Via a link on Twitter, I happened to find this interesting graphic at Goodreads: The most popular books set in each state.
And my state, Missouri, is . . . Gone Girl. Well, well, well. You know, this review by The Book Smugglers means that there is zero chance I will ever read this book. Or see a movie based on it, or whatever. I mean, listen to this from Thea: “A brilliantly written and plotted mystery, a miasma of wretchedness and hate; a book that I devoured but deeply, utterly abhorred.”
And then Ana, who fairly often lays out a problematic theme with a particularly vivid turn of phrase, said, “It is possible to argue that the one of the main themes of Gone Girl is its thoughtful examination of marriage difficulties; or to question how well two people can really know each other or allow the other to know you and, unfair expectations. The problem is: the novel cannot possibly be indicative of all marriages or a heartfelt exploration of this theme because NOT EVERYBODY IS A VINDICTIVE PSYCHOPATH OR A WHINNY MAN-CHILD WITH SOCIOPATHIC TENDENCIES. Unless you know, you want argue that one can never know who one has married because maybe, just maybe your husband/wife is planning RIGHT NOW to fake-kill themselves and frame you because you didn’t wash the dishes after dinner that one time. SO you know, BE CAREFUL. This means that the book only really works on its own microcosm of darkness.”
And I was all, well, okay, then, no need to try this one.
But the book is set in Missouri. I guess that means Missouri bookstores tended to carry it? And maybe many people like books where both protagonists are horrible, nasty people?
Anyway, my vote for coolest state on this basis is Connecticut. At least, I think Connecticut is that little blocky green state that has From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler. That is a way, way cooler choice.
Most of these books I haven’t read, of course. Coolest title of them all: The Weight of Silence. I don’t know, that title just really appeals to me.
Anyway, it’s an interesting selection that includes both older and surprisingly new titles from a wide range of genres. You should click through and see if you’ve read your state’s Popular Book.
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I followed the link on that one, and I think it’d be a lot more interesting to see that sort of map where the popularity of the books were based on book sales on amazon, or something that involves a bigger subset of the population than Goodreads ratings. What do you think?
Well, Goodreads is a pretty big site, but I grant you, Amazon sales might give a quite different picture. Actually it would be really interesting to compare this Goodreads map to an Amazon sales map and a Bookscan sales map and see how they compare.