I just got back from our now annual family reunion in Natchitoches, Louisiana.  We talked, and ate, and talked, and ate…  You know the routine.  I ate gator, and shrimp, and brisket, and home-made ice cream (Yes, I went back for seconds thirds fourths.  I ate at least one full week’s worth of calories in about 36 hours).

I have quite a family – as we all do.  In our small circle late one evening (the others were in the house) we had a Colonel in the Air Force, a CEO of a fast growing company in Austin, an engineer, and a retired Government Scientist/Director of a Government Research facility – and me, the Dallas Book Guy.

So, you can imagine the conversations with such diversity of background.

At one point, the conversation drifted toward books.  The funniest guy in the circle is the Austin CEO – and he is so very funny!  (I missed those genes).  He was talking about a book that he was “supposed to read.”  He read it.  Did.not.like.it!  Oh, he thought the information was valuable.  He just wasn’t a fan of the style, or the amount of time/number of pages the author took to get to the point.  The sad part of that conversation is that I read the book, liked the book, presented it and raved about it.  So, I guess I enjoy books that take their time getting to the point.  (No, I will not tell you which book he was talking about!)

In the midst of the conversation, one of them asked me the “what’s the best book you’ve read in recent years?” question.  I did not hesitate – it was The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.  The retired scientist perked up at that.  He had a look of surprise in his eyes, and got much more interested in the conversation.  He then launched into a far too brief description of Steinbeck as a writer.  He had quotes, tidbits.  They were wonderful!  Yes, he has read Steinbeck, many books by Steinbeck – and books about Steinbeck, and he introduced me to Steinbeck’s book Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters, and he sent me home with his copy of this book, and a few of Steinbeck’s novels.

You see, I read The Grapes of Wrath as an “assignment” – I presented it at the Urban Engagement Book Club for CitySquare (formerly Central Dallas Ministries).  This book club focuses on issues of poverty and social justice, and The Grapes of Wrath provides insight on poverty in a truly unforgettable way.  Yes, I had “read” it when I was young, in school, many decades ago.  But to read it as an adult was quite a different experience.

So, I had to confess to my older brother that that was about it – I had never read anything else by Steinbeck.  I know the titles, had seen a movie or two (Cannery Row comes to mind), and my brother gave me one of those looks that only an older brother can give.  You know, the look that in a flash communicates “So, you’ve never read anything else by Steinbeck. And you consider yourself an educated man!”  Then he gave me a few Steinbeck volumes to bring home and read.

And, of course, he is right.  How could I have neglected Steinbeck?  And so many others.  A family reunion is a great place to bring you back down to earth.  And a place to remind me, “I’ve got to start reading novels!”

So, thanks to my family – especially this one brother.  He’s the real book guy.  I’m just a pretender.

The decay spreads over the state, and the sweet smell is a great sorrow on the land.  Men who can graft the trees and make the seed fertile and big can find no way to let the hungry people eat their produce.  Men who have created new fruits in the world cannot create a system whereby their fruits may be eaten.  And the failure hangs over the State like a great sorrow.
The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all.  Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground.  The people come from miles to take the fruit, but this could not be…  And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit.  A million people hungry, needing the fruit – and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains.
And the smell of rot fills the country.
…Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out.
There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation.  There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize.  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 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.
The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed.  And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quicklime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is a growing wrath.  In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath