They say that reading is like travelling while sitting still, and with the travel season looming, we appreciate that not everyone can manage a getaway.
So with all of that in mind, we’re spending the next few weeks on the Reading Addicts Roadtrip, travelling some of the best destinations in the world, in literature! Rev up the engine, pack up the supplies, and let’s go!
Today, Route 66 is the destination, but because we’re doing this trip in literature, we don’t have to worry about parts of the road now being decommissioned. We can travel to the future, the past, or stay in the present so we’re taking the original Route 66 from California to Illinois!
California
The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler
The Big Sleep is a 1939 crime novel by Raymond Chandler, set in Los Angeles, California. An iconic novel it features in several 100 books of the century lists, and is set when Route 66 was still a fairly new road. The route number was assigned to the Chicago to Los Angeles route on 30th April 1926.
Arizona
Half Broke Horses – Jeanette Walls
Walls’ beautiful and descriptive accounts in her writing are going to make you feel like you’re right there in Arizona during the 1970s, right at the heyday of the Route 66 obsession.
New Mexico
Bless Me, Ultima – Rudulfo A. Anaya
Bless Me, Ultima is a frequently challenged novel, released in 1972. Set in New Mexico it focuses on Chicano culture of the 1940s in rural New Mexico. It’s considered a seminal American work but does contain adult language and violence.
Texas
Giant – Edna Ferber
Giant follows a Texan family from the 1920s, to post WWII, and so we’re back to the beginning for Route 66 again! The novel, adapted into a much more famous James Dean movie is considered to be the perfect snapshot of ranch life in Texas during this time.
Oklahoma
Dirty White Boys – Stephen Hunter
Set in Oklahoma in 1990, Dirty White Boys follows three boys as they bust out of McAlaster State Penitentiary as the boys meet again after their original reign of terror.
Kansas
In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
A true story for our Kansas section of Route 66, detailing the 1959 murder of the Herbert Clutter family and the crime that shook not just the town of Holcomb, Kansas, but the whole of America.
Missouri
Killshot – Elmore Leonard
Killshot is a 1989 novel by Elmore Leonard that tells the story of a married couple who find themselves in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, running from a pair of hitmen. It has thrills and excitement and covers the Missouri leg of our trip perfectly!
Illinois
The House on Mango Street – Sandra Cisneros
Set in Chicago in the 70s, where Route 66 ends, The House on Mango Street tells the story of Esperanza Coredero growing up in Chicago. Told as a series of vignettes, it’s a beautiful novel and wonderful descriptive.
Bonus Selection
Parallel Roads (Lost on Route 66) – Dennis Higgins
In the spring of 1946 Katherine Callahan decides to leave her husband and travel the famous highway to visit her sister, but never arrives. Fast forward to the present, and you have a mystery that spans the decades.
We hope you enjoyed this week’s roadtrip, we’ll be back soon with more!
7 alternative reads for trans allies instead of Harry Potter
For Reading Addicts Book of the Year 2024
10 of 2024’s Most Anticipated Reads
The For Reading Addicts Book of the Year 2023
Are You Willing to Unite Against Book Bans?