books about Alaska? (Dillingham, Haines, Arctic Village: work, house, entertainment)

[punyhumans]

Looking for fictional books about Alaska for a school report, any suggestions? My favorite I've found so far is "Wild Animus" by Rich Shapero.

[Alaskagrl]

Depends on your taste...just for pure fluffy entertainment, there's a mystery writer who likes to base his stories in AK...I'll try to remember a name for ya...

I personally really love the (very long) book by James Michener, "Alaska", detailing AK history back from cave-man times on to today...he "embellishes" a bit, creating characters from real people as he goes along, but it is more history than fiction.

In the historical vein, there are also books about Fred Bear's AK hunting exploits, and "The Wolf Man" about another very famous AK hunter during the depression/WWII eras...better than fiction but extremely entertaining; you just can't believe how tough these guys were in "the old days!"

There's lots of accounts of n'er do wells such as Tim Treadwell and the kid in "Into the Wild" by John Krakauer. Again, not quite fiction, but definitely good stories, whether you love or hate the main characters.

I highly recommend treading the not-so-beaten-path for AK literature...some of the "real" stories defy imagination!

[DannyL]

Jack London did a bunch of great stories, some he used fictional characters but based it on real experiences...mostly his and friends.

[Alaskan_Adventurer]

Dana Stabenow is a mystery writer who lives in Alaska and writes stories based on Alaska. I would do a google search for her. I am sure you can find her work at your local bookstore. I hope this helps.

[yellowsnow]

The Great Alone is another one.

[sweetana3]

Heather Lende is a columnist who published a book of stories about Alaska. She lives in Haines. Do a google search. Great human interest stories. Made me want to visit Haines.

I have just gotten a book Arctic Village which is a study of a town in far northeastern Alaska in the 1930s. It is pretty wonderful stuff about hardy people and the natives they lived around. Lots of stuff like who they were, how they got there, how they lived together, the roadhouse, the skills the natives taught. It was very respectful of the original people and found them to be very very intelligent and capable.

I have several others at home about families in the last few decades that went to Alaska to homestead and will see about the names when I get home. Hubby got them for me for Xmas. Amazon is another source.

[Las Vegan Cajun]

I'm reading this one right now http://www.wildmenwildalaska.com/ very interesting.

[mal_flisk]

John Straley does mysteries based in SE. Dana Stabenow does hers based on Interior mysteries and SW (fictional Dillingham)

[punyhumans]

Originally Posted by Alaskagrl

There's lots of accounts of n'er do wells such as Tim Treadwell and the kid in "Into the Wild" by John Krakauer. Again, not quite fiction, but definitely good stories, whether you love or hate the main characters.

This is more the kind of stuff that I like, heavy, dark, and with, uh... troubled main characters. I read "Into the Wild", that's about the only other Alaska story I think I've read. "Wild Animus", though fictional, has a lot of the same elements (I'd call it Timothy Treadwell meets Timothy Leary). Awesome suggestions here, though, keep them coming.

[Rance]

Hey I'm just starting wild men, wild alaska today! I've had it for a month but had to finish a few others first.

Also have Breakup by Dana Stabenow but have yet to read it.

Louis LaMour has a good one called Sitka that dated back in the Russion days just before we bought the state.