Welcome to our list of 2003 books by California authors. You can buy books right from this page. Just click through our title links to buy at Powells.com.
Books are listed by month of publication.
2003 releases: january . february . march . april . may . june . july . august . september . october . november-december
2007 releases . 2006 releases. 2005 releases . 2004 releases . 2002 releases .
Click here for a list of our blog entries on 2008 releases.
Fiction
Abandon: A Romance. By Pico Iyer. John Macmillain, an English graduate student in California, is obsessed with understanding the secrets of Sufism. When rumors reach him of ancient Islamic manuscripts smuggled out of Iran, he follows their trail, fruitlessly, through Damascus and Spain and India. Knopf.
Bump. By Diana Wagman. The intricate aftermath of a three-car freeway pileup in Los Angeles. Carroll & Graf.
The Disapparation of James. By Anne Ursu. From the author of Spilling Clarence, a novel about the joy of family and the perils of loving. Hyperion.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. By Cory Doctorow. In his first novel, the author fashions a future where death has a cure, scarcity is unknown, and karma is currency. Tor Books.
Eleven Karens. By Peter Lefcourt. The author describes this book as a modern, deconstructed take of Flaubert’s L’Education Sentimentale in which a narrator recounts the story of his relationships with eleven women, all of whom are named Karen. Simon & Schuster.
Final Witness. By Simon Tolkien. British teenager accuses his stepmother of conspiracy in his mother’s murder in this debut legal drama. Random House.
Grass Roof, Tin Roof. By Dao Strom. Novel follows a Vietnamese woman from her days of working for a politically charged newspaper in Saigon in the ’70s to her family life in California and on into her children’s lives. Mariner Books.
Goblin Fruit: Stories. By David Marshall Chan. A collection of stories that draws on the experience of growing up Asian-American in Southern California. Context Books.
Hollywood Tough. By Stephen Cannell. LAPD investigator Shane Scully and sidekick use their wits to run a complicated sting and bring the bad guys to their knees to solve a murder. St. Martin’s Press.
Marriage: A Duet. By Anne Taylor Fleming. Los Angeles journalist has written two novellas, each connected by one theme: infidelity. Hyperion.
More Like Wrestling. By Danyel Smith. Pinch and her older sister are coming of age in Oakland at a time when the beautiful, crumbling city is being transformed by the effects of a burgeoning drug trade. In the end Pinch must negotiate the line between sister and savior and decide whether to save her sister, or herself. Crown.
Parts Unknown. By Kevin Brennan. As a young man, Bill Argus abandoned his wife, their young son, and his family’s Sonoma County dairy farm. Now, at 63, the once famous photographer is overcome with the need to find forgiveness and redemption from those he left behind. William Morrow.
Scavenger Hunt. By Robert Ferrigno. Jimmy Gage, reporter for Slap magazine in Los Angeles, returns for a new Hollyood thriller. Pantheon Books.
Sitting Shiva. By Elliot Feldman. The story takes place in Detroit in a period from the fifties to the seventies. It’s about a son coping with the death of his father, a small-time gangster, during the Jewish religion’s seven days of mourning, shiva. Foxrock/PGW.
Six Easy Pieces: Easy Rawlins Stories. By Walter Mosley. Six stories featuring Mosley’s popular detective. Atria Books.
The Ticket Out. By Helen Knode. Hollywood thriller takes off when a burned-out movie critic for an LA magazine finds a dead body in her bathtub and gets tangled in the investigation. Harcourt.
Nonfiction
Agony in the Garden. By John Van Der Zee. A tale of pastoral wrongdoing in the Santa Rosa diocese. Thunder’s Mouth Press.
The Amazing World of Rice. By Marie Simmons. A cookbook author and Bon Appétit columnist, Simmons journeys through the wide world of rice — from learning how to select the right type for every dish to the best ways to prepare each kind. William Morrow & Co.
