We're asking people who made a splash in 2019 one question: If you could give everyone in Seattle one book as a gift this holiday season, what book would you choose and why? This week's gift-giver is Andrew Engelson, the editor-in-chief and founder of Cascadia Magazine. Next Tuesday at Vermillion, Engelson and Cascadia are hosting an all-star reading pairing four local authors (Anastacia-Renée, Kristen Millares Young, Ruth Joffre, and Shankar Narayan) with four local artists (Carol Rashawnna Williams, Sarah Samudre Salcedo, Monyee Chau, and our own Clare Johnson. Here's Engelson's pick:

I'd give everyone Tracing the Desire Line by Melissa Matthewson (Split Lip Press). It's an absolutely gorgeous series of linked essays about giving in to the urge to stray in a long-term monogamous relationship. Matthewson lives on a farm on southern Oregon, and in addition to a sharp and honest dissection of her changing marriage, she weaves in observations of the flora and fauna bursting with life around her, glimpses of the small beauties that come with raising children. It's book very rooted in the Pacific Northwest both in its subject and sensibility, the sort of writing I've tried to publish at Cascadia.