Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck

 

“I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I've lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment.”

"I am happy to report that in the war between reality and romance, reality is not the stronger.”

“I was born lost and take no pleasure in being found.” 

      I read this book over my Christmas break in my Junior year of High School because my parents gave me a nice hardcover edition as a present. I have read  The Grapes of Wrath, The Pearl, Of Mice and Men and The Moon is Down, but Travels with Charley is by far my favorite, well The Grapes of Wrath is great too. This book is by far the most personable and fun to read out of all the listed Steinbecks. It follows his travels across the United States with his dog-friend Charley. He starts in Long Island, and circumvents his way, counter-clockwise, around the entire border of the country, a journey over 10,000 miles.  His ride is a customized truck with living space in the bed, that he affectionately names Rocinante after Don Quixote's steed.   This book could bring about the adventurous side in any reader by explaining all that the United States has to offer, from the seashore and lighthouses in Maine, to the Redwood forests in California, and the strong unified culture within Texas (a culture which he attributes characteristics similar to a religion).   In most of Steinbeck's novels he portrays America, he reports on its activities, and more than anything else it's people. He does the same thing within this book, but he can without any of the fluff of fiction, and reports things just as he sees them in his travels.  As a dog lover, this book was made exponentially better by the constant presence of his sweet, intellectual, and regal French poodle. Steinbeck noted that he went on this venture in order to see all of America, the America that he has been writing and reporting on for most of his life.  Upon further investigation I learned that he went on this final trip across America at the end of his life, when heart problems could have killed him any day.  This was not just a casual strut across the country, taking in the sights and the experiencing life, this was a man saying a final farewell to his beloved home.  4.75/5

   I have a hard time giving 5/5 on a book, but this is one of my all-time favorites, so it got pretty darn close. 

Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut

 Young Kurt Vonnegut in the US Army 

“Don't put one foot in your job and the other in your dream, Ed. Go ahead and quit, or resign yourself to this life. It's just too much of a temptation for fate to split you right up the middle before you've made up your mind which way to go.” 

“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.” 

“Not slaves,” said Halyard, chuckling patronizingly. “Citizens, employed by government.” 

        This is the first novel that Vonnegut ever published and the first book of his that I ever read. Undoubtedly, one of the more important American writers in recent times. He has a unique way with words and story telling that is nearly unexplainable because of it's incomparable nature.  He enjoys twisting traditional means of writing, and has the ability to ramble for pages and chapters while still making funny points and serious critiques of society, most fairly labeled a black humorist and satirist.  Onto the novel itself.  This work focuses on the flaws within a developing society and the dangers that a mechanized world could hold. During a Third World War with all the American troops in foreign countries, machines had to be created in order to fill their spots at work.  After the war, society has been split into the managers and engineers who run everything, and then the rest of the masses are mostly jobless and reckless due to their unemployment. The plot follows one of the more important managers within this society, and eventually his choice to turn against his companions and rebel against the world as it is.  One of the more notable features of this novel is the rashness and reality that occurs when the events begin to take place and spiral out of control.  Before the protagonist knows it, he is in the thick of a serious and momentous occasion, it makes you wonder if a momentous event in your life is not too far away. Vonnegut leaves you questioning today's society and whether it is all it seems.  To a first time Vonnegut reader I might recommend other works such as Sirens of Titan or Cat's Cradle because they are initially more readable and enjoyable when not used  to Vonnegut's antics. 3.5/5

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

304 Pages

“If you don't have answers to your problems after a four-hour run, you ain't getting them.” 

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.”

“You don't stop running because you get old, you get old because you stop running.” 

        This book will make you want to run.  Christopher emerged himself in this world of super athletes, ultra-marathons and long distance running, and drags you along with him.  He focuses on a couple of notable long distance runners whose personalities are as strange as the distances they run, and we're not talking tens of miles, more like hundreds. He speaks of a race between the world's greatest long distance runners centering around a group who lives away from civilized society, and have  for the majority of their history.  Another theme that McDougall focuses on is how humans are meant to run, and why every person should take advantage of this given skill.  This is the aspect of the book that reels you in and motivates you to start running on your own, because who are you to ignore your inherited skill. He delves into the the running shoe market and explains why the simpler the better, and more often cheaper as well. I read this book during my indoor track season of Sophomore year in high school, the time when running, primarily distance running, became an important part of my life.  I don't owe this entire realization to this book, but it certainly discredited any doubt I had that running was an integral part of who I was. If you run already and read this book, I can almost guarantee that you'll find more motivation and reason when you're out on the road. If you don't already run, you'll feel the urge to. 4/5