I Read A Book Set In Each State (2023)
/In about an hour I should finish my last book from my 2023 Reading USA challenge. I started doing this with a group on Litsy about five years ago. I’m not sure anyone else is still doing this challenge, but I keep going each year. For me it’s a fun way to give direction to my random reading. I don’t always finish the challenge, but this year I did.
I don’t have hard and fast rules about what I count as “set in a sate.” For books that cover multiple states I usually just want at least one memorable scene set in a state. Year after year Delaware and Indiana are the hardest states to fill. And it might be my imagination, but it seems like every other book is set in Maine these days.
Results from my 2023 Reading USA challenge:
Alabama - To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Alaska - Tree Line by Ben Rawlence
Arizona - Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
Arkansas - They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
California - Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman
Colorado - The Shining by Stephen King
Connecticut - A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
District of Columbia - Yellowface by RF Kuang
Delaware - Keep Calm and Collie On by Lane Stone
Florida - Duma Key by Stephen King
Georgia - Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Hawaii - Moloka’i By Alan Brennert
Idaho - The Big Burn by Timothy Egan
Illinois - Arsenic and Adobo by Mia Manansala
Iowa - The Butterfly Effect by Rachel McKenny
Kansas - Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Kentucky - Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
Louisiana - Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck
Maine - Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Maryland - What The Moon Saw by Laura Resau
Massachusetts - Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
Michigan - When Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings
Minnesota - On The Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Mississippi - Dispatches From Pluto by Richard Grant
Missouri - Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Montana - Death Al Dente by Leslie Budewitz
Nebraska - The House Without A Christmas Tree by Gail Rock
New Mexico - Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu
Nevada - Prey by Michael Crichton
New Hampshire - Nothing But The Truth by Avi
New York - Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
New Jersey - Close to Shore by Michael Capuzzo
North Carolina - From Here To Eternity by Caitlin Doughty
North Dakota - The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich
Ohio - Mr Mercedes by Stephen King
Oklahoma - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Oregon - Walking Home by Rick Rogers
Pennsylvania - If It Bleeds by Stephen King
Rhode Island - Down City by Leah Carroll
South Carolina - My Losing Season by Pat Conroy
South Dakota - I Survived The Children’s Blizzard, 1888 by Lauren Tarshis
Tennessee - The Coal Tattoo by Silas House
Texas - Looking Up by Matthew Cappucci
Utah - Feral by Emily Pennington
Virginia - A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson
Vermont - Happy Place by Emily Henry
Washington - The Last Word by Taylor Adams
West Virginia - Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee
Wisconsin - Our Stories Carried Us Here Ed by Tia Rozman
Wyoming - The Last Ranger by Peter Heller
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