From the Garden State!
Happy Tuesday! This week's topic was quite an interesting one for me. I am originally from New York, have lived in Florida, and currently reside in New Jersey. A few NJ authors immediately came to mind, but I went on a Google search to find more, and there were some surprises. Since I always like featuring books I read in these posts, I decided to make this more broad and am featuring authors associated with the Garden State (lived/born here) who I have actually read.
- Judy Blume - Blume was the first author who came to mind because I knew she was born a little bit north of me in Elizabeth. She also set many of stories in NJ.
- Paula Danziger - Danziger was really popular when I was a kid, but I had no idea she had ties to NJ. She actually graduated from the high school in the next town over from me.
- David Levithan - This one surprised me. Levithan seems so Manhattan to me, but he grew up about 20 north of here in the town where I go to see all those plays. If I am being honest, Millburn is pretty close to the city.
- Kristina Forest - I knew Forest was from NJ which was where the character pictured below lived, but I had never heard of Lawnside. It's south of me, not too far from where I work.
- Megan McCafferty - The Jessica Darling books were set down the shore, so I had a feeling McCafferty was from here, and I was right!
- Matthew Quick - From the books I read from Quick, I assumed his association with PA (which is correct and where he lives now), but apparently, he was born in Camden which is really close to Philly (and again, near my job).
- Nicole Mellaby - I read three books from Mellaby, and all of them were set down the shore, so I had a good feeling that she was a Jersey native.
- Nisha Sharma - Sharma wasn't born in NJ, but she did live here at one point which was obvious from the books I read. All of them mention places near where I reside which was fun for me. #CentralJerseyIsARealPlace
- Sharon Creech - Creech is listed as "associated with NJ". I did see that her husband was the headmaster of the prep school near my job, so perhaps, that was when she lived in NJ.
What authors are associated with your state?
Let us know in the comments!
Let us know in the comments!
Wow, great list! I never would have known about some of these authors. Judy Blume, definitely, though!
ReplyDeleteBlume is a HUGE NJ native, but I enjoyed looking into this topic and learning more.
DeleteI remember reading some Judy Blume books when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteMy late husband was from New Jersey.
She is still well known now, but I feel like everyone was reading her books when I was a kid.
DeleteI confess that I haven't read any of these! And this week I chose to go rogue as not many would have heard of Belgian authors!
ReplyDeleteI found this topic really interesting to look into. Maybe you would have enjoyed it as well.
DeleteI've only read a couple of these authors: Blume and Leviathan. Fun prompt!
ReplyDeleteThere are more popular NJ authors (Mary Higgins Clark, Harlan Coben, Junot Diaz, Janet Evanovich, Dorothea Benton Frank, Elizabeth Gilbert, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, George R. R. Martin, Joyce Carol Oates) but I had not read them.
DeleteLots of great NJ authors here! I read a lot of Blume and Danzinger's books as a kid.
ReplyDeleteHappy TTT!
They were so popular when I was a kid.
DeleteFun how a number of them seem to have ties with your working area. The only ones I knew of are Blume and Levithan, though I've never read their work.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting that I have some proximity to so many of the hometowns.
DeleteThe only ones I've read are Judy Blume and Paula Danzinger. I think my favourite New Jersey author is Janet Evanovich. The Stephanie Plum series set in NJ is so much fun.
ReplyDeleteI just read my first Evanovich book. She is a favorite of my aunt's. It was a fun book.
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