Regional reading: book picks for each U.S. state
April 24, 2018 8:50 AM Subscribe
This Map Shows The Most Famous Book Set In Every State (Business Insider; sorry-not sorry, Washington; previously) | The Literary United States: A Map of the Best Book for Every State (Brooklyn Magazine; both a map and a vision test) | The Most Popular Book in Each of the 50 States (Scribd, via Parade Magazine, in 2014) | 50 States, 50 Novels: A Literary Tour of the United States (Qwiklit belies its name and provides extra thought in their list) | 100 Books Across America: Fiction and Nonfiction for Every State in the Union (A Reading List for Your Last-Second Literary Road Trip from Lithub, who are good with words but bad with math, as they include a pick per state in fiction, non-fiction, and a famous title) | 50 State Booklist (National Education Association throws out limits and lists 329 titles in total)
Note that the Scribd link is a bit different; it isn't necessarily the most popular book about each state, it is reporting the most popular book among residents of that state.
Am loving the Lit-Hub list - that is solid:
"When I think of Connecticut, I think of Edwin Mullhouse—or rather, I think of a certain kind of semi-repressed, wholly-bored suburban childhood that could give rise to Jeffrey Cartwright, the kind of kid who would obsess over his supposedly-brilliant next door neighbor enough to write his biography after his untimely death, age eleven."
YES. I grew up in rural Connecticut. THIS.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:05 AM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
Am loving the Lit-Hub list - that is solid:
"When I think of Connecticut, I think of Edwin Mullhouse—or rather, I think of a certain kind of semi-repressed, wholly-bored suburban childhood that could give rise to Jeffrey Cartwright, the kind of kid who would obsess over his supposedly-brilliant next door neighbor enough to write his biography after his untimely death, age eleven."
YES. I grew up in rural Connecticut. THIS.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:05 AM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
Ah. Popular in that state.
posted by pracowity at 9:08 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 9:08 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yes, I've conflated books that are based in or represent states and what residents of the state like. In retrospect, I should have left that Parade magazine link out, because it's not the same as the others.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:16 AM on April 24, 2018
posted by filthy light thief at 9:16 AM on April 24, 2018
The Most Popular Book in Each of the 50 States
yikes, tennessee. yikes.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:18 AM on April 24, 2018 [8 favorites]
yikes, tennessee. yikes.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:18 AM on April 24, 2018 [8 favorites]
Yeah. Tennessee's books hurt my soul.
posted by haileris23 at 9:24 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by haileris23 at 9:24 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
In retrospect, I should have left that Parade magazine link out, because it's not the same as the others.
No, it's proving to be an interesting contrast. This is actually a really nice mix - you have some lists that go for the super-obvious approach (The Great Gatsby for New York, Revolutionary Road for Connecticut....) and then some that go out of their way to look up lesser-known options (one list actually differentiates between New York City and New York State, which is a really smart move). And the Parade link gives a perspective on what the residents of each state value themselves, in theory, instead of a list that is about how others see them. It's a good mix.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:26 AM on April 24, 2018 [8 favorites]
No, it's proving to be an interesting contrast. This is actually a really nice mix - you have some lists that go for the super-obvious approach (The Great Gatsby for New York, Revolutionary Road for Connecticut....) and then some that go out of their way to look up lesser-known options (one list actually differentiates between New York City and New York State, which is a really smart move). And the Parade link gives a perspective on what the residents of each state value themselves, in theory, instead of a list that is about how others see them. It's a good mix.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:26 AM on April 24, 2018 [8 favorites]
the Scribd link above is for 2014; 2018 has Tennessee reading The Handmaid's Tale. otherwise it's a lot of self-help, zeitgeisty stuff like RP1, Fire and Fury, Hillbilly Elegy (which, btw, is discussed and criticized in an insightful way here)
posted by runt at 9:41 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by runt at 9:41 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
So, in four years TN went from Tucker Max to Margaret Atwood??
I guess Tennesseein' really is Tennebelievin'!
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:44 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
I guess Tennesseein' really is Tennebelievin'!
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:44 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'd like to lodge an official protest that none of these lists included the District of Columbia. Though I give them props for only including the Wizard of Oz for Kansas just twice.
posted by jmauro at 9:45 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by jmauro at 9:45 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
YES. I grew up in rural Connecticut. THIS.
