More specifically, it centers on a cluster of friends who spend their days and evenings drinking wine, scheming new ways to steal things so as to drink more wine, and generally not working but still finding new avenues for their 'talents' in other areas, such as they are.

It concerns the paisanos - men of Mexican heritage - that lived in the Tortilla Flat section of Monterey, CA in the 1930s. Simply put, 'TORTILLA FLAT' is a magnificent piece of comedy and literature, in that order, whether you're reading it in high school or in your middle age dotage as I did. After finally reading only my second Steinbeck (I know!!), I'm also ready to embark on a Steinbeck discovery program to make amends for all the years I frittered away not reading his oeuvre. So let's just say I'm working to get back to that younger version of myself, the guy who could escape into a world entirely of the author's making. I came up with a mere two before this one: Paul Bowles' 'The Sheltering Sky' and, uh, 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'.

I thought about the fact that I just powered through John Steinbeck's 1935 novel 'TORTILLA FLAT' last week, and I counted back how many works of fiction I'd read since the dawn of the 21st century. Then in the 90s I made the switch to reading only non-fiction books, not out of any real spite for fiction, but just out of a desire to learn more about things that really happened, were happening or that might come to be. Here's the sad truth: I majored in English in college many years ago, and was once fairly literate in the history of fiction - the classics, the great works, and all that.

Tortilla flat book review