Forget movies set in NJ, how about books? Read any of these?

This is one of those things I never once thought about. Have I ever read a book that was set in New Jersey?

I mean movies of course. So many. “Clerks” immediately comes to mind. Kevin Smith’s low-budget career-launcher felt like a documentary of a certain generation’s time and place here. My generation.

There was Zach Braff’s “Garden State” (rather obvious by the title). There was “Lean On Me,” “American Hustle,” “A Beautiful Mind” and many others.

But what about books? While “A Beautiful Mind” was adapted as a screenplay from the 1998 biography by Sylvia Nasar, almost every book on a list compiled by Stacker is a work of fiction that is set in New Jersey.

Books about New Jersey

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Maine is known for horror writer Stephen King who has often set his stories in his own state. Missouri had Mark Twain. But how many authors can you think of from New Jersey?

Yes, obviously Judy Blume comes to mind. So does Philip Roth, and “Game of Thrones” fans will know George R.R. Martin. But New Jersey certainly doesn’t lie within his fictional continent of Westeros. So what books were actually set in New Jersey?

Scroll through this list and see how many you’ve read. If you haven’t, one of these might make a good beach read this summer if only to see how many places you recognize within the pages. Oh, and that’s quite the book cover on 11th down! Enjoy!