100 Best Alaska Books of All Time

We've ranked the best alaska books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

The Great Alone book cover1

The Great Alone

Kristin Hannah

5.0
Alaska, 1974.
Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl comin
2

The Snow Child

Eowyn Ive

4.9
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-hai
Into the Wild book cover3

Into the Wild

Jon Krakauer

4.8
Librarian's Note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

In April, 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himse
Alaska book cover4

Alaska

James A. Michener and Steve Berry

4.8
In this sweeping epic of the northernmost American frontier, James A. Michener guides us through Alaska’s fierce terrain and history, from the long-forgotten past to the bustling present. As his characters struggle for survival, Michener weaves together the exciting high points of Alaska’s story: its brutal origins; the American acquisition; the gold rush; the tremendous growth and exploitation of
Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival book cover5

Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival

Velma Wallis

4.6
Based on an Athabascan Indian legend passed along for many generations from mothers to daughters of the upper Yukon River Valley in Alaska, this is the suspenseful, shocking, ultimately inspirational tale of two old women abandoned by their tribe during a brutal winter famine.

Though these women have been known to complain more than contribute, they now must either survive on their own or die tryin
6

To The Bright Edge of the World

Eowyn Ivey

4.6
Set again in the Alaskan landscape that she brought to stunningly vivid life in The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey's second novel is a breathtaking story of discovery and adventure, set at the end of the nineteenth century, and of a marriage tested by a closely held secret.

Colonel Allen Forrester receives the commission of a lifetime when he is charged to navigate Alaska's hitherto impassable Wolverine Ri
The Call of the Wild book cover7

The Call of the Wild

Jack London

4.6
First published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is regarded as Jack London's masterpiece. Based on London's experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike.
Tisha: The Wonderful True Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness book cover8

Tisha: The Wonderful True Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness

Robert Specht

4.5
Alaska was as remote as the moon, as roistering and lawless as the Gold Rush. And a pretty young schoolteacher from Colorado like Anne Hobbs was even rarer than nuggets."So appealing are the people here, even the villainous ones; so dramatic is the landscape in which they act out their adventure; so pure is the moral conflict that forms the story's backbone, and so honest is its sentimentality - t
One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey book cover9

One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

Richard Louis Proenneke

4.5
To live in a pristine land unchanged by man...to roam a wilderness through which few other humans have passed...to choose an idyllic site, cut trees and build a log cabin...to be a self-sufficient craftsman, making what is needed from materials available...to be not at odds with the world but content with one's own thoughts and company.

Thousands have had such dreams, but Richard Proenneke lived t
Coming Into the Country book cover10

Coming Into the Country

JOHN MCPHEE

4.5
This is the story of Alaska and the Alaskans. Written with a vividness and clarity which shifts scenes frequently, and yet manages to tie the work into a rewarding whole, McPhee segues from the wilderness to life in urban Alaska to the remote bush country.
Looking for Alaska book cover11

Looking for Alaska

John Green

4.5
The award-winning, genre-defining debut from #1 bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

First drink
First prank
First friend
First girl
Last words

Miles “Pudge” Halter is abandoning his safe-okay, boring-life. Fascinated by the last words of famous people, Pudge leaves for boarding school to seek what a dying Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.”

Pudge becomes encircled by friends whose lives are eve
A Cold Day For Murder (Kate Shugak, #1) book cover12

A Cold Day For Murder (Kate Shugak, #1)

Dana Stabenow

4.5
Eighteen months ago, Aleut Kate Shugak quit her job investigating sex crimes for the Anchorage DA's office and retreated to her father's homestead in a national park in the interior of Alaska. But the world has a way of beating a path to her door, however remote. In the middle of one of the bitterest Decembers in recent memory ex-boss - and ex-lover - Jack Morgan shows up with an FBI agent in tow.
Julie of the Wolves (Julie of the Wolves, #1) book cover13

Julie of the Wolves (Julie of the Wolves, #1)

Jean Craighead George, John Schoenherr

4.4
Alone and lost—on the North Slope of Alaska
Miyax rebels against a home situation she finds intolerable. She runs away toward San Francisco, toward her pen pal, who calls her Julie. But soon Miyax is lost in the Alaskan wilderness, without food, without even a compass. Slowly she is accepted by a pack of Arctic wolves, and she comes to love them as though they were her brothers. With their help, an
The Yiddish Policemen's Union book cover14

The Yiddish Policemen's Union

Michael Chabon

4.4
For sixty years, Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a "temporary" safe haven created in the wake of revelations of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. Proud, grateful, and longing to be American, the Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant, gritt
The Simple Wild (Wild, #1) book cover15

The Simple Wild (Wild, #1)

K.A. Tucker

4.4
Calla Fletcher wasn't even two when her mother took her and fled the Alaskan wild, unable to handle the isolation of the extreme, rural lifestyle, leaving behind Calla’s father, Wren Fletcher, in the process. Calla never looked back, and at twenty-six, a busy life in Toronto is all she knows. But when Calla learns that Wren’s days may be numbered, she knows that it’s time to make the long trip bac
Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod book cover16

Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod

Gary Paulsen

4.4
Paulsen and his team of dogs endured snowstorms, frostbite, dogfights, moose attacks, sleeplessness, and hallucinations in the relentless push to go on. Map and color photographs.
If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska book cover17

