Top 5 Books With A Road Trip I Want to Read
From Devouring Books (Linked In Title Above):
This Top 5 series started back in October and I kind of lost motivation for making it every week. But it’s back! This is a series of books that I want to read that all have a common theme. Previously on the blog I have focused on witches, werewolves, thrillers, faeries, fairy tale retellings and high fantasy. I am going to try and bring this series back for every Saturday.
The upcoming schedule is:
8/24/19 — Books about Dragons
8/31/19 — Books with a Road Trip
9/7/19 — Summer Reads
**I have to skip this one do to a blog/book tour schedule stop
9/14/19 — Set in Space
9/21/19 — Over 500 Pages
9/28/19 — Books with Maps
Rules!
- Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
- Tag the original post (This one!)
- Tag 5 people- Anyone can join– which they have been so yay!
Truth is I should write my own book on this topic. I’ve criss-crossed this country myself, more times than I care to count. But I’ll give you some of the highlights, eh
- With wasted people. No seriously. Like professionally wasted people. VERY WASTED PEOPLE. Very wasted people who seem insistent that I get my ass kicked while trying to get directions.
- With wasted people trying to catch international flights after being on a tour bus all night.
- With a cat. With multiple cats. With more cats than tires. -_-
- Being chased by the biggest motherforking tornado I’ve ever seen. Ok. The first and only tornado I’ve ever actually seen. I never new a prius could go 100 miles an hour. I slowed down just long enough to snap a picture, post it and tell everyone to let my mother know I loved her, slammed the gas pedal and figured if the cops wanted me they could arrest me when I crossed the state line from Nebraska into Colorado.
- In an overnight blizzard driving from Aspen to Denver. Gomez and Aspen. Thinking of Gomez playing in Aspen will forever make my eye twitch.
- Having an axle break on a yellow Valari going 70 miles an hour on the Jersey Turnpike and being picked up by the litter truck.
- Accidentally killing a HUMONGOUS large bird of some entity between Iowa and Utah. I can’t even tell you how, why, what or when. My niece peeled me off my brother’s front lawn (which I was kissing after another sordid story) and asked why there were enough guts and feathers on one corner of my prius to bring out the World WildLife Organization. -_- I didn’t see her again till she was 18.
And when I tell you that quite seriously- this is just scratching the surface of the largest iceberg ever? It really is. You can say a lot of things about me but and I can say a lot of things about me. But I have had some experiences. LOL
So I know roadtrips. And they know me. The key is to have an idea of where you are going but to not have a plan…
In no particular order…
Don’t even look at me with a face that your mother would tell you would stay like that if you kept making it. Not while I’m still side-eyeing TNT about where in the bat shit craze world my pre-dinosaur long ago world promised TV adaption of The Fifth Season is. Don’t argue with me.
There is a trip. And there is Earth. What is Earth anyway? And so what if it doesn’t behave according to the fundamental attributes of physics. It is still Earth. And screw cars. Who needs a car to go on a road trip. And what are roads anyway? In New York Roads and lanes are just guidelines, suggestions, if you will. People use them or don’t at any given minute. It certainly makes you consider your carbon footprint. So yeah. The Fifth Season. I’m dying on this hill.
Released: August 2014
Publisher: Orbit
Synopsis:
This is the way the world ends. Again.
Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze — the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years — collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.
Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She’ll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.
2) The Stand by Stephen King
I don’t think this really needs explaining. Does it? I mean there are multiple roadtrips. At multiple times.
Cool? Cool.
Released: May 1990
Publisher: DoubleDay Books
Synopsis :
This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides — or are chosen.
Hey wait a minute! The first sentence of the summary for The Stand and The Fifth Season are exactly the same and that scares every last piece of sanity I have right out of me!
3) Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
There’s a road. And it promises to be a trip.
This book should have been apart of the Summer Fling. I’m not sure what happened there but it was a HUGE oversight on my part. It is on order at the library. I’m correcting that mistake.
Release Date: February 26, 2019
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Synopsis:
A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world’s last hope. In the tradition of The Stand and Station Eleven comes a gripping saga that weaves an epic tapestry of humanity into an astonishing tale of survival.
Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and are sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.
For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them–and an ultraviolent militia threatens to exterminate them–the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart–or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.
4) Dread Nation (Dread Nation #1) by Justina Ireland and bonus points because: Deathless Divide (Dread Nation #2)
Add Deathless Divide to your Goodreads Shelf (link above)
Go ahead. Start with me again. Just don’t. Jane has a damn scythe in her hand. A damn bloody scythe from killing damn zombies from the civil fucking war. And there is so much damn traveling in this book via all the damn ways that my feet and ass and everything hurt.
And I ached for her. I ached for everything this country did wrong and all the ways I’ve benefited from it. And I cheered for Jane. I wanted to fight with Jane. Hell I’d told her to go have a shopping spree and I’d fight for her. In the, end I wanted her to kill all of them. Living and dead. KILL. THEM. ALL. So. Yeah.
Publisher: Crown Books
Synopsis:
Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.
But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.
5) The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman
With the turn of fall comes a new season of the Walking Dead. And what poor sorry bunch of slobs have been on the road longer than these fools? And any reason to look back fondly on the first trailer dropped at that first comic con way back when? Oh sure… why not…
Disclaimer… I didn’t start watching The Walking Dead till my mom force fed me some three or four seasons of it after I had multiple surgeries. I then gobbled up the comics.
