Visit the state’s oldest independent bookstore to find something new to fill up your brain—and then head a few blocks south to Johnny’s Restaurant, where you can fill up your belly (with fried green tomatoes). [ ] Gifty and her family leave Ghana for Huntsville in this novel drawn from Gyasi’s life as the daughter of immigrants. [ ] A National Book Award finalist, Covington’s book covers the trial of Glenn Summerford and a snake handling church in Appalachia with generous curiosity.
[ ] Jones is Alabama’s current poet laureate; her 2021 collection was longlisted for the PEN / Voelker Award. Find your way to Nelle Harper Lee’s gravesite in Monroeville and leave a penny as tribute. [ ] The archives, stacks, and reading rooms here don’t skimp on majesty, and the design of the library itself—perched waterside and flanked by Thunder, Jumbo, Juneau, Roberts, and McGinnis peaks—is evocative of a bird poised for flight.
[ ] This tale of an Inuit girl and her adoptive wolf pack is an adventure classic. [ ] by Michael Chabon A master observer of place and people, McPhee’s travels through Alaska introduce readers to prospectors, politicians, and the bush community of Eagle. [ ] The Tlingit poet and former state laureate’s “The Spoken Forest” is installed at Totem Bight State Park in Ketchikan.
[ ] Jack London fans will find echoes of in Skagway, Alaska, where much of Buck’s story unfolds. [ ] Find 98 acres of botanical garden for walks and many desert landscape reading spots among sky-high saguaros. [ ] Cosima “Codi” Noline returns to her rural Arizona home in Kingsolver’s 1990 novel, a meditation on grief, family, and homecoming.
[ ] What happens when an undocumented teen mother takes on the U.S. immigration system? This book is a harrowing deep-dive into the cost of the American dream.
[ ] A recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Grant whose latest collection, , won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, Diaz teaches at Arizona State University, and has directed a Mojave language revitalization project at Fort Mohave. [ ] Poet Steve Orlen called the Helen S. Schaefer Building—home base of The Poetry Center at University of Arizona—”the best living room in America for reading poetry.
” [ ] Moshe Safdie designed this stunning structure in harmony with surrounding mountain landscape; you can find a rare Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian house here, too. [ ] Mattie Ross is 14 when she sets out across western Arkansas seeking justice for the murder of her father; adventure ensues! [ ] This archival deep-dive of Ozark beatniks is a departure from more common tales of the counterculture. [ ] In 1926, Marinoni created the University-City Poetry Club; for forty-five years, the club met at her home near the UA campus.
In 1953, she was named poet laureate of Arkansas. [ ] John Gould Fletcher and Charlie May Simon lived here, writing from opposite sides of the house. [ ] Named for the sorrow-dispelling drug in Homer’s , this perch is known for its dramatic Pacific views (and vibes); literary legends haunt these parts.
If you need a change of scenery, the is right down the road. [ ] There is no glitz and no glamour in Straight’s recent novel, which makes it all the more essential as a California epic. [ ] by Viet Thanh Nguyen; by Raymond Chandler Possibly the most iconic California book (and California writer) of all time.
[ ] by Eve Babitz Uyematsu’s won the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize in 1992. [ ] One of the largest literary museums in the country dedicated to a single author. [ ] An ongoing labor of love: this residential library is the result of a transformation of an abandoned ranch, celebrating nature and history.
[ ] This spare, gorgeous novel is set in the High Plains, in the fictional town of Holt. [ ] In these poignant essays, Houston revels in the Rockies’ beauty and chronicles the ways in which her 120-acre ranch high in the San Juan Mountains has healed and inspired her. [ ] The author of and distinguished professor at Colorado State University, Dungy released a new book of prose— —in 2023.
[ ] The inspiration for came from a nightmare Stephen King had here, in room 217. [ ] A cathedral of 180,000 volumes (and thousands of linear feet) plus jaw-dropping permanent collections, all accessible for free—heaven for bibliophiles. [ ] Trouble brews in a suburban idyll when conventions are questioned and tested.
[ ] by Ocean Vuong; by Leigh Bardugo In 1969, five women broke the gender barrier at Yale for the first time; this Connecticut Book Award-winning account follows them through the school’s early years of coeducation. [ ] Brim-Bell, Connecticut’s 8th Poet Laureate, is the author of three collections: , and . [ ] Trace the 2.
