Nineteen books about the joys & terrors of transportation

At the Los Angeles Times book blog, Carolyn Kellogg, Nick Owchar and David L. Ulin came up with a list of books about the joys and terrors of transportation.

The entries on the list with "Road" in the title:

"On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. The book that sent a generation or two out on the road.

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. The only thing better about the upcoming Carmageddon is that there won't be -- probably -- crazed, wandering cannibals like in McCarthy's novel.

Read about more titles on the list.

On the Road is one of Ted Conover's six favorite road books.

The Road appears on Jon Krakauer's five best list of books about mortality and existential angst, William Skidelsky's list of the top ten most vivid accounts of being marooned in literature, Liz Jensen's top 10 list of environmental disaster stories, the Guardian's list of books to change the climate, David Nicholls' top ten list of literary tear jerkers, and the Times (of London) list of the 100 best books of the decade. Sam Anderson of New York magazine claims "that we'll still be talking about [The Road] in ten years."

--Marshal Zeringue