The Pacific Northwest is a book lover’s dream. I was lucky enough to live in the region for three years, and my book-buying receipts from that era are proof! While […]

The post 15 recommended reads for those traveling to the Pacific Northwest (or who want to) appeared first on Modern Mrs Darcy.

The Pacific Northwest is a book lover’s dream. I was lucky enough to live in the region for three years, and my book-buying receipts from that era are proof!

While it’s not an officially delineated region, most sources define the Pacific Northwest as the states of Washington and Oregon, along with parts of Idaho and British Columbia, Canada. 

From Portland’s Powell’s City of Books (the world’s largest independent bookstore) to the atmospheric setting behind hits like the Twilight series (based in the real-life town of Forks, Washington), this region of North America has a lot of literary cred. It’s home to many well-known authors (like Ken Kesey, Ijeoma Oluo, Chuck Palahniuk, and Maria Semple); fantastic independent bookstores (a few personal favorites besides Powell’s: Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Eagle Harbor Book Co on Bainbridge Island, and Imprint Bookstore in Port Townsend), writing workshops (some day I’d love to attend one of these, or this one), and of course, novels and nonfiction galore.

I’ll never forget the evocative feeling of reading Twilight in 2006, weeks after our first road trip through the moody Olympic peninsula, and agreeing with Stephenie Meyer about at least one thing. Vampires would live there. 

I don’t have any vampire books to recommend today, but I do have fantastic fiction and nonfiction to transport you to this corner of North America. Narrowing down this list was tough, and I’m sure there are many more incredible books to share. Would you leave a comment with your suggestions for readers interested in a vicarious trip to the Pacific Northwest?

Literary Tourism: Pacific Northwest

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Author: Ursula Le Guin

While this isn’t my favorite Le Guin book, its setting in an early 2000’s-era Portland was captivating and futuristic at the time of publication (1971). Considered a classic in the science fiction genre, it’s set in a dystopian future where one man’s dreams have the power to change the world. It’s also a uniquely Pacific Northwest entry point to Le Guin, who called Portland home as an adult. More info →

Author: Sasha taqwšeblu LaPointe

I haven’t read this yet but I had to include it. 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. More info →

Author: Alexandria Bellefleur

A friend recommended this Pride & Prejudice-inspired queer rom-com set in Seattle and it did not disappoint. What could possibly go wrong when a free-spirited astrologer agrees to fake a relationship with an uptight actuary over the holidays? The ending probably won’t surprise you, but the story and setting charmed me. (Open door.) More info →

Chirp

Author: Terese Marie Mailhot

I picked this up after hearing about it from guest Reagan Jackson in What Should I Read Next #416 and I’m so glad she added it to my reading list. 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. More info →

Author: Alexis M. Smith

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. More info →

Author: Alexis M. Smith

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. More info →

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. More info →

Author: M. Jackson

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. More info →

Author: Kira Jane Buxton

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. More info →

Author: Eden Robinson

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.) More info →

Author: Ellie Alexander

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. More info →

Author: David Guterson

On a fictional island north of Puget Sound in 1954, a Japanese American is accused of murdering a local fisherman, but this story is about so much more than a murder trial. Immersive and transporting, I felt like I was there as I read about the island’s dark World War II legacy and what happened next. More info →

Author: Erin McKittrick

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. More info →

Author: Timothy Egan

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. More info →

Author: Jon Billman

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. More info →

What are your favorite books set in the Pacific Northwest? Please share in the comments.

P.S. 12 recommended reads for those traveling to Maine (or who want to) and more literary tourism.

About the author

Holly Wielkoszewski is our What Should I Read Next Media Production Specialist. Her go-to genres are Fantasy and Sci-Fi. You can find Holly on Instagram @hollyfromthebigsky.

The post 15 recommended reads for those traveling to the Pacific Northwest (or who want to) appeared first on Modern Mrs Darcy.