Ten top road books

Mary Miller grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. Her collection of stories, Big World, was published in 2009. A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, she will return to Mississippi in the fall of 2014 to serve as the John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at Ole Miss. The Last Days of California is her first novel.

For Publishers Weekly Miller tagged her ten best road books, including:

Nine Months by Paula Bomer

In this novel, Bomer explores the question of whether a woman can have it all (and angers many female readers in the process). Sonia, relieved to find that mothering was getting easier as her sons gained independence, planned to reclaim the artistic ambitions she’d held before they were born. But her dreams are shattered when she finds herself pregnant with a third child. Ruling out an abortion, Sonia attempts to reconcile the impending birth with her feelings of frustration, but the lure of escape proves too strong. Withdrawing the family’s savings, she sets out on a wild and very pregnant cross-country road trip. I read Nine Months on an airplane and it kept me thoroughly oblivious to the usual armrest struggles and the ceremonious unwrapping of smelly sandwiches, which is, of course, the height of praise.

Read about another entry on the list.

Writers Read: Paula Bomer (October 2010).

--Marshal Zeringue