Name a great book about your town or state that features places you've been or people

[blondeatlast]

you know, fiction or non-fiction.

For me:

"Not All Okies Are White: The Lives of Black Cotton Pickers in Arizona"

It's a study of the tiny, tiny town of Randolph, Arizona, which is a fascinating, easily missed little burg on Highway 87 between Phoenix and Tucson. The town was founded as a place for African American migrant cotton pickers who decided to stay and the town remains; I spent growing up years in Coolidge, AZ 5 miles away. I was always fascinated by the place; I lived for a while within a bike ride of the tiny little grocery store and used to get Popsicles there in the summer. It's really something to read about so many familiar locations and even people I knew even if just in passing.

It really is something to read of the history of some many businesses I patronized and the places I knew that I didn't know had so much history around them.

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. A good hunk of John Steinbeck's work

My hometown and his are the same. I used to live four blocks from the house he was born and raised in.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. To Kill a Mockingbird-where I live presently

[u4ic]

3. How about a play? "Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love"

[Heidi]

4. "The Corrections." It was very much like my ex-husband's family. (nt)

[sakabatou]

5. I don't know of a title

but any book on Hewlett-Packard.

[DemBones DemBones]

6. I've been to places Pat Conroy writes about in his novels

and I met him once at a book signing.

[WinkyDink]

7. Anything by John Updike. Or about the Molly Maguires.

[peacefreak]

8. The Stand

Early parts of it take place in Ogunquit, Me. The first time I read it, I had the flu. I knew the beach Frannie was on, the motorcycle place they went to. I could visualize the roads they were taking. It was an eerie feeling to be getting sicker & sicker as Capt Trips started making his rounds.

[BeachBaby]

9. The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.

There are several books in the series, so I won't list them all here; but it's a series about a woman - Stephanie Plum - who is a bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey. It's absolutely the most hilarious book series I've ever read. I find myself constantly laughing out loud while reading.

There have been talks about making it into a movie. To give you an idea of what Janet Evanovich's four main characters are like, she had her fan club pick celebrities that would best do the job. Sandra Bullock, Queen Latifa, Benjamin Bratt and "The Rock" seemed to be the winners in our votes. Everybody thought that Estelle Getty would have played Stephanie's grandmother perfectly, but that isn't going to happen.

I would highly recommend the series to anyone who wants a good story with alot of laughs.

[blondeatlast]

13. I love the Plum books!

Interesting casting; somehow I don't see Queen Latifah as Lula; I'd love to see Wanda Sykes as her (but she might be too small in stature).

I love The Rock in anything; I thinl he'd be great and he always seems to bring something more fun to the roles he plays.

[BeachBaby]

15. LOL - I could TOTALLY see Latifah doing Lula.

Remember the descriptions of Lula's clothes? The leopard-print leggings, skin-tight tops and high heels? It was made abundantly clear that Lula was a big woman. I imagine that between Latifah's physique, and her ability to be a true smart-ass when needed.

Yeah, they had Sandra Bullock as Stephanie; Benjamin Bratt as Morelli; and The Rock as Ranger.

[Patiod]

16. Oh, at work, Dwayne Johnson is the unanimous Ranger pick

Granted, we only polled 4 Janet Evanovich readers, and they were all over the board with the other cast memebers, but "The Rock"/Dwayne Johnson was the pick of all 4 of us.

Not a Trentonian, but I've put in my time on Route 1, going past the Quakerbridge Mall!

[mitchum]

10. Tobacco Road, God's Little Acre, Wise Blood are just three great books filled...

with Georgia cracker grotesques.

[Richardo]

11. Michael Connelly's books describe the Los Angeles I know very well

Might be one of the reasons I like them so much.

[AngryAmish]

12. "The Man With the Golden Arm"

[Tommy_Carcetti]

14. Any work by Carl Hiaasen sums up why I love Florida.

All the colorful, crazy and dysfunctional characters have a bit of realism to them. That is Florida, and that is why I don't want to live anywhere else.

