The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck

 Yeah, I know, groan all you want.  I read it in high school too.  But the reason we read it then is the same reason it’s listed here ? it’s a classic.  And more importantly, it’s a damn good book.  Set in the depression, a farming family, know as the Joads, is forced to leave their Oklahoma land in the hope of something better out west.  While they leave the Dust Bowl in their wake, they discover new pain, loss, and hardships on the road and in the migrant camps of California.
 It is a magnificent story accurately depicting the depths of man’s depravity and the heights of compassion which he is capable of.  It is also replete with imagery you most likely missed the first time.  Like the Christ references to Jim Casy and Rose of Sharon and the near communist ideology of the simple country folk (in fact, Steinbeck was accused of communist propaganda by conservatives of his day).  Due to the beautifully written realistic prose the novel serves simultaneously as inspiration, warning, and beacon of memory.
An important American novel by one of our premier authors, it deserves another reading now that we’re out of high school.