4 mile commute that Stevens made daily, from the house where his modernist verse was composed to his office at The Hartford. [ ] This independent bookshop, set a few steps off the Bethany Beach boardwalk, is open year-round—but in the summer, you can walk straight out of the store and onto the sand, beach read in hand. (The question of what exactly a beach read is, as ever, one we must all answer for ourselves.
) [ ] A star-crossed love story—as well as a choral portrait of the Latino immigrant experience in America—about a Mexican family who move to a Delaware apartment building. [ ] : by Chuck Palahniuk The American anthropologist and left-wing thinker’s seminal work of economic anthropology is essential reading in the land where pretty much all American credit cards are based. [ ] The author of and made Wilmington her home.
[ ] In this 175-room house, you’ll find a host of rarities, from 17th-century atlases and European style guides to chromolithographed ephemera. [ ] This bright and bustling neighborhood hub manages to be bar, bookstore, brunch spot and coffeeshop, all rolled into one. [ ] A classic series of modernist vignettes that evoke Black life in urban and rural settings in the American South.
[ ] by Nora Ephron; by Edward P. Jones A uniquely vivid, messy, and sweaty photographic document of D.C.
’s vibrant early ’80s punk underground, which remains a potent force shaping the city’s culture. [ ] Beasley’s propulsive and visceral work often takes on national landmarks—from a bracing outsider’s perspective. [ ] This soaring, cooly lit vault of national treasures is at the very heart of American letters.
[ ] Nearly 3,000 square nautical miles of coastal and ocean ecosystem teeming with fish, coral, and birds. Protected, but free. [ ] Nature means menace in this lush collection of short stories from three-time National Book Award finalist Groff, who lives and teaches in Gainesville.
[ ] : by Colson Whitehead. Orlean’s investigation of the 1994 arrest of horticulturist John Laroche and a group of Seminoles in south Florida for poaching rare orchids also served as the (very meta) . [ ] includes poetry from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner’s time in the Keys.
Start with “Roosters.” [ ] Hurston’s childhood was spent in Eatonville, one of the first all-Black towns incorporated in the United States. But the last remaining residence associated with the beloved author is this one, in nearby Fort Pierce, where she lived toward the end of her life.
[ ] Reading spots abound on the 39 verdant acres of this historically Black college, where luminaries like Alice Walker and Martin Luther King Jr. once crossed paths. [ ] A rich, humane exploration of spiritual isolation in a rural Georgia mill town.
: by Tayari Jones. This journalist’s manifesto is also a call to action, asking Black Americans to migrate back south. [ ] The author of also implemented the Georgia Poetry in the Parks project.
[ ] The iconic spinner of Southern Gothic stories grew up in this house, where she famously kept a chicken who walked backwards. [ ] One of only five National Tropical Botanical Gardens in the U.S.
; the Canoe Garden features plants brought over by the region’s original Polynesian inhabitants. [ ] A collection of raw, vivid stories that invert traditional conceptions of paradise. [ ] : by Kawai Strong Washburn A stirring account—first published in 1898, five years after the overthrow of the Kingdom—written by the islands’ last monarch.
[ ] Before his death, the former U.S. Poet Laureate, who was dedicated to the restoration of Maui’s rainforests, restored an old pineapple plantation to its original state.
[ ] The westernmost bookstore in the U.S. has more than 150,000 titles on offer, including essential Kaua‘i reads.
[ ] Take a walk along Trail Creek and stop to rest and read for a while by the Hemingway Memorial, a simple column among the trees. For the slightly more morbid, his gravesite is also nearby, in Ketchum Cemetery. [ ] Fingerbone, Idaho is a living, breathing character in this novel, from Pulitzer Prize winner Robinson, about three generations of women and the homes they make—both material and interior.
[ ] See also: by Denis Johnson In this memoir, Westover, born to survivalist Mormon parents in Clifton, shares her harrowing experience of education in the rural Idaho of her childhood, and her journey beyond the confines of her family. [ ] The state’s current Writer in Residence creates poetry inspired by landscape and wilderness and rooted in her Indigenous experience. [ ] Sun Valley Center for the Arts is the steward of famed modernist poet Ezra Pound’s birthplace.
