The Wood Beyond The World Forum Favorite reading

Loekie suggested this some time ago, and I think it's a good idea. I think we're mostly inspired to write by what we've read, and that's the way we learn our craft too -- manuals and advice books are helpful to an extent, but the imitation (conscious or unconscious) of really inspiring writing is how we actually shape our talents.

So, please, whenever you think of something that you've read that really moved you, whether as a reader or a writer or both, post it to this thread. Say as much or as little about it as you wish (though comments about how it's written, and how that's influenced you would be most helpful to our purpose here, I think.)

I've always loved all of Steinbeck's work, especially East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath. His stories were about regular people trying to live through circumstances that they couldn't control, although that was more philosophical than physical in East of Eden. I've never read any other author who could take ordinary, every-day life and make it so moving and personal. The struggles of the characters were very personal and rather minute compared to the struggles in most other fiction, but Steinbeck had a real gift for making the reader empathize with the characters. He never went over the top in his writing style, it was always rather subtle and subdued, but had a real power underneath. One of my role models for writing, even though he wrote grammatically incorrect most of the time...but really, that doesn't matter. A whole lot of the most famous writers didn't follow the rules of the English language...