Shannon's USA Road Trip

My first round of all 50 states is complete! Join me here for Round 2.


visited 50 states (100%)
Buy Douwe's Machine Learning Book

Here are the books I've read:
1) Alabama: The Elementals (read in 2017)
2) Alaska: How Quickly She Disappears (read in 2021)
3) Arizona: Inland (read in 2021)
4) Arkansas: This Dark Earth (read in 2022)
5) California: Interior Chinatown (read in 2021)
6) Colorado: This Thing Between Us (read in 2022)
7) Connecticut: Revolutionary Road (read in 2022)
8) Delaware: Sunburn (read in 2019)
9) Florida: The Nickel Boys (read in 2021)
10) Georgia: Ring Shout (read in 2022)
11) Hawaii: Sharks in the Time of Saviors (read in 2021)
12) Idaho: My Heart Is a Chainsaw (read in 2022)
13) Illinois: Curious Toys (read in 2021)
14) Indiana: Underground Airlines (read in 2017)
15) Iowa: Raising Stony Mayhall (read in 2019)
16) Kansas: The Topeka School (read in 2021)
17) Kentucky: The Next Time You See Me (read in 2019)
18) Louisiana: Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead (read in 2017)
19) Maine: Empire Falls (read in 2022)
20) Maryland: Between the World and Me (read in 2022)
21) Massachusetts: Survivor Song (read in 2021)
22) Michigan: The Marsh King's Daughter (read in 2018)
23) Minnesota: History of Wolves (read in 2018)
24) Mississippi: The Optimist's Daughter (read in 2022)
25) Missouri: Crota (read in 2020)
26) Montana: Kingdomtide (read in 2021)
27) Nebraska: Reprieve (read in 2022)
28) Nevada: Better Luck Next Time (read in 2022)
29) New Hampshire: Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God (read in 2019)
30) New Jersey: Version Control by Dexter Palmer (read in 2020)
31) New Mexico: Telephone (read in 2022)
32) New York: Leave the World Behind (read in 2021)
33) North Carolina: The Hollow Places (read in 2022)
34) North Dakota: The Night Watchman (read in 2022)
35) Ohio: The Bluest Eye (read in 2022)
36) Oklahoma: The Long and Faraway Gone (read in 2016)
37) Oregon: If, Then (read in 2022)
38) Pennsylvania: The Dutch House (read in 2021)
39) Rhode Island: The Red Tree (read in 2020)
40) South Carolina: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires (read in 2021)
41) South Dakota: Tinfoil Butterfly (read in 2021)
42) Tennessee: Nothing to See Here (read in 2021)
43) Texas: A Cosmology of Monsters (read in 2021)
44) Utah: Black Widows (read in 2022)
45) Vermont: Shirley (read in 2019)
46) Virginia: Commonwealth (read in 2022)
47) Washington: Devolution (read in 2021)
48) West Virginia: Sleeping Beauties (read in 2018)
49) Wisconsin: The Grip of It (read in 2017)
50) Wyoming: Close Range (read in 2022)

{deleted for now}

Maine: Empire Falls by Richard Russo -- Set in the small town of Empire Falls, a Pulitzer Prize winner and a wonderful read.

>3 sturlington:
Glad to read that - I've got Empire Falls down to read on my tour!

>4 Willoyd: It's such a good story. Loved it.

Massachusetts: Goodnight Stranger by Michiah Bay Gault -- Set on fictional Wolf Island off the coast.

Previously, I had read Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay, so I'm going to count that as my Massachusetts book instead.

Connecticut: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates -- Set in the suburbs of New York City. Excellent book.

>7 sturlington:
I wish I'd chosen that rather than Ira Levin's Stepford Wives, which was the first disappointing book that I've had on this journey. Am going to read it anyway at some stage (so will probably move it onto the list as replacement). You're cracking on! I've picked up pace, but not to your degree!

>8 Willoyd: I think you will like the book. It was a good read that I may not have picked up if not for this challenge.

Thanks! I have a goal of reading several Pulitzer winners this year, so that's helping to motivate me. Also wanting to fill in the blank spaces in my map.

>9 sturlington:
I have a goal of reading several Pulitzer winners this year, so that's helping to motivate me.
May not help you with the map, but I'm in the midst of my Pennsylvania book, The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, which won the Pulitzer in 1975. Proving a gripping read, especially for a Brit whose knowledge of the American Civil War is rather sketchy.

>10 Willoyd: Already read that one! I bought it when I visited Gettysburg. That book is written almost like nonfiction.

I actually don't have many Pulitzers left to read, and most of them are too old for me to get copies of easily, since I borrow almost everything from the library. I find that prize is a pretty good source for good novels. Only rarely do you find a dud. I've started branching out to the finalists now.

One of my favorite Pulitzer winners is Lonesome Dove, if you haven't read that one yet. It could count for Texas, Nebraska, or Montana.

Thanks for the reminders of Middlesex and Lonesome Dove.

>11 sturlington:
One of my favorite Pulitzer winners is Lonesome Dove, if you haven't read that one yet. It could count for Texas, Nebraska, or Montana.
I can only agree with you about that one. I read it as my book for Texas, and gave it 6 stars ("a favourite") - I've only got around 130 books on that list.
Just finished The Killer Angels tonight - a brilliant read. It doesn't read like non-fiction to me I have to say - for me, he gets too much inside the characters' heads for that - but that's not what he's trying to achieve. Whatever the accuracy or otherwise - and I have no reason to doubt it, but appreciate it's a personal take, that's the point after all - it's a superb evocation of warfare and the humanity of the men (as it solely is) involved. I was gripped. 5 star ("excellent") read for me - I never give a book a straight 6, that has to wait on how I feel later.
Have to agree with your assessment of the Pulitzer winners, at least of those that I've read - far fewer than you (that was my 14th): I've not found a weak one yet.