[distantearlywarning]

17. An American Childhood by Annie Dillard

She writes about her childhood living in Point Breeze, a quiet, upper-class, tree-lined neighborhood in Pittsburgh's east end: http://www.pittsburghinwords.org/annie_dillard.html

I too am a proud resident of Point Breeze, Pittsburgh. I live 1/2 block off the "Penn Avenue" mentioned in the excerpt I linked to, and probably less than 1/2 mile from where she lived. Sadly, there are no more streetcars on Penn, but otherwise the neighborhood is still very much like she would have known it. The Frick Mansion is now a museum, and the Evergreen cafe is still there too.

Point Breeze is coincidentally Mr. Roger's neighborhood also, a fact of which I am inordinately proud.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

18. The Broker by John Grisham

a lot of the book is a love poem to Bologna, where I was born and raised. It is not a great book, but the description of Bologna's streets and porticos brings back the memories.

[City of Mills]

19. Dr. Sax

Among other books by Jack Kerouac

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Sax

Jack and I grew up in the same neighborhood, on the same block. His writing really hits home for me because I can relate to the places he describes so much.

[BurtWorm]

22. You'd probably find the book I'm currently reading pretty interesting.

It's called What's Left of Us, by Richard Farrell. It describes Lowell pretty grittily.

[City of Mills]

25. Ooh thanks for the heads up

I'd like to check that out!

On edit: Reading the reviews, looks pretty interesting. This city has an ugly history with heroin. I probably live across the canal from the abandoned mills he stayed in; I'm living in a renovated mill in the center of the city.

Edit #2: I didn't realize Richard Farrell was behind the "High on Crack St" documentary...that's a classic around these parts, it's still available on youtube in 7 parts I believe...very interesting, I know some of the faces from the documentary. I probably know some of the families...

[BurtWorm]

27. Those mills were 'repurposed' since he was hanging there I presume?

Is the Acre still a wreck? I only know about it from the book. Otherwise, I only know Lowell from the perspective of I-495.

[MorningGlow]

20. Not a lot of books based in the middle of western NY

(In other words, not Buffalo, not Syracuse, but the area in between.) On the plus side, that leaves the field wide open for me!

One I know off the top of my head: Everybody Loves Somebody, a collection of short stories by Joanna Scott. I recognized some locations instantly--a city park, a bar/restaurant, even a convenience store.

It's a good book. I like it.

http://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Loves-Somebody-Joanna-S...

[kiva]

21. Eclipse, by Dalton Trumbo.

A fictionalized, not too flattering look at the town I grew up in, Grand Junction, Colorado--it did not endear him to the residents. His daughter wrote that her father "satirized Grand Junction rather than expose the pain he felt upon the loss of his father and the love he felt for the town and the childhood he left there."

[Forkboy]

23. Can't remember which one, but one of Robert Parker's Spencer novels featured my town.

That's our brush with legal fame.

[Jamastiene]

24. There is one being written right now by the President of Wingate University.

We contributed what might be the only pre-fire picture of a textile mill located in the village where I live now. I love this village. I complain about the city where I live a lot, but this village is my dream world. It is a tight knit forested community. I love this neighborhood.

When he releases his memoirs about growing up here, I'll be able to share the title. I am looking forward to that one, because I have a lot of family history in this village and my dearly departed beloved grandmother once lived in the building that housed the original post office here.

Another one that I have not gotten yet, but do intend to get is featured on this web site:
http://www.johnwmyers.com/roberdel.html

"No Ordinary Lives: A History of Richmond County, North Carolina, 1750-1900," authored by John Hutchinson in 1998.

What I wouldn't give for the house in front of the Methodist church where my grandmother lived. I spent so much time there as a kid and loved it so much. I just want my grandmother back. That would be better.

[graywarrior]

26. Stephen King books

I've been where he wrote about in several books. He also mentions my home town, Lynn MA, in a lot of his novels.

[KamaAina]

28. "Blu's Hanging", Lois-Ann Yamanaka.

The Hawai'i not featured in the glossy tourist brochures.

And the person that I know is... Lois-Ann Yamanaka, with whom I share an interest in common besides literature.

Warning: Not suitable for the queasy of stomach; verges on horror at times. A lighter-hearted alternative (still involving taxidermy, though) is "heads by Harry".