Can't really argue. It checks out.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:45 AM on April 24, 2018
Can't really argue. It checks out.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:45 AM on April 24, 2018
Hillbilly Elegy (which, btw, is discussed and criticized in an insightful way here)
Also discussed here in this recent MetaFilter post for anyone interested.
posted by Fizz at 9:47 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also discussed here in this recent MetaFilter post for anyone interested.
posted by Fizz at 9:47 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ugh. I hate A Separate Peace almost as much as I hate a Prayer for Owen Meany, which I hate almost as much as Ethan Frome. Stupid New Hampshire. What else do we have to offer? That old phony Holden Caufield and the Da Vinci Code.
posted by ChuraChura at 9:47 AM on April 24, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by ChuraChura at 9:47 AM on April 24, 2018 [7 favorites]
"The Art of Fielding" is an interesting choice for Wisconsin, but it takes place at a school on Lake Michigan, not Superior.
posted by drezdn at 9:49 AM on April 24, 2018
posted by drezdn at 9:49 AM on April 24, 2018
Hmm, well I'm going to rather violently disagree with the Business Insider "most popular book set in Utah". I don't know how to determine the most "famous" book set in each state but I'll go with the number of Goodreads ratings and/or the current Amazon sales rank to at least give a sense of how much any given book is currently being read. Here are the listings with more ratings and/or higher sales rank than The 19th Wife.
In the list below, "ratings" is the number Goodreads ratings for that book and "#" is the current Amazon "Best Sellers Rank In Books" (Amazon Best Sellers can get a bit complicated because there are often several editions, so books with numerous editions are certainly more popular than any single edition's best seller rank indicates):
So I'm going to say they are all far more famous than 19th Wife, in the sense of "well known" and "in demand".
And my actual reason for posting this, is that if looking for something to read set in Utah, I would choose all of the above first and then 19th Wife if I still had some time left over. So take this as your "set-in-Utah suggested reading list".
posted by flug at 9:49 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
In the list below, "ratings" is the number Goodreads ratings for that book and "#" is the current Amazon "Best Sellers Rank In Books" (Amazon Best Sellers can get a bit complicated because there are often several editions, so books with numerous editions are certainly more popular than any single edition's best seller rank indicates):
- A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (242K ratings, # is hard to figure out because there are numerous editions but even just picking three at random it's #132,671, #93,791, and #24,348 - all of which beat 19th Wife)
- Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer (131K ratings, #4652)
- Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey (32K ratings, #4642 + several other editions)
- The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer (16K ratings, #48153 + several other editions)
- The Great Brain (Great Brain #1) by John D. Fitzgerald (15K ratings, #14,186 + other editions)
- The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey (18K ratings, #13,944, #73,121 + several other editions)
- Basin and Range by John McPhee (2K ratings, #29,159, #104,231 + other editions
- Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West by Wallace Stegner (3K ratings, #42,912 + many other editions)
- Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey (#85,001 + several editions)
- The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff (50K ratings, #114,767)
So I'm going to say they are all far more famous than 19th Wife, in the sense of "well known" and "in demand".
And my actual reason for posting this, is that if looking for something to read set in Utah, I would choose all of the above first and then 19th Wife if I still had some time left over. So take this as your "set-in-Utah suggested reading list".
posted by flug at 9:49 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'd like to lodge an official protest that none of these lists included the District of Columbia.
They do! It's just as "Washington, D.C." and not "District of Columbia". I know this because I also immediately check every list of states to see.
Also the most famous book set in DC was The Lost Symbol which I hate-read while living literally across the street from the National Cathedral and my husband was terrified that there would be Segway tours of Dan Brown fans in the area and he would have to physically restrain me to stop me from haranguing them.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:50 AM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
They do! It's just as "Washington, D.C." and not "District of Columbia". I know this because I also immediately check every list of states to see.
Also the most famous book set in DC was The Lost Symbol which I hate-read while living literally across the street from the National Cathedral and my husband was terrified that there would be Segway tours of Dan Brown fans in the area and he would have to physically restrain me to stop me from haranguing them.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:50 AM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
And my actual reason for posting this, is that if looking for something to read set in Utah, I would choose all of the above first and then 19th Wife if I still had some time left over. So take this as your "set-in-Utah suggested reading list".
I... don't understand. is A Study in Scarlet set in... Utah?
