books | u.s.a. |

Before and during my travels, I read literary fiction or memoirs set in my destination. Sometimes I also read historical accounts. I enjoy the process of immersing myself in a place before I go, getting a feel for the culture and what defines a place. Reading ignites my imagination about a place and its inhabitants. It also extends my travel time. 🙂

The following list of books set in the United States is a work in process.  I invite readers to suggest additional books set in these locales in the comments below. I’m most interested in including memoir, literary fiction, historical accounts or essays, not guidebooks.  Links to Goodreads are provided for books I’ve actually read.

• Iconic American Road Trip Books
  • Non-fiction
    • Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
    • On the Road by Jack Kerouac
    • Wanderful: The Modern Bohemian’s Guide to Traveling in Style by Andi Eaton
    • American Nomads: Travels with Lost Conquistadors, Mountain Men, Cowboys, Indians, Hoboes, Truckers, and Bull Riders by Richard Grant
    • Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon
    • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
    • Road Trip USA: Cross Country Adventures on America’s Two-Lane Highways by Jamie Jensen
    • The Great American Road Trip by Eric Peterson
    • The Cruise of the Rolling Junk by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    • The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America by Bill Bryson
    • Cross Country: Fifteen Years and Ninety Thousand Miles on the Roads and Interstates of America with Lewis and Clark by Robert Sullivan
    • Trip of the Tongue: Cross-Country Travels in Search of America’s Languages by Elizabeth Little
    • A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins
    • Trespassing Across America: One Man’s Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland by Ken Ilgunas
    • Wild by Cheryl Strayed
  • Fictional road trips
    • The English Major by Jim Harrison
    • Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
    • The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
• U.S. States
  • Alabama
    • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
    • The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau
    • Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
    • Four Spirits by Sena Jeter Naslund
    • A Walk Through Fire by William Cobb
  • Alaska
    • My One Square Inch of Alaska by Sharon Short
    • The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
    • The Fugitive Wife by Peter C. Brown
    • The Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan
  • Arizona
    • Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
    • The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
    • The Woman Lit by Fireflies by Jim Harrison
    • Crossers by Philip Caputo
    • Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor
  • Arkansas
  • California
    • The Infinite Plan by Isabel Allende
    • China Dolls by Lisa See
    • The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
    • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
    • The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea
    • Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
  • Colorado
    • The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson
    • Plainsong (Plainsong, #1) by Kent Haruf
    • Eventide (Plainsong, #2) by Kent Haruf
    • Benediction (#3) by Kent Haruf
    • The Tie That Binds by Kent Haruf
    • Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
    • The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
    • The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (non-fiction)
  • Connecticut
    • The Children by Ann Leary
  • Delaware
  • District of Columbia – Washington, D.C.
    • Breaking her Fall by Stephen Goodwin
    • The Sea of Tears: A Novel by Nani Power
  • Florida
    • Lost Man’s River by Peter Matthiessen
  • Georgia
    • A Childhood by Harry Crews
    • Atlanta
    • Savannah
      • Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
    • Idaho: A Novel by Emily Rukovich
    • Educated by Tara Westover
    • All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki
    • Iona Moon by Melanie Rae Thon
  • Illinois
    • Chicago
      • Chicago by Alaa al Aswany
      • The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
  • Indiana
    • The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf by Mohja Kahf
    • Indianapolis
      • The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
  • Iowa
    • Gilead (Gilead, #1) by Marilynne Robinson
  • Kansas
    • The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty
  • Kentucky
    • The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
    • Shiloh and Other Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason
    • Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
    • Whiskey & Ribbons by Leesa Cross-Smith
  • Louisiana
    • The Awakening by Kate Chopin
  • Maine
    • Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine by Ann Hood
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
    • Cape Cod
      • The Giant’s House by Elizabeth McCracken
  • Michigan
    • Midnight Champagne by A. Manette Ansay
    • Any books by Jim Harrison
  • Minnesota
    • Love Among the Ruins: A Novel by Robert Clark
  • Mississippi
    • Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
  • Montana
    • The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans
    • The Cadence of Grass by Thomas McGuane
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
    • Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
    • Bad Haircut: Stories of the Seventies by Tom Perrotta
    • The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
    • Drown by Junot Díaz
    • The Lay of the Land (Frank Bascombe #3) by Richard Ford
    • Palisades Park by Alan Brennert
    • Paterson by William Carlos Williams
    • The Pine Barrens by John McPhee (non-fiction)
    • Newark
      • American Pastoral (The American Trilogy #1) by Philip Roth
      • Indignation by Philip Roth
  • New Mexico
    • Cities of the Plain (#3) by Cormac McCarthy
    • Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
    • Loving Pedro Infante by Denise Chavez
    • The Professor’s House by Willa Cather
    • The Sea of Grass by Conrad Richter
    • The Spell of New Mexico by Tony Hillerman (essays)
  • New York
    • The Good Husband by Gail Godwin
    • Arabian Jazz by Diana-Abu Jaber
    • What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt
    • Buffalo
      • Broke Heart Blues by Joyce Carol Oates
    • Niagara Falls
      • The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates
    • New York City
      • Three Junes by Julia Glass
      • The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
      • Crawling at Night by Nani Power
      • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
      • Alternate Side by Anna Quindlen
    • Syracuse
      • Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
    • The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
    • Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
    • Philadelphia
      • Third and Indiana by Steve Lopez
      • Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Andersen
      • Birdy by William Wharton
      • Black Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
      • In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
    • Pittsburgh
      • The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
      • The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
      • The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
      • An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
    • Beach Music by Pat Conroy
    • The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
    • The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard
    • Nashville
      • Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
      • All We Ever Wanted by Emily Griffin
  • Texas
    • The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr
    • All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy #1) by Cormac McCarthy
    • Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
    • Streets of Laredo (Lonesome Dove #2) by Larry McMurtry
    • Dead Man’s Walk (Lonesome Dove #2) by Larry McMurtry
    • Comanche Moon (Lonesome Dove #4) by Larry McMurtry
    • Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
    • The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry
    • Houston
      • Towelhead by Alicia Erian
  • Utah
    • Lullaby Road by James Anderson
    • The Never Open Desert Diner by James Anderson
    • When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
    • Junction, Utah by Rebecca Lawton
    • Basin and Range by John McPhee (non-fiction)
    • Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer
  • Vermont
    • In the Fall by Jeffrey Lent
  • Virginia
    • Father Melancholy’s Daughter by Gail Godwin
    • The Known World by Edward P. Jones
    • The House Girl by Tara Conklin
    • The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
    • Big Stone Gap (Big Stone Gap #1) by Adriana Trigiani
    • Big Cherry Hollow (Big Stone Gap #2) by Adriana Trigiani
    • Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
    • Richmond
      • The Language of Good-bye by Maribeth Fischer
  • Washington
    • Seattle
      • Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
      • Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
    • The Dive from Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer
    • Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay
  • Wyoming
• U.S. Territories
  • American Samoa
  • Guam
  • Northern Mariana Islands
  • Puerto Rico
    • The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico by Sarah McCoy
    • The House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferré
    • Eccentric Neighborhoods by Rosario Ferré
    • When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
  • U.S. Virgin Islands

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• Memoirs or books about the general American experience.
  • The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls