Book recommendations for 50+ states and beyond!

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Arts, Books

4.2 • 670 Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2022

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We have something a little different today. Often when we travel to new places, we look for books about the areas we'll be exploring. Whether via travel books, poetry, or fiction, reading about new places can help us understand them in all of their complexities. As summer kicks off and many start traveling, we asked experts in every state – and also D.C. and Puerto Rico – to tell us the books they think best represent where they live. From research anthologies to poetry collections and novels, their suggestions can help us explore and understand pretty much every corner of this country.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's book of the day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. If I were to ask you, what book best
0:07.5	describes you? Could you answer? Not necessarily, you know, your favorite book, but what's the
0:11.9	book that best represents your entire vibe? I can give you a second to think about it, but
0:17.4	it's kind of hard, right? Now, imagine trying to encapsulate an entire state with a book.
0:24.0	That's exactly what some of my colleagues did for a project that offers book recommendations
0:27.6	from all 50 states plus some. So, a little something different today, one of the editors on that
0:33.1	project. Marine Powell spoke with NPR's Elsa Chang about the process and offers book recommendations for wherever you are or might want to go to.
0:42.7	A lot of short daily news podcasts focus on just one story. But right now, you probably need more. On Up First from NPR, we bring you three of the world's top headlines every day in under 15 minutes
0:56.2	because no one's story can capture all that's happening in this big, crazy world of ours on any given morning.
1:03.4	Listen now to the Up First podcast from NPR.
1:06.8	It is June and all across the country.
1:09.9	The school year is winding down and the summer
1:12.2	travel season is revving up. And if you are planning a trip and want to learn more about your
1:17.0	destination, we have got a great resource for you. My colleagues at the Culture Desk have put
1:22.6	together a list of more than a hundred book recommendations that cover all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.
1:30.5	Here to tell us more about this project is Maureen Pau, an editor who helped put the list all
1:35.7	together. Hey, Maureen.
1:37.4	Hey, Elsa.
1:38.5	So tell us more about how you guys came up with this huge list.
1:42.0	Yeah, it was a massive undertaking. We asked poet laureates,
1:47.2	librarians, and booksellers for their recommendations for the books that best illustrate
1:52.2	their state or territory, work that tells us something essential about where they live.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.