I forget
How much I like “Cannery Row”. Its one of those books that was almost ruined for me as part of a high school reading assignmen t, but I thwarted them by doing the book report out of cliffs noted and didnt actually read it until I was in my thirties.
Steinbeck does a great job of describing how well and how badly people can treat one another. Nice, also, to be able to read it at a leisurely pace.
Totilla Flats is my favorite, followed by the Log from the Sea of Cortez.
I was partial to “Travels With Charlie”.
All of Steinbeck’s works.
Bob
III
They’re all pretty good, but I’ve got a soft spot for Travels w Charlie myself. My erstwhile girlfriend called it an “old man’s book.” Like that’s an insult.
The funny thing about “leisurely pace”–
In 9th grade English I had to read My Antonia. The class was reading the book at the glacial pace of one chapter per week; but during that time I got into a fight and ended up in “in-school restriction”. Having run out of my regular SF to read, I pulled out that book and read the rest of it.
Willa Cather: godawful. But it was better than nothing, and I was glad to be done with it.
Willa Cather. When I had to read her in 8th grade I didn’t really get the concept of “gay” but I knew she was. And her books suck
Lord of the Flies and Death of a Salesman were similarly ruined for me in high school. Actually, DOAS is probably too poignant for the typical 16-18 year old. Sometimes, you have to experience something yourself before you can appreciate its depiction in literature.
I really enjoy Steinbeck’s fiction, but I was bored with Travels With Charlie about halfway through. Cannery Row is a wonderful mix of comedy and tragedy. The Red Pony was my introduction to his work and I still go back and reread it periodically. East of Eden is a tapestry of the Human Condition that I found very difficult to put down. Steinbeck’s short stories are often little morality plays that are thought-provoking and/or humorous.
[/ramble]