I love Sarah Addison Allen – she’s from Asheville NC – and one of my very favorite books (and one I recommend to readers all the time) is “Garden Spells”. It’s set in a ficitonal town, but still in NC.
Besides cheesy romance novels there are only two books that I know of set in Montana: A River Runs Through it and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. I must say the Miseducation is my favorite and I’m excited for the movie.
@Sophia It’s a great book which among other things, details some of the architectural history of Chicago. Luckily some of that architecture still stands today.
Monday Monday by Elizabeth Crook. Novel set around the UT tower shootings. Fiction take on the path of several lives. The historical accuracy blended with fiction made a good read.
That’s a great question! I live in Georgia and really haven’t read that many books set here. I remember reading a book called “Ecology if a Cracker Childhood” about 10 years ago that was interesting.
Many of Anne Rivers Siddons’ books are set in Georgia. They are a bit formulaic, but I still enjoyed them. Not written by her, but recently read “The Twelve Mile Straight,” set in South Georgia. Disturbing, but a great read.
@Sandra the one by Edward Bloor…I read it aloud to my fourth graders and he actually came and spent the day in my classroom talking to my students about what authors do.
I taught that book for several years with 7th graders. It was always. Favorite part of the year and my students still mention it when they see me out 10+ years later!
If you have a list, I would enjoy seeing it. I am in my second year of teaching American literature and have thought of using books from different states with students.
@Tanya —another woman after my own heart! I’m a former teacher. ❤️Message me on Messenger! It may be a couple of days before I get my notes in order, but I’d be glad to share!!
@Janet , I only wish I’d known it while it was happening! The scenes where they took all the kids trick or treating…maybe they said in Charleston…were actually filmed on St. Simons Island, and he was the president of the chamber of commerce in those days. He also got to know Eugenia Price during his time there after she wrote her trilogy. Very cool time to live there!
@Gretchen – We love the Southeast and have visited St. Simons and Daufuskie islands. Beautiful places! Found both Ms. Price and Mr. Conroy’s gravesites ?
Snow Falling On Cedars, Hotel At The corner Of Bitter and Sweet, Hoys In The Boat, The Absolutely True Story of a Part-time Indian are all set in Washington State. The hotel at the Corner is still there. I have visited it. You can look down through a piece of plexiglass and view some things left behind in the hotel.
@Judy All Over But The Shoutin is the story of his mother. Ava’s Man is the story of his grandfather. The prince Of Frogtown is the story of his father. I would suggest either.
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. Read it around 10-11 years old. He is a well known California-Armenian author and won a Pulitzer prize and turned it down.
@Jan ok thank you! I was visiting a friend in Atlanta and we visited a cute little independent bookstore and it was recommended to me by someone there. Thank you!
Jean Stratton Yes the islands including Jekyll and Cumberland would be interesting also. I was raised about 50 miles west of the coast and would go there often to visit relatives.
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. Read it around 10-11 years old. He is a well known California-Armenian author and won a Pulitzer prize and turned it down.
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. Read it around 10-11 years old. He is a well known California-Armenian author and won a Pulitzer prize and turned it down.
.. Washington State, in the town of Port Orchard .. the “Cedar Cove” series by Debbie Macomber .. the author lives in Port Orchard, and she changed the town’s name to “Cedar Cove”, when she wrote the series.
@Debbie As much as I love “Their Eyes Were Watching God” – and I used to read it once or twice a year – I have never read anything else by Zora Neal Hurston. I will check this out, thank you!
@Rebecca I actually loved it more than “Eyes.” The backstory: publishers insisted that Hurston anglicize the dialect of the gentleman dubbed “the last black cargo” of the slave trade. She refused, insisting that to anglicize his speech would detract immensely from the overall effect of the work. She was exactly right. Consequently, the manuscript lay dormant in the archives of Howard University until Deborah Plant recently approached Harper Collins about publishing the posthumous work. It is simply astounding. Very, very compelling.
