Vacation reading - to a god unknown

I don't recall exactly when it was I started reading John Steinbeck books when we vacation at the ocean. It was when I was pastoring and I wanted to read something non-work related, and Steinbeck seemed a good author to read.

This year I took along 'To A God Unknown' when we spent the week at Myrtle Beach. It was just as good as all the others I've read, and naturally I shed a tear when it was done.

This was Steinbecks third book, published in 1933, and apparently took him longer to write than any of his others. There is a good introduction from Steinbeck scholar Robert DeMott which helped put it into better perspective. Wikipedia has this to say about the book...

"In this novel, Steinbeck explores the relationship of man to his land. The plot follows a man, Joseph Wayne, who moves to California in order to establish a homestead. He is joined by his three brothers once his father dies, and they create a thriving ranch. When a drought strikes the land, however, Steinbeck analyses how men respond to having their faith shaken."

There were only a couple pages I dog-eared. The first is in the introduction (p. xv), when DeMott shares an exchange from Steinbeck to George Albee in 1932. John is reported to have said, "Forget about genius and write books. Whatever you write will be you." :) I like that. I can get discouraged when I read great writers because I know I will never write like that. But that's not me. What I write is me... 

The other place I noted was toward the end, on p. 176...

When he had gone, Father Angelo went back to his chair. He was shaken by the force of the man [Joseph]. He looked up at one of his pictures, a descent from the cross, and he thought, "Thank God this man has no message. Thank God he has no will to be remembered, to be believed in." And, in sudden heresy, "else there might be a new Christ here in the West." Father Angelo got up then, and went into the church. And he prayed for Joseph's soul before the high altar, and he prayed forgiveness for his own heresy, and then, before he went away, he prayed that the rain might come quickly and save the dying land.

I'm not sure why that struck me so. Maybe it was about me, or maybe because there are a few others I know who should not be sharing their message, or their version of one. I dunno.

Anyway, I love these books, and I have updated my list of ones I've read here.

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Acts 17:22-28

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. 

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’