The Grapes of Wrath discussion

What makes a good writer? Whose writing has had the greatest impact on you? Which one of their books have you loved the most?

Steinbeck is the only writer I can think of who has reduced me to tears as an adult.

I am also looking to pinch ideas of authors to try :)

I have two favorites.One is Vladimir Nabokov,other is Franz Kafka.Nabokov is like magician of writing.I highly recommended book "The Gift",that is one of the best works in 20.century.But Kafka is something else,in Methamorfosis i feel that he wrote book about me,about my daily life.Beside "Methamorfosis" of course "The Trial" is one of the best books i have ever read.

I have yet to read the trial. I read the Metamorphosis years ago and agree with you on that. It’s a book that stays with you long after you’ve read it. I loved Lolita but need to branch out and try more. Will definitely check out the gift!

Keelan wrote: "What makes a good writer?"

I am made to comprehend the soul of his main character, "soul" meaning the deepest inner, often hidden feelings. These can be our basest animal urges, such as Lennie's rage when he fights Curley or the way he impulsively kills the mouse, the puppy and Curley's wife. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is another example. I saw aspects of my mother in Anna. Curley's wife, when she threatened to have Crooks hanged, calling him "nigger" in front of the others, is another strong character.

When a book serves as a magic prism through which we can see ourselves and our world more clearly, perhaps for the first time--THIS is the greatest literature.


Keelan wrote:"Whose writing has had the greatest impact on you?"

Steinbeck #1, then Tolstoy, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Carver and Hemingway.


Keelan wrote:"Which one of their books have you loved the most? "

I don't know what you mean by "loved" but my highest regard is for East of Eden because of the illuminating insights it gave me about human behavior. Of Mice and Men is another, perhaps one of the greatest books in literature for the same reason.

The Catcher in the Rye comes in close to OMM for the same reason--deep insight in a very small package. Lord of the Flies and The Great Gatsby for the same reason--powerful punch per pound. You could almost put The Old Man and the Sea in that same category, but I'd have to read it one more time to be sure.

Bear in mind that what a reader takes away from a book is a function of that reader's own depth of perception and personal experience. For example, someone whose imagination has been severely impaired by oppressive religious or political dogma will shrink from even reading some of these titles. Their minds will involuntarily resist any truth that runs counter to their ingrained beliefs and ideology. In other words, they have been brainwashed.

I agree :) I haven’t read any Pat Conroy but thank you for the recommendation :) I will definitely have to get this and try it!

Aw I am obsessed with the 60’s! Sounds like my kind of thing! I’m from Northern Ireland but dream of being from somewhere else haha. Where are you from?

I can not explain why, but for me this is a very difficult question to answer. I have read some books throughout my life and some of them have been striking in different stages of my life, as well as their authors, so it is impossible for me to tell which is the best writer for me, I honestly do not have one. I can say that Steinbeck is certainly one of the authors who marked me and made me look at the world with other eyes, in a less superficial way.

Herman Raucher is definitely one of my favourites. I loved 'A Glimpse of Tiger' and 'Maynard's House.' Raucher has a unique, bitingly witty style of writing and his characters are so well depicted, they take on the kind of humanity that many authors would love to emulate.

The most influential writer that I keep coming back to is the one who wrote the gospel of "John." Also, probably Dr. Seuss or one of the alphabet book authors who helped the beginnings of English make more sense to my growing mind.