Somehow, I keep moving. I love going places and I love reading about explorers, itinerants, migrants, wanderers, and lost souls on the move. Looking for Redfeather started out as my National Novel Writing Month novel; the first draft, written in a mad dash during November 2007, when I was on the road, promoting my novel, Star-Crossed, a novel that also involves traveling. Looking for Redfeather was inspired by members of my own familyāyoung people bent but not broken, malcontents on a mission, seeking something, but what? Published in 2013, it's a 21st century-coming-of-age road story, my tongue-in-cheek homage to Jack Kerouac, and the runaway teen still hiding out in my old soul.
On the Road is the mother of all 20th-century American road trips. Itās a mad rush West, an impetuous quest for life and friendship, as experienced by the protagonist, Sal Paradise. This is Kerouacās episodic account of his own restless relationships among transients who question, postpone, reject, or canāt afford the post-World War II American dream of house, spouse, car, career, and kids. What I love about this iconic American road story is Kerouacās authenticity, his thirst for life, his human fallibility, his truth.
The legendary novel of freedom and the search for authenticity that defined a generation, now in a striking new Pengiun Classics Deluxe Edition
Inspired by Jack Kerouac's adventures with Neal Cassady, On the Road tells the story of two friends whose cross-country road trips are a quest for meaning and true experience. Written with a mixture of sad-eyed naivete and wild ambition and imbued with Kerouac's love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz, On the Road is the quintessential American vision of freedom and hope, a book that changed American literature and changedā¦
In the late 1960s, the author and his son ride a motorcycle across the Northwestern United States. At first it seems like a random, rambling sort of journey, but we soon discover Pirsig is on a mission to reconcile or reunite with a dark persona from the past, a man he calls Phaedrus. Persig uses the road trip as a framing device for his harrowing mental, emotional, and philosophical journey, and he takes us through some winding passages and desperate didactic encounters along the way, building tension like a thriller while giving a discourse in philosophy, questioning the meaning of insanity, and damning conventions of institutionalized academics.
Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974, transforming a generation and continuing to inspire millions. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live. Resonant with the confusions of existence, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a touching and transcendent book of life.
The first and only full-length biography of Hazel Ying Lee, an unrecognized pioneer and unsung World War II hero who fought for a country that actively discriminated against her gender, race, and ambition.
This unique hidden figure defied countless stereotypes to become the first Asian American woman in United Statesā¦
If On the Road is a mad rush for connection, Blue Highwaysis a thoughtful professorās journey on Americaās back roadsārepresented by blue lines on 20th-century road maps. Much like John Steinbeck did twenty years earlier with his Travels with Charlie, William Least-Heat Moon takes to the road to discover 20th century America, reflecting the spirit of place and people, and how they are interconnected. Contrasted with Jack Kerouacāan impetuous young man thumbing his way across America on the āred lineā highwaysāthis mature writer explores the āblue lineā back roads in his 1975 Ford Econoline van. Of English, Irish, and native Osage heritage, William Least-Heat Moon gives us an observant ādeep mapā American road trip worth taking.
Hailed as a masterpiece of American travel writing, Blue Highways is an unforgettable journey along our nation's backroads. William Least Heat-Moon set out with little more than the need to put home behind him and a sense of curiosity about "those little towns that get on the map -- if they get on at all -- only because some cartographer has a blank space to fill: Remote, Oregon; Simplicity, Virginia; New Freedom, Pennsylvania; New Hope, Tennessee; Why, Arizona; Whynot, Mississippi." His adventures, his discoveries, and his recollections of the extraordinary people he encountered along the way amount to a revelationā¦
What are Americans like today? In the spirit ofTravels with Charley, George Zeigler made his own journey in the early 21st century, retracing Steinbeckās literary journey to rediscover his country. In the process, the Wyoming-based writer gives us not only a 21st-century road memoir, but a literary biography of Americaās 1960 Nobel Laureate author. Gregory Zeigler explores the country to discover who Americans are today, and to pay homage to the great 20th-century novelist, John Steinbeck. āAs for me, I got to know Steinbeck well and had one hell of an adventure following his tracks around the country,ā Zeigler says. Makes me want to do the same.
Inspired by Travels with Charley, Gregory Zeigler celebrated the 50th anniversary of renowned Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck's storied trip. In 2009, Zeigler and his dog Max drove and camped 15,000 miles over nine weeks, exploring the country and determining what Americans are like today. Travels With Max offers a retrospective on Steinbeck and his work, as well as an insightful, humorous and upbeat perspective on modern America. Steinbeck's Travels with Charley will celebrate it's 60th anniversary in 2020.
A fast-paced literary thriller with a strong sci-fi element and loaded with existential questions. Beyond the entertainment value, this book takes a hard look at the perilous world of publishing, which is on a crash course to meet the nascent, no-holds-barred world of AI. Could these worlds co-exist, or willā¦
Iām a huge fan of Dave Eggersā writing and Heroes of the Frontierwas a bumpy back road into the wilds of Alaska and straight to my literary heart. His protagonist is a single mother on the lam from her ex-husband and leaving behind her profession, lost to a lawsuit. In spite of the characterās desperation, Eggers makes me laugh, he makes me cringe with embarrassment, he makes me feel like these characters are family. Like a real road trip, I sometimes found myself wondering Are we there yet? But I forgive him for the extra miles and all that time behind the wheelāthe adventure and Eggersā insights into contemporary American society were worth it.
'The mirror image of Eggers's brilliantly dystopian The Circle... [A] state of the nation novel, cleansing the spirit and lifting the heart' Guardian
A hilarious and heart-warming misadventure through modern America: it's time for the family vacation...
Josie's life is falling apart - lawsuits raining down, her business down the drain and a feckless husband long gone - so she gathers up her two kids and lights out for the wilderness. The Alaskan wilderness, to be specific.
This is a story about the trip of a lifetime. It involves one battered old RV,ā¦
Fifteen-year-old Ramie Redfeather leaves Cheyenne with music in his pocket and his thumb in the air. Heās looking to find his father, a man heās never met. Ramie gets a ride with Chas Sweeney, a seventeen-year-old driving a āborrowedā Cadillac Eldorado with Maryland tags, who happens to be passing through Cheyenne, on his way to Denver, running away from the wreckage that is his world, sixteen hundred miles away. In Denver, Ramie and Chas meet Mae B. LaRoux, an enchanting young singer from Baton Rouge. LaRoux, who struggles with a learning disability, is on a mission to become a professional musician. The three runaways band together and set out on a fast-paced road trip to get LaRoux to the Austin Music Festival, looking for Ramieās father on the way.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan. The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced, it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run theā¦
A memoir of homecoming by bicycle and how opening our hearts to others enables us to open our hearts to ourselves.
When the 2008 recession hit, 33-year-old Heidi Beierle was single, underemployed, and looking for a way out of her darkness. She returned to school, but her gloom deepened. Allā¦