If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska

Heather Lende

4.4
Tiny Haines, Alaska, is ninety miles north of Juneau, accessible mainly by water or air—and only when the weather is good. There's no traffic light and no mail delivery; people can vanish without a trace and funerals are a community affair. Heather Lende posts both the obituaries and the social column for her local newspaper. If anyone knows the going-on in this close-knit town—from births to wedd
The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness book cover18

The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness

James Campbell

4.3
The inspiration for The Last Alaskans—the eight-part documentary series on the Discovery Channel! Called “[one of] the greatest life-or-death-tales ever told” (Esquire), James Campbell’s inimitable insider account of a family’s nomadic life in the unshaped Arctic wilderness “is an icily gripping, intimate profile that stands up well beside Krakauer’s classic [Into the Wild], and it stands too, as
White Fang book cover19

White Fang

Jack London and K. A. Applegate

4.3
White Fang is part dog and part wolf, and the lone survivor of his family. In his lonely world, he soon learns to follow the harsh law of the North--kill or be killed. But nothing in White Fang's life can prepare him for the cruel owner who turns him into a vicious killer. Will White Fang ever know the kindness of a gentle master?
Pilgrim's Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier book cover20

Pilgrim's Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier

Tom Kizzia

4.3
Into the Wild meets Helter Skelter in this riveting true story of a modern-day homesteading family in the deepest reaches of the Alaskan wilderness – and of the chilling secrets of its maniacal, spellbinding patriarch.

When Papa Pilgrim appeared in the Alaska frontier outpost of McCarthy with his wife and fifteen children in tow, his new neighbors had little idea of the trouble to come. The Pilgrim
Dead In The Water (Kate Shugak, #3) book cover21

Dead In The Water (Kate Shugak, #3)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
Once, Kate Shugak was the star investigator of the Anchorage D.A, 's office. Now she's gone back to her Aleut roots in the far Alaska north- where her talent for detection makes her the toughest crime-tracker in that stark and mysterious land.
The Smell of Other People's Houses book cover22

The Smell of Other People's Houses

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

4.3
In Alaska, 1970, being a teenager here isn’t like being a teenager anywhere else. Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay
Whisper To The Blood (Kate Shugak, #16) book cover23

Whisper To The Blood (Kate Shugak, #16)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
A mining company has discovered a rich mineral deposit in Alaska's enormous Iqaluk Wildlife Refuge. Politicos see dollar signs for the state, but Ninilta residents, who live near the proposed site, are split: Will outsiders take the jobs? Will the environment be harmed by pollution? Will roads disintegrate . . . tourists invade? As the new chairperson of Ninilta's Native Association, a job she nev
24

Northern Lights

Nora Roberts

4.3
Let #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts fly you into Lunacy, Alaska, and into a colorful, compelling novel about two lonely souls who are searching for love and redemption...

As a Baltimore cop, Nate Burke watched his partner die on the street—and the guilt still haunts him. With nowhere else to go, he accepted the job as Chief of Police in a tiny, remote Alaskan town with the hopes o
A Grave Denied (Kate Shugak, #13) book cover25

A Grave Denied (Kate Shugak, #13)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
Everyone knew Len Dreyer, a handyman for hire in the Park near Niniltna, Alaska, but no one knew anything else about him. Even Kate Shugak, who was planning to ask him to help build a small second cabin on her property, knew him. But she, the Park's unofficial P.I., seems to have known less about him than anyone.

When Len Dreyer's body is discovered, frozen solid, in the path of a receding glacier
Breakup (Kate Shugak, #7) book cover26

Breakup (Kate Shugak, #7)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
April in Alaska is the period of spring thaw, what the locals call breakup. For Kate, this year's meltdown brings nothing but mayhem. First, the snow uncovers a dead body near Kate's home. Then a woman is killed in a suspicious bear attack. Kate is drawn further into the destruction of breakup -- and into the path of a murderer...
A Fatal Thaw (Kate Shugak, #2) book cover27

A Fatal Thaw (Kate Shugak, #2)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
On her homestead in the middle of twenty million acres of national Park, Aleut P.I. Kate Shugak is caught up in spring cleaning, unaware that just miles away a man's sanity is breaking. When the sound of gunfire finally dies away, nine of his neighbors lie dead in the snow. But did he kill all nine, or only eight? The ninth victim was killed with a different weapon. It's up to Kate and her husky-w
Two in the Far North book cover28

Two in the Far North

Margaret E. Murie, Terry Tempest Williams

4.3
This enduring story of life, adventure, and love in Alaska was written by a woman who embraced the remote Alaskan wilderness and became one of its strongest advocates. In this moving testimonial to the preservation of the Arctic wilderness, Mardy Murie writes from her heart about growing up in Fairbanks, becoming the first woman graduate of the University of Alaska, and marrying noted biologist Ol
29

The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic

Gay Salisbury, Laney Salisbury

4.3
When a deadly diphtheria epidemic swept through Nome, Alaska, in 1925, the local doctor knew that without a fresh batch of antitoxin, his patients would die. The lifesaving serum was a thousand miles away, the port was icebound, and planes couldn't fly in blizzard conditions—only the dogs could make it. The heroic dash of dog teams across the Alaskan wilderness to Nome inspired the annual Iditarod
Ordinary Wolves book cover30

