Book Treasures
By Viviana Hall, Coastal Dunes Branch
Jack London and John Steinbeck’s voices remain as contemporary today as they were in 1904, when The Sea Wolf was published, or in 1961 when Steinbeck’s masterful piece The Winter of our Discontent was published.
In these books, both authors explore deeply the human condition with themes such as survival, self-affirmation, morality, collective responsibility, and societal pressures.
The Sea Wolf is a powerful psychological novel with profound philosophical transcendence about the transformative power of adversity and the struggle between good and evil. Booksellers ordered 40.000 copies before it was published. I found this jewel the other day at the Book Shop by the Friends of the Santa Maria Library, on the second floor of the Town Mall.
In the same week, while perusing the books on shelves at the entrance hall of the Nipomo Library, I found John Steinbeck’s The Winter of our Discontent. This masterful novel is about maintaining moral integrity in a society plagued by corruption and dishonesty.
This discovery underscores our libraries’ vital role in preserving and sharing our literary treasures.