The political economy of socialism Book

It's amazingly easy to read and grabs you right away. In fact, it feels so effortless (but it's the kind of writing that you know was slaved over, honed and perfected), that I questioned how I could have gotten quite so much from it.

Two lovely ideas from this book:

The grandmother, when she's young, gets this lucky charm, that's supposed to bring her an easy life. Her husband leaves her, tries to con her, she works as a doctor in the early 1900's when infection and poverty are rampant--but she is blessed with a wonderful daughter and granddaughter---they're all three smart, good-looking, admirable, love each other deeply and admired.

The grandmother gives the charm to her granddaughter (fully believing in its worth as a lucky charm) as a gift to her granddaughter's future husband and tells her to tell him "It's a charm for an easy life. Just depends what your definition of easy is."

I love that. The relativity of life and the difference perspective makes about how you feel about your life.

There's another line I really like too where the grandaughter says of her grandmother "I admired her energetic mind and her muscular soul." Isn't that a great thing to have--a muscular soul? One that's strong, flexible, resilient?