[ ] This lovely little park, dedicated to the Waukegan native and science fiction legend, is a good spot to spend an uninterrupted hour traveling the universe via book. [ ] The AIDS crisis infiltrates and upends a community of friends in 1980s Chicago in this multi-generational novel. [ ] : by Saul Bellow Wilkerson interviewed more than a thousand people in the crafting of this masterwork about the migration of Black Americans to northern and western cities.
[ ] : by Erik Larson The decorated Chicago-born poet is the author of eight collections and is the four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam. [ ] Wright’s seminal 1940 novel was written in this four-room Bronzeville apartment. [ ] Inspiration should be easy to find in this lush expanse of shifting sand dunes, wetlands, oak savannahs and 15,000 acres of plant and bird variety.
[ ] A Terre Haute native, Dreiser published this novel—a study of a notorious murder case, and a resounding indictment of American society—in 1925. [ ] An exploration of daily joys and wonder from an Indiana University professor and beloved lyricist. [ ] McSweeney’s , a volume of two books on disaster and the catastrophic, is brilliant and unsettling.
[ ] The fictional town of Vacca Vale, IN, where Tess Gunty’s National Book Award-winning is set, is based on South Bend, where Gunty grew up. [ ] The shining edifice of this University of Iowa building is a sight to behold—and is surrounded by plenty of good reading spots. [ ] Smiley’s beloved, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel transplants the intergenerational drama of Shakespeare’s King Lear onto an Iowan farm.
Bryson, best known for , was born in Des Moines in 1951; this memoir is an often-hilarious and thoroughly nostalgic account of his childhood. [ ] Powell wrote the bulk of his first collection, , while he was a grad student at Iowa; the landscape permeates its pages. [ ] A beloved bookstore—and showcase for buzzy writers—in a designated UNESCO World City of Literature.
[ ] In 2019, owner Danny Caine compiled a zine called “How to Resist Amazon and Why,” which has become a rallying cry for readers and independent bookstores alike. [ ] This “nonfiction novel,” first published as a four-part series in , recounts the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, a farming community in southwest Kansas. [ ] : by Evan S.
Connell A memoir that doubles as a cultural examination of socioeconomic disparities in America, written by a fifth-generation Kansan. [ ] The prolific poet of the Great Plains won a National Book Award for in 1963. [ ] Langston Hughes lived here as a child with his maternal grandmother.
The house was demolished in the ’60s, but a nearly identical one still sits next door. [ ] The world’s largest ceiling clock—complete with a five-story Foucault’s Pendulum—is housed within this library’s rotunda. [ ] The 89-year-old writer-poet-activist lives and writes on a working farm in Henry County, from which he’s spun out many enduring, interwoven tales of the people in the fictional small town of Port William (inspired by his own hometown of Port Royal).
[ ] In Sullivan’s first book, he combines reflections on his relationship with his late father with an in-depth history of American horseracing. [ ] In , Kentucky’s poet laureate explores her intersecting identities as a Black woman born in Appalachia. [ ] This hometown mural honors a woman deeply rooted in and shaped by the Western Kentucky landscape.
[ ] This park, dotted by 600-year-old live oaks and bordered by bayous, covers 1,300 acres. [ ] A young New Orleans stockbroker searches for meaning beyond artifice through a Mardi Gras quest; the result is an American masterpiece. [ ] by Jesmyn Ward Broom melds memoir with sweeping historical narrative as she writes about her family history and childhood home as well as the vast racial inequities in the city of New Orleans.
[ ] , by Sheri Fink Start with the Shreveport-born poet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning , a lyrical collection about violence, identity, and legacy. [ ] At 624 Pirate’s Alley in the French Quarter, you’ll find this jewel-box bookseller tucked into the house where Faulkner lived and wrote his first novel, . [ ] Come for the cocktails and coffee roasted on-site, stay for the robust schedule of literary events.
If you didn’t bring a book with you, no problem—you can find one on the shelves here (and bring it home with you when you’re ready to leave). [ ] A beloved novel in stories that explores the quiet, mysterious undertow of life in the coastal town of Crosby, Maine (fictional, but rumored to be based on Brunswick). [ ] by Morgan Talty Impassioned correspondence between the great environmental writer and her close companion; the coast’s sublimity features often.
