Travelling through books: United States

[Rose]

How many states int the U.S. have you visited through reading. Because you read about it, is there one that you would love to visit?

[Jennifer W]

I find that if an author sets their book in the US, they don't always give us the exact location. They tend to give you an idea that the book is set in the Northeast or the Southwest, but not in a specific place. That can really bug me while I'm reading. When an author does take the time to set a book someplace, it makes the book so much stronger, in my opinion.

Recently I've been to Salem Mass in The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. I'd like to go to Salem, I've been to Massachusetts many, many times, but I've never stopped in Salem.
Las Vegas Nevada in Tricks. If I had any desire to go to Vegas, I don't now.
Small town Illinois in A Long Way From Chicago, but that was more about time then place.
Those are just some of the recent ones. I'm sure I've been to all 50 states, from the comfort of my own house.

The two books that really made me want to go to where they were set were
The Mermaid Chair which is set in the islands off of mainland South Carolina. I liked the book better then most people seem to, but that sense of place just made me want to pack up my stuff and hit the road.
Gone, Baby, Gone which was set in and around Boston Mass. I've been to Boston, several times, but what I really want to see are the old quarries that are now lakes and ponds.

[Donna]

The Kadin by Bertrice Small made me want to visit Turkey.

and Savannah after reading all of Eugenia Price's books, I STILL want to go live in Savannah or St. Simons Island.

The Notebook and most of the rest of his books are written about New Bern or Beaufort NC which is basically where I live. Nicholas Sparks still lives here.

[Angie (Literary Labors)]

Like Jennifer W, I'll post my most recents (or the ones I can remember). I've recently been to Salinas, California through Steinbeck's Ghost by Lewis Buzbee and Steinbeck's The Long Valley. I was in Savannah, Georgia with Denise Hildreth's Savannah series:Savannah from Savannah, Savannah Comes Undone. In the third Savannah book, Savannah by the Sea: Book 3 in the Savannah Series, Hildreth took me to Seaside, Florida, too. And I visited Lily Dale, New York with Suzanne Harper in The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney. And these are all places I want to visit one day thanks to the authors and their lovely stories.

[Usako]

Jennifer W - Go to Salem during the fall season when folks are getting excited for Halloween. I went during the spring and while it was lovely, I felt the exhibits were very dated and cheesy. The worse part was being unable to go to the moonlight tours since I had to catch a 0400 plane the next day!

But it is an experience that I enjoyed. Beautiful, absolutely BEAUTIFUL walk through the town. Loved the buildings and homes. Being there made me feel rested and calm as though life finally slowed down.


Reading The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School and Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest has made me want to visit France. Oh wait, US States. Um.

Umm. Hmm. Haven't read a book that's made me want to see a particular state. I *DO* want to go to NYC to see Broadway (though been to NY State - Waterloo) and possibly hit PENN to see Amish Country. Vegas solely for the shows but I've been to NV.

It's kinda hard since I've lived or been on a visit/drove through a lot of states. And yet haven't see nearly enough!

[[deleted user]]

Great idea for a thread! Tony Hillerman's books always make me want to spend more time in the Four Corners Region.

Also love the South and recently read three in a row to give me a nice long visit: The Secret Life Of CeeCee Wilkes, The Help and Saving Ceecee Honeycutt.

[Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie]

I'm so glad you've started this thread Rose!!! I'll be back to post here!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I haven't posted in this thread because I was trying to remember if there are any states I wanted to visit because I'd read about them. I've lived in and/or visited all the western states. I don't know how many states have been included in my reading, but I'm guessing nearly all of them. I've always wanted to visit Maine. I don't think that's because of any novel, but surely I've read of the rocky coasts, so maybe my desire to visit is due to reading of that state. Many books are set in cities - I have almost no desire to visit any city as there are way too many people in them. (That is what makes a city, is it not?)

[[deleted user]]

Stories set in New Orleans and Louisiana always make me want to go there again. A Streetcar Named Desire and the Dave Robicheaux novels by James Lee Burke come to mind, very different works filled with atmosphere!

[Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie]

Here's my quick list so far~

Seattle WA
The Shop on Blossom Street
A Good Yarn
Twenty Wishes
Susannah's Garden

Oklahoma
The Bean Trees
Where the Heart Is
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon
Shoot the Moon
Lost Highways

NYC
The Friday Night Knitting Club
The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal
Little Women
The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming

AZ
The Bean Trees

PA
The Quilter's Apprentice
The Runaway Quilt
Round Robin
The Cross-Country Quilters
The Sugar Camp Quilt
Circle of Quilters
The Christmas Quilt
An Elm Creek Quilts Sampler
An Elm Creek Quilts Album

Colorado & Iowa
Orange Mint and Honey: A Novel

CT
Little Women

CA
White Oleander

NC
A Southern Exposure

OH and Savannah GA
Saving Ceecee Honeycutt: A Novel

[Cindy]

Great List Jo! By the way, How did you like The Red Leather Diary??? I check it out from the library once but only got about 2 chapters in before it was due back and I haven't checked it out again.

[Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie]

I loved The Red Leather Diary! I love reading about NYC, especially old NYC so I devoured it!

[Suzanne]

I love this thread! Drop City by TC Boyle(Alaska), Tortilla Curtain also by Boyle(US/Mexico border). Devil in the White City(Chicago) Moo by Jane Smiley(Iowa) Snow Falling on Cedars(Pacific Northwest) Anything by Carl Hiaasen for South Florida. Pat Conroy for South Carolina. I too am a sucker for old NYC - Dreamland by Kevin Baker, The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe, I could go on all day....

[Peanut]

I work the opposite way. Once I've visited a place, I have to read all about it (fiction).

[Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie]

I get obsessed with places right before visiting and after. I read as much as I can overall, nonfiction and fiction from authors in that area!

[Megan]

I would love to go visit Guernsey, because of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.

[Elizabeth☮]

i can't recall the title, but there is a book all about catching lobster up in maine that made me really want to visit the new england area.

[Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie]

Elizabeth wrote: "i can't recall the title, but there is a book all about catching lobster up in maine that made me really want to visit the new england area."

Was it written by a woman? I remember in the 90's there was a memoir about a woman who headed up there to do the lobster fishing.

[Megan]

Megan wrote: "I would love to go visit Guernsey, because of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society."

And I did not notice that you said United States. Excuse my post, please. HA.

[Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie]

LOL Megan! We have another thread, in this folder I believe, for around the world! That's a fun thread too!

[Elizabeth☮]

Jo wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "i can't recall the title, but there is a book all about catching lobster up in maine that made me really want to visit the new england area."

Was it written by a woman? Irememb..."

that sounds right! it's interesting.

[Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie]

I can even remember the cover! gah!

[Sarah]

Seems like a lot of Nicholas Sparks' books are set in North Carolina. His descriptions of the landscape are always so beautiful that it makes me wish I was there.