Books about the journey.
On the Road
Jack Kerouac
1959, Viking Compassha
This is Kerouac’s completely enchanting chronicle of a young adulthood spent fascinated with the “mad to live” individuals he encounters during his explorations, whom he glorifies as creative saints. There’s a sense of melancholy in Kerouac’s language that hints at the “forlorn rags of growing old,” but he and his friends are fully delving into the highs of being young. Kerouac sought not only adventure, but also the unknown, mysterious, and wild aspects of humanity. His soulful and exhilarating account is a testament to the emotional and spiritual foundation of the Beat generation, always searching the universe for answers. On the Road is Kerouac’s everlasting quest to dig life and get his kicks, but also to uncover the holiness of being on a journey.
Love Medicine
Louise Erdrich
1984, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston
I’ve read this book so many times I’ve lost count. The prose is gorgeous and the characters are perfectly rendered—I feel I know them as well as they will let me. The novel is made up of linked stories, each told by a different narrator connected to either the Kashpaw or Lamartine families, all of them Chippewa, from the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota. This is one of those sweeping, multigenerational stories where you piece together family history–the love triangles, the affairs, the running away, and the homecomings–like a puzzle. All together it is a portrait of real life. While the stories paint a larger picture, they also stand alone. The one I re-read most constantly is “The Red Convertible,” a tale of two brothers and the fabulous times they had before one of them is drafted into the Vietnam War.
Assassination Vacation
Sarah Vowell
2005, Simon & Schuster
They should make posters of Sarah Vowell’s face and hang them in every social studies and history classroom with the caption “She makes learning fun!” Because she does. I know embarrassingly little about history (seriously, no quizzes, please), but this book made me feel like a smarty-pants. Vowell takes a road trip to places where presidents and politicians were murdered. Doesn’t that sound like fun? She is hilarious, and so smart, and the book will make you feel like you could go on Jeopardy
It Chooses You
Miranda July
2011, McSweeney’s
This might sound weird, but I was never a huge Miranda July fan before this year. I mean, I respected the hell out of her as a person and an artist, but I never felt a deep connection to her work–that is, until The Future found its way on movie2k (and subsequently into my heart). This book is an accompaniment to that movie. July, who is having trouble finishing her screenplay, answers classified ads in the PennySaver. She goes to the homes of various people in Los Angeles, interviewing them about the histories behind the objects they are selling. A few reviews that I’ve read of this book were critical of the way July would always relate her interview subjects to her own experiences and, subsequently, her difficulties in writing her script. I had the opposite reaction–I loved the insight into her artistic and creative process, and the significant influence of interacting with strangers.
Girldrive: Criss-Crossing America, Redefining Feminism
Nona Willis Aronowitz and Emma Bee
Bernstein 2009, Seal Press
In 2007, friends Nona Willis Aronowitz and Emma Bee Bernstein set off on a road trip across America to speak to young women about their relationship with feminism. The resulting book is both a diary of their trip and an archive of their findings, with brief portraits and interviews with more than a hundred different women. What’s especially fascinating to read about are all the different connections that girls had with the word feminism. Some enthusiastically claimed the title, others felt alienated by the feminist movement’s tendency to privilege certain voices, and to many, it was a completely foreign concept. Aronowitz and Bernstein’s travels felt honest, and I appreciated their attempt to expand the conversation beyond women who may already be entrenched in the discourse of social justice
Into the Wild
Jon Krakauer
1997, First Anchor
Jon Krakauer is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. There’s nothing dry and boring here–it reads, as all of his books do, as briskly and vividly as a novel. Into the Wild is the true story of a privileged college grad, Christopher McCandless, who gives away all of his money, burns the rest, and hitchhikes to Alaska to live off the land. The book is heartbreaking and tragic (and it will make you appreciate the grocery store on your corner). There is romance here, the romance of wilderness and nature and possibility, but it’s also a sobering look at youthful idealism.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Cheryl Strayed
2012, Alfred A. Knopf
Cheryl Strayed is a badass. When she was in her 20s, she hiked the Pacific Crest Trail by herself. That’s 1,100 miles. All her toenails fell off, and she was divorced and mourning her mother, and she just kept going. This memoir details Strayed’s entire journey–including what happened prior to the hike that made her do it in the first place. It’s a searing, honest read–she doesn’t always come off well, and that seems to be the point, because the truth isn’t always flattering. With this book, as well as her Dear Sugar advice column for The Rumpus, Strayed has earned my trust forever.