@Debbie Wow. I will definitely read this. Thank you again. And I think I will reread “Eyes” again. It’s been a few years and we just moved from South Florida to Central Florida and it is a world of difference here. I think I’ll pick up some other authors and novels that have Florida flavor. 🙂
In my “travels,” I got stuck in some areas—esp coal country—and had to make side trips to read articles online. Shout out to you folks in Appalachia. VA-Wish You Well (Baldacci), WV-Storming Heaven (Giardini), KY-The Time of Man (Roberts), regionally, Hillbilly Elegy. Does it show that I love to talk about my American reading adventure? ?
Betty Webb is an investigative journalist turned novelist. “If Betty Webb had gone undercover and written Desert Wives as a piece of investigative journalism, she’d probably be up for a Pulitzer….” (The New York Times)
Happy Bicentennial to my “homeland,” Illinois. Ray Bradbury–Dandelion Wine, the precursor to Something Wicked This Way Comes. Sandra Cisneros: House on Mango Street.
Oklahoma: “Grapes of Wrath”, Woody Guthrie’s “Bound for Glory”, and “The Outsiders”. Two of my favorite Oklahoma authors are Billie Letts and Rilla Askew.
Georgia- God, Mr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man, a fabulous memoir about Sapelo Island Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil-Savannah Saving Cee Cee Hunnicut-Savannah An Hour Before Daylight- very good memoir by Jimmy Carter of his rural boyhood in Plains.
I Sailed With Magellan by Stuart Dybek – it’s a compilation of short stories all set in Chicago. One, “Lunch at the Loyola Arms,” is even set on a block I used to live on.
Because Bill Bryson grew up in my neighborhood in Des Moines Iowa and went to Roosevelt High School where my child went to school, his book “Thunderbolt Kid” is a favorite, though I like his book about living in England “Notes from a Small Island” even better.
Haven’t seen HI weigh in. I’ll proxy: Moloka’i. I must’ve been the only one over 55 that had never heard of a leper colony in Hawaii. Great historical fiction. Blessings to you folks in HI….such a tragic last several weeks.
Georgia: When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson North Carolina: The Serafina Series Alabama: Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson Texas: News of The World by Paulette Jiles Chicago: Dear Mr. Knightley
Oh, girls! Think some more! SC has (RIP) the great Pat Conroy so take your pick: Prince of Tides, Lords of Disciple, The Water is Wide, The Great Santini, I’ll stop there?
Set mostly in Seattle, the J.A. Jance, J.P. Beaumont Mystery Series. Not high literature, but they are what comes to mind. Most of the books that have touched me deeply from our area are more from Oregon or British Columbia, and, of course, I can’t remember any of the titles. Sorry!
I discovered J. P. Beaumont when I lived in the Pacific Northwest in 1987. At that point, he was suffering from “delusions of adequacy.” A phrase which hooked me, and I have read every single Jance book since then.
I am a Floridian so I am having a difficult time choosing something by Carl Hiaasen. Probably Stormy Weather, but maybe Star Island. Any of his novels that feature Skink as a leading character. Tourist Season is also a favorite.
A guilty pleasure, but totally enjoyable because I can picture the setting and all of the places mentioned– the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series, in New Jersey.
All the Garth Stein books take place in Washington State. It’s hard to pick my favorite, but A Sudden Light doesn’t require lots of tissues. Jamie Ford books for historical fiction in Washington.
So many! The first I remember reading was Farmer Boy in the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Almanzo lived in a small farmhouse outside of Malone, NY, on what is now Stacy Rd. Volunteers keep it going! http://almanzowilderfarm.com/
Escanaba in da moonlight
Centennial (though we share a bit of it with Colorado) , Longmire series, Death in Yellowstone, The White Indian Boy
I have many favorites but one that comes to mind is Sullivan’s Island by Dorothea Benton Frank
Moon over Manifest
Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner
An Ocean in Iowa
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane.
Devil in the White City
I love Sarah Addison Allen – she’s from Asheville NC – and one of my very favorite books (and one I recommend to readers all the time) is “Garden Spells”. It’s set in a ficitonal town, but still in NC.
I’m going to have to check this out!
Jan Karon is another good NC writer. Her “Mitford” books are so uplifting.
I recently read Lost Lake and loved the characters.
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
The Devil in the White City
Besides cheesy romance novels there are only two books that I know of set in Montana: A River Runs Through it and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. I must say the Miseducation is my favorite and I’m excited for the movie.
