2002 releases: november/december . october . september . summer . early

2007 releases . 2006 releases. 2005 releases . 2004 releases . 2003 releases .

Click here for a list of our blog entries on 2008 releases.

November-December, 2002

Fiction

By the Light of the Moon. By Dean R. Koontz. Thriller takes off when a young artist is mysteriously injected with an unknown subject and flees for his life. Bantam Doubleday Dell.

Cold Silence. By Danielle Girard. Thriller featuring an ex–FBI agent in Northern California who races to save her kidnapped son. Onyx Books.

Drive. By Rob Roberge. A washed up former college basketball star has no idea what he’s getting into when he agrees to coach a minor league team of strays and loose canons owned by an eccentric fast-food millionaire. Doublewide Press.

Let’s All Kill Constance: A Novel. By Ray Bradbury. Noir mystery set in Venice features a detective, an unnamed struggling screenwriter and a washed up movie star named Constance Rattigan. Harper Collins.

Murder on Sunset Boulevard. Edited by Rochelle Krich, Michael Mallory and Lisa Seidman. Anthology of mystery stories by members of the Los Angeles Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Each story is set in a different LA neighborhood. Top Publications.

Prey. By Michael Crichton. Crichton’s first book in three years, a science-thriller that tells the story of an intelligent swarm of evolving predatory nano-particles and the desperate efforts of a handful of scientists to stop it. HarperCollins.

Secrets from the Couch. By Sandra Levy Ceren. A Southern California psychologist’s tidy world unravels when her patient confronts her with terrifying news that the secret shared only with her therapist has been revealed. After the session, the patient, poised to be the new D.A., disappears, leaving the psychologist/amateur sleuth to solve the mystery. Southern Charm Press.

The Slouching Tigers. By Stephanie Zook. UC Davis law student unfolds a coming-of-age tale about a Chinese American teenage girl. Ariadne Press.

The Soul Beyond Darkness. By Scott E. Ebright. Mystery/horror tale unfolds in Marin County during the tail end of the peace/love generation in the late 1970s. More than 40 unexplained paranormal events plague main character Doug Conroy. Virtual Bookworm Publishing.

Poetry

The Complete Poems of Kenneth Rexroth. Edited by Sam Hamill and Bradford Morrow. Kenneth Rexroth (1905-1982) In addition to being a poet, translator, essayist and teacher, Rexroth (1905-1982) also helped found the San Francisco Poetry Center. He was known as “Grandfather of the Beats.” Copper Canyon Press.

Prism. By David St. John. USC writer crafts poems derived from color along with color photographs. Arctos Press, Sausalito.

Runes, A Review of Poetry: Mystery. Edited by CB Follett & Susan Terris. Annual anthology of the best 100 poems on mystery. Includes David St. John, Shirley Kaufman, Norman Dubie, Dana Gioia, and others known and less known. Arctos Press, Sausalito.

Walker Woman. By Julia Stein. Poems about living in Los Angeles in 1990s and surviving traumas of cutbacks, floods, and fires in California by having a healing connection with the land. West End Press (distributed University of New Mexico).

Nonfiction

777 Mathematical Conversation Starters. By John de Pillis. UC Riverside professor uses trivia, poetry, puns, quotes and cartoons to explain math and science. Mathematical Association of America.

Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Navarro By Andre Soares. Biography of Mexican heartthrob Ramon Novarro (1899-1968), one of early Hollywood’s leading romancers. St. Martin’s Press.

Biking the Arizona Trail: The Complete Guide to Day-riding and Thru-biking. By Andrea Lankford. A former search and rescue ranger, Los Angeles writer Andrea Lankford guides readers along an 800-mile backcountry route through spectacular Arizona scenery. Westcliffe Publishers.

A Cat Named Darwin: How a Stray Cat Changed a Man Into a Human Being. By William Jordan. The author chronicles how his life changed forever the day a stray cat nesting under his bougainvillea bit him on the hand. Houghton Mifflin.

Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man. By Mick LaSalle. San Francisco Chronicle film critic looks at leading men from 1929 to 1934, a period of loosened censorship before Hollywood’s Production Code was imposed. Thomas Dunne Books.

A Daring Young Man: A Biography of William Saroyan. By John Leggett. The story of an immigrant boy and lonely orphan who became an acclaimed American writer. Knopf.

The Eagle’s Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World. By Mark Hertsgaard. San Francisco writer was traveling around the world last fall when Sept. 11 hit; he explores what the United States looks like through others’ eyes. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco. By Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal. Foreward by Patricia Hitchcock O’Connell (the director’s daughter.) A Bay Area journey through the Hitchcock movies filmed there, including Shadow of a Doubt, Vertigo, and The Birds. Santa Monica Press.

Gateway to Alta California: The Expedition to San Diego, 1769. By Harry Crosby. The story of New Spain’s push north on foot into Alta California, from its beginnings to the founding of San Diego. Sunbelt Publications, El Cajon.

Grow Younger, Live Longer: Ten Steps to Reverse Aging By Deepak Chopra and David Simon. The latest of Chopra’s guides to healthy living, the book puts forth a simple program to renew all dimensions of the self — body, mind, and spirit — in order to feel and look younger. Three Rivers Press.

Historic Spots in California. Fifth Edition. Revised by Douglas E. Kyle, Mildred Brooke Hoover, Hero Eugene Rensch, Ethel Grace Rensch, and William N. Abeloe. An updated guide to the historical landmarks of California, organized by county and including more than 200 new photographs. Stanford University Press.

Iron, Erecting the Walt Disney Concert Hall. By Gil Garcetti, with foreward by Frank Gehry. The former Los Angeles District Attorney turns photographer as he captures the behind-the-walls story of creating downtown LA’s new landmark. Balcony Press.

