Rating: 
Summary: something like deja vu
Review: This rather short book is subtitled "Driving America's Great Highways" and that is important to remember. It isn't so much of a travel book as a "thoughts on traveling" book. The author starts with a trip from Duluth to his home in Northern Texas and he does this in two days with time to spare. In other words, no time to stop and look around. However, there is time to reflect on past experiences associated with various places he passes. That is the interesting aspect of the book. The author, Larry McMurtry had read a lot of books, known a lot of people, and had a lot of experiences. We enjoy just a smattering of them in this book. There are some helpful tips here and there. For example, I am happy that we'll be traveling through Kansas City next week on a Sunday; McMurtry makes it sound overly challenging just about any other time of the week. However, the observations far outweigh the information. Still, the author's observations are worth our time. The author concludes his book with a last trip from Seattle to Omaha. I had started this book the week before but I'd only gotten a few pages into it. A long trip from our home on the Western border of North Dakota to a hockey camp in Grand Forks on the Eastern border of the state gave me an opportunity to do some reading. Thus I took along this book, my 11 year old hockey player and his 16 year old sister who did most of the driving while I read. Meanwhile, McMurtry's trip from Seattle has led him to observe that "...I realized that I had found paradise. For connoisseurs of prairie travel, US 2 is the perfect road-the road into the spacious heart of the plains." What an experience! Here I'd read of all his travels out east, out west and elsewhere and the book ends with an ode to the very road I'd been traveling on while reading it. What's more, I was reading this part while on the very stretch that he was writing about. Well, I obviously have a high praise for this book as a result of that! I sobered myself up to rate it a 4 instead of the tempting 5. For the record, my 16 year old says that McMurtry's comments about US 2 are evidence that he's nuts. I, on the other hand, came to appreciate why I drive 300-400 miles in state to attend meetings. Back home in Iowa (where I grew up), if it was over 125 miles away then it must not be that important. This book reminds me of McMurtry's "Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen". That, too, was a book of observations centered around general topics. This is a good writer to converse with even if he is doing all the talking.
Rating:
Summary: something like deja vu
Review: This rather short book is subtitled "Driving America's Great Highways" and that is important to remember. It isn't so much of a travel book as a "thoughts on traveling" book. The author starts with a trip from Duluth to his home in Northern Texas and he does this in two days with time to spare. In other words, no time to stop and look around. However, there is time to reflect on past experiences associated with various places he passes. That is the interesting aspect of the book. The author, Larry McMurtry had read a lot of books, known a lot of people, and had a lot of experiences. We enjoy just a smattering of them in this book. There are some helpful tips here and there. For example, I am happy that we'll be traveling through Kansas City next week on a Sunday; McMurtry makes it sound overly challenging just about any other time of the week. However, the observations far outweigh the information. Still, the author's observations are worth our time. The author concludes his book with a last trip from Seattle to Omaha. I had started this book the week before but I'd only gotten a few pages into it. A long trip from our home on the Western border of North Dakota to a hockey camp in Grand Forks on the Eastern border of the state gave me an opportunity to do some reading. Thus I took along this book, my 11 year old hockey player and his 16 year old sister who did most of the driving while I read. Meanwhile, McMurtry's trip from Seattle has led him to observe that "...I realized that I had found paradise. For connoisseurs of prairie travel, US 2 is the perfect road-the road into the spacious heart of the plains." What an experience! Here I'd read of all his travels out east, out west and elsewhere and the book ends with an ode to the very road I'd been traveling on while reading it. What's more, I was reading this part while on the very stretch that he was writing about. Well, I obviously have a high praise for this book as a result of that! I sobered myself up to rate it a 4 instead of the tempting 5. For the record, my 16 year old says that McMurtry's comments about US 2 are evidence that he's nuts. I, on the other hand, came to appreciate why I drive 300-400 miles in state to attend meetings. Back home in Iowa (where I grew up), if it was over 125 miles away then it must not be that important. This book reminds me of McMurtry's "Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen". That, too, was a book of observations centered around general topics. This is a good writer to converse with even if he is doing all the talking.
Rating:
Summary: It's more about McMurtry than the road
Review: This short and interesting non-fiction work by Larry McMurtry provides additonal insight into the author's mind and experiences. I recommend reading "Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen..." before reading "Roads". I think that provides a better context into what's going on with the author at this time of his life. He seems to be trying to tie up literary loose ends before he stops writing. I like his musings but really miss the fiction, which I'm afraid he won't write anymore. The other value in "Roads" are the references to some of the classic travel books of all times. Also, I highly recommend driving U.S. Highway 281, a great highway that runs through Archer City.
Rating:
Summary: It's more about McMurtry than the road
Review: This short and interesting non-fiction work by Larry McMurtry provides additonal insight into the author's mind and experiences. I recommend reading "Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen..." before reading "Roads". I think that provides a better context into what's going on with the author at this time of his life. He seems to be trying to tie up literary loose ends before he stops writing. I like his musings but really miss the fiction, which I'm afraid he won't write anymore. The other value in "Roads" are the references to some of the classic travel books of all times. Also, I highly recommend driving U.S. Highway 281, a great highway that runs through Archer City.
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: very strange
Review: Very strange "travel" book; McMurty's admits his prime goal in traveling is to cover mileage, he puts in ten hour driving days- covers 600 miles a day, sticks to interstates, rarely talks to anyone, soaks up no local culture, visits no museums or cultural targets, eats and sleeps on the interstate. Very boring, banal, tedious. Why would anyone write this? Why would anyone publish it?
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.
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.
Rating: 
Summary: Asa
Review: You get to meet the real person, Larry McMurtry, who comes off as a sour and self-absorbed bore. Perhaps the title of this book should have been "All the Places I Hate to Drive Through in America". I expected a more pleasant ride.
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