# Who should I read next, after Steinbeck?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 16, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775 "2018-01-16T20:46:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/1 "2018-01-16T20:46:08Z")
Over the last couple of months I’ve read Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row, The Winter Of Our Discontent, East of Eden, and now am about to finish The Grapes of Wrath.
Other than Of Mice and Men, who should I read next? Something more or less of the same ilk. I have tried John Dos Passos and found him ok, not great.
Thanks Dopers!
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### Author:  [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/2 "2018-01-16T20:50:06Z")
Try some Zola. Start with [Germinal](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5711)or [L’Assommoir](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8600).
Or try [Germinal](https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/z/zola/emile/germinal/complete.html)in English even.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/3 "2018-01-16T20:53:13Z")
I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend **Wallace Stegner** : **Crossing to Safety** and **Angle of Repose**. He is a western, humanist writer like Steinbeck, and both are truly beautiful and beautifully written books.
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### Author:  [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/4 "2018-01-16T21:03:46Z")
> [@WordMan](#):
>
> I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend **Wallace Stegner** : **Crossing to Safety** and **Angle of Repose**. He is a western, humanist writer like Steinbeck, and both are truly beautiful and beautifully written books.
I was just looking at his stuff at the library! Thanks!
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/5 "2018-01-16T21:09:19Z")
Have you tried any Jack London?
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### Author:  [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/6 "2018-01-16T21:18:23Z")
Are you implying that you’re sick of John Steinbeck? Because I quite liked _Sweet Thursday_ and would recommend it.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/7 "2018-01-16T21:28:21Z")
> [@jaycat](#):
>
> I was just looking at his stuff at the library! Thanks!
For that matter, if you love brilliant writing, and a hard look at the human condition, where a individual is a well-drawn character AND speaking to the fate of larger populations, I must strong (strongly, strongly!) recommend **JM Coetzee’s Disgrace**. The best-crafted book I have read in years, and its layers of commentary on individuals, South Africa and how change…changes individuals, cultures and countries are just brilliant. If you love Steinbeck, I believe you’d love this book.
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### Author:  [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/8 "2018-01-16T21:31:02Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#):
>
> Are you implying that you’re sick of John Steinbeck? Because I quite liked _Sweet Thursday_ and would recommend it.
I’ll check that one out too. Thanks.
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### Author:  [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/9 "2018-01-16T22:12:37Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#):
>
> Are you implying that you’re sick of John Steinbeck? Because I quite liked _Sweet Thursday_ and would recommend it.
\*[The Wayward Bus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayward_Bus)\*never gets any love either.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/10 "2018-01-16T23:03:36Z")
Oh, and of course, **Steinbeck’s** short stories. I know the collection The Long Valley, but I am sure they are collected many ways.
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### Author:  [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/11 "2018-01-16T23:29:58Z")
I read just about all of John Steinbeck’s stories when I was younger and I read ‘A Death in the Family’ by James Agee and 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter ’ by Carson McCullers afterward ,and I loved them as much as Steinbeck’s books. You should really read ‘Sweet Thursday’ too. All my books are packed away and I sure would love to read Sweet Thursday right now
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2018, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/12 "2018-01-17T00:56:39Z")
> [@WordMan](#):
>
> I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend **Wallace Stegner** : **Crossing to Safety** and **Angle of Repose**. He is a western, humanist writer like Steinbeck, and both are truly beautiful and beautifully written books.
I recently read his _Remembering Laughter_, and recommend it.
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### Author:  [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/13 "2018-01-17T02:15:30Z")
You might like **[Ragtime](https://www.amazon.com/Ragtime-Novel-Modern-Library-Novels/dp/0812978188)** by E.L.Doctorow
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2018, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/14 "2018-01-17T06:16:55Z")
It’s not for everyone, and has its flaws, but I love **Henry Miller’s Rosy Crucifixion**. It’s a three book set. The guy rambles, and could really have used an editor.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/15 "2018-01-17T12:24:17Z")
I second the recommendation for Emile Zola. I also liked Willa Cather (“My Antonia”, “O Pioneers!”), “McTeague” by Frank Norris, some of H. G. Wells’s realistic fiction (“Kipps”, “Tono-Bungay”, “The History of Mr Polly”) and I especially liked “An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2018, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/16 "2018-01-17T13:08:04Z")
Just because I really like Steinbeck and I really like well-written fiction, I’ll offer a couple - not that they are really similar to Steinbeck. Courtenay’s The Power of One. Walker Percy’s Moviegoer, Lancelot, Last Gentleman, Second Coming.
Percy might be a better counterpart to Graham Greene - another of my favorites.
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### Author:  [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/17 "2018-01-17T14:04:45Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> It’s not for everyone, and has its flaws, but I love **Henry Miller’s Rosy Crucifixion**. It’s a three book set. The guy rambles, and could really have used an editor.
I’ve read all his stuff. He’s one of my favorites, along with Paul Bowles.
Keep 'em coming, folks!
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2018, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-read-next-after-steinbeck/806775/18 "2018-01-18T07:47:52Z")
[In Dubious Battle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Dubious_Battle) is my favorite Steinbeck.