When anyone hears that I work in a bookstore, they immediately assume that I've read everything, or at least a whole lot more than they have themselves. While the former is laughable, and the latter is not always the case, this perception is hard to shake. Certainly, there is an expectation that I have read all the 'classics.' Now, we've all faked reading some books, it is unavoidable in life, but there are tons of books that I freely admit that I've never read, and most of these are books I really SHOULD read. In fact, I'm ashamed that I haven't read some of them. A book that falls in this category will be all over the place this year because 2008 represents the golden anniversary of the release of On The Road.
The most intriguing of the publications is the release of the text from the original scroll. I hadn't even realized that there existed a difference between what Kerouac famously typed onto one continuous sheet and what you see in the myriad editions printed over the last 50 years. Living in Eugene, I feel compelled to read this original presentation of the work, just as I felt that I HAD to start running again because of Prefontaine. Damn hippies. What next? Soon I'll be trolling for toga parties because Animal House was filmed two blocks from where I'm sitting...
Until I have time to read On The Road, I'll read through this list of road songs; one for each state.
1 comment:
I been out combing the High Schools all day!
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