On The Road

Author: Jack Kerouac
Format: AudioBook
Reader: Will Patton

5 of 5 stars

One of the contexts of a story that should not be ignored, regardless of genre, is the time in which it was originally written. On The Road makes it impossible to ignore, as it takes the reader back in time to the American 1950s in the same fashion as if the reader was taking up residence inside the head of the main character, ala Being John Malkovich. Even if one is not especially interested in that period of time, the book is a compelling coming of age tale. When attempting to explain regionalism or local color, this story is the epitome.

For me, this story highlighted the idealism and carefree attitudes of secular humanism that were later co-opted by the baby boomer generation. Much like the retelling of a story, such idealism seems to suffer from an interesting form of decay. At the origin is the pure intent, containing elements of good, bad and everything in between, all being acceptable. The next generation of heralds focus on the good elements, ignoring or marginalizing the bad or less savory elements. There seems to be a belief that you can only increase the number of your flock if you proselytize only the benefits of your position. I think the mindset that others need to be converted to the cause creeps in at this point. After successive iterations, the original intent of the ideal becomes completely subjugated to the desire for propagation, strangled from overgrowth of the very thicket that it spawned. At this time, there can be a rebirth of the ideal, but unlike the phoenix, which always arrises from the ashes unchanged, reset to zero, the new ideal is a true child of the parent. Similarities are evident, but the new form is unique and free to act in any way complementary or contradictorily to its origin. This is the mechanism from which phrases such as "history always repeats itself" inevitably arrise. I think On The Road is one of those unique works that carries inside it a spark that might easily help ignite the funeral pyre of its own phoenix.

With respect to the AudioBook, Will Patton does a superb job. The voice characterizations are so well matched with their characters that it becomes hard to think of them sounding any other way. Dean Moriarty absolutely spoke with that raspy intensity; Sal with that naive calmness of tone that is so often associated with the young and inexperienced. While some of the descriptions of wild times seem exceedingly tame by today's standards, the reading does such a good job at keeping the reader well confined within the head of "John Malkovich" that they are well insulated from the buffets of unintentional anachronisms. I hope to revisit the travels of Sal and Dean, confident that there is more to glean from their adventures.

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress

Author: Robert Heinlein
Format: AudioBook
Reader: Lloyd James
4 of 5 stars

I have a love/hate relationship with many Heinlein books. Sometimes his heavy handed political and sociological preaching so overpowers the fiction of the story that I can't see past it, and the story as a whole shoulders the entire blame. Other times, the proselytizing actually plays a significant character role in the story, helping to move the plot along and/or provide a greater depth of character to the players. This book achieves the latter.

It is a classic story of revolution, with sci-fi gilding. The emergence of a new nation is paralleled with a sudden spark of sentience from the massive computer system, named Mike, that centrally runs all systems on the moon. The themes of change, rebirth and death infuse the entire story. Heinlein keeps the central character count low, focusing on full and deep development of those characters, including Mike.

As far as the audiobook goes, it was read by Lloyd James, who did a superb job at handling the nuances of the human characters as well as the computer Mike. The tonalities of Mike slowly adjust as he becomes more comfortable with his human companions and his development progresses throughout the book. James' handling of the reading makes it even easier to think of Mike as a fully developed character.

Dancing Cow Bonanza

Nothing beats a herd of bouncing cows. Look closely, I think they are all pointing North. o_O

The Ghost

Author: Robert Harris
Format: AudioBook
4 of 5 stars


This book surprised me a little. It starts out a little formulaic, but then quickly grows into a full blooded espionage/spy thriller. I tend to give the genre a lot of latitude, especially these days. We hear about enough real life cloak and dagger events that inevitably authors crafting fictional accounts feel the need to crank up the intrigue. Sometimes this leads to scenarios that are a bit over the top. I don't know how much of it is my partiality to the genre or if this book manages to just ride close to the line, without actually crossing, but I found the twists, turns and amped up intrigue to fit well within the context of the book.

The audiobook was very well performed. At first I was a little concerned that there wasn't going to be very much variation between character voices, but my fears, just as with the formulaic plot, were unfounded. The reader, Roger Rees, does an exceptional job of giving all the characters a clear vocal definition.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and would definitely consider other books by Robert Harris based upon my experience with this one.

Hitch-22 : A Memoir

Author: Christopher Hitchens
Format: AudioBook
5 of 5 stars

It's not often that I start thinking about how I'd like to reread a book just after completing it. The memoir is a genre that I am not normally very interested in, and I barely knew who Christopher Hitchens was before starting this narrative. Yet I found myself thoroughly engrossed, and knowing that the next time I'm not sure about what kind of book to read next, this one will be high on the list for a revisit.

As far as the audio book goes, I am glad that it is Christopher Hitchens reading it. While his accent and meter of speech does take a bit of getting used to (at least for my American-tuned ears), the adjustment for me was fast. Having the author reading his own tale, especially when it is a memoir, adds something special that cannot exist otherwise.