As the summer months stretch in front of us like treasures for plundering, a familiar restlessness takes hold. You may find yourself dreaming of a cross-country adventure to destinations yet unexplored. Why not embrace your wanderlust and take a trip down historic Route 66? Read your way across America with these eight books, stopping all along the road from Chicago to L.A.
Get Your Kicks with This 8 Book Tour of Route 66
Route 66: The Mother Road
Route 66: Before you embark, get a taste for America’s most beloved thoroughfare. A love letter and a tribute, Wallis’s masterpiece takes us on an unforgettable journey through the secret corners and hidden towns along Route 66.
Route 66: The Mother Road
Route 66: Before you embark, get a taste for America’s most beloved thoroughfare. A love letter and a tribute, Wallis’s masterpiece takes us on an unforgettable journey through the secret corners and hidden towns along Route 66.
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The Devil in the White City
Chicago, IL: At your first stop, enjoy the true tale of the 1893 World’s Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death.
The Devil in the White City
On Elizabeth’s wish list
As days grew shorter and nights colder I (naturally) began listening to more podcasts and watching documentaries about a cheery subject: serial killers. I’m excited to curl up with THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY because of Erik Larson’s fantastic eye for character, storytelling, and impeccable research in his true-crime investigation into the serial killer who haunted the 1893 World’s Fair. Cocoa and killers go well together, right?
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Meet Me In St. Louis
St. Louis, MO: As you move west, return to the World's Fair with this classic novel-cum-film. This is the heartwarming saga of St. Louis’s exultant, glittering take on the World’s Fair at the turn of the twentieth century.
Meet Me In St. Louis
St. Louis, MO: As you move west, return to the World's Fair with this classic novel-cum-film. This is the heartwarming saga of St. Louis’s exultant, glittering take on the World’s Fair at the turn of the twentieth century.
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The Grapes of Wrath
Tulsa, OK: You may want to spend more time in Oklahoma than the Joads, who were driven from their homestead during the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s. Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of the American classics.
The Grapes of Wrath
Tulsa, OK: You may want to spend more time in Oklahoma than the Joads, who were driven from their homestead during the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s. Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of the American classics.
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All the Pretty Horses
Amarillo, TX: This winner of the National Book Award for Fiction tells the story of John Grady Cole, who at sixteen finds himself at the end of a long line of Texas ranchers. He sets off from Texas to Mexico on a sometimes idyllic, sometimes comic journey.
All the Pretty Horses
Amarillo, TX: This winner of the National Book Award for Fiction tells the story of John Grady Cole, who at sixteen finds himself at the end of a long line of Texas ranchers. He sets off from Texas to Mexico on a sometimes idyllic, sometimes comic journey.
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House Made of Dawn
Albuquerque, NM: In this novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969, protagonist Abel is a Native American teenager struggling to reconcile the traditions of his father’s people with the demands of modern industrial America.
House Made of Dawn
Albuquerque, NM: In this novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969, protagonist Abel is a Native American teenager struggling to reconcile the traditions of his father’s people with the demands of modern industrial America.
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Animal Dreams
Flagstaff, AZ: At the end of her rope, Codi Noline returns to her Arizona home to face her ailing father, with whom she has a difficult, distant relationship. There, she meets a handsome Apache trainman who tells her, “If you want sweet dreams, you’ve got to live a sweet life.” Filled with lyrical writing, Native American legends, a tender love story and Codi’s quest for identify, this is literary fiction at its very best.
Animal Dreams
Flagstaff, AZ: At the end of her rope, Codi Noline returns to her Arizona home to face her ailing father, with whom she has a difficult, distant relationship. There, she meets a handsome Apache trainman who tells her, “If you want sweet dreams, you’ve got to live a sweet life.” Filled with lyrical writing, Native American legends, a tender love story and Codi’s quest for identify, this is literary fiction at its very best.
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Play It As It Lays
Los Angeles, CA: Set in a place beyond good and evil—literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul—this is a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis, and stunning in the intensity of its prose.
Play It As It Lays
Los Angeles, CA: Set in a place beyond good and evil—literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul—this is a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis, and stunning in the intensity of its prose.
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