Reading the States: Nonfiction Complete!

In 2014 I decided to read one work of fiction and nonfiction for every state in the nation. I created lists of possible reads for myself (and others) to help. And now, just shy of my 40^th birthday and 10 years after starting the project, I’m done! I just finished my Missouri read and below are the nonfictions books I read for each state.

I tried to always choose books that describes the state or deal with an essential piece of the state’s history. I feel like I’ve learned so much about the country that I didn’t know before I began this.

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: All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg,  The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

Alaska: Into the Wild* by Jon Krakauer
Arizona: Half Broke Horses* by Jeannette Walls
Arkansas: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
California: Freedom Writers* by Erin Gruell, The Soloist by Steve Lopez, A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester
Colorado: Columbine* by Dave Cullen
Connecticut: Me: Stories of my Life by Katharine Hepburn, Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman
Delaware: Promises to Keep by Joe Biden
Florida: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, Marley and Me by John Grogan
Georgia: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr by MLKJ
Hawaii: Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell
Idaho: Educated by Tara Westover, The Big Burn by Timothy Egan
Illinois: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, The Girls of Murder City by Douglas Perry
Indiana: A Fever in the Heartland Timothy Egan, A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
Iowa: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron, The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow
Kansas: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Kentucky: Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
Louisiana: Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum, Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink
Maine: Elsewhere by Richard Russo 
Maryland: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
Massachusetts: Walden by Henry David Thoreau, The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
Michigan: Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom
Minnesota: Under a Flaming Sky by Daniel James Brown
Mississippi: Black Boy by Richard Wright
Missouri: Jesse James, Last Rebel of the Civil War by T. J. Stiles
Montana: Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
Nebraska: The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin
Nevada: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas* by Hunter S. Thompson
New Hampshire: I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson 
New Jersey: The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

New Mexico: American Prometheus by Kai Bird
New York: Tis by Frank McCourt, Here is New York by E.B. White, 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, The Great Bridge by David McCullough, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, Just Kids by Patti Smith
North Carolina: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris 
North Dakota: Grand Forks by Marilyn Hagerty 
Ohio: The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan
Oklahoma: The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, The Innocent Man by John Grisham, Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Oregon: Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, Blue Moon Over Thurman Street by Ursula K. LeGuin
Pennsylvania: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Rhode Island:  Gilded by Deborah Davis 
South Carolina: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
South Dakota: I Am a Man by Joe Starita

Tennessee:  American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham, Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett
Texas: The Liar's Club by Mary Karr, Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
Utah: Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
Vermont:  Wandering Home by Bill McKibben
Virginia: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Washington: The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
Washington DC: Inventing a Nation by Gore Vidal, All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
West Virginia: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Wisconsin: Blankets by Craig Thompson
Wyoming: American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee
Road Trips: Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck, April 1865 by Jay Winik, The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson, Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon, Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose, Roughing It by Mark Twain 

2023 End of the Year Book Survey

I was such a mood reader this year. Instead of sticking to a list I read whatever sounded good or was available at the library. I ran one read along on Litsy for The Once and Future King, but other than that I didn’t tackle nearly as many classics as I normally do. I reread things when I felt like it. I read lots of fantasy novels and books based in areas we traveled to, especially Maine.

Number of Books You Read: 143

Number of Rereads: So many! To Kill a Mockingbird in honor of our new pup, Scout. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Bel Canto, Matilda, Station Eleven, and Our Town were all memorable. 

1. Best Books You Read In 2023
Classics — The Once and Future King, Silmarillion, and Jayber Crow 
Mystery — The Late Mrs. Willoughby, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
Literary Fiction — Go As a River, Tom Lake, Hello Beautiful, and Shark Heart
Nonfiction — A Book of Bees, A Fever in the Heartland, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Do Nothing, and Notes on Grief
Fantasy — Starling House, Divine Rivals, Fourth Wing, Throne of Glass series, Ten Thousand Doors of January, and Legends & Lattes
Play/Essay — Our Town, The Book of Delights, The Wickhams
YA — Where the Rhythm Takes You
Children’s — Hello Lighthouse and All-of-a-Kind Family

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going to Love More But Didn’t?
Somebody’s Fool, The Last Ranger, and The Daughter of Time

3. Most surprising (in a good way) book you read?
Legends & Lattes and  The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
OMG WTF Does the Constitution Actually Say?

