20. A book by a local author

[Kate]

I went round and round on this one. I initially thought I would read something by Harold Keith (he is best known for Rifles for Watie, a YA book about the Civil War set in Oklahoma). He always sat in the very front pew of the Episcopal church I attended growing up and I remember thinking it was "so cool" to know a real author! He wrote several other things and I considered them seriously before I settled on re-reading Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. I read it in high school and remember not enjoying it but I'm interested to see what 20 years does to my experience.

[Jennifer]

I just rediscovered that Lois Duncan grew up in Sarasota, Florida so I think I’m going to revisit my teenage years and read one of her young adult novels. Also Stephen King lives part of the year in Sarasota County and even mentions Nokomis, Osprey, and Sarasota in 11/22/63 so that book or another one of his later books I might possibly use.

[Gitel]

Had to expand out to country. Everything I could find by someone in my city was in Hebrew. Couldn't find anything translated into English. Besides, most of it was poetry--definitely not my thing.

[Leanne]

Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding for anyone from Leeds (Yorkshire) in England!

[Sylvia]

I read Fragile Grounds about coastal Louisiana cemeteries. The cemeteries here are basically endangered due to floods and land loss due to water washing away land.

[Kat]

For anyone living in Missouri Lexie Dunne is from St Louis.

[Kym]

Swing Time by Zadie Smith (lives in North London, UK) :-)

[Jackie]

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1 for anyone in the Chicago area; I loved this book. I will warn you though that this is the first of two volumes (it's not really a stand-alone) and the second one isn't out yet. The art is pretty amazing and the story is so good.

[Sally]

As Jane Austen lived locally for a time, I chose Sense and Sensibility. My first Jane Austen, it may be a while before I give her another look.

[Brittany]

The author of Paper Girls, Vol. 1 is from Cleveland if anyone is from around here. the first book is actually set in the Cleveland area.

[Tania]

A couple of choices for people in Central Florida, I ran across two authors from Tampa, Carol J Post - I read Shattered Haven - and Joel Ohman - I read Meritropolis.

[Danielle]

For anyone in South Carolina, a book I just read/found was “The Stone Necklace” by Carla Damron. This book takes place in Columbia (or at least a fictionalized version) and was also published by USC Press. One of the few books I have found based in South Carolina, by a local author that doesn’t take place in the Low Country. I love a good beach read as much as the next person, but was looking for something a little closer to home. I gave it 4/5 i believe.

[Teri]

Shelly wrote: "Wasatch Front, Utah . . .Brandon Sanderson, Terry Tempest Williams, James Dashner, Ally Condie MatchedAlly Condie . . ."

Wondered if I'd find anyone from Utah on here. I read The Maze Runner by James Dashner for this prompt, but others I thought of (or have previously read) are:

Gerald Elias (mysteries with a musical bent)
Brandon Mull (fantasy)
Marie Osmond (memoir/self-help)
Elizabeth Smart (memoir)
Shannon Hale (romance)
Jessica Day George (fantasy)
Gerald N Lund (not coming up in author list) (religious fiction)
Lisa Mangum (sci fi/fantasy)
Stephen R. Covey (self-help)
Richard Paul Evans (religious/fantasy)

Didn't know Ally Condie was from or lived in Utah. Cool.

[Sneha]

I see most comments are from people based in the US primarily, for those in India, I am also struggling with the concept of local, since I currently live in Odisha - I read this book Clouds by Chandrahaas Chowdhary

[Cornerofmadness]

This one was easy for me being an author and in a local writers group. I chose one of my fellow authors' urban fantasy Guilty by Association by E.A. Copen

[Catherine]

I'm really stuck on this. I'm from a small town in New Zealand, and not much published writing goes on here, aside from a couple of artyfarty books which I have no intersect in. I'm not sure how broad to go before it's becoming a stretch to call it local though...

Anyone knowingly read a book they've liked from an New Zealand author? Preferably something not too heavy (I've been been reading lots of super-serious deep stuff lately and need a break). TIA!

[Teri]

Catherine wrote: "I'm really stuck on this. I'm from a small town in New Zealand, and not much published writing goes on here, aside from a couple of artyfarty books which I have no intersect in. I'm not sure how br..."

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

The above is a list of books by New Zealand authors. I looked at the first 300, and I haven't read any of them (so can't recommend anything). I'm a bit ashamed.

I couldn't find a book written by someone in my city either, so I had to go with someone about 50 miles away, to the largest city around.

