Reading the States: Road Trip

Over the past year I’ve posted about books and authors from every single state in America. You can see the complete list here.

I loved learning a bit more about each state and the authors and books that capture its unique characteristics. But I must admit I’m glad I finally reached the end! I hope people are able to use the lists as references in the future when they’re hoping to explore a new state. It’s always fun to read books set in a state you’re about to visit.

For this final post I wanted to give you all a few great road trip books. These are all books that are set in multiple states or involve a trip across the United States. Read a few and I promise you you’ll have a hard time resisting the urge to hit the road.

Also, here's another great blog to check out for more suggestions: LitMap Project.

- Travels with Charley* by John Steinbeck 

- April 1865* by Jay Winik

- A Journey through Literary America by Thomas Hummel

- The Lost Continent* by Bill Bryson

- Blue Highways* by William Least Heat-Moon

- On the Road* by Jack Kerouac
- The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey

- A Walk across America by Peter Jenkins

- Way Off the Road by Bill Geist

- I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson

- Undaunted Courage* by Stephen E. Ambrose 

- Roughing It* by Mark Twain 
- State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America by Matt Weiland
- The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet* by Reif Larsen
- Liner Notes* by Emily Franklin
- Amy & Roger's Epic Detour* by Morgan Matson

The Lost Continent

The Lost Continent
by Bill Bryson
★★★

Shortly after the death of his father, Bryson embarks on a cross-country road trip, visiting small towns throughout America. He’s an Iowa native, but after living in England for decades he wanted to reacquaint himself with the USA.

I’ve enjoyed most of Bryson’s other books more than this one. It still retains his acidic sense of humor and conversational writing style, but it’s much more cynical. With some of his other work he is simply observing a place, whether it’s the Appalachian Trail or a foreign country, for the first time. In this one, he’s re-visiting places he vacationed as a child. I think it’s unlikely any place could live up to his sepia-toned memories and he’s incredibly disappointed by how boring or dirty the cities have become.

Barring a few exceptions (like the universally revered Grand Canyon); he is completely disenchanted with America. It didn’t take long to tire of his routine in each new town: see touristy museum or park, check into cheap hotel, get dinner at cheap local diner, drink beers in hotel room while watching Mr. Ed, and repeat the following day. I wanted him to talk to people or at least make an effort to see more than one cheesy tourist trap. Don’t get me wrong, there are some funny bits, but it’s no where near his normal level of hilarity.

I will definitely keep reading Bryson’s books in the future, because he normally cracks me up. I’ll chalk this one up to an off-day for the writer and instead I’d recommend you read Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley for a similar premise with a much better result.

“That is the great, seductive thing about America – the people always get what they want, right now, whether it is good for them or not. There is something deeply worrying, and awesomely irresponsible, about this endless self-gratification.”

“America has never quite grasped that you can live in a place without making it ugly, that beauty doesn’t have to be confined behind fences, as if a national park were a sort of zoo for nature.”