road trip books

Drive My Car: 20 Must-Read Road Trip Books

Isabelle Popp

Isabelle Popp has written all sorts of things, ranging from astrophysics research articles and math tests to crossword puzzles and poetry. These days she's writing romance. When she's not reading or writing, she's probably knitting or scouring used book stores for vintage gothic romance paperbacks. Originally from New York, she's as surprised as anyone that she lives in Bloomington, Indiana.

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An apocryphal quote floating around dictates that all great literature is either a man going on a journey or a stranger coming to town. Leaving aside the limited thinking evident in this quote — what about the great literature where an animal goes on a journey??? — I am inclined to agree with one part of it. Road trip books make for some of the best literature around. The setting provides so much opportunity for discovery: of landscapes, fellow travelers, and of characters’ true selves. Traveling inevitably creates unforeseen problems to solve and prompts vulnerability for characters out of their element. Road trip books typically have a goal, even if the real treasure ends up being the friends made along the way.

I wanted to dig a little deeper than some of the obvious standards, like On the Road or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas . I’ve toured the world of books by car, picking roadside stops among fiction and nonfiction, middle grade books and historical romance novels. Many people think of road trip books as a distinctly American genre, so I wanted to challenge that notion as well. In the end, I have a very special vacation slideshow to share with you, if I do say so myself. 

In the Face of the Sun by Denny S. Bryce

A dual timeline is one of my favorite formats for a novel, so one with a road trip woven in is sure to catch my attention. This novel alternates between 1968 and 1928. In the latter timeline, audacious Aunt Daisy is rescuing her pregnant niece, Frankie, from her abusive marriage by escaping along Route 66. Meanwhile, we follow young Daisy in 1928 Hollywood, chasing her journalism dreams by writing for Black-owned papers. This compelling story is ideal for anyone who enjoys a family saga steeped in Black history.

How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

A YA romance road trip story that takes place on an influencer tour bus? Yes. Moon Fuentes is in the shadow of her famous twin sister, but agrees to sling merch for her over a summer. The forced proximity with her new nemesis, Santiago, blooms into something unexpected in this gorgeous book tinged with magical realism.

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal

This book highlights the ways religious pilgrimage intersects with the road trip format. Following three sisters who’ve drifted apart in adulthood, the novel reunites them in India. There they are carrying out their mother’s last wish to carry out her final rites at the ​​Golden Temple in Amritsar. This poignant novel navigates the complexities of tradition and modernity for the three British-born women while providing them with unexpected moments of discovery that are by turns humorous and heartbreaking.

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph M. Marshall III

The sad truth is that most road trip books set in America forget whose land they’re driving through. This heartwarming novel, however, provides readers an education in Indigenous history as the main character, Jimmy McClean, gets a lesson in his Lakota roots from his grandfather. Their travels bring them to sites relevant to the life of Tasunke Witko, better known as Crazy Horse.

A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare

This might be my desert island romance novel. Minerva and Colin’s journey from Spindle Cove to Scotland, with Minerva’s fossil in tow, is the very best in historical road trip romance. It’s a nerdy woman meets charming rake story, and even writing this little blurb makes me sure it’s time for another reread. The entire Spindle Cove series is top tier romance, but it’s perfectly fine to start with this one.

Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden

Road trip books do turn up among graphic novels as well. Are You Listening? chronicles the journey across West Texas for Lou and Bea, two women struggling with grief and trauma. There’s a touch of magic in this book, represented by a cat who joins the trip. This is a demonstration of the opportunities for connection and real listening provided by a long, lonely road.

Getting Mother’s Body by Suzan-Lori Parks

I love when novels can provide two opposing characters with equally compelling motivations. When a letter arrives notifying Billy Beede, poor and pregnant, that a supermarket is going in where her mother’s body is currently resting, Billy takes action. She needs to find out whether Willa Mae Beede really was buried with a fortune’s worth of gems. Meanwhile, Dill Smiles, Willa’s love, wants to keep her in the ground. It’s a twist on William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying that deeply examines desire, need, and greed.

