James Michener's "alaska"

[quiller7]

hi

just wondering if anyone else besides me has read or is reading "alaska". I'm actually listening to it while i go back and forth to work. Its about 50 tapes so i hope i finish it before the cruise begins in june. i think we made a good deal for $7000000.

[Yukon]

hi

just wondering if anyone else besides me has read or is reading "alaska". I'm actually listening to it while i go back and forth to work. Its about 50 tapes so i hope i finish it before the cruise begins in june. i think we made a good deal for $7000000.

 

PLEASE keep in mind that "Alaska" is mostly fiction. IMHO, Michener took exciting history and turned it into a soap opera script.

 

Murray

[bunduo]

hi

just wondering if anyone else besides me has read or is reading "alaska". I'm actually listening to it while i go back and forth to work. Its about 50 tapes so i hope i finish it before the cruise begins in june. i think we made a good deal for $7000000.

 

I really enjoyed it. Who is the narrator for the book on tape version? That 7 million would be equal to about 1.6 billion today.

[NancyIL]

I received it for Christmas last year, and have read only the first chapter. It's a LONG book.

[quiller7]

I really enjoyed it. Who is the narrator for the book on tape version? That 7 million would be equal to about 1.6 billion today.

 

 

larry mckeever is the narrator. i gather he narrates most of Michener's novels. peter graves does a 2 tape abridgement which must be horrible.

 

i'm well aware its a novel of fiction based on historical events. i would view it as a historical novel not a soap opera at least in the way i interpert a soap opera. in any case i'm enjoying it which is the reason i read and listen to books.

[LuAnn]

That and his "Texas" are my 2 favorites of all his novels...and the main reason why I wanted to go to Alaska!!! I actually have been an associate of one of the great grandson's of Seward...your right...Alaska was a great deal! To be honest...I always have "skipped" the first chapters of his books...because the "geological forming" of the area has always been a bit dull for me...go figure??? LuAnn

[Bella930]

I always enjoy reading about places I visit (or want to visit). I did make it through "Alaska" years ago so I can cross that epic off my list. Does anyone else have any suggestions of books about Alaska they would recomend besides traditional travel guides (I have already been checking those out of our library). I am looking for books (either fiction or non-fiction) that would give me a feel for the history and people of Alaska. Any suggestions?

[Bella930]

My first duplicate posting... Sorry!

[ghouck2532]

Looking for Alaska by Peter Jenkins. It describes his 1/2 to 2 years living in Seward. Each chapter describes one of his adventures: sea kayaking with his daughter in Kenai Fjords National Park, dog mushing with Jeff King, salmon fishing in Prince William Sound out of Cordova, bow whale hunting with the Eskimos out of Barrow.

[miami]

I always enjoy reading about places I visit (or want to visit). Any suggestions?

 

I read somewhere on these boards about a book by JA Jance which is set on an Alaskan cruise. I think it's called Bird of Prey.

[Bella930]

Thanks for the recomendations, keep them coming! I love JA Jance but I must have missed that one, off to the bookstore I go...

[buckeye7]

There is one by Nora Roberts called Northern Lights. She's not my favorite kind of author, but the book was recommended to me as a way to get a feel for what life might be like in a tiny Alaska town. I'm reading it now and enjoying it.

[Genessa]

That and his "Texas" are my 2 favorites of all his novels...and the main reason why I wanted to go to Alaska!!! I actually have been an associate of one of the great grandson's of Seward...your right...Alaska was a great deal! To be honest...I always have "skipped" the first chapters of his books...because the "geological forming" of the area has always been a bit dull for me...go figure??? LuAnn

 

LuAnn,

 

I am a book-a-holic. If I couldn't read, my life wouldn't be the same, ever again. And I'm a voracious reader. BUT, I also skip the geological forming portions of Michener ;) .

[Chenega]

Try John McPhee's COMING INTO THE COUNTRY. Excellent book.

[Chenega]

Oops. Duplicate post.

