So not all of these car and/or car rides are enjoyable, so “good times” is not applicable for all of the following, but there’s no question that cars often feature prominently in fiction. I love automotive literature – give me a scintillating car manual any day – as much as the next person, but I hate to drive. That being said, I love a good road trip. Life is full of strange contradictions.
Here’s a thank-whatever’s-holy-it’s-not-real syllabus of automotives in fiction. In no particular order, except number one is (my) number one…
11. NOS4A2 // Joe Hill. Making Christmas creepy since 2012.
10. The Spark and the Drive // Wayne Harrison. A often overlooked coming of age story.
09. Drive // James Sallis. Sometimes you just need to drive.
08. On the Road // Jack Kerouac. The famous one.
07. From a Buick 8 // Stephen King. This car is super…natural. I love good Bob Dylan reference.
06. I Know What I Did Last Summer // Lois Duncan. Don’t do bad things with your car.
05. Wonder Boys // Michael Chabon. Sometimes the trunk is best left closed.
04. American Gods // Neil Gaiman. On the road seeing the alternate side of America.
03. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas // Hunter S. Thompson. It’s a trip.
02. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets // J.K. Rowling. And sometimes they fly.
01. Christine // Stephen King. Jealousy.
So this list turned out rather eclectic. Happy reading! Please share what imaginary class on literature you would like to teach.
(Image found here)
flannel and folklore 
Great list! I cannot for the life of me remember which of Lois Duncan’s books I’ve read growing up, but they were really interesting. Yay for American Gods 🙂
My TTT
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I honestly remember the movie better than the book for the Lois Duncan one, but it still counts, right?
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This is definitely an eclectic list! I’m intrigued by some of these books!
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I’d recommend…all of them.
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What a creative idea! Love it. 🙂
My list: http://lesliehauser.com/2015/08/25/top-ten-tuesday-ya-contemporary-101-syllabus/
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Thanks!
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Creative class idea!! I’m so enjoying this week’s theme because everyone’s posts are so different from each other!
My TTT
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Me too! It’s nice to see so much variety.
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Wonderful list. I immediately thought of Christine when I saw the title. Thanks for sharing!
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Right?! Christine is the quintessential bad car novel.
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Great list!
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Thanks 🙂
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Ha – I love your topic choice even though I haven’t read a single book on your list!
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Not even Harry Potter?! But thanks, it was a fun one.
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I read the first one and never read the rest. My sister in law can barely look me in the eye b/c of this! I figure I’ll read them to my kids when they get a little older (they’re 2 and 4 now)! But, yes, I’m aware this is super weird!
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Such a clever topic! I’m glad Harry Potter made the list 🙂 Otherwise, I haven’t read any of these yet. I recently finished Cinder by Marissa Meyer and I thought of the car Cinder restores when I saw your list.
Check out my TTT here: https://greenishbookshelf.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/top-10-tuesday-books-on-my-syllabus-if-i-taught-classic-british-lit-101/
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Since I’ve finished the list, I’ve thought of several others. There are so many, even The Grapes of Wrath!
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