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

Reading the States: Montana

State: MONTANA

Fiction:
- Montana 1948* by Larry Watson
- A River Runs through It and Other Stories by Norman Maclean
- The River Why* by David James Duncan
- A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris
- English Creek by Ivan Doig
- The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth 

- How to be Lost by Amanda Eyre Ward
- Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
- Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
- The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans
- Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison
- Fools Crow by James Welch

Nonfiction:

- Young Men and Fire* by Norman Maclean
- Bad Land by Jonathan Raban

- Custer Survivor by John Koster

Authors Known for Writing in or about the State:
- A. B. Guthrie, Jr.
- Norman Maclean
- James Crumley
- Rick Bass
- Neil McMahon
- Ivan Doig

Authors Who Lived Here:

- Tim Cahill
- Christopher Paolini

Great Bookstores:

Barjon’s Books
The Bookworks 

Montana Book & Toy Co.

Books I've Read

Photo by moi.

United We Read

For the past five years I’ve been part of a wonderful committee in a smallish community in Indiana. It’s called United We Read (formerly One Book, One Town) and its goal is to choose one book for the whole county to read and then schedule programming that coordinates with the topics or themes in that book.

The committee is made up of a variety of members of the community, one was the town council president, others were teachers or librarians, etc. I was originally invited to join the panel because I was a reporter at a local daily newspaper. I’ve since moved on to a different job, but for some reason they keep asking me back and I love it! It’s like a book club on steroids.

We meet in the middle of March each year and get the list of books (about 15-20). Then we meet again in April and May to discuss the books and narrow the list. Then we hold our final meeting in June when we decide on the book. It can be fiction/nonfiction, long/short; it doesn’t matter as long as it can appeal to a wide audience.

Past year’s selections have been The Heretic's Daughter (Kent), The Nine (Toobin), Montana 1948 (Watson) and The Soloist (Lopez). Each time we try to find a book that offers up some fascinating issues to discuss, isn’t too “literary” (aka boring for people who don’t read too much), isn’t so popular that everyone has already read it, etc. One of the most important things to achieve is to find a book that is easy to schedule programming around. For example, when The Soloist was chosen, the library scheduled classical concerts, a viewing of the film based on the book and a discussion (with experts) on how mental illness is affected by music.

Cities all over the country offer similar programs, including Chicago, Atlanta, Kansas City and New Orleans. How wonderful is that! Not only is it encouraging literacy, it’s also making it a communal thing. It’s bringing people together to discuss books and dig deep into the issues they bring up.

This has been one of the most satisfying book-related things I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in. No, my favorite book doesn’t always get picked. Yes, sometimes people fiercely disagree on whether a book is good or not, but that’s the joy of having 10 or so people from very different walks of life reading the same book. It’s a lot of work to read all of the books as quickly as possible, but in the end it’s worth it.

So I’m curious, do any of your towns offer something like this?

Also, what books would you recommend for this program? Are there any books that immediately come to mind as being appropriate for male/female/young/old readers?