My Favorite Books About Seattle

It’s a unique place on the globe, and it’s where we live.  You might live here or you might be getting ready to, or even making up your mind if you’re going to move here or not!  I often get asked by clients what the best books to get a good orientation to the area are, and I thought I’d share some of my favorites with you.

While it would be unfair to call this the top ten books on the Seattle area, I can easily tell you they are

Edy Kizaki’s Top Seventeen Picks for Best Books about Seattle!

1.  Seattle Mini Rough Guide (I still carry this in my purse and it’s always fun to read if I’m taking a momentary break after previewing a home or dropping in at a neighborhood coffee house with wifi to check my email and caffinate.)

2.  Newcomer’s Handbook for Moving to and Living in Seattle (including Bellevue, Redmond, Everett and Tacoma.  I highly recommend this to all my clients who are relocating or considering it!)

3.  Top 10 Seattle (“Your guide to the 10 best of everything.”  Sounds simplistic but is actually extremely useable and gets you a lot of information fast, and really well done.)

4.  NFT, Not for Tourists Guide to Seattle (“You’ll find each and every one of Seattle’s neighborhoods represented within, mapped out in full detail and carefully evaluated for both leisurely pursuits and essential services.”  One of the very most useful books I have read on Seattle.)

5.  Hidden Seattle (“Where vacations meet adventures.”  Like joy?  You’ll like this book.)

6.  Lonely Planet Seattle City Guide (I always love Lonely Planet guides…they’re like an extra satisfying conversation with a best friend in a very good mood, and this one is no exception.)

7.  Seattle SURVIVAL Guide (Yes, another on Seattle, but I love this one and it is SO INFORMATIVE.)

8.  Access Seattle (“Leads you street by street into the Heart of the City.”)

9.  The Seattle Mama’s Handbook (When I first moved here my neighbor gave me a copy of this book… she got it at Cosco…and I loved it.  One single source for all the kid info you could possibly want!)

10.  Out & About with Kids in Seattle (“the ultimate family guide for fun and learning.”)

11.  Crave Seattle; the Urban Girl’s Manifesto (“the ultimate guide to the places that women crave in Seattle”  Spending a couple hours curled up with this book is almost as good as a Girl’s Night Out, and then you get to actually go out and do the fun stuff you’ve read about, you will not be able to resist some of it!)

12.  Quick Escapes in the Pacific Northwest (“40 weekend trips from Portland, Seattle and Vancouver B.C.”)

13.  Walking Seattle (Has info on the city and sections on parks, neighborhoods, downtown, University of Washington, the Suburbs, and some other great appendices.)

14.  Urban Walks (23 walks through Seattle’s parks and neighborhoods…once you read #13 you might want to go for this one which has more about the parks.)

15.  Rains All the Time (“A connoisseur’s history of weather in the Pacific Northwest.”  Fun!)

16.  Seattle Past to Present (“An interpretaion of the history of the foremost city in the Pacific Northwest.”  There are a lot of facinating books that tackle various aspects of the history of the city, but this one is my pick for a good start.)

17.  Savor Greater Seattle Cookbook (“Greater Seattle’s Finest Restaurants, their recipes & their histories.”  This is really a restaurant city, with it’s own unique flavors and a great variety, so this book is kind of a restaurant bible for me!  People don’t just talk about the food at places here, they want to know who’s cooking as well, and this serves as a quick primer to some of the most famous of the best.  And then you can try the recipies at home, too!)

When you get done with any or all of these do be sure to let me know what you thought, I really want to know, as that will help out the next time someone asks!  Also would appreciate you adding any books that have really helped you get oriented to all or a specific part of the area, there is a comment box, please be sure to use it!  Seattle is known as a book town, and has been called the “best educated city in America” as it has the most advanced degrees per capita, and so our blog pages would not be complete without a discussion of the best books about our beloved city.  Of course, this is just a start.

Edy Kizaki, Realtor
Team Leader, eXp Realty Seattle
206-249-2914 (cell)
edy@seattlepowersearch.com

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