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It's a dream for many to take a road trip across America. Unfortunately, there are many reasons not to take a roadtrip this time of year.

1. It's freezing on the East Coast.

2. Gas isn't cheap.

3. Your personal hygiene will suffer.

4. Who the hell has time for a road trip anyway? We're not all Kerouac.

Instead, we've come up with a way for you to travel the country and remain comfy in your reading nook at home or the coffee shop down the street.

To begin, we'll be traveling from Washington to Utah – and through time. The following books cover the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

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Maria Vicente is a literary agent intern living in Ottawa, Canada. She likes coffee, books, snail mail, and magic. You can find her on Twitter (@MsMariaVicente) or check out her website (mariavicente.com)

Are you fed up with the current selection of Monopoly tokens? Have you tossed the board and its tiny hotels in frustration at the monotony of game play? Do you find yourself longing for a more fully diversified portfolio of silver movers?

I’ve seen the movie Groundhog Day about five times (which, given the repetitive nature of the storylines, feels more like fifty), but until this weekend, I’d never seen the real Groundhog Day. Now, after experiencing all the impatient waiting, sub-freezing temperatures, and rodent-related reveling of one of the weirdest traditions our country has to offer, I’ve discovered that—surprise!—movies aren’t like real life.

Here’s the lowdown on the facts and fictions of G-Day.

The Library of Congress’ Great Hall

February is Library Lover’s Month, a month intended to recognize the value of libraries country-wide. How better to celebrate this month than to spotlight several of the top libraries that exist around the country?

Mint Julep, Photo by Robert S. Donovan

Cocktail recipes and drink suggestions, inspired by our favorite pieces of literature! Sip away whilst reading a great piece of writing. Just don’t drink too much. We’d like you to remember it later.

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Gimlet photo by Michael Korcuska

Gimlet & Raymond Chandler’s Mystery Novels: Philip Marlowe, the primary character in Raymond Chandler’s mystery novels, helped to cement the classic noir archetype of the hard drinkin’ detective. In The Long Goodbye, Marlowe spends an awful lot of time drinking gin gimlets with his new buddy, Terry Lennox. According to Lennox, “‘What they call a gimlet is just some lime or lemon juice and gin with a dash of sugar and bitters. A real gimlet is half gin and half Rose’s Lime Juice and nothing else. It beats martinis hollow.”

And so:

2 oz Gin

2 oz Rose’s Lime Juice

Be a totally badass detective and get wrapped up in all kinds of crazy, violent, and convoluted conspiracies involving sexy women with guns and even more alcohol.

Book lovers like to talk about books. A lot. So much so that there usually isn’t time to list off all of our favorites and explain why we fell in love with The BFG so many years ago – or how Bella Swan is the perfect representation of our twenty-five-year-old-selves. That was a joke.

On those days when talking just doesn’t seem like enough, we luckily have clothes that can spread the message for us. Forget about wearing your heart on your sleeve – wear your favorite book on your torso.