The hardship in Steinbeck’s classic Depression-era novel is well captured in Frank Galati’s atmospheric adaptation, but you long for more tension, more to happen

The Lullaby author on identifying with Jo in Little Women, being terrified of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and why we’re still in debt to Steinbeck

The actor and author on his love of fantasy fiction, the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius, and why he doesn’t want a second bite of Proust

From John Steinbeck to Tommy Orange, it’s an old story that keeps on going, in one of the wealthiest countries on Earth. These books help explain why

Wiliam Young, an actor with learning disabilities, gives an affecting, lived-in performance as Lennie in this assured adaptation of Steinbeck’s Dust Bowl classic

From seething satire to pastoral tales and suspense, the state shows very different faces in these books, but they are united by a love for their setting

The desperate tale of the Joad family during the Great Depression is expertly narrated by actor Richard Armitage

From classic tales such as Paradise Lost to ‘counter-epics’ by Anne Carson and Tim O’Brien, these stories lend real grandeur to their subjects

From parents who meddle in their children’s relationships to ex-wives who loom over second marriages, families in fiction can be just as complicated as they are in real life