Isabel Allende Today. Edited by Rosemary Feal and Yvette Miller. Anthology of essays by Latin American literature scholars on the life and recent works of Isabel Allende. The volume focuses on the writer’s ability for story telling, dealing particularly with the hidden stories of women’s lives. Latin American Literary Review.

Landmark L.A.: The Historic-Cultural Landmarks of Los Angeles. Edited by Jeffrey Herr. A directory and photo journey to the 700 designated landmarks in Los Angeles; Herr works with the city’s Cultural Affairs Department. Angel City Press.

Moving Target: A Memoir of Pursuit. By Ron Arias. People Magazine writer chronicles his search for his missing father, a career Army man turned World War II spy. Bilingual Review Press at Arizona State University.

Off to the Side: A Memoir. By Jim Harrison. The author tells of his Michigan upbringing; the austerities of life amid the Depression and the Second World War, how he ended up a highly paid Hollywood screenwriter and novelist. Grove Atlantic.

Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A Book of Eastern Wisdom. By Taro Gold. Manhattan Beach author offers more than 300 guideposts based on the timeless wisdom of Buddhist and Eastern thought. Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Play Around The Bay: A Guide to Bay Area Outings for Families with Young Children. Authors are the San Francisco Mother of Twins Club; Editor Robin Bennett. Third Edition of this guide to museums, zoos, and parks. TCB-Cafe Publishing.

Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons. By Lynn Peril. From board games to beauty pageants, a pop–culture history of the perilous path to achieving the feminine ideal. W.W. Norton & Company.

Quizzical Eye: The Photography of Rondal Partridge. By Elizabeth Partridge and Sally Stein. A collection by the 85-year-old photographer whose portraits have appeared in Audubon, Life, Fortune, and Scientific American for six decades. Heyday Books, Berkeley.

Rancho Mirage: An American Tragedy of Manners, Madness and Murder. By Aram Saroyan. True-crime tale delves into the 1980s case of a former call girl convicted of murdering her wealthy husband. Barricade Books.

San Francisco’s Midwinter Exposition. By William Lipsky. Using more than 200 vintage images, the book presents the history, creation, and people of the first World’s Fair held in California. Arcadia Publishing.

Stoning the Keepers at the Gate: Society’s Relationship with Law Enforcement. By Lawrence N. Blum. Police psychologist who works with Southern California agencies explores the role of law enforcement in modern times and argues that, while bad cops need to be rooted out, blanket condemnation of the police threatens public safety and the very liberties that make such condemnation possible. Lantern Books.

Surf Culture: The Art History of Surfing. Includes essays by Bolton Colburn, Ben Finney, Tyler Stallings, C.R. Stecyk, Deanne Stillman and Tom Wolfe, and art by Raymond Pettibon, Sandow Birk, Barry McGee and Robert Irwin. Designed by David Carson, Surf Culture examines the history of modern surfboard design and surfing’s impact on western culture. Laguna Art Museum/Gingko Press.

A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking. By Samuel Fuller, etal. The saga of the filmmaker’s Hollywood years, 1949 to 1989, and his twenty-nine movies. With Knopf.

Urban Surprises: A Guide to Public Art in Los Angeles. Edited by Gloria Gerace; Photographs by Dennis Keeley. A stroll through LA’s outdoor museum, complete with neighborhood maps. Balcony Press.

When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism. By Bill Maher. Former TV host offers his guide to what to do at home to help with the war effort. New Millennium Press.

Children’s

If You Give an Author a Pencil. By Laura Numeroff. New autobiography in the meet-the-author series. Richard C. Owen Publishing.

A Library of Unfortunate Events (Books 1-9: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window, The Miserable Mill, The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, and The Carnivorous Carnival). By Lemony Snicket. Collection of the popular series. HarperCollins.

Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear. By Don and Audrey Wood. A holiday sequel to the Woods’ besteller, The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear. Blue Sky Press.

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October

Fiction

Blues in the Night. By Rochelle Krich. New LA-based mystery series featuring a true-crime writer who investigates a mysterious hit-and-run accident. Ballantine Books.

The Chelsea Whistle. By Michelle Tea. San Francisco author’s memoir of growing up poor on the East Coast in the 1970s and ’80s. Seal Press.

Close-ups. By Bette Anderson. Former Newport Beach librarian crafts a mystery featuring Chris Maple, a Laguna Beach photographer who discovers that her pictures of a wedding couple contain clues to their disappearance and a murder. Writer’s Showcase/iiniverse.

The Conquest: A Novel. By Yxta Maya Murray. The heroine, a restorer of books at the Getty Museum, grapples with history, passion and imagination in a novel named a Los Angeles Times best book of 2002. Rayo/Harper Collins.

Nine: A Novel of Suspense. By Jan Burke. The bodies of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives begin showing up in Los Angeles County and homicide detective Alex Brandon is tracking the vigilantes behind the slayings. Simon & Schuster.

Monterey Shorts. By Walter Gourlay, Chris Kemp, Frances Rossi, Mark Angel, Byron Merritt, Lele Dahle, Shaheen Schmidt, Ken Jones, Mike Tyrrel and Pat Hanson. An eclectic collection of Ffction set around Monterey Bay. Thunderbird Press.

The Murder Book.  By Jonathan Kellerman. Bestselling author pens his 16th Alex Delaware whodunit. Ballantine Books.

Q Is for Quarry. By Sue Grafton. The latest Kinsey Millhone mystery. Putnam.

Swan. By Frances Mayes. First novel, a tale of family secrets set in the south, by the San Francisco writer known for her memoirs about Tuscany. Broadway Books.

