"On The Road" again.

I'm sure this happens to everybody. People are talking about movies or books or TV shows or music or whatever, and something comes up that everybody in the group is familiar with. Everybody but yourself, that is. When it becomes apparent to the rest of the group that you've never had the purported privilege of experiencing whatever it is they're raving about, the following conversation usually takes place:

"Oh my god, seriously? You haven't seen it?"

"Yeah, never got around to watching it."

"How?"

"I dunno, just didn't."

"Oh dude, you HAVE to see it. Next time you go to the video shop, get it."

"I don't go to video shops anymore."

"Okay, well download it or whatever."

"Will do."

"Actually, better still. I've got it on DVD, I'll let you borrow it."

"No, that's okay, thanks though."

"No it's no problem. I'll bring it over next time I'm at your place."

"Cool, thanks."

Nine times out of ten the endorser will forget to lend you the DVD, which is great, because then it saves you the trouble of leaving it on your coffee table for 3 months before finally giving it back without ever watching it. Maybe that's just me.

Anyway, there are three works of creative fiction that I've never got around to experiencing, but ALWAYS come up in conversation in my life.

They are: The Princess Bride, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Jack Kerouac's On The Road.

Fans of the first two find the fact that I've never seen them the most troubling, seeing as I spent 4 years working in a video shop, but it's the literati crowd who can't come to terms with the idea that there are people who haven't read Kerouac's book.

Yes, I get it, he's an important literary figure.

Yes, I get it, he influenced generations of writers that followed him.

Yes, I get it, On The Road is meant to be a genre-changing piece of work.

 I have no real excuse for not reading it until now, other than not particularly giving a shit. But now it's become relevant to my life once again,  this time as a required text for not one, but two Uni subjects. So I guess I'm out of excuses.

I'll post another entry once I'm done with it. Maybe I'll love it, maybe I'll hate it. Maybe it'll change my life's direction, maybe I'll forget it after closing the back cover. Who knows? What I do know is that after this, I think I'll be done with stories of troubled young men in early 20th century America for a while.

Having recently re-read Catcher in the Rye, Junky, The Great Gatsby and now On The Road, I feel like I'm about due for something more contemporary.