Need reading suggestions
One of our favorite things to do when traveling is to read books that are set in the places we’ll be visiting and that typify some aspect of the local culture or history — in Peru, we read The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Death in the Andes; in Portugal, we read the collected poems of Fernando Pessoa and Requiem: A Hallucination. We’d like to do the same while we bike. We’ll be traveling slowly enough that it shouldn’t be a problem to get through at least one book per state. Brice will have his iPhone with Kindle app and I will have Brice’s old iPhone to use as a Kindle, so we don’t have to lug any heavy books around.
Do you have any suggestions? Here’s a list of the places we’ll be traveling through. Novels (especially historical fiction) and engaging non-fiction are both welcomed. And maybe poetry, too, if it’s place-specific.
- Maryland (specifically, along the C&O Canal up the western edge of the state)
- Pennsylvania (from Cumberland, Md. to Pittsburgh and then west)
- Ohio
- Indiana (we’ll be heading through Bloomington)
- Illinois (we’ll be coming in towards Urbana/Champaign and then north into the western suburbs, and then shoot west toward Davenport, Iowa)
- Iowa (just the northwest part of the state)
- Minnesota (swinging through the Twin Cities and then angling west)
- the Dakotas (there’s some serious nastiness on the roads in North Dakota because of all the fracking activity, and so we are not sure how we will go through this state or if we will swing through South Dakota to avoid it)
- Montana (hitting up Helena in the west, but not sure about everything else in the state yet)
- Idaho (the northern part of the state)
- Washington, ending in the Sound — and yes, I’ve already read The Living, so hold that thought.
Thanks for your suggestions!
Susan and Brice's Bike Blog 
The Good Rain – about the Pacific Northwest — suggestion for you from Mary O.
Well, this may be just a bit South of your route, but it certainly addresses the hardships of traversing the Western half of the U.S. It was one of the most fascinating and captivating books I have ever read. It is “Nothing Like it in the World, the Men who Built the Transcontinental Railroad” by Stephen K. Ambrose. Best of luck on the uphill portions (and throughout your trek, Craig
Laura Ingalls Wilder of the ‘Little House’ series lived in a few states that you’re going through (Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota) from 1874-1880! Great books…or so I remember from when I was 10. :) heh
On the Banks of Plum Creek, The Long Winter – Minnesota
By the Shores of the Silver Lake, Little Town on the Prairie – S. Dakota and Iowa
These Happy Golden Years – Iowa
and Pennsylvania:
My Heart is on the Ground: the Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl, Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania by Ann Rinaldi. I haven’t read this, but the Carlisle Indian School is an interesting and sad example of white men ‘civilizing’ students from over 100 Native American tribes. Carlisle is where Dickinson is!
…oops, I just realized “Cumberland, Md. to Pittsburgh” most definitely does not include Carlisle. But I will leave my comment as is in case you are interested in how the United States tried to brainwash it’s native peoples.
I believe that a number of the road attractions and less commercial locations in Gaiman’s “American Gods” are on or near your route. Also, my brother and his wife (and 2 year old kid) are post grads currently located in champagne-urbana, if you find yourself in need of anything (shelter, a ride, etc.). They’re cool. My brother may insist on board games.
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance would be strangely appropriate for this sort of thing. It covers Minnesota to the Pacific coast territory and philosophical familial mental territory.
Also Black Elk Speaks for the Indian territory around South Dakota and eastern Montana (really good).
Across the Wide Missouri is about the first fir trappers to cross into “Indian territory” to make their fortune. This one is filled with astonishing tales from the mid-west to the Rocky Mtn front (Bozeman), but also further afield to Oregon.
War of the Copper Kings for the Mountains and their mining history (really the death of the native american way of life and the industrial revolution/people are horrible and wonderful) (Butte).
Abby recommends the movie/book Dances with Wolves for the Dakotas.
You might like “Going to the Sun,” a novel by James McManus about a young woman with diabetes riding solo across the United States. Although there’s a lot about biking, the novel is about much more than that. I read it a number of years ago and really enjoyed it.–Rob W.