This amusing travel memoir decribes the year that aauthor, Doreen Orion and her husband, Tim Justice, their two cats and their standard poodle spent living in a cnverted bus RV. They traveled through 47 states. It is an interesting and sometimes laugh outloud funny, but occassionally the humor is too New York City or too "American Jewish Princess" to be readily accessible to my midwestern background and taste. ( )

This is one of those books that has a lot of potential yet totally manages to miss the mark. Doreen Orion chronicles the year she spent traveling the country with her husband in a souped-up bus. Her accounts are filled with funny mishaps, interesting tidbits about the locations they visit and great references to her awesome husband. They are also filled clunky descriptions that are meant to be humorous, too-frequent references to being a Princess (we get it already!) and an author who is very difficult to relate to. Both husband and wife are psychiatrists and have enough money to not only renovate a bus but to take off a whole year just to wander. Granted, Orion admits to doing some work while traveling so they would have had some extra cash for spending, but she completely lost me when she wrote about how they just had to have a counter-top made of materials that cost over $320 per square foot.

Despite these annoyances, I managed to finish the book feeling good about the experience. It is an interesting concept and a dream of many to be able to take such a trip, especially with someone you love and respect as much as Orion does her husband. ( )

Oops, thought I reviewed this. I liked the book and I didn't like the book. I thought it was a light summertime read, but at the same time, it wasn't a book I would actually buy. I thought she was a little hard on her husband at times and I couldn't relate to her through the majority of the book. I agree with other reviewers that "There are times when Orion is too flippant regarding her class privilege...but at times slips into forgetting that she is part of a privileged class who is able to afford to take a year off work" and feel the resentment others do.

She doesn't sound like a seasoned traveler to me, wearing shoes and clothes not appropriate to the activites she undertakes. I was raised a tomboy, and I still am, and found myself mumbling at the book about the "girl" things she does.

I won't say don't read the book, because I don't feel that way. I would say the book has a limited audience. Some will enjoy this book, but I don't count myself among them. ( )

Queen of the Road is a wonderful book to read. It's uplifting, inspiring, and entertaining, dashed with a proper dose of sarcasm and humor. Doreen Orion's travel memoir records her and her husband's decision to take a year out of their lives and travel while they were still in their 40s. However, Doreen is a self-described hermit, and her husband is a tidy nerd. Neither personality would seemingly fit into the RV life, but Orion describes how they come to learn more about themselves than they expected.

There are times when Orion is too flippant regarding her class privilege. She's writing about taking control of one's life and living in the present, but at times slips into forgetting that she is part of a privileged class who is able to afford to take a year off work, and spend freely on a year's vacation. She acknowledges this in a few places, but not enough to fdampen a bit of resentment. She also tends to overdo the Princess role she takes for herself. It's not so much that she writes about being a Princess, but just mentions it constantly. It didn't seem necessary to write about it quite so often.

Those were the only two flaws in the novel, though, and what was left is still wonderful to read. The story of her husband and herself is entertaining. She describes the places they visit quite insightfully. Interestingly, she also includes a lot of history, especially female figures, in the novel when writing about the historical places they visit. Overall, this book is a welcome addition to anyone's library and seemingly has something that will interest and delight just about everyone. ( )

Doreen and her husband Tim decide to travel America for a year in a converted bus. Well, it is Tim's dream and Doreen reluctantly agrees to go along with it. They are both psychiatrists, though Doreen usually works at home processing insurance cases. She freely admits that she is lazy and practically a shut in. She enjoys sleeping in, watching TV, and has a fetish for designer shoes. When departure date arrives they load into the fully decked out bus; pets, shoes and all. After embarking on their epic adventure Doreen realizes that she has a bus phobia, probably brought on by the bus door flying open every time they reach 60 mph. Driving under low bridges, on skinny out of the way roads and winding mountain grades also contribute to Doreen's discomfort. Then there is also the challenge of parking and navigation.

