Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

8/10

I finished reading this last week. I haven't read a Steinbeck book in a very long time, at least a decade, which is weird because he's one of my favorites. This is one of his earliest books, his third novel.

I enjoyed this book. It's about a group of lovable, lazy, drunkard paisanos who live together in their friend Danny's house on Tortilla Flat and do a lot of immoral things but always justify it with a good cause. The characters in this story are pretty fun and get in to some pretty interesting shenanigans. I'm not usually a fan of books where the characters just sit around and drink, which is this book to a T, but the characters in this one made me smile and occasionally guffaw. And while they are all instinctively selfish over their wine, they actually end up being pretty selfless characters and go to some far (and questionable) lengths to help out anyone in need. It's very well written which reminded me why I enjoy reading Steinbeck so much. This one has a charm to it that is hard to deny.

Time to rank my favorite Steinbeck books I've read:

1. The Grapes of Wrath
2. Of Mice and Men
3. East of Eden
4. Tortilla Flat
5. The Winter of Our Discontent
6. The Pearl
7. The Long Valley

Quotes:

"Ah, the prayers of the millions, how they must fight and destroy each other on their way to the throne of God."

"What pillow can one have like a good conscience?"

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Howard W. Hunter

9/10

I finished reading this a little more than a week ago. I actually finished it the day after I finished the Hinckley book. I read every chapter in this book prior to the week's lesson at Church all year until the final lesson when we were out of town during the Christmas season. So for a few years this book remained unread by me because of the final chapter. It was one of my favorite Teachings of Presidents of the Church books, probably because reading the chapters prior to the lessons made the lessons much better.

I don't remember much of President Hunter during my life. He seemed like a humble, unassuming guy who was a pure follower of Christ. One of my favorite examples of this is from Neal A. Maxwell: "President Howard W. Hunter is a meek man.... This is the same lowly man, when I awakened after a weary and dusty day together with him on assignment in Egypt, who was quietly shining my shoes, a task he had hoped to complete unseen." It was nice reading this book and learning more about his life.

Quotes:

"The meek shall inherit the earth, a pretty impressive corporate takeover - and done without intimidation!"

"Please remember this one thing. If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings, no other success can be permanently right."

"Whatever your burden is, you will find the strength you need in Christ. Jesus Christ is Alpha and Omega, literally the beginning and the end. He is with us from start to finish, and as such is more than a spectator in our lives."

"Christ knows the full weight of our sins, for he carried it first."

"Our detours and disappointments are the straight and narrow path to Him."

"If prayer is only a spasmodic cry at the time of crisis, then it is utterly selfish, and we come to think of God as a repairman or a service agency to help us only in our emergencies. We should remember the Most High day and night - always - not only at times when all other assistance has failed and we desperately need help. If there is any element in human life on which we have a record of miraculous success and inestimable worth to the human soul, it is prayerful, reverential, devout communication with our Heavenly Father."

"There is within each of us a giant struggling with celestial homesickness."

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Gordon B. Hinckley

8/10

I finished reading this earlier this week. I had read about 7 chapters or so during the year this book was being used and finally finished up the rest. President Hinckley is so lovable and sincere that it really was a pleasure to go back and read his words and imagine his voice speaking those words. And, by the way, I do an awesome Hinckley impression. My favorite lines to use for my impression are: "What a marvelous generation..." and "You are the youth of the noble birthright..." You probably have to be there.

Quotes:

"Each of us is a pioneer in his own life, often in his own family."

"You need heaven's help in raising heaven's child - your child, who is also the child of his or her Heavenly Father."

"We can so live that we can call upon the Lord for His protection and guidance. This is a first priority. We cannot expect His help if we are unwilling to keep His commandments."

Henry B. Eyring story about Pres. Hinckley: "More than once he tapped his finger on my chest when I made a suggestion and said, 'Hal, have you remembered the person who is struggling?'"

"If we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves."

"Our kindness may be the most persuasive argument for that which we believe."

"I hope to end out my days building temples of the Lord."

"Keep a recommend in your pocket. It will be a reminder to you of what is expected of you as a Latter-day Saint."

"There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter. The babe Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary, and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection."

The Hardy Boys: The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon

6/10

I finished reading this a few days ago to my 6-yeor-old, Trevor. I debated whether to throw this one on the ole' blog but decided, in the spirit of transparency, to declare to all the world that I read this book. My folks read me a few Hardy Boys books back when I was a youngster and I remember enjoying them. I haven't read Trevor too many semi-long chapter books so I didn't know how he would receive it. He seemed bored most of the time other than showing some interest on what happened to the stolen "jalopy." That was probably the best part about this book - the classic use of early 1900's terms like jalopy, chum, fellows and many more.

The book was fine and we will probably try reading the next one at some point. It had enough good qualities: fun low-key mystery, a rival detective to make things interesting,  a sage father they can go to for tips on "sleuthing," and some real solid teamwork all around. Swell job, fellows!

Animal Farm by George Orwell

8/10

I finished reading this today. Seems like I should have read this a long time ago. Indeed, this was an assigned book for 12th grade English class but I didn't read it for some reason. Not sure why as it's a short and fairly simple book so it shouldn't have been too overly burdensome. Goes to show how lazy I was as a youngster I suppose.

I like this book. It's a fun one and shows how a crappy leader can really jack things up for a whole lot of people. Totalitarianism is bad, fyi. It was funny how the leader pig, Napoleon, just kept changing all of the original "commandments" and would just get away with it super easy, mostly thanks to his propaganda speaker, Squealer. All the animals on Animal Farm were pretty submissive to this new dictator. But I guess they were in a tough spot since they would get murdered if they questioned anything.

This book, along with 1984, is what Orwell is known for. I like both books, but think I like 1984 a bit more because it seems "scarier." Glad I finally got around to reading this one, almost two decades late to the party though.

Quotes:

"His answer to every problem, every setback, was 'I will work harder!'"

"Meanwhile life was hard." I thought this was a funny segue sentence.