# Business Insider's "Most Famous Novel Set in Every State"... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073 "2013-10-24T01:03:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/61 "2013-10-25T03:34:04Z")
Some of the alternate choices people here are suggesting strike me as famous movies that aren’t as well or as widely known as books: From Here to Eternity, Pat Conroy. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/62 "2013-10-25T03:43:17Z")
While I have noting against East of Eden, I think _The Maltese Falcon_ is just as, if not more “famous” than the Steinbeck book. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/63 "2013-10-25T04:05:03Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Some of the alternate choices people here are suggesting strike me as famous movies that aren’t as well or as widely known as books: From Here to Eternity, Pat Conroy. Could be. But there are a lot of well-read people around here. And movies are usually made because the book was popular. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/64 "2013-10-25T12:17:33Z")
> [@Rollo\_Tomasi](#): > > **Our Town** isn’t a novel The Business Insider list is of the most famous book set in each state, not the most famous novel. That’s why _Walden_ makes the cut for Massachusetts. It was the OP who specified novels, and I missed that on first reading. I see how it might seem strange to think of _Our Town_ as a book, but that’s how I was exposed to it. I have never seen a stage production of the play. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/65 "2013-10-25T14:13:59Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Some of the alternate choices people here are suggesting strike me as famous movies that aren’t as well or as widely known as books: From Here to Eternity, Pat Conroy. Oh, absolutely! But a popular movie adaptation certainly helps make a book much more famous, doesn’t it? If a book is famous, it’s famous, regardless of the reasons. Humphrey Bogart made Dashiell Hammett’s \*\*\*The Maltese Falcon \*\*\*a lot more famous than it already was. Marlon Brando made Mario Puzo more famous than he already was. Judy Garland made L. Frank Baum a lot more famous. And the Oscar-winning movie version of \*\*\*From Here to Eternity \*\*\*definitely helped James Jones sell a lot more books. But Jones’ novel had already won the National Book Award before the movie was made. But the reasons are almost irrelevant- everyone has heard of those books, and almost everyone has some idea what they’re about. Even if that’s because of movie adaptations, those books are FAMOUS. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/66 "2013-10-25T14:46:58Z")
I just noticed something: why did Tennessee get two books? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/67 "2013-10-25T15:01:21Z")
> [@Garth Marenghi](#): > > While I have noting against East of Eden, I think _The Maltese Falcon_ is just as, if not more “famous” than the Steinbeck book. True. The ‘rules’ are hidden from us, and my guess is that _East of Eden_, and Steinbeck overall, has a much higher California identification than _The Maltese Falcon_. If you’d asked me where Maltese Falcon was set, I might have said New York as easily as San Francisco. I think they went to each state, and asked themselves, “What’s the famous book most associated with this state?” rather than taking a list of the most famous novels in order, and then whatever the highest ranking [California]-set book is gets the nod. Still, I’d have gone with _Grapes of Wrath_. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/68 "2013-10-25T19:59:11Z")
I don’t think _Little House in the Big Woods_ is all that well known. For Wisconsin, I would have gone with Neil Gaiman’s _American Gods_, or the relatively recent_The Art of Fielding_ by Chad Harbach. If we’re looking at any book, not just novels, I would go with _Wisconsin Death trip._ ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/69 "2013-10-26T03:58:48Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’d pick _ **From Here to Eternity** _ for Hawaii. This is what I was going to say. Someone mentioned _ **Sister Carrie** _ for Illinois, but much of that took place in New York. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/70 "2013-10-27T02:40:16Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > I don’t think _Little House in the Big Woods_ is all that well known. > > For Wisconsin, I would have gone with Neil Gaiman’s _American Gods_, or the relatively recent_The Art of Fielding_ by Chad Harbach. > > If we’re looking at any book, not just novels, I would go with _Wisconsin Death trip._ Good call on books for my native state. Although Laura Ingalls Wilder is hugely popular with young girls (my daughter ate the “Little House” books up in grade school). And there’s got to be anything better for my favorite state, Washington. Yeah, I’m disqualifying books that are written so badly as to be embarrassing to an entire state. Hmmm… something from Tom Robbins? (So…_Woodpecker_ or _Another Roadside Attraction_…?) Or, is _Snow Falling on Cedars_ famous enough? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/71 "2013-10-27T02:55:07Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > One could argue that _The Wizard of Oz_ takes place **entirely** within the state of Kansas… The movie technically takes place in Kansas but in the book Oz is a very real place and Dorothy never dreams any of it. In subsequent books she goes back to Oz many times. I’m guessing they gave the book to Kansas _because_ of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/72 "2013-10-27T02:56:58Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Good call on books for my native state. Although Laura Ingalls Wilder is hugely popular with young girls (my daughter ate the “Little House” books up in grade school I don’t know anything about her, but I have thought about reading that book. I’m just glad it wasn’t something about Jeffery Dahmer or Ed Gein. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/73 "2013-10-27T02:59:21Z")
Surely Sinclair Lewis’s [Main Street](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Street_%28novel%29) trumps _The Virgin Suicides_. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/74 "2013-10-27T03:00:38Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > The movie technically takes place in Kansas but in the book Oz is a very real place and Dorothy never dreams any of it. In subsequent books she goes back to Oz many times. > > I’m guessing they gave the book to Kansas _because_ of the movie. Now the movie is how most people are familiar with Dorothy, Oz and so forth. But the books were huge in the early twentieth century. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/75 "2013-10-27T03:11:25Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Oregon: absurd…why would you pick **One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest** over **Sometimes A Great Notion**?! Baffling. I wondered about that too; _Notion_ is a better book, I think, but _Cuckoo’s Nest_ is much more well-known…the movie and all that. I’ve never even heard of the one for Idaho…I’d have thought _Angle of repose_… SS ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/76 "2013-10-27T03:12:37Z")
I would have thought \*The Executioners \* (which was made into _Cape Fear_ twice) was more famous than _A Walk to Remember_ for North Carolina. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/77 "2013-10-27T14:43:08Z")
I would choose the Virginian (over the Laramie Project) for Wyoming, and Executioner’s Song for Utah. ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/78 "2013-10-27T15:30:22Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Surely Sinclair Lewis’s [Main Street](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Street_%28novel%29) trumps _The Virgin Suicides_. I’m confused because both are on the list. _Main Street_ for Minnesota and _The Virgin Suicides_ for Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/79 "2013-10-27T17:19:25Z")
The Jungle is a tough one to argue with for Illinois. However, I was hoping it would be The Man With The Golden Arm. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073/80 "2013-10-27T17:46:12Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Surely Sinclair Lewis’s [Main Street](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Street_%28novel%29) trumps _The Virgin Suicides_. One’s Minnesota, the other is Michigan, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/business-insiders-most-famous-novel-set-in-every-state/672073.md?page=5)