With the fall school schedule and kids’ sports in full swing, we’ve been staying close to home and not traveling much. Of course, I’m always itching to explore new places, even if I can’t physically get there. Times like this bring me back to the early COVID days, when we dreamed of travel and everyone seemed to adopt an obsessive new hobby. My hobby became “traveling” across the country through books. I decided to visit all 50 states (plus D.C.) by reading a book set in each one. The list came from Goodreads (not my own creation) which made it even more fun because it pushed me into genres and authors I never would have chosen on my own. 

I thought about highlighting my favorites, but reading is so personal and subjective. Still, a few stood out for very different reasons:

• The Five Wounds (NM) and The Giver of Stars (KY) couldn’t be more different, yet both are gripping stories rooted in family, community, and place.
• Lincoln in the Bardo (DC) was not for me and was probably my least favorite on the list as there were too many perspectives to follow. However, friends swear by the audiobook, which features 166 voices including Nick Offerman, Carrie Brownstein, Lena Dunham, and Ben Stiller. Maybe that’s the secret!
• A Little Life (NY) and The Great Alone (AK) were absolutely epic and wrecked me. I couldn’t put them down, and I couldn’t stop crying.
• Fangirl (NE) is pure fun and I’m holding on to it for my tween to read soon. 
• The Fireman (NH), a post-apocalyptic story I never would’ve picked up otherwise, pushed me completely outside my comfort zone.
• Born to Run (NJ) had me in a full Springsteen obsession, listening to my favorite songs by the Boss on repeat.

In other words, this list is all over the map (literally and figuratively) which is exactly what makes it such a great “armchair travel” project. You can crisscross the country without ever leaving your couch. Below is the full list. Most links go to Goodreads, but for states where I’ve visited a great independent bookstore, I’ve linked to that shop instead (shop local!) and noted it beside the book, along with a link to any post I’ve written about that state.

• Alabama: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
• Alaska: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• Arizona: The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantú
• Arkansas: Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family by Garrard Conley
• California: There There by Tommy Orange (Pegasus Bookstore, Berkeley, CA)
• Colorado: The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger 
• Connecticut: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult (River Bend Books, West Hartford, CT) 
• Delaware: The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez (Browseabout Books, Rehoboth, DE) 
• Florida: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead 
• Georgia: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
• Hawaii: Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
• Idaho: Educated by Tara Westover
• Illinois: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai 
• Indiana: The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson (The Next Chapter, Jasper, IN)
• Iowa: Lila by Marilynne Robinson
• Kansas: The Topeka School by Ben Lerner
• Kentucky: The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes 
• Louisiana: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett 
• Maine: My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
• Maryland: Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman
• Massachusetts: Writers & Lovers by Lily King
• Michigan: The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray
• Minnesota: The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal
• Mississippi: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward (Square Books, Oxford, MS)
• Missouri: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• Montana: Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson
• Nebraska: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (Rooted Bookstore, Grand Island, NE)
• Nevada: Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson
• New Hampshire: The Fireman by Joe Hill
• New Jersey: Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
• New Mexico: The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade
• New York: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (The Corner Bookstore, UES, NYC)
• North Carolina: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• North Dakota: The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
• Ohio: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng , (Gramercy Books, Columbus, OH)
• Oklahoma: Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
• Oregon: Red Clocks by Leni Zumas
• Pennsylvania: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid 
• Rhode Island: The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
• South Carolina: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
• South Dakota: Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
• Tennessee: All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin
• Texas: News of the World by Paulette Jiles
• Utah: When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest Williams
• Vermont: Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
• Virginia: The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Old Town Books, Alexandria, VA)
• Washington: Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
• Washington, D.C.: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Politics and Prose, DC)
• West Virginia: Shiner by Amy Jo Burns (Taylor Books, Charleston, WV)
• Wisconsin: Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler 
• Wyoming: Dark Sky by C.J. Box

What are your favorite books that transport you elsewhere and what bookstores should I visit as I try to visit all 50 states? Add a comment to help plan out my winter armchair travelling!