Ordinary Wolves

Seth Kantner

4.3
In the tradition of Jack London, Seth Kantner presents an Alaska far removed from majestic clichés of exotic travelogues and picture postcards. Kantner’s vivid and poetic prose lets readers experience Cutuk Hawcly’s life on the Alaskan plains through the character’s own words — feeling the pliers pinch of cold and hunkering in an igloo in blinding blizzards. Always in Cutuk’s mind are his father A
Though Not Dead (Kate Shugak, #18) book cover31

Though Not Dead (Kate Shugak, #18)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
The residents of Alaska’s largest national park are stunned by the death of one of their oldest members, eighty-seven-year-old Sam Dementieff…even investigator Kate Shugak. Sam, a lifelong resident, was dubbed the “father” of all of the Park rats—even though he had no children of his own. Kate, his niece, is surprised to discover that in his will he’s left her everything, including a letter instru
Fire and Ice (Liam Campbell, #1) book cover32

Fire and Ice (Liam Campbell, #1)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
Newenham, Alaska, is a long way from the big-city comforts of Anchorage, where Sergeant Liam Campbell was an up-and-coming state trooper with everything going his way. But that was before his life unraveled. Transferred in disgrace to this rough-and-tumble fishing town on the shores of Bristol Bay, Liam knows Newenham is the end of the line. It's also his last shot at getting his life back.. He's
A Night Too Dark (Kate Shugak, #17) book cover33

A Night Too Dark (Kate Shugak, #17)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
In Alaska, somebody disappears every day. Hunters who head into the wilderness… Fishermen who brave the great rivers…Tourists who attempt to do both. In Aleut detective Kate Shugak’s Park, people have been falling off the grid quite a bit lately. And as she and state trooper Jim Chopin are about to realize, it’s got something to do with the recent discovery of the world’s second-largest gold mine
Blood Will Tell (Kate Shugak, #6) book cover34

Blood Will Tell (Kate Shugak, #6)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
Dana Stabenow once again returns to Alaska, America's last frontier, where her unforgettable Aleut investigator, Kate Shugak, faces one of the most painful cases of her reluctant career. Kate was formerly the star investigator of the Anchorage D.A.'s office; now all she wants to do is enjoy the first weeks of autumn on her isolated homestead. Alone. But duty calls, in the form of Ekaterina Shugak,
A Cold-Blooded Business (Kate Shugak, #4) book cover35

A Cold-Blooded Business (Kate Shugak, #4)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
Once, Kate Shugak was the star investigator of the Anchorage D.A.'s office. Now she's gone back to her Aleut roots in the far Alaska north - where her talent for detection makes her the toughest crime-tracker in that stark and mysterious land...
A Deeper Sleep (Kate Shugak, #15) book cover36

A Deeper Sleep (Kate Shugak, #15)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
15th book in the Edgar winning series with Alaskan investigator Kate Shugak.
Touching Spirit Bear book cover37

Touching Spirit Bear

Ben Mikaelsen, Lee Tergesen, et al

4.3
Within Cole Matthews lies anger, rage and hate. Cole has been stealing and fighting for years. This time he caught Peter Driscal in the parking lot and smashed his head against the sidewalk. Now, Peter may have permanent brain damage and Cole is in the biggest trouble of his life.

Cole is offered Circle Justice: a system based on Native American traditions that attempts to provide healing for the c
A Fine And Bitter Snow (Kate Shugak, #12) book cover38

A Fine And Bitter Snow (Kate Shugak, #12)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
Change never comes easy so when the news breaks that the new administration oil might be drilling for oil soon in a wildlife preserve in southeastern Alaska, home to P.I. Kate Shugak, battle lines are quickly drawn across the community. But for Kate, who hasn't been able to get back into her daily life ever since her lover's violent death a few months ago, it's a welcome reprieve from doing nothin
Shopping for Porcupine: A Life in Arctic Alaska book cover39

Shopping for Porcupine: A Life in Arctic Alaska

Seth Kantner

4.3
His story begins with the arrival of his father, Howard Kantner, to the remote Arctic of the 1950s and ends with him as a grown man settled in the same landscape. Through a series of moving essays and vivid photographs, ranging in subject from family histories to hunting stories, celebrations of people and places to a lament over a majestic wilderness rapidly disappearing, Shopping for Porcupine p
Midnight Come Again (Kate Shugak, #10) book cover40

Midnight Come Again (Kate Shugak, #10)

Dana Stabenow

4.3
Edgar Award winner Dana Stabenow has written nine atmospheric crime novels featuring the very prickly, very human Kate Shugak, but her novels also have a scene-stealing costar: Alaska, unforgiving, breathtaking, dangerous, and beautiful. Stabenow's evocation of this wilderness, combined with her talent for bringing characters to life and creating knuckle-whitening suspense, has made her "one of th
Shadows on the Koyukuk: An Alaskan Native's Life Along the River book cover41

Shadows on the Koyukuk: An Alaskan Native's Life Along the River

Sidney Huntington

4.2
This book is more than one man's incredible tale of hardship and success in Alaska. It is also a tribute to the Athapaskan traditions and spiritual beliefs that enable him and his ancestors to survive. His story, simply told, is a testament to the durability of Alaska's wildlands and to the strength of the people who inhabit them.
Starry Night book cover42

Starry Night

Debbie Macomber

4.2
’Tis the season for romance, second chances, and Christmas cheer with this new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber.

