# The Most Famous Book from Each State



## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I stumbled on to this infographic and thought it was fun. I was a bit surprised that I've read 11 - although I've watch the movie to about 4 or so more and there are some I should have read but haven't .....


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Interesting!  If I counted correctly, I've read 25 (26 if you count both Grisham's for TN) of those listed and, like you, have seen a couple of movies of others.  

Should I be embarrassed to never have heard of the writer or book listed for Iowa?  I will check it out.  Also, it has been a long time since I've read the books (or seen the tv show), but I sure didn't remember the Little House on the Prairie books being set in Wisconsin.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

crebel said:


> Interesting! If I counted correctly, I've read 25 (26 if you count both Grisham's for TN) of those listed and, like you, have seen a couple of movies of others.
> 
> Should I be embarrassed to never have heard of the writer or book listed for Iowa?


Similarly, I've never heard of the Oklahoma book. I've only read a couple of these.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I've very definitely heard of 36 of them. And even many of the others seem vaguely familiar.

But I've only read about 10.  Maybe fewer -- in some cases it might be I saw the movie or it was a book on a book list in HS but I can't remember if it's one of the ones I read or not.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

The Hooded Claw said:


> Similarly, I've never heard of the Oklahoma book. I've only readable couple of these.


I read several Toni Morrison books after she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Paradise is, in my opinion, a particularly excellent example of her work. I've already looked at the Iowa book this morning. It does not look like a novel that will be added to my tbr pile any time soon.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

I've only read 8 but have tried others that I couldn't finish. I did see a couple of the movies. I will never read Washington's. I tried 3 pages and couldn't take anymore. Some of these I've never heard of.


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## cshoughton (Jul 10, 2013)

I've never read the listed book for my state, Revolutionary Road, but I've always appreciated that My Brother Sam is Dead was set in Connecticut. I'm sure there are others as well, but that's always been my favorite Connecticut-set novel.

Craig


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## Guest (Oct 28, 2013)

The Montana listing is spot on, not so sure about the cover though.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

There are a lot on the list I've never heard of...including the one for NJ.

I looked up Drown on Amazon, and it's a collection of stories...and not all of them are set in NJ ("...stretching from the barrios of the Dominican Republic to the urban communities of New Jersey").

Sheesh. Is that the only one they could come up with for NJ? What about the first Stephanie Plum novel? Or is that too genre for this?  (Though Twilight is on there, and _that's_ not exactly literary fiction.)


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## RLWallace (Oct 8, 2013)

Interesting. I figured North Carolina would be represented by Nicholas Sparks. Figured the Notebook would beat out A Walk to Remember though. Thanks for sharing. Now I know where to look when I want to read a book about a particular state.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Remember -- the list isn't necessarily the _best_ book, or most notable . . . . just 'most famous'.


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## deckard (Jan 13, 2011)

cshoughton said:


> I've never read the listed book for my state, Revolutionary Road, but I've always appreciated that My Brother Sam is Dead was set in Connecticut. I'm sure there are others as well, but that's always been my favorite Connecticut-set novel.
> 
> Craig


The one that I thought of was A Connecticut Yankee in King Author's Court. That might be a stretch saying it was set in Coonecticut.

Deckard


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## SkyMama (Sep 26, 2012)

I haven't read the novels listed for my home state or the one I live in now. I am so ashamed  .


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## drenfrow (Jan 27, 2010)

I've read 24 of them and heard of almost all.  I have never heard of Drown or The 19th Wife.  I wonder how they came up with the list.  What makes something the most famous?  It's a fun infographic at any rate.


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## Jack C. Nemo (Jul 5, 2013)

AK-pretty sure Call of the Wild is much more famous.

Is the Laramie Project even eligible? It's a play, not a novel or collection. "Gift of the Magi", "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and "The Ransom of Red Chief" might very well be more famous than the novels for their states.

_Patriot Games_ takes place primarily in MD iirc. _No Remorse_ and a few of Clancy's novels are in the MD or VA area.


