I’m surprised by Lost Symbol for DC. Quality aside, i didn’t think it was that famous. I would have pictured Clancy’s Executive Orders, or any number of political thrillers, before that.
Being from Georgia, I’m ashamed I thought of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil before I thought of Gone with the Wind:smack:
They have Revolutionary Road for Connecticut. When the film version was released, the local art theater showing the movie had on the marquee, “What Kate and Leo did after Titanic” to which I mentally added, “Moved to Connecticut and died of boredom.”
That list didn’t do much for me. It was no better a list than any random set of three dopers would come up with.
Grisham is a writer of bestsellers, Faulkner a literary writer. They obviously biased the list to include as many literary writers as possible, but Grisham is arguably far more famous than Faulkner is today. They should have stuck to one standard, otherwise you have this unanswerable argument about the relative fame of types of books.
If memory serves, only a relatively small part of Hotel New Hampshire is set in New Hampshire. I would have gone with Our Town, followed by Peyton Place and A Separate Peace.
I grew up in New Mexico, read Red Sky at Morning for class in high school, and it still wouldn’t be the first novel I’d think of if you asked me to start naming books set in New Mexico. Hell, I didn’t even know until just now that there had even been a movie adaptation. You’d probably get something with a local author from me as well, so something by Tony Hillerman or Rudolfo Anaya would be my first thoughts, since they had some of their stuff turned into television or movies.
Our Town isn’t a novel, but I agree that the other two would have been better choices for New Hampshire.
I wonder if they didn’t pick Death Comes for the Archbishop for NM because they already had My Antonia for NE? I noticed there weren’t any repeat authors.
Personally I would have picked Cold Mountain for NC, but that’s mainly because I find Nicholas Sparks both twee and boring.
Oklahoma should have True Grit, or The Outsiders (and partial credit for The Grapes of Wrath).
Stephen King had *Carrie *for Maine (because *one *of his books had to represent Maine, naturally – it could have easily been IT) and The Shining for Colorado.
I wonder about the methodology of the list: if the editors surveyed longtime residents/readers of each state. I’d be hard-pressed, for instance, to choose a book for Ohio or South Dakota or about 25 other states.
It’s interesting that Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia’s selections are all, to me, no brainers, and share geographical proximity.
One could argue that The Wizard of Oz takes place entirely within the state of Kansas…
My first thought for Florida was The Yearling.
Ew, really? That melodramatic dreck *My Sister’s Keeper *for Rhode Island? No mention of The Witches of Eastwick, or any of the really great YA fiction by Avi? (Something Upstairs, or The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle), or at least The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by Lovecraft?
Poor Edna Ferber. She made a career by throwing darts at the map then writing best sellers about wherever they stuck.
I would never argue that. I assume you’re referring to the “It was all a dream” hooey, but the book never suggests that Oz is all in Dorothy’s head; that was added for the movie.
But even if it was “all a dream,” I still don’t think it should qualify. The setting of a book is where the action takes place, not where the frame narrative is set.
I’ve never read her, but I liked a couple of movies made from her books – Giant and So Big. I like big sprawling crap like that.
The Son by Philipp Meyer is set in Texas, and the author takes a nice dig at Ferber. He doesn’t name her, but describes a famous author who’s visiting to get local color for a “big novel about Texas”. She stays for dinner and is shocked! shocked I say! to be fed the same food that the ranch hands are eating.
Spending most of my life in the states of Hawaii and Nebraska, they got those states correct.
Hawaii picking Michener’s book is like asking “Is Bobby Orr the best Bruin ever?”
And I knew without even clicking, Nebraska would be one of Willa Cather’s.
I like to think I’m reasonably well read but I never heard of the one they picked for NJ. “Drown” by Junot Diaz? How about something by Philip Roth or “Election”?
Oregon: absurd. Even if you’re not going to go with Le Guin’s Lathe of Heaven, (and if you’re not you’re stupid), why would you pick One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest over Sometimes A Great Notion?! Baffling.
I fully agree that ***Death Comes for the Archbishop ***is a better and more famous novel for New Mexico.
I don’t know for certain that Carrie is Stephen King’s most famous novel, but the “right” answer for Maine is certainly something by Stephen King, so why NOT that one?
There are MANY famous novels set in New York, but I might nominate ***The Godfather *** or ***The Catcher in the Rye ***as being more famous than The Great Gatsby.
***The Scarlet Letter ***is probably a better choice for Massachusetts than Walden.
Even though much of the novel is set in California or on the road to California, I’d nominate The Grapes of Wrath for Oklahoma.
Peyton Place is more famous than Hotel New Hampshire.
The Exorcist is a better choice for Washington, DC.
The Jungle is famous, but more famous than, say, Sister Carrie?
The Virginian is surely the most famous and iconic book set in Wyoming.