{"id":1688,"date":"2024-09-24T10:49:30","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T17:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/?p=1688"},"modified":"2024-09-24T10:49:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T17:49:32","slug":"what-are-the-best-21st-century-books-about-the-pacific-northwest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/?p=1688","title":{"rendered":"What Are the Best 21st Century Books about the Pacific Northwest?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Best book lists are always subjective and somewhat suspect. Consider the New York Times’ recent list of the “100 Best Books of the 21st Century<\/a>,” for example. As Spokane author Sharma Shields points out in her great recent post on the subject of book lists<\/a>, the NYT’s list has NO Native books on it. It goes without saying, I suppose, that it’s light on Pacific Northwest titles too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, Shields doesn’t stop at critiquing the lists of others. She also offers her own “21st Century Book List for the Northwest<\/a>.” It’s an excellent list, full of diversity and showing the wild promise of Northwest literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all of the books on Shields’ list are set in the Northwest, but a fair number are. Which makes sense, of course. Not only do writers write what they know but the Northwest is an intriguing region that is underrepresented in the book world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are a few of the Northwest-oriented books on the Shields list. You’ll find all of her selections, along with her sharp essay on book lists here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Click on any title to read more about it and\/or order it.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ma & Me: A Memoir<\/a><\/em> by Putsata Reang<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perma Red: A Novel<\/a><\/em> by Debra Magpie Earling<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Beadworkers<\/a><\/em> by Beth Piatote<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cold Millions<\/a><\/em> by Jess Walter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Laughter<\/em> <\/a>by Sonora Jha<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Flood Girls<\/a><\/em> by Richard Fifield<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marrow Island: A Novel<\/em> <\/a>by Alexis M. Smith<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk<\/a><\/em> by Sasha taqw\u0161eblu LaPointe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Collector: David Douglas and the Natural History of the Northwest<\/a><\/em> by Jack Nisbet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rough House: A Memoir<\/a><\/em> by Tina Ontiveros<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Idaho: A Novel<\/em> <\/a>by Emily Ruskovich<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White Magic: Essays<\/a><\/em> by Elissa Washuta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deep River: A Novel<\/a><\/em> by Karl Marlantes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homestead: A Novel<\/em> <\/a>by Melinda Moustakis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

West of Here: A Novel<\/a><\/em> by Jonathan Evison<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jump-Off Creek: A Novel<\/em> <\/a>by Molly Gloss<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder<\/em> <\/a>by Brian Doyle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sun House: A Novel<\/em> <\/a>by David James Duncan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bitterroot: A Novel<\/em> <\/a>by Suzy Vitello<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Child Finder: A Novel<\/a><\/em> by Rene Denfeld<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Are Not Strangers: A Graphic Novel<\/em> <\/a>by Josh Tuininga<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish I had space (and time) to give a quick summary of each of these 21 books. Suffice it to say that you won’t be disappointed in any of them. All of them explore, investigate, and often celebrate the uniqueness of the Pacific Northwest, past or present (sometimes both).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you read even a few of them, you’ll come away with a greater appreciation for all of the talent, richness, and profound questions residing in this lush and fascinating land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Note: I\u2019m an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local bookstores. If you buy a book through a click on this website, I\u2019ll earn a small commission that helps defray the costs of maintaining<\/em> WritingtheNorthwest.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image of stacked books courtesy of Freepik<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Best book lists are always subjective and somewhat suspect. Consider the New York Times’ recent list of the “100 Best Books of the 21st Century,” for example. As Spokane author Sharma Shields points out in her great recent post on the subject of book lists, the NYT’s list has NO Native books on it. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_swt_meta_header_display":false,"_swt_meta_footer_display":false,"_swt_meta_site_title_display":false,"_swt_meta_sticky_header":false,"_swt_meta_transparent_header":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,99,103],"tags":[480,479,250,481,244,12,473,472,471,478,474,475,6,441,465,268,291,469,477,234],"class_list":["post-1688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews-news","category-latest-posts","category-nw-people","tag-21st-c-northwest-authors","tag-21st-c-northwest-literature","tag-alexis-m-smith","tag-best-books","tag-brian-doyle","tag-david-james-duncan","tag-elissa-washuta","tag-emily-ruskovich","tag-jack-nisbet","tag-josh-tuininga","tag-karl-marlantes","tag-melinda-moustakis","tag-molly-gloss","tag-northwest-literature","tag-putsata-reang","tag-rene-denfield","tag-sasha-lapointe","tag-sonora-jha","tag-suzy-vitello","tag-tina-ontiveros"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/hand-drawn-flat-design-stack-books-illustration_23-2149341898.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/hand-drawn-flat-design-stack-books-illustration_23-2149341898.jpg",1380,1380,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/hand-drawn-flat-design-stack-books-illustration_23-2149341898-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/hand-drawn-flat-design-stack-books-illustration_23-2149341898-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/hand-drawn-flat-design-stack-books-illustration_23-2149341898-768x768.jpg",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/hand-drawn-flat-design-stack-books-illustration_23-2149341898-1024x1024.jpg",1024,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/hand-drawn-flat-design-stack-books-illustration_23-2149341898.jpg",1380,1380,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/hand-drawn-flat-design-stack-books-illustration_23-2149341898.jpg",1380,1380,false],"mailpoet_newsletter_max":["https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/hand-drawn-flat-design-stack-books-illustration_23-2149341898-1320x1320.jpg",1320,1320,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"michael n. mcgregor","author_link":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/?author=1"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Best book lists are always subjective and somewhat suspect. Consider the New York Times’ recent list of the “100 Best Books of the 21st Century,” for example. As Spokane author Sharma Shields points out in her great recent post on the subject of book lists, the NYT’s list has NO Native books on it. It…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1688"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1717,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions\/1717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingthenorthwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}