50 Books For 50 States: A Literary Road Trip Across The USA

Longing to hit the open road but unwilling to suffer the potential health risks at this uneasy moment in history? If months of self-isolation has left you feeling a bit restless—particularly in these temptingly bright days of early summer—you're not alone. But you're also not alone in your hesitancy to begin traveling again. And for all my fellow would-be explorers: you're in luck. 

Landlocked (or house-locked) adventurers can find solace and blessed distraction in embarking upon a journey of the mind (which is, after all, the original form of travel, anyway.) We've found an antidote to our endless quarantine by curating a reading list guaranteed to transport readers from the Deep South to the Pacific Northwest, the endless prairies of the heartland to the jagged cliffs of the Pacific Coast Trail. We've compiled the 50 books to read for a literary road trip across the USA—one title for every state (and accompanying state of mind).

The best part of embarking upon this reading adventure while living in lockdown? You've got all the time you need to make this mental vacation a long one. (You deserve it, anyway.) In the words of that ultimate road-warrior, Jack Kerouac, "There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars." From Toni Morrison to Joan Didion, John Irving to Ta-Nehisi Coates, read on for your ultimate summer reading list.

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Alabama

To Kill A Mockingbird

—Harper Lee

We’re starting our literary journey with a time-honored classic that’s always worth a reread. (And try to disregard any mixed feelings on the sequel when reevaluating the original.) Our runner-up is Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace, who spins a fantastical world of larger-than-life characters in the Deep South.

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Alaska

Into the Wild

—Jon Krakauer

Get lost in the wilds of the Last Frontier with Krakauer’s famous account of one man’s journey into the unknown. Honorable mention goes to The Call of the Wild by Jack London, another testament to the great Alaskan wilderness.

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Arizona

Infinite Jest

—David Foster Wallace

Infinite Jest is practically required reading for a particular type of Lit Bro these days, but don't let the super-fans turn you off from the wackily whimsical twists and turns of this epic novel. Of all the novel's convoluted plot developments and scene-setting, we're partial to the tennis camp in Arizona. The inventive ways Wallace describes the sterile sensation of full-blast Southwest air conditioning and the dry heat of the Arizona desert is far more entertaining than it sounds here in my retelling.

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Arkansas

Rodham

—Curtis Sittenfeld

The life story of the former First Lady and the (nearly) first female president gets a fictional retelling—What if her first role, as wife to Bill Clinton, never happened at all? In a world where Hillary Rodham never becomes Hillary Clinton, the First Couple of Arkansas is thoroughly reimagined. And the result is Curtis Sittenfeld's latest novel, which orients the reader in Clinton's beginnings in Little Rock before spinning the reader out into an alternate universe that is all Rodham's own. (Pun intended.) Also: A Special shoutout to A Painted House by John Grisham, another Arkansas classic.

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California

Play it as it Lays

—Joan Didion

When it comes to California dreaming, there’s no writer who better evokes the terror of a Hollywood nightmare than Joan Didion. And in Play It As It Lays, the writer is at her most exacting with this haunting tale of a young woman navigating 1960s ennui in Los Angeles. The protagonist’s disillusionment with life in the City of Angels is masterfully conveyed in the author’s retelling of sordid events in a strictly matter-of-fact, slightly detached manner. We recommend following it up with Didion’s two memoirs, both of which take place partially in California: The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights.

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Colorado

The Shining

—Stephen King

Our greatest living American horror writer (with all due respect to Edgar Allen Poe—may he hauntingly rest in peace) makes his debut on our list with his seminal tale of a Colorado hotel gone possessed. Later, when you’re on an actual (vehicular) road trip, be sure to stay at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, where the Hollywood adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel was filmed. Finally, The Dust Within the Rock by Frank Waters is another Colorado story for readers to check out during the lockdown.

