The News-Bulletin: Read, white and blue; 50 STATES, 50 BOOKS

The News-Bulletin: Read, white and blue; 50 STATES, 50 BOOKS:

Looking for a good novel to kick back with this Independence Day? It's time for all Americans to be

When we travel, it's great to check out a Fodor's or Eyewitness guides so that you know a bit about the historic houses and museums open at our destination. Find out what's available on the Internet.

But one of the best ways to prepare for a trip — or to travel without leaving your patio chair is to read a novel about a place.

Being a longtime bookworm, I decided to challenge myself to see whether I could come up with a list of novels from each of our 50 states. Just to make it honest, the rules I set required that I had read them all. It turned out to be a piece of cake — until the list was winnowed away to just two. Delaware and Utah became the biggest challenges on the map. Eventually, I was able to find an old Zane Grey novel set in Utah that I had found on my grandparents' Pueblitos farm back when I was 13.

....

Oklahoma

Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts, 1995. Yep, this is the book about the pregnant girl who lands up living in Wal-Mart. Perhaps that should be considered another state in the union, it's gotten so big. It has it's own culture, too. But Oklahoma comes out looking pretty darned good here, with some of the nicest people you'd ever hope to meet. That's pretty scenery - and the red hills with their green grass make for a place you don't mind looking at for a long while.