Traveling Through Illinois by LuAnn Cadden & Ted Cable

Traveling Through Illinois: Stories of I-55 Landmarks & Landscapes Between Chicago and St. Louis by LuAnn Cadden & Ted Cable, 190 pages

If you have ever traveled to Chicago and driven on I-55, I would say this is a handy book to have.  As I have been driving between St. Louis and Chicago every year for the past year, I wish someone had written this book sooner.  Just about everything that you find fascinating along I-55 you will find written in this book.  Written by southbound then by northbound exits, it is fascinating to read what I have been missing all these years.  For instance, I must stop by the grain elevator museum sometime soon to see what I have been missing!

100 Things To Do In America Before You Die by Bill Clevlen

100 Things To Do In America Before You Die by Bill Clevlen, 173 pages

This is a very interesting read about some things to do in the United States while you are around to enjoy them.  Bill Clevlen is a local travel writer and broadcaster who lives in St. Louis.  I love the fact these are all based on sights in the USA, and they all seem doable.  I actually found that I have already done many of these, and he writes a page about each place.  He also includes trivia questions at the bottom of each page.  I learned that the Statue of Liberty use to be open to the top of the torch but was permanently closed during WWI.

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland ; narrated by Laurence Bouvard, Shelley Atkinson, Laural Merlington, Joe Barrett, Will Damron, and Luke Daniels
768 pages / 24 hrs, 29 mins

Read a review much better than I could ever write by our own The Babbling Book, right here.

Time traveling done military style? This should be good...

When picking up this book, I thought that with length of this book, it had better be a gripping tale, and it really was. It was both fun and funny, and very smart as well. While there were some slow parts for sure (how can there not be in a book this big), there was enough humor, and enough interest in the story and its wanderings, to keep me coming back. I listened to this on audio, and I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it quite so much if it weren't for the excellent narration. Done by a cast, there was great voice variation, good accents, and the wry humor of the author came out. Glad I pulled my way through this one!

Midnight Jewels by Jayne Ann Krentz

Midnight Jewels by Jayne Ann Krentz - 380 pages

Croft Falconer is amazed to discover a rare book advertised to be on sale in Mercy Pennington's shop.  He thought it had been destroyed in a fire three years ago.  Once he determines that she doesn't know the true value of the book, he determines to protect her while trying to find out who her mysterious buyer might be.

This was one of Krentz's first romances.  I found it to be horribly dated in its views of women and relationships.  If it had not fit this month's challenge (travel) I would not have finished the book.

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl - 118 pages

James is rescued from his horrible life with his aunts when he crawls into a giant peach and goes on a trip to America with several giant bugs.

While the narration of this audio was really good, I did not actually enjoy the story.  It was not as good as the other Roald Dahl books that I've been listening to.  Something about the story annoyed me - although I never could never figure out exactly what.