Yada Yada Prayer Group and Devil in the White City
The Orchid Thief
The Glass Castle
Bastard Out of Carolina
Handling Sin – in N.C.
The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch.(Washington)
The Outsiders.
Little Women
I’m drawing a blank on the state?
@Janet Massachusetts
Wish You Well by David Baldacci
I love this book!
Tales of the City.
Elm creek quilters series
The Bookseller also Centennial.
Arizona- These Is My Words, The Glass Castle (part of it), The Bean Trees
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
The Grapes of Wrath and basically anything Steinbeck.
The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg.
Where’d You Go Bernadette
I live in Antarctica. Wink
Missing May by Cynthia Rylant, a short story by David Grubb called Fifty of the Blue (West Virginia)
A Romantic Education by Patricia Hampl
Changing Season – Steve Manchester
Simple Jess Pam Morsi this is such a good book. non typical hero. I wasn’t sure when I read it, but so glad I did
Station Eleven
This book! ??
Too many to choose from in California, but my favorite from the state I grew up in (Wisconsin) is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
The Alphabet Series by Sue Grafton, set in Santa Teresa, a fictionalized version of Santa Barbara
The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden (set in New Orleans, LA)
WV: Storming Heaven, The Unquiet Earth, Follow the River, and The Glass Castle
The Devil in the White City which is set in Chicago where I live.
That’s on my TBR list!
@Sophia It’s a great book which among other things, details some of the architectural history of Chicago. Luckily some of that architecture still stands today.
Forrest Gump and Boy’s Life.
Monday Monday by Elizabeth Crook. Novel set around the UT tower shootings. Fiction take on the path of several lives. The historical accuracy blended with fiction made a good read.
That’s a great question! I live in Georgia and really haven’t read that many books set here. I remember reading a book called “Ecology if a Cracker Childhood” about 10 years ago that was interesting.
Many of Anne Rivers Siddons’ books are set in Georgia. They are a bit formulaic, but I still enjoyed them. Not written by her, but recently read “The Twelve Mile Straight,” set in South Georgia. Disturbing, but a great read.
Savannah-Saving Cee Cee Hunicutt and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil…Tybee has a wonderful fun book, Summer Breeze.
Picture book of the Calgary flood 5 years ago…interesting to see what the power of water can do…
Maryland ?
Either Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay by William Warner or Chesapeake by James Michener
Gene Stratton Porter’s nature books and fiction books written in Indiana.
Time’s Witness, Michael Malone – set in North Carolina
The Grapes of Wrath
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts.
Under The Banner of Heaven. I live in Utah.
I really like that one, too! But I had to go with Executioner’s Song for my favorite Utah book.
On the Banks of Plum Creek: Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Betsy and Tacy Series: Maud Hart Lovelace, Duma Key: Stephen King (briefly)
News of the World by Paulette Jiles. Texas.
The Monkeewrench mysteries.
The Life We Bury-Eskens (Minnesota)
“A Land Remembered” Patrick Smith for Florida
One of The Best Books ever written about Florida!
The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O’Brien by Oscar Hijuelos a family saga about an Irish & Cuban American family in Pennsylvania.
<3 Snow Falling On Cedars <3 (Washington State)
Run, Rabbit and the other Rabbit books.
Anatomy of a Murder (Michigan) by Robert Traver.
The firm
Mississippi Greg Iles The Bone Tree Trilogy
John Grisham Books
Tangerine
which tangerine?
@Sandra the one by Edward Bloor…I read it aloud to my fourth graders and he actually came and spent the day in my classroom talking to my students about what authors do.
I taught that book for several years with 7th graders. It was always. Favorite part of the year and my students still mention it when they see me out 10+ years later!
The only (fictional) Alabama book I can think of is To Kill A Mockingbird, and it is shoved down our throats so much that I really can’t stand it.
Haha… so funny that my post immediately follows yours! ?
@Ami Great minds!!
@Kristie ??
I’m not from Alabama but I love Rick Bragg’s books. All Over But The Shoutin was awesome
@Jean I love those, too.
To Kill a Mockingbird ?
Christy
Texas by James Michener
The Dollmaker, True North, The Feast of Love – Michigan
NATIVE SON by Richard Wright, DANDELION WINE by Ray Bradbury
Just finished Dandelion Wine and feel sure I will read it more! So loved it!
