KUOW Book Club's January pick is the haunting PNW classic 'Snow Falling on Cedars'

The KUOW Book Club is kicking off the 2026 reading lineup with David Guterson's Pacific Northwest classic "Snow Falling on Cedars."

The novel has been described as a haunting whodunit set on San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound. But "Snow Falling on Cedars" is much more than your average thriller, which is why it won awards like the PEN/Faulkner Award when it was released in 1995. The book offers both a gripping mystery and deep reflections on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

The story begins when a fisherman is found drowned, and a Japanese American man is charged with his murder. The trial that follows is about more than the suspected killer, Kabuo Miyamoto, though. I use the word "atmospheric" often to described the way Pacific Northwest authors' stories often incorporate the region's unique mood and landscape. But that word may be most appropriate for Guterson's work (just look at the cover).

Read along with the KUOW Book Club, and come back on Jan. 26 for an interview with Guterson.

Folks who have been reading along with the group for some time will notice I'm not including a midway checkin date. That's because I'm mixing things up a little.

This year, I'll announce what we're reading on the first of each month and share author interviews at the end of the month. If you want more literary content and my thoughts in between, make sure you're subscribed to the KUOW Book Club newsletter. Sign up here.

Subscribers will get more reading recommendations, tips on great literary events around Seattle, and more opportunities to engage with the club. As always, you can also join the conversation by emailing me directly at kcampbell@kuow.org.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler alert: Guterson is about to release a new novel this month. "Evelyn in Transit" won't be released until Jan. 20, though, which is why we're not reading it just yet.

So, we're going to bookend 2026 with Guterson's work, starting with "Snow Falling on Cedars" in January and ending with "Evelyn in Transit" in December. Guterson has kindly agreed to an interview about both books, which I'm quite excited about.

"Evelyn in Transit" is about a mother who's been told that her son is the reincarnation of a Tibetan Buddhist lama. Perhaps more startling, she's asked to send him away to live in a faraway monastery. What would you do if the same was asked of you and your child? Guterson is asking big questions in his latest work, and we'll explore them together later this year.