All My Mother’s Lovers by Ilana Masad

While road trips are one of my favorite settings for books, characters discovering they never really knew someone close to them is one of my favorite plots. So All My Mother’s Lovers is right in my wheelhouse. In it, Maggie hand delivers letters on behalf of her suddenly deceased mother. The recipients of these letters upturn everything Maggie thought she knew about her family. This story’s meditation on grief, identity, and family is powerful and bittersweet.

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño

There is a simple way to describe the road trip in this novel. Two poets in Mexico City, ​​Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, travel to the desert to find another poet who has vanished. But that simple goal turns into a much more complex story that tracks Belano and Lima’s lives 20 years later. This novel, jam-packed with characters and ideas, is the ideal book for when you want a challenging book whose impact will travel with you through the decades.

Somewhere in the Darkness by Walter Dean Myers

Walter Dean Myers knew that kids deserve stories with real complexity, filled with believable characters and symbolism younger readers can grasp. Somewhere in the Darkness features the cross-country trip of 14-year-old Jimmy and his father Crab. Crab’s on the run from the law, but he’s seeking the man who can exonerate him. The road trip does not magically fix their troubled relationship, but it shows how understanding can blossom into forgiveness.

Nevada by Imogen Binnie (June 7)

As the old saw says, wherever you go, there you are. This is true for Maria Griffiths, a trans woman living in Brooklyn. When she feels like her life is falling apart, she steals her ex’s car and heads west. When she meets someone at a pivotal moment in their life, she finally realizes what she’s avoiding. This is a book that resonates with many trans readers for its honest depiction of the experiences, emotions, and thought patterns of its trans main character. Likewise, cis people can benefit from reading such a nuanced character study. 

Love Is an Ex-Country by Randa Jarrar

Among nonfiction road trip books, Love Is an Ex-Country is vital for showing how travel in the United States functions very differently depending on what you look like. Jarrar is a fat, queer, Muslim, Arab American who recounts her trip from California to Connecticut in 2016. She encounters hostility, but as a victim of abuse as well as online threats against her life, she knows well how survival mode functions. It’s a brazen book that doles out plentiful laughs along with copious tears.

Night Hawk by Beverly Jenkins

One of the great things about Beverly Jenkins’s bibliography is that so many readers have different favorite books. Another of the great things about her work is that characters connect across series and time periods. So once you read Night Hawk , the historical romance in which bounty hunter Ian Vance is tasked with bringing sassy Maggie Freeman to justice, you’ll have to read everything else she’s ever written.

The Aeneid by Virgil

If it’s possible to underappreciate a classic, I dare say The Aeneid has met this fate. Retellings and adaptations of Homer’s epic poems abound. I say The Aeneid is due for such a treatment! The tale of Aeneas follows his journeys from the fall of Troy until he winds up in Italy, the ancestor of Romans. I love a good journey to the underworld, and The Aeneid has an especially heartbreaking one.

The New Life by Orhan Pamuk

Books about books! I can never get enough. Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk’s entry in the road trip canon chronicles the journey of Osman. He becomes enchanted by a novel and sets out to create for himself the life it promises. Reading this, you’ll wonder whether Osman has lost his grip on reality while you vicariously experience his travel from Istanbul to the Anatolian steppes.

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

The stories of the assassinations of U.S. presidents are so much wilder than what I was ever taught in school. Sarah Vowell has an incredible knack for storytelling and inspiring her readers to take an interest in the rich details in history. She uncovers fascinating stories wherever she goes. Because of reading her books, I find myself pausing to read the signs whenever I come across a historic place in my travels, a habit I have found deeply enriching.

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward’s novel, at its essence a road trip Leonie takes with her children to reunite with their father, just released from the Mississippi State Penitentiary, is a true southern gothic Odyssey. This is a road trip book that nods to hallowed literature while investigating the claustrophobia that can accompany being enclosed in a car. Cars can be haunted houses, too.

