Good Book for a trip across the southwest?

[OnionPatch]

We'll be driving halfway across the US from California and need suggestions on audio books. (I do love to read, but reading while driving is a little risky ;)) I was hoping I could find some Edward Abbey on tape but no luck! :(

Does anyone have any book suggestions for a road trip like this? My husband and I both like true adventure stories and narratives like some of the Abbey books, but also love historical fiction. Any other type of book that might fit a "southwest" theme would be fun, as well. We'll also be crossing the prairies, so....

Thanks for any good suggestions!

[Ian_rd]

1. Anything by Cormac McCarthy. (nt)

[Orrex]

6. Especially Blood Meridian

If that's not one hell of a pick-me-up travel narrative, I don't know what is!

[Warpy]

2. Tony Hillerman's mysteries are on tape

and they're great fun.

The other one I'd suggest is "The Milagro Beanfield War" but I don't know if it's in audio form.

[msedano]

3. Desert Blood to open eyes, Hillerman for fun, others

Desert Blood, a mystery surrounded by the Juarez Murders of women and girls. Gruesome yet compelling.
http://www.desertblood.info/

A story with more politics and less blood is Demetria Martinez' Mother Tongue. A Salvadoran refugee comes to New Mexico where a local activist falls in love with him or the idea of him, bears his son, the son goes looking for his father's culture.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/821621

Early Hillerman are cool. Look for ones featuring Chee and Leaphorn. I liked A Thief of Time.
http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780060753382/Tony_Hillerman_The_Leaphorn__Chee_Novels/index.aspx

From California east to El Paso is the path taken by a fascinating cast in Benjamin Saenz' Carry Me Like Water.
http://members.aol.com/msedano/carryme.htm

For a thriller, this one opens with Phoenix getting fried when a computer chip causes the Salt River Nuke to go China Syndrome.
Shutdown, R. J. Pineiro

Other than Hillerman, by the way, all these feature strong women as central characters.

[OnionPatch]

5. Thanks for all those suggestions.

And everyone else's, too. :hi:

I should have mentioned we'll have our 7-year old daughter with us, so I probably wouldn't want something too dark and violent. That would rule out the first one, I think, but it sounds like something I may want to read in the future. :thumbsup:

[Richardo]

4. "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" may be a little much...

...but it's one of my favorites.

[fadedrose]

7. BUCK FEVER, Ben Rehder

My library has Rehder's first novel on CD. There might be more available in the series, but we only have one.

Takes place in Blanco County, Johnson City, and Austin, TX.

[fadedrose]

8. Just wanted to add that with a nick like Onion Patch, you'd probably like Rehder

[SCDem]

9. Anything by Barbara Kinsglover - Animal Dreams is a good one

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. J.A. Jance's books that feature Arizona sheriff Joanna Brady

(She also has a series that takes place in Seattle.)

[Sabriel]

11. Try a Frank Waters title

He's a little-known writer from the Southwest.

Try The Man Who Killed the Deer

or

The Woman at Otowi Crossing

[Wheezy]

12. Y'know, I love some humor on a long road trip

Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegone series is great for a break from more serious stuff.

[likesmountains 52]

13. Try The Milagro Beanfield War, or a bit heavier, Cadillac Desert..