Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, 1937 (105 pages)

Believe it or not, I had never read this book until a few days ago. Yes, I have a degree in Literature, and yes, I've taught American Lit for a number of years. But this is just one of those books that I've never been required to read, and I never had a huge desire to try it. However, for the online English class that I'm teaching this semester, this book is required reading for the students...so I figured I'd better read it, too!

I think this book is similar to many "classics" of American Literature in that it's not the most exciting thing to read. However, I like the characters that Steinbeck uses, and I think that he touched on a lot important themes. If you're not familiar with the book or the movie, it's the story of two men, George and Lennie. We never really find out their relationship, although we do know that George promised someone that he would look out for Lennie.

It's such a short book that there's not a lot to say about the plot without giving important things away. But I think that also makes it even more impressive that Steinbeck packed a lot of things into his novella. He shows the reader the prejudices that are in our society and how those play out in the social hierarchy.

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Total number of books read in 2009: 33

Total number of pages read in 2009: 12057