Ad Astra Per Alia Porci

So I just finished East of Eden by John Steinbeck; the first book on my Reading List. I really really liked it. A lot. I guess there's something about the way he looks at the world that I can relate to on some level. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's in the way he approaches nature. I think he feels the same way about the Salinas Valley that I do about the Upper Snake River Plain. He's one of those guys that I want to meet on the Other Side and have a philosophical discussion with. That would be rad.

Pretty much East of Eden is one of those books that makes me wish I knew how to time travel so I could go back and read it again for the first time. I really liked the way Steinbeck presented his characters. He was pretty true to life about the whole thing. Everyone usually wants people to be black or white in the books they read, but the characters in East of Eden were all different shades of grey... the way people really are I guess. We're all at different points on a spectrum. This book made it harder for me to believe in "bad" people; everyone's capable of doing at least a little bit of good. There were definitely people I wished I could hate in this story, but he wouldn't let me have it that easy. Hate's a cop-out I guess.

The religious themes in this book were awesome. I really liked that it was based around the story of Adam and Eve, and the idea that we ultimately decide what kind of person we become. No one is doomed to be a sinner or a saint. We were given the gift of choice or free will or agency or however you want to say it; the idea of "timshel" as the author puts it. That concept just so happens to fit in nicely with my religious beliefs which is rad, but I don't think the author was trying to preach his religious views (or lack thereof). Mostly I felt like he was trying to make sense of the human experience and why we are the way we are. Oddly enough, I think the Cain character was my favorite; he was the most relatable anyway. It's kind of funny cause no one likes him in the Genesis account; no one feels like they can relate to a murderer.

Anyways, East of Eden was awesome. I highly recommend it. It's one of those books everyone should read.