5. Best series you started in 2023?
Throne of Glass and Empyrean 

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2023?
Alix E. Harrow, I read both The Ten Thousand Doors of January and Starling House

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
The Book of Delights, I don’t often read essay collections, but I loved this one so much I just bought his new collection.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Fourth Wing and The Lioness

9. Book You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
Tom Lake, I’d love to listen to the audio the second time around.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2023?
The Measure, Fairy Tale, The Ladies of Grace Adieu  

11. Most memorable character of 2023?
Manon in the Throne of Glass series and Satchel from Bookshops & Bonedust

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2023? 
Go as a River

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2023? 
Do Nothing, Chain Gang All Stars

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2023 to finally read?
Silmarillion

15. Best memoir?
Patrick Stewart’s Making It So

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2023?
The Greatest Gift - 65 pages
The Running Grave - 960 pages 

17. Book That Shocked You The Most?
Mad Honey and A Fever in the Heartland

18. Favorite Couple?
Iris and Roman Divine Rivals; William and Sylvie in Hello Beautiful

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship of The Year?
Violet and Tairn in Fourth Wing; Polly and Agnes’ friendship in Fellowship Point

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2023 From an Author You’ve Read Previously?
Tom Lake

21. Best Book You Read In 2023 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else?
Foster

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2023?
Xaden

23. Best debut you read?
Go As A River

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
Fourth Wing and Piranesi

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting and The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America

26. Book That Made You Cry in 2023?
A Heart That Works

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
A Book of Bees

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
Women Talking

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2023?
The Shark Heart and Leave the World Behind

30. Book That Made You the Maddest?
Marmee & Louisa, Bronson Alcott was just such a selfish jerk. It Ends with Us, I wanted to know what the hype was about, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

31. Best Audiobook?
Congratulations, The Best Is Over! I will listen to anything R. Eric Thomas reads! Spare was excellent on audio as well.

32. Best Book to Film Adaptation?
Women Talking

33. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2023?

"In the end, it's not the changes that will break your heart; it's that tug of familiarity." - The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“The laughing snort: among the most emphatic evidences of delight.” - The Book of Delights

"At Auschwitz dying was so easy. Surviving was a full-time job." - Surviving the Angel of Death

“Perhaps a series of small satisfaction scattered like sequins over the texture of everyday life was of greater worth than the academic satisfaction of owning a collection of fine objects at the back of a drawer.” - The Daughter of Time

“I want my life to be like making pottery. I want to enjoy it while it’s happening, not just for where it might get me eventually.” - Happy Place

“I love to watch how the day, tired as it is, lags away reluctantly and hates to be called yesterday so soon.” -
The House of the Seven Gables

“The idea is not that everything should be slower, but that not everything needs to be fast.” - Do Nothing

“Grief is a cruel kind of education. You learn how ungentle mourning can be, how full of anger. You learn how glib condolences can feel. You learn how much grief is about language, the failure of language and the grasping for language” - Notes on Grief

Thanks to Perpetual Page Turner for originating this survey! It’s always so much fun to look at everything I read throughout the year and think about what I loved/hated. 

2022 End of the Year Book Survey

This year was interesting because we spent a lot of it doing major house projects, house hunting, and then moving! After 13 years in our house, it felt like a big undertaking. I found myself drawn to rereading some of my favorites in the midst of the chaos.

Number of Books You Read: 148

Number of Rereads:  LOTS! I reread almost all of Neil Gaiman's books before seeing him speak in May. I also reread a few of my favorites like Lord of the Rings and The Count of Monte Cristo.  

1. Best Books You Read In 2022

Classics — The Count of Monte Cristo (reread)
Historical Fiction — The Rose Code, Lessons in Chemistry, and Love & Saffron

Mystery — The Maid, The Club, The Murder of Mr. Wickham

Literary Fiction — The Shell Seekers and Oh William!

