Looking for cheap gas? (We have some books)
Since high gas prices are the three words of the moment, we thought we’d look at the role of gas stations in literature. Once we started digging it became clear the humble gas station has been focal point for American culture for 75 years. Countless novels feature a gas station scene - some of them are mundane, some of them dramatic.
Most writers use filling stations to keep a car journey from becoming tedious and claustrophobic. Gas stations can probably be divided into two camps – the independent station, often in a dusty, desert location, with a chatty old guy in dungarees pumping the gas and then the modern soulless stations with a spotty Generation Y McKid behind the glass. Old-style gas stations provide better dialogue but the newer ones have more action – particularly in the movies where combustible liquids are extremely appealing to today’s directors. Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men has a memorable coin toss scene in a dusty Texaco.