Poetry/Short Stories

Appetite, Food As Metaphor: An Anthology of Women Poets. By Phyllis Stowell. In poems by Sandra Cisneros, Jane Kenyon, Lucille Clifton, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath and others, food emerges as a reoccurring and central metaphor in the way women live, in the pulse of the everyday, and as a vehicle for the exotic. Boa Editions.

Down to a Soundless Sea. By Tom Steinbeck. A collection of short stories about characters in California’s Big Sur in the early 1900s, written by John Steinbeck’s son. Ballantine.

Nonfiction

The Best American Travel Writing 2002. Edited by Frances Mayes. A collection of 26 newspaper and magazine articles about destinations worldwide. Mariner Books.

Bradbury: An Illustrated Life. By Jerry Weist. Coffee table book offers a visual biography of the celebrated science fiction writer. William Morrow & Co.

A California State of Mind: The Conflicted Voter in a Changing World. By Mark Baldassare. The author examines the beliefs, concerns, and public policy preferences of Californians during the 1990s, focusing on Californians’ deep distrust of government and the way this distrust has shaped the recent political climate. University of California Press.

Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana. By Ann Louise Bardach. The author, an investigative journalist and visiting professor at UC Santa Barbara, tells the story of the shattered families and warring personalities that lie at the heart of the four decade standoff between Miami and Havana. Random House.

The Far Side of Eden: The Ongoing Saga of Napa Valley. By James Conaway. Environmental and business clashes in the wine country. Houghton Mifflin.

Framing America: A Social History of American Art. By Frances K. Pohl. A professor of art history at Pomona College, Pohl offers a comprehensive survey of American art in many diverse forms. W.W. Norton & Co.

The Free Speech Movement: Reflections on Berkeley in the 1960s. Edited by Robert Cohen and Reginald E. Zelnik. Collection of essays and articles on the Free Speech Movement in 1964. University of California Press.

In Focus: Dorothea Lange: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum. By the museum staff. The life and career of Dorothea Lange (1895-1965), known for her social documentary work during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Getty Museum holds nearly one hundred of the artist’s pictures, about fifty of which are discussed by Judith Keller, associate curator of photographs. Getty Publications.

The Force Is With You: Mystical Movie Messages That Inspire Our Lives. By Stephen Simon. Film producer Simon looks at 100 years of Hollywood moviemaking, including 75 all-time favorites, which can be viewed through the lens of spirituality. Hampton Roads.

The Future of Peace: On the Front Lines with the World’s Great Peacemakers. By Scott A. Hunt. From the riotous streets of Burma to a prison cell in Vietnam, from the bombed–out streets of Belfast to the refugee camps of Palestine, Hunt traveled the globe seeking the peacemakers. He met with the Dalai Lama, Vietnam’s dissident Thich Quang Do, Dr. Jane Goodall, Cambodia’s Supreme Patriarch Maha Ghosananda, Nobel Peace Laureates John Hume of Ireland and Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica, and other leaders. Harper San Francisco.

A Lawyer’s Life. By Johnnie Cochran with David Fisher. The criminal-defense lawyer talks about the law and his life. Thomas Dunne Books.

The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. By David Thomson. Updated movie reference guide that includes 300 new entries, along with bios of figures from film history such as Graham Greene, Eddie Cantor, Pauline Kael, Abbott and Costello, Noël Coward, Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Gish and Rin Tin Tin. Knopf.

Promised Lands: Promotion, Memory, and the Creation of the American West. By Daniel M. Wrobel. Author traces the California dream to an early and continuing struggle: the promoters vs. the preservers. University Press of Kansas.

Reel History: In Defense of Hollywood. By Robert Brent Toplin. Historian Toplin explores the portrayal of history in films and argues that some movies, such as Glory and Saving Private Ryan, succeed in communicating the truth despite taking liberties with facts. University Press of Kansas.

Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. By Howard Rheingold. How the convergence of mobile communications and computing is driving the next social revolution-transforming the ways in which people meet, mate, work, buy, sell, govern, and create. Perseus Publishing.

Steinbeck Country: Exploring the Settings for the Stories. By David Laws. The author offers a pictorial tour of the Monterey County landscape, describing the settings for Cannery Row, East of Eden, Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony and other classic tales as well as the places where Steinbeck lived and worked, Windy Hill.

A Sweet Quartet: Sugar, Almonds, Eggs, and Butter. Fran Gage. The author, former owner of San Francisco’s Patisserie Francaise, calls sugar, almonds, eggs, and butter “the DNA of desserts” and ferrets out how each found its way into the kitchen. Book concludes with a look at the meaning of desserts, from ancient times to the present day, and ideas for a dessert buffet. North Point Press.

Travels With Ginsberg: A Postcard Book, Allen Ginsberg Photographs 1944-1995.   Edited by Bill Morgan. Snapshots from the Beat poet’s many travels and trips abroad. City Lights Publishing, San Francisco.

Wild Heart, a Life: Natalie Clifford Barney’s Journey from Victorian America to Belle Epoque Paris. By Suzanne Rodriguez. Biography of American writer who lived in Paris for most of her long life and was known for her Left Bank literary salon. Ecco Press.

Children’s Books

Alias: Declassified: The Official Companion. By Mark Cotta Vaz. A behind-the-scenes guide to the popular ABC spy series starring Jennifer Garner. Cotta Vaz provides backstory on characters like double agent Sydney Bristow, the making of the program, and the Rambaldi legend. The book includes photos, diagrams, and sketches, and episode summaries for the first season. (Ages 9-12) Random House Children’s Books.

The Adventures of Capitol Kitty.   By Sharon Davis. Illustrated by Daniel Souci. With a little help from a stray cat who roams the Capitol, California’s first lady offer’s a cat’s eye view of how state government in Sacramento really works. Proceeds go to the Governor’s Book Fund, which is distributed to California schools. Scholastic.

