Roads Less Traveled

Last week I shared The Perfect Classic to Read if You Have Wanderlust (or Want to!) - a slice of American pie by one of America's greatest novelists. I opened up a bit about my own personal history as a homebody and my burgeoning affinity lately for getting out and exploring the world with my wanderlusting husband, Simon.

Simon and I also shared on a recent Pretty Literate LIVE how we began listening to audiobooks together last year. While we were exploring the sparsely populated areas in our great state on a road trip for our anniversary, we discovered that audiobooks opened doors to conversations we've never had before and decided to continue that trend of listening (and discussing) more books this year as we explored Roads Less Traveled closer to home. (You can catch the replay here if you missed it.)

The reason we've been talking so much about wanderlust and audiobooks and exploring roads less traveled is due to a great American novelist that made quite an impact on both Simon and me during a wandering earlier this year. Neither of us has been able to stop stop thinking about the author, nor the unique book he wrote over half a century ago that has stayed with us. That author has inspired us to carpe diem more, to stop & smell the roses while we wander, and to bypass the more convenient highways in a quest to experience America more purposefully and more intimately.

Simon and I are about to head out on another anniversary road trip. We've routed our journey. We've booked our campsites. We've provisioned our campervan. And now we eagerly anticipate hitting the open roads in search of America...just like the author did.

And we'd love for you to have a parallel experience which is why we created the NEW Seasonal Book Box. And girl, it ships the end of May so you can begin your own vicarious vacation as early as June!

If you've been straddling the road, riding the median while you ponder whether this is the book box for you, ask yourself:

Do you love to travel? Then I've got just the book box for you. Join John Steinbeck on his truly epic 10K mile journey as he hits the open road, crossing the United States in a "there and back again" route - a route that is included on a map inside the 50th-Anniversary Edition of Travels with Charley in Search of America that we are featuring inside the NEWEST Seasonal Book Box. (I LOVE a book with a map, don't you?)

Do you consider yourself a homebody? Then I've got just the book box for you. Join John Steinbeck on his epic road trip exploring the highways and byways of the good ole U.S.A. from the comfort of your own home. You'll experience the greatest vicarious vacation vibes while you read, as well as collect the BEST bookish souvenirs to remind you of your trip. Win-win!

Do you love the outdoors? Then I've got just the book box for you because Steinbeck relished the outdoors, too, and he invited readers to experience them alongside himself in Travels with Charley... As the original #vanlifer, Steinbeck lived a nomadic life for 75 days in his search for America, camping where he stopped for the night and cooking many of his meals over an open campfire.

Do you yearn for yesteryear? Then I've got just the book box for you because John Steinbeck actually lived in yesteryear and, because of that, his writings open a supremely unique door into the past. Travel through time (as well as across America) with Steinbeck as you experience yesteryear through the firsthand experiences of one of the greatest wordsmiths America has given us.

Do you love Americana? Then I've got just the book box for you, a classic novel dripping with America and Americana. Steinbeck, in his search for America, shared what he found as he traversed this great nation's less traveled roads. All along the way, he introduced the reader to the hardworking people he met, the majestic places he saw, and, in so doing, fanned a fervent flame in the breast of every American who will read this most intimate & conversational record of his travels.

Do you consider your furry friends your family members? Then I've got just the book box for you because John Steinbeck did not set out on his legendary American Road Trip solo, but alongside his faithful, furry companion, Charley.

With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco.*

If you've ever traveled with your furry friends, or consider your pets your furry family members, Steinbeck's relationship with his cherished pooch, Charley, will be writing that "gets you." 

Do you embrace growth? Then I've got just the book box for you because John Steinbeck's observations and self-reflections as he encountered people from all walks of life, confronted prejudices, and faced firsthand the impact America's booming economy had on our country spark the reader to reflect along a similar vein, kindling an expansion of our viewpoints.

Do you love a rollicking good read? Then I've got just the book box for you, a novel that will leave you laughing, as well as thinking. Steinbeck's great American road trip is not only full of a-ha moments and opportunities to grow, new people and new horizons, furry companions and hairy happenings, but it is also a clever and often humorous depiction of road tripping across America. If you enjoy a rollicking good read, you will greatly enjoy Steinbeck's 10K mile pilgrimage in search of America with a constant grin on your face. 

If you answered YES to any of the above questions, the Summer Road Trip Book Box was created just for you! It was created to pay tribute to the great American road trip, of taking to the open roads during the dog days of summer, of taking time for some fun in the sun! It features a vintage-inspired 50th Anniversary edition of John Steinbeck's classic, Travels with Charley in Search of America - the author's creative accounting of his epic road trip across America with his four-legged friend, Charley. Accompanying the classic are a handful of bookish souvenirs to help make your travel through the pages of the book as unique & memorable as the original.

Your search for America begins right here, right now.

Read your way down Roads Less Traveled this summer by ordering one of Pretty Literate's Summer Road Trip Book Boxes.

*quote from the back cover