I'm TGOW with the Closely Reading sibstack group this summer and I found your podcast to supplement my reading. Thanks for the great conversation around this novel!
I happen to live in the southern armpit of California (Bakersfield) and have been here for most of my 50+ years. I wanted to say 2 little things about this episode.
The book was banned (and burned) in this county, but there's another side to the story that involves a gutsy county librarian who spoke her mind to the county board and then made copies of the book available with the help of high school librarians who felt the way she did. I don't have all the details, this is just gathered from talk that I've heard from local librarians.
Yeah, it's not super green here. However, when one drives down into the valley from the Tehachapi mountains, it is stunning (the smog hides the beauty most of the time these days). To the south, one sees Lamont and Arvin and they look like a beautiful, variegated green quilt. Bakersfield proper has become a big city, but 40 years ago, there were still almond orchards as well as watermelon, cotton, and corn fields still growing amongst neighborhoods. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and insights.
I'm just now listening to this episode and trying to catch up. I had a question related to the Great American Novelist though. For someone that has not read Cormac McCarthy yet, What book would you recommend to read?
Still catching up on the podcast. I grew up in the Central Valley, California. Bakersfield is not really known as “green country.” (I imagine Salinas as more green than Bakersfield.) Bakersfield is in competition with Fresno as the “armpit of California.” BUT I can imagine it once being a very fertile place, it’s definitely full of farm and fields, the whole San Joaquin Valley is like the breadbasket of California.
14 years ago my husband and I drove from Albuquerque, New Mexico to San Diego, California for a month long rotation during his residency program. We traveled in a Corolla with our dog and cat. As we crossed the mountains in Southern California, we saw an old water spigot that was for car radiators so people could get through the pass. The Joad family was on my mind throughout that part of our drive. I was very grateful for water, air conditioning, a dependable car, and that no one hated us for being there.
Hi all,
I'm TGOW with the Closely Reading sibstack group this summer and I found your podcast to supplement my reading. Thanks for the great conversation around this novel!
I happen to live in the southern armpit of California (Bakersfield) and have been here for most of my 50+ years. I wanted to say 2 little things about this episode.
The book was banned (and burned) in this county, but there's another side to the story that involves a gutsy county librarian who spoke her mind to the county board and then made copies of the book available with the help of high school librarians who felt the way she did. I don't have all the details, this is just gathered from talk that I've heard from local librarians.
Yeah, it's not super green here. However, when one drives down into the valley from the Tehachapi mountains, it is stunning (the smog hides the beauty most of the time these days). To the south, one sees Lamont and Arvin and they look like a beautiful, variegated green quilt. Bakersfield proper has become a big city, but 40 years ago, there were still almond orchards as well as watermelon, cotton, and corn fields still growing amongst neighborhoods. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and insights.
I'm just now listening to this episode and trying to catch up. I had a question related to the Great American Novelist though. For someone that has not read Cormac McCarthy yet, What book would you recommend to read?
I’ve read All the Pretty Horses and The Road. Both have been done on the show, and I loved them both! I love ATPH a smidge more though.
Still catching up on the podcast. I grew up in the Central Valley, California. Bakersfield is not really known as “green country.” (I imagine Salinas as more green than Bakersfield.) Bakersfield is in competition with Fresno as the “armpit of California.” BUT I can imagine it once being a very fertile place, it’s definitely full of farm and fields, the whole San Joaquin Valley is like the breadbasket of California.
14 years ago my husband and I drove from Albuquerque, New Mexico to San Diego, California for a month long rotation during his residency program. We traveled in a Corolla with our dog and cat. As we crossed the mountains in Southern California, we saw an old water spigot that was for car radiators so people could get through the pass. The Joad family was on my mind throughout that part of our drive. I was very grateful for water, air conditioning, a dependable car, and that no one hated us for being there.