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Some of the group is interested in doing Steinbeck books in the summer so I am starting this thread. We will work out which books to go with. Go ahead and start suggestions. One a month for each summer month!

The book of the time that every one must read or reread is Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath which have a resounding theme... The dignity and steadfastness of the Joads might inspire a lot of people who goes through tough times...

I would love to read some Steinbeck this summer, the only one I've read by him is Of Mice and Men. I really wanted to read East of Eden.

I would say Grapes is in! I've wanted East of Eden too. I like Ken suggestions does everyone else agree???

I agree with this, too.

Well, I'll give a go to it...

I agree with Ken's suggestions. If I REALLY HAVE to choose, I'd start with:
Grapes of Wrath for major novel
To a God unknown for short novel
The Long Valley for shorts
and then work my way through the rest

I'm definitely in for the novels. I'm not so much of a short story reader but I do see the logic of reading both.
Since I've only read The Moon is Down, I don't care if we read East of Eden, Grapes of Wrath or some third choice, as long as it's one of his major novels.
How does The Moon is Down 'rank' - as one of his lesser (and shorter) novels or???
Ken - I will make a note of Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday - I like the sound of those two.

I am always up for any Steinbeck. I think I have read them all, and Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday are faves. East Of Eden or Grapes of Wrath are both excellent.

Yes, I agree. Enthusiastically.

Yes Ken, The Moon is Down is a short novella about a town being occupied. I read it in English class and liked it and have re-read it since some years ago. It sounds very likeable that it would have a huge following in any occupied country.
Thanks for the short review of Cannery Row.
I think with all the Steinbeck enthusiasts around here that I will have to pick up one of his books very soon!
What month are we planning to do this group read in???

Is this going ahead? What months will be the Steinbeck Summer?

Yes I think we will proceed.

I would say let's start in June go to August?

Fantastic! Which book shall we start with, or are we voting or will we all read whichever books we want then post what we've read? If we're nominating books for voting, I'd like to nominate first To a God Unknown (short novel) then The Grapes of Wrath (major novel).

I have been thinking about it for several months. It is so exciting. My choices are just the same as Shannon's. To a God Unknown has a very very strong appeal. Grapes of Wrath is the book I most associate with Steinbeck. Either that or East of Eden, but prefer Grapes of Wrath.

Should we do:

June: Grapes of Wrath
July: To a God Unknown & Tortilla Flats (they are both shorter novels)
August: East of Eden

Everyone please feel free to do suggestions then maybe we can set up a poll. That will work. Make your suggestions for June july & August.

Can we add Cannery Row as a possibility for one of the shorter novels.

I am excited about this as I have only read Of Mice and Men. I agree with Emily- can we please add Cannery Row?

Cannery Row isn't very big we could add that for June/July!

Sweet Thursday also sounds good. I am going to set up a poll just to see what type of interest we have going.

I vote for Grapes of Wrath for purely selfish reasons. I am sorry to say that I turn 60 in August and I have never read it. This might be the motivation I need. I've read Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, In Dubious Battle and Winter of Our Discontent (which is really awesome). I think a Steinbeck summer is a great idea.

Grapes of Wrath is a fantastic book. I don't reread books (can't ever get into them again) but I like it when someone mentions them because I enjoy remembering the book.

I would like to read one of the very known Steinbeck novels - either East of Eden, Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men.

I really like the idea about the group spending several months reading one author and I would like to suggest that when we finish with Steinbeck summer, we choose another author and then read him/her in the Fall - maybe a Hemmingway Fall and a Dickens Winter or something. Any takers?

Good idea!

Thanks for the suggestion Christina! We could do something like:

Faulkner Fall or Fitzgerald Fall/Fall with Fitzgerald

Wells (H.G) Winter or Wharton Winter or Winter with Wilde (Oscar)

Spring with Sinclair (either Lewis or Iain), Smith Spring (Zadie Smith) or Sparks Spring.

If those sound good or you have any other suggestions let me know I'll set up a poll.

Thanks Emily.
Emilee, I like the idea of doing (author with F) Fall and (author with W) winter - I just think we will soon run out of authors we really want to read by doing that so my suggestion is we see which authors people are interested in and then do a poll. We have a couple of months to decide so hopefully, we'll get lots of suggestion. Maybe we should make a new topic about it?

I read a sample of East of Eden and didn't like it. A whole chapter describing a valley....However, yesterday I read the samples for Tortilla Flat and Sweet Thursday, and I did like those. They seem written by a different author!

I'm wondering, since Sweet Thursday is the sequel to Cannery Row, does it matter if you read it as a stand alone book?

Emily wrote: "I'm wondering, since Sweet Thursday is the sequel to Cannery Row, does it matter if you read it as a stand alone book? "

Emily,

I had the same thought but when I saw that Cannery Row is only about a hundred pages I figured it couldn't hurt to throw it into my reading mix ahead of Sweet Thursday.

I came to the same conclusion, Dan. It is a short book so I will read it before Sweet Thursday. It is around 200 pages depending on the edition.

Steinbeck is a funny case, because he writes exquisitely sparse, short books (Cannery Row, The Pearl, Tortilla Flats) and then bricks that take 100's of pages to set the stage. I don't mind his stage setting, rambling, because the end result is ALWAYS worth the effort, in my opinion.

You don't have to read Cannery Row first, but if you have the time, I would, just to say you did:)

I just finished Cannery Row, but I didn't get to Sweet Thursday yet so I wasn't sure. It's not that anything really happened in CR it's really just all about the characters.

I'm planning on reading Cannery Row as well before Sweet Thursday. In fact, I'm considering reading every Steinbeck book I ever wanted to read, this summer. So far I've got a list of eight books: Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, The Moon is Down, Travels with Charley, Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday, East of Eden & Tortilla Flats.
Am I missing any major works from the list?
It will truly be a Steinbeck summer if I read all of these!!!

The Pearl? I know a lot of people say they don't like it, but I like to beleive that's because they were made to read it at school. I think if you are trying to read Steinbeck, you HAVE to read that one. It's short, too:)

Fiona wrote: "Oh but East of Eden is beautiful. The first 150 pages are slow (though beautifully written) but after you read past that it becomes such a deep, inspirational story.

You really have to look past t..."

Ok Fiona, thanks! I have started it again. Sometimes you are not in the mood for some things and maybe that happened to me since now I am enjoying it :)