Booktaco
Mobile Menu

Riding Toward Everywhere

Hear it
By William T. Vollmann
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers - (Harper Perennial)
Riding Toward Everywhere
Preview: Hear it

Vollmann is a relentlessly curious, endlessly sensitive, and unequivocally adventurous examiner of human existence. He has investigated the causes and symptoms of humanitys obsession with violence (Rising Up and Rising Down), taken a personal look into the hearts and minds of the worlds poorest inhabitants (Poor People), and now turns his attentions to America itself, to our romanticizing of freedom and the ways in which we restrict the very freedoms we profess to admire. For Riding Toward Everywhere, Vollmann himself takes to the rails. His main accomplice is Steve, a captivating fellow trainhopper who expertly accompanies him through the secretive waters of this particular way of life. Vollmann describes the thrill and terror of lying in a trainyard in the dark, avoiding the flickering flashlights of the railroad bulls; the shockingly, gorgeously wild scenery of the American West as seen from a grainer platform; the complicated considerations involved in trying to hop on and off a moving train. Its a dangerous, thrilling, evocative examination of this underground lifestyle, and it is, without a doubt, one of Vollmanns most hauntingly beautiful narratives. Questioning anything and everything, subjecting both our national romance and our skepticism about hobo life to his finely tuned, analytical eye and the reality of what he actually sees, Vollmann carries on in the tradition of Huckleberry Finn, providing a moving portrait of this strikingly modern vision of the American dream.

Read full description [+]
52879 words52,879 words
288 pages288 pages
Lexile 1050LLexile 1050L
Grade 7 to 40Grade 7 to 40
Published 2014Published 2014

On Grade Vocabulary:

Hear it reliability Hear it refinery Hear it spacious Hear it parallel Hear it convenience Hear it interval Hear it possessive Hear it hobo Hear it define Hear it sensitive Hear it equivalent Hear it dwell Hear it capacity Hear it contractor Hear it anticipate Hear it neutral Hear it trout Hear it pose Hear it succession Hear it disposition Hear it molester Hear it mellow Hear it subscribe Hear it relocate Hear it preparatory Hear it interior Hear it placement Hear it decline Hear it mint Hear it poll Hear it mutual Hear it terminal Hear it diesel Hear it picaresque Hear it equate Hear it corporate Hear it underpass Hear it excess Hear it mulberry Hear it domestic Hear it overpass Hear it alter Hear it snag Hear it recollect Hear it duration Hear it immense Hear it cease Hear it sentimental Hear it gorge Hear it gondola Hear it submission Hear it infinity Hear it fleet Hear it diagonal Hear it rejection Hear it philosophy Hear it lateness Hear it modest Hear it grime Hear it disapprove Hear it perceive Hear it domain Hear it contrast Hear it slim Hear it dimension Hear it sinister Hear it sociable Hear it rupture Hear it geranium Hear it probable Hear it resignation Hear it tang Hear it violation Hear it distinct Hear it ignorant Hear it irony Hear it crudest Hear it questionnaire Hear it inventory Hear it phase Hear it rhinestone Hear it fabricate Hear it photocopying Hear it violate Hear it ordinance Hear it creosote Hear it cellphone Hear it clamber Hear it refrain Hear it likeness Hear it hunker Hear it similarity Hear it daredevil Hear it hangman Hear it oasis Hear it essence Hear it unlimited Hear it locomotive Hear it mirage Hear it idle
Show more words [+]

Challenge Words Vocabulary

Hear it contention Hear it confer Hear it conveyance Hear it reliability Hear it restate Hear it commence Hear it recline Hear it possessive Hear it conformist Hear it unpublished Hear it legality Hear it cite Hear it apprehend Hear it sentimentality Hear it levee Hear it coherence Hear it flattish Hear it invalidate Hear it romanticize Hear it passive Hear it individualistic Hear it idealization Hear it phoniness Hear it retiree Hear it grubbiness Hear it hitchhike Hear it glary Hear it administer Hear it trestle Hear it nightscape Hear it exemplify Hear it slumberous Hear it rubbly Hear it dependency Hear it disembarkation Hear it victimless Hear it solitariness Hear it disposition Hear it reissue Hear it labial Hear it unfree Hear it clamminess Hear it knowable Hear it derailment Hear it mellow Hear it battler Hear it roadless Hear it viaduct Hear it risible Hear it warmish Hear it negate Hear it unbounded Hear it nacreous Hear it integrity Hear it technocratic Hear it coolish Hear it rideable Hear it equate Hear it reawaken Hear it woodgrain Hear it objectification Hear it forsake Hear it pressurization Hear it mulberry Hear it charmless Hear it overpass Hear it boilermaker Hear it inveigle Hear it stencil Hear it indefinite Hear it rightward Hear it outwalk Hear it rearward Hear it recollect Hear it unfriendliness Hear it solipsism Hear it cheapness Hear it fitter Hear it sixpack Hear it delectation Hear it reasonableness Hear it congenial Hear it err Hear it righthand Hear it sagebrush Hear it reiteration Hear it imputation Hear it infinitude Hear it misdemeanor Hear it armless Hear it acute Hear it gondola Hear it unauthorized Hear it unshaken Hear it jeer Hear it transient Hear it differentness Hear it infinity Hear it misconstrue Hear it printmaker
Show more words [+] View ALL Vocabulary Lessons

Book ISBN:

9780061256769

Sample Book Reading logs and activities:
Virtual Reading Pet
Stopwatch
Manual Input
Book Quiz
Book Quiz
Flashcards (Vocabulary Intro)
Word Search
Connect it! Definition Matching
Pick it! Synonym vs Antonym
Vocabulary Bee
Flip it!
Vocabulary Test
Spelling Test
Space Speller
Hop Typing (Classroom High Score)
Word Jumble
Spelling Bee
Word Dragon
Spelling Quiz
Spelling Mission
Book Review
Writing Prompts

View all our games
Right
Left
Graphic Organizers - Riding Toward Everywhere
Plot Diagram
Story Map
Compare & Contrast
Draw It!
Retell the Story
3-2-1 Nonfiction
Nonfiction Report
Nonfiction Text Features
Point of View

View all our games
Right
Left
Contact us: admin@booktaco.com Phone (888) 448-3363

YEAH. Try it FREE!

Gitf box

Try our 14-day Free Trial to test drive
the booktaco program.

Sign up for a 14-Day Free Trial Not now, thank you
View all games!
Back to main site