There’s no better way to start a new year than with a good book and a little sense of adventure—and our January box delivered both. This month, we packed our bags (and boxes!) and headed to the 40th state in the Union: South Dakota. South Dakota is full of fascinating surprises. It’s where Sue, the most complete T-Rex fossil ever discovered, was found. It’s home to the wonderfully quirky Corn Palace, and it played a role in innovations like the Cyclotron particle accelerator

Our December state has the only state flag that’s double-sided. Fun fact number two: 99% of the hazelnuts grown in the United States come from this state. Authors Beverly Cleary and Raymond Carver were born here. It’s home to the deepest lake in the country, and—perhaps most importantly—tater tots were invented here. You’ll also find the world’s largest independent bookstore within its borders. For December, we’re exploring “The Beaver State” — Oregon! Our December book pick

My plan was for the November box to be mailed at the end of October, perhaps the first day or two of November at the latest. I like the Literary road trip boxes to arrive to subscribers within the first week of the month. Of course, sometimes things do not go according to plan. I had a delay major delay with the books at the publishers and I could not mail the boxes until November 8th. Thank you to everyone for your patience. Luckily (knock-on-wood) delays don't happen very o

Our October 2025 box is themed to the state of Iowa and we collaborated with indie bookstore Beaverdale Books . Located in Des Moines, Beaverdale Books opened in 2006. Most indie bookstores proudly support local authors, but Beaverdale Books takes it to a whole new level. They have a local authors section with over five hundred Iowan authors represented. I'm not aware of another indie bookstore that supports such a large number of local authors. It's incredible! In addition

Here I am with Nancy, of the "Nancy Raffle" fame. This was taken a very long time ago! Last week, when I hosted the September Literary...

Located in Providence, Rhode Island, Heartleaf Books is our indie bookstore partner for our September 2025 Literary Road Trip Box . As...

September takes us to the smallest state and last of the original thirteen colonies to adopt statehood. It is the birthplace of authors...

In August of 2023, I mailed my first Literary Road Trip Box. The state was New Jersey, the featured book was Florence Adler Swims Forever...

Our July indie bookstore parter is The Booktenders . Located in York, Maine, The Booktenders opened in spring of 2022. The owners are a...

Our June indie bookstore partner is Paper Hearts Bookstore. Located in Little Rock, Arkansas, Paper Hearts Bookstore has a sweet...

Our June box takes us to the "Natural State,"nick- named for its beautiful mountains, hot springs, and rivers. This is the only place in...

Our May 2025 box is themed to the state of Tennessee and we collaborated with Landmark Booksellers . Located in Franklin, Landmark...

Our May Literary Road Trip box takes us to the place where Nikki Giovanni, Dolly Parton, and Aretha Franklin were born. Cotton candy and...

Last Saturday, I spent the day at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books with Julie, one of my childhood friends. We have not seen each...

One of my favorite holidays is coming soon: Independent Bookstore Day! Independent Bookstore Day falls on the last Saturday in April....

Our April 2025 Literary Road Trip box takes us to the state that's "First in Flight" and the home of the invention of Pepsi. Famous...

Our indie bookstore partner for March is Moon Palace Books located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Owners Angela and Jamie Schwesnedl opened...

Our February indie bookstore partner is Northshire Bookstore. The original Northshire Bookstore location opened in 1976 in Manchester...

I bring you a long overdue blog post about our January indie bookstore partner, Shakespeare & CO. I apologize for this massive time gap...

As many of you already know, my husband accepted a fantastic job offer and we are headed back to my home state of California. We will...