East of Eden Reading Schedule
Our next subscriber-exclusive book here at Close Reads HQ is going to be Steinbeck’s East of Eden, one of the great novels in American lit by one of America’s most renowned writers. It’s an essential part of our country’s literary canon and we can’t wait to dig in. Need some convincing? Here are a few reasons this book is worth reading:
It features one of the best villains ever created.
Steinbeck’s prose is bewitching and un-yielding at the same time.
It’s full of Biblical and mythical allusions throughout, but not in that stuffy, academic, pedantic sort of way. They’re alive and inhabited.
It captures a version of America long since forgotten, a place and time of great beauty and brutality, that can help us understand our country’s soul in a more profound way.
It’s about family: fathers and sons, brothers, lovers.
I could go on. Join us! It will be worth it.
Still need to grab a copy? Here’s the Penguin classics edition and here’s the anniversary edition via our Bookshop.org page.
Reading Schedule
Episode 1: Chapters 1-5
Episode 2: Chapters 6-11
Episode 3: Chapters 12-17
Episode 4: Chapters 18-22
Episode 5: Chapters 23-26
Episode 6: Chapters 27-33
Episode 7: Chapters 34-39
Episode 8: Chapters 40-44
Episode 9: Chapters 45-50
Episode 10: Chapters 51-55
Episode 11: Q&A episode
Update: We will record the first episode on June 16, and it will go up on Monday, 20!
We want to hear from you!
In the comments below, please let us know whether you have read this book before (or whether you’ve read other Steinbeck) and what your general experience with it is/was!
I absolutely LOVE The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men and am looking forward to this one! Great pick!
I have not read any Steinbeck. 20th century American Lit is a weak area for me. Karen’s recommendation was enough for me, so I’m hopeful that positive mindset helps.