If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska

If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska

by
3.69 of 5 stars 3.69  ·  rating details  ·  1,300 ratings  ·  293 reviews
Tiny Haines, Alaska, ninety miles north of Juneau, is accessible mainly by water or air--and only when the weather is good. There's no traffic light and no mail delivery; people can vanish without a trace; and funerals are community affairs. As both obituary writer and social columnist for the local newspaper, Heather Lende knows better than anyone the goings-on in this br...more
Paperback, 281 pages
Published June 1st 2006 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill (first published 2005)
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
Two Old Women by Velma WallisOrdinary Wolves by Seth KantnerIf You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name by Heather LendeAlaska by James A. MichenerThe Blue Bear by Lynn Schooler
Best Books on Alaska
3rd out of 24 books — 24 voters
Looking for Alaska by John GreenRaising Arizona by Joel CoenThe Octopus by Frank NorrisA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark TwainThe Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecti... by Mark Twain
Name of State (USA) in Title: A-C
11th out of 109 books — 9 voters


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 2,206)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Suzanne
I just loved this book! It is fun. A Prairie Home Companion for Alaska with all the nuances and eccentricities of character that make reading so enjoyable. Each chapter is a story unto itself, so this lends itself to those readers traveling on business, or those frazzled moms and dads, who need to pick up some reading before bedtime that will make them laugh, smile and relax. I hope the author continues with her writing for those of us on "mainland".
Rebecca
Kind of interesting. Entertaining, for sure even though I didn't agree with everything the author talked about, which is fine, for autobiography, sort of.

Women lives in the middle of nowhere Alaska, has a bunch of kids and writes for the local paper, the obits, so a lot of the book had to do with death and some relation to it. Lots of supporting charecters that I couldn't connect at all and couldn't keep straight from one chapter to the next. But that didn't matter too much. Each chapter was lik...more
Sheila
On vacation in Alaska, and visiting the tiny town of Haines, I realized some places are just kinder to their local authors. In fact, maybe they’re just kinder to everyone—Haines is such a small town that everyone surely knows everyone else. And every store that sells anything sells books by local authors, including Heather Lende’s If you lived here, I’d know your name. After seeing that glorious moose gazing out from the cover often enough, I could no longer resist.

Heather Lende is an essayist f...more
Book Concierge
This work of non-fiction, is subtitled: “News from Small-Town Alaska.” Lende is an NPR commentator who lives in Haines, Alaska and also writes the obituaries for the local paper.

Each chapter begins with Duly Noted - snippets of news about the residents and happenings in Haines. These serve to set up a sort of theme or connecting idea for the stories that will follow in that chapter. Each chapter spotlights at least one of the residents of Haines who has died and how that person’s life contribut...more
Kim
Growing up in a small town, Pandora Ohio, I had to read this. Pandora had 1000 or less people living there when I did and everyone knew your name, EVERYONE just as the title states.

Heather Lende writes a memoir about her and the lives of others in Haines, Alaska. Even though there is no story line, her observations had me connecting with the people of Haines and what everyday life is like living there. Anybody that lives or has lived in a small town will relate to this book. In addition, anyone...more
Memizuki
Of course I liked this book. This a book to my heart, like most non-fiction books that I like. The books is great, like many authors that I have read that speak to small town America. The difference is that this is small town America in Alaska. Alaska on its own is a strange place and to speak to small town Alaska is even better.

Heather Lende speaks about her life in Haines, Alaska. She speaks in a clear easy read style that comes from her work in the newspaper world. Haines is Alaska through a...more
Mandi
Her essays make me want to move to Alaska, or at least a really rural town surrounded by natural beauty. She is realistic about it though and depicts the good with the bad (like all the political division). She shares very openly about herself and that made for very honest stories as well.

This is an excellent book to read when you need a book you can read, set down, and return to at a random time. Each chapter is its own independent essay and so you don't have to remember the details of one ess...more
Leah
This was a very illuminating book about the small town of Haines, Alaska written by the local obituary writer for the town's paper. The place sounds like paradise where you take your life or death chances. Perhaps it's due to the book being written by someone who faces death a lot, but good Lord, it sounds like your odds of dying of some horrible accident are indeed quite high when you live in Alaska, far from any sort of hospital.

Different deaths: fishing deaths, people falling through ice, pe...more
Mandolin
Death is only a heartbeat away, as author Heather Lende knows all too well after living her entire adult life in Haines, Alaska. A small community where everyone knows everyone else; where there is no stop-light, Walmart, shopping mall or hospital; where people die regularly in plane crashes and boating mishaps, the town is a world apart from that in which the majority of "lower forty-eight" Americans live. And yet, despite the grim awareness of mortality that comes with existence there, its res...more
Olduvai
Reading this book was like sipping from a big mug of hot chocolate. A bittersweet hot chocolate with marshmallows on top.