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It’s fantastic!
I love this book! ?❤️
@Janet Me too!
Gone Girl, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Winter’s Bone .
The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler
Sunburn
The Outsiders in Oklahoma
A Winters Tale
“Leaphorn and Chee” Navajo police series by Tony Hillerman
I have several of his books!! Love him.
The Executioner’s Song
Great question! I really need to think about it!
this was a very different book but very enjoyable!
Anything by Gene Stratton Porter, Kurt Vonnegut, or Booth Tarkington. (Sorry, John Green!)—Indiana
Tennessee: The Tall Woman by Wilma Dykeman;
Also, the Body Farm series by Jefferson Bass
Little house on the prairie
Kansas
Please post your state—I’m reading a book from each. Almost finished with all 50, but still compiling a list!
If you have a list, I would enjoy seeing it. I am in my second year of teaching American literature and have thought of using books from different states with students.
@Tanya —another woman after my own heart! I’m a former teacher. ❤️Message me on Messenger! It may be a couple of days before I get my notes in order, but I’d be glad to share!!
I would love your list too!
@Debbie Thank you!
@Tanya I just sent some info on messenger. Let me know if you have any probs accessing it.
You should just share the list publicly; I want to see it too!
Angie Lisle Face palm! I sort of melded the lists from these two sites–https://www.southernliving.com/culture/books-to-read-all-50-states
@Debbie I sent you a message!
The other list is from mental http://floss.com/—search Google for their “Most Famous Book Set in Each State” article.
The Living by Annie Dillard
The Outsiders. Although Ready Player One is also on the list.
Oklahoma
A Confederacy of Dunces
Washington – Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, Folly by Laurie King, Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown.
Ordinary Grace by Kent Krueger and most of the John Sanford books and, of course, Tim O’Brien’s In the Lake of the Woods.
The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy — SC
I love this book! ?❤️
One of my favorite books! When they made the movie “Conrack” my brother was involved in helping set up some filming.
@Gretchen – Very cool!
@Janet , I only wish I’d known it while it was happening! The scenes where they took all the kids trick or treating…maybe they said in Charleston…were actually filmed on St. Simons Island, and he was the president of the chamber of commerce in those days. He also got to know Eugenia Price during his time there after she wrote her trilogy. Very cool time to live there!
@Gretchen – We love the Southeast and have visited St. Simons and Daufuskie islands. Beautiful places! Found both Ms. Price and Mr. Conroy’s gravesites ?
@Janet, how exciting for you! The barrier islands and lowcountry have a unique beauty for sure.
So Big by Edna Ferber Illinois
True Grit
Nights in Rodanthe
The Diane Mott Davidson books
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Gone with the Wind.
I loved Wilma Dykeman’s works, but my favorite book set in Tennessee is probably A Widow of the South by Robert Hicks.
Oh, I forgot Christy by Catherine Marshall!
The River Why
I also loved The Brothers K
The Wizard of Oz
Kansas, Munchkinland or The Emerald City? ??
Depends on the mood ?
The Boys in the Boat
State of Washington!
Hearts of Men (Wisconsin)
All of Wally Lamb’s books. (Set in Connecticut)
To the Stars Through Difficulties by Romalyn Tilghman
I’m sure there are others, but the most recent: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Ohio)
A Knight of Another Sort by Gary De Neal. Tells the story of gangster Charlie Birger during Prohibition.
Dust and Roses by Wes Brummer
Last of the Mohicans
Cannery Row.
Gone With The Wind
The Yearling
Most books by Patricia Cornwall.
A Land Remembered, by Patrick D. Smith (Florida)
I live in Louisiana- hard to choose… So many books take place in New Orleans lol…
I have never been to your home state but Anne Rice made me fall in love with New Orleans. I will someday go!
True
I read this book by Yukio Mishima while attending UT Austin. I read it in translation.
Ordinary Grace
The Fault in Our Stars
A Walk to Remember
And Ladies of the Club
Great question!
Snow Falling On Cedars, Hotel At The corner Of Bitter and Sweet, Hoys In The Boat, The Absolutely True Story of a Part-time Indian are all set in Washington State. The hotel at the Corner is still there. I have visited it. You can look down through a piece of plexiglass and view some things left behind in the hotel.
