This Week's Geocentric Reading List


The folks over at Brooklyn Magazine are at it once again. A couple of weeks ago they came up with a Literary Map of Brooklyn to give readers the best understanding of the neighborhoods that make up that borough. Now they've turned their literary spotlight to the states:
...we had seen other maps pairing books with states, but those maps tend to signify the fame level of the books rather than their literary merit; they also tend to be dominated by white men, most of them dead. And Margaret Mitchell. 
We wanted to come up with a list that was more than just a general reflection of a place, but rather paid attention to the specifics, even at the risk of the exclusion of the whole. No one book, after all, can completely capture the spirit of something so unwieldy as a state.
You can visit their Website for the full list of 53 books (yes, 53, New York got divided into State and City with NYC getting it's own title) - none of which, they say, are Gone with the Wind (thank you very much).

Some titles are are more evident than others (Into the Wild / Alaska, Lonesome Dove / Texas, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas / Nevada, The Descendants / Hawaii). Others, I can't help but think there might have been a better choice out there somewhere in the literary sphere (is Stephen King's Carrie really representative of Maine, or Truman Capote's In Cold Blood / Kansas - both well written, don't get me wrong), but those are personal preferences, and honestly, I've not read enough to be able to identify better titles. I just can't help but think they might be out there.

If you're looking for a themed reading list, this is a good one that will keep you busy for the next year (or two).


Labels: , ,