What's your favourite Steinbeck?

[PleaseTieMyBow]

I've read Of Mice and Men and Travels with Charley.
Dd has several on her bookshelf (but she's not here so can't ask her opinion).
So wondered, which would you recommend?

[summerholsdreamin]

Grapes of Wrath every time. I had the most amazing English teacher who ignited my passion for Steinbeck but GoW has always been my favourite

[VittysCardigan]

I loved OMAM and GOW. I also enjoyed East of Eden

[Snowjive]

GOW is my favourite book of all time. On Cannery Row also good.

[lljkk]

I seem to recall GoW takes about 30 pages to get into it & then you're completely hooked.

Of M&Men is an easier read (mostly).
The novelas are nice, too.

[summerholsdreamin]

GoW is harrowing but has the most incredible characterisation.

[cheeseoverchocolate]

East of Eden

[PleaseTieMyBow]

Thank you all. Think I'll give Grapes of Wrath a go

[BestIsWest]

Be prepared. It is a fantastic book but devastating. It had a massive impact on me as a teenager. Definitely one of my all time top 10.

[WorrisomeHeart]

Winter of Discontent is great too. My fave is Travels with Charley though, love the vignettes of America.

[Zampa]

Cannery Row is amazingly wonderful.

Brilliant description of an octopus fighting a crab.

There's more to it than that, obviously, but that section really stayed with me!

[mmack]

East of Eden is my favourite but I love Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday as well. I only read the Grapes of Wrath once and that was 30 years ago so I might reread it this year.

[PurpleAlerts]

Grapes of Wrath- once you can get past the first few chapters it's amazing.

[BakeOffBiscuits]

How old is she? GOW is one of my desert island books but it is pretty harrowing.

[Bolshybookworm]

East of Eden- it's my favourite book. Such a rich story and the characters are wonderful.
Another favourite is Pastures of Heaven, a set of interconnecting short stories set around a rural community.

[mummytime]

Cannery Row, lots of brilliantly awful pictures of how people were living during their he depression. My most memorable is the wife who just wanted Curtains.

[badhotfanny]

The red pony.

[MiddlingMum]

The Grapes of Wrath. It would be in my top five books ever. I read it about once a year. Harrowing but incredible. Without wanting to spoil anything, there are two or three moments when you really need a box of tissues handy.

Cannery Row is also very good, and I've really enjoyed The Wayward Bus although it's not as "heavy" as some.

[Pinkkahori]

Pastures of Heaven - amazing stories.
East of Eden is perhaps my favourite book ever.

[Persemillion]

Grapes of Wrath, because Ma is one of my favourite characters in literature.

[ImperialBlether]

Grapes of Wrath for me, too. Incredible book.

[MiddlingMum]

Persemillion Ma is one of my favourite characters, too. That part where they're crossing something and she does (or doesn't) do something is amazing and thought provoking. One of the most memorable scenes in the whole of literature.

Hope you know the bit I mean, I'm trying to be cryptic for the benefit of Please and anyone else who hasn't read it.

[Persemillion]

MiddlingMum

I know what you mean and totally agree. I love how strong women are predominant in his books.

[lilywillywoo]

Love Grapes of Wrath

[Clawdy]

Has to be East of Eden. One of those books that stays with you forever.

[Earlybird]

East of Eden for me - hands down. The story and descriptions were powerful. But I found myself stopping to savour the beauty of the writing time after time.

I also read a compilation of Steinbeck's letters which was breathtaking. Evidently he wrote letters daily as a way of 'warming up' before he sat down to write his books.