Carrie Slayton, a big-city society-page columnist, longs to write more serious news stories. So her editor hands her a challenge: She can cover any topic she wants, but only if she first scores the paper an interview with Finn Dalton, the notoriously reclu
The Singing Of The Dead (Kate Shugak, #11) book cover43

The Singing Of The Dead (Kate Shugak, #11)

Dana Stabenow

4.2
Kate Shugak joins the staff of a political campaign to work security for a Native woman running for state senator. The candidate has been receiving anonymous threats, and Kate is to become her shadow, watching the crowds at rallies and fund-raisers. But just as she's getting started, the campaign is rocked by the murder of their staff researcher. To track the killer, Kate will have to delve into t
Restless In The Grave (Kate Shugak, #19 / Liam Campbell, #5) book cover44

Restless In The Grave (Kate Shugak, #19 / Liam Campbell, #5)

Dana Stabenow

4.2
New York Times bestseller Dana Stabenow returns with her most outstanding novel yet, teaming up two of her most beloved characters, Aleut private investigator Kate Shugak and Alaska state trooper Liam Campbell, in the same story for the first time.

Alaska aviation entrepreneur Finn Grant died in the fiery crash of his Piper Super Cub. Someone sabotaged his engine, and virtually everyone in southwes
A Taint In The Blood (Kate Shugak, #14) book cover45

A Taint In The Blood (Kate Shugak, #14)

Dana Stabenow

4.2
Thirty-one years ago in Anchorage, Alaska, Victoria Pilz Bannister Muravieff was convicted of murdering her seventeen-year-old son William. The jury returned a quick verdict of guilty, believing the prosecutor's claims that she had set fire to her own home with both her sons inside; William died and the other, Oliver, narrowly escaped. Victoria was sentenced to life in prison without parole, and t
Drop City book cover46

Drop City

T.C. Boyle

4.2
It is 1970, and a down-at-the-heels California commune devoted to peace, free love, and the simple life has decided to relocate to the last frontier—the unforgiving landscape of interior Alaska—in the ultimate expression of going back to the land. Armed with the spirit of adventure and naïve optimism, the inhabitants of “Drop City” arrive in the wilderness of Alaska only to find their utopia alrea
Winter Garden book cover47

Winter Garden

Kristin Hannah

4.2

Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn’t know her mother?

From the author of the smash-hit bestseller Firefly Lane and True Colors comes a powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past

Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children
So Sure Of Death (Liam Campbell, #2) book cover48

So Sure Of Death (Liam Campbell, #2)

Dana Stabenow

4.2
Fire and Ice, the first Liam Campbell mystery, was named by Library Journal as Best Mystery of 1998. Now Campbell is back to uncover the icy heart of a deadly family secret....
Hunter's Moon (Kate Shugak, #9) book cover49

Hunter's Moon (Kate Shugak, #9)

Dana Stabenow

4.2
When Kate guides a hunting party of German businessmen in the Alaskan wilderness, turns out they want to kill not for food or sport, but for the sake of killing. Gripping and adrenaline-charged . . . razor-sharp suspense and gritty prose.--Publishers Weekly.
Play With Fire (Kate Shugak, #5) book cover50

Play With Fire (Kate Shugak, #5)

Dana Stabenow

4.2
Formerly the star investigator in the Anchorage D.A's office, Kate Shugak now tracks down criminals from her Aleut homestead. But she and her wolf-dog Mutt are taking a June break to pick wild morel mushrooms among the charred trees left by a devastating forest fire. In the ashes Kate also uncovers the mysterious corpse of a naked man. And when she is "hired" by a ten-year-old to locate his missin
Arctic Dreams book cover51

Arctic Dreams

Barry Lopez

4.2
Barry Lopez's National Book Award-winning classic study of the Far North is widely considered his masterpiece.

Lopez offers a thorough examination of this obscure world-its terrain, its wildlife, its history of Eskimo natives and intrepid explorers who have arrived on their icy shores. But what turns this marvelous work of natural history into a breathtaking study of profound originality is his uni
Killing Grounds (Kate Shugak, #8) book cover52

Killing Grounds (Kate Shugak, #8)

Dana Stabenow

4.2
Summer in Alaska is synonymous with salmon. And Kate Shugak is up to her ears in chinooks and chicanery as she takes on commercial fishing. While deckhandling on the Freya, she hauls in salmon, halibut--and the dead body of the most disliked fisherman around. In fact, his death sends the town into tears--of joy. The list of suspects is a mile long. And Kate's search for the killer isn't making her
Travels In Alaska (Legacy Edition): Adventures In The Far Northwest Mountains And Arctic Glaciers book cover53

Travels In Alaska (Legacy Edition): Adventures In The Far Northwest Mountains And Arctic Glaciers

John Muir

4.2
Journals of John Muir's Great Adventures In The Alaskan Wilderness!

This deluxe, unabridged reprint Legacy Edition of John Muir's 1915 Travels In Alaska shares Muir's travel journal as he quested across the Alaskan wilderness. Join the "Great Wanderer" as he visits the icy glaciers, mountains, caverns, and rivers of the Alaskan Peninsula and embarks on a trip of a lifetime. See the world through Mu
A Wolf Called Romeo book cover54

A Wolf Called Romeo

Nick Jans

4.2
The unlikely true story of a six-year friendship between a wild, oddly gentle black wolf and the people and dogs of Juneau, Alaska No stranger to wildlife, Nick Jans had lived in Alaska for nearly thirty years. But when one evening at twilight a lone black wolf ambled into view not far from his doorstep, Nick would finally come to know this mystical species—up close as never before.