The Razor’s Edge or Devil in the White City.
The Outsiders and The Summer of the Monkys were the two books set in Oklahoma that stand out the most for me.
To Kill a Mockingbird
East of Eden
The Worst Hard Time which is about the Oklahoma & Texas panhandles during the dust bowl.
NC. One Second After by William Forstchen
Winesburg Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring takes place in Wisconsin
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
When Love Walked In
State name would also help if not familiar with the book or setting
Centennial, James Michener
A Confederacy of Dunces–Louisiana
To Kill a Mockingbird (Alabama)
All Over But The Shoutin by Rick Bragg (AL)
Good book!
@Judy I love all his books.
@Jan that’s the only one I read of his but I’ll check out his others. Which one would you recommend?
@Judy All Over But The Shoutin is the story of his mother. Ava’s Man is the story of his grandfather. The prince Of Frogtown is the story of his father. I would suggest either.
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck set in Monterey, CA
@Judy His newest book is more about his mother. The Best Cook In The World: Tales From My Momma’s Table. It’s on my next to read list.
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. Read it around 10-11 years old. He is a well known California-Armenian author and won a Pulitzer prize and turned it down.
@Jan ok thank you! I was visiting a friend in Atlanta and we visited a cute little independent bookstore and it was recommended to me by someone there. Thank you!
@Judy happy reading!
@Jan you too ?
Or The Stand, Stephen King
East of Eden
A Day No Pigs Would Die.
Divergent series..Illinois
Any of Kathleen Earnst’s novels. Wisconsin
A Land Remembered (Florida)
Robert Thornhill’s series set in Kansas City, MO.
The Frontiersman -Ohio
Bridges of Madison County — Iowa
The Yearling – Florida
Winter’s Bones…living in the Missouri Ozarks, this book hits close to home.
Empire Falls by Richard Russo for New York State.
I am from Georgia some have already been mentioned not sure if the Lighthouse Trilogy or other books by Eugenia Price has been noted.
Love this series and her Florida Trilogy! ❤️?
OMG—how did I forget Eugenia!!! What a teller of tales! Thanks for reminding me!?
@Debbie – She also has a Savannah series and Georgia Trilogy
@Janet —yes! I read them years ago and loved them! Probably out of print, but now in my TBRA (again!) list!
I have all of her books in my personal library, have read most of them again.
@Kathy —just added to my bucket list: visit St. Simons Island. ☺️
Jean Stratton Yes the islands including Jekyll and Cumberland would be interesting also. I was raised about 50 miles west of the coast and would go there often to visit relatives.
Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver…
Can’t think of any in Michigan.
Anatomy of a Murder is set in Marquette, MI
The Color Purple
Murder in Mackinac.
Thanks Pat&Mary.
I’ll check them out.
I’ve seen the A.of a Murder movie.
Brown Dog Novellas by Jim Harrison..
@Pat . Thanks:)
Ginny Olson Cole In Nick Adams Stories by Hemingway – The End of Something. Haven’t read the others.
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. Read it around 10-11 years old. He is a well known California-Armenian author and won a Pulitzer prize and turned it down.
To Kill A Mockingbird – Alabama
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. Read it around 10-11 years old. He is a well known California-Armenian author and won a Pulitzer prize and turned it down.
.. Washington State, in the town of Port Orchard .. the “Cedar Cove” series by Debbie Macomber .. the author lives in Port Orchard, and she changed the town’s name to “Cedar Cove”, when she wrote the series.
A Land Remembered – Florida
Sweet Promised Land, laxalt/Nevada
A Land Remembered – Florida
We wrote the same thing at the exact same time! ?
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. A well known California-Armenian author who once won the Pulitzer prize. Read it around 10-11 years old.
Plainsong by Kent Haruf for Colorado
Love that book and Eventide.
Our Souls at Night is also really good. And, the movie, with Redford and Fonda wasn’t bad either (of course never as good as the book).
The Scarlet Letter
Tony Hillerman…
Since not alot to choose from – ready player one- ohio
Gone with the Wind ♥️
Gone with the wind!!
The Guardian by Nicolas Sparks – NC
Living in Delaware, there isn’t many to choose from!