[ ] Best known for prose awash in Maine’s landscape and tradition, her poetry, too, presents a vivid portrait of life in its seaport towns. The author’s Bangor Victorian sits behind a wrought-iron fence adorned with spiders and bats, and acts as an archive for writers, by appointment only. [ ] An astonishing library with serpentine stairways that guide you to its centerpiece: the soaring stack room complete with tiered balconies.
[ ] The domestic intimacies of the Tull family unfurl in Tyler’s ninth novel. In his review for The New Yorker, John Updike wrote that Tyler had “arrived at a new level of power.” [ ] : by Octavia Butler In a letter to his son, Coates weaves stories of his life—beginning with his childhood at North Collington Avenue in West Baltimore—into an expansive American narrative.
[ ] Clifton’s work was first spotted by Langston Hughes, who published it in his 1970 anthology . In 1987, she became the first author to have two of her poetry books selected as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. A life-size raven greets visitors at the home of this master of the macabre.
[ ] The immersive art museum’s New Wing joins the glass-walled interior with the Monk’s, Jordan, and Lynch gardens—a special landscape for cracking open a book. [ ] The March women of Concord’s Orchard House have served as inspiration for generation upon generation of writers. [ ] : by Zadie Smith, by Sylvia Plath Schiff’s thrilling, meticulously researched account of the Salem witch trials will have you looking over your shoulder everywhere you go—and appreciating modern Salem all the more.
[ ] With wisdom, humor, and attention to every precious detail, Oliver’s brings the reader along to the shore, ponds, and marshes surrounding the poet’s Provincetown home. [ ] Edith Wharton’s sweeping estate in the Berkshires, which she designed herself, now functions as a house museum and cultural center. Don’t miss the pet cemetery.
[ ] Row out to this park’s island encircled by five lower falls. Four miles upstream, the dramatic Upper Falls cascades nearly 50 feet down, across 200 feet. [ ] These coming-of-age short stories were inspired by Hemingway’s summers at his family’s Northern Michigan cottage.
[ ] : The Jeffrey Eugenides oeuvre. Part memoir, part cultural history, Boyd’s illuminating take on Detroit explores the changemakers and freedom fighters who shaped (and continue to shape) the iconic city. [ ] This Ojibwe poet’s collection was the first book by an Indigenous author to win the Michigan Notable Book Award.
[ ] What began as a resort became a haunt for black intellectuals: Charles Waddell Chesnutt, W.E.B.
DuBois, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston rubbed shoulders here. [ ] The iconic lighthouse—which for a little extra literary flair, made an appearance in Baz Luhrman’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby—sits on a cliff 130 feet above Lake Superior, and is surrounded by a state park. Picturesque reading spots abound—if you can tear your eyes away from the view.
[ ] Erdrich’s (fictional) ghost story features the author’s real-life Minneapolis bookstore at its center. [ ] : by Emily Fridlund A formative work of Native resistance to oppression, written by an Anishinaabe environmental leader. [ ] The state’s poet laureate grew up on a farm in St.
Joseph and won the Minnesota Book Award for First Words. [ ] Papermaking, letterpress printing, and bookbinding all celebrate the book as an art form. Explore them here.
[ ] Tour the house for inspiration, then find a spot among Faulkner’s gardens to read a while. [ ] Esch Batiste and her family prepare for Hurricane Katrina in fictional Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, in this National Book Award-winning novel from Ward, who also experienced Katrina. [ ] Laymon’s powerful memoir about growing up as a Black man in Jackson, Mississippi reckons with harm in both public and private life.
[ ] Born in Gulfport, Mississippi, to parents whose pre-Loving v. Virginia marriage was illegal at the time of her birth, Trethewey served two terms as the Poet Laureate of the United States (2012-2014) and won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her collection . [ ] In Greenwood Cemetery, you’ll find the resting place of a brilliant voice of the American South.
[ ] A public horticultural respite brought to you by the Kansas City Rose Society. [ ] William Stoner converts from Missouri farm boy to scholar in this tale of academia, war, and love. [ ] Take a vicarious three-month road trip around the United States via Ford Ecoline van, with this Boone County writer as your guide.