Girls on the Verge by Sharon Biggs Waller

While many road trips are undertaken for fun, plenty come out of brutal necessity. Girls on the Verge follows Camille, who is pregnant in Texas and needs an abortion. When her best friend disagrees with her decision to end the pregnancy, she reaches out to a near-stranger for a ride. Then her friend has a change of heart, and the three end up in the car together on a journey demonstrating the lengths pregnant people have to go to to have control over their bodies.

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

Here’s an ambitious and multi-media road trip book. Following a family traveling to the Southwest to learn more about Apache history, their story becomes embroiled with those of refugees at the U.S.-Mexico border. If you’re looking for a novel that is both incredibly daring while remaining true to its road trip roots, this one is timely and thought-provoking.

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

I’m sure I’m not the only one who loves books about animal journeys, as I mentioned up top. The Incredible Journey hit me at a very formative time. The Travelling Cat Chronicles feature a man named Satoru and his adopted stray, Nana, traveling around Japan in a silver van to visit some friends. You will not be surprised to find that the journey ends up having deeper meaning, as journeys always do. Yes this book does feature the cat’s perspective and — spoiler alert — yes, the book does follow to the end of the cat’s long and happy life.

I come by my love of road trips honestly. As a kid, all of my travel was by car, and I’ve driven in 48 of 50 states — I’m coming for you, Wisconsin and North Dakota! I’m even planning a couple of road trips for this summer. If you, like me, truly love a road trip, you’ll want even more suggestions, I’m sure. We’ve got thought-provoking and feel-good road trip books . And if you need an audiobook while you’re on a trip , pass me that aux, we’ve got some listening to do. Let’s hit the road.

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The Ultimate List of Epic Road Trip Books

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A great book has the power to not just take you along for the ride with the author but to instill in you the burning desire to hit the road yourself. This list of the best road trip books is sure to keep you busy for a while and will make you want to hand your boss your two-week notice and start packing your bags.

I put this list together as I get ready to launch my own road trip book, The Road Always Leads West , another one you should check out! 🙂 

While this is mostly for inspiration or entertainment, be sure to check out my road trip planning guide if you need more comprehensive and practical information about logistics and organization.

5 Best Road Trip Books

On the road by jack kerouac.

We might as well get this one out of the way first, it’s easily the most well-known road trip book ever written, a book which has inspired generations and countless imitations.

Kerouac’s classic book On the Road that details his travels with his friends as they travel across America. The book was heavily steeped in the jazz and poetry culture and is considered the defining work of the Beat Generation, which so influenced the counter culture movement of the 60s.

The book is available as it was first published or you can get the Original Scroll version which was released as written by Jack Kerouac on a continuous sheet of paper 120’ long and which features the real names of his friends, not pseudonyms.

Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon

Heat-Moon set out to put the past behind him by setting out on the open road. The premise of the book is his travels along the smaller roads, marked blue on the map, and discover small-town America.

His travels to small-town America show a country on the verge of change with the increasing homogenization through fast-food culture and strip malls.

Heat-Moon does a great job featuring the lives of the people he meets along the way, a curious cast of characters who live in “those little towns that get on the map—if they get on at all—only because some cartographer has a blank space to fill.”

Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck

In September of 1960 John Steinbeck, already a successful author, set out to rediscover an America that he worried he had lost touch with. According to Steinbeck’s son, the real reason for his journey was that he knew he was dying and he wanted to see the country one last time.

Steinbeck set out on a giant cross country journey from New York, up to Maine, across to the west coast, down to California then across the southern half of the states back east, before venturing back up the East Coast. Essentially completing a massive circular journey through America.

He had his French poodle Charley in tow throughout his journey through a “New America” that was on the cusp of some great upheaval.

Steinbeck was 58 when he set out on this journey alone (well, with a dog), which just goes to show that isn’t just for young, aimless, 20-somethings.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

Part philosophical treatise and part motorcycle road trip across the northern stretch of the United States and then down to California.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance tells the story of a father and son motorcycle trip with a pair of friends but also delves into fundamental questions about how to live life and tries to reconcile science, religion and more.

