In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck

8/10

I finished reading this one last night. I liked it as expected since it's a Steinbeck book. This one felt very Steinbeck from the get-go. Even the cover of this book screams Steinbeck. This one covered the familiar Steinbeck theme of the labor struggle and how those in power exploit the laborers (and even how those in power within the laborers exploit their own). This one was pretty interesting as it involves a labor activist from "the Party" who bounces around California pouncing on opportunities to get the laborers to start strikes. That whole delicate process of manipulating and using the men was pretty fascinating. He quite clearly doesn't care for the men as individuals but only for what they can do as a group to move forward the cause of the Party.

It's a pretty serious novel overall but very well done. The first half of the book was fantastic while the second half sizzles out a bit, sort of like the strike fizzles as those in power squash those poor helpless laborers. I think I enjoyed the first half most because it was super interesting how he got the strike started. The second half is mostly maintaining morale of the strikers while nothing really progresses for them in any meaningful way.

Also, I like the book title a lot. It is taken from Milton's Paradise Lost from a line about the war in heaven and the angels "in dubious battle on the plains of Heaven" with the forces of Satan. There's got to be some symbolism there. Probably about the battle between the Communists and Capitalists. I wonder which one Steinbeck thinks are the angels and which are the forces of Satan?

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. In Dubious Battle
5. Tortilla Flat
6. The Winter of Our Discontent
7. The Pearl
8. The Long Valley

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

8/10

Finished reading this with the daughter a couple days ago. We liked it. While Harry is slightly annoying in this book with his temper tantrums, a lack of any major plot twists and the pace of the book is a tad bit too slow, there is still enough here to like. I'm looking at you Dolores Umbridge, a character that very effectively plays her role as an infuriating, incompetent government official enforcing absurd ordinances at the school. But I enjoyed her character and the part she played in the story. I also enjoyed the introduction of the quirky Luna Lovegood. The gang's excursion to the Department of Mysteries near the end of the book and the action that took place in those chapters was also exciting. I liked getting to know more about Neville and we learned a bit more about the backstory and the prophecy about Harry which was the motivation for Voldemort to try and kill Harry as a baby. The book seemed to take more of a serious tone than any of the previous books; maybe it's Rowling's way of showing that her characters are growing up. Voldemort's return also has a lot to do with it as well.

Here are my rankings of the books I've read so far in this series:

1. HP-4
2. HP-3
3. HP-5
4. HP-2
5. HP-1