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Connecticut

Home Before Dark

—Susan Cheever

John Cheever may be the classic choice for suburban malcontent with his depictions of quiet despair on the Gold Coast of Connecticut, but why settle for the chronicles of fictional Wapshots when we can read a bit of the real thing? Cheever’s daughter, Susan, published a memoir of her father that’s both touchingly universal and fascinatingly distinct—not all of us have Pulitzer Prize-winning fathers. (Though it is comforting to know we still fight with them the same way, regardless.) Cheever’s memoir is a refutation of Tolstoy’s famous claim that all happy families are alike—though the entire idea of happiness, of course, is in itself subjective.

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Delaware

The Underground Railroad

—Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad is a must-read for anyone who fancied themselves too busy in the past couple of years to keep up with the latest batch of American literary masterpieces. Now that you're in quarantine, you simply have no excuse.

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Florida

Fates and Furies

—Lauren Groff

Lauren Groff’s spectacular novel takes readers deep into the swampy heart of one couple’s love story, zooming in on the relationship as it festers and rots in Central Florida. The last time the Sunshine State’s subtropical angst and humid ennui was captured this precisely was during the debut of the Oscar-winning film, Moonlight. We recommend watching the film and the novel back-to-back for a fully Floridian atmosphere. Just can’t get enough of the Everglades state? Check out Swamplandia by Karen Russell for more literary excellence south of the border.

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Georgia

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

—John Berendt

A classic tale of deception and betrayal set in the deceptively genteel (and famously eccentric) heart of Savannah, Georgia. The theatrics are best enjoyed with a Mint Julep—and we suggest making it a double. (When in Savannah, after all.)

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Hawaii

Barbarian Days

—William Finnegan

William Finnegan’s depiction of an island boyhood spent chasing waves in the world-famous Hawaiian surf is deliciously addictive—as (intellectually) appetizing, one could argue, as a tasty wave. While the last sentence alone makes it clear we don’t know the first thing about hanging ten, readers will feel they’ve surfed the best breaks all over the world after reading Finnegan’s adrenaline-fueled memoir. And check out another famous memoir of Hawaiian boyhood written by none other than former President, Barack Obama. Dreams From My Father is both highly inspiring and highly readable—two necessary qualities for a quarantine book recommendation.

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Idaho

In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country

—Kim Barnes

From Into the Wild to Into the Wilderness: This memoir recounts the girlhood of author (and poet) Kim Barnes. Her account of “coming of age in an unknown country” was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and her prose evokes the stretches of empty farmland and mountainous peaks of northern Idaho.

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Illinois

The Devil in the White City

—Erik Larsson

If you've yet to read Erik Larsson's bestseller, now is the time to discover what all that jazz is actually about. (Yes, I know we mixed up our musicals with our novels, but the pun remains unapologetically intended.) It's challenging to limit the state of Illinois to only one book to read during this quarantine—though we do recommend readers accompany their foray into Chicago literature with repeated viewings of ESPN's Michael Jordan documentary, The Last Dance, about the Chicago Bulls. Additionally, readers should check out several memoirs featuring the South Side of Chicago, including The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Between the World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Becoming by Michelle Obama. (All three are must-reads.)

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Indiana

The Fault In Our Stars

—John Green

Sorry, horoscope fiends: John Green’s novel isn’t about your incompatible star charts. In case you’ve been living under a rock (an entirely believable scenario during a quarantine), then you’re already familiar with this story of lovestruck teenagers in the author’s hometown of Indianapolis. And, if not, well: Better get to reading. (And resist your inclination to hate on the novel prematurely because it’s already been turned into a high school rom-com. We could all use more rom-coms in our lives these days.)

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Iowa

Bridges of Madison County

—Robert James Waller

The most famous novel to come out of Iowa also spawned a hit film (with its own beloved soundtrack) as well as a Broadway musical. We recommend going back to the original source material to experience Waller’s magical storytelling all over again.

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Kansas

In Cold Blood

—Truman Capote

While Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s was originally in the running for our book of New York (Holly Gollightly was ultimately abandoned for the far greater Jay Gatsby), there was never any doubt that In Cold Blood would be our crowning choice for Kansas. Capote’s nonfiction account of a murder trial reads like a novel and his devastating conclusion will have you questioning the morality of the death penalty (or lack thereof).

