Ten top books about Alaska

Brian Payton's latest novel is The Wind Is Not a River.

Two of his top ten books about Alaska, as shared at the Guardian:

White Fang by Jack London

One of the most popular books by American writer Jack London also happens to be set in the Yukon during the time of the Klondike Gold Rush. The story follows the life story of a wolf-dog hybrid that finds its way from the chaos of famine and violence, in both the natural world and at the jagged edge of human society, to a kind of redemption in a life of domesticity in the care of one gentle man. Brutal and gripping.

Call of the Wild by Jack London

A novella that preceded White Fang, London's Call of the Wild tells a similarly engrossing tale of sled dogs and men set in the Klondike. Unlike White Fang, with its ultimate redemption, Call of the Wild details a fall from a civilised to a primitive state. Influenced by both Charles Darwin and Friedrich Nietzsche, London's most famous work is rich in symbolism and imagery, a blend of allegory and fable about the "survival of the fittest". This classic and enduring tale of the mythic north secured London's place in the cannon of American literature.

Read about another entry on the list.

Jack London is on Alexandra Silverman's list of four famous writers who spent time in jail.

The Call of the Wild is among Joshua Glenn's top 32 list of adventure novels of the 19th century, Sarah Lean's top ten animal stories, Ben Frederick's eleven essential books for dog lovers, Megan Miranda's top ten books set in a wintry landscape, Jill Hucklesby's top 10 books about running away, Charlie English's top ten snow books, and Thomas Bloor's top ten tales of metamorphosis. It appears on John Mullan's list of ten of the best wolves in literature and Alice-Azania Jarvis's reading list on dogs. 

White Fang is among Amy Wilkinson's top seven books with "white" in the title, Emma Barnes's top ten books with wolves, and Marcus Sedgwick's top ten books from cold climes.

--Marshal Zeringue