If you have a family and have ever traveled, you probably will relate to “The Ride of Our Lives” ($13.95, Ballantine Books), Mike Leonard’s account, now out in paperback, of a cross-country road trip with his, um, quirky parents, his three grown kids and a daughter-in- law. They laugh, they cry, they fight, they do all the things everybody does in cramped quarters. Bad stuff happens, everyone wants to kill everyone else at some point, and then later everyone agrees it was the best time ever. Leonard, a journalist for NBC, has an easygoing narrative style and a decent sense of humor, and he also isn’t afraid to point out that his mother cusses worse than any sailor, and he wonders many times how his parents ever wound up together. Along the way, we get views of the good ol’ U.S. of A.
