Reading my way around America

On my fiction blog, we’ve a feature on reading our way around the UK, but seeing that Goodreads published a reading across the USA list, I thought I’d see how far I’d gotten to date. I was surprised to see that only 8 states remain unticked off, although I don’t know what it says that both the Dakotas feature among that 8 😉

I’m not going to deny that some of the entries are a bit tenuous, but if they appeared on a Goodreads geographical list, I claimed them 🙂

What I would love from you, my largely US-based readers, is for recommendations. I’ve learned my lesson from Hillbilly Elegy to take advice from those I know and trust 🙂

Alabama – To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

California – Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

Colorado – Centennial by James Mitchener

Connecticut – When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanathi

Delaware

Florida – The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Georgia – The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

Hawaii – To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

Idaho – Educated by Tara Westover

Illinois – Presumed Innocent (and others) by Scott Turow

Indiana – We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves – Karen Joy Fowler

Iowa

Kansas – In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Kentucky – The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

Louisiana – A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Maine – Olive, Again (and others) by Elizabeth Strout

Maryland – Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

Massachusetts – Body Double by Tess Gerritsen

Michigan – Hystopia by David Means

Minnesota – Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor

Mississippi – The Trees by Percival Everett

Missouri – James by Percival Everett

Montana – Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Nebraska – My Antonia by Willa Cather

Nevada – The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

New Hampshire – A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irvine

New Jersey – Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

New Mexico – Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy

New York – The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

North Carolina – Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

North Dakota

Ohio – Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Oklahoma – Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Oregon – Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Pennyslavania – The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Rhode Island – The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

South Carolina – The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

South Dakota

Tennessee – Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver

Texas – 11/22/63 by Stephen King

Utah

Vermont – The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Virginia – Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Washington – Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Washington DC – The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy

West Virginia

Wisconsin – Bewilderment by Richard Powers

Wyoming – Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

Please do make suggestions to fill in the gaps. But don’t limit yourself to those where I have no entries – tell me about better options, and whether the ones I’ve listed are bad or misleading 🙂

© Debs Carey, 2024

29 thoughts on “Reading my way around America”

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  4. What a fascinating way to think about reading and choosing books. And what wonderful books you’ve chosen for all the states you’ve covered. I love it!

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  5. I always love reading fictional books before I visit somewhere. My husband couldn’t understand why I was so excited to see a vicarage when we were walking around Thornbury. I kept trying to explain how there’s a vicarage in so many books–Jane Austen! Agatha Christie!–and now I finally got to see one in real life. Now, of course, when we watch British TV, he’s on the look out for the vicarage. I’m trying to think of good books in the various states, but of course my mind is going blank. I’ll remember them at 3 AM.

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  7. I may be partial because I lived there for several years, but an easy way to cross South Dakota off your list would be one of many “Little House on the Prairie” books. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s historic home in De Smet (eastern part of the state) is a very popular tourist attraction. Ironically, she was actually born in Wisconsin. Maybe I’m inadvertently stalking her ghost or something.

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  8. I’m impressed that you remembered all these books and where they were set.

    Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a good choice for my home state: Washington. I hope you won’t mind if I suggest a few others that I’ve read and liked from here. Snow Falling on Cedars, The Cold Millions, The Boys in the Boat, Remarkably Bright Creatures, What She Found (and many other books by Robert Dugani).

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  9. Thanks Tater. I’d be interested to see how many you’ve read your way around.

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  12. Jane, it was more an exercise in curiosity on my part – but as I seem to have covered a few and have the perfect reader base to get some quality recommendations, I decided to publish the list.

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  13. Autumn, I’ve lived in a couple of converted vicarages, so I totally get how you felt 🙂 If you still remember them when you have a spare moment, I’d love to hear them, especially as your last recommendation was a winner.

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  14. Ally, I realised a few years back that I read a lot from the third world due to my background and hadn’t read many American authors – other than of thrillers/spy/police procedurals (which you can probably see from my list). A few years ago, I decided to try and change that. And I have to say, it’s been a pretty enjoyable experience in the main. I’m not going to keep a bingo chart on this one, but I thought it would be interesting to see how far I could get (metaphorically speaking).

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  15. Mark, I’ve seen a few episodes of the TV series but haven’t read the books – I shall have to investigate. How funny that she was born in Wisconsin 😀

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  16. Nicki, I have to admit that I didn’t remember them all – Goodreads was most helpful in identifying the where of those books I’ve read. I am going to check out your other suggestions (although ‘The Boys in the Boat’ is already on my TBR, just hasn’t risen to the top quite yet). Thank you 🙂

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  19. For Iowa, I’d suggest The Bridges of Madison County by Robert Waller and Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella. For Minnesota, any book by William Kent Krueger is good. For Alaska, there’s The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Hope this helps!

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  20. I can relate about being burned by Hillbilly Elegy! Great list already. For Pennsylvania, I recommend the “Rabbit” series by John Updike. The gender mores don’t hold up well anymore (well, they never did actually), but Updike captures a time and place so well. – Marty

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  22. Thanks Kari, and you’re right, I am an avid fiction reader (it’s a big part of my self-care). It proved an interesting way to look at how effective the decision I took a few years back (to read more books by American authors) has been.

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  24. Thank you for empathising with me on that one Marty! And thank you for the recommendation. I keep seeing them come up on those “well read” lists, but a personal (and trusted) recommendation is always the most welcome.

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  25. Since I live in Utah, I felt I should recommend a book that mentions that state. So I am recommending Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino or Looking for Alaska by John Green. I enjoyed both books. It’s been a while, so I can’t swear that Utah was a main geographical feature of either, but it was definitely mentioned.

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  26. Ooooh thank you Christie, those would nicely fill a blank – I shall check them out.

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  27. Iowa: Melanie Lageschulte. The Growing Season series and the Mailbox Season Series

    Iowa: Diane Greenwood Muir. The Bellingwood Series

    Both are stories of people and their lives.

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  29. Zazzy, wow! Thanks so much for the suggestions. I shall go and look them up as I’m building up a bit of a list for the upcoming dark & colder months. Also, very good to hear from you m’dear.

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