Let’s Chat!
What did you think?
What are your favorite books with road trips that you would have on this list?
What books with road trips are you looking forward to reading?
Fifth season is one of those series I’ve been meaning to pick up for ages! Not seen dread nation though and it definitely looks intriguing *adds to tbr*
Ohhhh you’ve never heard of Dread Nation??? Oh. Oh. My. how long do you have? Lol
Haha I’ll admit it definitely sounds intriguing!
Oh it is. Oh. Hell. That IS a first line Friday just waiting to happen ????♀️
Ooooh really! I love a good gripping first line… let me just see how much it is on kindle ????
Hahahaha! I’m pretty sure it is
The day I came squealing and squalling into the world was the first time someone tried to kill me. I guess it should have been obvious to everyone right then that I wasnt going to have a normal life.
I dont have it in front of me so I had to look it up
Ok! I’m sold haha ????
No problem! ☺ not only is it insanely entertaining but the social discourse is… well it is Justina Ireland. It is fierce
Well it’s only £4 on kindle… does an e-book count towards my book buying ban? ????
I wont tell. The audible is really good too. I went back and forth because I was still working at the time so I would listen while I was driving back and forth between schools and stuff
I don’t know what it is but I just can’t get into audio books… I’ve tried sooo many times
I have only been able to do very certain ones. But when they are good they have been very helpful. The Written is fantastic.
I think I have too small an attention span. I find my mind wanders with audio books, I think because I’m not holding/doing anything
That makes sense. I think everyone’s preference is different and it helps to have the option. If the narrator(s) isn’t good I can’t do it. Except if it is a cast and some can’t get other character’s right- I mean that is forgivable if it is the only flaw. Otherwise, no. lol.
But i think (and this is strictly an educators point of view so feel free to trash it) that it is a sensory thing. Audio vs. Visual. It is dependent on what you can concentrate, process and retain best.
DREAD NATION!! OMG, I loved that book and cannot wait for the sequel!
I know right?! And I know it is going to be one of these sequels that is cruel and mean and doesnt have any ARCs ????
On the road again!
I absolutely love that you shared some personal stories about your experiences with road trips! Sorry I didn’t actually get to read your post until now because I’ve been busy at work– the students came back.
I was hoping someone would include some quest like fantasies for this topic! I bought myself a copy of The Fifth Season because I saw that every book in the series won the Hugo award and everyone raves about the series. I am dying to read that book — of course, once I get through my mountain of Fall ARCs….. story of my life right now.
I’m not a big fan of Stephen King, but I love when they make his books into movies because they’re always amazing. I love his plots, just not his writing. Crazy that The Fifth Season AND The Stand both start with the same sentence! That’s such a weird coincidence.
Wanderers also sounds amazing, you know that I love books with the theme of survival. HEY! I should make that a topic for Top 5 Saturday some week! I really enjoyed the first few seasons of The Walking Dead, but I fell of the bandwagon about the 3rd season in.
Thank you! There are a few things here and there that I can share experiences on and road trips are definitely one of them! Plus I can’t participate this Saturday soooooooooo I figured why not. This ended up being one of my favorites, so far, I think. Not sure why but I thought it was a pretty bitchin list/post lol.
I hope you like Fifth Season and more than anything, you get to it before TNT puts out the show. Then again, the way TNT is going that might not ever happen lol.
Yeah I didn’t even realize that about the first line until I put the post together and then I was like oh WTF… hell no lol.
Yeah I really should’ve included Wanderers in the Summer Fling but it was so packed. And TWD lost its way during All Out War but shockingly really picked up after Rick’s death. Angela Kang has really brought the Whisperers out of the Comics and to the TV damn well.
I kept warning Mom… you don’t know whats coming. And she was like whatever. I know TWD better than you. And I was like but Mom… you haven’t read the comics and these freaks are different. And then they came and now she’s like what even. And I was like… there you go.
I’m glad the job is going well!!! I’m so happy for you!
oh my god you’re road trip stories nearly killed me >.< "more cats than tires" is GOLD.
IN A PRIUS!
That poor car ended up totaled by a mac truck (i wasn’t in it at the time- it was parked… don’t ask). That poor car went through some things.
Haha awww
This is an amazing list! I haven’t read any of these books but all of them are on my TBR and I’ve been itching to read them for a while! I think I’m most keen for Fifth Season and Wanderers ????
Thank you! This is one of my favorite posts (that isn’t a review) so far although I’m not sure why lol, so I appreciate it. Fifth Season is just iconic and with the TV show (supposedly) coming, it is a great time to get it read!
Ooh I had no clue that a TV show was coming! That’s really exciting ???? When is it set for release?
????♀️
That is the million dollar question.. when I find out I’ll scream it out on Twitter. At this point we might see season two of the umbrella Academy and the grisha verse on netflix before fifth season and that was rumored before the alienist… hell we might season angel of darkness first ????♀️????♀️
Hahaha wow, so many shows. I’m keen to see what happens next on Umbrella Academy and I’m really curious to see what The Grisha Verse will be like. So many expectations!
I love both so I’m with you! I’m completely excited for both as well!