Nonfiction — Essentialism, These Precious Days, The Johnstown Flood, The Good Nurse

Fantasy — Lord of the Rings (reread)

Play — I and You, Poor Clare
Detective Story — The Maisie Dobbs series, Ink Black Heart and A World of Curiosities

Science Fiction — Sea of Tranquility, Annihilation

YA — A Place to Hang the Moon

Romance — Book Lovers

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

Upgrade, I loved his previous two books, but this one was just meh. 

3. Most surprising (in a good way) book you read?

A Christmas ornament of my fav 2022 books from my bestie.

Remarkably Bright Creatures, one of the main POV characters is an octopus, and it was wonderful. 

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

The Snow Child (one of my favorites last year)

5. Best series you started in 2022?

The Maisie Dobbs series, I read the first seven books this year and they are excellent! 

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2022?
Rosamund Pilcher, I read both The Shell Seekers and Coming Home and loved them both.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

Laundry Love, it's literally about doing your laundry, and I enjoyed every second of it! 

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

A World of Curiosities, it had me on the edge of my seat. 

9. Book You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

Essentialism, so many great tips for prioritizing and learning how to say no. 

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2022?

The Cartographers and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow 

11. Most memorable character of 2022?

Maisie Dobbs, Six Thirty the dog from Lessons in Chemistry, and Lucy from Oh William! and Lucy by the Sea

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2022? 
The Sea of Tranquility, I loved it so much I read it twice. 

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2022? 
24/6 made me infinitely more aware of our dependence on being available at any moment and our obsession with our phones.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2022 to finally read?

The Shell Seekers 

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2022?

“I believe that calling myself a Christian means living up to Christ’s example of brave, sometimes shocking love.” - Shauna Niequist

“This had often broken my heart, to realize that you never know the last time you pick up a child.” - Lucy by the Sea

"One must always have adventure in life, or the promise of it, at least." - Last Christmas in Paris

“The work is the pleasure but then always the judgment that can strip the pleasure like turpentine.” - Madly, Deeply

"This is a strange lesson of living in a pandemic: life can be tranquil in the face of death." - Sea of Tranquility 

“It’s really something to return home after a month away. It would seem that the world should have changed in someway, as it to say, out of courtesy, we understand your journey was illuminating insignificant, and because it affected you so, the universe, two, is making a slight but noticeable shift.” - Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2022?

A Short Guide to a Happy Life - 64 pages

The Count of Monte Cristo - 1,276 pages 

17. Book That Shocked You The Most?
A World of Curiosities and Sea of Tranquility 

18. Favorite Couple?

Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache and Fern and "Wally" from The Good Sister

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship of The Year?

Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott (do they count as romantic or non-romantic?) and Alice and her father from This Time Tomorrow

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2022 From an Author You’ve Read Previously?

Troy by Stephen Fry and These Precious Days by Ann Patchett

21. Best Book You Read In 2022 That You Read Based SOLELY On A

Recommendation From Somebody Else?

The Swimmers, it was lovely. Fair Play was packed with tips for balancing the workload in a marriage. 

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2022?

Charlie from Book Lovers

23. Best debut you read?

Becoming Duchess Goldblatt, was just lovely and Lessons in Chemistry was excellent. 

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

Annihilation

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

Shit, Actually (pardon the title), this was a hilarious review of classic movies. 

26. Book That Made You Cry in 2022?

Joan and Imogen's friendship in Love and Saffron 

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Dear Fahrenheit 451, a librarian wrote letters to her favorite and least favorite books and the result was too funny. 

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

The Rose Code

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2022?

Comfort Me with Apples, this story is inspired by a well-known story, but you don't know that until the end. It was so strange, but I'm still thinking about it. 

30. Book That Made You the Maddest?

99 Days, every character made such stupid selfish choices. Ugh. 

31. Best Audiobook?
Happy-Go-Lucky, no one can make me laugh out loud like Sedaris reading his own work. 

32. Best Book to Film Adaptation?

Where the Crawdads Sing, the set of that film was just incredible!

Thanks to Perpetual Page Turner for originating this survey! It’s always so much fun to look at everything I read throughout the year and think about what I loved/hated. 

Photos by me.