A Wolf Called
The Sun Is a Compass: My 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds book cover55

The Sun Is a Compass: My 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds

Caroline Van Hemert

4.2
For fans of Cheryl Strayed, the gripping story of a biologist's human-powered journey from the Pacific Northwest to the Arctic to rediscover her love of birds, nature, and adventure.


During graduate school, as she conducted experiments on the peculiarly misshapen beaks of chickadees, ornithologist Caroline Van Hemert began to feel stifled in the isolated, sterile environment of the lab. Worried tha
Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings book cover56

Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings

Jonathan Raban

4.2
With the same rigorous observation (natural and social), invigorating stylishness, and encyclopedic learning that he brought to his National Book Award-winning Bad Land, Jonathan Raban conducts readers along the Inside Passage from Seattle to Juneau. The physical distance is 1,000 miles of difficult-and often treacherous-water, which Raban navigates solo in a 35-foot sailboat.

But Passage to Juneau
Looking for Alaska book cover57

Looking for Alaska

Peter Jenkins

4.2
More than twenty years ago, a disillusioned college graduate named Peter Jenkins set out with his dog Cooper to look for himself and his nation. His memoir of what he found, A Walk Across America, captured the hearts of millions of Americans.

Now, Peter is a bit older, married with a family, and his journeys are different than they were. Perhaps he is looking for adventure, perhaps inspiration, per
How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf (Naked Werewolf, #1) book cover58

How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf (Naked Werewolf, #1)

Molly Harper

4.2
Northern Exposure

Even in Grundy, Alaska, it's unusual to find a naked guy with a bear trap clamped to his ankle on your porch. But when said guy turns into a wolf, recent southern transplant Mo Wenstein has no difficulty identifying the problem. Her surly neighbor Cooper Graham—who has been openly critical of Mo's ability to adapt to life in Alaska—has trouble of his own. Werewolf trouble.

For Co
Murder on the Iditarod Trail (Alex Jensen / Jessie Arnold, #1) book cover59

Murder on the Iditarod Trail (Alex Jensen / Jessie Arnold, #1)

Sue Henry

4.2
The winner of Alaska's world-famous Iditarod -- a grueling, eleven-hundred-mile dog sled race across a frigid Arctic wilderness---takes home a $250,000 purse.

But this year, the prize is survival.

Only the toughest and the most able come to compete in this annual torturous test of endurance, skill, and courage. Now, suddenly and inexplicably, the top Iditarod contestants are dying one by one in biza
Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs: Family, Friendships, and Faith in Small-Town Alaska book cover60

Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs: Family, Friendships, and Faith in Small-Town Alaska

Heather Lende

4.2
The Alaskan landscape—so vast, dramatic, and unbelievable—may be the reason the people in Haines, Alaska (population 2,400), so often discuss the meaning of life. Heather Lende thinks it helps make life mean more. Since her bestselling first book, If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name, a near-fatal bicycle accident has given Lende a few more reasons to consider matters both spiritual and temporal.
Less Than A Treason (Kate Shugak, #21) book cover61

Less Than A Treason (Kate Shugak, #21)

Dana Stabenow

4.2
Kate Shugak is a native Aleut working as a private investigator in Alaska. She's 5'1" tall, carries a scar that runs from ear to ear across her throat, and owns a half-wolf, half-husky dog named Mutt. Resourceful, strong-willed, defiant, Kate is tougher than your average heroine—and she needs to be, to survive the worst the Alaskan wilds can throw at her. And throw their worst the wilds have: Kate
Braving It: A Father, a Daughter, and an Unforgettable Journey Into the Alaskan Wild book cover62

Braving It: A Father, a Daughter, and an Unforgettable Journey Into the Alaskan Wild

James Campbell

4.2
The powerful and affirming story of a father's journey with his teenage daughter to the far reaches of Alaska

Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, home to only a handful of people, is a harsh and lonely place. So when James Campbell's cousin Heimo Korth asked him to spend a summer building a cabin in the rugged Interior, Campbell hesitated about inviting his fifteen-year-old daughter, Aidan, t
Nothing Gold Can Stay (Liam Campbell, #3) book cover63

Nothing Gold Can Stay (Liam Campbell, #3)

Dana Stabenow

4.1
Shocked by a series of brutal, unexplainable murders, Alaska State Trooper Liam Campbell embarks on a desperate journey into the heart of the Alaskan Bush country -- in search of the terrible, earth-shattering truth...
Better To Rest (Liam Campbell #4) book cover64

Better To Rest (Liam Campbell #4)

Dana Stabenow

4.1
Just when his personal life starts to heat up, Liam Campbell must put it on hold...after the grisly discovery of a dismembered hand leads him to a crashed World War II Army plane frozen precariously in a glacier. Stretching back more than sixty years, the case will pit Liam against his Air Force colonel father, whose very presence makes Liam question what secrets the glacier holds-and who exactly
Submerged (Alaskan Courage, #1) book cover65

Submerged (Alaskan Courage, #1)

Dani Pettrey

4.1
A sabotaged plane. Two dead deep-water divers.

One single clue.

