Reading the States: Fiction Complete!

It took me years, but I've finally completed the fiction portion of my Reading the States challenge. My goal is to read one fiction and one nonfiction book set in each state. I try to pick a book that describes the state or really feels like it in someway. Occasionally I'll settle for a book that is just set there if there aren't a lot of options (I'm looking at you Delaware). It's been so fun getting to know each state a bit better through literature. I still have 14 to go on the nonfiction side.

For some of the states I've read multiple books set there and I included a few of my favorites in this list. If you want to see a more complete list of both fiction and nonfiction books set in the state (plus bookstores and authors who live there) check out the complete list here.

Alabama: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Alaska: The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Arizona: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Arkansas: True Grit by Charles Portis (A Painted House by John Grisham) 
California: East of Eden by John Steinbeck (Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler) 

Colorado: Plainsong by Kent Haruf 
Connecticut: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Delaware: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Florida: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston

Georgia: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Hawaii: The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Idaho: Lila by Marilynne Robinson

Illinois: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, The House on Mango Street is Sandra Cisneros)

Indiana: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington)

Iowa: The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Walker (Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella)

Kansas: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Doc by Mary Dora Russell)

Kentucky: Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry

Louisiana: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams)

Maine: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Maryland: The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

Massachusetts: Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

Michigan: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Minnesota: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Mississippi: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Missouri: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Montana: Montana 1948 by Larry Watson

Nebraska: O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

Nevada: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

New Hampshire: A Prayer for Own Meany by John Irving

New Jersey: The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, American Pastoral by Philip Roth

New Mexico: Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

New York: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald) 
North Carolina: Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks (The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver) 
North Dakota: The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich

Ohio: Beloved by Toni Morrison (Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld)

Oklahoma: Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts (August: Osage County)

Oregon: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (If I Stay by Gayle Forman)

Pennsylvania: Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Rhode Island: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

South Carolina: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

South Dakota: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Tennessee: The Firm by John Grisham (An Abundance of Katherines by John Green)

Texas: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (11/22/63 by Stephen King)

Utah: When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Vermont: The Secret History by Donna Tartt (Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore)

Virginia: The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Washington: The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen (Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson)

Washington DC: Heartburn by Nora Ephron (Lost Symbol by Dan Brown)

West Virginia: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Wisconsin: The Story of Edgar Sawtell by David Wroblewski (Loving Frank by Nancy Horan)

Wyoming: Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx

Books to Read via Amy Sherman-Palladino

 

 Rory's love of reading on Gilmore Girls didn't come out of thin air. The show's creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, is a big reader herself. Years ago when the show was still on, Sherman-Palladino release a list of some of her favorite books. It was broken into two parts, classics and newer releases. There were 60 books (120) on each list.

I printed off the list around 2006 and started reading books from it. I discovered so many amazing gems! The list introduced me to the work of Margaret Atwood, Mary Roach, Dorothy Parker, Ann Patchett, Richard Russo, and Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I discovered The Awakening, Ella Minnow Pea, and Middlesex because of this list. Not every book has become a new favorite, but I've gotten something substantive from almost every single one. As I read each book I marked it off my tattered list and checked to see what I had left to read. I still have a few, but I'm running out of her recommendations!

In the comments of recent post on Brick Lane Trish asked me where I'd heard about the book. It was from this list and I realized I should post about the wonderful books I've discovered in the last decade because of it. I couldn't find a single place online where all these books are listed. Honestly, it's been so long since I first found it, I don't even remember where I got it.

So I just scanned my very worn copy of the list that has traveled around with me for years. You'll see a list of 30 Books to Read Before You're 30 on there as well. It also includes a list of Best Picture Oscar winners that I've been slowly working my way through. There's a little list of Stephen King's top 10 audiobooks that ran in Entertainment Weekly years ago. That list is the one that first introduced me to Neil Gaiman's work!

You never know where you'll find a great book recommendation. Before I started blogging this list was my secret key to discovery so many of the authors who are now my favorites, so I had to share it. I'm so grateful for Sherman-Palladino's impeccable reading tastes!

p.s. If you have any questions about a specific book just ask! I'm sure some of the titles are hard to read because of my scribbles and notes.

p.p.s. If ANYONE know how I can watch the movie Cavalcade, please let me know! It's the only movie on my Oscar list that I haven't seen and I've never been able to find a copy of it. 

Jeffrey Eugenides Reading

I recently had the chance to see Jeffrey Eugenides speak when he visited Indianapolis as part of the Butler University Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writer Series. Eugenides has written three novels, all of which I’ve read, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Middlesex.

