33) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize winning epic is well worthy of its award. Set against the backdrop of the Depression the Joad family who leave their home in the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma in search of a better life in California.
34) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens this is a another re-read for me. I first encountered Dickens’ classic while studying history in school as we were studying the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror which is of course the setting for this novel at the time. It is still a well crafted tale intertwining the lives of Charles Darnay a French aristocrat who disagrees with his family’s view on the lower classes, his wife Lucie and father in law Dr Manette who was previously imprisoned for 18 years in the notorious Bastille prison, the Defarge’s who are active participants in the uprising against the aristocracy in France and English lawyer Sydney Carton who bears a striking resemblance to Darnay.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched they must be felt with the heart
