Reading Road Trip (U.S. Edition)

[Michelle]

Jessica, the original founder of the 2015 PopSugar Challenge group that our group was born from, started another group called Reading Road Trip. It never really got off the ground but it was a great idea. In the same vein as the Around the World Challenge you attempt to read a book for each of the 50 states.

This challenge could very easily be applied to other countries/areas if anyone wants to take up that mantle. I'm obviously most familiar with the states in my own country so I'm calling this the U.S. Edition.

You can choose whatever timeframe to complete this as you're comfortable with. You can make it an ongoing challenge that you complete casually or try to do it in a year... whatever works for you.

As with the Around the World Challenge, please use this thread for discussion, recommendations, etc. If you want a place to post your personal progress on this challenge, head on over to the Infinity and Beyond folder and start a new topic/add to your existing topic.

U.S. States (Total: 51)
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachussetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
MIssouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
Washington D.C.
West Virginina
Wisconsin
Wyoming

BONUS!
U.S. Territories (Total: 5)
American Samoa
Guam
North Mariana Islands
Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands

[Katie]

Love this. I tried to do this 2 years ago but lost steam. I should add it back to my mega spreadsheet.

[Michelle]

Me too! But I figured I'd start it up again since I'm starting the Around the World Challenge again. I'm doing both very casually. :) I'd love if someone did a U.K. one!

[Emily]

I'm doing a challenge sort of like this that I found with books listed with the states. Good idea for the bonus territories!!

[Pam]

You guys are killing me with all of these challenges! I'm going to track this one, too. Why not?! The book I'm reading right now, The Sparrow, which is fabulous, is set partially in Puerto Rico.

[Tracy, Constellation Mod]

For Connecticut try a book by Wally Lamb!!

[Bryony, Circumnavigation Mod]

Emm wrote: "Me too! But I figured I'd start it up again since I'm starting the Around the World Challenge again. I'm doing both very casually. :) I'd love if someone did a U.K. one!"

I’m sort of tempted to try a UK one... I guess choosing a book from each county would be the closest thing to every state in the US, but even deciding which list of counties to use is a bit confusing.

[Michelle]

I suppose you could add the British Overseas Territories but finding books for some of those places would be very challenging.

[Katie]

I want to do one for Canadian provinces and territories as well.

[Michelle]

Oh, yeah! That would be cool.

[Cheri]

Well this is crazy! I promised myself not to overdo the challenges this year, but they can be so tempting. I've considered doing something like this somewhat informally, listing where all my books are from. Sometimes I'm not sure how to classify -- book setting, author's home state/country. How do you guys do it?

[Michelle]

I will track mine by book setting because I like the idea of "taking a journey" through the magic of books. I know there are some who are doing it by author. I think it is totally up to you what you want to do.

[Bryony, Circumnavigation Mod]

Emm wrote: "I suppose you could add the British Overseas Territories but finding books for some of those places would be very challenging."

I don’t think I’d know where to start finding books for some of them! And, even with just U.K. counties I think I would have to read around 100 books to finish it. I think I’ll keep it on hold until I’ve finally started and completed my around the world challenge.

[Katie]

Cheri, when I did it before, I had 2 spreadsheets for tracking this. On one I tracked a single main setting for each book I read. On the other, I would list the books under each state where there was some action, no matter how minor. Tracking authors would also be a good idea.