[ ] Living and teaching in St. Louis, Phillips recently took home a Pulitzer for his collection . [ ] The house at 3130 Hickory Street was just the beginning for the poet-essayist-activist legend.
[ ] With its state-of-the-art design and breathtaking scenic views, it’s no surprise that this spot was declared the “World’s Best Public Library” of 2022 by the World Library and Information Congress in Dublin, Ireland—the first library from North America to win the prestigious award. [ ] Debra Magpie Earling’s tale of a free-thinking woman on the 1940s Flathead Reservation holds stark present-day relevance. [ ] by James Welch More than a sports story (but an exciting one at that), this Montana Book Award winner follows two starters from the Arlee Warriors high school basketball team, who live and play on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
[ ] Crow Nation citizen, rancher, and former poet laureate, Henry Real Bird is known for traversing the state on horseback to craft an epic vision in verse. [ ] The archives, you say? How exciting. But really: this is one of the best local history troves in America, documenting a wild city of mining millionaires and immigrant strivers.
[ ] Grab a spot in a cozy armchair—or relax on the eponymous terrace—after finding a new favorite in this independent bookstore in historic downtown Columbus. [ ] The stories of immigrant Ántonia Shimerda and Jim Burden coalesce in Black Hawk, a town based on the author’s native Red Cloud. [ ] Droughts, scarcity, and isolation are threaded through oral histories passed down from a pioneer father.
[ ] His poetic ode to the state appropriately begins with “the gravel road rides with a slow gallop over the fields.” [ ] Calling all John Neihardt fans: Here’s a dedicated commemoration of Nebraska’s Poet Laureate (in perpetuity!), at the site of his former home. [ ] Low neon lighting and purple plush booths serve as the backdrop for this Reno lounge, which slings breakfast and cocktails any time—perfect for 3 a.
m. or p.m.
—and which was a longtime favorite of MacArthur-winning art critic and writer Dave Hickey. [ ] The son of pawnbrokers tells an intersecting, neon-lit tale of Las Vegas. [ ] Before Nevada became synonymous with gambling, it earned its nickname the “Sin State” for its embrace of boxing.
Clark County poet laureate emerita writes with heart, rhythm, and hope. [ ] A dedicated hub for writers and literary activism, with special emphasis on lifting up underrepresented voices. Catch a reading while you’re in town.
[ ] After a gentle hike into White Mountain National Forest, you’ll find a series of small waterfalls and wading pools, with many spots for lounging. Try not to get your book wet. [ ] The author’s fifth novel and magnum opus tackles themes of feminism, sexuality, and literary ambition against the backdrop of a New Hampshire boarding school.
[ ] This examination of the lyric poet’s life and work explores the construction of and inspiration behind her poetry as well as her lifelong struggle with manic depression. [ ] Ever heard of him? The Dartmouth alumnus and Pulitzer Prize winner farmed and wrote in Derry, New Hampshire. [ ] The treasured summer sanctum of E.
E. Cummings is designated as a national historic place. [ ] Browse this much-loved corner indie shop, run by Donna Garban and Kate Jacobs.
[ ] Swede Levov’s rise-and-fall saga, set in 1960s Old Limerock, is the first novel in Roth’s American Trilogy, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. [ ] If everything you know about New Jersey’s Pine Barrens comes from that one episode of , this NJ nonfiction classic will open your eyes. [ ] A practicing physician for more than 40 years, Williams’ empathic and honest verse has made him a household name in every state.
[ ] Pay homage to Allen Ginsberg, poet laureate of the Beat generation, at his gravesite at B’Nai Israel Cemetery. [ ] Step into the silence of a Romanesque Revival church built on the site of an adobe chapel. Fun fact: Willa Cather’s includes a fictionalized story of its construction.
[ ] Myth, love and destiny comingle in this coming-of-age classic, set in rural New Mexico in the 1940s. [ ] by N. Scott Momaday This biography of Georgia O’Keeffe is also the story of New Mexico, the landscape she loved and painted.
[ ] Concha’s poem “Rust” was chosen as one of fifteen installed in outdoor venues in Taos, where he is Poet Laureate. [ ] The novelist made his home here for a brief stint in the 1920s—enough time to write and . [ ] New York’s hottest reading spot is underground.
