Readers all around the country, unite!
NetCredit and Goodreads joined forces to create a map highlighting the most popular book set in every state. Of course, we can't physically travel at the moment—but why not do so through splendid pieces of literature that depict our country so well?
To come up with the data, NetCredit searched for the top five highest rated books set in each state on Goodreads. Narrowing down that list to a single tome required the use of a formula based on a combination of the number of reviews and the overall Goodreads ratings.
Here is the resulting map:
Check out a broken down, state-by-state list:
Alabama: To Kill a Mockingbird
Alaska: Into the Wild
Arizona: The Bean Trees
Arkansas: True Grit
California: Of Mice and Men
Colorado: The Shining
Connecticut: Revolutionary Road
Delaware: Fight Club
Florida: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Georgia: Gone with the Wind
Hawaii: Molokai'i
Idaho: Housekeeping
Indiana: The Fault in Our Stars
Illinois: The Time Traveler's Wife
Iowa: The Bridges of Madison County
Kansas: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Kentucky: The Patron Saint of Liars
Louisiana: Interview with the Vampire
Maine: The Cider House Rules
Maryland: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
Massachusetts: Little Women
Michigan: Middlesex
Minnesota: Ordinary Grace
Mississippi: The Help
Missouri: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Montana: A River Runs Through it and Other Stories
Nebraska: Attachments
Nevada: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
New Hampshire: A Prayer for Owen Meany
New Jersey: Drown
New Mexico: Red Sky at Morning
New York: The Great Gatsby
North Carolina: A Walk to Remember
North Dakota: Love Medicine
Ohio: Ready Player One
Oklahoma: The Outsiders
Oregon: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Pennsylvania: The Lovely Bones
Rhode Island: My Sister's Keeper
South Carolina: The Secret Life of Bees
South Dakota: Black Hills
Tennessee: The Color Purple
Texas: Holes
Utah: The 19th Wife
Vermont: Midwives
Virginia: Bridge to Terabithia
Washington: Snow Falling on Cedars
West Virginia: Shiloh
Wisconsin: American Gods
Wyoming: The Cold Dish
But the project went a step further than listing books: NetCredit also came up with the most popular quote within each book. To do so, they found each book on Kindle and then used that app to find the most referenced quote.
You can find each line right here, but some standouts include: "'That's the thing about pain,' Augustus said, and then glanced back to me. 'It demands to be felt'" (The Fault in Our Stars, Indiana); "The miracle is this: that you will rise in the morning and be able to see again the startling beauty of the day" (Ordinary Grace, Minnesota); "They were so strong in their beliefs that there came a time when it hardly mattered what exactly those beliefs were; they all fused into a single stubbornness" (Love Medicine, North Dakota).
After a deep-dive into the literary inventory, we suggest adding every single book to your must-read pile. We've got a bit more time to read these days, anyway, don't we?