It’s always interesting when I can read books that feature travel of some kind. This week, I’ve listed a few of my favorite memorable reads that include planes/rockets, trains, boats, and/or automobiles. Can you add to the list?
10 Books Featuring Travel by Plane/Rocket, Boat, Train, or Automobile
I’m linking up today with That Artsy Reader Girl for Top Ten Tuesday: Books Featuring Travel
***This post contains Amazon affiliate links
(in no particular order)
Three Words For Goodbye by Heather Webb and Hazel Gaynor
I was delighted to find that the author includes THREE types of travel in this story: the Queen Mary, the Orient Express, and the Hindenburg! So interesting! Have you read a story that includes the Hindenburg?
Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton
In these train rides, a real-life hero, Truus Wijsmullero (working with the Dutch resistance) transports children out of Nazi-controlled Germany during WWII. This is one representative story. Rescuing children was her life’s work.
Katharine’s Remarkable Road Trip by Gail Ward Olmsted
This character-driven story reads like a memoir and features a seventy-seven-year-old independently-minded woman taking a solo road trip in 1907.
Saved by the Matchmaker by Jody Hedlund
A steamboat is featured in this 1800s marriage-of-convenience romance.
James by Percival Everett
A raft is the transportation of choice in this dramatic and poignant re-imagining of Huckleberry Finn from enslaved Jim’s point of view. I have also created a FREE Blook Club Kit for your bookclub here.
The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West by Sara Ackerman
Fly high with Olivia West in 1927 as she enters a competitive air race to Hawaii. I couldn’t stop reading until touchdown!
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
I have to include space travel! You will feel like a passenger on this mission to save the Sun! (highly recommend audio for the best reading experience!)
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Don’t miss this dramatic, heartfelt, and compelling (narrative nonfiction) story of the men’s rowing team who take home the Gold Medal in the 1936 Olympics. They travel to Germany by cruise ship and by train from coast to coast for competitions. Even though we know who wins, I promise this is one page-turning conclusion! (highly recommend audio!)
The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor
A harrowing story of survival, endurance, and hope during WWII when the torpedoed SS Benares sinks.
The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton
This histfic story with strong sides of intrigue and thriller takes place on a cruise ship bound for Cuba.
West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
I’m adding another title to my list of 10 because a commenter reminded me of this story. How could I have overlooked this unique road trip story where two giraffes are transported by truck across the country from the New York Harbor to the San Diego Zoo! Don’t miss this special story based on a real-life event! I’ve created a FREE Book Club Kit for this one!
QOTD:
I’m sure there are more titles, but these are the first ten that popped into my mind! I can enthusiastically recommend them all! What would you add to the list?
Happy Reading Bookworms!
“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
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Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
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Interesting to have so many different forms of travel in books. I’d never really thought much about the travel in stories unless they take place on a boat. 🙂
It was a fun post to do! I could have kept going!
Kicking myself I didn’t think of James with the raft or Three Words for Goodbye. Great picks!
Lol! I’m already thinking of books I forgot! This was a fun topic!
Such a fun topic, Carol! 😀
It was fun! I’m already thinking of ones I forgot!
A great selection and a few unusual modes of transport!
Thanks Joanne!
I can’t wait for the film version of Project Hail Mary!
Right?! I hope it’s great!
A great list! My oldest daughter read The Boys in the Boat and enjoyed it.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/leaving-on-a-jet-plane-book-covers-with-planes/
It’s a memorable and inspiring story that I recommend to everyone! Audio is best I think.
I think they’re soon making a movie out of the boys in the boat!
Oh it’s already out! It’s great but only scratches the surface of the book!
Saved by the Matchmaker looks interesting.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
It’s a unique story! I’m hopping over to read your post!
Nice work! I’ve enjoyed a few of these, too.
Thanks! 🙌
I love your ingenuity in choosing the raft as a mode of travel. My own version would include The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (using his own feet); The Day the World Came to Town (planes); Murder on the Orient Express (trains); The German Girl (liner) of Everyman for Himself (Titanic) and Station 11 (a cart). Nothing as inventive as the raft though
This was a fun post to write! I’ve already thought of many to add….thanks for sharing your ideas!
I haven’t read any of these, but will have to check some of them out. Great picks!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2024/08/13/top-ten-tuesday-planes-trains-and-automobiles-books-featuring-travel-in-the-story-or-on-the-cover/
I can recommend them all! I’m hopping over to read your post! Thanks for commenting.
The first book that came to mind was Miss Benson’s Beetle, which i think must have included automobile, possibly train and definitely ship! She traveled from England to New Caledonia in the Pacific. Then there’s West with Giraffes, all car and trailer, taking giraffes across country. Leif Enger’s got two books that feature travel, I Cheerfully Refuse takes us around Lake Superior in a sailboat, and So Young, Brave and Handsome features boats and cars traveling from Minnesota to California in 1915 America. This Tender Land has several kids traveling down the Mississippi, and The Lincoln Highway is about 3 young people traveling from Nebraska to NYC in the 50s, by both car and train.
So many great titles! I could make a new post right now! Thanks for adding to the list!
You really must read “Flight of Dreams” by Ariel Lawhon, which is about the Hindenburg, and is absolutely as accurate as possible. She used the real manifest from the flight for her characters, and then devised stories about them regarding why they were on the flight. Still my favorite Lawhon novel, and I’ve read them all.
Oh! I’m putting that on my tbr! Thanks for the rec!
A great list, Carol. I have read many of these and enjoyed them, and also have several of them on my TBR. I am also going to add Flight of Dreams that Davida suggested as I haven’t read anything dealing with the Hindenburg.
Thanks Carla!
PROJECT HAIL MARY is a great pick. Talk about an epic “road” trip!
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Unforgettable! 🙌
I’ve read a couple of these (PROJECT HAIL MARY and THE BOYS ON THE BOAT), but most I haven’t heard of before. To add to your list, though, there’s also RISE OF THE ROCKET GIRLS by Nathalia Holt, which is about 1950s-60s women who were “human computers” and contributed to space exploration; what was interesting is that, if I’m remembering correctly, most of those roles were filled by women.
Thanks for the rec Celeste! I’ll check it out!
It’s always fun travelling by book. I read The Boys in the Boat and have Project Hail Mary on my TBR. The latter is a fantastic book about some real heroes.
https://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/top-ten-tuesday-planes-trains.html
Boys in the Boat is a memorable read! The audio is fabulous!
[…] That Artsy Reading Girl for Top Ten Tuesday. Today’s topic is Books That Feature Travel, but last August, I wrote a TTT post featuring books about travel here. To avoid repetition, I’m going rogue today and talking about the benefits of Book […]