We all love a good journey novel that lights a fire in our stomachs and makes us want to embark on an adventure. We spend our young lives dreaming of the adventures and travels we will undertake – to satisfy this need, we can often find comfort in adventure books.
Whether that’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Treasure Island, Moby Dick, or King Solomon’s Mines – these novels inspire young minds and have a place in most people’s childhoods. Adventure is something most humans crave.
Travis and Freddy’s Adventures in Vegas
In the ultimate buddy novel, two preteen best friends make the trip to Vegas with dreams of striking big and coming home rich. Struggling with financial woes, the pair dream of the cash they could get their hands on. One is a smooth-talking jock, and the other is a socially awkward nerd – both complementing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Freddy’s ability to hack security systems helps them win big at the blackjack tables – which is where the story really begins. The pair are pursued by the nasty, local kingpin Johnny Large and his thugs. It’s a novel filled with humor and slapstick-style violence, and comedy. One instance finds both the characters dangling from a 35th-floor window wearing nothing but tighty-whities.
Travis and Freddy never do get to keep the cash they make, but they walk away with the biggest win of all – adventure and stories to tell. Of course, in this day and age, you don’t need to go to Vegas to strike big. There is a range of slots with incredible jackpots that you can .
On the Road
A book responsible for expanding the minds of many youngsters and lighting the fire in readers’ bellies – making them want to hit the road and go wandering themselves. On the Road is a semi-autobiographical masterpiece on the beat generation by Jack Kerouac. It has inspired generations of writers, musicians, and artists to ditch the comforts of ordinary life in the pursuit of adventure and struggle.
Many real figures of the beat generation were written into the book under fictional character names – legends like William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and Allen Ginsberg are all characters. The book isn’t so much driven by a narrative – the lack of one is almost the narrative itself.
Kerouac takes you on a journey with him through the US, back to a time when you could hitchhike your way around, living from town to town with little money. It’s a wonderful novel that takes you back to a romantic period of time for artists and writers.
The prose is pure and beautiful. It’s a truly inspiring piece of work that will make you want to pack your bags and get on the road. A quintessential novel of the beat generation and American literature, ‘On The Road’ goes down as one of the greatest books of all time.
The Alchemist
The Alchemist is a book written by Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho. It’s a story of desire. The story follows the journey of a young Andalusian shepherd who dreams of finding treasure in the pyramids of Egypt and sets off on the trip of a lifetime.
The young shepherd Santiago has his first dream in a dilapidated church. After consulting a Gypsy clairvoyant, the woman claims that the dream is a prophecy – encouraging the young shepherd to go to the Egyptian pyramids, telling him he will discover the treasure he seeks.
Santiago comes across an old King who encourages him to sell his sheep to fund the trip. After reaching Africa, he is robbed and used, and his faith is tested. He works as a crystal merchant after being robbed to continue his journey. After reaching an oasis, Santiago meets a young girl named Fatima and proposes.
She accepts his proposal on the condition that he finishes what he has started. Disheartened by her response, he eventually understands the lesson being taught to him. That real love does not disappear and that one should not sacrifice one’s destiny for what one believes is true love. As if it is truly real love, it will not stop, and to sacrifice destiny for it would be robbing it of truth.
Santiago meets an alchemist, a wise older man who helps him come to terms with his true self. With the alchemist, they journey through territories of tribes that are at war. Whilst travelling through, Santiago is tasked with ‘demonstrating his oneness with the ‘Soul of the World.’ He proceeds to turn himself into a dust storm before being allowed to proceed with his journey.
After finally reaching the pyramids, he begins to dig. Soon after, he is robbed, and the thieves question him on what he is digging for. He tells them of his dream that has led him all this way. The thieves were amused, and the leader remarked that he had a similar dream once upon a time, bringing Santiago to a realization.
The treasure he had been seeking was where he had started his journey. The treasure was in the journey, the treasure was in desire, and the treasure was in the lessons he had learned.
The message of the novel is that if you truly want something, then the whole universe will conspire to make it so. The Alchemist is the ultimate journey novel.
Through Adventure Comes Knowledge
Of course, reading books is a fantastic way to satisfy that urge we have to experience the world, but there is nothing like really doing it for yourself. There is no way to replace the experience and lessons you learn about the world and yourself when travelling.
It’s an important part of forming anyone’s character – experiencing different cultures, sites, and smells. Learn your own lessons and set off on your own adventures. Pack your bags and journey to places you have always dreamed of seeing.
Markus lives in San Francisco, California and is the video game and audio expert on Good e-Reader! He has a huge interest in new e-readers and tablets, and gaming.
