dieKatze's 50 States Challenge

I started this challenge in December 2014 so some of the books I am using to meet the requirements are from then. I would like to complete this challenge by the end of 2015 but if that doesn't happen I am perfectly okay with that. I think I would mostly like to use fiction books to complete the challenge. I am including Washington D.C.



create your own personalized map of the USA

Arizona: The Bean Trees

Alaska: If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name (non-fiction)
White Sky, Black Ice
Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics (non-fiction)
The Snow Child
Shaman Pass

Arkansas: Sugar
This Bitter Earth

Alabama: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café

California: Post Office
A Stolen Life: A Memoir (non-fiction)
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Parable of the Sower
China Dolls
I Am Legend

Colorado: The Dog Stars

Connecticut: Fly Away Home
Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story
Did You Ever Have a Family

Delaware: The Book of Unknown Americans
Building a Home with My Husband (non-fiction)
Where the Light Enters

Florida: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Georgia: Clock Without Hands
Before I Go
Deliverance

Hawaii: Blu's Hanging

Idaho: Housekeeping

Iowa: Truth and Beauty: A Friendship (only partially set in Iowa)

Indiana:

Illinois: Dear American Airlines
A Raisin in the Sun
So Big
The Jungle
Dandelion Wine
Dark Matter

Kentucky: Hillbilly Elegy (nonfiction)

Kansas: Dark Places

Louisiana: Zeitoun (non-fiction)
Property
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Condor Passes
Modern Baptists

Mississippi: Salvage the Bones

Maine: One Man's Meat (non-fiction)
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Olive, Again

Maryland: A Spool of Blue Thread
On Such a Full Sea

Michigan: The Virgin Suicides
Bird Box

Massachusetts: The Red Garden
The Summer of Us
We Were Liars
The Great Beach (nonfiction)
Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man, and the Gospel of Jesus' Wife (non-fiction)
The Pull of the Moon
The House of the Seven Gables

Montana: Wildlife
Fourth of July Creek

Minnesota: The Good Girl

Missouri: Sharp Objects
The Glass Menagerie

North Carolina: The Peach Keeper
Lookaway, Lookaway
Killer Diller
Natives and Newcomers: The Way We Lived in North Carolina Before 1770 (non-fiction)

North Dakota:

New Hampshire: The Painted Drum

New Mexico: Death Comes for the Archbishop

New York: The Cat Who Came for Christmas (non-fiction)
The Color of Water (non-fiction)
The Nanny Diaries
Jaws
Hard News: The Scandals at the New York Times and Their Meaning for American Media (non-fiction)
Babbitt
The Truth about Lorin Jones
Still Me
Maeve in America (non-fiction)
Refinery29's Money Diaries (non-fiction)
The Year of the Dog
Keeper
The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Nevada: Prey

Nebraska: The Professor's House

New Jersey: Shine, Coconut Moon
The Uncoupling

Ohio: Sula
Beloved
The Bluest Eye
The Blessings of the Animals
Little Fires Everywhere

Oregon: Crying in H Mart (non-fiction)

Oklahoma: Shoot the Moon

Pennsylvania: The Queen of the Big Time
Love Walked In
Plain Truth
Belong to Me
Ridgerunner

Rhode Island: The Marriage Plot

South Dakota: A Long Way From Home (non-fiction)

South Carolina: Saints at the River
The Mermaid Chair
Atomic Family

Texas: Alternadad (non-fiction)
Terms of Endearment
All the Stars Denied
Rules for Being Dead

Tennessee: Flight Behavior
The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature (non-fiction)
The Violent Bear it Away
The Bromance Book Club
Holding on to Nothing
Undercover Bromance

Utah: Blood Orange Night (non-fiction)

Virginia: Simple Living: One Couple's Search for a Better Life (non-fiction)

Vermont: Crossing to Safety
Midwives
Testimony
Every Last One
It Can't Happen Here

West Virginia: Lark and Termite
Second Chance at Love

Wisconsin:

Wyoming: The Cold Dish

Washington: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Night Road
Surveillance
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

Washington D.C.: A Crime in the Neighborhood

I am halfway through the challenge! :-D

I will read one or two more books for Connecticut because Fly Away Home took place in Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut.

I might read another book for Vermont since Crossing to Safety took place in Wisconsin and Vermont. More of the book was in Vermont and there was a definite sense of place but still...

Looks like I should read another book for Rhode Island too as The Marriage Plot only started out in Rhode Island then moved onto New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, India, Europe, and more. This challenge is shaping up to be harder than I thought when I first got the idea back in late 2014 to do this.

>4 Tara1Reads: Connecticut is definitely done now since I read Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb that is set in Connecticut.

I found a book for Arkansas that I might read, Sugar: A Novel, instead of John Grisham's A Painted House. Or a nonfiction option for Arkansas could be Command and Control about the explosion of a nuclear missile at a missile launch facility in Damascus, Arkansas.

So I traded in the book I was going to read for Indiana at the used bookstore. I just wasn't that interested in the book and had tried reading the first few pages and knew it wasn't for me. I need to find other options for Indiana now.

Edited to add the following possibilities:

Jesusland: A Memoir by Julia Scheeres
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

I am 66% done as of today.

>5 Tara1Reads: Vermont is done now since I read Midwives which definitely has a Vermont setting that plays an important role in the story.

I finally made progress on this by getting Hawaii done with Blu's Hanging.

Tara, you're sure making good progress. It took me 3 years and 3 months to complete my challenge. The only book we shared along the way was Housekeeping, which was my favorite read for Idaho.

>13 countrylife: Thank you. I have been working on this challenge for 2 years and 5 months. But I am not sure I will finish the challenge within 3 years because I've been reading lots of nonfiction or fiction books with no particular setting or set in states I have already completed. So I don't know if I will finish this year. I didn't like Housekeeping! The writing style wasn't for me, and I didn't think there was much to the story.

I'm 68% of the way finished.

Slowly working my way through Tom Brokaw's A Long Way From Home for South Dakota. I'm finding it dull as dishwater. :-(

Minnesota is partially done with The Good Girl. Still want to read July, July by Tim O'Brien.

Oklahoma is done with Shoot the Moon.

70% done.

Arizona is done with The Bean Trees.

South Dakota is done with A Long Way From Home. 74% done with the challenge.

Somewhere along the way I decided I want to read a fiction book and a non-fiction book for each state. Here’s what I have remaining:

Fiction:

Kentucky
Oregon
Utah
Virginia
South Dakota

Non-fiction:

Arizona
Arkansas
Alabama
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
Mississippi
Maryland
Michigan
Montana
Minnesota
Missouri
New Hampshire
New Mexico
Nevada
Nebraska
New Jersey
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Vermont
West Virginia
Wyoming
Washington State
Washington DC

Both:

Iowa
Indiana
North Dakota
Wisconsin

Somewhere along the way I decided I want to read a fiction book and a non-fiction book for each state

Me too.

>22 labfs39:
I think I'll probably do non-fiction once I've finished the fiction.

>22 labfs39: and >23 Willoyd: I found this article with a list of books by state if this helps anyone:

https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/books-media/outdoor-adventure-books-every-...