Abarat. By Clive Barker. In the first of a four-book fantasy series, teenager Candy Quackenbush of Chickentown, USA begins a journey toward her destiny. Joanna Cotler Books.

Breaking Through. By Francisco Jiménez. Memoir is the second installment of the author’s story about immigrating to California from Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Co.

The Carnivorous Carnival. By Lemony Snicket. For the Baudelaire orphans, their time at a carnival turns out to be yet another series of unfortunate events. HarperCollins.

Christmas Cricket. By Eve Bunting. Holiday book about a cricket who discovers that though he may be small, he is not insignificant. Clarion Books.

City of Beasts. By Isabel Allende. In her first novel for young readers, Allende spins a voyade teeming with Amazon adventures and her trademark magical realism.

Greece! Rome! Monsters! By John Harris. Illustrated by Calef Brown. The story of twenty creepy creatures—from harpies to Medusa to the fire-breathing Chimaera. Together, the words and pictures provide children with close encounters of the mythological kind. Getty Publications.

An Iguana in the Family. By Winnie Green. The adventures of two intelligent and curious iguanas living in the author’s home. Explains to adults and children how to keep pets happy and healthy. 1st Books.

Summerland. By Michael Chabon. In his first novel for young readers, the Pulitzer–Prize winning author journeys to a magical land where baseball is king. Miramax Books.

When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson. By Pam Munoz Ryan. Illustrated by Brian Selznick. The author, a former teacher, introduces the singer and her perseverance during the civil rights era. (ages 4-8). Scholastic.

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September

Fiction

And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You. By Kathi Kamen Goldmark. Bay Area author, a one-time media escort for rock stars and authors and founder of the Rock Bottom Remainder, makes her fiction debut with the story of a struggling country singer who storms the honky-tonk scene. Chronicle Books, San Francisco.

Blue Shoe. By Anne Lamott. Novel about the unfolding mystery of a family and the possibilities of love. Riverhead Books.

Chasing the Dime. By Michael Connelly. Thriller about a simple wrong number that opens a line of terror. Warner.

December 6. By Martin Cruz Smith. Thriller, set in the ultra-nationalistic Tokyo of late 1941, when war rumors are rife and American club-owner Harry Niles is “skipping town. Any sane person would.” From the author of Gorky Park and Havana Bay.

The First Billion. By Christopher Reich. A San Francisco investment banker goes up against a murderous Russian oligarch and resurgent KGB to save his best friend’s life and his own company. Delacorte Press.

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The Drift. By John Ridley. Murder mystery leads readers into the violent world of modern-day hobos and rail riders. Knopf.

The Piano Tuner. By Daniel Mason. During his first year of medical school at the University of California at San Francisco, the author came up with a novel means of proscrastination: he wrote the story of a surgeon-major in 1886 Burma (now Myanmar) who asks the British War Office to ship a rare grand piano to his remote post. Knopf.

Spitting Off Tall Buildings. By Dan Fante. Bruno Dante — aspiring playwright, part-time depressive, and full-time drunk — has hitchhiked cross-country, escaping the sunshine, have-a-nice-day culture of L.A. for the more cynical climate of New York. But he’s Bruno Dante, and things are always bound to go wrong. Canongate Publishing.

Vulture Capital.  By Mark Coggins. High-tech thriller set in the post dot-com world of the Silicon Valley. Poltroon Press.

A Quiet Storm. By Rachel Howzell Hall. Debut novel explores the dynamics of a family facing mental illness. Scribner Paperback Fiction.

When the Emperor Was Divine: A novel.  By Julie Otsuka. Saga of a Japanese American family forced from their Berkeley home to a WWII internment camp. Knopf.

You Shall Know Our Velocity. By Dave Eggers. Novel about two young Americans who decide to travel around the world in a week and give away a large sum of money. McSweeney’s Books.

Poetry/Short Stories

A Gin-Pissing-Raw-Meat-Dual-Carburetor-V8-Son-Of-A-Bitch from Los Angeles: Collected Poems, 1983-2002. By Dan Fante. The author tracks twenty years of excess. Sun Dog Press.

Poems of the American West. Edited by Robert Mezey. An anthology of many voices, from Robert Frost’s “Once By the Pacific” to Charles Bukowski’s “Vegas,” from Nanci Griffith’s “Lone Star State of Mind” to Thom Gunn’s “San Francisco Streets.” Knopf.

Under the Fifth Sun, Latino Literature from California. Edited by Rick Heide. An anthology that includes poetry, fiction, memoirs and commentary covering more than two centuries of Latinos in California, from missionaries and soldiers to gold miners, farm workers, and political refugees. The books features the writing of Isabel Allende, Cesar Chavez, Carlos Fuentes and many others. Heyday Books, Berkeley.

Shulamith. By Julia Stein. Poems in the voices of Jewish women of the Bible; poems about lost Yiddish women; and poems dealing with contemporary Jewish women in L.A. West End Press (distributed by University of New Mexico).

To Be the Poet. By Maxine Hong Kingston. National Book Award winner and UC Berkeley creative writing lecturer offers a manual on inviting poetry, along with a harvest of poems. Harvard University Press.

Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology. Edited by David L. Ulin. A panorama of Southern California voices that spans the 1880s to present day and includes Nathanael West, H. L. Mencken, Tennessee Williams, Bernard Cooper, and Mona Simpson. Collection features fiction, poetry, essays, journalism, and diaries by more than seventy writers, from Raymond Chandler’s evocation of murderous moods fed by the Santa Ana winds to John Gregory Dunne’s tribute to “the deceptive perspectives of the pale subtropical light.” Library of America.