Bailey Craig vowed never to set foot in Yancey, Alaska, again. She has a past, and a reputation--and Yancey's a town that doesn't forget. She's returned only to bury a loved one killed in the plane crash, but then dark evidence emerges and Bailey's own expertise becomes invaluable for the case.

Cole McKenna can face dangerous rescue div
The Wind Is Not a River book cover66

The Wind Is Not a River

Brian Payton

4.1
The Wind Is Not a River is Brian Payton's gripping tale of survival and an epic love story in which a husband and wife—separated by the only battle of World War II to take place on American soil—fight to reunite in Alaska's starkly beautiful Aleutian Islands.

Following the death of his younger brother in Europe, journalist John Easley is determined to find meaning in his loss. Leaving behind his be
Bad Blood (Kate Shugak, #20) book cover67

Bad Blood (Kate Shugak, #20)

Dana Stabenow

4.1
New York Times bestselling author Dana Stabenow's latest finds Kate Shugak entangled in a bitter tribal rivalry and murder

One hundred years of bad blood between the villages of Kushtaka and Kuskulana come to a boil when the body of a young Kushtaka ne'er-do-well is found wedged in a fish wheel. Sergeant Jim Chopin's prime suspect is a Kuskulana man who is already in trouble in both villages for fa
The Year of Miss Agnes book cover68

The Year of Miss Agnes

Kirkpatrick Hill

4.1
A year they'll never forget
Ten-year-old Frederika (Fred for short) doesn't have much faith that the new teacher in town will last very long. After all, they never do. Most teachers who come to their one-room schoolhouse in remote, Alaska leave at the first smell of fish, claiming that life there is just too hard.
But Miss Agnes is different -- she doesn't get frustrated with her students, and sh
Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000-Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, the Last Great American Frontier book cover69

Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000-Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, the Last Great American Frontier

Mark Adams

4.1
From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu, a fascinating and funny journey into Alaska, America's last frontier, retracing the historic 1899 Harriman Expedition.

In 1899, railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman organized a most unusual summer voyage to the wilds of Alaska: He converted a steamship into a luxury "floating university," populated by some of America's best and br
Dawn's Prelude (Song of Alaska, #1) book cover70

Dawn's Prelude (Song of Alaska, #1)

Tracie Peterson

4.1
Newly widowed Lydia Sellers discovers that through an unforeseen fluke, she is the sole recipient of her husband's fortune. But instead of granting her security, it only causes strife as her adult stepchildren battle to regain the inheritance for themselves. Lydia, longing to put the memories of her painful marriage behind her, determines to travel to Alaska to join her aunt. Lydia's arrival in Si
Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People book cover71

Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People

William L. Iggiagruk Hensley

4.1
Nunavut tigummiun!Hold on to the land! It was just fifty years ago that the territory of Alaska officially became the state of Alaska. But no matter who has staked their claim to the land, it has always had a way of enveloping souls in its vast, icy embrace. For William L. Iggiagruk Hensley, Alaska has been his home, his identity, and his cause. Born on the shores of Kotzebue Sound, twenty-nine mi
Shattered (Alaskan Courage, #2) book cover72

Shattered (Alaskan Courage, #2)

Dani Pettrey

4.1
Piper McKenna couldn't be more thrilled that her prodigal brother, Reef, has returned to Yancey, Alaska, after five years. But her happiness is short-lived when Reef appears at her house covered in blood. A fellow snowboarder has been killed--but despite the evidence, Reef swears he's innocent. And Piper believes him.

Deputy Landon Grainger loves the McKennas like family, but he's also sworn to fin
White Sky, Black Ice (Nathan Active Mystery, #1) book cover73

White Sky, Black Ice (Nathan Active Mystery, #1)

Stan Jones

4.1
The first Nathan Active mystery

Born to a poor Inupiat girl in Chukchi, Alaska, north of the Arctic Circle, State Trooper Nathan Active was adopted and raised by a white family in Anchorage. Now, an unwelcome job reassignment has returned him to the stark, beautiful landscape of poverty-stricken Chukchi. Two suspicious suicides in the span of a week and rumors of trouble in the village and at the l
Where the Sea Breaks Its Back: The Epic Story - Georg Steller & the Russian Exploration of AK book cover74

Where the Sea Breaks Its Back: The Epic Story - Georg Steller & the Russian Exploration of AK

Corey Ford

4.1
Author Corey Ford writes the classic and moving story of naturalist Georg Whlhelm Steller, who served on the 1741-42 Russian Alaska expedition with explorer Vitus Bering. Steller was one of Europe's foremost naturalists and the first to document the unique wildlife of the Alaskan coast. In the course of the voyage, Steller made his valuable discoveries and suffered, along with Bering and the cred
Sweet Home Alaska book cover75

Sweet Home Alaska

Carole Estby Dagg

4.1
"If Laura Ingalls Wilder had lived in Alaska, she might have written this novel . . ."--Kirkus Reviews

It's 1934, and times are tough for Trip's family after the mill in their small Wisconsin town closes, leaving her father unemployed. Determined to provide for his family, he moves them all to Alaska to become pioneers as part of President Roosevelt's Palmer Colony project. Trip and her family are
The Raven's Gift book cover76