Because it is a heartwarming tale of life in small town Alaska. Yet because of Lende’s occupation as the weekly newspaper’s obituary writer, there’s a bittersweetness to it, as she tells us about those who have passed on. Some old, some young. Some sudden, others expected.

“Being an obituary writer means I think a lot about loss, but more about love. Writing the obituaries of s...more
Margot
The author lives in Haines, Alaska (a town my husband and I visited in August, 2007) with her husband and five children. She has a unique viewpoint of the residents of her town in that she is the person who writes the obituaries for the local paper. Heather goes way beyond writing just the facts of a person's life. She visits with family members and friends so her obituaries are a true reflection of the deceased.

Heather also writes about the various social and cultural events in this small-town...more
Karen
The review from the LA Times captures the essence of this book: "Part Annie Dillard, part Anne Lamott . . ." The reader will laugh and cry but will come away with a real sense of life in a small town from a writer who has a sensitive and interesting perspective about her Haines, Alaska, neighbors and their backgrounds. Heather Lende discribes her life as an obituary writer for her local paper and how she comes to know her neighbors and the town she chose to raise her family. The wilderness is ju...more
Previous TCL Reviews
On a road trip to Alaska along the famous Alaska Highway, I had the chance to visit Haines, Alaska. I didn’t take the 100 mile detour that day. After reading Heather Lende’s book about life in Haines, I wish that I had. I have visited other small Alaskan towns like it though. I still see in my mind the steep forested mountains that come all the way down to the water. I hear the stories of the people of those towns that seem to have been living there forever, but most came from someplace else. Th...more
Toni
May 09, 2008 Toni rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Laura, Lynne
I thoroughly enjoyed this little book! The author is a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition. She writes about life (and death) in Haines, Alaska, a small town a long ways from anywhere. She writes the obits for the town newspaper, but relates with great humor the quirks and antics of the characters who live there. Lende also writes with sensitivity joys and tragedies of living in a close and isolated community.
Erin
Having been to Haines, Alaska I was very excited to read this book. Alaska is one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the privilege to travel to. I enjoyed experiencing it again in the pages of this book. The author shares the beauty, the ruggedness, and the harsh nature that is Alaska. To live in Alaska, she explains, you have to be made a little differently. There is a uniqueness to the environment of Alaska and a uniqueness to the type of person that can survive and thrive there. Man...more
Donna Barnes
I didn't like this book very much at all. The subject matter and title intrigued me, and the first few pages kept my interest, but then, once I read more of her anecdotes, I got quickly bored. It was too long for what it accomplished --- I got the jist of the book after the first few chapters. In fact, I skipped the middle of this book and just went to the end. I especially DID NOT ENJOY the writer's style of writing --- it skipped around way too much for me --- i.e. she would introduce a person...more
Helen Dunn
I'm surprised at the high star ratings for this book.

There's nothing really wrong with it but I found it to be a complete bore. The author writes the obituaries for the local paper so many of her chapters revolve around the death of townsfolk. Where this could be a great opportunity to learn meaningful stories to me the chapters all fall flat and seemed like "Person X lived in a small town, was happy without a lot of money, loved the land" over and over and over.

There are some ruminations about...more
Susie
Based on what I heard from friends about this book, I was expecting something charming, uplifting, enchanting -- tales from a place I'd rather live. I think a better title for this book would have been If You Died Here, I'd Know Your Name because the stories start to take on the cadence of a speech by Mr. Weir on Freaks and Geeks: "I used to know a guy like that. Want to know what happened to him? HE DIED!"

Lots of spaghetti dinners, lots of "God is good", lots of winding tales about coming to pe...more
Louise
A story of family, community, life and death in Alaska!! A pretty decent novel.

From dust jacket:

Tiny Haines, Alaska, is ninety miles north of Juneau, accessible mainly by water or air - and only when the weather is good. There's no traffic light and no mail delivery; people can vanish without a trace and funerals are community affairs. Heather Lende posts both the obituaries and the social column for her local newspaper. If anyone knows the goings-on in this close-knit town-from births to weddin...more
Michele
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Lucy Hannigan
I used to read the weekly articles Heather wrote for the Anchorage Daily News. I didn't always agree with her politics, but I always enjoyed the hometown-sey feeling of her articles. It appears Heather got the idea for this book from her job of writing obituaries for the local newspaper...and each chapter seems to go off from getting ready to write someone's obit. This book is like reading the musings of an old friend. I have friends in Haines (who weren't mentioned by name in the book) and I de...more
Shellys♥ Journal
This is the story of small town newspaper obituary author Heather Lende. She shares the stories of people who have died on her watch - so actually the title should have been, "If You Died here, I'd know your name."