'my dear Watson, have you noticed this desperate lack of a good English fog'
posted by runt at 9:52 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
I... don't understand. is A Study in Scarlet set in... Utah?
'my dear Watson, have you noticed this desperate lack of a good English fog'
posted by runt at 9:52 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
I... don't understand. is A Study in Scarlet set in... Utah?
the backstory occurs in Utah; the consequences of it play out in London
posted by thelonius at 9:54 AM on April 24, 2018 [5 favorites]
the backstory occurs in Utah; the consequences of it play out in London
posted by thelonius at 9:54 AM on April 24, 2018 [5 favorites]
That LitHub link is both new to me and awesome. Looking forward to exploring further.
posted by Sophie1 at 9:55 AM on April 24, 2018
posted by Sophie1 at 9:55 AM on April 24, 2018
ah, ok - I should maybe stop relying on my skimming of abridged versions of these stories as a definitive understanding
carry on
posted by runt at 9:56 AM on April 24, 2018
carry on
posted by runt at 9:56 AM on April 24, 2018
These lists are inspiring me to read one book for each state and DC. Now to make the list of 51...
posted by narancia at 9:59 AM on April 24, 2018
posted by narancia at 9:59 AM on April 24, 2018
Stephanie Meyer doesn't even live in Washington! Why she gotta ruin my home state's rep like that?!
Let's see what my current state gets... Ctrl-F Virginia... whelp, I'm gonna be depressed for the rest of the day, thanks.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:59 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Let's see what my current state gets... Ctrl-F Virginia... whelp, I'm gonna be depressed for the rest of the day, thanks.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:59 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
I helped my favorite librarian create an interactive map of contemporary fantasy by state.
#selfplug ?
posted by art.bikes at 10:02 AM on April 24, 2018 [5 favorites]
#selfplug ?
posted by art.bikes at 10:02 AM on April 24, 2018 [5 favorites]
Alaska's is a bit on the nose.
posted by soren_lorensen at 10:06 AM on April 24, 2018
posted by soren_lorensen at 10:06 AM on April 24, 2018
>I... don't understand. is A Study in Scarlet set in... Utah?
If you recall, Study in Scarlet was the first Sherlock Holmes novel. So had some characteristics that were not really followed up on in the succeeded Sherlock Holmes stories.
Anyway, the entirety of Part II: "The Country of the Saints" of The Study in Scarlet is set in Utah. It is a fairly long, murderous rampage involving polygamy, Danites, Brigham Young, etc.
Once the Sherlock Holmes books became famous, "A Study in Scarlet became instrumental in shaping the international image of Utah and Mormons."
You can read the Wikipedia Summary of Part II here or full text here.
I believe that many editions of Study in Scarlet omit Part II or simply summarize it briefly--the first Sherlock Holmes edition I read followed that convention. So that is one reason you might not be aware of it.
posted by flug at 10:09 AM on April 24, 2018 [10 favorites]
If you recall, Study in Scarlet was the first Sherlock Holmes novel. So had some characteristics that were not really followed up on in the succeeded Sherlock Holmes stories.
Anyway, the entirety of Part II: "The Country of the Saints" of The Study in Scarlet is set in Utah. It is a fairly long, murderous rampage involving polygamy, Danites, Brigham Young, etc.
Once the Sherlock Holmes books became famous, "A Study in Scarlet became instrumental in shaping the international image of Utah and Mormons."
You can read the Wikipedia Summary of Part II here or full text here.
I believe that many editions of Study in Scarlet omit Part II or simply summarize it briefly--the first Sherlock Holmes edition I read followed that convention. So that is one reason you might not be aware of it.
posted by flug at 10:09 AM on April 24, 2018 [10 favorites]
In a similar vein to the lengthy Study in Scarlet section set in Utah is the section of Mark Twain's Roughing It that covers Utah and the Mormons.
FWIW Roughing It is currently at #63,136 at Amazon (plus it has a ton of editions) so it beats 19th Wife by a huge margin as well.
Twain devotes several chapters to the Mormons (full text here, short summary here) and they are pretty brutal but also pretty funny.
The whole book is well worth reading if you're interested in Twain or the "pioneer period" of the American West.
posted by flug at 10:16 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
FWIW Roughing It is currently at #63,136 at Amazon (plus it has a ton of editions) so it beats 19th Wife by a huge margin as well.