A powerful read that will not only inspire you to hit the road but inspire you to examine your own perspectives on some of these central themes of life.

The Kindness of Strangers: Penniless Across America by Mike McIntyre

Not a traditional road trip book where the driver is behind the wheel on the open road, but rather Mike decided to hitchhike across the country from San Francisco to Cape Fear, North Carolina, which would be challenging in and of itself. But Mike decided to do it without so much as a penny.

He would have to rely on the goodwill and help of complete strangers on the open road in order to find rides, eat, and have a place to sleep.

It’s an incredible journey and an even more incredible story which highlights the stories and generosity of the folks that he meets along the way.

Five books aren’t enough for you? Well, I’ve got another 10 awesome road trip books below and then a number of reader suggestions.

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10 More Great Books About Road Trips

The new american road trip mixtape by brendan leonard.

Brendan Leonard has become one of the leading modern voices for road trips and the transformative nature of nature and the great outdoors.

Post-breakup Brendan set out by himself to explore the American West as he lived in the back of his station wagon. This book tackles the American Dream and the call of the open road in Brendan’s humorous and unique style.

His most recent book, Sixty Meters to Anywhere , is another incredible read about overcoming alcoholism and finding himself through climbing.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Krakauer’s book is not strictly a road trip book, nor is it a first-person book about a road trip, but rather traces the incredible story of Chris McCandless and his nomadic wanderings.

After graduating college back east, Chris donated what remained of his college fund and drove west, eventually abandoning his car and hitchhiking across the west for a number of years. His travels led him to a Walden’s Pond type existence in the Alaskan bush where he was found dead.

The book has a sad end, but the story of his travels and Krakauer’s incredible writing will inspire you to hit the road in Chris’ footsteps undoubtedly. I know it did for me. This is one of my favorite books ever written.

The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson is one of the best travel writers out there, able to turn the simplest or seemingly boring concepts into insightful, interesting, and often humorous reads.

After living abroad in the United Kingdom for many years, Bryson sets out to rediscover America by visiting its small towns.

Bryson’s book about hiking the Appalachian Trail, A Walk in the Woods , is still one of my favorites.

Drive Nacho Drive by Brad Van Orden

Drive Nacho Drive tells the story of Brad and his wife Sheena quitting their jobs, giving up the American Dream and driving south in their old beat-up Volkswagon Van named Nacho.

The road takes them through all of Central America, past the Darien Gap to South America and finally to the “end of the earth” in Patagonia where the Pan-American Highway finally ends.

A pretty incredible read that might just inspire you to think about taking your road trip internationally ( like we did ).

The Cruise of the Rolling Junk by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Another of America’s finest authors sets out on the open road, this time F. Scott Fitzgerald of Great Gatsby fame, who sets out with his wife Zelda on a drive from Connecticut to Alabama.

These serialized articles compiled into a book of their journey in a dilapidated car (the rolling junk) and tell the story of a younger America.

Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman

Chuck Klosterman set out on a road trip exploring the deaths of famous musicians across America.

He covered nearly 7,000 miles as he visited the place where Buddy Holly’s plane crashed, where Kurt Cobain committed suicide, or Jeff Buckley drowned in a river.

An interesting basis for a road trip book, for sure, especially if you love music.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

A wild and drug-fueled road trip to Las Vegas by the one and only Hunter S. Thompson.

The book, beyond the manic drug-addled scenery, paints a different picture of Las Vegas, one that had not yet been taken over by the larger than life hotels and commercialization of the Strip.

Side Note: While Vegas isn’t necessarily my favorite place it is a great place to base yourself for some epic road trips from Las Vegas .

American Nomads by Richard Grant

Richard Grant spent more than 15 years wandering the American West alongside the hobos, truckers, retirees, and hippies, documenting the lives of those who wander the American West.

Grant examines the myths and realities of the often romanticized open road, while also examining the sedentary nature of the American Dream.

