Good book to read (fiction)
 

I need suggestions for good fictional books to read about the SW and NW. Will be traveling there next week. I don't want to read about vampires or blood, please...

You might enjoy Tony Hillerman books if you are visiting NM, AZ, etc. In fact, I'm reading one right now, Skeleton Man

Milagro Beanfield War by John Nichols
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
Any book by Louis L'Amor

James Michener's <i>Centennial</i> for Colorado.

Barbara Kingsolver's book
David and Aimee Thurlo's books

SW: Two novels by Barbara Kingsolver: The Bean Trees and its sequel Pigs in Heaven, both set in contemporary Arizona (where Kingsolver lives).

NW: The Living, a historical novel about the 19th century settling of Washington State, by Annie Dillard

Both have strong female characters, lyrical writing, and a fascinating view of the cultural landscape.

anything by the great Larry McMurtry-esp. Lonesome Dove

Tony Hillerman for sure.

Wyoming:

Letters from Yellowstone
Where Rivers Change Direction
Signal

Where Rivers Change Direction is not fiction, rather a memoir of sorts starting with the author's (Mark Spragg) adolescence on his father's guest ranch in the Shoshone National Forest (just outside the east gate of Yellowstone). Beautifully written.

Mark Spragg also wrote An Unfinished Life which is a fictional story set in Wyoming. I saw the movie but haven't read the book.

Northwest (Washington State, specifically):
Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, by Sherman Alexie
Waxwings, by Jonathan Raban

"A Thousand White Women" by Jim Fergus