The Raven's Gift

Don Rearden

4.1
John Morgan and his wife can barely contain their excitement upon arriving as the new teachers in a Yup'ik Eskimo village on the windswept Alaskan tundra. But their move proves disastrous when a deadly epidemic strikes and the isolated community descends into total chaos. When outside aid fails to arrive, John’s only hope lies in escaping the snow-covered tundra and the hunger of the other survivo
My Name is Not Easy book cover77

My Name is Not Easy

Debby Dahl Edwardson

4.1
Luke knows his I'nupiaq name is full of sounds white people can't say. He knows he'll have to leave it behind when he and his brothers are sent to boarding school hundreds of miles from their Arctic village. At Sacred Heart School things are different. Instead of family, there are students -- Eskimo, Indian, White -- who line up on different sides of the cafeteria like there's some kind of war goi
Winds of Skilak book cover78

Winds of Skilak

Bonnie Rose Ward

4.1
WINNER of the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Award (memoir) other category!

AWARD-WINNING FINALIST in the Autobiography/Memoir category of the 2014 USA Best Book Awards!

Leaving behind friends, family, and life as they know it, Sam and Bonnie Ward embark on a journey into the Alaskan wilderness that will change them forever.

Winds of Skilak traces a young couple’s adventurous move from the suburbs o
The Tenth Circle book cover79

The Tenth Circle

Jodi Picoult

4.1
Fourteen-year-old Trixie Stone is in love for the first time. She's also the light of her father, Daniel's life -- a straight-A student; a pretty, popular freshman in high school; a girl who's always seen her father as a hero. That is, until her world is turned upside down with a single act of violence. Suddenly everything Trixie has believed about her family -- and herself -- seems to be a lie. C
Diamond Willow book cover80

Diamond Willow

Helen Frost

4.1
There's
more to me than
most people
see.

Twelve-year-old Willow would rather blend in than stick out. But she still wants to be seen for who she is. She wants her parents to notice that she is growing up. She wants her best friend to like her better than she likes a certain boy. She wants, more than anything, to mush the dogs out to her grandparents' house, by herself, with Roxy in the lead. But somet
Cold Storage, Alaska (Cold Storage, #2) book cover81

Cold Storage, Alaska (Cold Storage, #2)

John Straley

4.0
An offbeat, often hilarious crime novel set in the sleepy Alaskan town of Cold Storage from the Shamus Award winning author of the Cecil Younger series.

Cold Storage, Alaska, is a remote fishing outpost where salmonberries sparkle in the morning frost and where you just might catch a King Salmon if you’re zen enough to wait for it. Settled in 1935 by Norse fishermen who liked to skinny dip in its
Bird Girl & the Man Who Followed the Sun: An Athabaskan Indian Legend from Alaska book cover82

Bird Girl & the Man Who Followed the Sun: An Athabaskan Indian Legend from Alaska

Velma Wallis

4.0
In her spellbinding second book, the award-winning author interweaves two classic Athabaskan legends set in ancient central Alaska. This is the story of two rebels who break the strict taboos of their communal culture in their quests for freedom and adventure. Readers will be captivated by this profound myth about two young people who wander far from their culture's deeply held traditions and even
Touching the Clouds (Alaskan Skies, #1) book cover83

Touching the Clouds (Alaskan Skies, #1)

Bonnie Leon

4.0
Kate Evans is an adventurous and independent young woman with a pioneering spirit. She pilots a mail-delivery plane in the forbidding Alaskan wilderness, the lone woman in a male profession. But even that seems easy compared to finding true love. She likes a fellow pilot and would even consider marrying him--if it weren't for Paul, a mysterious man on her mail route with a gentle spirit and a past
Going Rogue: An American Life book cover84

Going Rogue: An American Life

Sarah Palin

4.0
Going Rogue is the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir from Sarah Palin, one of America’s most beloved and controversial political figures. Now with new material, Going Rogue offers plain talk from a true American original about her life, her career, and the future of the country she loves.
Alaska Twilight book cover85

Alaska Twilight

Colleen Coble

4.0
Dance with the Devil (Dark-Hunter #3) book cover86

Dance with the Devil (Dark-Hunter #3)

Sherrilyn Kenyon

4.0
Zarek’s Point of View:

Dark-Hunter: A soulless guardian who stands between mankind and those who would see mankind destroyed. Yeah, right. The only part of that Code of Honor I got was eternity and solitude.

Insanity: A condition many say I suffer from after being alone for so long. But I don’t suffer from my insanity-I enjoy every minute of it.

Trust: I can’t trust anyone…not even myself. The only t
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North book cover87

Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North

Blair Braverman

4.0
By the time Blair Braverman was eighteen, she had left her home in California, moved to arctic Norway to learn to drive sled dogs, and found work as a tour guide on a glacier in Alaska. Determined to carve out a life as a “tough girl”—a young woman who confronts danger without apology—she slowly developed the strength and resilience the landscape demanded of her.

By turns funny and sobering, bold

Ice Dogs book cover88

Ice Dogs

Terry Lynn Johnson

4.0
Victoria Secord, a 14-year-old Alaskan dogsled racer, loses her way on a routine outing with her dogs. With food gone and temperatures dropping, her survival, and that of her dogs and the mysterious boy she meets in the woods, is entirely up to her.

