Originally Posted by CosmicPal
Seriously?
I've always enjoyed your tastes in music and literature, so I'm baffled why you would consider On the Road a throwaway?
It was probably the most spontaneous novel of its generation and ignited scores of teens to seek out new experiences and turned a nation of youths to rebel, enlighten, and blow out their minds. It inspired a generation to write, to start rock bands, to travel the world, listen to jazz, and to really know what it means to appreciate the beauty of simplicity.
Not to mention, the entire novel is filled with creative youthful ramblings:
"I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn't know who I was — I was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel, in a cheap hotel room I'd never seen, hearing the hiss of steam outside, and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and I looked at the cracked high ceiling and really didn't know who I was for about fifteen strange seconds."
Of course, there is his most famous paragraph from the novel:
"They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn..."
I'm not sure about you, but I remember the electric joy of reading it for the first time and how I couldn't put it down. It's not for everyone, but it is without a doubt, the undeniable tome of the Beat Generation. It's a must read for any literature class. That is how I discovered it- from a teacher. And because of that, I rediscovered a love for reading a very long time ago.
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