It all began with a question...

Today's post comes from Tami Barber, a supervisor in the General Book Department at the BYU Bookstore - 

When asked, "What book do you wish you could read again, for the first time?" Tami immediately knew her response, "The Good Earth," by Pearl S. Buck. 

The Good Earth is a novel about family life, set in a Chinese village before the 1949 revolution.  Riddled with tragedy, the novel follows the Lung family's journey as they struggle to survive in a feudal society. The Good Earth won the Pulitzer Prize in 1931 and historically, helped Americans come to consider the Chinese as allies in the future war with Japan.

I read it for the first time in about 7th or 8th grade.  I don’t know why I read it since it wasn’t required for a class.  No doubt that made me more receptive to the experience…
 

Reading The Good Earth was the first time that I read a book that took me to a place that I could not begin to image.  It drew me into the lives of the characters, their suffering and joy.  It set me down in the middle of muddy fields and bustling markets that I could feel and hear and taste.  It was the beginning of my discovery that the act of reading a book could be both intimate and expansive.  That reading could connect me to the universal human experience and making me feel like I was not alone.  

Who wouldn’t want to have that experience again for the first time?

Tami

Find The Good Earth at the BYU Bookstore

Tami Barber works in the BYU Bookstore General Books department and will be regularly contributing to this blog.  Tami coordinates promotions and author signings, as well as other various special events throughout General Book.  A BYU Cougar at heart, Tami always brings her love of reading to the BYU Bookstore.