On The Road By Jack Kerouac Book Review

One of the things that I wanted to do with this new page was talk about the books I am reading or  have read recently. I am quite an avid reader at times but I am particular about the books I read. You will never see me reading 50 Shades of Gray and any book of the ilk, I guess I might be a bit of a book snob. Maybe!

So for my first review I have picked On The Road by Jack Kerouac. I borrowed this book of my girlfriend a few months ago as she had started and failed to finish reading it. I am currently reading this book and as yet not finished it myself and this in itself tells you the first thing you need to know about it..... It is a hard read. Its not that I am not enjoying it, its just one of those books that is hard to read, to take in and I guess to understand.

The novel is set in post WWII America and based on the Karouac and his friends travels around the country as well as the 'beat generation'. "It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry and drug use". That is a very brief account to the back drop of the story, that period somewhere between the better known Depression years and the Rock N Roll 60's. The impression On The Road gives me so far is of an America in transition (but doesn't it always seem in transition?), where the cultures of the post war are slowly ebbing away into the new liberal culture we are all aware of in the 60's. Inevitably it reminds you of Mice and Men (on drugs), mainly because of the travelling aspect of the novel. The main character is Sal Paradise from New Jersey who embarks on a journey across the States with his friend Dean Moriarty. There are a myriad of characters and places while on the road and time in the book seems endless. It is hard to gauge what amount of time has passed at all in parts, its all rather erratic. The character Sal is based on Jack Karouac himself as are some of the others, but also his friends and people he met whilst he travelled around the states in the 50's.

My own stereotypical view of America in the 50's is of the 'atomic family in the suburbs', Tupperware loving, driving Mustangs, hanging around Diners and Drive In's, etc, in essence Happy Days! This book is not that 1950's America. It is a cool, dark, free, liberal and artistic view of that era in America. This is what makes this book exciting and interesting, you get to envisage in your mind the alternative culture of the 50's. And alternative it was, in comparison to the atomic family ideals of the time. And who doesnt enjoy a good travel story? They are always the best kind of novel in my opinion, to be taken to another time and place that is different to yours. On the Road as the title suggests does this, it takes you from New York to LA and everywhere inbetween (almost) to people and places that have long since changed. As for the deeper meaning of this book, I have not quite found that, Im sure a quick google search would tell me but I would like to figure out that myself. To do this though I must finish it. It will be packed in my suite case for my holiday next month.        

So my opinion so far is.... If you enjoy travel stories and Americana you will like this book, as I said earlier it is a hard read with an erratic style (possibly jazz inspired?!?). I have given it 3 stars so far as yet I have to finish it and consider it overall ( i should probably finish a book first in future before trying to review it). I am enjoying it and finding the landscape of the story so far interesting but I can't see where this story is going as yet, which is probably a good thing. If you have read On The Road please let me know what you thought of it.

UPDATE**

I finally finished reading this whilst on holiday. I sat back in the sun and read and I could not put it down. The later half of this book really picks up as you get to know the two main characters in the book. Sal the narrator of the story is interesting but it was Dean Moriarty, Sals best friend who illuminates the story and adventures the two undertake. Dean is the centre of all things in this story and as it progresses he changes too, becoming a little like Lennie Small from Of Mice and Men. That is, in how he is viewed by his peers. These two characters are in search of something as they travel from coast to coast and there are often vague references to god or jesus. This is not god in a Christian sense or even a religious one but rather more spiritual in nature. This i guess is were the meaning or reason can be found in this book.

Anthony's bookshelf: grasshopper-rating

On the Road

by Jack Kerouac

tagged: currently-reading and grasshopper-rating

Windsor Visit

Just got back from a weekend away in Windsor and what a great weekend it was. I was there for a company gala awards dinner, so it was completely free! As part of the weekend we got to choose a day out, me and my partner chose Windsor and the castle. Being a northern lad trips down south have been rare and have been mostly to London or Cornwall. To be honest up until this weekend I had no idea were in the country Windsor was,I rather vaguely new it was near London.

As expected being a place of Royal residence it was packed with tourists, alot of tourists! So we quickly made our way to the castle and got in before it got to busy. Windsor Castle dominates the skyline and is very imposing structure. It is not a true castle but more a recreation of one, it has all the right bits but it was built to look good that than a defence structure. As you can see from the picture below right in the middle is a little garden where i imagine the Queen goes for a stroll with the corgis.

Don't get in the way of these guys! The do not stop!

Amanda is a Cat Fan and looking to steal the Cat from Windsor Castle

The TOWER, that everyone recognises

After the Castle we took a stroll through Windsor to the Thames, where we realised theat Eton was just across the river! We had no idea it was there and as we usually we do we went of exploring were there seemed to be no tourists at all.

The Thames, Windsor is to the left, Eton to the right.

Dow the road we went and as we hoped we found some Charity shops, Antique Shops and an amazing secondhand book shop where we spent a vast amount of time and some money. I only bought one book, The Penguin History of Latin America though I could have spent a fortune.

After a short walk we got to the famous Eton College, we some only one student in the coat tailed jacket, it is the smartest school uniform you will ever see.

On the way back to Windsor we spotted this sign.....

Deliveries and Casualties in that order!! I don't know if the sanatorium was still a working one, if it is i imagine it is one of few places that still calls itself a sanatorium.

Windsor is worth visiting, the Castle has alot of Art work and some spectacular rooms. The one thing that i noticed while walking around the castle is that i recognised alot of the paintings. Mostly the ones of monarchs that get used on TV and articles. The Richard III one that has been everywhere over the last year was there and of course it was the original. So that was nice! It great to see the original of anything! 