Nonfiction

Ambushed: A War Reporter’s Life on the Line. By Ian Stewart. A veteran foreign correspondent from the Bay Area details the day-to-day life of a war correspondent, including the ambush that left him with a bullet in the head in Sierra Leone. Algonquin Books.

Between Boardslides and Burnout: My Notes from the Road. By Tony Hawk. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a thirtysomething skateboard legend with three kids and gigs all over the globe? Tony Hawk shares his diary. Regan Books.

The Can Opener Gourmet. By Laura Kerr. This Lakewood author, who learned to cook by helping her family cater weddings, promises miracles from cans and jars. Hyperion Books.

City by the Bay: San Francisco in Art and Literature. Edited by Alexandra Chappell. Pairing works of art with literature that evokes the city’s cosmopolitan charm, this book celebrates San Francisco. The book features photography, paintings, and graphic arts drawn from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Universe Books.

City for Sale: The Transformation of San Francisco, Revised and Updated Edition. By Chester Hartman. The author looks at how the city has been transformed by the expansion — outward and upward — of its downtown and he questions: Can San Francisco’s unique qualities survive the changes that have altered the city’s skyline, neighborhoods, and economy? University of California Press.

Cultures@SiliconValley.  By J. A. English-Lueck. Expedition into the everyday life of the Silicon Valley. Stanford University Press

Great Failures of the Extremely Successful: Mistakes, Adversity, Failure and Other Stepping Stones to Success. By Steve Young. Author relates how hardships, roadblocks, rejections and even physicalinfirmities cannot stop people determined to succeed. Tallfellow Press.

Homesick: A Memoir. By Sela Ward. Actress looks at family, homecoming and the value of a simpler life. ReganBooks

Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman’s Building.  By Terry Wolverton. Artist’s memoir of her years at the Woman’s Building in Los Angeles. City Lights Publishers, San Francisco.

Mollie Katzen’s Sunlight Cafe. By Mollie Katzen. The bestselling vegetarian cookbook author offers a collection of 350 breakfast foods, illustrated with Katzen’s own paintings. Hyperion Books.

Motherhood & Hollywood: How to Get a Job Like Mine. By Patricia Heaton. Collection of essays on life, love, marriage, child-rearing, show business, having parents, being a parent, spousal rage, surviving fame, success, and the shame of underarm flab. Villard.

A Nation Lost and Found: 1936 America Remembered by Ordinary and Extraordinary People. By Frank Pierson and Stanley K. Sheinbaum. The authors look at the turbulent mid–1930’s through a collection of personal memoirs. Tallfellow Press.

Personal Freedom In America After September 11. Edited by Danny Goldberg, Victor Goldberg, and Robert Greenwald, foreword by Cornell West. Collection of essays legislative assault on civil liberties following the terrorist bombing of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Includes writing by Maxine Waters, Tom Hayden, Robert Scheer, Helen Zia, Ira Glasser, Jerrold Nadler, Michael Moore, Michael Isikoff, and many others. Akashic Books.

Robert Irwin Getty Garden. By Lawrence Weschler. Photography by Becky Cohen. The creation of the Getty Museum’s Central Garden: “a sculpture in the form of a garden aspiring to be art.” Getty Publications.

Ronald Reagan and His Ranch: The Western White House, 1981 – 1989. By Peter Hannaford. The story of Reagan and his Central California ranch through anecdotes and photographs. Images from the Past.

Sacred Wells: A Study in the History, Meaning, and Mythology of Holy Wells & Waters. By Gary R. Varner. An exploration of the folklore, mythology, and archaeology of holy wells and springs, from California to Cornwall and from Estonia to Australia. Publish America.

Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy. By Jane Leavy. Part biography, part cultural history, the story of the pitcher who refused to led the Dodgers to two World Series championships; written by a Washington Post reporter. HarperCollins.

San Francisco Stories. By Derek M. Powazek. After wandering all over California, Derek Powazek found himself in San Francisco, in one of the city’s worst neighborhoods, with little more than a website to his name. During the next few years, moment by moment, Derek lost love, found friends, and discovered himself through his new home: San Francisco. So New Media.

Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril.  By Timothy Ferris. Amateur astronomers are the heroes of this ode to stargazing. Simon & Schuster.

September 11: West Coast Writers Approach Ground Zero. Edited by Jeff Meyers. Collection of West Coast writers’ responses to the terrorist acts; Includes Etel Adnan, Susie Bright, Tom Clark, Joshua Clover, Peter Coyote, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Maxine Hong Kingston, Genny Lim, Beth Lisick, Jess Mowry, Ishmael Reed, Floyd Salas and Alice Walker. Hawthorne Books and Literary Arts, Portland.

Sierra: Notes and Images from the Range of Light. By James Martin. First-person exploration of the Sierra Nevada in words and photography. Sasquatch Books, Seattle.

The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco’s Beloved Restaurant. By Judy Rodgers. Rodgers, who has been running Zuni Cafe for twenty-four years, shares her recipes. W.W. Norton & Co.

Children’s Books

Caution: Deaf Child Crossing. By Marlee Matlin. The story of the evolving friendship of two girls, one of whom is deaf. Simon & Schuster.

Coyote Fights the Sun. By Mary J. Carpelan. Using wator-color illustrations, this picture book unfolds the tale of a greedy, impulsive coyote; based on a story from the author’s Shasta Indian grandfather. Heyday Books.

David Gets in Trouble. By David Shannon. Picture book about a boy who always has an excuse when he gets in trouble. Blue Sky.

The Feel Good Book. By Todd Parr. A bright, bold collection of good feelings. (ages 4-8) Little, Brown & Co.