Bonus points for the unmatched people (and title)-watching potential. [ ] Three women typists meet while working at a publishing house in this candid portrait of desire. [ ] See also: by James Baldwin; by F.
Scott Fitzgerald This collection of essays chronicles encounters with the people of New York, all originally published in the New Yorker between 1943 and 1964. [ ] : by Robert A. Caro 1968’s was Lorde’s first collection of poetry, but her very first poem was published while she was a student at Hunter High School.
[ ] The lamplit Rose Reading Room is a Beaux Arts sanctuary. [ ] This community bookstore spotlights and supports the work of its regional writers and is replete with cozy reading hideaways, too. [ ] The author’s follow-up to , centered on a white orphan adopted by a Cherokee chief, was translated into the Cherokee language by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in 2007.
[ ] In the 1970s, Floyd McKissick dreamed of building a Black city in Warren County, North Carolina. Thomas Healy tells the tale. [ ] was published in 1829, transcribed from the poet’s mouth to the page by an admirer; Horton was the first Black man to publish a book in the South.
[ ] Dykeman’s Asheville home now hosts a Writer-in-Residence program: four weeks of quiet space where the author of once worked. [ ] The rolling badlands panorama is perfect for spotting elk or bison wandering through the otherworldly buttes. [ ] In Habash’s debut novel, a college wrestler obsesses over a championship win; his loneliness is echoed in his surrounding landscape.
Environmental activist Brorby’s lyrical account of growing up gay in the harsh and breathtaking landscape—and zero-stoplight town—of Center, North Dakota. [ ] The Ojibwe poet and author of is the state’s latest laureate. [ ] At 15, L’Amour joined a circus; then he wrote 100 novels of The West.
Take a self-guided walking tour through the town where he spent his formative years. [ ] Bring a book and spread out on the classic quad of the home to the esteemed . [ ] In Morrison’s masterful second novel, an omniscient narrator details the lives of the children Nel Wright and Sula Peace and their families in a tightly woven Ohio neighborhood—the Bottom, on the edge of Medallion.
[ ] This collection of linked essays is an insider’s mining of an American Rust Belt story. [ ] The decorated poet and essayist, born and raised in Columbus, was recently awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Grant. [ ] Visit the hometown of Sherwood Anderson, the author of small-town classic .
[ ] This 35,000 square foot feat of glassed architecture resembles oil derricks and looks out on the prairie. [ ] In this classic novel of the Great Depression, The Joads—a family of sharecroppers from Sallisaw—set out for California, in hopes of leaving Dust Bowl-induced drought, poverty and hardship behind. [ ] In this hallmark true crime investigation, a journalist exposes the Osage Nation murders of the 1920s, a pivotal moment of prejudice that shaped the FBI.
[ ] Harjo is a member of the Mvskoke Nation and the author of ten books of poetry, including , winner of the 2020 Oklahoma Book Award. [ ] The folk hero was also a prolific writer of poetry and prose; his life’s work is celebrated here. [ ] This Oregon Coast hotel dates to 1918, each room with a literary theme.
A little cheesy? Perhaps—but the purist wifi/TV/phone blackout is worth it. In which orphaned teenager Jack Levitt must live by his smarts on the streets of Portland. [ ] by Mitchell Jackson A collection of personal musings on life and language from the venerated Oregonian that feels a little like sitting inside Le Guin’s Portland living room (which will soon be opened, along with the rest of her house, ).
[ ] A Warm Springs tribal citizen, Woody is a national force as an artist and teacher, a former state laureate, and the creator of muscular, effervescent lines. [ ] Gotta do it. Get the tote.
[ ] Swarthmore College’s 350-acre “garden of ideas” is a beautiful place to stop and read for an hour or two. Can we prove you’d be following in the footsteps of alums like Jonathan Franzen, Adam Haslett, and Norman Rush? No, but everyone likes flowers. [ ] This classic of ennui chronicles three months in the life of Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, a former high school basketball player in a stale town.
[ ] : by Richard Russo The Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist crafts a heartfelt epic of the idiosyncratic Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell. [ ] Mayson’s potent poems address immigration and mental health, informed by her childhood in Liberia and her work as a social worker. [ ] Green Hills Farm was the 67-acre homestead where Buck lived and wrote for 40 years; now, you can walk its halls and gardens.
