Non-Fiction books about and/or set in Portland, Oregon
July 9, 2013 8:57 AM Subscribe
I recently found out about Fugitives and Refugees by Chuck Palahniuk and am very excited to read it. Does anyone know of any similar non-fiction books about and/or based in Portland, OR? I found this link on askmefi: http://ask.metafilter.com/120019/Books-about-southern-Washington but no others listed seem to be non-fiction or set in Portland specifically. I've spent a good portion of my life in New York and love how Joseph Mitchell, Philip Lopate, & Thomas Wolfe (fiction, yes, but written in a very non-fiction style) write about NYC and am looking for similar writers.
Best answer: Weirdly enough, the first thing that comes to mind is Magic Gardens, Viva Las Vegas' story of becoming a stripper in Portland. Here's an excerpt, which touches on the stripping aspect more than the Portland part, but I remember the book talking a lot about the gritty counterculture lifestyle in Portland around that time, which is what reminded me of Fugitives and Refugees.
posted by redsparkler at 10:48 AM on July 9, 2013
posted by redsparkler at 10:48 AM on July 9, 2013
Best answer: And are you looking for the "sightseeing guide mixed with a good story" style of Fugitives and Refugees, or just the storytelling part?
The Portland Red Guide is a really great little guidebook to specific locations in Portland where notable radical acts occurred (kind of like how Chuck talks about getting beat up on that one corner, except this is like "Woodie Guthrie lived here for a while!"), and Portland Confidential has a lot of terrific scandalous stories about Portland during the 1950s.
Laura Foster also has her Hill Walks and City Walks books, which are filled with trivia and anecdotes that bring a lot of personality and history to Portland streets. She's great at covering a wide range of information; here's a tree that you don't usually see, so-and-so painted this mural because, there's a notable chimney structure, an infamous bar was once here, and here's the geologic history that brought about this feature in the terrain.
Yes, these are all guidebooks, of a sort, but I have a low tolerance for normal guidebooks, and loved the way that each of these titles made individual street corners come alive. As a longtime resident of Portland, these are books that I still return to and always learn something new from.
posted by redsparkler at 11:16 AM on July 9, 2013
The Portland Red Guide is a really great little guidebook to specific locations in Portland where notable radical acts occurred (kind of like how Chuck talks about getting beat up on that one corner, except this is like "Woodie Guthrie lived here for a while!"), and Portland Confidential has a lot of terrific scandalous stories about Portland during the 1950s.
Laura Foster also has her Hill Walks and City Walks books, which are filled with trivia and anecdotes that bring a lot of personality and history to Portland streets. She's great at covering a wide range of information; here's a tree that you don't usually see, so-and-so painted this mural because, there's a notable chimney structure, an infamous bar was once here, and here's the geologic history that brought about this feature in the terrain.
Yes, these are all guidebooks, of a sort, but I have a low tolerance for normal guidebooks, and loved the way that each of these titles made individual street corners come alive. As a longtime resident of Portland, these are books that I still return to and always learn something new from.
posted by redsparkler at 11:16 AM on July 9, 2013
Kaia Sand's "Remember to Wave" is a poem/scrapbook/guidebook about the Vanport flood and about the Japanese detention camps during WWII.
posted by CutaneousRabbit at 11:45 AM on July 9, 2013
posted by CutaneousRabbit at 11:45 AM on July 9, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks all, especially redsparkler. You hit the nail on the head. I'm not looking for a guidebook but rather depiction (historical or current) of areas or people in Portland that's geographic-centric.
Both the Red Guide and Portland Confidential look awesome.
posted by herrC at 11:57 AM on July 9, 2013
Both the Red Guide and Portland Confidential look awesome.
posted by herrC at 11:57 AM on July 9, 2013
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posted by brujita at 9:07 AM on July 9, 2013