The House of the Scorpion. By Nancy Farmer. A futurist tale for young adults set in Opium, a country that lies between the United States and Aztl n, formerly Mexico. Opium’s its vast poppy fields are tended by eejits, human beings who attempted to flee Aztl n, programmed by a computer chip implanted in their brains. Athenium/Simon & Schuster.

I’m Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem. By Jamie Lee Curtis. Illustrations by Laura Cornell. The actress and best-selling children’s author is back with a new book that celebrates liking yourself. Ages 4-8. Harper Children’s.

It’s Fall. By Jimmy Pickering. Fall comes to life in this picture book featuring two friends frolicking through a festival of apple harvests, hayrides and Halloween fun. Smallfellow Press, Los Angeles.

My Diary from Here to There / Mi diario de aquí hasta alla. By Amada Irma Pérez; illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez.Story of a young girl moving from Mexico to Los Angeles, as told to her diary. Children’s Book Press, San Francisco.

Ruby’s Wish. By Shirin Yim Bridges. The story of a young girl in old China who dreams attending a university like the boys in her family. Chronicle Books, San Francisco.

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Summer

Fiction

Breach of Confidence. By Eben Paul Perison. When a Los Angeles lawyer is asked to oversee a dead colleague’s cases, he uncovers a powerful conspiracy and finds himself in grave danger. Onyx Books.

A Brief History of the Flood. By Jean Harfenist. Santa Barbara writer links eleven short stories in this novel tracking the hardscrabble life of a young girl, circa 1959-1970 Minnesota. Knopf.

All The Trouble You Need. By Jervey Tervalon. A young black college instructor finds himself enmeshed in a romantic triangle in this novel set in Santa Barbara. Pocket Books.

Bad Boy Brawly Brown. By Walter Mosley. Easy Rawlins is back in the latest installment in Mosley’s popular mystery series. Little Brown & Co.

Criminal Intent. By Sheldon Siegel. Attorney author spins his third legal thriller involving a former priest and public defender who sets up a law practice with his ex-wife in San Francisco. Putnam.

The Color Midnight Made. By Andrew Winer. First novel by a Southern California writer who crafts a coming-of-age story about a young Bay Area boy grappling with race, class and a troubled family. Pocket Books.

Do No Harm. By Gregg Andrew Hurwitz. A crime thriller set against the backdrop of the UCLA Medical Center ER. William Morrow & Co.

Dreaming Water. By Gail Tsukiyama. The author’s fifth novel details a short span in the life of a mother and daughter coping with the onslaught of Werner’s Syndrome. St. Martin’s Press.

Hard Lessons: The Promise of an Inner City Charter School. By Jonathan Schorr. An up–close look at a fledgling charter school in urban Oakland by a former Pasadena teacher turned writer. Ballantine.

Iceland. By Jim Krusoe. The adventures of a typewriter repairman whose story begins when he is stricken with a mysterious ailment and heads to a medical institute to pick out a new organ. Dalkey Archive Press.

In the Clear. By Steve Lopez. Lopez, an LA Times columnist, crafts a detective novel (his third) about a small-town sheriff wrestling with romance, runaway development and murder on the Jersey Shore. Harcourt.

Lines of Defense. By Barry Siegel. Legal thriller set in a small California coastal town by a Pulitzer-Prize winning Los Angeles Times reporter. Ballantine Books.

The Lovely Bones. By Alice Sebold. This bestselling novel unfolds the story of a 14-year-old girl who is brutally raped and murdered, then narrates the aftermath as she watches over her family from heaven. Little Brown & Co.

Knockout Mouse: A Bill Damen Silicon Valley Mystery. By James Calder. The hero, a casualty of the dot-com crash, gets caught up in a bio-tech conspiracy after the death of a dinner guest. Chronicle Books.

Nowhere is Somewhere. By Malinda M. Hall. A mother and daughter go to West Texas to execute a will. Three funerals later, they’re still there trying to unravel sketchy doings. iUniverse.

Number, Please. By Sheree Petree. In this telephone company mystery, a telephone operator who overhears a conversation is targeted by a killer. Oak Tree Press.

Pasadena. By David Ebershoff. A novel set against the backdrop of Southern California development during the first half of the twentieth century. Random House.

A Playdate With Death. By Ayelet Waldman. Public defender turned stay–at–home mom Juliet Applebaum returns, and investigates the mysterious death of her personal trainer in between taming tantrums, planning playdates, and playing dress up with her kids. Berkley.

Rain Fall. By Barry Eisler. Debut novel by a Menlo Park lawyer, a thriller introducing Japanese–American freelance assassin and warrior John Rain. Putnam.

Sharpshooter: A Sunny McCoskey Napa Valley Mystery. By Nadia Gordon. A tale of suspense set in California’s wine country, featuring a cast of gourmets, socialites, and suspects. Chronicle Books.

Stone Kiss. By Faye Kellerman. Family business turns deadly in Kellerman’s new mystery featuring LAPD detective Peter Decker and wife Rina Lazarus. Warner Books.

Stormy Weather. By Paula L. Woods. Second mystery featuring Los Angeles homicide detective Charlotte Justice. One World.

Short Stories

Aaron’s Intifada and Other Short Stories. By Ken Goldstein. The search for self runs straight into random violence and beauty in this collection of fourteen stories. Writers Club Press.

Nonfiction

The Age of Gold. The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream. By H.W. Brands. Stories of the men and women of the California Gold Rush and the far-reaching impact of this era in U.S. history. Doubleday.

