On The Road - Jack Kerouac

Now that the "100 records you should own" is over, I am starting a new series, "The 25 Books You Should Read." Hopefully there will be a few books here you have not read yet, or at least a few that you may want to read again. If you are like me, you didn't do all the required reading in high school or college, so this is your opportunity to catch up.

Published in 1957 On the Road is the quintessential work of beat poet and author Jack Kerouac. It is autobiographical, tracking Kerouac's (Sal Paradise) trips across the US as a young man, with the rest of the beats, William S. Burroughs (Old Bull Lee), Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty) and Neil Ginsberg (Carlo Marx). Like a lot of other wanna be hipsters, I read this book during college as I was travelling around Europe on the train. Like most young people I thought I had discovered this book and that I should share it with the world. Little did I know that it was already a very popular book and that I was living out a cliche. That said, this does not diminish the greatness of this book in any way. It is the best coming of age story of all time in my opinion.

Kerouac is a great writer. I have read all his books, and some are more accessible than others. On the Road, is the Kerouac starter book. It is easy to read and has a plot which is easy to follow. Once you read this, you can move on to Pic and Maggie Cassidy which are also very readable. If you enjoy these books you can take on the more challenging books like the Book of Dreams and Dharma Bums.