Books set in Ohio

Every state has its hallmark writers. Mississippi has William Faulkner and his incomparable (fictional) Yoknapatawpha County and Missouri can lay claim to Mark Twain. The state of Maine is gifted with Pulitzer winner Richard Russo and horror icon Stephen King. Rural Pennsylvania is the playground of the much-heralded (and occasionally maligned) John Updike, and when many bibliophiles think of New Jersey, they also think of Richard Ford's series of novels featuring recurring Everyman character Frank Bascombe. Illinois can lay claim to William Maxwell, Sandra Cisneros, and Adam Langer, among numerous others. And what reader can think of Washington State without contending with the sparkle-vampire yarns of Stephanie Meyer?

What makes authors like these inextricably associated with a particular state is not simply the matter of their having been born there or choosing to live there. The connection, from a writerly standpoint, is deeper than that—their work, nearly all of it, is set in "their" state.

Of course, there are certainly exceptions. Whether a writer sets a tale in the town where they went to college or spent part of their childhood—like Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" and its New England arts school setting and the almost-factual small town of Jo Ann Beard's "In Zanesville," respectively—or crafts a story that follows a social or political theme to a location they know little about but lay narrative claim to anyway, the world is rife with books known, loved, and respected that also capture the essence of place—books where setting itself is one of the strongest characters.

Stacker compiled a list of books set in Ohio from Goodreads. Whether you're looking for a good read set in the state you call home, or you're looking to expand your curiosity with a writer you're already familiar with, we've got you covered.

Dancing with a Dead Horse

- Rating: 4.15 (119 ratings)
- Author: Danielle DeVor
- Published: April 30, 2014
- Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Mystery, Paranormal
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Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)

- Rating: 4.24 (1.0 million ratings)
- Author: Ernest Cline
- Published: August 16, 2011
- Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy
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The Last Place You Look (Roxane Weary, #1)

- Rating: 3.98 (7,456 ratings)
- Author: Kristen Lepionka
- Published: June 13, 2017
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller
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Winesburg, Ohio

- Rating: 3.84 (32,628 ratings)
- Author: Sherwood Anderson
- Published: May 8, 1919
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, Literature
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The Bluest Eye

- Rating: 4.10 (213,794 ratings)
- Author: Toni Morrison
- Published: June 1, 1970
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, African American
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Unwind (Unwind, #1)

- Rating: 4.16 (214,201 ratings)
- Author: Neal Shusterman
- Published: November 6, 2007
- Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Fiction
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Finders Keepers (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #2)

- Rating: 4.05 (130,690 ratings)
- Author: Stephen King
- Published: June 2, 2015
- Genres: Fiction, Horror, Thriller, Mystery
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Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows, #1)

- Rating: 4.03 (122,539 ratings)
- Author: Kim Harrison
- Published: April 1, 2004
- Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Vampires
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Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #1)

- Rating: 3.99 (280,554 ratings)
- Author: Stephen King
- Published: June 3, 2014
- Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Horror, Mystery
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Little Fires Everywhere

- Rating: 4.09 (999,880 ratings)
- Author: Celeste Ng
- Published: September 12, 2017
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Adult
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The Summer that Melted Everything

- Rating: 3.99 (9,718 ratings)
- Author: Tiffany McDaniel
- Published: July 26, 2016
- Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Contemporary, Literary Fiction
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The Last Runaway

- Rating: 3.83 (35,021 ratings)
- Author: Tracy Chevalier
- Published: January 3, 2013
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Adult Fiction
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Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1)

- Rating: 3.92 (385,669 ratings)
- Author: Toni Morrison
- Published: September 16, 1987
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Magical Realism
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End of Watch (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #3)

- Rating: 4.09 (105,662 ratings)
- Author: Stephen King
- Published: June 7, 2016
- Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
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Tales of the Astonishing Black Spark

- Rating: 4.08 (92 ratings)
- Author: Charlie J. Eskew
- Published: January 1, 2018
- Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Contemporary, Fantasy
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At the Edge of the Orchard

- Rating: 3.65 (19,355 ratings)
- Author: Tracy Chevalier
- Published: March 16, 2016
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Audiobook
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Everything I Never Told You

- Rating: 3.86 (463,121 ratings)
- Author: Celeste Ng
- Published: June 26, 2014
- Genres: Contemporary, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Audiobook
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Calling Me Home

- Rating: 4.24 (40,483 ratings)
- Author: Julie Kibler
- Published: August 20, 2012
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Historical
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I Am Number Four (Lorien Legacies, #1)

- Rating: 3.93 (332,978 ratings)
- Author: Pittacus Lore
- Published: August 3, 2010
- Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction
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Weird Ohio

- Rating: 3.90 (249 ratings)
- Author: James A. Willis
- Published: November 25, 2005
- Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History, Paranormal
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Ohio

