Rating: 
Summary: Take this book along on your next road trip!
Review: This slim volume should appeal to a variety of folks -- from couch potatoes, to occasional vacationers who pile the kids into the SUV once a summer, and especially to those 'pavement adventurers' among us who travel the interstates often. No matter what part of the country you live in, Larry McMurtry is apt to have driven through it and written at least a few sentences about it. I was fortunate enough to pick up this book just as I was returning from a 10-day drive through seven states, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about stretches of road that I had just covered myself. At the same time that he shares his geographical experiences, McMurtry also teaches you about the literature of that area -- books either ABOUT the place, or BY the authors who live(d) in it. What a nice surprise! This approach makes "Roads" a nice gift for travelers or simply for avid readers as well. If you know McMurtry only for westerns, you'll discover many more dimensions to him in this pseudo-autobiography from behind the wheel. Good, relaxing, summertime reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Wondering while Wandering
Review: We were traveling cross-country by car when we picked up this skinny little book. We got it thinking it would make a great travel companion/guide to read aloud to each other as we drove some of the roads described in the book. It is that... and it was fine for that purpose...but it really isn't a travel guide. It is more-and sometimes less-than that.First you have to say the chapters are uneven. One or two are no more than a diary of a particular trip McMurtry took on a particular road (where the traffic jams were etc.)--These are ok to read but haven't got much depth to them. They felt like they were being included because this or that road should be included and it was time to finish the book--so lets just hurry up and finish and put this in... (and leaving any of the chapters out would have caused it to be hard to call this a book--it is very slim.) BUT the good chapters are really good. They describe places and tell about people who came from those places and how the landscape and feel of a place shows up in literary work. That is cool stuff to think about, especially as you are passing through the landscape being described. I have picked up other books he talked about as a result of reading these essays. It is always nice to have someone recommend a good new book you didn't know about. Then there is the middling fare-the stuff that is woven through out the book making up what is maybe the most moving parts of the book. It tells us who McCurtry is: providing general autobiographical details; about struggles and events in his life, and; how the road works for him to find himself...and, by extension, maybe how & why road trips often turn out to be times of introspection--connecting (or reconnecting) us with those we travel with (or with ourselves.) All this brought on by the experience of being in a vehicle speeding down a road. If you've ever been on a long road trip (and it has to be a long one-not some little two or three hours in the car) you will recognize the experience--the world in big and time is vast and you can speed along and without every trying you begin to discover/remember things about yourself and anyone you might be with that you won't likely encounter in any other setting. It can be a powerful experience being locked up in a little metal box being hurled along through space. Maybe it is why McCurtry likes the interstates rather that the back roads and blue highways--it is a different kind of driving-- a different way to explore.
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