The type of books NJ reads most, and other quirky NJ facts

If you didn’t mind your business and started snooping at the book covers people read on the beach or in their cars on lunch hours, do you think one certain genre would be seen the most? What would it be?

This is the kind of quirky trivia found when SpinBlitz does a study on which types of books interest which states. They used Google search data to figure out regional trends.

Did we go for the schmaltzy romance novels? South Carolina and Massachusetts are among the states that go for that. Not us, though.

Our favorite is a Mystery/Thriller.

That sounds more Jersey. Perhaps it’s all the real-life mysteries we’ve endured going back to the Lindbergh baby case, right through the John List murders, the Timothy Wiltsey case, and the strange epic of prosecutor-on-the-run Nicholas Bissell.

What other quirky things are there about New Jersey?

If you have a spoon fetish, you’re in luck. Closed in recent years for renovations, Lambert Castle in Paterson is home to one of the largest spoon museums in the world. Over 5,000 spoons from every state and almost every nation on earth.

Or, speaking of Paterson, here’s a fun fact. Did you know Alexander Hamilton — yes, the badass Alexander Hamilton from the historical musical "Hamilton" — founded Paterson?

🌁 After the first secretary of the Treasury visited the Great Falls, he was the one who got Paterson established as the nation’s first planned industrial city. Locomotives, Colt weapons, textiles, and especially silk were among the things the city produced.

⛱ The longest boardwalk in the world? Atlantic City. Where did saltwater taffy originate back in 1883? Atlantic City. What are the streets in Monopoly named after? Atlantic City.

🌊 The world’s first trip in a submarine happened in the Passaic River. Its inventor, John P. Holland, went down in it himself in 1878 to prove it was safe. That’s confidence!

⚖️ Dumb laws are still on the books. Still can’t pump your gas. Still can’t buy a car on Sunday. Still can’t get a personalized license plate with a DUI conviction. That’ll stop them!

🍟 No one outside of New Jersey knows what a pork roll egg and cheese is or what disco fries are, and a Sloppy Joe means something here that it doesn’t mean anywhere else.

There's plenty of quirkiness to go around in the Garden State. Go out and enjoy finding some, and thanks for reading.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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