Continuing yesterday’s quixotic quest to find the best novel set in each of the fifty states. Onward toward the Dakotas!

Montana A River Runs Through It is actually a pretty skimpy novella, which would leave us with A. B. Guthrie’s The Big Sky. Never read it, but the Kirk Douglas movie is awesome. And–holy crap–James Drury’s Amazon review calls it “poetry in book form”! Is this for real? The Virginian is an Amazon reviewer now?

Nebraska If I pick a Willa Cather novel, and I don’t want to repeat authors, then I have to find something other than Death Comes for the Archbishop for New Mexico. Sigh. Well, I have to do it. Nothing’s more Nebraskan than My Antonia, right?

Nevada The Ox-Bow Incident is apparently set in the Nevada Territory. Another Western I’ve never had to read because, luckily, there’s a pretty good movie.

New Hampshire Yes, John Irving–but not the one you’re thinking. A Prayer for Owen Meany is a better book and doesn’t move to Vienna halfway through.

New Jersey This has to be something by Newark’s own Philip Roth, right? Portnoy’s Complaint made me laugh more than American Pastoral, so it’s in.

New Mexico Not Death Comes for the Archbishop, that’s for damn sure! Thank goodness for Bless Me, Ultima.

New York I can’t think of any books set in New York. Well, there’s not going to be any Fitzgerald on this list if I don’t choose The Great Gatsby here, so let’s go with that. Suck it, Edith Wharton and Henry James.

North Carolina I loved Look Homeward, Angel so much that I stole the copy I borrowed once from my sister and later bought her a new one. (Okay, the borrowed one got water-damaged too.) Hey, maybe I should have chosen Bonfire of the Vanities for New York so I could have had Tom Wolfe and Thomas Wolfe back to back.

North Dakota Thank you Louise Erdrich for apparently setting your first novel, Love Medicine, not in your native Minnesota but across the border in North Dakota!

Ohio Okay, I screwed up by choosing Song of Solomon for Michigan, since now I can’t use Beloved for Toni Morrison’s home state. Let’s retroactively make Michigan one of Jeffrey Eugenides’ books, or maybe something Detroit-set by Elmore Leonard.

Oklahoma I already used Barbara Kingsolver and Toni Morrison. Grapes of Wrath only has a few chapters in Oklahoma. I guess that leaves me with (Oprah’s Book Club selection!) Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts. If Oprah can get a president elected, surely she can help me choose the best Oklahoma novel.

Oregon Sometimes a Great Notion, hands down. I love that book. Wait, is Cuckoo’s Nest set in Oregon too? Not sure.

Pennsylvania Something by the late, great John Updike. Almost all his books are set in some analog of his Pennsylvania hometown. Rabbit, Run, I guess.

Rhode Island Someone pointed out yesterday that if I burned Updike on Pennsylvania, I couldn’t use Witches of Eastwick for Rhode Island. Well, I’ve got an ace up my sleeve–an Oprah-approved ace! She’s Come Undone, by Wally Lamb. No, I haven’t read it. Mindy said it was all right, though.

South Carolina All I have here is Prince of Tides. Am I missing something? “Lowensteeeein….”

South Dakota Giants in the Earth, making Ole Rolvaag (I think) the only foreign-born writer on this list.

Tennessee James Agee’s A Death in the Family is set in Knoxville. So are all of Cormac McCarthy’s early books, but I’ve never read any of them.

Texas Speaking of Cormac McCarthy–do you go with him or McMurtry here? If I’m remembering right, Lonesome Dove is mostly set on the cattle trail north of Texas, and most of McCarthy’s “Border Trilogy” is actually set in Mexico. Hmmm. I guess I could go with No Country for Old Men. Who am I missing here?

Utah The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. Because when I think of Utah, I immediately think of radical environmentalism. I guess I could have stuck with John Fitzgerald’s Great Brain books. Honest injun, I used to plumb love those.

Vermont If kiddie lit counts, The Day No Pigs Would Die is something of a classic. My fourth-grade teacher skipped all the swears when she read it to us and I’m still bitter. Otherwise, it’s pretty slim pickings. It looks like Bernard Malamud set a book in Vermont: Dubin’s Lives. No idea.

Virginia I thought there’d be some slam-dunk 19th-century classic here, but I can’t think of anything. Moll Flanders ends in Virginia, I guess. William Styron’s Confessions of Nat Turner must be set in Virginia. Let’s go with that.

Washington No obvious pick for my home state, either. Most of Sherman Alexie’s best work is short stories. One of Tom Robbins’ books? I’ll stick with Snow Falling on Cedars, set out in the San Juans somewhere. That’s a good safe choice.

West Virginia Wow, this was almost as hard as Delaware. I thought of Cloudsplitter, Russell Banks’ John Brown novel, but I doubt the bulk of the book is set around Harper’s Ferry. Which would leave me with…well, apparently there’s a Newbery winner set in West Virginia called Shiloh. I bet it’s about a dog, or something. If it won a Newbery Medal, the dog probably dies.

Wisconsin This was looking pretty bleak as well. Is Little House in the Big Woods really the best-known book set there? Then Oprah came to the rescue! The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is apparently set on a Wisconsin farm.

Wyoming Brokeback Mountain is actually a short story collection, so let’s go with The Virginian here. It’s what Amazon reviewer James Drury would have wanted. Hmmm, I wonder if Drury’s reviewed Brokeback yet. On my way to check it out…