50 States, 50ish Books
I selected a book per state. Some books take place in the state (Winter’s Bone) some are written by an author who lives in a specific place (Margaret Atwood for Toronto, Canada).
In some states I couldn’t just choose one, so there are multiple listed.
The word “AUDIO” means I listened to it.
What are your favorites?
Alabama AUDIO
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Fannie Flagg, 400 pages
Alaska AUDIO
The Great Alone
Kristin Hannah, 576 pages
Arizona AUDIO
The Devil’s Highway
Luis Alberto Urrea, 272 pages
Arkansas
True Grit
Charles Portis, 240 pages
California
Big Sur
Jack Kurouac, 256 pages
I am Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson, 300 pages
Noir
Christopher Moore, 352 pages
There, There
Tommy Orange, 304 pages
Colorado
The Revenant
Michael Punke, 272 pages
Connecticut
The Stepford Wives
Ira Levin, 144 pages
Delaware
West of Rehobath
Alexs D. Pate, 256 pages
Florida
Florida
Laruen Groff, 288 pages
Georgia
Leaving Atlanta
Tayari Jones, 272
Hawaii
Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers
Lois-Ann Yamanaka, 320 pages
Idaho
Educated AUDIO
Tara Westover, 352 pages
Illinois
Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury, 288 pages
Indiana
The Sirens of Titan
Kurt Vonnegut, 336 pages
Iowa
Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid AUDIO
Bill Bryson, 270 pages
Kansas
Dodge City AUDIO
Tom Clavin, 480 pages
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote, 343 pages
Kentucky
Icy Sparks AUDIO
Gwyn Hyman Rubio, 308 pages
Louisiana
A Lesson Before Dying
Ernest J. Gaines, 256 pages
Maine
Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout, 336 pages
Olive, Again AUDIO
Elizabeth Strout, 304 pages
Maryland AUDIO
Kindred
Octavia E. Butler, 264 pages
Massachusetts
Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom, 191 pages
Michigan
Bird Box
Josh Malerman, 260 pages
Detroit: A Play (script)
Lisa D’Amour, 112 pages
Minnesota
The Life We Bury
Allen Eskens, 303 pages
Mississippi
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner, 261 pages
Missouri
Winter’s Bone
Daniel Woodrell, 224 pages
Montana
A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
Norman Maclean, 240 pages
Nebraska
The Magicians Assistant AUDIO
Ann Patchett, 357
Nevada
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas AUDIO
Hunter S. Thompson, 204 pages
New Hampshire
A Separate Peace
John Knowles, 204 pages
New Jersey
Be More Chill (YA)
Ned Vizzini, 287
New Mexico
Fire on the Mountain AUDIO
Edward Abbey, 208 pages
New York
If Beale Street Could Talk
James Baldwin, 197 pages
Let the Great World Spin AUDIO
Colum McCann, 375 pages
North Carolina
Where the Crawdads Sing AUDIO
Delia Owens, 384 pages
North Dakota
The Horizontal World: Growing Up in the Middle of Nowhere
Debra Marquart, 304
Ohio
Cherry AUDIO
Nico Walker, 336
Oklahoma
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
David Grann, 400 pages
Oregon
My Abandonment
Peter Rock, 240 pages
Pennsylvania
Rabbit, Run
John Updike, 336 pages
Sweat (play script)
Lynn Nottage, 144 pages
Rhode Island
Something Upstairs (YA)
Avi, 144 pages
South Carolina
Saints at the River
Ron Rash, 237 pages
South Dakota
Ceremonies of the Damned (poetry)
Adrian C. Louis, 71 pages
Tennessee AUDIO
A Death in the Family
James Agee, 310 pages
Texas
Galveston
Nic Pizzolatto, 276 pages
The Last Picture Show
Larry McMurtry, 246 pages
No Country For Old Men AUDIO
Cormac McCarthy, 309 pages
Utah
When the Emperor Was Divine AUDIO
Julie Otsuka, 160
Vermont
A Stranger in the Kingdom
Howard Frank Mosher, 432 pages
Virginia
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America AUDIO
Beth Macy, 400 pages
Washington
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian (YA)
Sherman Alexie, 229 pages
Washington D.C.
Lost in the City
Edward P. Jones, 288 pages
West Virginia
Strange as this Weather Has Been
Ann Pancake, 360 pages
Wisconsin
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City AUDIO
Matthew Desmond, 448 pages
Wyoming
Close Range
Annie Proulx, 285 pages
Other Countries
Montreal
Lullabies for Little Criminals
Heather O’Neill, 368 pages
Toronto
The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood, 311 pages
Juarez, Mexico
Don’t Send Flowers
Martin Solares, 288 pages
Havana, Cuba
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway, 128 pages
