61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Definitely a classic piece of American literature ... that I think I was supposed to read in high school but never did :) This book is about two migrant workers in California - George and Lennie. Lennie seems to be mildly retarded - but is incredibly strong and is thus a great worker. Lennie is also somewhat obsessed with petting soft things; but because of his strength, he often accidentally hurts them (i.e. mice and puppies). Because Lennie dreams of having a farm with lots of rabbits, George tries to protect Lennie and prevent him from getting into trouble by saying that if Lennie doesn't do what he's supposed to do, he won't be able to "tend to the rabbits" on the farm they're going to buy.

However, Lennie gets into trouble when the wife of Curley, the farm owner, starts flirting with him. Knowing that Lennie likes to touch soft things, she tells Lennie to touch her hair; but in doing so, he accidentally breaks her neck. He runs away, and the other farm workers (including Curley) form a mob that starts looking for him to try to kill him. To spare Lennie a painful death at the hands of the mob - and perhaps for selfish reasons as well, the story ends with George shooting Lennie in the back of the head.
I can't seem to figure out why George took responsibility for Lennie to begin with - they don't seem to be related. It's also interesting to note that Steinbeck never gives the name of the woman that Lennie accidentally kills - she is just "Curley's wife."

This is a well-written (and sad!) story. It almost seems like a play - it's really easy to envision the setting and the characters from the way that Steinbeck writes.