The book traces Tim and Doreen's travel adventures all over America and tells the story of Doreen's transformation from couch potato to mild outdoor enthusiast. They go to theme parks, go hiking, visit tourist attractions and visit friends and family. All this while dealing with the unique challenges of living on a converted bus. By the end of the book, they have both made changes in their outlook on life. Doreen overcomes her bus fear and learns to enjoy getting out and experiencing life first-hand. Tim has calmed down and decided to make some career changes. Their marriage relationship is strengthened by all the time spent together. They learn to work with each others strengths and make allowances for each others weaknesses.

Queen of the Road is a hilarious book. Doreen's self-deprecating humor really suited the topic and set the tone for the entire book. Her writing style is very engaging. Don't expect much seriousness, depth or detail about their travels. This is definitely a lighthearted, humorous tale of a trip around America. It does not give a lot of detail about places or go into any deep spiritual transformations that take place for the travelers. It is quite an enjoyable read so long as you don't come to it with serious expectations. It is Doreen's interesting personality that carries the story along more so than the travel destinations. She does not shy away from revealing her own faults and idiosyncrasies. Personally I found that I just loved Queen of the Road for the first third or so but after a while I got used to the humor and found a little boredom setting in because it did not develop or change as it went along. I would still recommend it as a light read that gives a surface introduction to some of the interesting places in America. ( )

I had high hopes for this book, especially since my sister's husband just bought a city bus and is refurbishing it for their retirement. The first thirty-some-odd pages did not disappoint. I laughed out loud and thought Ms. Orion and I would get along great. Then the book reminded me that some relationships are meant to be fleeting; about halfway through the book I was muttering, "I get it. You're funny. Stop trying so hard." While I would read any article Ms. Orion writes, the book overstayed its welcome. ( )

Ah, the bus. You're either on it or you're off it. If you're a little slow on the uptake it's said that you ride the short bus. In the sixties we had, at one end of the spectrum, Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, painting an old school bus psychedelic, naming it "Furthur" and [road]tripping their way across the country amid billowing marijuana smoke and sheets of Owsley's finest. At the other end of the spectrum was the squeaky-clean Partridge Family, a made-up family-turned-singing-group on TV, painting a school bus a suburban version of psychedlic and traveling to gigs in it.

Doreen Orion, a "pampered Princess from the Island of Long," and her husband Tim, who embarked in the summer of 2004 upon a yearlong road trip in a converted bus, fall on the Partridge family end of the bus spectrum. Their bus is a marvel, a home on wheels, with a twelve hundred dollar handblown glass sink in the bathroom and cherry cabinets in the kitchen. The only music to be heard are the many ringtones on Doreen's cell phone (unless you consider her whining to be a sub-sub-subgenre of music). And while there are drugs involved on Doreen and Tim's road trip, they are of the potent potable variety (in fact, each chapter begins with a funny recipe for a mixed drink).

Queen of the Road is the fairly delightful memoir of a neurotic psychiatrist and her well-grounded husband. Although Doreen Orion's voice is often grating and frequently self-centered (it's been many years since I've been away from the greater New York area, but how well I remember those Princesses...), she's also always funny. I'm not a drinker, but was sorely tempted while reading to try some of her recipes (in particular, I like the "Love Me Bender," which consists of passion fruit liqueur, champagne, and raspberry liqueur, and ends with the instructions, "Rest shaker on hip, gyrate, drink. If you can still recall that the love of your life is making you live on a bus, repeat.") ( )

http://tinyreadingroom.blogspot.com/2... ( )

When Doreen Orion wrote, on yoga, "What was the point of putting that much effort into doing something, just to think about nothing, when I was already so adept at thinking about nothing without making any effort at all?", I knew she was my kind of person. (I've tried yoga. I like the stretching. I don't like the premise. Like Doreen, the only way I can handle exercise is if I've got lots of things to distract me while I'm doing it.)

