Books that Feature Travel (Roadtrip Books)

  

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Books that Feature Travel (Road Trip Books)

One of my favorite types of books are road trips books, whether this be in contemporary, fantasy, or science fiction stories. I’m writing my own fantasy roadtrip story and also have ideas for a contemporary one dealing with siblings. 

1. Thirty Things by Cate Ashwood- One of my favorite road trip books will always be Thirty Things. It is my go-to for a favorite book to reread when I need a good pick-me-up. Finn and Nate’s story is one that I love and I’ll always be a sucker for a friends-to-lovers romance. I love following their story and the many adventures they go on throughout it. 

2. Paper Towns by John Green- Margo Roth Spiegelman is a girl that Quentin has admired from afar his whole life, until one night she comes into his room. They spend the whole night going on an adventure together. The next day she disappears and Quentin believes that Margo has left him clues in a copy of Walt Whitman poetry for him to find her. He spends the rest of the novel trying to figure out where she went and goes on a road trip with his friends during his search. Paper Towns was always one of my favorite John Green books. I love the journey Quentin goes on in this book and the humor. One of John’s best. 

3. Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson-  Amy and her mother are moving across the country and Amy’s mother wants her to get their car from California to Connecticut. The problem is that Amy has not been able to drive ever since her father passed away. Roger, a family friend, decides to help her out. They travel across the country together, as they both deal with their own baggage and fall in love. It is a sweet story and I love the scrapbooking element throughout. I know I would have a hard time reading this book now, especially with the content matter.

4. Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell- The second book in the Simon Snow series, where Simon and Baz go on a road trip across America with their friend Penny. While on their cross country adventure, they find a whole lot of trouble. 

5. Swordheart by T. Kingfisher- I love fantasy roadtrips so much and this one was a lot of fun. T. Kingfisher has become one of my favorite authors because of her writing style and sense of humor. This was the fantasy road trip of my dreams with characters you cannot help but love and a found family I would love to see more of in the future. 

6. The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane by Kate O’Shaughnessy- This is a heartfelt middle-grade novel which is about a young girl named Maybelle Lane, who goes on a road trip in search of her father. One day she hears her father’s voice on the radio as a DJ and decides that she is going to be go to a singing contest that he is judging. With the help of her neighbor, Mrs. Broggs, she travels to Nashville, along with a boy from the trailer park they live in. Maybelle, Mrs. Broggs, and Tommy form a found family and Maybelle learns about herself. It is a beautiful story that even after five years I still remember so much. 

7. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams- I have adored this book for almost 13 years and consider it to be in my top 5 favorite books of all time. The story focuses on Arthur Dent and his friend Ford Prefect’s journey through space after the Earth is demolished. Ford is an alien and researcher for the revised edition of a guide book called: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He has been looking for a way to get off the earth for years and has finally found his opportunity. They hitchhike across the galaxy with Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian (another human that Arthur knows from Earth), and Marvin (a robot who is paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed). The humor in this book is top-notch. It is an adventure I reread almost every year in honor of Douglas’s life on May 25th. 

8. Behooved by M. Stevenson- My favorite new fantasy road trip which has Bianca turn her husband Prince Aric into a horse on their wedding night. This has the perfect mix of cozy fantasy, romance, and humor. It just released today and I highly recommend picking it up. 

9. Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett- Another fantasy roadtrip that I love. This is the 12th book in the Discworld series and the third book in the Witches subseries. It deals with Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick flying on broomsticks to the far-off land of Genua, after Magrat inherits a fairy godmother’s wand. The trio encounter many strange sights and various creatures along the way. This is one of my favorite books from the Discworld series. 

10. 100 Days by Mimsy Hale- 100 Days follows two best friends Jake and Aiden as they go on a trip around the USA, visiting every state in 100 days. They grow closer during their trek and eventually fall in love. It has been a long time since I picked this one up, but I remember loving it very much. 

The Off the Top of Your Head Book Tag 📚

Tag created by @TheLibraryMouseGina 

You are supposed to answer each question with the answer that first comes to your mind. 

1.) What was your favorite picture book as a child?

🥚Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss- 

- One of my RIF (Reading is Fundamental) books in elementary school was an interactive copy of Green Eggs and Ham with flaps that opened up. I loved that book and read it all the time after I got it. I still have my copy in my children’s book collection. 

2.) What series did you love as a child?

🦁 The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis- 

- In elementary school, we had a library class and our librarian would read to us every week. One of the books she read was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I remember going to Walmart after that and begging my grandmother to get the collection of the books for me. I got the books for Easter and read them whenever I had the chance. It is still one of my favorite series and I still own that bind-up that she got me. I love almost all of the books, well besides The Horse and His Boy. 

3.) The worst book you have read or tried to read?

📖 Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais- 

- We read this book in my European Lit class during my first year of college. I hated every part of it and wish I could forget it. 

4.) Your favorite reading or book memory?

🧛 I vividly remember reading Dracula for the first time in college about ten years ago now. It was so different than what I expected. The scene that stands out the most to me is what I call “the lizard scene,” which is when Jonathan is describing Dracula climbing up the side of his castle like a lizard. It made me laugh out loud the first time I read it because of how unexpected the description was. I’m rereading the book now with Daily Dracula and having just as great a time. 

5.) A book you loved as a movie?

🪴 The Secret Garden (1993 version)- 

- One of my favorite books as a child was The Secret Garden. It was great when I found out that there was a movie version of it. I love both versions of the movie that I have seen but the 1993 version will always by my favorite.   

6.) A book you wish they would make into a movie?

🎭 An Assassin’s Guide to Love and Treason by Virginia Boecker- 

- This book was one of my favorites from 2018 and I still vividly remember it to this day. It is comped as a cross between Twelfth Night and A Knight’s Tale which are two of my favorite works ever. 

7.) A book character that you would like as a friend?

🐴 Hester from A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher-

- Hester would probably be the character I would pick for this question. She is absolutely hilarious and I love her level of sarcasm and snark. 

8.) A place you want to visit because of a book you read?

🏺 Santorini, Greece- 

- In middle school and early high school, I was obsessed with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares and have wanted to travel to Santorini ever since. It is such a beautiful place. It would be a dream come true to travel to Greece. Also, I adore Greek Mythology with all of my heart and would love to see so many of the sights in Greece, such as Athens. 

9.) A nonfiction book you would recommend?- 

🖋 Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer- 

- A great nonfiction book for imaginative fiction writers. 

10.) If you could hang out with an author all day who would you pick and why?

📖 Chris Colfer-

- I have been a fan of Chris ever since I first saw him in Glee back in 2009 and then started reading his books in 2012. He just seems like a nice guy and I think it would be enjoyable to spend a day with him.