Twain devotes several chapters to the Mormons (full text here, short summary here) and they are pretty brutal but also pretty funny.
The whole book is well worth reading if you're interested in Twain or the "pioneer period" of the American West.
posted by flug at 10:16 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
This Arkansan is not convinced that John Grisham's 'A Painted House' is more famous than 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.'
posted by box at 10:19 AM on April 24, 2018
posted by box at 10:19 AM on April 24, 2018
Huh. Didn't realize that A Bridge to Terebitha was set in Virginia, despite the fact I read it growing up there.
posted by tavella at 10:22 AM on April 24, 2018
posted by tavella at 10:22 AM on April 24, 2018
Curious about the methodology for the Business Insider rankings. I feel like (for FL) The Yearling is far more popular than Hemingway's novel. They were published at around the same time and The Yearling way outdid Hemingway's numbers. women authors just can't get a break eh?
posted by dis_integration at 10:29 AM on April 24, 2018
posted by dis_integration at 10:29 AM on April 24, 2018
> This Arkansan is not convinced that John Grisham's 'A Painted House' is more famous than 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.'
FWIW at Amazon A Painted House is at #41,078 and #281,458.
Whereas Caged Bird Sings is at #1,101 and #91,583.
That is the two most popular editions for both.
So yeah--one of those two is like many, many times more famous--or at least, more popular--than the other.
posted by flug at 10:30 AM on April 24, 2018
FWIW at Amazon A Painted House is at #41,078 and #281,458.
Whereas Caged Bird Sings is at #1,101 and #91,583.
That is the two most popular editions for both.
So yeah--one of those two is like many, many times more famous--or at least, more popular--than the other.
posted by flug at 10:30 AM on April 24, 2018
West Egg!
posted by cazoo at 10:34 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by cazoo at 10:34 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm ok with The Wizard of Oz for Kansas, but was expecting it to be In Cold Blood.
posted by lagomorphius at 10:53 AM on April 24, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by lagomorphius at 10:53 AM on April 24, 2018 [4 favorites]
It is worse
It probably settles down to, like, Microserfs or some other Copeland past that point.
posted by Artw at 10:56 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
It probably settles down to, like, Microserfs or some other Copeland past that point.
posted by Artw at 10:56 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
If you recall, Study in Scarlet was the first Sherlock Holmes novel. So had some characteristics that were not really followed up on in the succeeded Sherlock Holmes stories.
Until ACD got the urge to write a western again with The Valley of Fear.
I would have thought that more people have read Of Mice and Men than East of Eden because it is shorter and it is assigned reading in many schools. The over the top misogyny in East of Eden has made it less popular on school reading lists.
posted by betweenthebars at 11:46 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Until ACD got the urge to write a western again with The Valley of Fear.
I would have thought that more people have read Of Mice and Men than East of Eden because it is shorter and it is assigned reading in many schools. The over the top misogyny in East of Eden has made it less popular on school reading lists.
posted by betweenthebars at 11:46 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Currently reading Michener’s Hawaii, and just finished a chapter that was nearly 300 pages long. I'm enjoying it, but I may need a vacation from my vacation book. The publisher should award merit badges to anyone who gets through the whole thing.
posted by roger ackroyd at 11:58 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by roger ackroyd at 11:58 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
one list actually differentiates between New York City and New York State, which is a really smart move
My prayers have been answered!
I had a fit of regional pride a couple years ago and hatched an Upstate Reading Project except it was too brutally depressing to continue. I had big plans to hit, you know, Rule of the Bone, Nobody's Fool, Ironweed, lighten things up a little with The Monsters of Templeton, maybe slog through some James Fenimore Cooper. I made it through Legs and gave the hell up.
I live in Hawai'i now.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 11:58 AM on April 24, 2018 [6 favorites]
My prayers have been answered!
I had a fit of regional pride a couple years ago and hatched an Upstate Reading Project except it was too brutally depressing to continue. I had big plans to hit, you know, Rule of the Bone, Nobody's Fool, Ironweed, lighten things up a little with The Monsters of Templeton, maybe slog through some James Fenimore Cooper. I made it through Legs and gave the hell up.
