective on Burton's films.

A quick note: I read this as a Tim Burton fan, and a seasoned connoisseur of his movies. Apart from his very early work, I think I've only not seen 2 or 3 of his movies, and so obviously getting a behind the scenes, or better, behind the director's eyes look at them was pretty awesome. If, however, you've only seen a few of his movies and want to see more, then this is maybe not the best book for you because spoilers? They're not exactly avoided. A LOT of prior knowledge is assumed with this book, as I guess it would be since, why would you want to read it if you don't like Tim Burton films?, but it's slightly frustrating when you're given almost the entire plot of Planet of the Apes, which maybe you didn't intend to watch, but now you definitely won't because there's no point. This is an actual example, obviously. So yeah, just be aware of that, people, and don't say I didn't warn you.

Anyway. Basically, the end result of Burton on Burton for me has been 'rewatch ALL THE BURTON.' Now, it's been 2 weeks since I read it and, um, I haven't actually rewatched any of the Burton, but hey! I've been busy. So I now have a weekend plan, to rewatch ALL THE BURTON (it is nearly Halloween and all). I'll report back in due course, obviously.

Until then, I'll leave you with some nuggets of Tim Burton wisdom:

• "I've always felt: how can everybody else want to see it if I don't want to? And if I want to see it, and nobody else wants to, then at least I get to see it. So there's one person who will enjoy it."
• "I loved Batman, the split personality, the hidden person. It's a character I could relate to. Having these two sides, a light side and a dark one, and not being able to resolve them- that's a feeling that's not uncommon."
• "[Growing up in Suburbia] You never felt that there was any attachment to things. So you were either forced to conform and cut out a large portion of your personality, or to develop a very strong interior life  which made you feel separate."
• "I find it darker when there's a light-hearted attitude to violence and it's more identifiable than when something is completely removed from reality. I've always had trouble understanding that."

Literary Locations: Haworth

Look, I've started a new thing! Kinda. This is just where I'm going to attempt to go places that have a literary background and then talk about them and stuff. Look! Here's one I did already where I went to Jane Austen's House!

When I went to Haworth, I'd just been on about a 6 hour drive to 'The North' (this is literally what the motorway signs say) with my sister. When I say 'drive', I obviously mean that she did all the work because I cannot, but six hours in a car is still tiring even if you're just the passenger. Trust me. So after those six hours, we had a really brief sojourn at our B&B (Barn to Rest, about 2 minutes drive away from Haworth, highly recommended) we drove what turned out to be the shortest distance ever into Haworth. Considering how incredible GORGEOUS the moors are (at least in August) I do completely regret not walking there, so if ever you're staying not too far away from Haworth, go for the walk.

Haworth is so pretty. I can't overstate that. It's kind of nestled in the moors and has cobbled streets (which always trip me up, by the way) and old-fashioned shops, and is essentially what I guess the popular imagination thinks that all of England is actually like. Trust me- basically nothing in the South of England is as picturesque as Haworth, and that's kind of a good thing because I'm not sure my eyes could cope with this amount of constant beauty, and, alternatively, I'm not sure I could cope with my brain no longer processing the constant beauty. Sample conversation with the B&B owner:

Me: It's so gorgeous here!
Her: (offhand) Oh yeah, I suppose it is. Sometimes, anyway.

IT'S GORGEOUS AND EVEN IN THE WINTER IT WOULD BE ALL MOODY AND GORGEOUS.

Anyway. Before I go into how great the Parsonage was (and I thought it was excellent, both atmospherically and information-giving-ly) a note on the weather. The further north we drove and the further we got into Yorkshire, the gloomier and rainier it seemed to get. This prompted me to make an observation on the differences between the writing of the Brontes and that of Jane Austen, which I now believe can be boiled down to this: Austen lived in the fairly temperate weather of the South of England, so rather than feeling gloomy all the time she could just observe social behaviour and roll her eyes at everything. The Brontes? Totally had to cope with near constant cloud and gloom which, admittedly, tends to put on in kind of a less positive frame of mind.

I'm telling you all this because, by the time we got to Haworth? It was gorgeous. Sunny the whole time we were there. The moors were beautiful rather than dark, barren and imposing. It made me happy, sure, but I'm not sure I'll ever forgive the weather for depriving me of some Bronte gloom.

Anyway... moving on from complaining about the nice weather like a crazy person, our first destination in Haworth was, of course, the Parsonage where Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte lived for the majority of their lives. It was pretty intense just standing outside it, to be honest- there's a sign on this wall that explains where a gate used to be that the Brontes went through to church, and I had a moment where I could imagine them running through it so they wouldn't be late... like I said, intense!

And then, for a nominal fee (I think, £7? I would probably have paid a lot more, anyway) we went inside the Parsonage and got to have a nose around at everything. And by everything, I mean A LOT of things. Like, the table that the sisters used to sit around nightly and write, which was also in the room Emily died in (nice, I know) and almost directly above it, the room Charlotte died in! As in any place like this, that was once a home and is now a museum, there were a few dud areas (I could have done without the whole room that was just about Charlotte's husband, if I'm honest) but on the whole there was a lot (a LOT) of Bronte memorabilia that I really think is worth seeing for any Bronte fan.

Also there's this creepy-ass statue that I really don't think we need to talk about.

