There are plenty of road trip books coming out this summer, but there are also similarly themed books from the past that are well worth revisiting.
Here are a dozen older titles that tell stories inspired by the streets and highways of the world.
Imogen Binnie, “Nevada” (Courtesy of the publisher)
Imogen Binnie, “Nevada”
Binnie’s novel was published by an indie press in 2013, but gained much more attention when it was reprinted by Farrar, Straus and Giroux nine years later. The book follows Maria, a transgender New York bookseller who sets out for the American West after a painful breakup.
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre, “The Adventures of China Iron” (Courtesy of the publisher)
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre, “The Adventures of China Iron”
The English translation of Argentine author Cabezón Cámara’s novel was a finalist for the International Booker Prize. A retelling of José Hernández’s epic poem “Martín Fierro,” the novel follows Fierro’s abandoned wife as she travels across the pampas with a new friend, a Scottish woman named Liz.
Jade Chang, “The Wangs vs. the World” (Courtesy of the publisher)
Jade Chang, “The Wangs vs. the World”
Chang’s 2016 comic debut novel follows Charles, a cosmetics entrepreneur who lost pretty much everything in the 2008 financial crisis, and who takes a road trip, with his wife and kids in tow, from Bel Air to upstate New York, where another one of his children lives.
Jennifer Dugan, “Melt With You” (Courtesy of the publisher)
Jennifer Dugan, “Melt With You”
Fans of young-adult literature might want to stop the world and pick up Dugan’s 2022 novel, about two young women who have stopped speaking after an ill-advised hookup, but who are forced to work together in an ice cream truck that they take to a series of food festivals across the country.
Jack Kerouac, “On the Road” (Courtesy of the publisher)
Jack Kerouac, “On the Road”
One of the foundational works of 20th-century American literature, Kerouac’s 1957 novel follows a series of road trips taken by the characters Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, based on Kerouac and Neal Cassady, respectively. It remains the best-known book associated with the Beat Generation.
William Least Heat-Moon, “Blue Highways: A Journey Into America” (Courtesy of the publisher)
William Least Heat-Moon, “Blue Highways: A Journey Into America”
Least Heat-Moon’s 1982 travel memoir chronicles his travels across the country, in which he visited a series of small towns — New Hope, Tennessee; Simplicity, Virginia; Remote, Oregon; and more — and met various people along the way.
Valeria Luiselli, “Lost Children Archive” (Courtesy of the publisher)
Valeria Luiselli, “Lost Children Archive”
Mexican author Luiselli’s first book written in English follows a couple who take a road trip with their two children from New York to Arizona, and try to navigate their fracturing family. The novel won the prestigious Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction as well as the Writer’s Prize.
Riley Sager, “Survive the Night” (Courtesy of the publisher)
Riley Sager, “Survive the Night”
For those who prefer their road trip novels terrifying, Sager’s 2021 novel follows Charlie, a college student in 1991 who meets fellow student Josh on a campus ride board, and agrees to travel home to Ohio with him. Charlie soon suspects that Josh might well be a serial killer.
John Steinbeck, “Travels With Charley: In Search of America”
(Courtesy of the publisher)
John Steinbeck, “Travels With Charley: In Search of America”
Road trip books don’t get much more classic than Steinbeck’s 1962 account of his 10,000-mile trip across the U.S. with his beloved standard poodle. “I was born lost and take no pleasure in being found,” the California literary legend memorably wrote in the beloved book.
Candacy Taylor, “Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America” (Courtesy of the publisher)
Candacy Taylor, “Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America”
The first “Green Book,” which listed safe places for Black motorists across the country, was published in 1936. Taylor’s 2020 book is a history of the books, with forays into music venues and Route 66, and an exploration of how things have changed — and have not changed — over the past 90 years.
John Waters, “Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America” (Courtesy of the publisher)
John Waters, “Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America”
Filmmaker Waters brings his signature offbeat sense of humor — and a touch of warmth — to his account of hitchhiking from Baltimore to San Francisco, accepting rides from drivers who took his “I’m Not Psycho” sign at its word. (They probably never saw “Pink Flamingos,” or they would have had questions.)
Gary Younge, “No Place Like Home: A Black Briton’s Journey Through the American South” (Courtesy of the publisher)
Gary Younge, “No Place Like Home: A Black Briton’s Journey Through the American South”
In his 2002 book, British author Younge (“Another Day in the Death of America”) tells the story of his 1997 road trip, which retraced the route of the original Freedom Riders. Younge made the trip on a series of Greyhound buses and spoke with Black Southerners about their experiences.