A review by emdowd
Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck

5.0

Possibly my absolute favourite piece of travel writing. I much preferred this to all of Steinbeck's novels (which I read in high school as any true Northern Californian should). I saw so much of myself and my travels (but the dog's name was Lennie) in this book: the roadtrips through the southwest desert of my childhood, the redwoods, San Francisco as "the City" to anyone who knows what they're talking about, and I'm just now discovering the east coast with this as my plane reading. Perfectly captures why we (surely not just I) travel.

One of this books I found at exactly the right time: on a journey of my own and recently returned the United States and wondering: what the hell is this place?