Armchair travel can take you far and wide. I have read books set in the jungles of the Congo, the mountains of Bhutan, and the languid islands of the South Pacific all without ever having left my apartment.
Not all armchair travel is exotic. There can be amazing stories set just about anywhere. All it takes is writing skill. Here are three books that have shown me the prairies of Kansas.
1.
A true crime classic, this harrowing nonfiction work tells the story of two men who drive around Kansas farm country looking for a family to kill. Capote sets the scene brilliantly: the grain elevators, herds of cattle, and tumbleweeds of Holcomb, seventy miles east of the Colorado border The crime is so random and callous that it catches you off-guard.
One detail that has always stuck with me: one of the killers travelled with a plastic bottle of root beer syrup so he wouldn’t miss his favorite beverage while on the road. The contrast between the mundane fixations and the depraved killings haunts.
Somehow Kansas has produced two beloved classics on opposite ends of the moral spectrum. While In Cold Blood is the kind of book you lock away from kiddies, L. Frank Baum created a popular book series which inspired one of the most popular family-friendly films of all time.
Baum is a good writer, using a plainspoken style to depict the farm land touched by a twister. There is a grit to Dorothy’s life that is nicely contrasted with her visit to Oz. In addition to Technicolor, the film version drops a few extraneous characters and tightens up the narrative.
Inevitably, I suppose, a place with literary heft inspired a memoir about being a Kansan. The author teaches writing at San Francisco State but maintains an affection for her home state. It’s a charming book about what makes a place home.
Books Smitten 