He contrasts the stories of modern wanderers with the historical characters, the frontiersmen and conquistadors, who set loose upon this same landscape centuries ago.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

Neal Cassady, who also is featured prominently in Kerouac’s On the Road, set out to drive Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters’ bus across America in a psychedelic LSD-fueled mission that takes road “trip” to a whole new level.

The book offers a look into the hippy, counter-culture movement of the 1960s.

Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon

Ted Simon spent an astonishing four years driving around the world on the back of a motorcycle in the late 70s. I actually had the chance to meet Ted at the Overland Expo .

He set out from London for more than 63,000 miles through 45 countries in Africa, South America, Australia, Asia, before arriving back home.

An incredible journey in the days before cell phones and the internet, and all done solo with no support team or social media updates.

7 More Reader Suggestions for Best Road Trip Books

I reached out to friends, followers, and readers of this blog for a few of their favorite road trip books. Here’s what they recommended.

Traveling Music by Neil Peart

The drummer for Rush explores the inextricable link between road trips and music, how music is the soundtrack to our lives, by telling autobiographical stories based on music from a solo road trip.

Road Scholar by Andrew Codrescu

The Romanian-born writer sets out in the shadows of Kerouac as he discovers America behind the wheel.

One for the Road by Tony Horowitz

Tony set off on a 7,000-mile adventure through the Australian Outback.

Roads: Driving America’s Great Highways by Larry McMurtry

Larry has written an homage to the road itself, where the route is the destination and not just a means.

Catfish and Mandala by Andrew X. Pham

A journey by bicycle through Mexico, Japan and on to Vietnam as Andrew (born in Vietnam but raised in California) travels he also confronts issues of cultural identity, immigration, and more.

Ghost Rider by Neil Peart

Another book by the drummer from Rush, this time Neil hits the road soon after losing his wife and daughter within a year of one another.

A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins

More than 25 years ago Peter set out to walk from New York to New Orleans in the company of his trusty dog, not quite a traditional road trip, but definitely in the same spirit.

What road trip books would you add to this list? Sound off in the comments below.

The Road Always Leads West

Of course, I’d be remiss not to mention that you check out my book The Road Always Leads West if you love a good road trip story… 🙂  

More Book Recommendations

• 26 Books to Inspire Your Next Epic Summer Road Trip from Buzzfeed
• The Obsessively Detailed Map of American Literature’s Most Epic Road Trips
• Books to Inspire the Ultimate American Road Trip
• The 9 Best Road Trip Books from Adventure Journal
• Road Trip! 10 Books About Cross-Country Adventures
• 10 Must-Read Travel Books from Desk to Dirtbag

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Book Your Accommodation Book cheap accommodation in advance. For hostels I recommend HostelWorld , for hotels I use Booking.com or Hotels.com , and for apartments or longer stays, I use Airbnb . I like to check reviews on TripAdvisor prior to reserving.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance This is easy to overlook but SO important. It will help protect yourself from illness, injury, and theft while traveling. VERY important. And be sure to read my article about international travel insurance for more details

• SafetyWing (best for digital nomads)
• World Nomads (most comprehensive)

Looking for the Best Companies to Save Money With? Check out my budget travel resources page for the best companies to use when traveling. I list all the ones I use and recommend to save money when I’m on the road.

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Hilarious story and travelogue about fulfilling a foolish bar bet – Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks

Great list. Could suggest a fictional road trip list: The Road – McCullers Grapes of Wrath – Steinbeck Cold Mountain – can’t remember

I am sure you have more. Steve

Wow. All books written by white men. Would love to see more diverse voices.

Please feel free to contribute any non-white men voices, I’m always looking for cool new road trip reads!

Like Nomadland by Jessica Bruder.

Oh yeah, Nomadland has been on my list to check out… Thanks for the reminder.

William Least Heat-Moon is native American. I would also add River-Horse by him as well.

The road narrative has historically been a white male thing. There aren’t a ton of other voices. I would recommend Valeria Luiselli, The Lost Children Archive. She does an admirable job Paying homage to previous road works. I loved it.

