Task #13: Read an author local to you.

[Book Riot]

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the 13th Read Harder task. Sign up for our new Read Harder newsletter to get recommendations for each task delivered straight to your inbox! https://bookriot.com/newsletter/read-...

[Dione]

Huh. Guess it goes by your definition of local. I'll go with Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. San Francisco is close enough to San Jose for me.

[Katie]

Central Ohio - Hanif Abdurraqib, and Saaed Jones.

[Deirdre]

In case it is helpful to anyone else, there is a NY State author map here: https://www.nyslittree.org/

I will probably read poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay, who lived in my county (Columbia). She was bisexual so this can fit the poetry prompt (#20) as well.

[Shelley]

Someone who works at a bar I frequent wrote a book of its history. That seems pretty local to me.

[Alex]

A teenager in my town published a mystery book that's at my local library, so I'm definitely going to go for that!

[Angela N]

I'm in NE Ohio. One that I started, years ago, was All The Way Home, written by a man who rehabbed a gorgeous old house. He's not far from me.
Connie Schultz is about an hour from me.

There are so many good recommendations in these threads, my TBR is going to keep building up.

[Betty]

Not super local, but in my state (Michigan)

Terminal Alliance and/or Tamora Carter: Goblin Queen and/or Goblin Quest all by Jim C. Hines

[Elizabeth]

Emma Donoghue lives in my city (and she made a big donation to the local public library when they went fine-free!), so perhaps I will finally actually read her stuff. The Pull of the Stars, Room, or The Wonder will probably be what I end up with.

The central branch of our public library has a local authors section though, so if I decide to go with a less well known author I'll probably start there.

[Brittany]

Angela N wrote: "I'm in NE Ohio. One that I started, years ago, was All The Way Home, written by a man who rehabbed a gorgeous old house. He's not far from me.
Connie Schultz is about an hour from me.

There are so..."

I too am from northeast Ohio. If you enjoy graphic novels at all Paper Girls, Volume 1 is one of my all time favorite series and Brian K. Vaughan is from Cleveland. Connie Schultz is actually from my home town. Even though I don’t live there anymore I might give her book a go, pretty sure my mom has a copy.

[Angela N]

Brittany wrote: "Angela N wrote: "I'm in NE Ohio. One that I started, years ago, was All The Way Home, written by a man who rehabbed a gorgeous old house. He's not far from me.
Connie Schultz is about an hour from ..."

Thank you. I don't read them, but I meant to start, with this challenge this year. It's just been a really hard year. I bought "Kindred" in comic book form, when I was looking for something on clearance, and got the prompt mixed up with something else, so I might read that for another prompt next year.
*edit. Oh! Paper Girls, is that Amazon show on my watch list! I will look that one up, thanks again.

[Brittany]

Angela N wrote: "Brittany wrote: "Angela N wrote: "I'm in NE Ohio. One that I started, years ago, was All The Way Home, written by a man who rehabbed a gorgeous old house. He's not far from me.
Connie Schultz is ab..."

I actually really enjoyed the show as well! There’s a lot of time travel involved, but it actually starts in a made up suburb of Cleveland!

[Leona]

These are some I though of right away for Minnesota. Monica Ferris, Joanne Fluke (from Litte Falls and now is in Califiornia last time I checked), Vince Flynn, Harrison Keillor and Susan May Warren. I have not read any of Garrison Keillor but I have books by the other authors.

[Judith]

I live in Hampshire in the UK, so local authors (born here or living/lived here) include Joanna Trollope, Wendy Cope, Patrick Gale, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, so I shouldn't have too many problems finding something to read!

[Melissa]

I live in Massachusetts, north of Boston, and I may either go old-school with Louisa May Alcott or Henry David Thoreau, or more contemporary - Taylor Jenkins Reid grew up 20 minutes down the road from where I live (although she now lives in Los Angeles), and Malinda Lo (Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Ash) and Louise Miller (The City Baker's Guide to Country Living) both live locally.

[Marie]

The most famous authors from every state:
https://www.businessinsider.com/most-...

[Kim]

New Jersey automatically means Philip Roth, who I dislike. I think I'll go with Junot Díaz, who I know is problematic now, but who is from NJ and went to Rutgers (and interned at Rutgers University Press!). I've never read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, so now is my chance. I hear it's pretty good.

[Dani]

I’m in Columbus and a few of my favorite local authors are:
Kristen Lepionka (amazing private detective series, can’t recommend it enough)
Robin Yocum (lots of crime/investigation type stuff)
Ruth Emmie Lang (from Columbus, currently in Cleveland I think? Fun magical wholesome novels)
Margaret Peterson Haddix (lots of middle grade and YA)

The book loft will often feature local authors too if anyone else is looking for Columbus books lol

[Jane]

I live in Homestead, FL (Miami) and am reading If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery. Definitely recommend if you live here!

[Cat]

I live near Boston and the only authors I know from around the area are Louisa May Alcott and Sylvia Plath. Can anyone recommend a more recent author?

[Sean]

Cat wrote: "I live near Boston and the only authors I know from around the area are Louisa May Alcott and Sylvia Plath. Can anyone recommend a more recent author?"

I'm thinking of going with Randall Monroe or Dennis Lehane for Boston area authors.

[Tanu]

How local is local?

Gary Lonesborough grew up down the south coast, but there's authors closer to me than that.