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Kentucky

Chasing Redbird

—Sharon Creech

Yes, you may remember this title from childhood, but this classic story of love and loss remains ideal quarantine reading for adults as well. (A quick warning to readers: If months of lockdown has made you overly sensitive, prepare to shed a few additional tears this time around.)

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Louisiana

Zeitoun

—Dave Eggers

This nonfiction account of one man’s actions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is an uplifting read—-a category of entertainment that is much needed during these trying times. And as a companion piece to your reading material, we recommend watching the Hurricane Katrina film Beasts Of The Southern Wild to make it a full audio/visual Louisiana experience.

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Maine

The Cider House Rules

—John Irving

When it comes to Vacationland, we couldn’t ignore the novel that first put forth those magical words (that have since been uttered by none other than Michael Caine): “Goodnight you Princes of Maine, you Kings of New England.” Given the author’s reappearance later on in this list, representing the state of New Hampshire, it would be a fair assessment to claim that John Irving is a King of New England himself.

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Maryland

Chesapeake

—James Michener

Crabcakes and football—not the only things that Maryland does, apparently. The mid-Atlantic state is the backdrop for James A. Michener’s classic novel, Chesapeake, and is also the setting for Frederick Douglass’s iconic memoir Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Additionally, Maryland sets the scene for the early chapters in the life story of another budding icon in present-day America: the writer and actress Issa Rae. Her book of autobiographical essays, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl is hilarious, thought-provoking and relatable all at once—perfect for the roller coaster of emotions that is life in quarantine.

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Massachusetts

The Big House

—George Howe Colt

Head out for a weekend on the Cape with George Howe Colt’s National Book Award-winning memoir. The Big House: A Century In The Life Of An American Summer Home examines the Puritannical traditions of America’s oldest New England families: "Whenever I look at the family tree that contains the names of my great-great-great grandparents, I feel literally tied to the past. Tied, but tied down, like Gulliver trussed up in Lilliput.” Readers looking for more Massachusetts storytelling should consider revisiting some of the classics: Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Henry David Thoreau’s transcendental meditations on Walden Pond.

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Michigan

The Virgin Suicides

—Jeffrey Euginedes

Though we initially considered giving this honor to Ernest Hemingway for The Nick Adams Stories, or James Baxter for his Ann Arbor-based novel, The Feast Of Love, we ultimately couldn’t deny the sheer power and beauty of Jeffrey Euginedes’s debut novel. Though set in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, the novel’s depiction of romantic fantasy and high school longing resonates with readers worldwide: “It didn't matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls, but only that we had loved them, and that they hadn't heard us calling.” They still can’t hear their neighbors calling, but I won’t spoil the ending (that’s telegraphed in the very title.) Interestingly enough, knowing how the book will end doesn’t stop readers from suspending disbelief and investing in the teenage heroes (or anti-heroines, depending on your perspective.) Such is the universality of the adolescent experience.

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Minnesota

Freedom

—Jonathan Franzen

Our next choice is a novel that sets out to do no more and no less than capture the essence of early 21st-Century American life. (Then-President Obama received an advanced copy of the text, to give you an idea of the enormity of its ambitions and impact.) Whether it succeeds along those lines is a judgment for you to decide on your own (though the final chapters are magnificently convincing.) Afterward, for another Minnesota read, check out White Earth Band of Ojibwe by Carter Meland.

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Missisissipi

The Sound and the Fury

—William Faulkner

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Faulkner may have written these famous words in the novel Requiem For a Nun, but their veracity is proven throughout his entire body of work. Both of the titular sensations in The Sound And The Fury jump out at the reader from the page, as his work feels as alive as ever. Readers should follow-up this novel with another of Faulkner’s classic Southern tales—we recommend Light in August, but you can’t go wrong with any of his titles.

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Missouri

Huckleberry Finn

—Mark Twain

Is it really an all-American literary odyssey if we don’t include the Missouri adventures of Huckleberry Finn? Twain himself certainly would have approved of our exercising a mid-quarantine mental vacation. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” Twain once declared. “Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” We can’t do much about the vegetation at the moment, but we can practice expanding our minds.

