Item: 1 copy of the 1987 Let's Go: USA

You might wonder, as people do, why it is I still have this on my shelf 19 years later. I'll tell you why - because it's a good book. I think I discovered my first Let's Go guide in the library, and read it like a novel. It had a plot: it began in New York City and ended in Alaska.

The Let's Go guides are written by Harvard University students who generally throw in literary quotations or historical analysis as part of the narrative, along with their impressions. I always liked travel guides, but this one, besides drawing me into a fantasy journey, told me what I really wanted to know.

I didn't want to read about details like the admission fees for the wax museum or whether the Best Western had a pool. I wanted to know what it was like to arrive in Cincinnati or Juneau or Santa Fe. I wanted to know which was the best campsite in the Badlands. I wanted to know where the cadets from the Naval Academy ate out and which dirt road could get you to the Grand Canyon. I learned all of this, and more. Since 1987 I've been wanting to try a kind of sandwich called a horseshoe, which is (or was) apparently local to Springfield, IL and consists of ham, cheese, and french fries on a roll.

The book ends up being something like a long essay that attempts to explain this country to somebody else. Regional guides may be more useful for an actual trip, but I've never gotten as deeply involved in those. I want the national mishmash of all the pieces, the way every place can be sketched by its contrast with another place.

There is a current Let's Go USA out, which I was recently tempted to buy at the bookstore, but of course there were about 1600 books I wanted to buy at the bookstore, and I have to set a limit somewhere. So I'm back to the vintage 1987 copy, which is as reliable as Little Women or To Kill a Mockingbird. It's good every time.