If all you’ve ever read of Steinbeck is “Grapes of Wrath,” you ought to try reading Steinbeck.
I suppose I should read more than one of the man’s books before dismissing him out of hand, but life is short. There are 100 years worth of back issues of Popular Science on Google Books that I haven’t gotten through yet. It could be awhile before I get around to “Of Mice and Men”.