Thanks for the list. I read a lot while travelling. It’s very meditative and relaxing for me. A few of these I have read, but I plan on adding to my list with a few of these books. I always use my kindle too, as it’s much lighter and holds thousands of books.

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13 Best Books About Road Trips to Satisfy Your Summer Wanderlust

Grab your sunglasses and/or reading glasses.

Our editors handpick the products that we feature. We may earn commission from the links on this page.

For many who've had their vacation plans break down this summer, now might also be a perfect time to get on the open road to explore all the weird nooks and crannies this country has to offer. If you're planning to drive to a far-off destination, try listening to these road trip books on tape —between belting these classic car songs , of course.

Or, you know, you could just read one of these quintessential road trip novels from the comfort of your own home. Either way, the following 13 books—including a couple of comical romps, a pair of 1950s classics, a semi-surreal comic book, and more—will inspire you to put on your sunglasses, or your reading glasses, and leave your old world behind.

The Red Car by Marcy Dermansky

Tautly told and drolly smart, Dermansky's third novel centers on a woman in Queens locked in a loveless marriage . The key to her freedom, and to unlatching her sense of self, is the titular red car, bequeathed to her when her beloved mentor passes away. If you want an entire novel that captures the gleeful, devil-may-care liberation of Thelma and Louise driving off a cliff (and believe us, you really, really do) then this one's for you. 

I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest

Here's something you should know about Chloe Pierce: She's an excellent ballerina, and a terrible driver. Still, in an effort to get into the school of her dreams, Chloe breaks her mom's rule (whoops) and steals the car (double whoops) to drive to an audition in D.C. Her irritating neighbor, Eli, insists on hitching a ride. Kristina Forest's heart-warming YA debut captures a girl on the cusp of adulthood, pushing the limits of her independence—and dealing with the consequences. 

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

In her review for O , acclaimed author Carmen Maria Machado said of Luisell's inventive novel: "Not since  Lolita  has a road trip so brilliantly captured the dark underbelly of the American dream, the gulf between its promise and reality." This story of a family traveling southwest in search of answers to our nation's troubling past and present was one of our favorite books of 2019 . 

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

Beware—once you meet Charlie Manx, the immortal villain of  NOS4A2 , you'll forever fear seeing his haunted car drive by you on a quiet road. By then, it'll be too late.  NOS4A2 is a road trip novel, made sinister: Characters travel on roads that don't exist on any map.  Manx transports children in his car to "Christmasland," a place far more sinister than it sounds. On her magic bike, Vic McQueen is able to travel to Christmaslands and other realms, and is the one person who can stop him.  NOS4A2  comes with horror pedigree: Joe Hill, the author, is Stephen King's (very talented) son.

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

Highsmith's 1952 novel—originally published under a pseudonym—is perhaps most famously the basis for the film Carol , a queer modern classic starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. But saying that it's just a book that was turned into a movie would take away from the quietly revolutionary sumptuousness of the text itself. Highsmith's wintry tale of two women in mid-century America who drive across the country together to escape society's expectations is a must-read. 

We All Loved Cowboys by Carol Bensimon (translated by Beth Fowler)

More forbidden love on the run! Translated from Portuguese, this exquisite and wistful novel by Bensimon—named one of Granta's Best Young Brazilian novelists—follows former friends Julia and Cora on a car trip through Brazil as they attempt to mend their once-solid relationship. Complications arise when the pair realize they might not just be gal pals. 

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

Soon to be a miniseries on HBO co-produced by Jordan Peele, Ruff's chilling thriller is set during the Jim Crow era and stars an army veteran whose father has disappeared. He drives from Chicago to New England alongside his uncle, the publisher of a guide on how to travel while Black. Much more Get Out than Green Book , the tale takes a turn toward terror when they arrive at a mansion owned by a family of former slave-holders. Also: ghosts. 