"Queen of the Road" is a book about a married couple who takes a year to travel the country in a retro-converted bus, with a dog and two cats. So it's a travel diary, in a way. But it felt more like a nice long talk with an old friend, the kind you don't get to see very often but is actually one of your favorite people in the world.

This "true tale of 47 states" was, there is no other word for it, a delight to read. From the first page to the last, Doreen's self-deprecating wit and humor, her honesty, and her dry sense of the absurd formed, for me, an instant bond between author and reader. I laughed out loud, not once, not a few times, but at least once a chapter, at something she'd said -- and not because the book is so outrageously funny, but because, as with the yoga quote above, I knew *exactly* what she meant and felt *exactly* the same way. And while some of that may be because we have a few preferences in common, I think it's mostly because Doreen is so honest, and says, in this book, exactly what she was thinking -- and what so many of us would as well in the same situation.

The writing is excellent and engaging, and the book was, unfortunately, a quick read; I was sorry when it was over, though the story comes to a natural end when Doreen and Tim's journey is over. The author's web site, www.doreenorion.com, has videos from her travels and her blog, which is well worth checking out. ( )

A good read. Most of the travelogues I read are concerned with younger people traveling, so it was interesting to read the adventures of an older couple traveling by bus. They certainly had some interesting experiences. ( )

This was a funny and heartwarming memoir of a couple's year traveling the country in their conversion bus. The author has a gift for poking fun at herself, her husband, and all the experiences they had - without being caustic or unkind. There was real affection in the writing and some "self-realization" without being heavy-handed. Very enjoyable. ( )

http://hollybooknotes.blogspot.com/20... ( )

This is a book suitable for flights and/or vacations where long delays and "wasted time" are to be expected. Having a book like this on-hand during those times sure makes time go by faster. The story is enjoyable and the trials and obstacles that Doreen goes through are told in a light-hearted manner, but I found myself still kept at a distance. Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't connect on a personal level with someone like her. When she talks about being a Jewish princess, I understand what that means, but I can't connect to it as I don't live my life anything like that. When she talks (at length) about her alcoholic drinks and how a good part of the story revolves around her next one, I can't relate.

A good story and not a complete waste of time, but not my cup of tea (or something stronger, for Doreen's sake). ( )

What a great read! I live in Boulder County myself so it was fun to read about things that I've become so familiar with. While I'm somewhere between a princess and a Boulder hippie, I found this book extremely fun and relatable. I liked the casual, easy style of writing; it felt like a friend telling me the tale of her vacation. ( )

'Queen of the Road' is an extremely light read for a generation that is not my own. I would recommend this book to my middle-aged mother who also shares an obsession for everything designer. Doreen Orion is an interesting narrator in her memoir detailing her travels across country with her goofy husband. As portrayed quite obviously, Doreen makes a slight change from lazy professional with a love for material things to being slightly less lazy and in love with material things. Although this is not my ideal genre (I need to be more selective with Early Reviewer books!), I can understand how a woman lying on the beach might enjoy this read - I did catch myself laughing at times. However, I could not identify with the author, nor commiserate in any way, and did not like her as a person. A self-proclaimed Princess, such quotes as "A Princess can do anything she puts her mind to - provided she's wearing the right outfit" are a dime a dozen.
Throughout the memoir are 1-2 page excerpts that detail the history of some of the places the duo visited. These history lessons were very out of place and I wish Ms. Orion would have kept a consistent tone - goofy/materialistic and city-knowledge are too different to combine as they were in their extremes.
Do not read this book if you are looking for something substantial. ( )

Loved this book. Loved their relationship. Loved the travel. Loved their sense of humor that was so like mine. Such an enjoyable read.

There was a quote in the acknowledgments that I believe sums this book up best: "This isn't a travel book. It's a love story!"

