Roads by Larry McMurtry By Steve Rudd

Better known for his novel writing than his travel writing, Texan man McMurtry's most famous works include the epic Western story of Lonesome Dove, and the tear-jerking Terms Of Endearment and The Evening Star. For much of his life he's been a keen collector of books and has owned a bookstore. Acquiring many of his books has meant travelling great distances around North America to both seek out and collect them, and so he is wise to many of the interstates that criss-cross the continent.

Come the year 2000, and his days off from running his bookstore in his hometown of Archer City (Working with books always relaxes me, but the books bring people, and people are a mixed bag; there comes a point at which I want to be away, drive somewhere, see some sky - it's my safeguard against the burnout that a month in the bookshop can occasionally produce), Larry simply took off, hiring cars from various cities around the US before driving back home and taking in the many sights on the way.

Presenting this 200-page book in stages, all his trips are captivating, but the most exciting routes sound to extend across the South-West of the country, even if it does sound to be a nightmare beating rush-hour traffic in LA on a Friday evening. But once he's heading East from LA across vast deserts such as the Sonoran and around Ajo (where there is reputed to be a beautiful mini-version of the mighty Monument Valley), his insightful prose really bring such routes alive. Bill Bryson attempted a similar sort of pilgrimage around the country in his Lost Continent travels, and although Larry McMurtry's writing isn't half as funny as Bryson's, you have to respect the fact that McMurtry has little intention of offending people or places through being sarcastic. Even if he Larry is blatantly honest about some places that he really hates..

Being such a lover of literature, many of his travels are peppered with literary references, and time that he spends in Upper Michigan naturally makes reference to Ernest Hemingway and Janet Lewis, who both used to live and write in the area. He also spends time recalling his childhood and the life-changing event of having had heart surgery, simultaneously dispensing sound advice to would-be travellers who might like to drive in his skid-marks.

Indeed, Larry reveals, If one's passion is high plains travel, US 2 is as good as it gets..the dream road.. the ideal path into the heart of the great steppe. US 2 had everything - the widest vistas, the greatest skies, and more history than one traveller could possibly hope to exhaust. Roads really is something of a unique piece of writing. Sure, other writers have undertaken similar projects before, but McMurtry's talent in bringing landscapes to life - all the while talking about great American literature - is unprecedented.

But.. As it is with women, so it is with roads. There are too many nice ones. And so little time. So savour every last one of both! ISBN 0-75381-412-9 (ORION; first published in 2000)