FINALLY! I read "Cannery Row"

[MonkeyFunk]

I started it a months ago, got a couple pages in, and lost the book.

But I got another copy recently and just finished it. Wow, what a fantastic book! The only Steinbeck I'd ever read was "The Red Pony" in school, and didn't think much of it. Now I have "Sweet Thursday", "Tortilla Flat" and "East of Eden" in the queue.

[The Magistrate]

1. Excellent Book, Sir!

They ruin this author at schools with 'The Red Pony' and "The Pearl".

There is a collection of his columns written as a war correspondent in the Second World War that is a most illuminating read.

[MonkeyFunk]

2. Yes, I want to read that, too.

But boy, did I just love "Cannery Row". I know Monterey prety well - I live not far from there. The actual location of the story is a place I'm very familiar with.

I had thought the book would actually be about the canneries - which certainly have a fascinating history - but they were a very small part of it. But I wasn't in any way disappointed.

[The Magistrate]

14. That Would Give It Extra Zing, Sir

Never been west of the Rockies, myself. My travels were mostly in an eastwards direction. To go west is to move forward in time; to go east is to move backwards in time, and the latter is more congenial to my temperament....

[puerco-bellies]

3. One of my favorites.

I love the opening paragraph.

[MonkeyFunk]

5. isn't it just the best?

"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses. Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, 'whores, pimps, gamblers and sons of bitches,' by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, 'Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,' and he would have meant the same thing."

[amerikat]

4. "Grapes of Wrath" should be on your list also.

and for a little lighter fare try "Travels with Charlie"

a great author that wrote about a dire time in America.

[Speck Tater]

11. I second that. Grapes of Wrath is going to be very topical soon. NT

[Drum]

6. I'm not well-read

in a scholastic or comprehensive way.... Never read any of the Steinbeck you mentioned, but know of all of them. But I have read one of his novels: The Pearl. I'd really really recommend it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pearl_(novel)

As I mentioned, my literary education is hole-y, but I feel I've lucked onto a pivotal few (like Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth" and Frank Waters' "The Man who killed The Deer" and others along the way. I always enjoy when someone catches me up on the "classics." Your mention of Steinbeck made me remember this one, and I thank you for bringing this up. I will try to catch up on some of these titles.

:hi:

D

((Edit...yikes, reading upthread. No matter though...I'm happy to have read---even the shallow end of---some Steinbeck.))

[Liberty Belle]

7. Many characters were based on real people. I met an innkeeper who knew Steinbeck.

He told of his mother seeing the town madam and her girls pulling into the filling station in a brand new car and innocently asking how they could afford such an expense. The real madam was named Flora, the character in the book Dora (or vice versa).

Doc was based on a real person, too. You can visit the site where he died in Monterey and see an exhibit all about him at the Monterey Aquarium on Cannery Row.

The innkeeper also had some interesting tales to tell; he recalled working as a newspaper delivery boy in his youth and calling to collect payment at the Steinbeck home, where Mrs. Steinbeck opened the door stark naked! Definitely made an impression on the young man.

[ananda]

8. John Steinbeck is..

.. the greatest author of all time!

I've read everything of his I could get my hands on..
more than once. And the video documentary of his
life is great too!

Now there was a man.

[pinto]

9. You'll love 'em. He's got a sense of place and person that is unique.

And, a good story teller, duh.

I re-read some of them from time to time just for the hey of it.

[pinto]

10. "Once more, the world was spinning in greased grooves."

[villager]

12. I can still hear John Huston narrating that line, in the film version...

n/t

[tularetom]

13. My dad was an Okie

He had us read the Grapes of Wrath when we were about 12, so that we would know what it was like when he was young. Later on we found out it wasn't quite like that for him - he had gotten a good job at a cotton gin and was employed until he joined the navy in the late 30's. But It was set right where we lied and the references to places I knew well were vivid and accurate. It got me reading all of Steinbeck's novels and I had visualized Cannery Row long before I ever saw it. When I finally went there at age 16 or so, the resemblance of the real article to the mental picture I had formed was un friggin canny.

Later on I learned that Doc was a well known marine biologist who actually maintained a lab nearby for many years. There was a boiler with a guy living in it. I think it was one of the greatest novels I ever read. Sweet Thursday was kind of a sequel revolving around the wedding of one of the whores. Also excellent.

Thanks for bringing this up. I'm going to find a copy and read it again.

[MonkeyFunk]

15. I've been to Cannery Row many times

I just hadn't ever read the book. I've done a lot of SCUBA diving in Monterey right in that area, and I know the tide pools Doc hunted in very well. It's only about 40 miles away from me, so I look forward to going back and looking at it differently.

[Howler]

16. East of Eden Is my all time favorite book....ever! N/T

[YankeyMCC]

17. Steinbeck is brilliant "East of Eden" is my favorite non-SF genre novel

You might also want to put "The Moon Is Down" on your list.

It's a WWII story (well it was written in 1942 but the belligerents are not explicitly named) about an occupied town. It might as well have been written in the last few years and set in a small Iraqi town for it's relevance to issues we all should be thinking about today.