- Rating: 3.85 (10,483 ratings)
- Author: Stephen Markley
- Published: August 21, 2018
- Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Contemporary
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The Wright Brothers

- Rating: 4.14 (86,764 ratings)
- Author: David McCullough
- Published: March 20, 2015
- Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History
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Pepper Pike (Milan Jacovich, #1)

- Rating: 3.82 (460 ratings)
- Author: Les Roberts
- Published: January 1, 1988
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller
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Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

- Rating: 3.89 (379,229 ratings)
- Author: J.D. Vance
- Published: June 28, 2016
- Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Audiobook
- Read more on Goodreads

The Long Quiche Goodbye (A Cheese Shop Mystery, #1)

- Rating: 3.65 (3,332 ratings)
- Author: Avery Aames
- Published: June 9, 2010
- Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Food
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The Female of the Species

- Rating: 4.16 (33,895 ratings)
- Author: Mindy McGinnis
- Published: September 20, 2016
- Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Mystery
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67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence

- Rating: 3.89 (473 ratings)
- Author: Howard Means
- Published: April 12, 2016
- Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Politics
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The Weird Sisters

- Rating: 3.37 (45,311 ratings)
- Author: Eleanor Brown
- Published: January 1, 2011
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Adult Fiction
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Harvey Pekar's Cleveland

- Rating: 3.99 (1,281 ratings)
- Author: Harvey Pekar
- Published: January 1, 2012
- Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Nonfiction, Memoir
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American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar

- Rating: 3.99 (388 ratings)
- Author: Harvey Pekar
- Published: January 1, 1986
- Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Comic Book
- Read more on Goodreads

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My Friend Dahmer

- Rating: 3.93 (27,944 ratings)
- Author: Derf Backderf
- Published: March 1, 2012
- Genres: Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, True Crime, Comics
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No Use Dying Over Spilled Milk (Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery, #3)

- Rating: 3.76 (1,056 ratings)
- Author: Tamar Myers
- Published: March 1, 1996
- Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Humor, Fiction
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Sand Dollar Island

- Rating: 3.57 (14 ratings)
- Author: Rob Smith
- Published: January 15, 2013
- Genres: Fiction
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Found (The Missing, #1)

- Rating: 3.98 (38,875 ratings)
- Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix
- Published: January 1, 2008
- Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Mystery, Time Travel
- Read more on Goodreads

Heroine

- Rating: 4.27 (9,493 ratings)
- Author: Mindy McGinnis
- Published: March 12, 2019
- Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Realistic Fiction
- Read more on Goodreads

Watercress

- Rating: 4.55 (3,340 ratings)
- Author: Andrea Wang
- Published: March 30, 2021
- Genres: Picture Books, Family, Childrens, Food
- Read more on Goodreads

Dale Loves Sophie to Death

- Rating: 3.21 (294 ratings)
- Author: Robb Forman Dew
- Published: January 1, 1981
- Genres: Fiction, Novels, Literature
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The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

- Rating: 3.91 (1,035 ratings)
- Author: Don Robertson
- Published: January 1, 1965
- Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novels, Coming Of Age
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During the Reign of the Queen of Persia

- Rating: 3.72 (602 ratings)
- Author: Joan Chase
- Published: January 1, 1983
- Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Family
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Cemetery Girl

- Rating: 3.34 (9,737 ratings)
- Author: David Bell
- Published: October 6, 2011
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense
- Read more on Goodreads

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M.C. Higgins, the Great

- Rating: 3.45 (4,167 ratings)
- Author: Virginia Hamilton
- Published: August 1, 1974
- Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Childrens
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Meet Kit: An American Girl 1934 (American Girls: Kit, #1)

- Rating: 4.01 (5,062 ratings)
- Author: Valerie Tripp
- Published: June 1, 2000
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Historical
- Read more on Goodreads

The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave, #1)

- Rating: 4.02 (434,038 ratings)
- Author: Rick Yancey
- Published: May 7, 2013
- Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fiction
- Read more on Goodreads

What Katy Did

- Rating: 3.89 (19,111 ratings)
- Author: Susan Coolidge
- Published: January 1, 1872
- Genres: Classics, Childrens, Fiction, Young Adult
- Read more on Goodreads

The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

- Rating: 3.79 (20,151 ratings)
- Author: David McCullough
- Published: May 7, 2019
- Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Audiobook
- Read more on Goodreads

A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration

- Rating: 4.05 (507 ratings)
- Author: Kenn Kaufman
- Published: April 2, 2019
- Genres: Birds, Nature, Nonfiction, Science
- Read more on Goodreads

The Warrior Heir (The Heir Chronicles, #1)

- Rating: 3.94 (50,674 ratings)
- Author: Cinda Williams Chima
- Published: March 28, 2006
- Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, Fiction
- Read more on Goodreads