Kingwood College Library
STEINBECK TIMELINE
TOP TEN STEINBECK NOVELS
- The pleasures of Heaven - A collection of interrelated short stories, rich
in the feeling for the land and for its hardworking people. Steinbeck charts
the gradual disintegration of a peaceful farming community in a lush California
valley.
- The Red Pony - While dealing with the harsh realities of life, Jody changes
from a naive young boy into a responsible and maturing young man in the Salinas
mountains.
- Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck creates a "Camelot" on a shabby
hillside above Monterey on the California coast and peoples it with a colorful
band of knights.
- Of mice & men - Steinbeck uses Robert Burn’s poem as title and
basis for his story about migrant workers Lennie and George. “The best
laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft agley.”
- Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck’s powerful story of the Joads, as they
leave the 1930s Oklahoma dustbowl for the promise land of California.
- Cannery Row - Best first line, Cannery Row in Monterey in California
is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light... Nostalgiz, a dream.
- The Pearl - Set in the Gulf of the California Baja, Steinbeck tells a parable
based on the biblical “pearl of great price.”
- East of Eden - is the book that Steinbeck considered his great work. Based
on the Cain and Abel biblical story, Steinbeck tells the interwoven story
of the Trasks and the Hamiltons. Beautifully written, thoughtful.
- The Winter of our Discontent - Mixed reviews for this book that Steinbeck
clearly states he wrote in order to address the moral degeneration of American
culture in the 1960s.
- Travels with Charley - Steinbeck’s last major work. He traveled 10,000
miles and wrote stories about America that hold up today.
Kingwood College Library
| East of Eden
| Grapes of Wrath
| Page by Peggy Whitley