[ ] Featuring public exhibits and an indigenous languages collection, with materials sourced from the Arctic to Patagonia, the John Carter Brown Library is not to be missed. [ ] When their parish is shut down, Agatha and her fellow sisters start a new life at a halfway house in the former mill town of Woonsocket. [ ] A fascinating history of the historic night at the Newport Folk Festival when Dylan plugged his guitar into an amp and left folk music behind.
[ ] Cane is the founder of the popular program Writers-in- the-Schools, RI, as well as the author of , and more. [ ] H.P.
Lovecraft cultivated a cult following for supernatural horror tales; now, ardent fans leave unusual mementos at a gravestone that reads “I am Providence.” [ ] This gorgeous old tree’s epic branches create sprawling shade perfect for lounging. [ ] In Powell’s lyrical novel, Simons Manigault comes of age on the titular Edisto, a “named but never discovered place in the South” found between Charleston and Savannah; his mother, “the Duchess,” believes he could be a prodigious writer.
[ ] Compiled by the WeGOJA Foundation (on behalf of the SC African American Heritage Commission), is a first-of-its-kind travel guide to the most tourist-friendly destinations offering visitors avenues to discover intriguing African American history as they travel the state. [ ] Charleston’s first poet laureate is also a musician and the lead graphic designer for the music magazine . [ ] A five-foot-tall statue of Amelia Bedelia—the beloved (and literal-to-a-fault) creation of Manning-native Peggy Parish—stands outside the town library, which also hosts a yearly celebration around the author’s birthday.
[ ] A bookstore, art gallery, cafe, bar and gathering space all in one, nestled in the heart of Sioux Falls. [ ] A crime thriller set on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, where one man sets out to curtail the dangerous drugs pouring into his community. [ ] The true story of the legendary Crazy Horse, drawn from oral histories and distilled by Lakota writer Marshall.
[ ] The former state poet laureate, author of and , among other books, teaches at the University of South Dakota and edits the South Dakota Review. [ ] The little house on the prairie where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived and wrote offers covered wagon and pony cart rides, crafts, and other activities (laundry on a washboard, anyone?). [ ] Visit this 132-acre oasis in Nashville’s West End.
[ } Dual tragedies shape this autobiographical novel, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. [ ] The Stax Records story is a window into a transformative era in American Music and properly celebrates the iconic Memphis record label. [ ] Her first collection of poetry reimagines the life of Shakespeare’s mysterious “Dark Lady.
” [ ] Ann Patchett’s cherished shop opened in 2011. [ ] Bathe in this revered, 68-degree urban sanctuary, enjoyed by lap swimmers, sunbathers and plenty of dogs. [ ] Boullosa’s epic historical novel is a fresh and deeply absorbing reimagining of the history of Texas-Mexico borderlands.
[ ] : by Larry McMurtry, by Paulette Jiles In 1957, Graves traveled down a stretch of the Brazos River by canoe just before a dam would destroy the river’s biome. [ ] Tarfolla’s poetry of place centers on San Antonio, where she grew up in the West-Side barrios. [ ] A recently renovated ode to the Stetson in the Oval, with an incredible collection focused on public policy.
[ ] Wander through a maze of fantastic rock hoodoos, painted cliffs and wind-whipped alpine forests—the perfect spot for a little nature reading. [ ] Otsuka’s first novel, loosely based on family history, follows a Japanese American family living in Berkeley in the 40s, as they are suddenly “reclassified” and sent to an incarceration camp in Topaz, Utah. [ ] Wallace Stegner’s 1942 chronicle of Mormon life in “lovely Deseret” captures the arid western landscape that the LDS community claimed in its search for a safe haven.
[ ] , by Terry Tempest Williams The decorated former Utah poet laureate is the author of seven collections of poetry, including , which commemorates the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, and which Rekdal has adapted into an . She directs the American West Center at the University of Utah. [ ] Edward Abbey spent two summers working here as a park ranger; the landscape informed his masterpiece, .
[ ] Beloved for lazy river floats come summer, Mad River is paradise for rock climbers, readers, and sunbathers. Readers looking for a more pastoral backdrop will find it in the valley’s villages, where gabled barns and farms are stitched together by covered bridges. [ ] Academic obsession leads a quintet of eccentrics into occult darkness at the fictional Hampden College in Donna Tartt’s cult classic.