The Halloween Tree.
This Boy, by F. Mark Granato, CT
Tonight in the Rivers of Pittsburgh, is the first of a great mystery trilogy.
Here’s another I just thought of that’s pretty good!
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston. Amazing.
Also Barracoon
@Debbie As much as I love “Their Eyes Were Watching God” – and I used to read it once or twice a year – I have never read anything else by Zora Neal Hurston. I will check this out, thank you!
@Rebecca I actually loved it more than “Eyes.” The backstory: publishers insisted that Hurston anglicize the dialect of the gentleman dubbed “the last black cargo” of the slave trade. She refused, insisting that to anglicize his speech would detract immensely from the overall effect of the work. She was exactly right. Consequently, the manuscript lay dormant in the archives of Howard University until Deborah Plant recently approached Harper Collins about publishing the posthumous work. It is simply astounding. Very, very compelling.
@Debbie Wow. I will definitely read this. Thank you again. And I think I will reread “Eyes” again. It’s been a few years and we just moved from South Florida to Central Florida and it is a world of difference here. I think I’ll pick up some other authors and novels that have Florida flavor. 🙂
…and Ladies of the Club (Ohio)
The Art of Racing in the Rain. Washington
The Shack, Oregon
“The Witch of Blackburn pond “
Connecticut
Homecoming/Diceys Song (Maryland)
Staggerford – set in Minnesota.
Pigs in Heaven, Barbara Kingsolver.
Michael Shaara’s Killer Angels- Gettysburg, PA ??
The Life we Bury by Allen Eskens – MN
Kentucky – Clays Quilt, Parchment of Leaves and The Coal Tatooo by Silas House
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner, WI & VT
Crossing to Safety is one of my favorite books ever!
And the Ladies of the Club, Helen Hooven Santmeyer. Ohio. It is a wonderful book!
It’s long but completely absorbing. Expect to miss out on some sleep.
@Mags How did I ever miss this? Oh, wait! I was raising kids and reading Berenstain Bears (ad nauseum!!!)when it came out. ?
11/22/63 by Stephen King—Texas
Outsiders
Gone With the Wind – Georgia!
Lonesome Dove.
Heart of Darkness
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Gone Girl (Missouri) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Arkansas)
The Rescue by Nicholas sparks
In my “travels,” I got stuck in some areas—esp coal country—and had to make side trips to read articles online. Shout out to you folks in Appalachia. VA-Wish You Well (Baldacci), WV-Storming Heaven (Giardini), KY-The Time of Man (Roberts), regionally, Hillbilly Elegy.
Does it show that I love to talk about my American reading adventure? ?
Little Fires Everywhere
Great fun to look at these. Thanks for including the state
Eatonville and Pahokee, FL Their Eyes Were Watching God
To Kill A Mockingbird. Al.
North Carolina, anything by Sharyn McCrumb.
Arizona: Desert Wives (and/or Desert Wind) by Betty Webb….just read the whole Lena James series.
Betty Webb is an investigative journalist turned novelist. “If Betty Webb had gone undercover and written Desert Wives as a piece of investigative journalism, she’d probably be up for a Pulitzer….” (The New York Times)
But I also love the J. A. Jance Joanna Brady series set mainly in AZ
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/5659.Novels_Set_in_Arizona
Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen Florida
Raney by Clyde Edgerton; NC
Happy Bicentennial to my “homeland,” Illinois. Ray Bradbury–Dandelion Wine, the precursor to Something Wicked This Way Comes. Sandra Cisneros: House on Mango Street.
The Raven’s Gift by Don Rearden, Alaska
New Mexico/Arizona Anything Tony Hillerman….and even his daughter Ann Hillerman’s sequels.
The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers….set in Northern California and back and forth re Yemen. Great book, author, real-life story…
Diana Gabaldon is from my state but the books are set in Scotland.
Great Santini
And The Water is Wide….unbelievable!
Really almost all Conroy
Absolutely love pat conroy
Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson!
Just finished Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson! It was amazing!
Have you read any of her others?
Winter’s Bone
Parchment of Leaves by Silas House, amazing portrait of Appalachia with real people, not stereotypes.
