We hear about all different kinds of reading challenges around here, and today's guest is seeking titles to help mark the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Mary Pogue lives in St. Louis with her family, where she enjoys her work as a digital marketing strategist and her hobbies like coaching field hockey, traveling, and of course, reading.

This year, Mary's embarking on a challenge she is calling Read the USA. Her goal is to read a book set in or written by an author from every U.S. state. While Mary has made great progress already at this point in the year, she is hoping for Anne's help in picking books for a handful of states Mary has yet to visit, either in person or on the page, and is having a hard time finding options for.

Mary would be thrilled if these books could do double duty. She especially enjoys learning about each state's history and culture through works of historical fiction, and she has a preference for titles she'll find at her local library. But as you'll hear today, Mary is open to all kinds of options. Today we'll tackle her list of outstanding states and discover titles she might want to add to this reading road trip.

Find the list of the books discussed today and leave your suggestions for Mary on our show notes page at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/519.

Chapters:

03:56 Meet Mary

08:32 Mary's Read the USA reading project

16:56 The Huntress by Kate Quinn

20:44 The Secret Book of Flora Lee by Patti Callahan Henry

23:05 The Library Book by Susan Orlean

25:47 Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein

41:11 The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

44:57 The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

49:15 Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

51:22 Montana 1948 by Larry Watson

56:04 Groundskeeping by Lee Cole

57:56 What will Mary read next?

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