My first thought was “The Wizard of Oz” was not set in Kansas.
I’m glad to see Stephen King represented. Though I would have gone with IT, set in the famous famous fictional town of Derry, Maine.
Yes,
My friends the Minnesota Librarians all prefer Betsy’s Wedding (or another Betsy Tacy book) over Main Street, but its in and out of print and not well known. A Million Little Pieces or Lake Woebegon Days would be other possibilities - I would have gone for Lake Woebegon Days.
Oooh, good call!
A lot of people hear “Minnesota” and immediately think of Lake Wobegon. A friend said he was moving to the midwest and all he could picture was small towns and “Norwegian Bachelor Farmers”. Another friend has a “Lake Wobegon: Gateway to Central Minnesota” bumper sticker.
These are native west-coasters, so Prairie Home Companion is well-known enough to rate a book choice.
Two more MA ones:
A Civil Action
Johnny Tremain
Freckles was the first book I thought of for Indiana.
I’ve never heard of almost half of these books - including the one for my home state and the one for where I live now.
A Map of the World reminded me of the Wisconsin I knew. LHOTP could only remind me of the spot on the wall where there was a Currier & Ives litho.
Hell, I’d argue that The World According to Garp would be a better New Hampshire book; it’s older, but it’s Irving’s first best-seller.
As for Pennsylvania, the list is officially bullshit. I haven’t read all of The Lovely Bones yet, but my impression is that it could be set in any suburbia anywhere. Updike’s Rabbit novels are more representative, I think.
Mary Higgins Clark’s first best selling mystery Where Are The Children, was set on Cape Cod. In terms of popularity, her books win hands down.