Ain’t I A Beauty Queen?: Black Women: Beauty, and the Politics of Race. By Maxine Leeds Craig. Tracing her story to 1891, when a black newspaper launched a contest to find the most beautiful woman of the race, CSUH Professor Maxine Leeds Craig documents how black women have negotiated the intersection of race, class, politics, and personal appearance in their lives. Craig takes the reader from beauty parlors in the 1940s to late night political meetings in the 1960s to demonstrate the powerful influence of social movements on daily life. Oxford University Press.

The Backbone of the World, A Portrait of a Vanishing Way of Life Along the Continental Divide. By Frank Clifford. The author, an LA Times editor, profiles sheepherders, outfitters and remote ranchers struggling to survive in the modern west. Broadway Books.

The Birdhouse Chronicles. By Cathleen Miller. An account of how Miller and her husband abandoned their San Francisco advertising careers and cappuccinos-on-every-corner lifestyle to make a radical new life for themselves in a 100-year-old Pennsylvania farmhouse located in the middle of an Amish corn patch. Part memoir, part travelogue, and part nature writing. The Lyons Press.

Boss Ladies, Watch Out!: Essays on Women, Sex and Writing. By Terry Castle. A collection on literary criticism, women’s writing and sexuality. Routledge.

The Cafes of San Francisco: A Guide to the Sights, Sounds, and Tastes of America’s Original Cafe Society. By S.Green, R.Green and A.K.Crump. This stroll through the Bay Area’s cafe culture includes stories and recipes from cafe lovers like Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr., Francis Ford Coppola and Chef Joey Altman. TCB Cafe Publishing.

Five Against the Sea: A True Story of Courage & Survival. By Ron Arias. Odyssey of five Costa Rican fishermen adrift in Pacific for five months. Bristol Fashion Publications.

Fixing Elections: The Failure of America’s Winner-Take-All Politics. By Steven Hill. Co-founder of the Center for Voting and Democracy contends it’s not just the Electoral College that’s outdated, but our entire 18th-century political system. Routledge.

Guide to Birds of the Salton Sea. By Barbara Massey and Richard Zembal. A handy guide to the more than 400 bird species that call the Salton Sea home; research was assisted by a large number of volunteer bird watchers. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Press.

The High Sierra of California. By Gary Snyder and Tom Killion. The journal writings of Snyder, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, and images of printmaker Killion create a tribute to the bold, jagged peaks that have inspired generations of naturalists, artists, and writers. Heyday Books, Berkeley.

The Hippie Dictionary. By John Bassett McCleary. A guide to hippie culture of the 60s and 70s, from slang to civil unrest. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley.

Jewish Life in the American West: Perspectives on Migration, Settlement, and Community. Edited by Eva F. Kahn. In American popular culture and scholarship, American Jewry has been viewed from the perspective of the New York Jewish immigrant experience. But for those Jews who settled in western cities and towns, this epic played only a minor role. Between 1850 and the 1920s the Jewish population of the west grew from a number too small to count to an estimated 300,000 people Autry Museum of Western Heritage/University of Washington Press.

L.A. Now. Volumes One and Two. By Richard Koshalek, Thom Mayne, and Dana Hutt. A collaborative design initiative to focus creativity on downtown Los Angeles and provide the foundation for its future development. Volume One offers a snapshot of Los Angeles at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Volume Two features seven proposals for a reshaping downtown. University of California Press.

A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead. By Dennis McNally. A portrait of the legendary, written by its official historian and publicist. Broadway Books.

Making a Literary Life: Lessons on Writing and Living. By Carolyn See. Novelist offers a how-to guide for the wannabe writer. Random House.

Married to the Icepick Killer: A Poet in Hollywood. By Carol Muske–Dukes. A collection of real–life adventures and meditations on literature and landscape. Random House.

Searching for Joaquin: Myth, Murieta and History in California. By Bruce Thornton. The life and times of a celebrated badman, Joaquin Murieta. Encounter Books.

My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965 (Historical Studies of Urban America).  By Becky M. Nicolaides. Blue-collar workers built South Gate and surrounding communities literally from the ground up, using sweat equity rather than cash to construct their own homes. University of Chicago Press.

Narrowing the Nation’s Power: The Supreme Court Sides with the States. By John T. Noonan Jr. Federal judge takes a critical look at how the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has, in the last six years, cut back the power of Congress and enhanced the autonomy of the fifty states. University of California Press.

No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World’s First Supermodel. By Janice Dickinson. Model’s memoir of her roller coaster world. ReganBooks.

Outlaw Woman. By Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz. Memoir by a founder of the Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960s. Set in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, South Lake Tahoe. City Lights.

Pacific High. By Tim Palmer. Author chronicles his nine-month trip along the coast ranges from Baja to Alaska. Shearwater Books/Island Press.

The Perfect Store: Inside E Bay. By Adam Cohen. A corporate bio of the giant online swap meet and its wacky clientele. Little Brown & Co.

A Rainbow of Gangs: Street Cultures in the Mega-City. By James Diego Vigil. University of California Irvine professor explores the Los Angeles gang scene and the social and economic factors that lead to gang membership. University of Texas Press.

Mission San Juan Capistrano: A Place of Peace. By Kathleen Walker. The story of California’s Mission San Juan Capistrano, the people who built it, the people served by it, and the tens of thousands of people who visit it each year. Arizona Highways.

San Francisco: Building the Dream City. By James Beach Alexander and James Heig. Coffee table book unfolds the story of the city in architecture. Scottwall Associates (San Francisco).

Should I Medicate My Child? Sane Solutions for Troubled Kids with and without Psychiatric Drugs. By Lawrence H. Diller. A pediatrician’s guide to making treatment decisions for children with psychological problems. Basic Books.

Soliah: The Sara Jane Olson Story. By Sharon Darby Hendry. The true-crime tale of the Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive turned suburban Minnesota housewife who dodged the law for more than two decades. Cable Publishing.

