Road Trip Reads

“All I wanted was to go somewheres; all I wanted was a change.” And with this simple statement, the chain of events leading to Huck Finn’s trip down the Mississippi River begins.

However, if we’re settling down with a contemporary book, chances are that our travels aren’t going to happen on a river, but rather out on the open highway.

But what is a road trip novel? What makes one book a road tale and another a vacation story? Dictionary.com says a road trip is “a journey via automobile, sometimes unplanned or impromptu.” Well…yes and no. A road trip novel does not always need to be in a car (sometimes there’s walking, swimming, horse-riding, sailing, etc., involved). But it needs to be about a journey where the road provides both geographical and narrative structure.

Updated May 31, 2024
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Fond du Lac Public Library
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Murder on the Orient Express : a Hercule Poirot mystery
Christie, Agatha
The alchemist
Coelho, Paulo
Paper Book
Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and soul-stirring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of...
The road
McCarthy, Cormac
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son's fight to survive that "only adds to McCarthy's stature as a living master. It's gripping, frightening and, ultimately, beautiful" (San Francisco Chronicle). One of...
Of mice and men
Steinbeck, John
Paper Book
A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression, in a deluxe centennial edition   Over seventy-five years since its first publication, Steinbeck's tale of commitment, loneliness, hope, and loss remains one of America's most widely read and taught...
The hobbit, or, There and back again
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Paper Book
"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit." So begins one of the most beloved and delightful tales in the English language. Set in the imaginary world of Middle-earth, at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is one of literature's most enduring and...
Around the world in 80 days
Barron, Steve
DVD
London, 1872. Phileas Fogg lives a comfortable but utterly unfulfilling life in London, spending every day at his club with his friends Fortescue and Bellamy. But when he receives a hand-delivered postcard, with only the word 'COWARD' written on the back, it turns his world upside down.

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