When I was a teenager, I read every Steinbeck book I could get my hands on. 30 some-odd years later, I can only remember a few. My first Steinbeck was The Red Pony. I probably read it for school, or because it was in the Scholastic book club flier and about a horse. (I had been a huge reader of horse stories as a little girl.) I loved it. I think Of Mice and Men might be my favorite Steinbeck. The scenes of the Dustbowl and the lives of migrant workers he created in The Grapes of Wrath are indelibly etched in my consciousness.

I think what I loved best about Steinbeck was his ability to paint an image with words. As a reader, I always felt like I was there with his characters, tasting the dust and seeing the brown summer grasses of the California landscape. As a Californian, I appreciate how well he did capture that landscape.

I probably need to re-read some of those books that have escaped my memory.

I really enjoyed the Grapes of Wrath and also Of Mice and Men. I also read In Dubious Battle--not well known but I liked it also.

KD: I think I mean "style" rather than voice. Sort of like how Pynchon, Hemingway, etc. all have their own unique style which, if you don't enjoy it, you won't really get into their work. For me, having only read one Steinbeck book, I can see how something like his handling of dialogue might be essential to his style: it was sooo realistic, and that's why I loved it! However, it slowed down my reading a lot because I'd read the same bit of dialogue over and over again because it made me laugh or I could picture it so well I just wanted to stay with that image... and that can really slow down a lengthier reading.

I always find myself more interested in the lesser-known works of great authors, so maybe I'll skip the usual Steinbeck and dive into one of the ones you mentioned and see what it's like. :)

If you think all of Steinbeck's books are written in the same voice I suggest you read his first novel "Cup of Gold" or one of my personal favorites, "Tortilla Flat". Or "Winter Of Our Discontent" for that matter.

I love Steinbeck...flat out. Also read "The Log of the Sea of Cortez", which is a nonfiction account of his scientific travels to catalog sea and shore life with his buddy Ed Ricketts (who was the inspiration for the character "Doc" in "Cannery Row" and "Sweet Thursday".

I read Of Mice and Men in one day, so I agree with you, RA. I think what makes it literature, a classic if you want to call it that, is that it can be analyzed on a much deeper level than the one most high schoolers would understand, and it deals with some heavy emotional stuff. I kinda wish we would have read it instead of Death of a Salesman.

i only read 'of mice and men', but i liked that book.. and i too understood the cartoons after reading it.. http://www.archive.org/details/merry_mel...

It's interesting, I forget that Steinbeck wrote The Red Pony, The Pearl and Of Mice and Men. I think sometimes high schools use those books because they're pretty short and easy to analyze at least on some level. I don't think I've ever read any of the three. But I loved East of Eden...The Grapes of Wrath is good but I don't love it.

I want to like him, I just don't. Maybe someday it will click for me. That has happened. I didn't like Nathaniel Hawthorne for the longest time, and then suddenly it was like a lens moved into a different position and I found the place where he made sense to me.

Jackie "the Librarian" wrote: "I read Of Mice and Men in high school, and all of a sudden I understood what those Looney Toon cartoons were referring to. "

This!!

I really really enjoyed Of Mice and Men. I can imagine if his other novels are written in the same voice, they would get tedious after a while. I might try reading Grapes of Wrath one day.

I read Of Mice and Men in high school, and all of a sudden I understood what those Looney Toon cartoons were referring to.

I have tried, but I get about sixty pages in and I just fall down under a big honking load of I. Dont. Care.

I've tried East of Eden, Of Mice and Men, then I tried Travels with Charley because I figured hey, road trip with dog, surely I can identify with that. But nope, nope, its like being trapped in an elevator with my uncle. My uncle is a perfectly nice, intelligent, well meaning, educated man and many people love and/or admire him but about twenty minutes of him is as much as I can take before I start wanting to crawl out of my skin and run away.

I'd rather listen to The Ghost of Tom Joad than read about him. Someday I may change my mind.

When I think of The Red Pony, I think of me being in 7th Grade English class, and me bitching very loudly to Mrs. Rosenthal about how much I hated that book.

Later in life, because of my love for Bruce Springsteen, who is an avowed Steinbeck fan, I grew to appreciate Steinbeck's work.

I have never forgiven him for The Red Pony. Maybe someday I'll read one of the others, but thus far my post-Red Pony boycott has never been broken. Canadian English teachers don't assign Steinbeck, so I didn't have to read him in school.

Hated Grape of Wrath with a passion. Liked Of Mice and Men. I want to read this:The Short Reign of Pippin IV. Any good?

What do you think of Steinbeck?

I love his work. I keep Cannery Row in my car...I can pick up the page, turn to any page, and feel completely satisfied with the experience. And East of Eden is one of my favorite novels...ever.