kcs's travels around the USA

DiscussieFifty States Fiction (or Nonfiction) Challenge

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kcs's travels around the USA

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1clif_hiker
Bewerkt: feb 21, 2012, 6:41 am

this looks like fun... I'm in! Starting in Jan 2010... hmmm time to go back and look...

List of States:

1. Alabama-
2. Alaska- The Yiddish Policeman's Union Michael Chabon
3. Arizona- Darkness on the Edge of Town by J. Carson Black
4. Arkansas-
5. California- A Darkness More Than Night Michael Connelly; Los Angelas
6. Colorado- Ill Wind Nevada Barr; set in Mesa Verde National Park; The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas
7. Connecticut-
8. Delaware-
9. Florida-The Deep Blue Goodby John MacDonald; I read all of the JDM Travis McGee books in 2010... most are set in Florida. Star Island Carl Hiassen; another easy state
10. Georgia-Killing Floor by Lee Child
11. Hawaii- Fluke or I know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore
12. Idaho-
13. Illinios- Chicago Lightning: The Collected Nathan Heller Short Stories Max Allan Collins; mostly set in Chicago, with a few stories in California and Cleveland Ohio
14. Indiana-
15. Iowa-
16. Kansas- Doc Mary Doria Russell
17. Kentucky-
18. Louisiana-Dead Until Dark Charlaine Harris
19. Maine- It by Stephen King
20. Maryland- Butcher's Hill Laura Lippman; set in Baltimore Maryland
21. Massachusetts-The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane Katherine Howe
22. Michigan-
23. Minnesota- Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger
24. Mississippi- Ford County John Grisham
25. Missouri- Boone's Lick Larry McMurtry; starts out in Missouri.. ends up in Wyoming
26. Montana- The High Rocks by Loren Estleman
27. Nebraska- O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
28. Nevada-
29. New Hampshire-
30. New Jersey- One For the Money Janet Evanovich; set in Trenton NJ
31. New Mexico-The Daybreakers Louis L'Amour; hardly seems fair to include many of the Sackett books... mostly their adventures occurred in places that weren't yet states.
32. New York- an easy state since so many stories are set here... Cabinet of Curiosities Douglas Preston; Summer at Willow Lake Susan Wigg (for one NOT set in New York City)
33. North Carolina- The Alto Wore Tweed by Mark Schweizer
34. North Dakota-
35. Ohio- The Cincinnati Red Stalkings by Troy Soos
36. Oklahoma- The Secret Hour Scott Westerfeld; first book in the Midnighters trilogy
37. Oregon- Dies the Fire S.M. Stirling; set in the Willamette Valley
38. Pennsylvania-Life As We Knew It Susan Beth Pfeffer
39. Rhode Island-
40. South Carolina-
41. South Dakota-The Indian Agent by Dan O'Brien
42. Tennessee-Carved in Bone Jefferson Bass; set at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville
43. Texas-Living Dead in Dallas Charlaine Harris
44. Utah-
45. Vermont-
46. Virginia- Owls Well That Ends Well Donna Andrews; set in Yorktown Virginia
47. Washington- haha two very different books set in and around Seattle; Imaginary Jesus Matt Mikalatos & Boneshaker Cherie Priest
48. West Virginia- The Rocket Boys Homer Hickam; set in a mining town in West Virginia
49. Wisconsin- That First Season by John Eisenberg
50. Wyoming- In Plain Sight C.J. Box

2clif_hiker
Bewerkt: okt 22, 2011, 4:46 pm

wow not nearly so many as I thought... lots of doubled-up states, i.e. John MacDonald and Travis McGee and Janet Evanovich's books.. And New York and California are very popular settings. I can see that the upper Midwest might be a problem...

here's my map:

visited 32 states (64%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

3thornton37814
feb 27, 2011, 11:21 am

Massachusetts and Maine are big ones for me.

4clif_hiker
feb 27, 2011, 11:42 am

ha! One of the books near the top my TBR pile is It by Stephen King. That should clear Maine off the board. But finding something from North & South Dakota, Nebraska, & Iowa?? hmmm...

