List of books for each state

[Jen]

Pairings may have been made based on a) book's primary or secondary setting OR b) author was born, raised, or currently lives in the state. When you post your review, feel free to list why you think the book was paired to a specific state.

Some books have more than one option. You may select which book to read for those states. Other states only have one book so you must read (or reread) that book to move through the state. Here is the list:

Alabama:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Quicksand by Nella Larsen

Arizona:
Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy

Arkansas:
Blind Man with a Pistol by Chester Himes
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

California:
Drop City by T.C. Boyle
World's End by T.C. Boyle
The Black Dahlia by Ellroy
Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion
Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck
Cannery Row by Steinbeck
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Farewell, My Lovely

Colorado:
The Shining by Stephen King|
On the Road (please note this is also a choice for Virginia)

Connecticut:
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Delaware: Free choice. Read any 1001 book

Florida:
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
To Have and Have Not by Hemmingway
Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard
La Bravaby Elmore Leonard

Georgia:
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker
Possessing the Secret of Joyby Alice Walker
Cane by Jean Toomer

Idaho: Home by Robinson

Illinois:
Reasons to Live by Amy Hempel
Pastoralia by George Saunders
Native Son by Richard Wright
The Man With the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren

Indiana:
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace
Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
Breakfast of Champions

Iowa:
Pricksongs and Descants by Robert Coover
The Public Burning by Robert Coover

Kansas: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Kentucky:
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover
Dispatches by Michael Herr
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Beecher Stowe

Louisiana:
A Confederacy of Dunces by O’Toole
Interview with the Vampire by Rice
The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Maine: Cost by Roxana Robinson

Maryland:
The End of the Road by John Barth
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett

Massachusetts:
The Scarlet Letterby Nathanial Hawthorne
The House of the Seven Gabless by Hawthorne
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Ethan Fromeby Wharton
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Michigan:
The Virgin Suicides by Eugenides
Middlesexby Eugenides

Minnesota:
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Babbitby Sinclair Lewis
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Mississippi:
The Optimist's Daughter Eudora Welty
The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner
Go Down, Moses by Faulkner

Missouri:
The Wild Boys by William Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Montana: Free pass: Read any 1001 book

Nebraska:
The Professor's House by Willa Cather

Nevada:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

New Hampshire:
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
The Cider House Rules by John Irving

New Jersey:
The Plot Against America by Roth
I Thought of Daisy by Edmund Wilson
American Pastoralby Roth

New Mexico: Contact by Sagan

New York:
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
Requiem for a Dreamby Selby
The House of Mirth by Wharton
Manhattan Transfer by Dos Passos
The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
Miss Lonelyhearts by West
The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
The Godfather by Puzo

North Carolina:
Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe

North Dakota: Love Medicine by Erdrich

Ohio:
Beloved by Toni Morrison.
The 13 Clocks by James Thurber
The Wonderful “O” by Thurber
The Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White

Oklahoma:
Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson

Oregon:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Kesey
Sometimes a great Notion by Kesey

Pennsylvania:
American Rust by Philip Meyer
The Midnight Examiner by William Kotzwinkle
Run Rabbit, Rabbit Redux OR Rabbit is Rich by John Updike

Rhode Island:
The Marriage Plot by Eugenides
At the Mountains of Madness

South Carolina:
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Invisible Man by Ellison

South Dakota:
Inland by Gerald Murnane

Tennessee:
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
They Shoot Horses, Don’t they by Horace McCoy
Wise Blood, Flannery O’Connor

Texas:
Vernon God Little by D.C. Pierre
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
The Dead Father by Donald Barthelme
Come Back, Dr. Caligari

Utah: Read any 2017 BOTM & post at least 1 comment in the folder

Vermont: The Secret History by Tartt

Virginia:
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Wolfe
On the Road by Kerouac
Timbuktu by Paul Auster

Washington:
Willard and his bowling trophies by Richard Brautigan
Choke by Chuck Palahnuik

West Virginia: Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner

Wisconsin:
Like Life by Lorrie Moore
Anagrams by Lorrie Moore
Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Wyoming: Read any 2017 BOTM & post at least 1 comment in the folder

[Jen]

Starting states include:

Maine
New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New York
New Jersey
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida

[Jen]

You must end on one of the following states:

Washington
Oregon
California

[Jen]

UPDATE: Please note that if you have already read all the books in a given state and you are unable to find a away around that state, you may then select a book on our wishlist to read.

Go to the group bookshelf and you'll see a shelf (on the left hand section) titled "wishlist. There are 129 books on that list. You may select one of those books to replace the state where you are stuck.

However please note that you should first try alternate routes and use flight hubs when possible so that we can have most people reading the posted options.

[Charisma]

Jen wrote: "You must end on one of the following states:

Washington
Oregon
California"

Hi Jen,

I'm still thinking if I can make it or not. We're due to travel to Canada in a few weeks and I'm to read a few books for NetGalley, but I might be interested.

A question: do we skip Hawaii and Alaska? Couldn't find it in the challenge.

[Jen]

Charisma wrote: "Jen wrote: "You must end on one of the following states:

Washington
Oregon
California"

Hi Jen,

I'm still thinking if I can make it or not. We're due to travel to Canada in a few weeks and I'm to..."

Yes, those are skipped. Feel free to join on for a few books. You'll get participation points even if you don't do the whole trip.

How are you? It's been a while. How's life on the West coast? I hope you and your family are well!

[Charisma]

I will check out the map/route/readings tomorrow and will let you know :)

P.S. We're great, but things are super busy most of the time so I just started reading again and am mostly on the select ARC books that have been given to me. Nothing too crazy, but it's a start.

Thanks for reaching out and sorry I haven't been active yet :)

[Diane]

I see the books have changed a bit from the start. Looks like selections for California have changed, more added. I am excited that Cannery Row has made the list.

[Jen]

Diane wrote: "I see the books have changed a bit from the start. Looks like selections for California have changed, more added. I am excited that Cannery Row has made the list."

I added a bunch more since people had read all of them :)

[George P.]

No Utah book- sad for us Utahans.