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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
An absolutely fantastic contemporary non-fiction
story of the travels of John Steinbeck with his Dog Charley.
From it's outset its a low stakes cross country trip, but John Steinbeck elucidates his writing skill through a hearty and sold depiction of middle america and the people contained there. It is an interesting leisure read!
story of the travels of John Steinbeck with his Dog Charley.
From it's outset its a low stakes cross country trip, but John Steinbeck elucidates his writing skill through a hearty and sold depiction of middle america and the people contained there. It is an interesting leisure read!
I read this book on a recent many-state road trip, and I love how Steinbeck captures so perfectly our country, and his moment in it. Also fascinating is that, curiously, so many ideas from this 50 year old book remain current.
Sorry mom and dad, I had to read something flying home from Thanksgiving. Stole it!
A good book, and a pleasant departure for Steinbeck. You can tell he is more of a beatnik at heart than anything else. Describing his stop at the Monterey Peninsula reads like Bukowski. Anyway, a very entertaining read. Not heavy at all, and fun and pleasant to get through. Also short as hell.
Re-read August 2015:
Did the audiobook version this time. Very fun reading. Good characterizations. Speaker had fun with the role. I had forgotten two things: (1) how bleak the deep south was, and specifically New Orleans during school integration, and (2) his description of his feelings on local and state law enforcement, and the difference between the two. (2) Rang as true 60 years later as it did at time of publishing. Sad, but not surprising.
A good book, and a pleasant departure for Steinbeck. You can tell he is more of a beatnik at heart than anything else. Describing his stop at the Monterey Peninsula reads like Bukowski. Anyway, a very entertaining read. Not heavy at all, and fun and pleasant to get through. Also short as hell.
Re-read August 2015:
Did the audiobook version this time. Very fun reading. Good characterizations. Speaker had fun with the role. I had forgotten two things: (1) how bleak the deep south was, and specifically New Orleans during school integration, and (2) his description of his feelings on local and state law enforcement, and the difference between the two. (2) Rang as true 60 years later as it did at time of publishing. Sad, but not surprising.
I am in such a reading slump it’s not even a joke.
Rating: 3.5
Steinbeck's strength is in his fiction writing, so it's no surprise this "non-fiction" travelogue was found to be mostly fabricated. Nevertheless, Steinbeck shines. His thoughts on American culture, race, religion, writing, and travel all bleed true. I did find this to be a tad boring but overall it's an interesting collection of essays from my favorite classical writer.
Also, I'm planning on reading [b:Dogging Steinbeck: How I Went in Search of John Steinbeck's America, Found My Own America, and Exposed the Truth about 'Travels with Charley'|17246909|Dogging Steinbeck How I Went in Search of John Steinbeck's America, Found My Own America, and Exposed the Truth about 'Travels with Charley'|Bill Steigerwald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1358203474s/17246909.jpg|23682186] soon!
Rating: 3.5
Steinbeck's strength is in his fiction writing, so it's no surprise this "non-fiction" travelogue was found to be mostly fabricated. Nevertheless, Steinbeck shines. His thoughts on American culture, race, religion, writing, and travel all bleed true. I did find this to be a tad boring but overall it's an interesting collection of essays from my favorite classical writer.
Also, I'm planning on reading [b:Dogging Steinbeck: How I Went in Search of John Steinbeck's America, Found My Own America, and Exposed the Truth about 'Travels with Charley'|17246909|Dogging Steinbeck How I Went in Search of John Steinbeck's America, Found My Own America, and Exposed the Truth about 'Travels with Charley'|Bill Steigerwald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1358203474s/17246909.jpg|23682186] soon!
Summer road trip books are always fun and, since we were on a road trip in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, I decided to listen to Travels with Charley (published in 1962) as I read Paul Theroux’s Deep South, published in 2015.
While Paul Theroux drove down south with his William Faulkner and Carson McCullers books, John Steinbeck set out to see how his country had changed. During his visit to his hometown of Monterey, California, he realized how his memory of Monterey was of a town that no longer existed.
What I loved about this book wasn’t the travel, it was John Steinbeck’s reflection that his idea of the country wasn’t relevant anymore. Life goes on without you. It happens to all of us. What I think about today’s society and culture is really better left to much younger generations. Your politics can’t stop the march of time. Time moves us the world forward, with or without our approval. I’ve learned to accept the ideas of younger generations, whether I like them or not. They’re the future, not me.
While Paul Theroux drove down south with his William Faulkner and Carson McCullers books, John Steinbeck set out to see how his country had changed. During his visit to his hometown of Monterey, California, he realized how his memory of Monterey was of a town that no longer existed.
What I loved about this book wasn’t the travel, it was John Steinbeck’s reflection that his idea of the country wasn’t relevant anymore. Life goes on without you. It happens to all of us. What I think about today’s society and culture is really better left to much younger generations. Your politics can’t stop the march of time. Time moves us the world forward, with or without our approval. I’ve learned to accept the ideas of younger generations, whether I like them or not. They’re the future, not me.
I really loved this book. Steinbeck always inspires me with his wit and prose, his honesty and humor. This book was printed almost 60 years ago, about events of over 60 years ago - some of it hasn’t aged to fit a modern palette, but it does reflect the thoughts and peoples of the time. Well worth a read for an account of mid-20th century America and an important American author.
It strikes me odd, that all these years later, the same things are going on in America. So much has changed, yet so much remains the same.
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
reflective
slow-paced
I've read this book twice - in junior high in the 1970s, and for book club in 2006.