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Montana

A River Runs Through It

—Norman MacLean

“In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing,” MacLean writes in his novella about a family in Western Montana, though that wouldn’t be his only poetic turn of phrase. A River Runs Through It contains moments of poetry as beautiful as any scene along the Yellowstone River, including this bit of hard-won wisdom: “And so it is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them—we can love completely without complete understanding.” Show up for the fly fishing and the romance of the American West, stay for the heartbreak.

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Nebraska

My Antonia

—Willa Cather

Willa Cather’s depiction of life on the prairie is never one-dimensional, as she manages to bring the pioneer spirits of her characters alive on the page as they struggle through yet another winter on the plains of Nebraska.

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Nevada

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

—Hunter S. Thompson

Of course we had to choose this classic, though our next runner-up would be the Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Who could forget that oh-so-memorable, visceral stretch of time spent with our anti-hero in the Nevada desert?

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New Hampshire

A Prayer For Owen Meany

—John Irving

Though we contemplated whether to feature The Hotel New Hampshire as our selection (the state’s name is referenced in the title, after all), we decided to opt for a different John Irving novel, instead. A Prayer For Owen Meany is an unforgettably eccentric account of boyhood and friendship in which the antics of the titular protagonist breathes new life into the state’s slogan: “Live Free Or Die.” Honorable mention goes to another brilliant depiction of schooldays in New Hampshire: John Knowles’s masterpiece A Separate Peace.

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New Jersey

Born To Run

—Bruce Springsteen

If you like Bruce Springsteen’s music, you will be addicted to this book—and, since it’s required by law that all residents in the state of New Jersey must worship The Boss, his memoir was an obvious selection for the Garden State. Runner-up accolades go to Philip Roth’s American Pastoral and Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao. An honorary mention must also be given to This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fictionalized account of his years at Princeton. Over the course of the text, the narrator embodies all the sensations of quarantine, declaring “I'm a slave to my emotions, to my likes, to my hatred of boredom, to most of my desires,” and concluding, “I’m restless as the devil.” Preach, Fitzgerald. Truer words have yet to be written.

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 New Mexico

The Milagro Beanfield War

—John Nichols

This seminal literary masterpiece, set in the small town of Milagro, New Mexico, takes place in neighboring crop-fields where one tiny accident escalates into all-out war. (Hence the novel’s title.) After finishing your reading materials, check out the film adaptation of the same name, directed by no less an American icon than Robert Redford.

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New York

The Great Gatsby

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald's dashing (and doomed) striver—forever chasing a future that remains just barely out of reach while diligently adding to his immaculate shirt collection—remains a definitive portrait of New York City (and its summertime environs.) Throwing massive parties on the north shore of Long Island, Gatsby is the hopelessly maniacal embodiment of the city that never sleeps. And just as Gatsby famously (though futilely) declared that you can relive the past, so, too, it seems, can our literary protagonist be reborn anew into the future. His desperate antics are as relatable as ever into the 21st century. "Posting a Snapchat story for one specific person to see is the modern day equivalent of Gatsby hosting elaborate parties in hopes that Daisy attends" reads one viral tweet on the matter. Though social climbing wasn't invented in Manhattan, it certainly was perfected on the island, and it is here that our tragic hero reigns supreme. Honorable mentions go to two other novels of manners, as well: Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities and James Salter’s Light Years also manage to capture that New Yorker milieu.

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North Carolina

Where The Crawdads Sing

—Delia Owens

This 2018 novel by Delia Owens has caused a literary sensation, thanks in part to its quietly haunting depictions of Mid-Atlantic wilderness and the coastal plains of North Carolina. Consider the scene-setting and ambiance of Where The Crawdads Sing a more elevated deep-dive into the state's natural beauty after binge-watching Outer Banks on Netflix. Another book to consider? Incidents in the Life Of a Slave Girl: Harriet Jacobs’s 1861 autobiography is just as powerful today, over one hundred years later. 