On the RoadJack Kerouac
1959, Viking Compassha
This is Kerouac’s completely enchanting chronicle of a young adulthood spent fascinated with the “mad to live” individuals he encounters during his explorations, whom he glorifies as creative saints. There’s a sense of melancholy in Kerouac’s language that hints at the “forlorn rags of growing old,” but he and his friends are fully delving into the highs of being young. Kerouac sought not only adventure, but also the unknown, mysterious, and wild aspects of humanity. His soulful and exhilarating account is a testament to the emotional and spiritual foundation of the Beat generation, always searching the universe for answers. On the Road is Kerouac’s everlasting quest to dig life and get his kicks, but also to uncover the holiness of being on a journey.
Love MedicineLouise Erdrich
1984, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston
I’ve read this book so many times I’ve lost count. The prose is gorgeous and the characters are perfectly rendered—I feel I know them as well as they will let me. The novel is made up of linked stories, each told by a different narrator connected to either the Kashpaw or Lamartine families, all of them Chippewa, from the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota. This is one of those sweeping, multigenerational stories where you piece together family history–the love triangles, the affairs, the running away, and the homecomings–like a puzzle. All together it is a portrait of real life. While the stories paint a larger picture, they also stand alone. The one I re-read most constantly is “The Red Convertible,” a tale of two brothers and the fabulous times they had before one of them is drafted into the Vietnam War.
Assassination VacationSarah Vowell
2005, Simon & Schuster
They should make posters of Sarah Vowell’s face and hang them in every social studies and history classroom with the caption “She makes learning fun!” Because she does. I know embarrassingly little about history (seriously, no quizzes, please), but this book made me feel like a smarty-pants. Vowell takes a road trip to places where presidents and politicians were murdered. Doesn’t that sound like fun? She is hilarious, and so smart, and the book will make you feel like you could go on Jeopardy
It Chooses YouMiranda July
2011, McSweeney’s
This might sound weird, but I was never a huge Miranda July fan before this year. I mean, I respected the hell out of her as a person and an artist, but I never felt a deep connection to her work–that is, until The Future found its way on movie2k (and subsequently into my heart). This book is an accompaniment to that movie. July, who is having trouble finishing her screenplay, answers classified ads in the PennySaver. She goes to the homes of various people in Los Angeles, interviewing them about the histories behind the objects they are selling. A few reviews that I’ve read of this book were critical of the way July would always relate her interview subjects to her own experiences and, subsequently, her difficulties in writing her script. I had the opposite reaction–I loved the insight into her artistic and creative process, and the significant influence of interacting with strangers.
Girldrive: Criss-Crossing America, Redefining FeminismNona Willis Aronowitz and Emma Bee
Bernstein 2009, Seal Press
In 2007, friends Nona Willis Aronowitz and Emma Bee Bernstein set off on a road trip across America to speak to young women about their relationship with feminism. The resulting book is both a diary of their trip and an archive of their findings, with brief portraits and interviews with more than a hundred different women. What’s especially fascinating to read about are all the different connections that girls had with the word feminism. Some enthusiastically claimed the title, others felt alienated by the feminist movement’s tendency to privilege certain voices, and to many, it was a completely foreign concept. Aronowitz and Bernstein’s travels felt honest, and I appreciated their attempt to expand the conversation beyond women who may already be entrenched in the discourse of social justice
Into the WildJon Krakauer
1997, First Anchor
Jon Krakauer is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. There’s nothing dry and boring here–it reads, as all of his books do, as briskly and vividly as a novel. Into the Wild is the true story of a privileged college grad, Christopher McCandless, who gives away all of his money, burns the rest, and hitchhikes to Alaska to live off the land. The book is heartbreaking and tragic (and it will make you appreciate the grocery store on your corner). There is romance here, the romance of wilderness and nature and possibility, but it’s also a sobering look at youthful idealism.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest TrailCheryl Strayed
2012, Alfred A. Knopf
Cheryl Strayed is a badass. When she was in her 20s, she hiked the Pacific Crest Trail by herself. That’s 1,100 miles. All her toenails fell off, and she was divorced and mourning her mother, and she just kept going. This memoir details Strayed’s entire journey–including what happened prior to the hike that made her do it in the first place. It’s a searing, honest read–she doesn’t always come off well, and that seems to be the point, because the truth isn’t always flattering. With this book, as well as her Dear Sugar advice column for The Rumpus, Strayed has earned my trust forever.
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