[Eujean2]

I can't speak to the "local" part of the question, but I read The Whale Rider earlier this year for my book of a movie I have seen & loved it. It is quite short and heartfelt, but didn't feel "heavy" to me.

I read The Bone People quite awhile ago, but I remember loving it too. It had a strong emotional resonance for me, so it wasn't "heavy", but involved.

Sadly, there ends my knowledge of New Zealand literature. Based on how much I liked those two books, I should read more. I am eager to see if other people have recommendations.

[SadieReadsAgain]

I read Larchfield for this, the story of a modern day poet isolated in early motherhood with a premature baby, and also the story of poet WH Auden in the interwar years as he struggles with his homosexuality when it was illegal to be gay.

It was a bit weird reading about my own town, although it was fictionalised. I struggled to get over seeing it on the page, particularly as it was such a character in this book. I actually think it made me enjoy the story less, as I was too preoccupied at picking out inaccuracies/fictionalisations! As someone who loves where I live, it was hard to accept that actually some of it was pretty accurate. Much like many towns, there are pockets of entitled, holier-than-thou types, and I think the author did an amazing job of capturing how vindictive these people can be. Particularly those who position themselves as upstanding members of the community, surrounding themselves with cronies to try and force out those who they think don't belong.

Because for me, more than a story about a famous poet who once lived here, this was the story about how noisy, nasty neighbours can really demoralise and destroy a person's mental wellbeing. Dora's story was the one which spoke to me the most. I actually didn't warm to her immediately, and I found the description of her preterm labour and subsequent maternity care very problematic (inaccurate and fear-mongering, nothing irks me more than irresponsible portrayals of birth and health care...). But I gritted my teeth and stuck with it, and found myself relating to her fragile mental health and sense of isolation. New motherhood isn't always soft focus and happy families, and I thought this book handled that very well. The shadow of living in close quarters with neighbours who are doing everything they can to make her life miserable was so tangible, I wanted to scream for her.

I did enjoy the W H Auden chapters too. I thought it worked really well, having another storyline to focus on and seeing how the two came together in a way I wasn't expecting. I know nothing about Auden, or poetry, so I can't say how well he was captured. But as a character I felt for him and the difficulties he faced.

On the whole, after a rocky start, I really did enjoy this book.

[Laura]

Catherine wrote: "I'm really stuck on this. I'm from a small town in New Zealand, and not much published writing goes on here, aside from a couple of artyfarty books which I have no intersect in. I'm not sure how br..."

Last year for the challenge I read The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, who is from New Zealand. It was pretty good - not an all-time favorite but enjoyable.

[Naina]

For those in the DC/MD/VA area, After Perfect: A Daughter's Memoir works - it's a memoir by the daughter of Tom Prousalis, who was in cahoots with Jordan Belfort. She grew up in McLean, VA.

[Lucy]

I thought this would be easy as I am from Cambridge (UK). But it’s really hard! So I have picked A.S.Byatt’s Angels and insects. She doesn’t live in Cambridge, but went to university here - and that’s tenuous for me! Plus I had in on my bookshelf so win/win!

[Pie]

I was looking at Brian Selznick's bio and it says that he lives in both Brooklyn, New York and San Diego, California. I love his art and I'm excited I can use one of his books for this prompt.

[Tracy]

Cindy wrote: "Wally Lamb was a teacher at one of the local high schools and I Know this Much is True is set in Norwich, CT. It is one of my favorite books- I plan to re-read it."

Yes Cindy!!! I'm from CT too and so excited to read some more Wally Lamb! I already read I Know This Much is True this year, I want to do The Hour I first Believed or We are Water.

[Tracy]

Yay!! Wally Lamb is local. We Are Water

[Tabitha]

I'm just going with "still within the state and within at least under 4 hrs from me" for this challenge. Looks like I'm finally reading:

[Cyndy]

I read Beach Music by Pat Conroy, he lived in the Charleston / Beaufort, SC area before he passed. I thought I had read this way back. What a nice surprise that I hadn't. As with most Pat Conroy books, there are a lot of things happening. This book is set in Italy and in South Carolina. There is death, the Catholic Church, Holocaust impacts, teenage angst, teenage stupidity, and reunion of friendships long forgotten. All of these are beautifully written, but some are difficult to read. Highly recommended.

[Erin]

Redneck, Vol. 1: Deep in the Heart

[Britany]

Finished Florida by Lauren Groff

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...