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I wouldn’t say it was the most disappointing book I’ve read, but it certainly failed to deliver on the hype and my expectations for an award-winning John Steinbeck work.
I was expecting a deep, insightful, intimate travelogue of what made Americans and America tick in the early 1960s. Aside from a few interesting historical bits here and there, it was more filled with inane fluff such as what he ate, where he parked his sleeper car, and a lot about his dog’s health issues.
A shame, because it started off on a good note and had a lot of potential. But you could feel him getting burnt out on traveling as he drove further across the country, and this was reflected in his writings.
Travels With Charlie was fair. But a much better travel book on the U.S. is Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon. Heat-Moon is Native American so he has that Indian spiritual thing going. He named his van "Ghost Dancing". Very good read.
HaHa oh me! I started reading this thread and on the first page was all the talk of James F. Cooper. Yeah. That was my choice: Last of the Mohicans. Last time I tried to read that book was the last time I tried it. First and last. I've read thousands of books, probably go through 15-16 books a month and some of them pretty long ones. I can read practically anything.
I picked up that book and honestly couldn't get through the first page. It sounded like gobbly-**** to me - as if I was reading another language. Couldn't make sense of it. It's been bothering me ever since. Why is it so difficult? It wasn't vocabulary, I don't know just what, I just couldn't understand it. Of all the books I schlep home from the library, this is the only one I ever took back with less than 2 pages read!
I actually bought Last of the Mohicans in a used book store and found the exact same issue...just couldn't read it!!
Was not sure why either...and I thought the story line was great, that I would enjoy it...
I actually bought Last of the Mohicans in a used book store and found the exact same issue...just couldn't read it!!
Was not sure why either...and I thought the story line was great, that I would enjoy it...
Never read anything by Cooper. But from what I gather his books are a real slog. An American writer who I did try to read and simply couldn't was Henry James. I tried to read the Bostonians and couldn't get beyond about thirty pages. Unbelievably dull.
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