50 States of Love: Readers Respond - The New York Times

50 States of Love

To the Editor:

Thank you for the endearing article “50 States of Love: Terms of Endearment,” by Tina Jordan, Elisabeth Egan and Ross MacDonald (Feb. 16).

I had three reactions: “Hooray, I have read many of these books,” “My new reading goal for 2020 — read the rest of them” and, finally, “I want to frame this map.”

Dorothe Patterson
Punta Gorda, Fla.

♦

To the Editor:

You’re breaking my heart! It’s bad enough D.C. gets no love from Congress, but apparently we don’t rate so much as a valentine in today’s Book Review. Where’s our story?

Susan Bodiker
Washington

♦

To the Editor:

Given the title of the article, perhaps it’s too much to expect. But it sure seems to me that Puerto Rico has been given short shrift once again.

Nat Herold
Amherst, Mass.

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To the Editor:

With all due respect to Nick Hornby’s “Juliet, Naked,” hands down Michael Chabon’s “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” is the definitive Pennsylvania book on matters of the heart, because the novel’s starting point is delving into a heart that doesn’t even know itself. Like nothing else I have ever read, “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” captures all the crosscurrent complexities of coming-of-age. Plus, it captures a time and place that is uniquely Pennsylvania — Pittsburgh’s East End, which includes the Oakland and Squirrel Hill neighborhoods. It’s a one-of-a-kind novel that put the young Chabon on the map.

Sam Koda
Hershey, Pa.

♦

To the Editor:

No doubt you will be receiving an avalanche of letters about your choices in the feature “50 States of Love.” So let me add my gripe as a Minnesotan in diaspora (as many of us are). I will not denigrate your choice of J. Ryan Stradal’s “The Lager Queen of Minnesota,” but consider, instead, Jon Hassler’s “The Love Hunter.” It is quintessentially Minnesotan, as are all of his works, and, like them, it has some wry humor. But the real art of the book is Hassler’s ability to combine, plausibly, the theme of flawed and obsessive love with suspense. It is a page-turner to the very end. And if “The Love Hunter” does not please, you could turn to Hassler’s “North of Hope,” a much darker novel permeated with the melancholy Catholicism that characterizes all of his writing. Hassler received a generous obituary from The Times when he died in 2008. But he has not received the recognition he richly deserved and is little known outside the upper Midwest. He deserves better.

Carl Hammer
Pittsburgh

‘The Cactus League’

To the Editor:

Very nice review by Charles McGrath of “The Cactus League,” by Emily Nemens (Feb. 9). I’m interested in reading this novel and appreciate his insight. However, this sentence jumped out at me: “Just how she comes by her baseball savvy is a bit of a mystery.” Really? I don’t think he would say that if the author were male. When will the surprise fade that women might take a deep dive into baseball, play the drums, be building superintendents, corporate leaders — succeed in formerly male-dominated professions? As Doris Kearns Goodwin might say, guess I’ll wait till next year.

Emily Jackson
Bloomington, Ind.

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