Reading Envy Readers discussion

It is likely that you have already heard this episode or you wouldn't be here.

But I'm curious about your OWN experience with Steinbeck.

I first read The Pearl when I was in junior high because my oldest brother asked me to read it. I then read Travels with Charley and The Red Pony going into high school. I wanted to read as much Steinbeck as I could so I started reading everything my brother owned which included Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, Tortilla Flat, The Winter of Our Discontent and The Moon is Down.

When I started teaching, I taught The Grapes of Wrath and so I had to read it multiple times (which I loved). Once I got out of college, my Steinbeck reading started to slack off, so I am glad to jump back in with this classic tome.

I have always liked Steinbeck's style of writing and the fact that he tells the story of people that live on society's periphery. He gives voice where voice often fails.

When I was in high school we traveled to visit my cousin in Arizona. She only had a few books I could read at her house, and The Grapes of Wrath was the one I chose. I loved it! I have not read any other Steinbeck, so I am really looking forward to this.

Melissa

I have never read Stienbeck so I'm looking forward to reading it and discussing it with you all.

My name is also "Carol Ann" but I go by Carol. This book is my favorite book of all time. My book club read it and we enjoyed it so much that we started reading other Steinbecks. We live in the DC area but flew out to Monterey/Salinas to visit the John Steinbeck Museum. We were lucky enough to have one of the board members join us for breakfast and discuss John Steinbeck with us. Then we traveled all up and down the area to see the places where his books took place. We especially enjoyed driving through the valleys as he described them in the early chapters. If you need to "like" the characters, this is not the book for you. I loved this book because he does a wonderful job of describing flawed humanity - which I appreciated. I can't stand sappy books. And aren't we all flawed? There will be people you love and people you despise. He wrote this at the end of his life as a moral tale for his two sons. It is beautiful.

Thanks for sharing your Steinbeck stories! Carol Ann, I'm working on a conference proposal right this very minute that would be within an hour of Monterey/Salinas so CLEARLY this is the universe telling me I am destined to visit his stomping grounds!

My own experiences:

The Red Pony - I had to read this in 7th grade because I'd already read what the class is reading. I was repulsed by the descriptions.

Of Mice and Men - I was in an AP Block class my junior year of high school, American literature and history. We read two books by Steinbeck that year. This one we read first and then put on a supreme court case to discuss whether or not Lennie should be given the death penalty. Fun assignment!

The Grapes of Wrath - this was read in the English side of the class while we studied the Great Depression on the History side. I've heard that in some schools they just read the first part, is that to avoid the uncomfortable metaphor at the end? I felt very connected to this story because I lived in a rural area with a lot of migrant workers. For my final project in that class I did a presentation on migrant workers and interviewed a man who had grown up as a child of one and ended up becoming a citizen. Pretty great example of connected learning!

*HUGE GAP OF TWENTY YEARS*

Travels with Charley: In Search of America - A few years back I had a conference in San Jose and planned to fly in/out of LA, so I could take the train ride up. I had reservations but then had a health emergency that made me cancel my trip. BOO! But I had this book and planned to read it during that train ride, because I knew Steinbeck's father had been a railroad man. However I think I meant to get a different book because this one wasn't really about his father.

Cannery Row- read pretty recently, this year I think, and it just whetted my appetite for more!

That said I'm looking forward to our readalong!