State pride and a deep connection to your original home are two things you never quite grow out of.
Even if you couldn’t wait to get away from where you were born and grew up, you’ll always be tied to that place. Because of that everlasting link to a home state, Kristin Iversen of Brooklyn magazine created a list of must-read books for every state in the U.S. There are certain books that are just perfect for people from each state.
Granted, it’s difficult to accurately make assumptions about a group of people from an entire state, but this list is full of books that people can identify with, whether that’s because of personalities, local culture, or history.
Give this a look — what’s your state’s book?
These are the perfect books for every state (via Brooklyn magazine).
1. ALABAMA: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
2. ALASKA: Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer
3. ARIZONA: Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
4. ARKANSAS: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
5. CALIFORNIA (Southern): The White Boy Shuffle, Paul Beatty
6. CALIFORNIA (Northern): Suicide Blonde, Darcey Steinke
7. COLORADO: Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
8. CONNECTICUT: Nine Stories, “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut,” J.D. Salinger
9. DELAWARE: The Good Lord Bird, James McBride
10. FLORIDA: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
11. GEORGIA: Cane, Jean Toomer
12. HAWAII: The Descendants, Kaui Hart Hemmings
13. IDAHO: Train Dreams, Denis Johnson
14. ILLINOIS: Native Son, Richard Wright
15. INDIANA: The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields
16. IOWA: Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
17. KANSAS: In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
18. KENTUCKY: Beloved, Toni Morrison
19. LOUISIANA: All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren
20. MAINE: Carrie, Stephen King
21. MARYLAND: Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Paterson
22. MASSACHUSETTS: The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
23. MICHIGAN: Split Images, Elmore Leonard
24. MINNESOTA: Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Maud Hart Lovelace
25. MISSISSIPPI: Long Division, Kiese Laymon
26. MISSOURI: Stoner, John Williams
27. MONTANA: Legends of the Fall, Jim Harrison
28. NEBRASKA: Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell
29. NEVADA: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson
30. NEW HAMPSHIRE: A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
31. NEW JERSEY: American Pastoral, Philip Roth
32. NEW MEXICO: Leave Her to Heaven, Ben Ames Williams
33. NEW YORK: Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, Joyce Carol Oates
34. NORTH CAROLINA: Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe
35. NORTH DAKOTA: The Round House, Louise Erdrich
36. OHIO: The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
37. OKLAHOMA: The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton
38. OREGON: No One Belongs Here More Than You, Miranda July
39. PENNSYLVANIA: The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon
40. RHODE ISLAND: The Witches of Eastwick, John Updike
41. SOUTH CAROLINA: Bastard Out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison
42. SOUTH DAKOTA: Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
43. TEXAS: Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry
44. TENNESSEE: Child of God, Cormac McCarthy
45. UTAH: The Executioner’s Song, Norman Mailer
46. VIRGINIA: The Confessions of Nat Turner, William Styron
47. VERMONT: The Secret History, Donna Tartt
48. WYOMING: Close Range: Wyoming Stories, “Brokeback Mountain,” E. Annie Proulx
49. WISCONSIN: The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach
50. WASHINGTON: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie
51. WASHINGTON, D.C.: You Are One of Them, Elliott Holt
52. WEST VIRGINIA: The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
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