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American Adventures Reading List
| Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry Thoreau by Ben Shattuck "On an autumn morning in 1849, Henry David Thoreau stepped out his front door to walk the beaches of Cape Cod. Over a century and a half later, Ben Shattuck does the same. Over years of following Thoreau, Shattuck finds himself uncovering new insights about family, love, friendship, and fatherhood, and understanding more deeply the lessons walking can offer through life's changing seasons. Intimate, entertaining, and beautifully crafted, Six Walks is a resounding tribute to the ways walking in nature can inspire us all." Also available as a book on CD and on Libby! Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide on Cape Cod! | |
| The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America by Bill Bryson "And, as soon as Bill Bryson was old enough, he left. Des Moines couldn't hold him, but it did lure him back. After ten years in England, he returned to the land of his youth, and drove almost 14,000 miles in search of a mythical small town called Amalgam, the kind of trim and sunny place where the films of his youth were set." Author of the New York Times bestseller, A Walk in the Woods. Also available on Libby! Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to road tripping across the Midwest! | |
| Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City on Step at a Time by Mark Adams "Mark Adams has spent his career editing adventure and travel magazines, so his plan to investigate the allegations against Bingham by retracing the explorer's perilous path to Machu Picchu isn't completely far- fetched, even if it does require him to sleep in a tent for the first time." Winner of the American Library Association's Notable Nonfiction award. Also available as a book on CD and on Libby! Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to Machi Picchu and the Inca Trail! | |
| Wild by Cheryl Strayed "At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State — and she would do it alone." Adapted as an award-winning film in 2014. Also available as a book on CD and on Libby! Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to the Pacific Crest Trail! | |
| Round Here and Over Yonder: A Front-Porch Travel Guide by Two Progressive Hillbillies by Trae Crowder & Corey Ryan Forrester "Two comedians and Southern boys present this heartwarming and hilarious travel guide that takes you to the smallest of small towns in the South and to major U.S. cities where there's always something to roast, something to toast and something to learn about what ties us together as humans." Also available on Libby! Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to the southern United States! | |
| Paddle to the Amazon by Don Starkell "When Don and Dana Starkell left Winnipeg in a tiny three-seater canoe, they had no idea of the dangers that lay ahead. Two years and 12,180 miles later, father and son had each paddled nearly twenty million strokes, slept on beaches, in jungles and fields, dined on tapir, shark, and heaps of roasted ants." Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to Brazil! | |
| Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada's Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui "Chop Suey Nation weaves together Hui’s own family history with those dozens of Chinese restaurant owners from coast to coast. Along her trip, she meets a Chinese-restaurant owner/small-town mayor, the owner of a Chinese restaurant in a Thunder Bay curling rink, and the woman who runs a restaurant alone on the very remote Fogo Island." Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to Canada! | |
| In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin "An exhilarating look at a place that still retains the exotic mystery of a far-off, unseen land, Bruce Chatwin’s exquisite account of his journey through Patagonia teems with evocative descriptions, remarkable bits of history, and unforgettable anecdotes." Also available on Libby! Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to Argentine, Uruguay and the Chilean Patagonia! | |
| The Planetwalker by John Francis "When the struggle to save oil-soaked birds and restore blackened beaches left him feeling frustrated and helpless, John Francis decided to take a more fundamental and personal stand—he stopped using all forms of motorized transportation. Soon after embarking on this quest that would span two decades and two continents, the young man took a vow of silence that endured for 17 years. It began as a silent environmental protest, but as a young African-American man, walking across the country in the early 1970s, his idea of "the environment" expanded beyond concern about pollution and loss of habitat to include how we humans treat each other and how we can better communicate and work together to benefit the earth." Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to trails and hikes across the United States! | |
| The Last Ride of the Pony Express: My 2000-Mile Horseback Journey into the Old West by Ann Hui "Though the Pony Express has enjoyed a lot of traction over the years, among the authors that have attempted to encapsulate it, none have ever ridden it themselves. While most scholars would look for answers inside a library, Will Grant looks for his between the ears of a horse. Inspired by the likes of Mark Twain, Sir Richard Burton, and Horace Greeley, all of whom traveled throughout the developing West, Will Grant returned to his he would ride the trail himself with his two horses, Chicken Fry and Badger, from one end to the other." Also available on Libby! Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to America's Old West! | |
| Conquistadors by Michael Wood "In Conquistadors, Michael Wood travels in the footsteps of some of the greatest of the Spanish adventurers from Amazonia to Lake Titicaca, and from the deserts of North Mexico to the heights of Macchu Picchu. He experiences first hand the reality of epic journeys, such as those made by Hernan Cortes, and Francisco and Gonzalo Pizarro, and explores the turbulent and terrifying events surrounding the Spanish conquest." Also available as a book on CD and on Libby! Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to South America! | |
| Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny "In the summer of 1938, botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter set off to run the Colorado River, accompanied by an ambitious and entrepreneurial expedition leader, a zoologist, and two amateur boatmen. For Clover and Jotter, the expedition held a tantalizing appeal: no one had yet surveyed the plant life of the Grand Canyon, and they were determined to be the first. Science journalist Melissa L. Sevigny traces their daring forty-three-day journey down the river, during which they meticulously cataloged the thorny plants that thrived in the Grand Canyon's secret nooks and crannies." Also available as a book on CD and on Libby! Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to the Grand Canyon! | |
| Nowhere for Very Long: The Unexpected Road to an Unconventional Life by Brianna Madia "A woman defined by motion, Brianna Madia bought a beat-up bright orange van, filled it with her two dogs Bucket and Dagwood, and headed into the canyons of Utah with her husband. Nowhere for Very Long is her deeply felt, immaculately told story of exploration - of the world outside and the spirit within." Also available as a book on CD and on Libby! Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide to the Midwest! | |
| On Freedom Road: Bicycle Explorations and Reckonings on the Underground Railroad by David M. Goodrich "A thoughtful and illuminating bicycle journey along the Underground Railroad by a climate scientist seeking to engage with American history. Over the course of four years, David Goodrich rode his bicycle 3,000 miles east of the Mississippi to travel the routes of the Underground Railroad and delve into the history and stories in the places where they happened. On Freedom Road enables us to see familiar places—New York and Philadelphia, New Orleans and Buffalo—in a very different light: from the vantage point of desperate people seeking to outrun the reach of slavery." Want to visit yourself? Check out this travel guide featuring stops on the Underground Railroad! |