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Maybe you read this in high school, maybe you dated a boy like Jess from Gilmore Girls who referenced this book nonstop (guilty and guilty), but there's no denying: reading Kerouac's Beat Generation classic of aimless American wanderlust is basically a rite of passage. 

Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart

Speaking of On the Road , the Super Sad True Love Story author delivers a hilariously scathing romp through America starring a boorish hedge funder who, after a fight with his wife, hops on a Greyhound for an inspired journey into the country's heart—and his own. 

Find Me by Laura van den Berg

Short fiction scribe Laura van den Berg taps into her singular eeriness for her first novel, about a directionless young woman who discovers she's immune to the sudden sickness spreading across the country. Her epic yet intimate journey takes her from Kansas, where she's admitted as a hospital patient and subjected to myriad tests, to Florida, where she believes her birth mother might be. 

Flaming Iguanas by Erika Lopez

Erika Lopez's "all-girl road novel thing" is a fierce amalgamation of words and images chronicling biker babe Tomato Rodriquez's wild cross-country motorcycle ride. It's as fun and freeing as having the wind blow through your hair. 

Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden

Want more illustrated cool-girl goodness? Combining dreamily gorgeous artwork and lyrical, sophisticated storytelling, Eisner award-winning graphic novelist Tillie Walden has emerged as a master of her craft. Here, she channels Murakami with a magical realist road trip starring two women and a mysterious cat. 

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

If you're seeking a family-friendly audiobook to listen to in the car, look no further than Sharon Creech's Newberry Award-winning classic. Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle journeys across the country with her grandparents. All the while, she entertains them with stories of a girl who's quite like herself—a girl who wants to be reunited with her mother.  Walk Two Moons  is a strange, funny book that will speak to children of all ages.

Michelle Hart is the Assistant Books Editor of O, the Oprah Magazine. Other writing of hers has appeared on the Millions, the Rumpus, and the New Yorker . Her fiction has appeared in Joyland and Electric Literature. She has been awarded a fiction fellowship by the New York State Writers Institute and was once profiled in her hometown newspaper for being in the process of writing a novel--a novel she is still in the process of writing.

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The Open Road: 50 Best Road Trips in the USA (Travel Guide) Paperback – October 20, 2020

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• Strategic lists and road trip options: Choose from lists of the best coastal drives, cross-country journeys, trips for kids, awe-inspiring views, and more
• Flexible itineraries: 50 different road trips organized by region gear you up for any adventure, from a weekend getaway to a cross-country trip
• Can't-miss stops from coast to coast: Leaf-peep along the Blue Ridge Parkway, look for wildflowers on Arizona's Apache Trail, or gaze at the mysterious Marfa Lights blinking over the West Texas desert. Snap selfies with kitschy roadside attractions along Route 66, cross the Continental Divide in Colorado, and fall asleep to the sound of crashing waves at your campsite in Big Sur
• The best local flavors: Eat your way through Vermont's farms, dairies, orchards, and maple houses or indulge in gulf shrimp and fried okra in the South. Sample oysters and craft beers in Oregon or stop for shave ice along the scenic Oahu Coastal Loop
• Expert advice from seasoned road-tripper Jessica Dunham
• Comprehensive planning resources: Easy-to-use maps, helpful info on things to do, lodging, and dining for every route, clear directions to each route's starting point, and tips for minimizing your environmental impact along the way
• Gorgeous, full-color photos and a fold-out map
• Essential tips for health and safety on the road, navigating weather conditions, strategies for road-tripping with kids and four-legged friends, and playlists and podcasts to soundtrack your adventure
• Print length 736 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Moon Travel
• Publication date October 20, 2020
• Dimensions 5.45 x 1.25 x 8.4 inches
• ISBN-10 164049930X
• ISBN-13 978-1640499300
• See all details

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Moon Travel; 1st edition (October 20, 2020)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 736 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 164049930X
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1640499300
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.81 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.45 x 1.25 x 8.4 inches
• #274 in Road Travel Reference
• #411 in General Travel Reference
• #1,074 in Tourist Destinations & Museums Guides

About the author

Jessica dunham.

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