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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
I loved this book and kept bringing up memories of my own US roadtrip. It even made me curious about taking a lot more roadtrips in the future. Although the setting of the book is the 60's, it didn't feel dated or oldfashioned.
Since there seems to be a Steinbeck museum in Salinas, California where the real Rocinante is being displayed, I would love to visit it once.
Since there seems to be a Steinbeck museum in Salinas, California where the real Rocinante is being displayed, I would love to visit it once.
I loved this book. Steinbeck's prose was never as beautiful and pitch-perfect as it is here. His voice is a distinctly American one, along the lines of anyone from [a: Walt Whitman|1438|Walt Whitman|http://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1392303683p2/1438.jpg] to [a: Norman Maclean|16943|Norman Maclean|http://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1319767261p2/16943.jpg]. It's rustic and educated, vast and intimate. There's a simultaneous joy in the trying to find expressions for the magnitude and wonder of this country, a rejuvenating lust for life; and the sense of sad wistfulness upon observing the inevitable march of progress that destroys the places of our memories.
In 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle Charley traveled around the U.S. in his truck named Rocinante (named after Don Quixote's horse). What I found most fascinating was that many of the observations he made 48 years ago are still relevant today. For example, "The mountains of things we throw away are much greater than the things we use. In this, if in no other way, we can see the wild and reckless exuberance of our production, and waste seems to be the index. . . . I do wonder whether there will come a time when we can no longer afford our wastefulness--chemical wastes in the rivers, metal wastes everywhere, and atomic wastes buried deep in the earth or sunk in sea."
Decent book. I really enjoyed the beginning and the ending but the writing style got to me a bit in the middle. Felt a bit like my dad telling me his day, what he ate, the weather, the neighbor and what he ate, and so on.
Amazing! Insightful, humorous and easy to read. Steinbeck has a way of capturing the essence of someone/something in only a few words.
Give me any book with a dog on the cover and I’ll read it (except for Marley and Me, because I actually like my heart in one piece, thank you very much).
So when my travel writing teacher asked the class to read a travelogue, I couldn’t resist picking up Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. I’m a fervent Steinbeck fan and the combination of his amazing writing talent with a dog is what drew me in. Added to that, I dislike travelogues and just wanted something that I knew I could at least admire for the writing.
Life is not a fairy tale and Travels with Charley did not make me fall in love with the travel-writing genre. It is a great read, but that’s because Steinbeck is so ridiculously talented with story telling. No one can tell a story like that man and that’s what made the book great.
The plot is fairly simply; a man and his dog take a home on wheels and drive around America to satisfy the wanderlust of the man.
Highlights are the first few chapters, where Steinbeck explains not just his love for travel, but the need he feels for travel. As a traveller myself, those chapters felt like he had looked inside my soul and put my thoughts into words that are far beyond my talent.
The journey is described by landscapes and people and the reaction of his dog Charley to both of those. That makes this travelogue original – it’s not just what Steinbeck is feeling, but it’s about what the dog is feeling and what this might mean. It also makes it an amazing read for dog owners, like myself, because you can recognize the reactions of Charley and it makes you want to grab your pet and cuddle him.
Without giving too much of the plot away, the journey throws Steinbeck several curveballs and he experiences things that were unexpected for him – and thus are also unexpected for the reader.
Is it a life-changing journey? No, it’s not. So is the book life-changing? No, it’s not. But it’s a fun, easy read and it will help future writers develop their use of language and the building blocks of a good story.
So when my travel writing teacher asked the class to read a travelogue, I couldn’t resist picking up Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. I’m a fervent Steinbeck fan and the combination of his amazing writing talent with a dog is what drew me in. Added to that, I dislike travelogues and just wanted something that I knew I could at least admire for the writing.
Life is not a fairy tale and Travels with Charley did not make me fall in love with the travel-writing genre. It is a great read, but that’s because Steinbeck is so ridiculously talented with story telling. No one can tell a story like that man and that’s what made the book great.
The plot is fairly simply; a man and his dog take a home on wheels and drive around America to satisfy the wanderlust of the man.
Highlights are the first few chapters, where Steinbeck explains not just his love for travel, but the need he feels for travel. As a traveller myself, those chapters felt like he had looked inside my soul and put my thoughts into words that are far beyond my talent.
The journey is described by landscapes and people and the reaction of his dog Charley to both of those. That makes this travelogue original – it’s not just what Steinbeck is feeling, but it’s about what the dog is feeling and what this might mean. It also makes it an amazing read for dog owners, like myself, because you can recognize the reactions of Charley and it makes you want to grab your pet and cuddle him.
Without giving too much of the plot away, the journey throws Steinbeck several curveballs and he experiences things that were unexpected for him – and thus are also unexpected for the reader.
Is it a life-changing journey? No, it’s not. So is the book life-changing? No, it’s not. But it’s a fun, easy read and it will help future writers develop their use of language and the building blocks of a good story.
Delving back into Steinbeck?
I don't know, but this book didn't connect with me the way I expected it to, which is perhaps my fault. I suppose it's likened to the way that Steinbeck felt about this trip he set out on. It's not bad and sections are truly very interesting. I'm sure I could look at the memoir as a look into the toil that the road had on him, and thus his writing is "real" and "genuine" but I can't help but feel he is so rushed, his thoughts so convoluted, the issues and language nowhere near the level he is usually on. Indeed, many times throughout the recollection he sounds as a grumpy old man, only to later excuse his statements.
Perhaps the book is interesting as a character study of Steinbeck, but as a character study of America and in comparison to lots of his fiction, it just falls flat.
Which isn't to say it's all bad, of course or that any is bad. I just came in with high hopes, but was ultimately underwhelmed.
I don't know, but this book didn't connect with me the way I expected it to, which is perhaps my fault. I suppose it's likened to the way that Steinbeck felt about this trip he set out on. It's not bad and sections are truly very interesting. I'm sure I could look at the memoir as a look into the toil that the road had on him, and thus his writing is "real" and "genuine" but I can't help but feel he is so rushed, his thoughts so convoluted, the issues and language nowhere near the level he is usually on. Indeed, many times throughout the recollection he sounds as a grumpy old man, only to later excuse his statements.
Perhaps the book is interesting as a character study of Steinbeck, but as a character study of America and in comparison to lots of his fiction, it just falls flat.
Which isn't to say it's all bad, of course or that any is bad. I just came in with high hopes, but was ultimately underwhelmed.
It seems strange how certain books arrive in our lives at the perfect moment as if fated to find us right when we needed to hear them...
“A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ.”
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
"I was born lost and take no pleasure in being found."
“I am happy to report that in the war between reality and romance, reality is not the stronger.”
“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you
control it.”
“I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation- a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here. They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every states I visited. Nearly every American hungers to move.”
“A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ.”
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
"I was born lost and take no pleasure in being found."
“I am happy to report that in the war between reality and romance, reality is not the stronger.”
“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you
control it.”
“I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation- a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here. They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every states I visited. Nearly every American hungers to move.”