Alternative First Dance Songs

I have for many years worked in hotels and as such have looked after many weddings, one of the big moments as many of you will know from experience is the first dance. As an unmarried yet long term attached I have at times thought about what I would like as my first dance song (but do not tell the Mrs). Most songs that I have heard played for the first dance have really never been anything that I would consider myself, they for my taste a little cheesy pop. Obviously everyone has their own tastes and I certainly have my own and I am pretty sure the Mrs has her won Ideas too.

In all my time looking after weddings and hearing many many first dance songs this is the one I liked the most. Everlong by the Foo Fighters.

Foo Fighters as a first dance song what an amazing choice, infact that wedding had great music all night much like what I would have (if i was to get married anytime soon). Now for my own songs that I think would be great alternative first dance songs and by alternative I mean by acts that are not you normal pop bands.

One that I would consider is this one by Cat Power called Sea of love. For one its not to long and myself not being the greatest dancer, I would appreciate its shortness.

There are many songs that make me think of my girlfriend not all of them are very romantic or suitable for a first dance, just they where the songs that where around at the time we started going out or where songs that we both loved. This one is a song I knew but one that she gave to me on a CD to listen to so has always made me think of her. You Were Right by Badley Drawn Boy.

Next on my list is Sometimes by My Bloody Valentine, melodic, slow and cool. And if you have ever watched Lost In Translation you will know this song well set to the relationship of Bill Murray and Scarlet Johanson's Characters.

The last alternative first dance song I can think off is this lovingly crafted song by the Great Lake Swimmers called Your Rocky Spine.

I imagine many of you who have got married have some interesting choices for your first dance song but these would be the ones I would put forward to my Wife to be!

"Boffin's Say"...... Move On

This is a little annoyance I have, one that is a complete turn off when I am reading about science or technology in the press or online. Many of the articles insist on using words like Boffin when talking about scientists and the work they are doing. I guess this is a wider issue for me too as I can not read a tabloid paper at all any more as their use of language is infuriatingly juvenile but also super repetitive. Words such as, evil, monster, hanky panky, Gotcha, using bed as an adjective, snub, wacko, Etc. You know what I mean if you have ever read one. So for this very reason I never buy a tabloid and rarely read an article online from one.

This has to be one of the most well know headlines and a perfect example of what I mean.

In regards to science and technology, I often read these sections on sites and use the Google news a lot to get a varied range of articles. In doing this I come across the use of "boffin" more often than not, from websites like the Register, which is nominally a tech page with some general science aswell. A quick Google search of the word boffin brings up plenty of boffin science articles.

What this boils down to for me is the juvenile way Science is reported, Boffin is a British slang word after all and has no place in the reporting of serious Science in my opinion. It belittles it and just shows the extreme laziness of the 'science' section of that particular media source. It also seems that Scientist's have no names they are either boffin's or scientist's and their name is irrelevant in the reporting of the work they have done. I want to know their names, don't you?

Abit of further reading on Tabloid Language if your interested is this article from the Independent.

Taking a bad situation and making it worse.

Let me clarify my own position before I start on this. I am all for freedom of information and I am sure that there are certain things and issues that must be kept secret by governments but transparency of our institutions is essential to our democratic system. In the cases of Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden I would consider myself to be on their side. I am no expert on these guys or the information they leaked, only what I have read and heard here and there, but none of it seems overly dangerous material to me personally.

The information that I have seen has shown the American Government and my own British Government to be involved in certain things that many of us would consider wrong and up until recently had no idea that they were involved in. PRISM is especially concerning and again shows how the Americans and others have swung to extremes in data collection on millions of law abiding citizens and justifying it with terrorism protection. A project like this may very well have stopped further terror attacks, but as bad as some terror attacks can be is it worth destroying our own values and systems? Not only doing this but doing it all in complete secrecy against the very people you are trying to protect. It just seems ridiculous to me.

What got me on this train of thought was the detention of Glenn Greenwald the Guardian Journalists partner being detained at Heathrow by British Officials. Greenwald is working on the information leaked by Snowden and has written articles on them. Yet somehow my own Government perversely used Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act to detain Greenwald's Brazilian partner David Miranda. I look forward to the reasoning behind all of this, as we all know Brazil is a hot bed of global terrorism and the partner of a prominent American Journalist would be well involved in it all! It seems to me my Government was trying to intimidate Greenwald and those involved with Snowden rather than protect us from terrorism on this occasion. Putting this incident to one side for a moment the reaction of the Americans and British Governments to the leakers has been extraordinary to watch as the information of the things they have done has come to light. What information that was leaked would be of use to the terrorists of the world? Their reaction makes them look more guilty and drunk on their own power. It makes you wonder what else they are hiding. Back to Greenwald and his partner, he was held for 9 hours the maximum under Schedule 7 where he was interviewed without a lawyer or assistance. I read somewhere that they made him give up his social network account passwords as well. Last I read on this David Cameron was refusing to say whether Ministers had sanctioned the detention, it might be me being cynical but his refusal screams guilty as charged. 

So this hole episode has done nothing to help the situation for my government and the Americans. It has highlighted the exact reason why Snowden and Manning before him leaked what they did! It's a bad situation for a government to be in but detaining the spouse of a journalist investigating the material on terrorism legislation has made it far worse for themselves! 

Someone somewhere should be out of a job soon I think!

New page of the Grasshopper Blog

Welcome to my new page on the Grasshopper Blog, this is one of a planned few pages on different subjects though this is more general and varied as the others I hope will be about specific things. You may have already read my Garden Blog, Moor Cottage Garden and found this whilst on that page. Though I love doing my Garden Blog I sometimes want to write about other things and didn't want to put that on that page so here is a totally new free page so I can do that. Anyway I will post soon and hope you enjoy.