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North Dakota

The Round House

—Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich is one of the foremost chroniclers of the Native American experience working in the country today, and The Round House is a perfect representation of her gifts as a storyteller. We encourage you to seek out her other work, too, once you’ve torn through this first piece. The Grass Dancer by Susan Power is another excellent novel about the Native American experience in North Dakota, and is highly recommended as additional reading for your literary journey into the plains.

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Ohio

The Bluest Eye

—Toni Morrison

A timeless classic by one of the best American authors of all time. If you somehow missed reading this while getting your high school education, now is the time to catch up.

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Oklahoma

Killers of the Flower Moon

—David Grann

Like In Cold Blood before it on this list, this nonfiction account of a true crime story in the American Heartland is gripping enough to read like a page-turning novel. The true story of the murders at the first underground reservation in Osage County, Oklahoma, is a devastating portrayal of the horrific lies and deception (and bloodshed) upon which America was built. Readers should also consider Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.

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Oregon

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest

—Ken Kesey

While we’re fully aware that movie buffs may have already seen the film version of this iconic tale, we nevertheless insist that all literary road-trippers circle back and read the original text as well. Ken Kesey is a linguistic genius, and the twisted brilliance of his writing on the page is just as much of a revelation as Jack Nicholson’s electric performance.

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Pennsylvania

The Silver Linings Playbook

—Matthew Quick

I know that there are many wonderful works of literature that could aptly embody the dynamic city of Brotherly Love, but if it’s me reading the signs, I’d have to pick The Silver Linings Play Book. And if you don’t recognize my sign-reading skills as a direct shout-out to the Eagles-loving characters in Matthew Quick’s oddly heartwarming tale, then you are woefully behind the times. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper starred as the story’s seminal misfit couple, after all—alternately brought together, and driven apart, by modern dance, gambling, addiction, promiscuity, and Philadelphia football. If you don’t remember the love story by heart (or never learned it to begin with), then you are in a for a rare treat—one that is as satisfying as a Philly cheesesteak.

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Rhode Island

The Age Of Innocence

—Edith Wharton

As the summer colony of choice for Gilded Age robber barons in the earlier years of the 20th Century, Newport, Rhode Island, has long been associated with formality and decadence. The essence of old Newport society is embodied in the writing of Edith Wharton and Henry James, and both novelists were known to frequent the New England town they would often depict in their literature. Though James’s The Ivory Tower has a more prolonged focus on the town itself (the entire novel is set in Newport), we ultimately had to give the top honor to his colleague and confidant, Edith Wharton. Wharton’s depiction of a glamorous world in which privilege and repression coexist hand-in-hand is the central tension within her novel, The Age of Innocence. And this struggle between tradition and expectation lingers in social life today—particularly in old-school resort towns like Newport. For a more contemporary take on Rhode Island life, check out Jeffrey Euginedes’s novel, The Marriage Plot, which chronicles the angsty travails of undergraduates struggling with life and love at Brown University.

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South Carolina

Bastard out of Carolina

—Dorothy Allison

Dorothy Allison’s debut novel made waves for its depiction of abuse and deprivation in the rural South. Nearly three decades later, the novel remains a groundbreaking text for giving words to the often unspoken language of poverty and abuse. Afterward, readers should check out Sue Monk Kidd’s bestselling debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, for a relatively lighter read that is also set in South Carolina.

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South Dakota

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

—Dee Brown

Dee Brown’s earth-shattering account of the systemic degradation of Native Americans in the American West sent shockwaves through the country when it was first published in 1971. Readers will find it remains just as powerful and heartbreaking today. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee should be required reading not only for all residents of western states, but for every citizen of the country. Such an essential text, therefore, rightly belongs on our list—representing the flat-top hills and endless plains of South Dakota.

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Tennessee

The Color Purple

—Alice Walker

Alice Walker’s masterfully envisioned and sumptuously depicted novel, The Color Purple, was first published in 1982. The iconic feminist story of Walker’s protagonist, Celie, went on to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award—-and this lockdown is the perfect opportunity for first-time readers to find out why. And, if you have read the text already, there’s no better time to rediscover this seminal masterpiece than now.

