Classic. Classic. Classic.

If I was going to pick one novel that epitomized what a top 100 novels list should be, The Grapes of Wrath might be it.

This is brilliant literature, and I’m beyond excited to dive into it again. This is one of the five you guys selected in a recent vote on the blog.

In brief, The Grapes of Wrath is the story of the Joad family—a hard-working Oklahoma farming family in the Great Depression who, because of bad crops and government tractors that will run over people, is driven out of their homes.

With nowhere else in the Midwestern “Dust Bowl” to find work, they load up in a crappy, old car—all dozen or so of them—and drive to California to find work in the fields of abundant fruit.

A few quick facts about The Grapes of Wrath and its author, the legendary John Steinbeck: