Nothing links man to man like the frequent passage from hand to hand of a good book."
~Walter Sickers

Wanna know why Book Crossing is great?
Because you are reusing, you know recycling!
Save a book today. Don't throw it away set it free!

Fans of Kerouac get the whole beautiful, groovy deal with this new recording of the radically hip novel that many consider the heart of the Beat movement. Poetic, open and raw, Kerouac's prose lays out a cross-country adventure as experienced by Sal Paradise, an autobiographical character. A writer holed up in a room at his aunt's house, Paradise gets inspired by Dean Moriarty (a character based on Kerouac's friend Neal Cassady) to hit the road and see America. From the moment he gets on the seven train out of New York City, he takes the reader through the highs and lows of hitchhiking, bonding with fellow explorers and opting for beer before food. First published in 1957, Kerouac's perennially hot story continues to express the restless energy and desire for freedom that makes people rush out to see the world.

This is a bookrring starting off with princess-peapod in Ca.

Ring Rules:
-Don't keep the book for more than a month.
-Ask the next person for their address when you recieve the book.
-Please journal upon reciept, and when you mail out.
-Let me know if any problems arise.
-Check back often- I add new people, so shipping order may have changed. I do my best to add people in order based on shipping preference and when they were added.
THANKS and ENJOY!!!


voveryte (UK)
ETMadrid (Europe)
Bookworm-lady (Europe)
Madnad (Europe)
EmgeeNL (Netherlands) *added May 13,2009*
pazyryk (Portugal) *asked to be skipped*
bookworm76(Australia) ****here****
Chantie (Canada) *asked to be skipped*
mrsboknows (USA)
amcamp1644 (USA) *added 7-21-09*

"Second hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack." --Virginia Woolf

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

this book is finally getting on the move, I went on vacation and forgot to mail it last week...enjoy the read everyone!!!

"Oh, it is absurd to have a hard and fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn't. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read."

Oscar Wilde

I love my books enough to set them free for others to enjoy...hope that is you, but if not feel free to pass it along for another to enjoy
; )


"A book is a mysterious object, I said, and once it floats out into the world, anything can happen. All kinds of mischief can be caused, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. For better or worse, it's completely out of your control."
Paul Auster

Received today!
will try to get into it as soon as possible! Thanks!

First of all, sorry for keeping this book longer than expected. I finished it last weekend and already had ETMadrid's address; apparently it's some 20 minutes away from where I live and I thought I would just drop it into her mailbox when passing by, but it never happened somehow... So I just decided to post it today... :)

What can I say about this book... It's just simply great! It was my second attempt to read "On the Road".The first time I started reading it in my native language and never finished. Probably they are right saying that you need to read the books in original language. Or maybe it wasn't the right time for it.

I can't say this is a quick read, however, I enjoyed every single page of it. Somehow I expected (sorry - spoilers!!!) that this book tells about one single trip across the States and then it turned out there were few of them, and one even to Mexico! It was also difficult to imagine that this is a nearly autobiographic book.

My favourite character was Sal Paradise himself perhaps, though Dean Moriarty was great too, though I couldn't imagine having such a friend as him, no matter how dear friend he would be.

I also enjoyed descriptions of jazz, even though I'm not a fan of it, but reading the phonetics used in the story you could easily imagine what happened during these sessions.

Thanks princess-peapod for this great opportunity to read this book! On the way to ETMadrid

It's just arrived. I'll get to it shortly. It'd have been easy to drop it off as there's always someone on the door, but thanks voveryte for posting it!

I've just finished this book and really did enjoy it. What an original and utterly engaging way of writing, so rich and gushing and so onomatopoeic, resounding with thoughts and sounds and rythms and sweat from start to finish and I'm tempted to say everything I want to say without stopping to put in a comma or fullstop or take a breath just like Kerouac but then such a style is not really my own but one that is lingering in my head as I still savour the last few pages! I never did get quite the knack of how I should be pronouncing to myself Dean's frequent excited "Wagh!"s, "Whee!"s and "Whoo!"s, but I certainly got a feel for the America of the time and think that this book is an invaluable portrait that goes some way to helping one understand the America of today. Incredible the vivid detail in the descriptions that brings the reader right up close to the protagonists, as if it was all happening here and now. I have no doubt that this book has been enormously influential in the film world, it is just SO cinematographic.

My one reservation is that it is very much a boys' book for boys and about boys and probably most revered by boys. Girls are mostly just for getting laid, but hey.

It took me longer than usual to read, as at one point I was not reading much more than a page a day, Christmas having been pretty hectic. But it's now ready to travel again.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I've posted this to Madrid, even though I'm going to get there before it does, as postage is cheaper from here.

PS When in Birmingham at the end of the month I saw that I had missed an exhibition of the original manuscript (the continuous type-writer roll mentioned in the preface) by just one day - quite frustrating!

