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The Big Rock Candy Mountain
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
17 posts | 15 read | 17 to read
Bo Mason, his wife, Elsa, and their two boys live a transient life of poverty and despair. Drifting from town to town and from state to state, the violent, ruthless Bo seeks out his fortune - in the hotel business, in new farmland and eventually, in illegal rum-running through the treacherous back roads of the American Northwest. In this affecting narrative, Wallace Stegner portrays more than thirty years in the life of the Mason family as they struggle to survive during the lean years of the early twentieth century. Wallace Stegner was the author of, among other works of fiction, Remembering Laughter (1973); Joe Hill (1950); All the Little Live Things (1967, Commonwealth Club Gold Medal); A Shooting Star (1961); Angle of Repose (1971, Pulitzer Prize); The Spectator Bird (1976, National Book Award); Recapitulation (1979); Crossing to Safety (1987); and Collected Stories (1990). His nonfiction includes Beyond the Hundredth Meridian (1954); Wolf Willow (1963); The Sound of Mountain Water (essays, 1969); The Uneasy Chair: A Biography of Bernard deVoto (1964); American Places (with Page Stegner, 1981); and Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West (1992). Three short stories have won O.Henry prizes, and in 1980 he received the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for his lifetime literary achievements.
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review
Butterfinger
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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Pickpick

This is not one of my favorites. At all. But I will not be forgetting it any time soon.

The father of the Mason family could have been written about my father. Bo has a volatile temper. He explodes with violence, and I found myself shaking and saying to myself, "Don't, it will just make him mad."

It is a great book and I highly recommend because of the beautiful writing. It just brought back too many memories.

24 likes1 comment
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Butterfinger
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner

The bright hard dividing lines between senses blurred, and buttercups, smell of primrose, feel of hard gravel under body and elbows, sight of the ghosts of mountains haunting the southern horizon, were one intensely-felt experience focused by the song the book had evoked.

This book is fantastic and I have never heard of the writer, but it reminds me of Cormac Mccarthy so I wonder if he had been influenced by Stegner.

Ruthiella I‘ve not read this title but the two I have read by Stegner - Crossing to Safety and Angle of Repose were fantastic! 😀 3y
Butterfinger @Ruthiella I have Angle of Repose. Hopefully I will read it soon. It's been checked out for a while. 3y
23 likes2 comments
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Butterfinger
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner

Books that render great insight may provide it gradually over time or with great suddenness. Often the best novels don't completely reveal themselves the first time through, demanding to be understood at the right age and state of mind, in readings separated by the passage of years.

Robert Stone
Introduction

True!

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Tamra
Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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Pickpick

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
The jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again,
As soon as you are in
There ain't no short-handled shovels,
No axes, saws or picks,
I'ma goin' to stay
Where you sleep all day,
Where they hung the Turk
That invented work
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Pretty well sums up the saga of Harry Mason, undomesticated & always looking for the quick buck.

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Tamra
Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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I have an embarrassment of riches happening simultaneously, which rarely happens. Listening to the tagged book on audio, reading The Professor‘s House for the #catherbuddyread, and savoring The Overstory word by word and sentence by sentence.

Look Both Ways is our current read aloud. Jury is still out.

Mythos I‘m just going to have to start and accept that I‘m going to have to read it story by story here & there. That is difficult for me.

Tamra The two paper items are “books” my daughter has written. 💜 4y
Cinfhen Mythos was SOOOOO GOOD on audio and I listened bit by bit! Took almost 6 weeks but it was worth it 4y
Tamra @Cinfhen yay! I just need to dip in - I‘ve heard so many great things. 4y
Cathythoughts The Overstory ❤️ 4y
87 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Tamra
Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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Stegner makes writing seem like it must be as easy as taking a nap under a shady tree in the summertime. It flows along naturally and effortlessly. 👌🏾

I‘m only 5 chapters in, but I know I‘m in for a treat. Angle of Repose is one of my all time favorite novels, so I hope my expectations aren‘t set too high! 😬