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Texas

The Liars Club

—Mary Karr

The Liars Club by Mary Karr is one of the most engaging and thoroughly original memoirs ever shared about American life. And if you think what we’re saying is hyperbole, then you clearly have yet to read the book. (Karr went on to author two more remembrances of things past before releasing an instructional tome, the aptly-titled The Art of Memoir—she is a veritable genius of the genre.) Runner-up for Texas storytelling goes to Cormac McCarthy for the exquisitely rendered novel, All the Pretty Horses.

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Utah

Under The Banner Of Heaven

—John Krakauer

This is Krakauer’s second appearance on this list, and the honor is well-deserved. Krakauer’s account of fundamentalist Mormons in Utah contains (in our humble opinion) one of the greatest closing lines in any book ever: “But some things are more important than being happy. Like being free to think for yourself.” Now you just have to read the rest of the story to find out what leads to this conclusion—we hope you enjoy. (And already know that you will.)

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Vermont

The Secret History

—Donna Tartt

Before The Goldfinch dominated everyone’s book club reading lists (and spread across all the shortlists for various literary awards), there was The Secret History. Vermont is its own character in Donna Tartt’s first novel about classics students living and working together (in increasingly esoteric and dangerous ways) while studying at a New England college. And, like the novel itself, the changing seasons in the text—the first snowfall one early winter morning, the crackling leaves falling from the trees on a late autumn afternoon—are chillingly ominous and disarmingly beautiful all at the same time.

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Virginia

The Water Dancer

—Ta-Nehisi Coates

Though his nonfiction appeared earlier in our list, The Water Dancer marks Ta-Nehisi Coates’s first foray into long-form fiction. Set on a Virginia plantation pre-Civil War, Coates incorporates magical realism in his depiction of the life of Hiram, a man who is both slave and son to his oppressor/ the plantation’s owner. (And aren’t those terms synonyms already?) The debut novel is a must-read by a brilliant writer in command of his craft—whether it’s incisive nonfiction reporting or narrative (slightly supernatural) storytelling.

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Washington

Where’d You Go Bernadette

—Maria Semple

When not on a sojourn exploring the glaciers of Antarctica, the elusive Bernadette of Maria Semple’s bestselling novel is playing house (albeit unsuccessfully) amongst the gilded trappings of suburban Seattle. Additional recommendations for Washington storytelling in the Pacific Northwest includes The Absolutely True Diary Of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexis, Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, and—of course—the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.

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West Virginia

The Glass Castle

—Jeanette Walls

Jeanette Walls recounts her tumultuous childhood in southern West Virginia in her celebrated memoir The Glass Castle. (She is also the author of another memoir, Half-Broke Horses.)

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Wisconsin

Little House In The Big Woods

—Laura Ingalls Wilder

We simply had to go with this childhood classic by Laura Ingalls Wilder for our tribute to the American Midwest. Travelers embarking on a literal (not just figurative) cross-country road trip of this great nation should consider paying a visit to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Pepin, Wisconsin.

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Wyoming

Brokeback Mountain

—Annie Proulx

After devouring Annie Proulx's now-famous short story "Brokeback Mountain," readers should continue to read the rest of her writing about Wyoming in her story collection Fine Just The Way It Is. Proulx’s spare, precise prose is as evocative of the flat prairies and forbidding mountains of the American West as Faulkner's slippery, syrupy language is of the languid afternoons and sinister squalor of the Deep South. And in another similarity to Faulkner, Proulx’s stories are subtly devastating in their portrayal of characters trying to navigate a livable reality in a callous and unforgiving world. In short: Don’t expect some light, feel-good reading. In the words of the author’s lovelorn, cow-herding protagonists in "Brokeback Mountain": Annie Proulx, we wish we knew how to quit you. (Except, of course, we would never. Just like Proulx's star-crossed cowboys, we're addicted to the pain.)