I've watched parts of The Grapes of Wrath, and we read The Pearl and Of Mice and Men in class, but I never really got into any of them.

However, I just finished the 600-pages of godliness known as East of Eden, and the entire thing was pretty amazing to me. It's very similar to the way I felt after reading Anna Karenina except without so much of the America vs. Russia culture shock. It's not just that both are huge books, but both of them provide so much to think about. I might have to read it again (it took less than a week, that is, it was hard to put down and I feel sorrowful that I can't immediately take it up again)