[Erika]

If you're in the Southern Arizona area, Antigone Books has a page of local authors (it might be outdated though, a couple of the authors have released more books since this was last updated. Most of them are still currently local from a cursory Google search): https://www.antigonebooks.com/local-a...

[Melissa]

Cat wrote: "I live near Boston and the only authors I know from around the area are Louisa May Alcott and Sylvia Plath. Can anyone recommend a more recent author?"

I live north of Boston, and according to my research Malinda Lo (Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Ash) and Louise Miller (The City Baker's Guide to Country Living) both live locally.

[Ryn]

Considering either These Violent Delights or The Last Fallen Star (both New Zealand) if I don't go with a book by Gareth Ward, who lives in my town (and runs a bookshop!)

[Robin]

Probably going to read something by B.J. Keeton. I enjoyed the Technomage Archive series and the Nimbus series. I have yet to read the prequel A New Day: A Technomage Archive Novelette so that's probably going to be it.

[Heather]

I'm upstate NY, so I'm planning on reading No Comfort for the Undertaker: A Carrie Lisbon Mystery by Chris Keefer which is a historical mystery. Some other local ones for upstate NY are Jack Nanuq, Rebecca Schmid and Niamh Schmid.

[Chris]

Sarah Smarsh is from Kansas and about my age so I read her book Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth a while back and based on that book, I'm confident she grew up within 100 miles of where I live now. I will read her book on Dolly Parton She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs for this challenge and her book on Kansas history for the less than 500 goodreads ratings challenge.

[Ilze]

I read Mooier as Marilyn by Anita Du Preez. It was a fun read.

[Bobby]

Their are many authors in or from the city of Denton, Texas, where I live. I will probably read “Removing the Danger in a Business Way,” a dissertation by Chelsea Stallings about an incident that happened here. It’s available online on the website of the university where I work: https://discover.library.unt.edu/cata...

An interesting idea for a future challenge might be to read an academic thesis or dissertation.

[Jessica]

I live in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada which means I'm close enough to Toronto to also slip into the bigger pool there, but I'm going to stick even closer to home!

I have an ARC of The Marigold that I'll probably end up reading first (the author lives here, though it's set in Toronto). But I also have Reclaiming Hamilton: Essays from the New Ambitious City and Yardwork: A Biography of an Urban Place that I've been meaning to read. Then The Amateurs is an apocalyptic story that I know is set here (even though apparently the book doesn't explicitly say so), and Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home sounds like a really neat memoir from a local musician.

[Jason]

I will be reading The Other Morgans by Carter Taylor Seaton. I met Carter several years ago at the West Virginia Writers Conference, and she is both talented and genuinely friendly and kind.

[Carole]

I am reading Charleston Conundrum by Stacy Wilder. She lives in a nearby subdivision in the Houston area.

Liz Adams never imagined when she moved to Charleston with her truth sniffing Labrador retriever, Duke, that she would use her skills as a private investigator to avoid winding up on death row.

[Melissa]

I can't believe I didn't think of this before - Jen Petro-Roy is actually a local mom friend who also subs in my daughter's school and in our local library. She's written several highly acclaimed middle grade books. I read and loved P.S. I Miss You but have been meaning to read (and haven't gotten to yet) Good Enough and Life in the Balance. So I'll be picking one of those up for sure.

[Sherri]

I read Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. She lives in Washington County, Virginia.

[Bonnie G.]

NYC is sort of an embarrassment of riches for this question, especially if you count writers who have lived here but no longer do and those who live close but are not accessible by public transportation (I am not counting them) but so far books read that fit this prompt are:

All This Could Be Different
Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution
No One Left to Come Looking for You
Flight

[Briana]

Right, now I'm living in China, so I really want to find an author from here to read (even though it kinda feels like cheating because it's a HUGE country). I might try someone specifically from Hong Kong since I'm close to there. From my research, I found:

Love in a Fallen City
City at the End of Time: Poems by Leung Ping-kwan
Crevasse
Cantonese Love Stories: Twenty-Five Vignettes of a City
TETE-BECHE apparently inspired In the Mood for Love


There were quite a few poetry books, so I think I'll choose one of those as I'm trying to read more poetry!

[Russell]

I chose The London Séance Society for this challenge as the author lives in St Petersburg Florida, very close to where I live. I have gotten to meet her when she gave a talk over her first book, The Lost Apothecary and I was eagerly awaiting this book. It is her second work of fiction and it did not disappoint! I highly recommend both of these books and cant wait to see what else comes from the Sarah Penner pen!

[Megan]

I used Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships by Nina Totenberg for this prompt since we both live in the DMV area.

[Krista]

Greater Kansas City area (Missouri/Kansas)

Looks like I can work a friend's recently published book into a Read Harder Challenge -
Blood Rising: Home

And if anyone is double-dipping, you could also use this one for less than 500 Goodreads reviews.

[Judith]

I ended up reading I am not Raymond Wallace: one man's mistake is another man's making by Sam Kenyon. At one time we were almost neighbours (the corners of our back gardens met), his mum was my French teacher and the two of us used to share a music stand in school orchestra!

[Rachel]

Your local library may have a section for local authors: that's how I found the book I'm going with (not going to name it bc I live in a fairly small town and don't want to dox myself). I had NO idea there were so many authors from my town and got a surprisingly good selection of authors to choose from. I highly recommend asking your local librarian for recommendations on this one

[Mandie]

I'm in Jacksonville, Florida so I read Jessica Hatch's My Big Fake Wedding.