This topic made me look up author's from my area. I found 3 time Pulitzer Prize winning poet Edwin Arlington Robinson, who apparently lived on my block! There were 6 Pulitzer Prizer winners from my area. I have not read any of those books though. The only books I've read that mention my area are the Godfather, and the Underboss (the Sammy the Bull Autobiography). The Godfather was filmed in my area, some scenes from the Sopranos, Goodfellas, and Scent of a Woman, and 1 mention in the Usual Suspects.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau are the biggest authors to have lived in my area. Thoreau wrote "A Winter's Walk" during a summer in my area. Unfortunately, financially he was a failure here and he moved back to Concord, MA but there is no doubt that his stay here affected his greatest work, Walden.
Research for other famous people from my area revealed Aaron Burr, Daniel D. Tompkins (VP under James Monroe), Colonel Robert Shaw, Martin Sheen, Gene Simmons (did you know that this guy was a school teacher?!), Jennifer Esposito, Alyssa Milano, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and Alice Austen.
I enjoy reading books that take place near my home. The only one I really know of (and purchased immediatley) is titled Galveston. I live just west of Houston and Galveston is about 45 minutes East on the coast. I thought it was really cool to read about a place that I actually have been to. The book is fiction, but all of the descriptions of the town are true to their word.