I grew up in Jersey, so I’ll choose Fitzgerald’s first published work, This Side Of Paradise….some parts take place in NYC, where I live now….
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—Missouri
Oklahoma: “Grapes of Wrath”, Woody Guthrie’s “Bound for Glory”, and “The Outsiders”. Two of my favorite Oklahoma authors are Billie Letts and Rilla Askew.
A Land Remembered, Florida.
Too many to list. Lots of books sent in Chicago❤️
Devil in the White City is a great non-fic
“Surface Tension” by Mike Mullin, based in my current town Indianapolis IN. new YA suspense book. Lots of familiar places.
Georgia-
God, Mr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man, a fabulous memoir about Sapelo Island
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil-Savannah
Saving Cee Cee Hunnicut-Savannah
An Hour Before Daylight- very good memoir by Jimmy Carter of his rural boyhood in Plains.
Holes
“o pioneers” & “my antonia” by willa cather <3 also, parts of "the stand" by stephen king (nebraska)
I Sailed With Magellan by Stuart Dybek – it’s a compilation of short stories all set in Chicago. One, “Lunch at the Loyola Arms,” is even set on a block I used to live on.
The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by Kinsella.
Because Bill Bryson grew up in my neighborhood in Des Moines Iowa and went to Roosevelt High School where my child went to school, his book “Thunderbolt Kid” is a favorite, though I like his book about living in England “Notes from a Small Island” even better.
LOVE “Thunderbolt Kid”
Haven’t seen HI weigh in. I’ll proxy: Moloka’i. I must’ve been the only one over 55 that had never heard of a leper colony in Hawaii. Great historical fiction. Blessings to you folks in HI….such a tragic last several weeks.
My book club read Moloka’i a few years ago. I really like the book.
The Grapes of Wrath
A Land Remembered
State?
@Debbie Florida
A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains (Colorado)
Idaho: Educated, Tara Westover
Arizona-These is My Words
Also check out A Beautiful Cruel Country by Eva Antonia Wilbur-Cruce. It’s also set in S. AZ and is a memoir of the author’s childhood near Arivaca.
The Secret Knowledge of Water by Craig Childs
Apparently, the only one I’ve read set in Pennsylvania is The Lovely Bones. I need to work on that!
O’ Pioneers by Willa Cather –Nebraska
Bridge to Terabithia, Virginia. It’s a children’s book. No equally wonderful adult novels set in Virginia come to mind.
NJ Any book by Harlan Coben
I was wondering when I would see jersey pop
Up lol I’ve never read him before.
Great author
The Joy Luck Club
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24611681-at-the-edge-of-the-orchard is set in NW Ohio when it was still the Great Black Swamp.
A Gathering of Old Men – Louisiana
Gilead
Anything by Stephen King 😉
LuAnne Rice novels- CT
Lonesome Dove until my book is published!
The Outsiders
To Kill a Mockingbird (AL)❣️
God’s in Alabama
Ha!
Georgia:
When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin
Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson
North Carolina:
The Serafina Series
Alabama:
Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson
Texas:
News of The World by Paulette Jiles
Chicago:
Dear Mr. Knightley
Also Georgia: Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Burns and everything by Flannery O’Connor.
Oh, girls! Think some more! SC has (RIP) the great Pat Conroy so take your pick: Prince of Tides, Lords of Disciple, The Water is Wide, The Great Santini, I’ll stop there?
Set mostly in Seattle, the J.A. Jance, J.P. Beaumont Mystery Series. Not high literature, but they are what comes to mind. Most of the books that have touched me deeply from our area are more from Oregon or British Columbia, and, of course, I can’t remember any of the titles. Sorry!
I discovered J. P. Beaumont when I lived in the Pacific Northwest in 1987. At that point, he was suffering from “delusions of adequacy.” A phrase which hooked me, and I have read every single Jance book since then.
I’m originally from NYC, and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn has been a favorite since I first read it 50 years ago.
I’m in Maryland – What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman.
Roses
BOTTOMLAND.
So far, from Arizona, The Bean Trees, and
Animal Dreams
And the Lena Jones mysteries by Betty Webb and JA Jance’s Joanna Brady mysteries.
