John Steinbeck's paean to the Monterey County of his youth, ''Cannery Row'' contains an introduction by Susan Shillinglaw in ''Penguin Modern Classics''. In the din and stink that is ''Cannery Row'' a colourful blend of misfits - gamblers, whores, drunks, bums and artists - survive side by side in a jumble of adventure and mischief. Lee Chong, the astute owner of the well-stocked grocery store, is also the proprietor of the Palace Flophouse that Mack and his troupe of good-natured 'boys' call home. Dora runs the Bear Flag Restaurant with clockwork efficiency and a generous heart, and Doc, secreted away in his home at Western Biological Laboratories, is the fount of all wisdom. Packed with invention and ramshackle joie de vivre, ''Cannery Row'' is Steinbeck's high-spirited tribute to his native California. John Steinbeck (1902-68), winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for literature, is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century.During the Second World War Steinbeck served as a war correspondent, his journalism later collected in ''Once There Was a War'' (1958), and he was awarded the Norwegian Cross of Freedom for his portrayal in ''The Moon is Down'' (1942) of Resistance efforts in northern Europe. His best-known works include the epics ''The Grapes of Wrath'' (1939) and ''East of Eden'' (1952), and his tragic novella ''Of Mice and Men'' (1937). John Steinbeck's complete works are published in ''Penguin Modern Classics''. If you enjoyed ''Cannery Row'' you might like Steinbeck's ''Sweet Thursday'', also available in ''Penguin Modern Classics''. ''A very human writer; uninhibited, bawdy, and compassionate, inquisitive and deeply intelligent''. (''Daily Telegraph'').