[ ] In his most personal book, Bill McKibben ruminates on wildness as he hikes from Vermont’s Mt. Abraham to the woods of the Adirondacks. [ ] Mary Ruefle does it all.
The poet ( ), lecturer ( ), and erasure artist ( ) is also the beloved poet laureate of the Green Mountain State. [ ] A mountain haven for writers since 1920, Bread Loaf is known for mustard-hued buildings and its program champion, Robert Frost, who taught there for 42 years. [ ] Sink into your book in this quiet, 54-acre island park in the midst of the James River.
[ ] Jones’s groundbreaking, Pulitzer Prize winning novel tells the story of Henry Townsend, a Black slave owner in antebellum Virginia, and the stories of those around him. [ ] In Annette Gordon-Reed’s game-changing history of the Hemings family, we gain insight into the tangled web of family and exploitation that defined their lives, and the ways in which they fought for agency within an oppressive system. [ ] The Pulitzer Prize winning poet, whose “ ” has quickly become a touchstone of contemporary verse, lives in Charlottesville and teaches at the University of Virginia.
[ ] At the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars, the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre, you can enjoy performances of Shakespeare year-round [ ]. At the very tip of the state, marked by a Jamestown S’klallam totem pole, tune into this Victorian port’s community with a coffee at Velocity, then walk a few blocks to get lost in two remarkable bookstores: indie gem Imprint and William James, a gobsmacking trove of used and rare. [ ] The acclaimed Spokane novelist brings the oft-forgotten radical history of the Northwest to life, taking on the riots over free speech and workers’ rights that broke out in his city in the early 20th century.
[ ] Profound and often wrenching, this power ballad of a book binds together two distinct Pacific Northwest threads: unbreakable Indigenous culture and underground rock-and-roll creativity. [ ] Bard of old docks and small-town bars, Hugo is also the patron saint of the Seattle literary center Richard Hugo House. [ ] For a generation, Carver’s hard-bitten, sparse tales of working-class life defined the literary style of the modern Northwest.
Born in an Oregon logging town, Carver spent his last years at the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula, where a quietly elegant, low-key memorial is somehow perfect. [ ] A whitewater river—one of the oldest on the continent—flows through deep canyons here. Scenic reading spots abound.
[ ] Buckhannon native Phillips published this, her debut novel—the story of one family over some five decades in small town West Virginia—in 1984 to considerable acclaim. Her latest, , is also set in West Virginia, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year. [ ] Memories of a West Virginia family both dysfunctional and free-spirited are the beating heart of Jeannette Walls’s 2005 memoir.
[ ] Raised on her family’s farm in Belington, McKinney writes poetry that explores the link between people, and place and mirrors the rural Appalachian landscape. [ ] Legend has it that John Henry tried to show his strength as a railworker against a rock-drilling machine here; the story inspired Colson Whitehead’s novel . [ ] This East Side indie book enclave is a community treasure.
[ ] In which the Harpooners—a baseball team at Westish College, a fictional school on the shores of Lake Michigan—embark on a Melville-influenced season. [ ] A mine is shut down in Black River Falls; this cult classic photobook recounts the grisly aftermath. [ ] The introverted daughter of a carp fisherman, Niedecker spent most of her life in Fort Atkinson, where she wrote and .
[ ] Stately rows of green lamps glow in this library’s dreamy reading room. [ ] Lander, a small town with farm and ranch roots, has become a cultural and explorational hub. South of the Wind River Indian Reservation, on the cusp of the mountains, it now draws an adventurous crowd of climbers and hikers.
Hang out here to absorb the far-flung creative ethos. [ ] These short stories illustrate both Wyoming’s iconic landscape and its constantly shifting culture, weaving in a modern immigrant perspective on the West. In one of the most singular books about wilderness and wild things, a traumatized Vietnam vet communes with the grizzlies of Yellowstone.
[ ] Primarily known for her nonfiction, especially her 1985 essay collection about Wyoming, , Ehrlich has also published poems of rural life and natural spaces in collections like . The mythology of the Western, as genre and archetype, dates back to Owen Wister’s 1902 novel , set in this county and commemorated by this 1911-vintage hotel. [ ].
