2015 Reading Challenge [Closed] discussion

On the eve of the awards ceremony where Steinbeck would receive the Nobel Prize for Literature after writing this book, one article in the NYT said that: "Serious readers had stopped reading Steinbeck decades ago, driven away by his sentimentality." In his Nobel speech, Steinbeck made reference to the "pale and emasculated critical priesthood singing their litanies in empty churches."

I'm actually kind of excited to read this one; got it from the library today so it's next on my to-read pile.

There was a storyteller in my family, a man who was married to my grandmother's cousin, who would sit and tell stories between puffs on a wonderfully-fragrant pipe. I remember sitting there mesmerized by his pleasant voice, feeling enveloped in a warm haze of delighted senses. I don't remember anything about his stories, but I remember that feeling. Reading Steinbeck today brings that back. What an excellent storyteller!