Resources

Tools for reading geographically

Books Around America: The Best Books Set in Every State: Book Riot‘s Susie Dumond shares a list that is rich in author diversity and that includes multiple books from each state. It’s my new favorite resource [Note: I added it to this Resources page on August 23, 2018].

The Literary United States: A Map of the Best Book for Every State: Brooklyn Magazine put together a list of books set in each state, not based on fame or popularity, but on their ability to capture a sense of place. “All are literary in voice and spirit; every last one will let you understand a time and place in a more profound way than you maybe thought possible.”

Map of The Great American Novel: Places from the pages of America’s finest literary works: Infographic of 42 “Great American Novels” plotted on a map of the United States, featured on Mental Floss and created by artist Mark Adams.

Business Insider map of the Most Famous Book Set in Every State: There is no indication of how the makers of this map quantified “most famous,” but it is a great jumping-off point nonetheless.

Pulitzer and National Book Award Winners mapped by US setting: I couldn’t find maps of Pulitzer and National Book Award winners based on setting. So I made them.

Authors of Color from each US state: A photo gallery of non-Caucasian authors from each state, titles they set in their home state, and a state-by-state list of those titles. If you are looking to diversify your reading life, this is a great place to start.

A Nonfiction Tour of America: 50 Books for 50 States via Flavorwire

The Readers podcast episode 85: Your Country in Ten (or Eleven) books: US-based host, Thomas Otto, suggests ten books that would give a visitor insight into the different regions of the United States.

TripFiction: See a location through an author’s eyes: Searchable database of titles with a focus on setting. Includes reviews.

USA Literary Map: Available at The Literary Gift Company, this map designed by Geoff Sawers and Bridget Hannigan displays the geographic origins of 226 American authors.

Goodreads: Exhaustive collection of more than 10,000,000 book titles. Setting is not a focus, but the user-cataloged collection is searchable through lists and and a tagging system.

For an in depth list of maps and resources, see Resources for taking a geography-based literary tour of the US

General reading resources

8 Great Literary, Book Nerd, and Storytelling Podcasts: A list of Andrea’s favorite bookish podcasts with links, show descriptions, and Twitter handles