Music Babble

I'm personally thankful that I didn't read it until I was in my 30's and had gotten sober. Allowed me to see it for the pathetic attempt by desperate characters to squeeze as much meaning from their depressing lives as possible rather than the life-affirming fantasy it's often interpreted as by the 20somethings who typically read it. "Big Sur" is the only other Kerouac book I've read and not amazing but still superior to "Road" in practically every way.

Not an uncommon opinion/experience but I found "Naked Lunch" to be a self-indulgent bore and had to put it down pretty quickly.

The beats were primarily poets so their poetry is really what you should investigate if you're curious. "Howl" is of course the major work and it mostly deserves its rep but as a whole, I think Ferlinghetti was the most consistently enjoyable of the beat poets, even if he's not as ambitious as most of the others.