SW Book Club Discusion 1/11/2017 - The Long Haul

[Ralphie ★]

 

Whomever wants to start the discussion, feel free!  

[Further]

I enjoyed the book. I would like to know what went on during his break from trucking that brought on his maturity and professionalism. 

[petitepedal ★]

It was a quick ready easy to dance too..oh wait...this isn't Dick Clark   I think he wove an interesting look at his life as a trucker in the moving industry... and yes...it would be interesting to know how he spent the in between years..... The tale of the final move?...to New Mexico was quite the adventure.

[Rattlecan ★]

Checked the local library. The title search came up with this.

[jsharr ★]

I was able to read it in in a very short amount of time, it is an easy, entertaining read that seldom goes into too much detail.  I enjoyed it and felt like I sort of knew Finn Murphy by the end.

I wonder what the story would have read like had Finn not come from where he did, have the college experience to draw on and the education and knowledge to allow him to be as introspective as he is.

I enjoyed his insight into the class system in the United Stated and the decay of the United States.  I think if he would have started 20 years earlier, or later, this would have been a very different book.

Having worked for a manufacturing firm and handling logistics for quite a few years, both trailer load and less than trailer load, I had a certain amount of insight into how trucking worked, but the fact that movers were shunned by the other types of truckers was new to me. 

This is not the sort of book I would normally choose, but I am glad I read it.

Like @Further I would like to know what happened from the time he quit driving to when he started back up.  Dates were not used often, so it was hard to pin and exact date to when he quit to when he started again in 2008.

Other than the brief glimpse of his family life in his high school and college years, family is not discussed much.  I would like to know about his social life outside the cab of the truck.

As I showered this AM, I was thinking about how the log bog and the careful inventory process must have served as an excellent outline to frame the book and plan the chapters.  It was probably fun for Finn to leaf through the log book and recall the moves that were memorable, good or bad, and then turn them into written words.

Final thought, I wonder about the army wife / army husband thing.  Hope the Colonel knew about it before Finn wrote about it, or that the Colonel never reads the book.

BTW, I forgot to turn in my penis before I wrote that.  Won't happen again.  Sorry.

 

[Ralphie ★]

I thought it was a very enjoyable book since I agree with jsharrt that it flowed well.  The most interesting part to me was how the truckers sort of stratify into different camps, and I was a little surprised that it was really more of a book aboot long distance movers than just general trucking.  My favouritist part was the bar that was either mover's or trucker's heaven, I forget which.  It was also a nice introduction aboot him working in the warehouse of the moving company.

jsharrt, that was an excellent write-up!  Especially for a Texican!  Whuda thunk it?!

 

[jsharr ★]

1 minute ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

I thought it was a very enjoyable book since I agree with jsharrt that it flowed well.  The most interesting part to me was how the truckers sort of stratify into different camps, and I was a little surprised that it was really more of a book aboot long distance movers than just general trucking.  My favouritist part was the bar that was either mover's or trucker's heaven, I forget which.  It was also a nice introduction aboot him working in the warehouse of the moving company.

jsharrt, that was an excellent write-up!  Especially for a Texican!  Whuda thunk it?!

 

I like words, both reading them and writing them.  At times, I am pretty good at wording.

[Further]

He talked about money a lot. Interesting that when he quit focusing on making money, and focused on doing the best job he could, he made more money. And had fewer hassles.

[jsharr ★]

One other thought, It is almost a collection of short stories, versus a book leading to an end conclusion, reveal, etc.  Did anyone else get that feeling?

 

[Ralphie ★]

42 minutes ago, jsharr said:

One other thought, It is almost a collection of short stories, versus a book leading to an end conclusion, reveal, etc.  Did anyone else get that feeling?

 

Yup!  But I read it as more of an Otto biography, so that made sense.  I think he tried to link them together at least loosely.  And it is non-fiction (AFAWK!), so there is that. 

[petitepedal ★]

How about "Cold Beer and Crocodiles" for a read..or some other cycling adventure book.

[Ralphie ★]

50 minutes ago, petitepedal said:

How about "Cold Beer and Crocodiles" for a read..or some other cycling adventure book.

That sounds like a good one.

[dinneR ★]

On 1/11/2018 at 9:43 AM, jsharr said:

I was able to read it in in a very short amount of time, it is an easy, entertaining read that seldom goes into too much detail.  I enjoyed it and felt like I sort of knew Finn Murphy by the end.

I wonder what the story would have read like had Finn not come from where he did, have the college experience to draw on and the education and knowledge to allow him to be as introspective as he is.

I enjoyed his insight into the class system in the United Stated and the decay of the United States.  I think if he would have started 20 years earlier, or later, this would have been a very different book.

Having worked for a manufacturing firm and handling logistics for quite a few years, both trailer load and less than trailer load, I had a certain amount of insight into how trucking worked, but the fact that movers were shunned by the other types of truckers was new to me. 

This is not the sort of book I would normally choose, but I am glad I read it.

Like @Further I would like to know what happened from the time he quit driving to when he started back up.  Dates were not used often, so it was hard to pin and exact date to when he quit to when he started again in 2008.

Other than the brief glimpse of his family life in his high school and college years, family is not discussed much.  I would like to know about his social life outside the cab of the truck.

As I showered this AM, I was thinking about how the log bog and the careful inventory process must have served as an excellent outline to frame the book and plan the chapters.  It was probably fun for Finn to leaf through the log book and recall the moves that were memorable, good or bad, and then turn them into written words.

Final thought, I wonder about the army wife / army husband thing.  Hope the Colonel knew about it before Finn wrote about it, or that the Colonel never reads the book.

BTW, I forgot to turn in my penis before I wrote that.  Won't happen again.  Sorry.

 

Well said.

I like the book too. He did a good job of telling the story without getting too repetitive. I was wondering the same thing about the years in between driving. I'm surprised his editor let him get away with that. There must have been a reason. He's a good storyteller.

 

 

[dinneR ★]

I have read Food Rules and Cold Beer and Crocodiles. Both are excellent but very different types of books. Food Rules is a really useful manual for eating. Cold Beer is another memoir. Cycling related this time. It's very entertaining. I think either or both would great choices to discuss.

[Kirby]

I was listening to the radio in the car today while I was running errands, and I heard an interview with someone talking about moving.  The guy seemed to be annoyed by his customers, other drivers and lots more.  Only towards the end of the interview did they say his name again, and I realized it was the author of Long Haul  Now I'm sorry I missed bunches of the interview while I was in the stores running errands.

[Kzoo]

Just now, Kirby said:

I was listening to the radio in the car today while I was running errands, and I heard an interview with someone talking about moving.  The guy seemed to be annoyed by his customers, other drivers and lots more.  Only towards the end of the interview did they say his name again, and I realized it was the author of Long Haul  Now I'm sorry I missed bunches of the interview while I was in the stores running errands.

You can find a link online to catch the whole piece.

[Ralphie ★]

I sort of missed his 20 year gap!  I guess his subterfuge worked on me! 

[Kzoo]

13 hours ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

I sort of missed his 20 year gap!  I guess his subterfuge worked on me! 

I remember it from his book.  It was an extended mention.  That is one of my favorite listens - Audible.  I might have to re-queue it.