Portland has a strong literary culture — for a city its size, the number of independent bookshops is remarkable. Beyond Powell's City of Books (the essential stop), the Powell's on Hawthorne is a full branch in its own right. Title Wave Books (the Friends of the Library sale shop) on N Interstate has excellent used stock at low prices.
For reading about Portland, Tom McCall's autobiography Maverick: The Story of an Oregon Governor explains the political decisions — including the Willamette River clean-up and the removal of Harbor Drive — that shaped the modern city. Ursula K. Le Guin, who grew up in Portland and returned later in life, wrote extensively about the Pacific Northwest; The Language of the Night collects her essays. Brian Doyle's Mink River is a lyrical novel set on the Oregon Coast, and his essays on Portland are collected in Portland, Oregonian (various editions). Tom Robbins's early novels, including Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, are set in the Oregon cultural landscape of the 1970s.