Road Trip Reading

It’s road-tripping time again! This year I’m meeting up with a former teammate from China (the indomitable Amy) in Wyoming for some much-needed R&R in the mountains outside of Yellowstone. We’ve had some crazy adventures together in Asia over the years (beach vacations in Thailand, a Thanksgiving in Hangzhou, and a train ride to Mongolia, to name a few), so we decided it was time to team up for something in the US.

For her, it means driving up from Denver and across Wyoming; for me, it’s a trek across South Dakota and Wyoming — 2 full days of driving to reach our destination.

In addition to enjoying the scenery and wide open spaces, I hope to get caught up on some reading. Here are the books on my list for this trip:

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, by Dee Brown (Audible Audiobook)

I always like to read at least one book that has some relationship to where I am traveling; this book certainly meets that criterion. Published in 1987, it tells the story of the America’s westward expansion from the perspective of the Native Americans. It’s a sobering and important book to listen to (or read), especially while driving the length of South Dakota.

Harry Trumans’ Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip, by Matthew Algeo

What can I say? I love to read books about road trips while road-tripping myself! “On June 19, 1953, Harry Truman got up early, packed the trunk of his Chrysler New Yorker, and did something no other former president has done before or since: he hit the road. No Secret Service protection. No traveling press. Just Harry and his childhood sweetheart Bess, off to visit old friends, take in a Broadway play, celebrate their wedding anniversary in the Big Apple, and blow a bit of the money he’d just received to write his memoirs. Hopefully incognito.” (Amazon description)

A former president trying to travel incognito! Can you imagine?

Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night, by Julian Sancton (Audible Audiobook)

“In August 1897, the young Belgian commandant Adrien de Gerlache set sail for a three-year expedition aboard the good ship Belgica with dreams of glory. His destination was the uncharted end of the earth: the icy continent of Antarctica. ” (Amazon description)

A Village with My Name: A Family History of China’s Opening to the World, by Scott Tong

“When journalist Scott Tong moved to Shanghai, his assignment was to start the first full-time China bureau for “Marketplace,” the daily business and economics program on public radio stations across the United States. But for Tong the move became much more—it offered the opportunity to reconnect with members of his extended family who had remained in China after his parents fled the communists six decades prior. By uncovering the stories of his family’s history, Tong discovered a new way to understand the defining moments of modern China and its long, interrupted quest to go global.” (Amazon description)

That’s my list for the week. What are you reading?