12 Road Trip-Inspired Reads of 2025

There’s something about a long drive that makes stories land differently. A book opened in the passenger seat, a chapter finished at a rest stop, a paragraph reread while the tank fills up — reading on the road slows time and sharpens attention. This year’s new releases lean into that rhythm, following highways, coastlines, kitchen tables, and backroads as places where change happens gradually and meaning reveals itself mile by mile.

The road trip has always been part of American storytelling, but these books stretch the idea beyond the dashboard. Some trace literal routes across states and regions; others use travel as a means to navigate memory, identity, and reinvention. Together, they capture what it feels like to go somewhere — not just to arrive, but to stay open to what happens along the way.

Here are the road-trip-inspired reads that defined this year — perfect companions for the glove box, the nightstand of a roadside motel, or wherever your next stretch of road leads.

1. So Far Gone

Jess Walter (June 2025)

A literary road novel through a fractured America, this novel follows retired journalist Rhys Kinnick as he’s pulled out of his self-imposed wilderness cabin near Spokane, Washington, to rescue his grandchildren and confront a world unraveling faster than he can fathom. From the wooded hills of Eastern Washington into Idaho and up into British Columbia, the journey maps not just geography but the emotional terrain of family, ideology, and belonging on the contemporary American road.

2. Hot Wax

M.L. Rio (September 2025)

Equal parts rock-and-roll odyssey and existential road trip, Hot Wax propels reader and protagonist alike onto the open highway. After decades spent running from a turbulent past touring with her father’s punk-inflected band, Suzanne hits the asphalt once more — this time trailing across the country in her father’s beloved Ford Ranchero. The novel’s beat pulses with the clang of amps, smoky bars, and the vast American hinterland as backdrop to a search for meaning, identity, and redemption.

3. Run for the Hills

Kevin Wilson (May 2025)

A wild comic journey into rural America, this novel traverses small-town highways and backroads. Wilson’s characters scuttle across glimpses of the country’s forgotten pockets — Appalachian slopes, cracked state highways, and roadside dives — in pursuit of self-discovery and the absurd, heartening epiphanies that only a long drive can deliver.

4. The 10

E.A. Hanks (April 2025)

A love letter to the iconic U.S. Highway 10 (or “The 10”), this breezy journey captures the places and people scattered along this trans-continental route. From golden deserts and mountain passes to shimmering Great Lakes shores, Hanks unfolds vignettes and reflections that make this historic road feel like a character in its own right — all while exploring the connective tissue of American life on the move.

5. The Last American Road Trip

Sarah Kendzior (April 2025)

Equal parts travelogue and investigative journey, Kendzior crisscrosses the U.S. to chronicle the landscapes — economic, political, and cultural — that define the nation today. As she follows highways from Rust Belt towns to Sun Belt expanses, the book becomes a panoramic portrait of a country in flux, where the literal road trip mirrors a deeper quest to understand who we are and where we’re going next.

6. The Great American Retro Road Trip

Rolando Pujol (June 2025)

A nostalgic cruise through Americana, this guide celebrates diners, neon signs, classic motels, and kitschy roadside attractions — the relics that define classic U.S. road culture. Spanning Route 66 to the Blue Ridge Parkway, Pujol’s trip invites readers to slow down, detour at curiosity cabinets, and experience the offbeat charm of highways less hurried.

7. Baking Across America: A Vintage Recipe Road Trip

B. Dylan Hollis (May 2025)

Equal parts cookbook and travelogue, Hollis stitches together vintage recipes with stories of towns and regions from Maine to California. Each chapter is anchored in local kitchens, from Southern pies to Midwestern cakes, making this as much about the joy of regional flavors as it is about the routes that connect them — a treat for the map-minded gourmand.

8. Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip

Scott Clark (March 2025)

A sun-soaked drive along the California coast becomes the framework for this celebration of seaside cuisine. Clark hits Pacific Coast Highway and beyond, gathering recipes and stories from San Diego to Mendocino. The result is part travel diary, part feast: ceviches with ocean views, tacos from Baja-inspired stops, and dishes that taste of salt air and horizon.

9. The Road to Tender Hearts

Annie Hartnett (April 2025)

A tender, heart-forward story of characters finding themselves (and each other) on the asphalt between cities and small towns. Hartnett uses the road as a metaphor for healing — every stoplight, rest stop, and backroad diner reflecting the interior journey of her protagonists.

10. The Allure of Elsewhere: A Memoir on Going Solo

Karen Babine (May 2025)

This memoir charts Babine’s solo road journeys across landscapes both external and internal. From desert expanses to forested byways, Elsewhere captures the compelling lure of uncharted miles and the profound self-discovery found between departure and arrival — a perfect companion for anyone yearning to turn ignition into insight.

11. On The Hippie Trail

Rick Steves (February 2025)

Famed travel writer Rick Steves maps routes once taken by intrepid explorers of music, spirituality, and culture. Though not a classic American highway story, this book evokes the ethos of long roads and long horizons, tracing paths from European capitals to far-flung crossroads. It’s a reminder that road trips can be global, philosophical, and deeply transformative.

12. The Rest of Our Lives

Benjamin Markovitz (Coming December 30, 2025)

A narrative intertwining romantic tension with literal and figurative journeys, Markovitz’s upcoming novel is expected to traverse regional backdrops and relational terrains alike. Keep an eye out for this one. It promises the reflective, road-laden storytelling that makes a year’s end worth reading toward.