Fugitives and Refugees by Chuck PalahniukPublisher: Crown 2003
Hardback 175 pages
When trying to describe Portland Oregon to a friend of mine, I couldn't come up with an adequate way of explaining the particular funkiness that is Portland.
That's right... I said "funkiness".
Instead I told him to read this book; Fugitives and Refugees. This book exemplifies everything I couldn't articulate to my friend about our strange, wonderful city. From drag queens to hoards of drunken Santa Clauses, from underground tunnels to the largest candle in the world; Portland is one strange town. But it is a town that revels in this unique flair. It is a place where anything can happen, where everyone who lives here can recount a strange story or two of living here and remember it fondly. While Palahniuk offers some great insight to Portland's "unwritten" history, he also invites us to remember our own fond hometown stories.
As I was reading this book I had one of those "only in Porltand" moments. As you may know, I work in a library. One of the stories that Palahniuk tells is about a haunted library right here in Portland. The North Portland Library on 512 N Killingsworth has a meeting room that is supposedly haunted. Well as it so happens I was reading this book in that particular library! How creepy to think that I was just steps away from a ghost.
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