Surviving Through the Days. Edited by Herbert W. Luthin. A collection of stories, anecdotes, myths, reminiscences, and songs drawn from California’s many native cultures. University of California Press.

The Toaster Broke So We’re Getting Married. By Pamela Holm. A memoir structured around the planning of a San Francisco wedding. MacAdam/Cage Publishing.

Vietnam Now. By David Lamb. A veteran war correspondent and Los Angeles Times reporter returns to Southeast Asia, producing a memoir, historical narrative and travelogue of modern Vietnam. Public Affairs.

We’ve Got Blog: How Weblogs Are Changing Our Culture. By Rebecca Blood and contributors. An introduction to weblogs — online journals and diaries — and the people who keep them. Perseus.

Women at Ground Zero: Stories of Courage and Compassion. By Susan Hagen and Mary Carouba. A collection of first-person stories told by women firefighters, police officers, paramedics, EMTs, and others who responded to the World Trade Center last September. Alpha Books.

Women Who Run the Show: How a Brilliant and Creative New Generation of Women Stormed Hollywood, 1973-2000. By Mollie Gregory. Documentary film producer and director Gregory interviews more than 100 women who’ve made their mark in film. St. Martin’s Press.

Writing Smarts. By Kerry Madden. This is a book filled with writing exercises to help children pen their own stories, poetry, and school papers. American Girl Library, Pleasant Publishing.

Children’s books

Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes. By Wendelin Van Draanen. Teen detective unravels the mystery of a strange girl who dumps a baby at the mall. Knopf.

Girl Coming in for a Landing. By Alprin Halprin Wayland. A novel of poems that follows a year in the life of a teenage girl. Knopf.

If You Take a Mouse to School.  By Laura Numeroff, Illustrated.by Felicia Bond. The latest in this popular series. (ages 3-7). Laura Geringer Books.

Stars! Stars! Stars! By Bob Barner. Author takes young readers on a ride through outer space to visit distant planets and dazzling stars, using simple rhyming text and colorful torn-paper collage illustrations (ages 4-8). Chronicle Books.

Storybook Travels: From Eloise’s New York to Harry Potter’s London, Visits to 30 of the Best-Loved Landmarks in Children’s Literature. By Colleen Dunn Bates and Susan LaTempa. With itineraries for more than thirty locales in North America and Europe, Storybook Travels explores destinations near and far, rural and urban. Harmony Books.

Sunsets of the West. By Tony Johnston. Picture books details tells a family’s journey westward by covered wagon. Putnam.

This Land Was Made for You and Me. By Elizabeth Partridge. Biography of folk singer Woody Guthrie. Viking Childrens Books.

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Early, 2002

Fiction

Black Water. By T. Jefferson Parker. Detective Merci Rayborn returns in a new novel packed with murder, love and betrayal. Hyperion.

Brown Glass Windows. By devorah major. Ranger, a troubled Vietnam vet who is now a drug addict, has trashed his marriage but still has contact with his son, a graffiti artist. When Ranger is killed in a drive-by shooting, his son turns to his friends for support but finally, in a gesture of hope, travels to the Vietnam Memorial to visit his father’s spirit. Curbstone Press.

Wrestling with Angels: A Tale of Two Brothers. By Clifton Snider. Two gay brothers, sons of a Pentecostal preacher, become friends. Then one of them disappears under ominous circumstances. Xlibris.

Conflict of Interest. Nancy Taylor Rosenberg. A veteran Southern California prosecutor attempting to reconstruct her shattered personal life is suddenly plunged into a robbery case only to find out that a far more serious crime may be unfolding. Hyperion.

Poetry/Short Stories

Given Sugar, Given Salt. By Jane Hirshfield In her fifth poetry collection, Hirshfield explores questions of identity, aging, death, and of time. Harper Perennial.

Love Works. By Janice Mirikitani. San Francisco poet’s work gives voice to people on the margin, including the present-day hungry as well as Japanese-Americans incarcerated during World War II. City Lights Publishers.

Nonfiction

Brown: The Last Discovery of America. America is browning. As politicians, schoolteachers, and grandparents attempt to decipher what that might mean, Richard Rodriguez argues America has been brown from its inception. Viking.

A Good Camp. By Leland Fetzer. A history of San Diego County’s gold mining, in Julian and the Cuyamacas, from 1870 to the present. Sunbelt Publications.

Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace, 1940-1950.  By Kevin Starr. The sixth volume in Starr’s cultural history of California examines the decade that changed the largely agricultural state into a powerful national player in politics, defense, manufacturing and entertainment. The authors is State Librarian of California. Oxford University Press.

Fire Lover: A True Story. By Joseph Wambaugh. The story of a wanna-be cop turned serial arsonist. William Morrow & Co.

How I Learned to Snap: A Small-Town Coming-of-Age and Coming-OutStory. By Kirk Read. San Francisco writer’s memoir of growing up gay in Reagan-era America. Hill Street Press.

Kesling Modern Structures: Popularizing Modern Living in Southern California 1934-1962.. By Patrick Pascal. The saga of William Kesling and his role in bringing modern architecture to Southern California. Balcony Press, Glendale.

Life Messages: Inspiration for the Woman’s Spirit. By Josephine Carlton. A book of hope, courage, and inspiration based on interviews with more than 30 successful women, including Isabel Allende, Laurel Burch, Alice Waters, Sylvia Boorstein and Mary Bitterman. Andrews McMeel Publishing.

We Approach Our Martinis with Such High Expectations. By Jamie Brisick. The author, a one-time professional surfer and former editor of Surfing Magazine, shares a diverse collection of images from his journeys around the world. Consafos Press.

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