I really wanted to like this book, as typically stories of Alaska are some of my favorite, but I mostly had a love/hate relationship with this book. Lende brings politics to the forefront and labels those who don't agree with her perspective. Always a danger in doing this, as you ofte...more
Dnicebear
A thoughtful gift from my Alaska-loving son, who zeroed in here on my yearnings for small town life. Ms Lende's work as a professional writer work includes crafting obituaries of folks who die in Haines, so she has great insight into names and relationships and events in her community. A quote from p. 97 sums up what is so engaging in each chapter: "A life spent working and living in a small town with people I may disagree with has taught me a lot about humility and forgiveness. And when to keep...more
Patty
I read this several years ago and enjoyed it, but Lende's writing was even better the second time. I had remembered the general gist of the book, but had forgotten the more poignant stories. I think this is a wonderful slice of life. Lende tells her stories well enough that the reader can see the particularities of Haines, but realize that all of our lives no matter where we live have similarities to Haines.

I don't want to give away the stories, but if you like reading non-fiction that shows you...more
Peter
This book just proves that everyone who lives in Alaska is insane. I don't care whether you're the governor or an NPR commentator. I started this book expecting some down-home small-town wisdom of the Keillor variety (although, as most people would agree, Keillor has been off his game for years now and his show probably jumped the shark back in '87) but instead I received an in-depth look into the psyche of a people who practically invented "cabin fever". On the basis of this book and the recent...more
Hannah
If you enjoyed the 1990's TV show Northern Exposure, you will probably like this book, which is a compillation of short stories about the residents of the tiny town of Haines, Alaska. Resident and writer Heather Lende pens a sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous but always entertaining glimpse into life and death in this secluded wilderness paradise.

As with all compillations, some of the stories are better then others, and some feature a little too much bleeding-heart sensibilities for my perso...more
Jaci
Great stories and a quick read. Haines, Alaska, has never had a better advocate. And The Book of Common Prayer is also included...superb!
p.8: "Being an obituary writer means I think a lot about loss, more more about love. Writing the obituaries of so many people I've known makes me acutely aware of death, but in a good way .... Most of all, though, writing about the dead helps me celebrate the living--my neighbors, friends, husband, and five children--and this place, which some would say is on t...more
Tracy
Despite our philosophical differences on some topics, I felt I'd found a kindred spirit in Heather Lende. I hope she reads Goodreads reviews of her books, simply so I can thank her for writing this one. I read both of her books (Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs) this summer, and I've since recommended them to several people. In fact, I typed up the essay about the death of Good Dog Carl and e-mailed it to my brother, who had lost his canine companion of 13 years -- I was in tears readin...more
Ashley
This book is a wonderful collection of short stories about life in small town Alaska. I was worried being a TOTAL softy that a book written by the town obituary writer was going to drown me in tears or leave me feeling exceptionally depressed, but thankfully her stories were much more about the beauty of life than the pain of death.

Lende does a masterful job of weaving past and present into her stories of small town life. I don't have any desire to live in an isolated small town in Alaska, but...more
Jessica
I loved this book! It is a series of short autobiographical essays about different topics and people in Alaska. The author is a contributor to NPR and also writes obituaries for her tiny community in Haines, Alaska. I absolutely loved the blueberry picking story, the hunting/bear adventures, and the story about her dog. It does not seem like something I would like normally, but for whatever reason her reflections really touched me. It seems to touch on all the things in life that are really impo...more
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 73 74 next »
topics  posts  views  last activity   
Haines 1 7 Nov 07, 2012 07:05pm  
If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska (Hardcover)
If you Lived here I would know your name
If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska (ebook)
If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska (Kindle Edition)
If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska (Kindle Edition)

62284
Heather lives in Haines, Alaska. She writes obituaries for the Chilkat Valley News and has a new column in Woman's Day. She is the author of the bestselling Alaskan memoir, "If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name" (Algonquin, 2005.) Her new book, "Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs" (Algonquin) was released in May 2010 and will come out in paperback April 2011. (The title is her mother's las...more
More about Heather Lende...
Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs: Family, Friendships, and Faith in Small-Town Alaska

Share This Book

Your website