Many years ago, I wandered into my grandma's study, as I sat there on a stool that had seen better days, was covered in paint splatters and the object of dinner time fights between cousins; she asked me what I was doing (I guess my sighing irritated her), I explained that I was bored, nothing to do, nothing to read, woe is me and all that teenage girl stuff. Seemingly at random, she reached into her bookcase and pulled out a book, handed it to me and shooed me out of her room.
Much to my dismay, I realized that she had handed me some oldy moldy book (or so I thought at the time).
In the desperation of boredom, I opened the first of many Pearl S. Buck books, and I was transported to China.
I have often taken this quick trip, sometimes through the challenges of Wang Lung and O-Lan, other times through other masterpieces by Ms. Buck.
The Good Earth won numerous awards for it’s author, Pearl Buck. It won the Pulitzer Prize for one. Mrs. Buck also went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. This book, published in 1931, is the first in a trilogy. The other two are Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935).
The Good Earth is a simple story of one mans love for the land. Ms. Buck interweaves
into this story another which tells of love and respect, ambition and hard-work, hunger and strife.
Last night I again picked up The Good Earth, and am falling in love all over.
Enjoy your adventures in reading!
Autumn
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