I learnt a lot of new things about the Brontes at the Parsonage, most of which I've now, predictably, forgotten, but one thing that sticks out is this: While all the Bronte siblings are buried in the church, (which we weren't allowed to go in because they were doing building work on it- hmph!) Anne is not because she died in Scarborough, and Charlotte had her buried there because she wanted to save her father the heartbreak of having to bury another child. Which is all very well and good, and I know it doesn't actually make much of a difference, but... It sort of makes me want to cry because I think of Anne being all alone where she's buried, and... *sniff*.

Quick tourist's guide to Haworth- it's lovely and the shops are all set on this MASSIVE HILL which is fine to walk down, but a lot more effort to get back up (as is the way with hills...) but since it's Yorkshire (and please ignore anyone in basically any Bronte novel, Joseph in Wuthering Heights I'm looking at YOU) the people are so lovely and friendly that you don't even care that you can't breathe as you peruse the shops. A word to the wise: if you go to Haworth on a Monday (as we did) everywhere closes at six and some places don't even bother to open. THIS INCLUDES RESTAURANTS. So good LUCK getting fed- we went to this pub that has allegedly stopped serving food (at 6pm! On a Monday!) and where everyone kind of looked like they wanted to kill us, thus making themselves the exception to the 'friendly Yorkshire people' rule! We did eventually get fed in a hotel and it was fine, but my advice to you is this- make your trip to Haworth a day trip, and clear off out of there by about 5pm. So you can get fed somewhere. 

So that's what happened in Haworth. Hopefully this will be useful to someone out there planning to go on a Bronte pilgrimage, but if not then... This is what I did in my summer holidays! It was aces! And I'll say about the only thing I've said for the last few months: I LOVE Yorkshire!

The Grapes of Wrath Part 3: "'What ya think everyone else is lookin' for? Di'monds?'"

I've decided to allow myself just one rant this week, so that there's time to focus on the happy things! That actually happened! So here comes the rant to get it out of the way.

Cause, you know, this:

"There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolise. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And the children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificates- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot."

So, ok, I know the whole of chapter 25 was basically Steinbeck pushing back against progress, but how progressive is progress really if it can't stop children from dying? It seems clear that something has gone horribly wrong when SO much food is being produced, and then just left to rot because it can't be turned into money, when people are starving to death. I think this just really got to me because it still happens, and honestly, it really shouldn't. I know that in the EU, there are lakes of milk and wine, and mountains of rice, wheat and sugar, because SO much is produced, and it seems RIDICULOUS to me that it can't go to feed people who need it, and it always has. And yes, I understand economically that it isn't a good thing to just give people free food, but fuck economics, fuck 'progress', fuck profits, what about a little bit of humanity?

Rant over. But it still burns in my SOUL.

Now let's talk about crazy religious fanatics! I mean, seriously, horrifyingly scary woman,

Who just goes around scaring pregnant young girls whose husbands have JUST RUN OFF AND LEFT THEM (stupid Connie), telling them that they're sinners and that their babies are going to fall out of them?! Assholes, that's who. Or, also, Clack probably would have done it if they'd spoken of pregnancies and things in Victorian times, which obviously they didn't. I did enjoy her return and Ma's threatening to beat her with a stick (GO MA!) and the way Ma basically told Rose of Sharon that she wasn't important enough for God to be bothered about, which was a pretty refreshing thing to hear from a mother about their kid. I also enjoyed how, in the following chapter, Steinbeck basically made it clear that such fundamentalism provides pleasure for a certain kind of person, which, you know, these poor people deserve in their lives. But maybe not at the expense of other poor people WHO ARE PREGNANT AND VULNERABLE.

Also, this preacher sounds like a douche: "He says 'The poor is trying to be rich.'"

By having nice dances and shit? How fucking dare they?!

Anyway... Did we all notice the nice shift in tone in this section? I mean, sure the preacher (the nice one, our preacher) got carted off to jail, and they had to escape that Hooverville before it got burned to the ground, and those people threatened to kill them if they didn't leave their town, but... The government camp! How freaking wonderful is that place? I surely was amused that the children had never seen a toilet before, and that Ma and Rose of Sharon had a whole excited conversation about the showers, and basically, I wouldn't mind living in one of those camps!

Too bad Connie didn't stick around to see the nice camp, and lasted all of about 2 hours in the Hooverville before running out on his PREGNANT WIFE. For personal reasons, though, I don't exactly mind any of this, because it made for some amusing opinions about Connie being allowed to come out in the open:
PA: "'Well, he ain't no good... all the time a-sayin' what he's a-gonna do. Never doin' nothin'."
TOM: "'She might's well give him up. He's prob'ly studyin' to be President of the United States by now.'"

Fortunately, Rose of Sharon still has Ma (GLORIOUS MA) around, to dole out sage advice, aka things that she should probably already know. You know, like:
"'They's times when how you feel got to be kep' to yourself.'" (Translation: You're not the only one with troubles, girl, buck up!)
"'In a little while it ain't gonna be so bad. In a little while. An' that's true.'" (Translation: Time heals all wounds. This too shall pass.)

At this point, if I didn't actually know what was going to happen, I would be SO optimistic. I mean, sure there's this threat of escalating violence, and sure there've been allusions to children starving (Ruthie and Winfield better watch out!) but ALSO there's been another WILKIE sighting, "'This here's my boy Wilkie'" at which I squealed a tiny bit, and which I choose to take as a good sign, blindly ignoring all I know. For all I know, they changed the ending since the last time I read it. IT COULD HAPPEN!