Literary Tourism: Pacific Northwest

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America

by Timothy Egan

Holly says: "Anyone living in the American West has had to adapt to the raging wildfires of recent years. While I’ve read a number of books about fire season, this narrative nonfiction from one of my favorite travel and nature writers remains one of the best. In 1910, a fire burned an area the size of Connecticut in a weekend, across Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Egan also weaves in the history of Teddy Roosevelt, his chief forester Gifford Pinchot, the origins of the U.S. Forest Service, and what it’s meant for generations of people who live, work, and recreate in and around forests."

The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands

by Jon Billman

Holly says: "A top contender for my favorite book of 2023, this is a true crime account of wilderness disappearances. It’s also an ode to fatherly love and eternal hope, a story of characters and conspiracies, and an investigation of memory. While other disappearances are recounted, it focuses on a disappearance in Olympic National Park. The scenery and geography of this mysterious place is as much a character as any of the people profiled in the book."

The Lathe of Heaven

by Ursula Le Guin

This 1971 science fiction classic is set in a dystopian 2002 Portland (so, 40 years in the future at the time of writing, which was VERY interesting to read in 2017!), and focuses on a man whose terrible dreams actually come true, a power-hungry psychiatrist who wants to harness those dreams to improve the world, and the attorney he begs to intervene (who is perhaps the most interesting character). It's a short story, with incredible depth, and I'm so glad I finally read it.

Red Paint: the Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk

by Sasha taqwšeblu LaPointe

Holly says: The description captivated me: “An Indigenous artist blends the aesthetics of punk rock with the traditional spiritual practices of the women in her lineage in this bold, contemporary journey to reclaim her heritage and unleash her power and voice while searching for a permanent home.” The punk rock scene heavily influences Seattle’s cultural history. I’m eager to read a story that explores this cultural phenomenon from a different perspective than I’ve encountered before.

Written in the Stars

by Alexandria Bellefleur

Darcy Lowell and Elle Jones had a disastrous blind date, but Darcy's brother will keep bugging her until she finds love. With a little convincing, she gets Elle on board for a fake relationship to benefit them both. The plot of this contemporary romance doesn't mimic Austen, but the characters do feel like Darcy and Elizabeth. Catching the subtle nods to Pride and Prejudice in this breezy, page-turner adds a delightful layer to the reading experience, but you don't need any prior knowledge of Austen's work in order to fully enjoy it. (Open door.)

Chirp

Heart Berries

by Terese Marie Mailhot

Holly says: I picked this up after hearing about it from guest Reagan Jackson in WSIRN Episode 416. This memoir isn’t an easy read, but it’s an honest and beautiful telling of coming of age on an Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest, and how Mailhot turned to writing as a way to grapple with the trauma of her childhood and her adult mental health diagnoses. Content warnings apply.

Marrow Island

by Alexis M. Smith

Holly says: "Part eco-thriller, part mystery, part survival story, Smith’s second novel is set on a fictional island in Puget Sound and is full of eerie, spooky, Pacific Northwest vibes. Marrow Island follows protagonist Lucie Bowen’s return to her former home twenty years after tragedy struck and changed her life forever. When Lucie’s childhood friend invites her to come home to the island and meet the community that has restored life to the island, Lucie’s journalistic curiosity compels her to go. She encounters secrets she never would have imagined. This novel put Smith on my must-read list and takes me back to the misty mornings and atmospheric forests of western Washington."

Glaciers

by Alexis M. Smith

Holly says: "Smith’s debut, recently reissued by Tin House, is a delightful novella that follows Portland-based Isabel through a single day, as she dreams of a future she can’t quite grasp and looks back at the history that brought her to her current point. Wholly different from Smith’s novel Marrow Island, it still delivers on a uniquely Pacific NW reading experience. Isabel’s day job repairing damaged books in the basement of the local library will endear her to any reader."

West of Here

Holly says: "Jonathan Evison is another must-read Pacific Northwest author. This 2011 novel is a sprawling epic capturing two generations of residents of a struggling town on the Olympic Peninsula. I felt immersed in the small town setting. While books that feature dual timelines don’t always work for me, I enjoyed Evison’s approach to following the events and consequences of decisions across the decades."

The Ice Sings Back

by M. Jackson

Holly says: "Jackson is a geographer, glaciologist, and National Geographic Explorer who writes about climate change and cold places; her novel transported me viscerally to the remote wilderness of western Oregon. When a young girl goes missing, her disappearance weaves together the stories of four women. This is a story of survival, change, acceptance, trauma, and a changing environment. I loved it."

Hollow Kingdom

by Kira Jane Buxton

Holly says: "Dystopian horror, but make it funny: this debut from Buxton stars a domesticated crow on a quest to save humanity—or failing that, humanity’s pets—after a zombie apocalypse. Unexpected, touching, and delightful, it’s set across the northwest from Seattle to Canada. If you love it as much as I did, be sure to pick up book two, Feral Creatures."

Monkey Beach

by Eden Robinson

Holly says: "Well north of Vancouver in a remote village that the Haisla people call home, tomboy Lisa has always been different: she sees ghosts and experiences premonitions. As she embarks on a perilous journey to find her drowned brother, we learn about her life and her family. I read this decades ago, but it’s always stuck with me for its exploration of family, redemption, and the incredibly brutal but beautiful setting. (Bonus points: Emily St John Mandel listed this as her “favorite book no one else has heard of” in a New York Times interview.)"

Death on Tap (Sloan Krause Mystery #1)

by Ellie Alexander

Holly says: "This cozy mystery series follows Sloan Krause, an expert in brewing craft beer who in short order discovers a cheating husband and a dead body, before diving in to solve the murder. Along the way, she discovers the dark underbelly of the brewery scene in her charming Washington town. Whether you love beer or just love a good setting for a cozy murder mystery, this might be perfectly to your taste."

Snow Falling on Cedars

by David Guterson

This lyrical and heartbreaking first novel is set in an isolated, snow-covered Washington State island town in the 1950s, where a Japanese man stands trial for murdering a white fisherman. The trial brings the town's painful history and many citizen's long-submerged sense of guilt and shame sharply to the surface; Guterson skillfully unfolds both the history of the town and that of two star-crossed lovers layer by layer.

A Long Trek Home: 4,000 Miles by Boot, Raft and Ski

by Erin McKittrick

Holly says: "This memoir takes the reader along on McKittrick’s year-long journey from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands. She and her husband embark on this human-powered journey to bring awareness to environmental concerns along the Pacific Northwest coast as they experience some of the most rugged terrain in the world. I found it to be equal parts awe-inspiring and terrifying: my favorite flavor of armchair adventure travel."

Literary Tourism: Pacific Northwest

The MMD Summer Reading Guide

your guide to reliable readerly joy this summer

a gateway

to reliable joy this summer

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summer reading starts May 16th