[LuAnn]

If you are going to Skagway..the train ride is AWESOME and you learn a ton about what it was like to be a miner and traverse the mountains to find "the gold"..also there is a little local theatre that features the story of "Soapy Smith"...a real life person..which is fun and also gives you another "slice" of life in Alaska...also there is a bar which was opened back then (actually a "house of ill-repute")..can't remember the name but if you go to Ports of Call/Alaska thread you can find lots of info re what to do when you are there to further your education!!! and have FUN!!! LuAnn

[mbisson]

Sounds like the "Days of '98 Show" that is done at the Eagles lodge.

 

I think the bar would be the Red Onion.

 

I consider both fun

 

-Monte

[LuAnn]

Yes...those are the names! Thanks LuAnn

[kb996]

"If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name" by Heather Lende is a GREAT book about life in small town Haines Alaska.

 

If you go to Skagway they have excursions to Haines which is a short ferry ride away. Heather lives in Haines with her family and writes for the newspaper there and for an Anchorage paper.

 

This is one book I didn't want to put down but also wanted to put down because I didn't want it to end.

[cwestbrook]

Reading "Alaska" was a suggestion on this board a while back so I took it seriously and read it. I had to really force myself through the first of it but I'm glad I read it. I understand it's mostly fiction but he tells you at the beginning what is fact, fiction and what is just based on fact. I did feel I learned a lot. When we visited museums, I felt like I had some background knowledge that helped me understand it all better. When I saw the totem poles in Ketchikan, I had a mental picture of that period in the book and it made it come to life more for me. Just a few examples of how I thought the book helped make my trip more enjoyable since I like learning about places I visit.

 

I too enjoyed Nora Roberts "Northern Lights". It's probably my favorite book of hers.

[AKCruisers]

I always enjoy reading about places I visit (or want to visit). I did make it through "Alaska" years ago so I can cross that epic off my list. Does anyone else have any suggestions of books about Alaska they would recomend besides traditional travel guides (I have already been checking those out of our library). I am looking for books (either fiction or non-fiction) that would give me a feel for the history and people of Alaska. Any suggestions?

 

Some books off my bookshelf (they don't stay if they sucked)

 

Yukon Passage - Keith Tryck

Once Upon and Eskimo Time - Edna Wilder

Honey Buckets On The Kuskokwim - Helen Youngsman Teeter

The Native People of Alaska - Steve Langdon

Rough Road to the North - Jim Christy

Fishcamp - Dorothy Savage Joseph

Pioneer Bush Pilot (Story of Noel Wein) - Ira Harkey

The Klondike Quest - Pierre Burton

 

And the Top 10 non-fiction books named this year by the Alaska Historical Society

1. Pierre Berton - The Klondike Fever

2. Lydia Black - Russians in Alaska

3. John bockstoce - Whales, Ice and Men: the History of Whaling in the Western Arctic

4. Gerald Bowkett - Reaching for a Star: The Final campaign for Alska Statehood

5. Theodor Catton - Inhabited Wilderness: Indians, Eskimos and National parks in Alaska

6. Fern Chandonnet - Alska at War 1941-1945 the Forgotten War Remembered

7. Ken Coats & Bill Morrison - The Sinking of the Pirncess Sophia

8. Peter Coates - The Trans -Alaska Pipeline Controversy: Technology, Consevationa dn the Frontier

9. Terrence Cole - ET Barnette: The Stragne Story of the Man Who Founded Fairbanks

10. Richard Cooley - Politics and Conservation: Teh Decline of the Alska Salmon

 

Or pretty much of the Any of the Quarterly books put out by Northwest Publishing.

 

Hope this helps - Scott

[Sailorgirlseattle]

The JA Jance book set on the cruise ship is fun, as is If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name. There are also a couple of mystery writers who live in Alaska and set their books there ... sadly, I can't remember their names, but had borrowed some books from a friend of mine. A simple search on the Net should get you some names of local Alaska authors. Also, hit a bookstore on your first port stop and look for local books, or look here in Seattle or Vancouver before you set out. I think it's really fun to read books set in places I'm visiting.

[dancingfish]

Out of desperation I read it while on vacation a few years back ( it was just sitting there) ughh it was a tough start but boy oh boy does it make you wanna see alaska! And yes I too think of it as an historical story--alittle truth and alittle embellishment....