I will be buying this as a gift for many people I know. Great book. ( )

Doreen and her husband, Tim, are both psychiatrists in their mid-forties. Tim is a dedicated workaholic with a demanding practice. Doreen has given up practice and works filing insurance claims from the comfort of her bed in her pajamas and is proud of the fact the she hardly ever leaves the house. Out of the blue, Tim convinces her that they will take a year off and drive around the United States in a converted bus. This book details that journey.

At first I wasn't sure whether I would like Doreen's narrative as her rich, material world lifestyle is the exact opposite of my own lifestyle but I couldn't have been more wrong. I found myself relating to her throughout the whole book. Doreen is simply hilarious, an outspoken person who will say just about anything. I was chuckling joyously chapter after chapter and even found myself reading parts aloud to my husband quite often, which rarely happens around here as he is a non-reader.

Humour aside, the journey they take was very interesting and informative to me. As a Canadian my knowledge of US geography is middling but even those who are experts on the topic will find Ms. Orion's journey of interest. While they do go to some famous tourist spots, Doreen chooses mostly to talk about lesser known tourist attractions, RV parks, the automotive challenges they experienced and the people they met on the way.

This is the type of book one can pick up and read a chapter at a time and pick up again later and not loose the flow of the narrative. Highly recommended, especially for summer beach reading or winter armchair travelling. ( )

Queen of the Road is an easy and light read.

it's the memoir of Doreen Orion's initially dreaded year long bus trip with her husband Tim. both are psychiatrists, which is frequently mentioned throughout the book.

overall, the book was entertaining. while Queen of the Road generally follows a chronological sequence, the author often becomes tangential. as the book is not meant to be literary (i hope...) this lead to a casual conversational style.

the self discovery of the journey is a little over-played. after all, isn't that what travel is all about? Doreen's self-deprecating humor can at times be witty and is, in the end, the saving grace of this book. ( )

Thisis psychiatrist Doreen Orion's memoir of the year she and her husband Tim (also a psychiatrist) decided to "chuck it all" in order to travel around the U.S. on a luxury bus, getting away from the stress and distraction of work and materialism and getting back to the things that really matter. Doreen, a self-professed couch potato, resisted the idea for five years and, even when she agreed, when kicking and screaming on this cross-country adventure , during which she occupied most of her time worrying about what she was wearing, which of her possessions might get broken in the event of a bus accident, and how best to mix up her next fruity martini.

I loved the concept of this book, but, unfortunately, I did not love the book. "High-maintenance woman sharing 340 square feet of living space with her husband and 3 pets in a home on wheels for an entire year" has great potential, but Orion did not make good on the promise implied by the fabulous subtitle (not to mention the serious online hype) of her book. A self-described "Long Island Princess," Orion knew it was going to be a difficult trip, but rather than sucking it up and roughing it, she crammed as many of her designer clothes and shoes into the bus as possible, and she doesn't hesitate to mention them at every possible opportunity. The name dropping got old quickly, as did her attempts at witty humor, which I felt were too cutesy and made me feel like she was trying just a little too hard to make the readers like her.

Queen of the Road is light and fluffy despite its attempts to explore the deeper meanings of life. It was far from compelling and was too easy to put down, though I suppose it would be a decent beach read....

Click here to read my full review. ( )

I don't usually care for chick lit...and I thought the title indicated that this book would be another addition to that genre. However, I found this collection of travel memories to be insightful, fun to read, and absolutely hilarious. I could easily relate to Doreen Orion's excitement at seeing new sights across the country, and her funny takes on people and places.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has ever gone unwillingly on an adventure. Orion's travels are as interesting as the book itself. ( )

Here is a brief summary of my internal dialog regarding “Queen of the Road”

- Hey, this book sounds interesting. After all, I really enjoyed that book about the woman and her husband who decided to live on a sailboat for a year, so maybe this book about living on a bus for a year will be similar.

- Oh shoot, she wasn’t kidding about the 200 shoes. I didn’t pay attention to that part of the title. She’s going to be one of those women, isn’t she? I’m going to find her obnoxious and have a hard time reading this

- Hmmm, maybe she isn’t as obnoxious as I thought she would be.