I live in Hawai'i now.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 11:58 AM on April 24, 2018 [6 favorites]
My vote for the best book set in RI is The Red Tree by Caitlín Kiernan. Come for the excellent unbelieving description of an RI summer; stay for the unreality and horror.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:20 PM on April 24, 2018
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:20 PM on April 24, 2018
stay for the unreality and horror
Must have been written about the noted period in Rhode Island history when I was in high school
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:25 PM on April 24, 2018
Must have been written about the noted period in Rhode Island history when I was in high school
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:25 PM on April 24, 2018
We New Yorkers do like our pee, indeed we do.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:36 PM on April 24, 2018
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:36 PM on April 24, 2018
As Business Insider listcicles go, the first link wasn’t bad in terms of the books chosen. But I have to laugh at the Cliff’s Notes/Wikipedia synopses. Especially this description of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: “However, the two are preoccupied and saddened by what they perceive as the decline of 1960s American pop culture, and begin experimenting with drugs.”
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.
Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.
Experimenting?
posted by TedW at 12:37 PM on April 24, 2018 [5 favorites]
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.
Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.
Experimenting?
posted by TedW at 12:37 PM on April 24, 2018 [5 favorites]
And moving north of the border we have:
- PEI: Anne of Green Gables, obvy
- Quebec: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, or some other Richler
- Ontario: Uh, Fifth Business, maybe?
- Manitoba: The Diviners or some other "I am on the Prairie and it represents the emptiness of my soul" thing
- Saskatchewan: Who Has Seen the Wind? or some other "I am on the Prairie and it represents the emptiness of my soul" thing
- Everybody else: ???
Maybe someone with better tolerance for Can.Lit. should take over for me,
posted by Quindar Beep at 12:40 PM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
- PEI: Anne of Green Gables, obvy
- Quebec: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, or some other Richler
- Ontario: Uh, Fifth Business, maybe?
- Manitoba: The Diviners or some other "I am on the Prairie and it represents the emptiness of my soul" thing
- Saskatchewan: Who Has Seen the Wind? or some other "I am on the Prairie and it represents the emptiness of my soul" thing
- Everybody else: ???
Maybe someone with better tolerance for Can.Lit. should take over for me,
posted by Quindar Beep at 12:40 PM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
Wait, Farley Mowat has Nunavut sewed up.
posted by Quindar Beep at 12:42 PM on April 24, 2018
posted by Quindar Beep at 12:42 PM on April 24, 2018
> Am loving the Lit-Hub list - that is solid
Yup. I hit this:
posted by languagehat at 1:05 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yup. I hit this:
ArkansasAnd I said damn, a lot of etymology? that's right up my alley, and half my family is from Arkansas, let me check Amazon.... the Kindle edition is 99 cents?! Damn! So I bought it. Thanks for the post!
Fiction: The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks, Donald Harington
Donald Harington is a perfect cult author—not very widely read, but when read, obsessed over, not to mention compared to Nabokov, Faulkner, and García Márquez. Most of his many novels are set in the fictional Arkansas town of Stay More, and The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks (TAO TAO) is a thesis statement of sorts on his entire oeuvre, a self-referential, wordplay-heavy, bawdy, post-modern portrait of Harington’s personal Arkansas and six generations of its settlers, told as an architectural investigation complete with hand-drawn illustrations of the town’s buildings. As Izzy Grinspan put it in The Believer, “There’s a lot of sex in TAO TAO—the Ingledew men are always worrying about their “tallywhackers”—but there’s also a lot of etymology. Harington uses both to answer the central question of TAO TAO, which is the central question of all backward-looking epics: how did things get to be the way they are?”
posted by languagehat at 1:05 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
New Jersey
Nonfiction: The Pine Barrens, John McPhee
Anyone who’s seen The Sopranos knows something about the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, but McPhee’s work uncovers much more—about the ecology and history of the unusual place, a vast silty wilderness in the middle of the state, as well as those who live there, the pineys, who many in the state consider to be “weird and sometimes dangerous barefoot people who live in caves, marry their sisters and eat snakes.” A relatively early example of McPhee’s wonderful writing about place.
He forgot the roving packs of wild dogs, but otherwise this is an accurate description of the rest of New Jersey's idea of the people who live in the Pine Barrens.
