Oregon Books

Astoria resident Karen L. Leedom presents Astoria: An Oregon History, an extensively researched, informed and informative local history of the city of Astoria, Oregon - the oldest European-American settlement west of the Rockies - illustrated with black-and-white photographs and featuring three self-guided tours. Chapters tell of Astoria's colorful past dating all the way back to the 1500s. From Native American life to the rise of logging and fishing to Oregon's first female surgeon and dramatic Coast Guard rescues, Astoria: An Oregon History is as fun to read as it is educational. Highly recommended for anyone traveling to Astoria, whether for business, pleasure, or a family visit!

Great for shorter trips in this high cost fuel economy. Author's sketches are great!

This book is a must have for anyone traveling Interstate 5. I especially like it for the details on pet areas and trailer access. It's the perfect size to fit in the glove box. This book also makes a great gift! The information on the kiosks around our local area is helpful too. If you are even in the next town over, you can look in the book and find a spot to stop.

This is a fun and charming book that makes for great road reading. There are so many fun things to know, that although we live in Oregon and know a bit about our own state, we learned a lot! We have also given this book as a gift four or five times to visitors. We really enjoy it!

This is an excellent little paperback book about the U.S.S.Oregon in both war & peace. It gives a narrative of the Oregon's entire history and is profusely illustrated with photos and drawings.

OREGON COAST is a beautiful collection of crisp color photographs of the Oregon Coast. There are eleven chapters included, each devoted to a different region: Astoria, Seaside and Cannon Beach, Tillamook, Lincoln City, Newport, Florence, Coos Bay, Brookings and Port Orford. There is a beautiful color picture on at least every other page, with corresponding text describing the scene and the region. Scenes range from sunny and cheerful to windy and moody. This is really an excellent advertisement of the beauty of the region. Oregon's coast is an austere and haunting beauty, and OREGON COAST captures it beautifully.

They appeared to come from nowhere and do the impossible, these young men who appeared to be anything but extraordinary until they stepped onto the basketball court--but then the magic happened. Hailing from a Willamette Valley mill town described as a "wide spot in the road" and from a school that was among the smalledt in the state, these eight remarkable athletes and their two special coaches spent the basketball season of 1937 defeating the best teams from the biggest schools in Oregon. And when the season had ended, the Bellfountain Giant Killers had created a new chapter in Northwest sports history.

This is a fantastic book. I bought copies for all my nieces

Original Post (2000): This book is great if you're looking for places that are off the beaten path. For example: instead of going to Muir Woods to see redwoods (and hordes of tourists), head off to Heritage Grove in La Honda for a chance to be one-on-one with the mighty trees (and check out the banana slugs as well!). I've only hiked about 4 of the 70+ trails so far, but they have all been worthwhile. Highly recommended!

Update (2003): Wow - I'm glad "13 out of 13 readers" found my review useful! :-)

Three years later, this now lovingly-worn book has accompanied me on a dozen more hikes, from Mendocino to Big Sur. Friends and visitors are always amazed at how I've been able to magically find these spectacular places! The Appendices with Suggested Hikes are quite useful -- I have yet to be disappointed with the "Grand Views" of various parts of the Bay Area, for example. I can thank this book for providing many special memories, photos, and aching limbs (hey, the author was not joking about those "strenuous" hikes!).

Oh, I also purchased another Marc Soares book, "100 Hikes in the San Francisco Bay Area". While some hikes do overlap with this book, I'd recommend as a nice companion volume -- especially if you live inland (like me) and don't always have time to head to the coast.

I did two of the hikes and they were both good. The Ray Atkeson Memorial Trail and the Green Lakes Trail. Green Lakes was a wonderful hike along Fall Creek with lots of waterfalls.