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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