Easter holiday with Grapes & Mockingbirds

Back from Easter holiday in Denmark/Sweden and now getting back into the grind.

I disconnected myself from the world (and work) – explored new cities, rode a bike along the Danish sea line, finally felt Spring and just let my mind slip into the world of classic fiction and good ol’ thought.

I finished off two classics that I feel like I should have read already: Grapes of Wrath & To Kill a Mockingbird.

Two timeless books full of morals and values of a bygone era that is (perhaps even more so) relevant for today.

Actually, Steinbeck’s classic was just in the BBC yesterday for its 70^th anniversary. The article’s worth a read and hits on the point that it’s “rooted in the tragedies of the Great Depression, but speaks directly to the harsh realities of 2009″.

Steinbeck “warned against runaway materialism, institutional imperialism, intellectual hypocrisy, and rampant greed – all inevitable and regrettable by-products of an advanced industrialised capitalist society.

“If I wanted to destroy a nation,” he wrote in 1966, “I would give it too much and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy and sick.”

Two fabulous books that make you remember why letting your mind venture into the fictitious world benefits the real world.

Ahh, if only there were more Atticus Finches in this world…

And ahh, if only Finland was in Spring mode like Denmark & Sweden…