Victoria_Clyne I've only read Crossing to Safety, but I loved it. 4y
59 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Amiable
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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Pickpick

Stegner is the master of this kind of novel – a big, sprawling multigenerational story about the Mason family as they struggle to survive hardships over three decades in the early 20th century. Everything I‘ve read by Stegner has been a masterpiece. 4/5 stars

Clare-Dragonfly I love multigenerational family sagas. This sounds great. 5y
Amiable @Clare-Dragonfly If you like this one, also read Stegner's "Angle of Repose" and "Crossing to Safety." I think they're even better. 5y
Clare-Dragonfly I‘ll try to remember those titles! 5y
55 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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Becker
Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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Epic storytelling. Very good for listening.

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BookaholicNatty
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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Lunch and a book! Coconut shrimp with Orange Marmalade sauce!!! It‘s soooo good!!! One of my favorite at home meals, hands down! And the book is pretty good too, so far anyway. I have heard several people on different podcasts mention this book so I went and hunted it down!! Plus the title of the book reminds me of a crazy Wee Sing movie I used to watch as a kid called “The Big Rock Candy Mountain!!” 🍭🍬🏔

tammysue Looks delish! I love shrimp! 6y
Lcsmcat I love Stegner! I always get nostalgic for Utah when I read his stuff. 6y
67 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Pam.Kokomo
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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Pickpick

Sweeping family drama, beautiful writing. ❤️

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Eyelit
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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So this one is a stretch, but bear with me. 😄. #sunshine made me think of that 'you are my sunshine' song - which made me think of the o brother where are art thou soundtrack, so I had to listen to that. While listening to that soundtrack, one song reminded me of this book that has been on my #tbr for years... and here we are. Sorry not sorry. 😆#maybookflowers (minor #catsoflitsy cameo)

sprainedbrain Now I want to listen to the soundtrack. It's been a while! 😃 7y
Zelma ❤️ the kitty cameo! 😆 7y
Hobbinol Glad your cat is holding that book in place so you could take the picture 😆 7y
See All 12 Comments
DebinHawaii Love the book holder! 😆👍🐱❤️ 7y
LauraBeth Strangely enough - I can follow your train of thought 😀 7y
[DELETED] 206653737 Love that kitty paw in there!!! 😻 7y
mrsamandahood Aww your kitty wants to read! 😻 7y
RealBooks4ever Fabulous pic! 🐾😆 7y
booksandsympathy Kitty paw! 7y
Caroline2 That's such a great photo!!! 😆👏🏻 7y
EvieBee That paw, though! 💕 (edited) 7y
Laura317 That sounds reasonable. 7y
90 likes1 stack add12 comments
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Amiable
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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Amiable
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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So I think the cat likes my new book bag.

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Amiable
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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That feeling you get when you open the book you've been eagerly anticipating, and you can tell from the very first sentence that it is going to be exactly as amazing as you expected ...

6 likes2 stack adds
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Cathleennh
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner

November Reads;8 books

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GoneFishing
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner

There was somewhere, if you knew where to find it, some place where money could be made like drawing water from a well, some Big Rock Candy Mountain where life was effortless and rich and unrestricted and full of adventure and action, where something could be had for nothing.

6 likes1 stack add
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Bookchipmunk
The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Wallace Stegner
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Breaking my week day social media posting fast because I couldn't resist this one #alltimefavebooks #augustphotochallenge

SusanInTiburon Wow, that is a really interesting and appealing selection! 👍🏽 and such a sweet pup! 8y
Bookchipmunk @SusanInTiburon 😊 Winnie is my reading companion 8y
TheSpinecrackersBookClub Favourite photo of the day. 8y
Bookchipmunk @TheSpinecrackersBookClub So glad you liked it! 🤓🐶 8y
Lizpixie A fine looking dog you have their! 8y
23 likes5 comments