Book #86: East of Eden

Title: East of Eden
Author: John Steinbeck

This is the third time I've read East of Eden and I always forget what a pleasure it is to read. When I think of books written by mid-century authors like Steinbeck, I always feel like I have to psych myself up a bit to read them, figuring that they won't get really good for a hundred pages or so. I had that mindset going into reading East of Eden, and I was surprised at how much it grabbed and kept my attention from the very beginning. I read the 600 pages in about three days, and found the story of the Hamilton-Steinbeck and Trask clans to be just as engrossing the third time as the first. I think that East of Eden would probably make it onto Shelah's top ten novels list, if such a thing existed.