He read a new unpublished short story called “Find the Bad Guy.” It was about a Texan and his German wife trying to make a marriage work despite a mid-life crisis. Throughout the reading he used accents for each of the characters. It was perfect! Within moments he had the whole audience laughing along with him.

After the reading he answered quite a few audience questions. He talked about his different novels and how each one focused on a different part of storytelling.

The Virgin Suicides – Language and Voice (the “we” voice)

Middlesex – Plot Driven

The Marriage Plot – Character Driven

As his skill as a writer increased he chose to take each book in a new direction. For example, when he finished Middlesex he realized he wanted to write a book that gave the reader a look into the characters’ inner monologue, hence The Marriage Plot.

I loved hearing about the journey that Middlesex took from originally being conceived as a short novel to becoming a mock epic. He thought it would be much shorter when he first began to research it. With each of his books he crafts intricate stories, painting vivid descriptions of his characters’ lives, and infusing the story with humor despite the serious situations.

He also uses pieces of his own life in his novels. His Greek heritage, his travels, his childhood in Michigan, each book bears the stamp of his own life experiences. He spoke a bit about creating the characters in The Marriage Plot. He said that much of that book was based on his time in college. Mitchell particularly had many of the same experiences that Eugenides had in college. He traveled in Europe and India and even spent some time working for Mother Theresa.

Each of his books is so unique and provides a different feel with each new story. Whether you love the books or not, you can’t deny that they make you think and offer you something new and original. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes next.

Photos by me and my friend. 

The Marriage Plot

The Marriage Plot

by Jeffrey Eugenides

★★★★☆

When I read summaries of The Marriage Plot it doesn’t sound that interesting to me. Three Ivy League college kids in the ‘80s graduate and try to figure out what to do with their lives. First there’s Madeleine, a clever girl, except when it comes to love. Then there’s Leonard, the passionate, but troubled man she falls for. Finally we have Mitchell, the intellectual who struggles with the question of faith and his unrequited love for Madeleine. It just doesn’t sound to original. Then I remember who the author is: Jeffrey Eugenides, who wrote Middlesex, which I loved! Suddenly the book is a must read and I know that however simple the plot sounds on the surface, they’ll be a whole different level of depth reached by the end. I’m so glad I Brenna at Literary Musings sent her copy my way!!!

So here’s the things about the summary, it doesn’t capture anything about why the book is good. It misses all of the nuances when you smack a “troubled twenty-somethings” label on it or reduce it to another love triangle book. Sure, there’s a love triangle, but the reason it is interesting is because it’s not really about the love or the triangle, it’s about the people caught up in it and what they’re thinking about life in general, not just love. You’re doing the book a huge disservice if you try to put a simple label on something so complicated. Imagine calling Middlesex a coming-of-age story and thinking that covered it!

The book rotates between all three characters’ lives. I particularly loved Mitchell's parts, where he's traveling and trying to figure out what he believes. I’ve found that when I travel on my own I learn a lot about myself. You have so much more time for internal dialogue and you’re put in situations outside of your comfort zone that test you in different ways. His experiences rang true for me. I also loved reading about Madeleine’s literary pursuits. Eugenides manages to weave dozens of references to classic books and to make those century old plots relevant in the story.

I didn’t love this one as much as Middlesex, but I loved so many aspects of it. I also love reading a book that gives me something to chew on. There were a few parts that became repetitive or lagged a bit, but the amount of literary eye candy I got was enough to balance it out for me. After just reading Middlemarch and The Portrait of a Lady this year, I loved reading a book that paralleled those in some ways.

The book doesn’t have the same epic scale or sense of humor as Middlesex, but it also doesn’t have the same disconnected aloof style of The Virgin Suicides. It feels like a book written by an author who may have found his groove. He can capture characters beautifully and lay them out in a way that is both interesting and accessible. In The Marriage Plot he has created a world that is easy to connect to, but also gives you so much to ponder. His story is about trying to figure out who you are, both in relation to other people and to the world at large. It’s about the unexpected paths your life can take and the people who you didn’t know would one day be important. I know that I’ll be reading whatever he writes next, even if it takes another decade.

"She thought a writer should work harder writing a book than she did reading it."

“There were some books that reached through the noise of life to grab you by the collar and speak only of the truest things.”

p.s. On a side note, I wish the book had a different title or cover because I read this on vacation and it looked like I was reading a marriage self help book. I was reading it while we were waiting to be seated at a restaurant and a waiter came up and asked what I was reading. I told him and he said the title made it sound like a Disney movie about kids trying to keep their parents together.

For some other great thoughts on this one, check out A Thousand Books With Quotes, Literary Musings, Things Mean A Lot, Nomadreader, and Farm Lane Book Blog