50 (or more) Books for 50 States

For me a large part of the travel experience is reading (and food but that’s a post for another day). I always try to have an appropriate book with me to keep me entertained and elucidated on the trip just like I always search out food, beverage and restaurants unique to an area. It’s a lifesaver to bury your head in a good book when your flight is delayed for 3 hours (as happened yesterday, again a post for another day). My State Book Selections have come from several sources: 50 States of Literature, BookClubClassics!, A Bookworm’s Journey, Book Around the States, web searches and my own inspiration. In many instances they overlap. My objective is to read something I may not discover on my own which enhances my journey, ideally the book will enhance my knowledge of my destination.

The BookClubClassics! selection for Tennessee: Run by Ann Patchett, was posted after I traveled to the state, so I did not read it concurrently. Patchett is from Tennessee and a key character is named Tennessee Alice Moser but the book is not set in the state and in no other way makes a reference. I enjoyed Patchett’s Bel Canto (set in South America) and eagerly delved into Run. It’s an incredible novel and I hope that I would have got to it soon but thank you to BookClubClassics! for placing it higher in my stack. I read the book while traveling to Virginia with an unscheduled overnight in Texas so what I really needed was an engaging read, not “all that is Tennessee” so I was thrilled with the page-turning content, though I can’t agree to recommend it as a “state” read. I’ll be looking for anything else by Patchett wherever the setting.

I have blogged the following 16 state books:

Alabama: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Florida: Their Eyes Are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Idaho: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Iowa: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Maine: The Lobster Chronicles; Life on a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw**
Minnesota: In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien
Montana: The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie
Nebraska: My Antonia by Willa Cather
Nevada: Nevada by Clint McCullough*
New Hampshire: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
New York: Wedding of the Waters: The Making of the Erie Canal by Peter L. Bernstein*
North Dakota: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
South Dakota: Little House on the Prairie and The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Tennessee: Run by Ann Patchett
Vermont: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

* I’ve not read these selections.
** I’ve previously read, but not this year

Any recommendations for future state reads are very welcome!