5clif_hiker
Bewerkt: jun 7, 2011, 7:19 am

and Maine has been visited by reading It by Stephen King... I mean has it ever been visited... 1100+ pages worth!

6clif_hiker
Bewerkt: jun 7, 2011, 7:19 am

Hawaii has been visited by Fluke by Christopher Moore.

7clif_hiker
apr 5, 2011, 9:15 pm

and Nebraska passes by the wayside... Willa Cather is one of my favorite American authors. O Pioneers! is a wonderful book set on the frontier of the Great Plains.

8clif_hiker
mei 14, 2011, 9:52 am

North Carolina has been visited by reading a delightfully humorous 'murder' mystery by Mark Schweizer called The Alto Wore Tweed. Set in a small town in North Carolina, the protagonist does double duty as town police chief and the Episcopal church music director. The mystery is very light, but the musical byplay within the church is hilarious.

9clif_hiker
mei 25, 2011, 8:57 pm

South Dakota in the powerful and moving story of Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy and the Pine Ridge Indian reservation. The Indian Agent by Dan O'Brien should be read by anyone who desires an even-handed retelling of the story leading up to Wounded Knee.

10clif_hiker
Bewerkt: jun 3, 2011, 7:26 am

I just visited and spent a year in Green Bay, Wisconsin with That First Season by John Eisenberg. Chronicles the first year of the legendary Vince Lombardi as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers and their transformation from a 1-10-1 team in 1958 to a respectable 7-5 team in 1959... and of course any football fan knows the rest of the story... the dominance over the next decade culminating in victories in the first two Super Bowls in 1966 & 67. Easy fun read for sports fans growing up during that era.

11cbl_tn
jun 3, 2011, 7:52 am

I've had my eye on Schweizer's series for a while. It sounds like fun, and I'm always on the lookout for mysteries involving music.

12clif_hiker
jun 10, 2011, 7:02 pm

terrific crime fiction by J. Carson Black Darkness on the Edge of Town, set in Arizona. Laura Cardinal is a cross between Harry Bosch (Michael Connelly) and Joanna Brady (J.A. Jance), and this first novel in a series is a page turner with a few twists at the end.

13clif_hiker
jun 21, 2011, 9:15 am

another state visited via crime fiction; Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger takes place in a small town in Minnesota. This is the first in a series of stories featuring Cork O'Connor, a retired sheriff living and working in a played out iron mining region in northern Minnesota. Great setting, and interesting characters. Look forward to the continuing series...

14clif_hiker
jul 22, 2011, 9:59 am

and I wave to Cincinnati Ohio as I pass through via The Cincinnati Red Stalkings by Troy Soos (thanks I think to AuntMarge for the idea). Lots of baseball history in this delightful mystery set in Cincinnati circa 1921. 5 stars!

15thornton37814
jul 22, 2011, 12:25 pm

I read that one last month and loved it too.

16clif_hiker
jul 24, 2011, 5:36 pm

re Troy Soos, his mysteries aren't that easy to find, but being a lifelong baseball fan, I'll make the effort, especially if the rest are anywhere near as good as this one...

17thornton37814
jul 25, 2011, 12:19 pm

I wouldn't mind reading others in the series. I plan to check McKays and White Pine Books for others. Both of those are used book dealers in our area that I frequent (when I'm not trying to get the TBR pile down as I am now). I still need to take a huge stack in to get more credit. I don't feel quite so badly about getting one or two more when I get rid of a bunch!

18clif_hiker
Bewerkt: okt 23, 2011, 10:26 am

visited Montana circa 1870 in The High Rocks by Loren Estleman and small-town Georgia in Lee Child's first Jack Reacher novel Killing Floor.

Estleman is a well known writer of westerns and The High Rocks is his first story featuring Page Murdock, Deputy Marshall of the Bitter-root Mountain region of Montana. Good story and good western.

Most of us have heard of Jack Reacher... I had not read any of Child's books (after some initial confusion about Lee Child vs. Lincoln Child... apparently not related at all) and had heard good things about the Reacher series. .... well, the first story is quite a story.. does a good job introducing Jack Reacher, but otherwise, I thought it atrocious. Plot holes, unbelievable dialogue and actions, etc. I've read that he gets better, so I will try the next in the series...

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