Last week I was explaining that John Steinbeck's great novel The Grapes of Wrath has been chosen as the book all California will be urged to read and discuss this summer.

I have seen a finished copy of the Steinbeck Centennial Edition published by Penguin. It's gorgeous.

If all California reads and ponders, it will be a good thing, they say. Think about our current connection with the dust bowl, economic hardship, migration, and the plight of the poor.

Penguin has added French flaps and deckled edges to this classic book. The cover is finished to look like handmade paper and features a wood cut by Andrew Davidson of a line of jalopies heading down Route 66 to California.

Steinbeck's personal "Pigasus" logo adorns the back cover. Penguin explains, "Throughout his life Steinbeck signed his letters with his personal logo, symbolizing himself 'a lumbering soul but trying to fly.' The Latin motto Ad Astra Per Alia Porci translates 'To the stars on the wings of a pig.'"

At other times Steinbeck said his logo represented "not enough wingspread but plenty of intention."

I read the first chapter today, standing in the wind and sun at the entrance to the new Caspar Headlands State Park.

Opening The Grapes of Wrath is akin to sitting down to a long and satisfying meal. The first chapter describes how the drought snuck up on farmers, and concludes: "As the day went forward the sun became less red. It flared down on the dust-blanketed land. The men sat in the doorways of their houses; their hands were busy with sticks and little rocks. The men sat still -- thinking -- figuring."

And in a completely different vein, I received several amusing comments relating to the recent Words on Books about thesauruses, or thesauri. I praised the original Roget's system of finding word suggestions, not the more modern A-Z format, and mentioned that only the Harper Collins Thesaurus maintains that setup.

Former bookseller Patricia Nelson, who now sells new books for the presses of Harvard, Yale, and MIT, wrote:

"I kept the NY Times obituary for Robert Chapman, editor of that thesaurus.

"In preparing the 5th edition, a four-year undertaking, Dr. Chapman retained Roget's organizing principle, resisting pressure to list the entries in the more user-friendly alphabetical order. 'It's jejune,' he said."

Patricia added, "I think I would have to come out firmly for the St. Martin's Roget's Thesaurus. Mine published in 1965 in the original quirky Roget format. I particularly like the entry for 'ululation' (Section 409, paragraph n) which is a virtual prose poem in this edition.

"N. Ululation: animal sounds: howling, belling, barking, baying, latration, buzzing, humming, bombilation, drone, twittering, fritinancy; call, cry, note, wood-note, bird-note, bird-call, squeak, cheep, twitter, tweet-tweet; buzz, hum, croak, cronk, caw, coo, hiss; quack, squawk, screech, baa, moo, neigh, whinny, hee-haw, cock-a-doodle-doo, cuckoo, tu-whit tu-whoo; meow, bark, yelp, yap, snap, snarl, growl."

and much, much more, another two full paragraphs, but we're out of time.

OK - more:

"Cry, call, squawk, screech, caterwaul, yawl, howl, wail, roar, bellow, drone, bombinate, bombilate, hiss, latrate, bay, bay at the moon, purr, quack, cackle, gaggle, guggle, gobble, gabble, cluck, clack, crow, grunt, guntle, snort, pipe, pule, blatter, chatter, sing, chirp, chirrup, tweet, chuckle, churr, whir, crunk, hoot, honk, boom, grate, chirk, crick, stridulate, squeak, rasp, warble, carol, whistle, sing."

Aired Friday May 24, 2002 at 8:55 am and Sunday May 26, 2002 at 10:55 am