Recommendations: Alaska, British Columbia

Telynor · Post by **Telynor** » Wed April 13th, 2011, 6:48 am

I am trying to find some good nonfiction or fiction to read before and during my trip to the Pacific Northwest. Any suggestions?

sweetpotatoboy · Post by **sweetpotatoboy** » Wed April 13th, 2011, 9:11 am

At risk of being predictable, I heartily recommend James Michener's "Alaska".

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Wed April 13th, 2011, 10:50 am

[quote=""Telynor""]I am trying to find some good nonfiction or fiction to read before and during my trip to the Pacific Northwest. Any suggestions?[/quote]

Just finished Beyond the Shining Mountains by Doris Shannon. Western BC, fur trading post. Celeste de Blasis wrote The Tiger's Woman that's set in old Seattle and the San Juan Islands. Glory by Janice Young Brooks starts in Seattle and then moves through Skagway and then the Yukon territory.

There's that book that was out last year about the singer who ended up in Seattle. I am drawing an absolute blank on the title/author at this hour of the morning so perhaps someone else can help out.

annis · Post by **annis** » Wed April 13th, 2011, 5:46 pm

It's not HF, but Mitchell Smith's Due North was very good and Nora Roberts' Northern Lights is NR at her best.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Wed April 13th, 2011, 7:09 pm

I'd recommend Tisha. It's memoir, not fiction, but it reads like fiction. I have also enjoyed Fifty years Below Zero, another memoir by Charles Brown.

If you've never read the Alaska poems of Robert Service, you should try them. Very much like Kipling in rhythm and meter and general style.

And of course, no Alaska reading list is complete without Jack London. Call of the Wild and White Fang deserve a re-read.

SonjaMarie · Post by **SonjaMarie** » Wed April 13th, 2011, 8:28 pm

Jealous you're going to my birth place (Alaska) and the home of my best friend (BC).

SM

Chris Little · Post by **Chris Little** » Thu April 14th, 2011, 5:39 am

For Eagle Song, James Houston, the Canadian, took an actual event where early Euro Americans encountered Native Americans ... slavery and culture of Cedar Salmon ... Doig also based Sea Runners on an actual escape from Russian held Alaska ... for Eagle Song, I suggest viewing the hardcover on Fantastic Fiction rather than judging it by the absurd paperback cover displayed at Amazon.

annis · Post by **annis** » Thu April 14th, 2011, 6:31 am

Hi Chris

if you want to go waaay back, Sue Harrison did a couple of trilogies set in prehistoric Alaska which I enjoyed years ago

The Ivory Carver Trilogy
Mother Earth Father Sky
My Sister the Moon
Brother Wind

The Storyteller Trilogy
Song of the River
Cry of the Wind
Call Down the Stars

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Thu April 14th, 2011, 12:24 pm

*smacks head*

Almost forgot Heartbroke Bay by Lynn D'Urso.

Chris Little · Post by **Chris Little** » Thu April 14th, 2011, 5:40 pm

Hi Annis,

Harrison's anthropology appeals to me and I've skimmed some of her Aleut tales ... reading this year mostly research NF ... visualize paddling from Sunda to Baja with Jomon Captain Cook 16kya ... currently savoring Pielou's "After the Ice Age" ... next on library list for Rothfuss #2 ...

Historical Fiction Online

Recommendations: Alaska, British Columbia

Recommendations: Alaska, British Columbia

Eagle Song and Sea Runners