Dave Eggers - You Shall Know Our Velocity

In 1982, the Argentinian author Julio Cortázar and his wife Carol Dunlop decided to go an epic journey from Paris to Marseille. What would make this usually boring drive through France extraordinary was their plan to stop at each and every parking along the highway. This stretched their trip from mere hours into days. The goal of the adventure, to verify that Marseille really exists, was equally asburd. Twenty years later, American author Dave Eggers wrote a novel about two guys, Will and Hand, who attempt to travel around the world in a week, and in the process, to get rid of some $32,000 that one of them has earned for being in an advertisment. They intend to give the money in huge amount to complete strangers. 'You shall Know our Velocity' is an exhilarating, infectious book that veers between the silly (Hand speaking in the broken English of the Senegalese or Estonians around him) and the tragic (Will, full of rage and sorrow, reminiscing about their friend's death). I'd call it 'Kerouacish' if it wasn't so much a book in its own right and of its own time. So let's settle on 'full of life', 'uplifting' and 'plain good writing'. The fact that I bought it dirt cheap in a bookstore selling leftovers from major bookstore chain is civilization's loss and my gain. Hope you enjoyed that coffee, Mr Eggers –I paid half of it.