PPS 27/10/09 There was an interesting article in the Guardian on 21st Oct 2009 about Kerouac, 40 years after his death.

It was waiting for me when I arrived home last Tuesday...
Thanks for sending it all, ETMadrid... and thanks for sharing, Princess!
I have been waiting to read it for a long, long time.
(Thanks for your postcard, ETMadrid, really funny, and I agree...) :)
Eva

Currently reading it... :)
Eva

I have finally finished reading it; it took me quite a while.
Funny, nothing much seemed to be happening in terms of plot, but a steady flow of places and names; however, I couldn't put it down and kept on.
In Kerouac's own words:
"With frantic Dean I was rushing through the world without a chance to see it."
However, he did see it, and kept me reading on.
Maybe it was due to Kerouac's rich prose; just a sample:
"Soon it got dusk, a grapy dusk, a purple dusk over tangerine groves and long melon fields; the sun the color of pressed grapes, slashed with burgundy red, the fields the colour of love and Spanish mysteries. I stuck my head out the window and took deep breaths of the fragant air. It was the most beautiful of all moments."
I particularly liked the episode with the Mexican girl, a sweet interlude in their "frantic" travel.
I include a newspaper clipping about the original manuscript; however, it is in Spanish.
As explained in the Introduction:
"A rapid typist, Kerouac hit on the idea of typing nonstop to get the "kickwriting" momentum he wanted. (...) he was convinced that his verbal flow was hampered when he had to change paper at the end of the page. Kerouac taped together twelve-foot-long sheets of tracing paper, trimmed at the left margin so they would fit into his typewriter, and fed them into his machine as a continuous roll."
Summing up, I understand why this book has been a huge influence on some of the most relevants musicians, and it was a different experience for me to read it. Thanks for sharing it!
It will soon go on its way to MadNad...
Eva

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent this morning to Madnad, in Tenerife, who is next in this bookray.
Eva

This arrived today from Bookworm-Lady - thank you:)

I'm starting to make a habit of this: I'm giving up (for the 3rd time this year). It's not a bad book at all, nice writing... but I'm bored with the whole story and don't want to force myself to read the rest when I'm not enjoying it. Sorry.

I'll pass this on as soon as I have the next participant's go ahead.

sent on to Bookworm-Lady today:)

The book arrived today. Thanks for sending it Madnad and princess-peapod thanks for making this into a ring

June 14th
I just finished reading the book. It's amazing as how this books just keeps flowing and going on and going crazy. It's a wonderfull book to read, but one which you have to keep very focused all the time.

The book is will be on it's way to Bookworm76 tomorrow since Pazyryk asked to be skipped due to too many books to read.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed the book out today. I used standard mail so it might take a while before the book arives

Arrived today - I will read it and get it on its way as soon as possible.

I am in two minds about this book.

First of all I found the book exhausting. The way it was written made me feel like it was meant to be read fast but because it was all over the place I could only read it in small bursts. It sounded almost like he was telling a story really fast after too many coffees (or drinks)

While I did like the book I think I would have appreciated it more if I knew more about the "Beat Generation".

Will send off as soon as I get the next person's address.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending this off to the next person.

Arrived today in a badly damaged package. Book seems ok and is 3rd in line tbr.

Bookworm76 described this book perfectly. I also felt that it was exhausting and ended up falling asleep every time I picked it up. The plot line was entertaining but the writing was so all over the place that it just wore me out!

I've wanted to read this book for as long as I can remember. While it wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped and expected it wasn't terrible either. I take bookworm76's words again when I say that I probably would have enjoyed the book more if I had half a clue what the "beat generation" really was.

Many thanks for sharing the book with me. I'll have it moving again within the week.

Bookworm76 described this book perfectly. I also felt that it was exhausting and ended up falling asleep every time I picked it up. The plot line was entertaining but the writing was so all over the place that it just wore me out!

I've wanted to read this book for as long as I can remember. While it wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped and expected it wasn't terrible either. I take bookworm76's words again when I say that I probably would have enjoyed the book more if I had half a clue what the "beat generation" really was.

Many thanks for sharing the book with me. I'll have it moving again within the week.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Off to amcamp 1644. Thanks again for sharing!

Got it today. It's 2nd on my read list so I should get to it by the end of the week probably. Thanks mrsboknows.

EDIT: Oh man, this was rough. I had to pound my way through this, but finally got it finished.

Offering this as an int'l bookray. I'll try to honor preferences, but no guarantees.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Happy Reading!

Thanks so much for your donation ashleyosbcam!

This book is now part of the 1001-library. If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the 1001-library bookshelf.

This was a RABCK prize. I'm going to donate this one to the 1001-library.

This book is a gift to the 1001-library.
http://bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/1001-library

Thanks so much for your donation ashleyosbcam!

This book is now part of the 1001-library. If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the 1001-library bookshelf.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is going to the Books People Would Actually Read and Enjoy bookbox.