On a side note once when my wife and I were driving back from the Shore to hit up the Six Flags in Jackson we ended up driving through the Pine Barrens which she had been unaware existed before and the sight of it immediately prompted her to shout, "What is this witch forest?!" which then led to her introduction to The Jersey Devil via a rendition of my favorite Jersey Devil horror story.
posted by edbles at 1:11 PM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
Nonfiction: The Pine Barrens, John McPhee
Anyone who’s seen The Sopranos knows something about the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, but McPhee’s work uncovers much more—about the ecology and history of the unusual place, a vast silty wilderness in the middle of the state, as well as those who live there, the pineys, who many in the state consider to be “weird and sometimes dangerous barefoot people who live in caves, marry their sisters and eat snakes.” A relatively early example of McPhee’s wonderful writing about place.
He forgot the roving packs of wild dogs, but otherwise this is an accurate description of the rest of New Jersey's idea of the people who live in the Pine Barrens.
On a side note once when my wife and I were driving back from the Shore to hit up the Six Flags in Jackson we ended up driving through the Pine Barrens which she had been unaware existed before and the sight of it immediately prompted her to shout, "What is this witch forest?!" which then led to her introduction to The Jersey Devil via a rendition of my favorite Jersey Devil horror story.
posted by edbles at 1:11 PM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
Experimenting?
Establishing repeatable results and eliminating confounding variables is important.
posted by Artw at 1:13 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Establishing repeatable results and eliminating confounding variables is important.
posted by Artw at 1:13 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
That first list might possibly be the most "famous" books, since I had read most of them, but the second list seemed to have better books. The third list was strange, although to be fair, just because you live in a state doesn't mean you have to read about it. The third list includes some older books; I bookmarked the fourth list as something to look at more closely later, and there's nothing wrong with the fifth list.
Still, Michigan gets a raw deal. The second list gives us Elmore Leonard, which is good, but most of the lists gives us Jeffrey Eugenides, who technically counts, but I don't think would give an out-of-stater a clue about the state. I would have picked "Brown Dog" by Jim Harrison, or a different Leonard book "City Primeval".
Snarl Furillo: yeah, upstate New York literature can be grim, but for sheer delight you need to read books set in Ithaca: "Pnin" or "Pale Fire" by Vladimir Nabokov; "Been down so long it looks up to me" by Richard Farina, and "The War between the Tates" by Allison Lurie.
posted by acrasis at 3:36 PM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
Still, Michigan gets a raw deal. The second list gives us Elmore Leonard, which is good, but most of the lists gives us Jeffrey Eugenides, who technically counts, but I don't think would give an out-of-stater a clue about the state. I would have picked "Brown Dog" by Jim Harrison, or a different Leonard book "City Primeval".
Snarl Furillo: yeah, upstate New York literature can be grim, but for sheer delight you need to read books set in Ithaca: "Pnin" or "Pale Fire" by Vladimir Nabokov; "Been down so long it looks up to me" by Richard Farina, and "The War between the Tates" by Allison Lurie.
posted by acrasis at 3:36 PM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
Walden for Massachusetts? Really?
I'd wager that Make Way for Ducklings and Infinite Jest are more famous, these days. Hell, maybe even Johnny Tremain.
What about The Scarlet Letter? The Bell Jar? The Handmaid's Tale?!
Walden is the lazy choice, one that's been cribbed from list after list when they make these sort of features. I won't argue that it isn't quintessentially Massachusetts, but it's definitely not "the most famous book set in Massachusetts."
posted by explosion at 3:41 PM on April 24, 2018
I'd wager that Make Way for Ducklings and Infinite Jest are more famous, these days. Hell, maybe even Johnny Tremain.
What about The Scarlet Letter? The Bell Jar? The Handmaid's Tale?!
Walden is the lazy choice, one that's been cribbed from list after list when they make these sort of features. I won't argue that it isn't quintessentially Massachusetts, but it's definitely not "the most famous book set in Massachusetts."
posted by explosion at 3:41 PM on April 24, 2018
It's when I encounter lists like this that I regret living in Washington. So...much...scrolling (I read a lot on mobile, so Ctrl-F Washington isn't always a good option).
Six or seven years ago I decided to see if Twilight was really as bad as everyone said it was. I'd read The Host a year before and was disappointed, to put it mildly. Twilight wasn't half bad, nowhere near as bad as I anticipated and better than The Host. I think the movies may have ruined its reputation. It left me with no desire to read any of the sequels, or anything else she's written.
