I am all for the idea of states naming official books. (Make Way for Ducklings is, adorably, Massachusetts's official children's book.) But I'm not a fan of this move:
Tennessee is poised to make history as the first state in the nation to recognize the Holy Bible as its official book.
The problem is, of course, Tennessee lawmakers aren't just naming a state book by doing this; they're effectively naming Christianity the official state religion. Instead of the Bible, a book that I can promise was neither written nor set in Tennessee, why not make Cormac McCarthy's semiautobiographical novel Suttree the state book instead? It's set in Tennessee, and it's an underappreciated McCarthy novel. Why not promote literacy, rather than waging a petty and unnecessary religious war?