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## lee27 (Mar 3, 2011)

For West Virginia, i'd put NIGHT OF THE HUNTER ahead of SHILOH, though to be fair, the book's fame is now almost wholly based on the movie. But at the time it was published, it was both a best seller and a critic's darling.


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

I'm going to disagree, at least with the Texas one. While Cormac is a great writer, when it comes to "famous" I bet a lot more people have heard of Conan the Barbarian than No Country for Old Men.

UPDATE: Ugh, nevermind that. I thought they meant WRITTEN in each state. But since they meant SET in the state, I still think more people have heard of Lonesome Dove than Cormac's novel.


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## Tris (Oct 30, 2008)

I've read 12 on the list, but SO embarrassed that they picked "Twilight" for my state.

Tris


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

D. Nathan Hilliard said:


> I'm going to disagree, at least with the Texas one. While Cormac is a great writer, when it comes to "famous" I bet a lot more people have heard of Conan the Barbarian than No Country for Old Men.
> 
> UPDATE: Ugh, nevermind that. I thought they meant WRITTEN in each state. But since they meant SET in the state, I still think more people have heard of Lonesome Dove than Cormac's novel.


Whichever we want on top, it's hard to argue that our two most well known authors who write about Texas are Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy .... unless you want to count Molly Ivins. She's not a novelist though but she sure did write some wonderful stuff and I still miss her.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

crebel said:


> Interesting! If I counted correctly, I've read 25 (26 if you count both Grisham's for TN) of those listed and, like you, have seen a couple of movies of others.
> 
> Should I be embarrassed to never have heard of the writer or book listed for Iowa? I will check it out. Also, it has been a long time since I've read the books (or seen the tv show), but I sure didn't remember the Little House on the Prairie books being set in Wisconsin.


Chris, you should read *A Thousand Acres*, it's good (although sad). A re-telling of King Lear.

*Little House in the Big Woods* was in Wisconsin, before the family moved to Kansas. It's the first book in the series.

Although there are many on this list I have never read (including *To Kill a Mockingbird*) I have heard of almost all of them.

Interesting list.

L


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

For us Sci Fi fans, if only they had such a thing for planets, or star systems!  

Steve


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## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

They're not nearly as famous as John Irving's novel, but Thomas Williams's books set in New Hampshire are well worth a look. (And Irving wrote the intro to _Leah, New Hampshire_, Williams's collected stories.) Williams took a National Book Award for his novel The Hair of Harold Roux. Three other Williams titles have just been released as ebooks (finally): the short story collection _A High New House_, and the novels _Town Burning_ and _Ceremony of Love_. _Ceremony of Love_ is Williams's first novel, set in postwar Japan; the rest are set in New Hampshire. Good stuff.

Same story with Ohio: Wallace may be more famous, but what jumps to this kid's mind first is the work of Don Robertson. They're too long out-of-print, but check out _Paradise Falls_, _Praise the Human Season_, and in particular _Mystical Union_. But how does anything beat out Sherwood Anderson's _Winesburg, Ohio_  for Ohio's spot on the list?


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Wow! I feel pretty good! I have read 20/50.... Though I agree with Call of the Wild being FAR more famous for Alaska, and Lonesome Dove for Texas, unless it's Michener's TEXAS. I went through a phase in Jr. High, read sooooo many of Michener's books.

If those 2 states books were changed I could be up to 22! Oh and DEFINITELY Stephanie Plum's series for NJ. That would make it 23!


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

I don't think it has anything to do with the author but the setting.. but maybe not..  I'm not sure how they were chosen.  Colorado has "The Shining" just because of the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.


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## npsgal77 (Dec 18, 2013)

Interesting.  "A River Runs Through It" is deserving for Montana, you could also add A.P. Guthrie books like 'Big Sky' to the list.  I beg to differ on Nicholas Sparks a walk to remember for my other home state of NC, I have to think about what would be a good replacement.  Lots of good NC authors...


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