The monkey wrench gang by Edward abbey, plus the lazy b by Sandra day O’Connor. Epitaph a novel of the ok corral by Mary Doris Russell
Wow, how could I forget that one.
A Painted House and Lions of Little Rock- Arkansas
a tree grows in brooklyn
JP Beaumont by Jance in WA and Rex Burns’ books in CO
Shame on me! I haven’t read any for Iowa!! Suggestions anyone?
Bridges of Madison county is the first that pops into mind. Not a favorite of mine, but probably the most beloved by many. https://bookriot.com/2015/03/12/5-great-books-set-iowa/
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley – She won the Pulitzer Prize for this novel.
Yeah im good on that one lol
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Homer Price books by Robert McCloskey
I am a Floridian so I am having a difficult time choosing something by Carl Hiaasen. Probably Stormy Weather, but maybe Star Island. Any of his novels that feature Skink as a leading character. Tourist Season is also a favorite.
Love Hiaasen!
Also John D McDonald’s Travis McGee novels. They’re a bit sexist, but still good mysteries.
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts. Tellico Plains is only a few miles from my town.
The first that came to my mind (New York): http://www.jenniferdonnelly.com/book/a-northern-light/
I don’t live there anymore, but I was born and grew up in Baltimore, I love The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler.
Anyone heard about SC? Where can we find out?
https://www.goodreads.com/places/1117-south-carolina
@Linda Thanks, doll?❗️
PRINCE OF TIDES
@Linda Good one.
Yes and The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. We have a lot of great books set in SC!
Beach Music!
the first that came to my mind was the Left Behind series
A Prayer for Owen Meany.
( New Hampshire)
Lonesome Dove!
Gone With the Wind!!❤️
Georgia!!
A guilty pleasure, but totally enjoyable because I can picture the setting and all of the places mentioned– the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series, in New Jersey.
hard to come up with one from Jersey- maybe one by Diaz-
The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin. Washington.
The Polar Express from Rhode Island.
Tongues of Angels -Reynolds Price -Blue Ridge Mt-NC
I hope everyone puts the state with their title. I’m trying to read a book set in every state. Just a fun way to make sure I’m reading a variety!
A Northern Light
South Carolina: Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy and The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
I picked Pat Conroy for SC as well.
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter.
IL: Devil in the White City
Lonesome Dove: Texas
The serafina series!!!
https://www.amazon.com/Frontiersmen-Narrative-Allan-W-Eckert/dp/0945084919. One in a series that Eckert wrote. Almost entirely Ohio based
Lonesome Dove.
Anything by Wally Lamb, “The Ice Storm” by Rick Moody, “Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates (Connecticut)
The Outsiders!
All the Garth Stein books take place in Washington State. It’s hard to pick my favorite, but A Sudden Light doesn’t require lots of tissues. Jamie Ford books for historical fiction in Washington.
I will be adding these to my list!!
The Bookseller
Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
The Bean Tree by Barbara Kingsolver, and a couple of J.A. Jance series for AZ.
It’s a stretch, but The Wizard of Oz. Kansas
The Stand! I’m not in Boulder, but it’s close! I always thought that was awesome! That book really influenced my life…and reading!??
Great book!!
Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
Shotgun Love Songs
Middlesex-Michigan
So many! The first I remember reading was Farmer Boy in the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Almanzo lived in a small farmhouse outside of Malone, NY, on what is now Stacy Rd. Volunteers keep it going! http://almanzowilderfarm.com/
“Misty of Chincoteague” (Virginia)
I LOVED that book. Read it when I lived in Virginia.
Born in Kansas; living in California?
Roots and Deliverance. In Virginia
one of my favourite books. I live in ontario about an hour from MI
Forgot James Mitchner’s Chesapeake, and Misty for Virginia
Hannah Fowler by Janice Holt Giles Kentucky
meant to respond to Middlesex
Ashes Underwater: The SS Eastland the Shipwreck that Shook the World. Michael McCarthy
Beach Music – SC. Pat Conroy is one of my favorite authors.
News of the World or True Grit.
so favor 2
Lonesome Dove that turned into a movie and
Little house on the
Prairie
Snow Falling On Cedars…Washington State..
Georgia: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
Great book
The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry
Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You, both by Celeste Ng, both set in Ohio. And both are beautifully written.