I often struggled with the reading assignments in high school english classes. Being a slow reader, I found books like Grapes of Wrath and The Scarlet Letter tedious and irrelevant. I'm sure time has helped me appreciate books like these a bit more, but I still don't really enjoy them. Cannery Row, on the other hand was a joy to read. For one thing, it's under 200 pages long. Each chapter is a wonderful bite-sized nugget containing beautiful and plain language painting a vignette of life in this particular time and place. Altogether, Steinbeck presents a cast of flawed but genuine characters that you can't help but love. The simple story line is hardly necessary other than to provide a framework within which the characters can come to life. Highly recommended.