Autobiographical Essay: Week Three

East of Eden is by far my favorite book. I was given it as a gift from my Aunt. “Now that you learned to read, tell me when you finish this book…” she told me. My grandfather had just passed away a year ago, and the family was slowly drifting apart further than we had ever been before. Problems at home were getting worse, my brother and I were tossed back and forth from parent to parent. I was starting to lose faith in prayers, church, everything – including the main figure of them all. All though the book is not directly biblical or preaches in any way, I had to read many bible stories in order to take everything the book offered. The book is generally about good v. evil, a man marries a young woman who has a set of twin boys. She quickly takes off leaving her husband to raise them – which he does horrible if at all because of his depression. There are also many side stories of the neighboring families – but the focus is on the twin’s development and their ties to good and bad. I believe this book had lead me to the path of where I stand religiously today. I read this book first without reading the bible, then again after I had read most of the bible. After that, I began to appreciate the actual literature of the bible. And the experience of reading East of Eden the second, third and every other time since became a greater pleasure. Although I did appreciate the Bible more, it did lead me towards my atheist attitude. I love the stories as they are, but my mind just cannot further buy into the concept of the rest.

Books were always available in my house, but they didn’t play much of a role until about the fourth grade. By then, my younger brother was learning to read and I helped him as much as I could. For Christmas and Birthdays, books were my favorite gifts – and always the first thing I request when we went to the stores. My mother, father, step-parents were very supportive and encouraging to read – and never hesitated to give in when asked about new books, or trips to the library.

The most recent book I read would be The Eldest. It is the second book in a series by Christopher Paolini. Science fictional with dragons, magic, and elves – I find that it is enjoyable to read at a young or older age. I really like this book (although I am reading the third one – and that one is definitely looking better than this one) because the characters are very easy to relate to. Although the events didn’t quite play out as in the book – I connect with many of the various aspects of the stories and problems each character faces. Books that parallel my life usually hold the greatest of interest to me.