And Stephanie Meyer does live part-time in Washington, in one of my favorite parts of the state, the Port Townsend area.
posted by lhauser at 7:17 PM on April 24, 2018
Six or seven years ago I decided to see if Twilight was really as bad as everyone said it was. I'd read The Host a year before and was disappointed, to put it mildly. Twilight wasn't half bad, nowhere near as bad as I anticipated and better than The Host. I think the movies may have ruined its reputation. It left me with no desire to read any of the sequels, or anything else she's written.
And Stephanie Meyer does live part-time in Washington, in one of my favorite parts of the state, the Port Townsend area.
posted by lhauser at 7:17 PM on April 24, 2018
They do! It's just as "Washington, D.C." and not "District of Columbia". I know this because I also immediately check every list of states to see.
This is a different complaint, in that the city of Washington ceased to exist with the passage of District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871. The city of Washington only existed from 1802 to 1871 and only the District of Columbia is left.
posted by jmauro at 8:08 PM on April 24, 2018
This is a different complaint, in that the city of Washington ceased to exist with the passage of District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871. The city of Washington only existed from 1802 to 1871 and only the District of Columbia is left.
posted by jmauro at 8:08 PM on April 24, 2018
Experimenting?
Establishing repeatable results and eliminating confounding variables is important.
Point taken; I should have emphasized begin experimenting.
posted by TedW at 8:57 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Establishing repeatable results and eliminating confounding variables is important.
Point taken; I should have emphasized begin experimenting.
posted by TedW at 8:57 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
And if we we do go down to New York City, must it be Gatsby every time? Throw in some Edith Wharton or Henry James for a change. Washington #@&®ing Irving, for ©%&!$# sake!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:28 PM on April 24, 2018
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:28 PM on April 24, 2018
Quindar Beep, continuing the Canadian list, and off the top of my head, because the best lists shouldn't need research:
- Newfoundland: The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. So what if she's an American
- Nova Scotia: I just read The Motorcyclist by George Elliot Clarke, set in Halifax in the late 50s and early 60s. A fascinating look at a group of people, Halifax's blacks, we rarely hear about in the rest of the country.
- New Brunswick: Lives of Short Duration by David Adams Richards.
- Alberta: Dance Me Outside, WP Kinsella's first book of short stories, largely set on a fictional (?) Hobbema reserve somewhere in the central/north province
- BC: Obasan by Joy Kagawa, where a granddaughter learns about the expulsion of the Japanese from the coast during WW2.
Quibbles:
- Ontario: The Deptford Trilogy is small-town Ontario. I would say that The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood captures Toronto on the brink of exploding into a sophisticated urban metropolis. Maybe Ontario should get two books.
- Saskatchewan: Half of Richard Ford's Canada is set in a depression-era Saskatchewan, and I think it speaks better to a 21st century audience than Who Has Seen the Wind.
posted by morspin at 11:38 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
- Newfoundland: The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. So what if she's an American
- Nova Scotia: I just read The Motorcyclist by George Elliot Clarke, set in Halifax in the late 50s and early 60s. A fascinating look at a group of people, Halifax's blacks, we rarely hear about in the rest of the country.
- New Brunswick: Lives of Short Duration by David Adams Richards.
- Alberta: Dance Me Outside, WP Kinsella's first book of short stories, largely set on a fictional (?) Hobbema reserve somewhere in the central/north province
- BC: Obasan by Joy Kagawa, where a granddaughter learns about the expulsion of the Japanese from the coast during WW2.
Quibbles:
- Ontario: The Deptford Trilogy is small-town Ontario. I would say that The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood captures Toronto on the brink of exploding into a sophisticated urban metropolis. Maybe Ontario should get two books.
- Saskatchewan: Half of Richard Ford's Canada is set in a depression-era Saskatchewan, and I think it speaks better to a 21st century audience than Who Has Seen the Wind.
posted by morspin at 11:38 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
And if we we do go down to New York City, must it be Gatsby every time? Throw in some Edith Wharton or Henry James for a change. Washington #@&®ing Irving, for ©%&!$# sake!
Tom Wolfe?
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:10 AM on April 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Tom Wolfe?
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:10 AM on April 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
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It could be worse.
posted by Artw at 9:02 AM on April 24, 2018