- Hey, this is pretty funny! And poignant! And it actually chronicles her growth as a person!

For the full review:
http://www.devourerofbooks.com/2008/0... ( )

This lovely little tale had everything I was looking for: adventure, true love, quirky relatives, and animal sidekicks. Though Doreen Orion tells her story with a tongue-in-cheek attitude (each chapter begins with a martini recipe), she can't help but admit that it was a life changing experience. Like all good travel adventure stories she discovers that the most meaningful experiences aren't the ones you plan. By the end I felt as if I had been along for the ride myself, in addition to having made new friends in Doreen, Tim, Shula, Miles and Morty. Pick up this book if you are ready for an unexpected adventure with some real heart. ( )

Okay, how could you not want to pick up this new title from Broadway Books ??? The cover and subtitle grabbed me, but I was captivated in the first 10 pages of this travel memoir from Doreen Orion.

Both Orion and her husband Tim Justice are practicing psychiatrists. Tim is still seeing patients in an office setting while Doreen consults from home for insurance companies etc. Tim is a busy guy, always with a project on the go. He enjoys the outdoors as well. On the other hand, Doreen is more than happy to stay in her pajamas, work from home, watch television and never leave the house. Her record is 118 hours in without stepping a foot outside. Two seemingly polar opposites.

Without quite knowing how it happened, Doreen agrees to Tim's dream - to travel across America in a bus for a year. That's right - a bus. But what a bus it is! (Take note that their bus ends up being the September centerfold for Bus Conversions magazine.)

Orion is an extremely funny woman. I was laughing out loud right from the beginning and wondered if she could keep it up throughout the book.....she did.

After an initial 3 week test run, they set out. Not everything goes quite to plan - the bus has some issues and so does Doreen - she's terrified of the bus.

With a fantastic sense of humour, Orion describes the trip, her relationship with Tim, the people they meet and the situations they find themselves in.

Just a few weeks into the trip they notice a shift in their outlooks and attitudes.

"Getting to the top of the bell tower reaffirmed for me that Tim and I were making new choices about how to live our lives and whether it was finding time for that climb or putting our careers on hold, we were doing things differently that we had in the past, giving us hope that the lessons learned on the road about what was truly valuable might just stick".

And this is really the essence of the book. How do you want to live your life and what is really important? As we follow Tim and Doreen's travels, you start to look at your own life and wonder what you could do a little bit differently.

It's also a love story. They are together 24/7 for a year. Although they already have a good marriage, they rediscover each other on the road.

Fascinating as well is the ongoing travelogue. The places they visit are detailed, and an appendix gives web addresses for many of the places.

I love a good travel memoir and this was one of the best I've read. This would be a great selection for a book club. There is a thoughtful list of discussion questions to get you started at the end. ( Oh - and a cocktail recipe at the beginning of every chapter!) As well, Orion will attend your book group - either in person or by speakerphone.

The idea of a boat trip was bandied about at the end of the book. Sounds like a great idea Doreen and Tim - can't wait to hear what adventure you embark on next! You can always follow along at Doreen's blog. ( )

Talk about terrific summer reading! Queen of the Road is a hilarious, easy read. Doreen Orion had me laughing out loud as she humorously related the adventures, and misadventures, she and her husband had in a year-long bus trip across America. There are also touching moments as Orion traces the parallel journey of self-discovery that the trip inspires in both she and her husband. Between her wonderful description of the sites they see, her funny portrayals of Project Nerd (her husband) and her own mounting bus phobia, and her reflections on the way they and others choose to live their lives, I never wanted to put this book down. I would highly recommend Queen of the Road to any reader. ( )

This was an OK read, although the materialism throughout was a bit much at times, even if Orion was almost apologetic about it and claimed to have improved her ways. It was interesting to see her roll through places I've lived and get a visitor's perspective on them. It's nonfiction chic lit and definitely summer reading. ( )