Read your way around the USA

[ScarerAndFuck]

Just seen a list of the most famous books, one from every state in the USA.

I thought it might be interesting to share here in case anyone felt like a reading challenge with a difference.

The list is here

I've already read 20 of them, although two were for the same state as they were joint first on the list.

Surely there must be other books set in Bristol?

Oxfordshire - Lark Rise to Candleford - Flora Thompson
Herefordshire - any of the Phil Rickman Merrily Watkins books - the first one is Wine of Angels.
Derbyshire - Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks

I have a friend who I'm seeing tomorrow who has read everything! I'll ask her for some ideas and will be back with a list.

Does this list help with Bristol?

Fab list Ilovemyanyfucker and thank you PeteCampbellsRecedingHairline - REALLY useful list! It's such a shame that we can't do Bath, isn't it, it would be so much easier BasketzatDawn
So, how about this one which won the Man Booker 2011 - Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes????

BUCKS Anyone have any other ideas: Enigma by Robert Harris?

CAMBS Lots come to mind - please vote or suggest others:

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
Engleby by Sebastian FAulks
Porterhouse Blue by Tom Sharpe

Ross and Cromarty - Winter Solstice - Rosamunde Pilcher. I absolutely love this book!!

Hertfordshire - Pride and Prejudice
Surrey - Emma
Shropshire - The Happy Prisoner by Monica Dickens
Wiltshire - Remains of the Day
Somerset - Persuasion (Bath)
West Yorkshire - Red Riding trilogy
Sussex - The Cazalet Chronicles

Just finished this one that is set in Worcestershire quite good for the price (it was free!)

Shrewsbury

Bristol

What about Lanark, by Alexander Grey, for Lanarkshire (obvs).

I liked Winter Solstice too. Couldn't have told you where in the Highlands it was set, but yes. A few of R Pilcher's are set in Fife, I think? And did she not write the Cornwall ones too. The Shell Seekers, or am I totally mixed up? I was thinking Neil Gunn for 'up north' too but he was Caithness anyway. I think. Is Lanark set in Lanarkshire? So many wonderful writers in Scotland.

I found a good website. I think it's called www.booksinscotland.com. It does the job for us!!

I still don't know why we have to have Bristol not Bath. Both in Somerset, no? Please do tell what point I am missing .....

Basket it has reality parts and fantasy parts, and the reality parts are very evocative of Glasgow, even if not explictly stated. If we're talking about books with a sense of place then it fits the bill. I'd recommend it!

I've got a suggestion of a book for Co Londonderry. The Pineapple Tart by Anne Dunlop. Its years since I read it, and I think its set in a fictional village, but I'm about 99% sure it's the mid Ulster area which is Co Londonderry. Does that count? I mean, its not high literature, but its an entertaining read!

Yay! Lots coming in. This is so great.

BasketzatDawn As far as I understand it, Bristol is like a county in its own right, like Greater London and like Manchester for some reason.

Bristol Sense of an Ending seems to be the one (tks octopusinastringbag)

Cambs Porterhouse Blue? Anyone not happy with that?

Next up:
Cheshire - any suggestions? Perhaps The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner set in Alderley?

So far we have these:

Aberdeen, City of
Anglesey
Angus
Antrim
Argyll
Armagh
Ayrshire
Banffshire
Bath Persuasion
Bedfordshire Pilgrim's Progress Bunyan
Bedfordshire Bageye at the wheel Colin Grant
Bedfordshire The Yips Nicola Barker
Berkshire Three Men and a Boat Jerome K Jerome
Berkshire Cocktail Time PG Wodehouse
Berwickshire
Breconshire
Bristol Sense of Ending Julian Barnes
Bristol Only time will tell Jeffrey Archer
Buckinghamshire Enigma Robert Harris
Buckinghamshire Boy Roald Dahl
Bute
Caernarvonshire
Caithness
Cambridgeshire Porterhouse Blue Tom Sharpe
Cambridgeshire Case Histories Kate Atkinson
Cambridgeshire Engelby Sebastian Faulks
Cardiganshire
Carmarthenshire
Ceredigion
Cheshire The weirdman of Brisingamen Alan Garner
Clackmannanshire
Cleveland
Co. Down
Co. Durham
Co. Fermanagh
Co. Londonderry The Pineapple Tart Anne Dunlop
Co. Londonderry Seamus Heaney
Co. Londonderry Jennifer Johnstone
Cornwall Jamaica Inn Daphne Du Maurier
Cornwall The Dark is Rising Susan Cooper
Cornwall The Shell Seekers Rosamund Pilcher
Cumberland
Cumbria
Denbighshire
Derbyshire Year of Wonders Geraldine Brooks
Devon Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle
Devon Treasure Island
Devon Green Smoke Rosemary Manning
Devon Lorna Dorne
Devon Tarka the Otter
Devon And then there were none Agatha Christie
Devon Warhorse Michael Morpurgo
Dorset
Dumbartonshire
Dumfriesshire
Dundee, City of
East Lothian
East Riding of Yorkshire
East Sussex
East Yorkshire
Essex
Fife
Flintshire
Glamorgan
Gloucestershire
Greater Manchester
Gwent
Gwynedd
Hampshire
Herefordshire Wine of Angels Phil Rickman
Hertfordshire Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
Humberside
Huntingdonshire
Inverness
Isle of Man
Isle of Wight
Jersey
Kent
Kincardineshire
Kinross-shire
Kirkcudbrightshire
Lanarkshire Lanark Alexander Grey
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
London - City of London London Edward Rutherford
Merionethshire
Merseyside
Mid Glamorgan
Middlesex
Midlothian
Monmouthshire
Montgomeryshire
Morayshire
Nairnshire
Norfolk
North Yorkshire
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire The Autobiography of ice skating's greatest stars Jayne Torvill
Nottinghamshire The loneliness of the long distance runner
Orkney Orkney Amy Sackville
Oxfordshire Lark rise to Candleford Flora Thompson
Peebleshire
Pembrokeshire
Perthshire
Powys
Radnorshire
Renfrewshire
Ross and Cromarty Winter Solstice Rosamund Pilcher
Roxburghshire
Rutland
Salisbury Sarum Edward Rutherford
Selkirkshire
Sheffield The Northern Clemency
Shetland
Shrewsbury Ellis Peters books Ellis Peters
Shropshire The Happy Prisoner Monica Dickens
Somerset
South Yorkshire
South Glamorgan
Staffordshire
Stirlingshire
Suffolk
Surrey Emma Jane Austen
Sussex The Cazelet Chronicles
Sutherland
Tyne and Wear
Warwickshire
West Lothian
West Sussex
West Yorkshire Red Riding Trilogy
Wigtownshire
Wiltshire The Remains of the Day
Worcestershire Youthenasia Duncan Peberdy

Oh bugger...why didn't the spaces work? :( Sorry....

If you're still stuck for something for Somerset, there's this one Ferney which is set in Pen Selwood, just up the road from us.

And Dorset, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, or The French Lieutenant's Woman?

In Search of the Liberty Tree by Tom McCaughren is set in Co Antrim in 1798. Think it might be out of print though...

Was Waterland set in lincolnshire or Norfolk?

I think Nine Tailors by Dorothy sayer was set in Norfolk.

Glos - Cider with Rosie?
Swansea area (Carmarthenshire?) - quite early one morning Dylan Thomas
Whichever county covers south Kensington surely The Treasure Seekers by E Nesbit
The card by Arnold Bennett for staffs

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit- for Lancashire