The most recommended books about Washington state

The first time I saw Mount Rainier, I joked with my husband that we ought to find a way to live within sight of it. That didn’t happen, but the memory of its beauty didn’t fade, and so when I was given an opportunity to read an advance copy of Regina Scott’s latest American Wonders book featuring a heroine who attempts to climb Mount Rainier, I said, “yes, please!” What a great book! The combination of multi-faceted characters, a careful blending of fact and fiction, and fascinating descriptions of mountain climbing in the early twentieth century kept me turning pages instead of sleeping or working on my own manuscript. This is a truly unputdownable book. 

I love the characters in this book and I got really attached to them. I am really drawn to leaders who care about the men they lead. Having those men respect their leader cranks it up a notch. There is a war on, so I should not get attached to the characters. Yet, I do. I love how personal the stakes are.

I also like how real Sullivan’s world can feel. With all the blood and grit and what value the characters put on those around them everything feels all too real. The ending was surprising but masterfully written. The reveal at the end had a much larger impact on me because Sullivan hid the details in plain sight, but I missed them. 

I am a big fan of J.A. Jance novels. This is one of my favorites because in it the author brings together two of her best characters, Seattle investigator J.P. Beaumont and Arizona Sheriff Joanna Brady. 

Beaumont is a great character, flawed by a constant battle with alcoholism and bad choices. Sheriff Brady is a female law enforcement officer with family problems and a job generally dominated by men. Sheriff Brady is none too happy when the powers that be decide to send Beaumont to help this female sheriff investigate the murder of a talented artist who recently arrived in Brisbee, Arizona, from the West Coast.

I have read all of Jance’s Sheriff Brady and J.P. Beaumont novels. Individually these characters are very entertaining, and Jance does a brilliant job of bringing them together to solve this difficult case. 

Fifty years ago, a federal judge in Washington State issued a decision that upended the fishing economy and culture of the Pacific Northwest. United States v. Washington, which was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court, held that treaties between the government and the tribal peoples of that region must be respected and ruled that the tribes had a right to 50% of the annual catch. 

Wilkinson, one of the lawyers who advised and represented the tribal peoples, imbues his account of the lawsuit and its aftermath with Indian values and culture. Importantly, this form of storytelling includes numerous oral histories. They could serve the right reader as a sort of spiritual guide to how to behave when you, a peaceful person, find that your rights are being violated with apparent impunity.

Picture it: you’re a woman married to a man whose first wife went missing, presumed dead. Then: knock, knock, who’s there? It’s the missing wife.

I loved the freaky premise, the mystery, and the scheming among the members of this shockingly unexpected and awkward ménage à trois. I can relate to Merritt, the caring second wife who feels a moral obligation to help the now-unmissing Lydia. I’d want to help too, and like Merritt, I’d probably feel guilty for enjoying a dreamy new life with another woman’s husband.

I enjoyed pondering the thorny legalities of the situation, but as the parties involved dig deeper into the circumstances of Lydia’s disappearance, it turns out that who’s legally married to whom is the least of their worries.

I loved Beneath the Wide Silk Sky.

It tells the story of teenager Sam Sakamoto in the months leading up to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII. Sam wants to be a photographer and uses a borrowed camera to begin documenting the injustices she sees in her community as her family and others of Japanese descent are targeted. 

This book was powerful, heartbreaking, and anger-inducing. It tells an important story that must never be forgotten or downplayed through the eyes of a young, ambitious, studious, and courageous teenage girl.

When my depression was intense, I was continually worried that something would happen to me or my family. It was a visceral fear, one that ranked up there with a child’s belief that something was hiding under the bed.

To read this story of the author’s experiences with her son’s epilepsy diagnosis was surprisingly comforting for me. She too was terrified, and yet she made her way through, as moms so often manage to do.

I loved this book’s tender, funny, well-crafted words about how little we really can control in our lives. It reminded me that worry won’t make the future brighter, but it will make the present darker.

I fell in love with the characters. Even the ones I didn’t necessarily like, I wanted to read more about.

More importantly, for me, this book came out at a time when I was having difficulties in my own relationship. The idea of being apart from the one person I thought would be forever shattered me. Reading Bella’s emotions for Edward and the crushing heartbreak she felt, was like reading about my feelings on the pages of the book.

Of course there’s vampires and I love all things vampire.

For any peakbagger living in the pacific northwest, the ultimate list of peaks is the hundred-highest mountains in Washington. This is the only guidebook dedicated to this list of peaks, and this was our primary resource when climbing these peaks. The authors have organized the peaks into “slams” where they figured out the optimal grouping of peaks to get the most out of any trip. They give excellent route descriptions and time estimates, which are very important for trip planning. 

Chung was born and adopted five years after me, also in Washington state. Like me, she wrestled her whole life with feelings of shame and discomfort around her adoption. Unlike me, Chung is a woman of color, adopted into a white family in a super-white town where she stood out like a sore thumb. Unlike me, Chung took the brave step, before having her own children, of searching for her birth family.

While I read this vulnerable and beautifully written memoir, I felt like I was walking with Chung on her journey as an adoptee and mother, all the while wishing I could be as brave as Chung. This is a truly inspiring story.