Author Terry Lynn Johnson is a musher herself and her crackling writing puts readers at the reins as Victoria and Chris experience setbacks, mistakes,
The Blue Bear: A True Story of Friendship and Discovery in the Alaskan Wild book cover89

The Blue Bear: A True Story of Friendship and Discovery in the Alaskan Wild

Lynn Schooler

4.0
Julie (Julie of the Wolves, #2) book cover90

Julie (Julie of the Wolves, #2)

Jean Craighead George, Wendell Minor

4.0
Julie's decision to return home to her people is not an easy one. But after many months in the wilderness, living in harmony with the wolves that saved her life, she knows the time has come.

Julie is not prepared, however, for all the changes that she finds. Her father has forsaken many of the old Eskimo traditions. He has given up his sled dogs for a snowmobile, and now looks after the musk oxen t
Not If I Save You First book cover91

Not If I Save You First

Ally Carter

4.0
Bestselling author Ally Carter returns with an exciting stand-alone novel, about a girl stranded in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness with the boy who wronged her . . . as an assassin moves in.

Maddie and Logan were torn apart by a kidnapping attempt when they were young. They were only kids -- Logan's dad was POTUS and Maddie's father was the Secret Service agent meant to guard him. The kidnapp
No Fixed Line (Kate Shugak #22) book cover92

No Fixed Line (Kate Shugak #22)

Dana Stabenow

4.0
... though there is no fixed line between wrong and right,
There are roughly zones whose laws must be obeyed.

It is New Year's Eve, nearly six weeks into an off-and-on blizzard that has locked Alaska down, effectively cutting it off from the outside world.

But now there are reports of a plane down in the Quilak mountains. With the National Transportation Safety Board unable to reach the crash site,
Manhunt book cover93

Manhunt

Janet Evanovich

4.0
A woman with a talent for numbers, Alexandra Scott wanted to escape the rat race and go someplace where the men outnumber the women. Trading in her Wall Street job and fancy condo for a rundown cabin in the woods. She's now Alaskan Wilderness Woman. It isn't long before she finds exactly what she's looking for#58; one sexy pilot named Michael Casey. But this confirmed bachelor has no intentions of
Alaskan Holiday book cover94

Alaskan Holiday

Debbie Macomber

4.0
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Debbie Macomber brings us to the Alaskan wilderness for a magical Christmas tale about finding love where it's least expected.

Before beginning her dream job as sous chef in one of Seattle's hottest new restaurants, Josie Avery takes a summer position cooking at a lakeside lodge in the remote Alaskan town of Ponder. Josie falls for the rustic charms of the local community-
95

John Green Box Set

John Green

4.0
Four critically acclaimed, award-winning modern classics from #1 New York Times-bestselling author John Green

This John Green deluxe box set includes Printz Award–winning Looking for Alaska, Printz Honor book An Abundance of Katherines, Edgar Award–winning Paper Towns, and #1 New York Times–bestselling The Fault in Our Stars. Exclusive edition contains signed copies of Looking for Alaska and the Fa
Race Across Alaska: First Woman to Win the Iditarod Tells Her Story book cover96

Race Across Alaska: First Woman to Win the Iditarod Tells Her Story

Libby Riddles, Tim Jones

4.0
Libby Riddles wanted an adventure. At the age of 16 she left home for the snowy frontiers of Alaska, the Last Frontier. There her love of animals drew her to the sport of sled dog racing. When she entered the Iditarod, the famous marathon from Anchorage to Nome, she was just another Iditarod Nobody. Twelve hundred miles later, having conquered blizzards, extreme cold, and exhaustion, she and her d
Termination Dust (Alex Jensen / Jessie Arnold, #2) book cover97

Termination Dust (Alex Jensen / Jessie Arnold, #2)

Sue Henry

4.0
The virgin landscape along the Yukon River has hardly changed since the gold rush began in 1897. Frostbiting winds slice the rugged terrain, and, like a shroud, the first dusting of snow covers the low hills. Braving thick snow on the Top of the World Highway--where one slip could mean a fall down thousands a cold-blooded killer. His only witness is Jim Hampton, a rugged canoeist whose vacation ha
On the Edge of Nowhere book cover98

On the Edge of Nowhere

James Huntington

4.0
His father is a white trapper, his mother an Athabascan Indian who walks a thousand miles in winter to reunite with her family. Thus, Jimmy Huntington learns early how to survive on the land. Huntington is only seven when his mother dies, and he must care for his younger siblings. A courageous and inspiring man, Huntington hunts wolves, fights bears, survives close calls too numerous to mention, a
Alaska's Wolf Man: The 1915-55 Wilderness Adventures of Frank Glaser book cover99

Alaska's Wolf Man: The 1915-55 Wilderness Adventures of Frank Glaser

Jim Rearden

4.0
For forty years Frank Glaser trekked across wilderness Alaska on Foot, by wolf-dog team, and eventually by airplane. In his career he was a market hunter, trapper, roadhouse owner, professional dog team musher, and a federal predator agent. He was a legend in his own time, respected and admired for his sill as a woodsman and hunter by fellow sourdoughs and by his many Eskimo friends.
Summer of the Midnight Sun (Alaskan Quest, #1) book cover100

Summer of the Midnight Sun (Alaskan Quest, #1)

Tracie Peterson

4.0
The Barringer family is happy in the Alaskan Territory. Confronted by an old flame, Leah realizes her feelings never went away and she is whisked away on an unforgettable journey.