>13 Willoyd: It's been some years since I've read it, but by it seeming like nonfiction, I just mean the level of research into the historical facts. If I recall, the novel takes place only over a few days but is so meticulous about all the details of the battle.

>14 sturlington:
I agree - the research looks superb - I've been reading up a bit since, and it seems all to back up what I read. Your recollection is spot on: starts on the evening of June 30th, finishes on July 3rd.

A DNF for Louisiana -- I'm giving up on A Confederacy of Dunces. I think I would have enjoyed this more when I was younger, but Ignatius J. Reilly now strikes me as a proto-neckbeard and I really don't want to spend 400+ pages with him.

I'm catching up on recording my 2022 reads--

Maryland: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates -- Coates grew up in Baltimore and describes the city of his childhood in the first part of this memoir.

Colorado: This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno -- This book is divided between Chicago and Colorado, but for me, the strongest part of the book took place in an isolated cabin in the Colorado mountain wilderness

North Carolina: The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher -- Set in a small town in Eastern North Carolina, in a junk shop that reminds me of one in the town where I grew up (also in N.C.)

New Mexico: Telephone by Percival Everett -- Although this is mainly set in California, some important and memorable scenes take part in New Mexico. This was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Idaho: My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones -- Set in the fictional small town of Proofrock, which is located on a remote lake.

Nebraska: Reprieve by James Han Mattson -- Set in Lincoln in an extreme haunted house during the 1990s.

I've decided to alter my challenge a bit because I think I was making it a bit too easy on myself, so I limited myself only to books I have read since 2019. Most of the books I read last year, during which I did focus on books set in different states. I did choose some books I read in 2019-2020 to fill those more difficult states.

This gives me a bit more states left to fill now. So far, I have visited 32 states. (Of course, I have been to some states more than once!) This also means you'll likely see a bit more horror on my list, as that's my favorite genre. But I'm still going to focus on Pulitzer Prize winners/finalists because those have mainly been good reads for me.

North Dakota: The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich - This book won the Pulitzer Prize last year and is an evocative portrait of life on a North Dakota reservation in the 1950s.

>18 sturlington: I don't read as many books set in the US as you, so I've included reads from the past decade, but I am replacing them if I read something else. I like that you are focusing on Pulitzer Prize winners. I am trying to read one fiction and one nonfiction from each state, so that's one way to make it more difficult.

>20 labfs39: Reading a nonfiction book from each state is pretty ambitious!

>21 sturlington: Lol. So far I've gotten four! But, it gives me a goal, and I like reading memoirs...

Wyoming: Close Range by Annie Proulx - Short story collection that includes Brokeback Mountain with a truly strong sense of place; Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Georgia: Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark - Short novel set in 1920s Macon, Georgia, about fighting monsters disguised as members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Utah: Black Widows by Cate Quinn - Thriller set on a remote desert ranch outside Salt Lake City involving a Mormon cult and polygamy.

Oregon: If, Then by Kate Hope Day - Speculative literary fiction set in a small town in Oregon that borders a dormant volcano, which is important to the plot.

Nevada: Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson - Light historical fiction set on a "divorce ranch" in Reno, Nevada, during the 1930s.

I decided I really wanted to finish this challenge this year, so I fudged a little and added a few more books from difficult states that I read before this year. Nothing read before 2016, though! Now I have only eight books left to read, which seems very doable to finish this year--especially as I already own books that will fit most of these states.

Ohio: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison - I had not yet gotten around to reading this masterwork of American fiction set in a small town in Ohio, the same town where Morrison grew up.

Arkansas: This Dark Earth by John Hornor Jacobs - Zombie apocalypse.

Mississippi: The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty - winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1973

Virginia: Commonwealth by Ann Patchett - and that completes my tour!

Congratulations! That's quite the accomplishment. What's next for you?

P.S. I've only read one of the books on your list: The Bluest Eye.

>33 labfs39: Well, I haven't decided. This one was pretty tough. There are a few states where it's hard to find books that I want to read.

I may try to do some reads from different countries but make it a bit easier on myself--by choosing one or two countries from each continent, for example.

>34 sturlington: I am doing the Global Challenge, which is probably more comprehensive that what you are looking for, but the good thing is you can tailor it to be whatever you want. If you need a place to keep track, you might check it out. I read more translated literature than American, so it's actually easier for me in some ways than this one, despite my being American.

I decided to go for another round trip of the US. The new thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346144

Interesting that there's very little overlap between our respective lists: maybe a couple of prospective reads (for me!), and perhaps a couple more authors, but no more.

>37 Willoyd: Perhaps that's because I read a lot of genre fiction, or because I've already read a lot of more-or-less classic American literature that didn't count in this round.

>38 sturlington:
I'd be interested in how many and/or which books on my list you've read (and if you've got any other suggestions for those i've listed as yet to read). The criteria I've used, particularly that limiting myself to just one book from any one writer, has led to some jigsawing together. I'm trying to go for best known, but appreciate that some of them aren't well known at all (at least here in the UK!). Speaking as a Brit exploring American literature, it's been fascinating (and, in some instances, revelatory!).

>39 Willoyd: I'll go take a look at your thread.