Taking place in the Salinas Valley, “East of Eden” explores life at the turn of the twentieth century through the lens of two families, the Hamiltons and the Trasks. Steinbeck asks his characters complex questions like what happens after love, does blood determine fate, and what is the human condition. Through their struggles, his characters do their best to answer with some breaking under the pressures of their lives. A true literary masterpiece.

“All novels, all poetry, are built in the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal.”

Currently reading my first Steinbeck novel and I can‘t believe it took so long. Thank you so much to my best friend who had the kindness and knowledge of me to gift me this incredible book for my birthday. Hoping for everyone‘s safety and happiness in this time

“There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it.”

When life gets too overcomplicated or stressful, as it often does, it can be comforting to sink into a story like “Pride and Prejudice” where central issues are the nuances of manners and a big scandal is Charlotte getting engaged to someone Elizabeth didn‘t want.

“It is the conviction of TZM that the existing social model is a cause of “social pathology”, with a perpetuation of imbalance that is unnecessarily generating both physiological and psychological disorders across the population, not to mention systematically limiting human potential and problem resolution in many ways”

This is one of the densest, most gratifying books I‘ve ever read. Be sure to supplement it with something fantastical!

Half tell all, half autobiography, “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” is a must read for anyone curious about the extent of what our government will do to achieve and maintain a status of the most powerful empire in the world. During his career as an “EHM”, John often finds himself in moral conflict over what his profession asks him to do. He writes about the details of his job, why he got out, and the people who inspired him along the way.

Sometimes interesting, sometimes unapologetically capitalist, this book was enjoyable overall. Though I don‘t agree with some of the capitalist sentiments present in this book, the parts I found informative were rather gripping and at one point I couldn‘t put it down (though that only lasted for a bit). If you‘re interested, but not too interested, there are short summaries at the end of each chapter that you could read instead of the whole book.