I swore off John Steinbeck when I was in high school, after having a visceral dislike for The Grapes of Wrath.
Then a few months ago, I read an interesting quote here on HN -- I traced it back to Steinbeck's East of Eden, so I decided to give it a try.
I really truly deeply enjoyed the book. I hesitate to add books to a "favorites of all time" list until at least several months after reading, but it's a definite contender.
As for the different experiences between GoW and EoE, I have to assume that the inconsistency of the reader has a lot to do with it.
So, +1 on the Steinbeck recommendation. And gratitude to the lost-attribution commenter who quoted him!
Hemingway waits patiently on my TODO list.
Try something from a Pulitzer Prize winner, Booker Prize for Fiction , Nobel Prize for Literature, or National Book Award.
For example, John Steinbeck has some amazing novels that are often overlooked. Hemingway. There are many such authors.