Road or Wild

So before school ended I was in my advisor's office helping grade some papers, and he was asking me what music he should play. I said Bob Dylan of course, and so we got to talking about similar artists and my love of them. He decided that I seem to like this "Americana" thing.. and I'm not so sure, but he said he thought that I am probably one of those people who want to just pack up and head out on the road. Well, the only thing I could respond with is that I have indeed read "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac... how is that for americana? (not quite but you get the progression right?) Then he suggested that I read "Into the Wild".. so I went to the library and picked up a copy.. 

So far if I compare the two.. I am much more inclined towards Kerouac. I have only read the first couple of chapters of Wild, but the way that it is written really to me is not good. It starts out by introducing the (non-fiction) character Chris and how he went up to the wilds of Alaska with little to no supplies, and then a few months later was found dead. So now the rest of the book will be a sort of mystery of why did this guy go out there, and what was he looking for. If the author had not started with his death, but with the beginning of the journey, I think that the reader would become more attached to Chris. We would have been sad when he died, instead of matter-of-fact about it. I guess it is just not drawing in that emotion factor. Kerouac did that well, and he really got the reader to know the characters well and see what they were about and why they were out there, even if it was, just because.