If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska by Heather Lende. Ms. Lende writes obituaries for her small town paper. It wasn't the greatest book, but it was mildly interesting. You will definitely get the flavor of living in small town Alaska. Non-fiction

The Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan (not to be confused with David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas). This takes place during WWII when the Japanese sent bombs via balloon, which ended up in Alaska. Read it awhile ago and can't remember all the details, but I enjoyed it.

Kabloona: Life Among the Inuit by Gontran De Poncis. Not exactly modern, but a good read.

James Michener wrote an Alaska book. Of course, it wouldn't be modern day, probably starts out with the Big Bang if it's classic Michener.

You can always watch reruns of Northern Exposure.

Merryworld, I laughed when I read your "Big Bang" comment about Michener's typical beginnings. Since I have the book Alaska at hand, I looked at the first line. It is " About a billion years ago, long before the continents had separated to define the ancient oceans, or their own outlines had been determined, a small protuberance jutted out from the northwest corner of what would later become North America.
It's true, if you want a complete history of a place, Michener is the way to go.
The book, I see, was first published in 1988 which, to me, is not THAT long ago. It just doesn't quite make it up to the Palin days.

Froniga, that is funny. I've never read the book, but Michener seems to take to heart the maxim that the best place to start a story is at the beginning. I'm really surprised it was published as late as 1988, though.

I thought of another Alaska book, John Krakauer's Into the Wild, which seems to be a somewhat similar story to Grizzly Man.

And Gary Paulson, who wrote Hatchet, has written a book on the Iditarod, Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod. Haven't read it but it's gotten good reviews.

Thanks everyone! Someone at work recommended Tisha, too. Has anyone heard of it?

I read a few mystery novels by a woman named Dana Stabenow. She's the "award-winning author of the Kate Shugak mysteries, the Liam Campbell mysteries, and three science fiction novels, [she] also writes an acclaimed column for Alaska magazine. She lives in Anchorage, Alaska, where she was born and raised."

There's another author named Sue Henry who has written some fun mysteries about the Iditarod.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dana Stabenow's Website

Tisha! I haven't read it in a long time but really enjoyed it when I did. Tisha is how a young girl says the word teacher, so that should give you a hint. It gives a glimpse into life in Alaska-way too harsh for me! It's an easy read as I recall.
Susan

Phaedosia -

I brought up the other thread we had a while ago on Alaska reads - thought you might get some good idease from that...

"Winterdance" by Gary Paulsen is great. If you have a continuing interest in dog sledding, "Cold Hands Warm Heart" by winning Iditarod racer Jeff King is also pretty good.

Velma Wallis has written two books of native Alaskan legends: "Two Women" I really liked a lot. The other is "Bird Girl" also good.

"Into the Wild" is a very sad story which only ends up in Alaska. Most of the story takes place other places.

It took me 2 months to get through James Michener's Alaska.

One of my all time favorite books is a non-fiction titled The Blue Bear, by Lynn Schooler, published in 2002. It tells the true story of the friendship between Lynn Schooler, wilderness guide, and Michio Hoshino, Japanese wildlife photographer. This is a wonderful story of friendship and adventure, and a quest to find the elusive glacier bear. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I also second the suggestion of If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name. It was the kind of book that made me want to do an internet search to find out more about the writer and her community. I was saddened to see on the town's newspaper website that Ms. Lende was hit by a big truck while riding her bicycle. She survived, after a long rehab in Washington State.

And although not a book, the tv series "Deadliest Catch" is an interesting look at commercial crab fishing in Alaska.

Thought of one more--"Sitka" by Louis L'Amour.