Backfire: Carly Fiorina’s High-Stakes Battle for the Soul of Hewlett-Packard. By Peter Burrows. BusinessWeek writer probes Fiorina’s controversial reign at Hewlett-Packard. John Wiley & Sons.
Daughter of Jerusalem. By Sharon Geyer. Memoir offers a timely look at three faiths by a Christian who lived and worked in Iran and Israel. Faithwalk.
How the Other Half Works: Immigration and the Social Organization of Labor. By Roger Waldiger and Michael I. Lichter. Focusing on Los Angeles, the authors explore high-tech society’s demand for unskilled immigrant workers. University of California Press.
Chasing Hepburn: A Memoir of Shanghai, Hollywood, and a Chinese Family’s Fight for Freedom. By Gus Lee. The story of the Lee family — a saga spanning four generations, two continents, and a century and a half of Chinese history. Harmony.
Devil at My Heels: A WWII Hero’s Epic Saga of Torment, Survival, and Forgiveness. By Louis Zamperini with David Rensin. The story of how 1936 Olympian Zamperini survived when his bomber crashed into the Pacific during a wartime rescue mission, and he survived drifting 47 days and 2000 miles, only to be captured by the Japanese and tortured in prison camps until the war ended. William Morrow & Co.
Epicenter: San Francisco Bay Area Art Now. By Mark Johnstone and Leslie Aboud Holzman A hotbed of seismic activity, the Bay Area also is an epicenter of vital new work by an art community always pushing the bounds of cultural innovation. Chronicle Books.
Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World. By Greg Critser. The author grapples with the nation’s obesity epidemic by tracing connections among class, politics, culture, and economics. Houghton Mifflin.
Four Seasons in Five Senses: Things Worth Savoring. By David Mas Masumoto. The author — a writer, lecturer and third–generation organic peach and raisin farmer in the Central Valley — explores farm life through the five senses in this collection of essays. Norton.
Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. Edited by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild. A collection of fifteen essays on the consequences of globalization on women worldwide, including Filipina housekeepers in Hong Kong, Latina domestic workers in Los Angeles, sexual slaves in Thailand and Vietnamese contract brides. Metropolitan Books.
Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century. By Hunter S. Thompson. The writer chronicles his life as a rebel. Simon & Schuster.
Los Angeles: People, Places, and the Castle on the Hill. By A.M. Homes. New York-based novelist and short-story writer A. M. Homes checks us into the Chateau Marmont and uses life at this iconic landmark as a prism through which she views and experiences Los Angeles culture, past and present. National Geographic.
Murder & Mayhem: A Doctor Answers Medical and Forensic Questions for Mystery Writers. By D.P. Lyle. The author culls the best of his “The Doctor Is In” Q&A column for the Mystery Writers of America, in which he answers medical and forensic questions from writers all over the country. St. Martin’s Minotaur.
My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account by the Los Alamos Scientist Who Was Falsely Accused of Being a Spy. By Wen Ho Lee with Helen Zia. Taiwan-born scientist teams up with San Francisco author to tell the story behind the espionage saga that ended with his release from jail. Hyperion.
The New H.N.I.C.: The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip Hop. By Todd Boyd. USC professor contends that hip-hop has replaced the Civil Rights movement as the inspirational political and cultural landmark for African-Americans born long after the death of Martin Luther King. “I wish I was a rapper,” reads the first line in his collection of essays. New York University.
Perfect Enough: Carly Fiorina and the Reinvention of Hewlett-Packard. By George Anders. Anders, senior editor at Fast Company magazine, tells the story of Fiorina’s rise to the top of corporate America, with his subject’s cooperation. Portfolio.
Pox: Genius, Madness, and the Mysteries of Syphilis. By Deborah Hayden. San Anselmo author chronicles the impact syphilis has on the human body and how those symptoms may have in part been influencing some of the great minds of history, including Nietzsche, Schubert, Baudelaire, van Gogh, and Flaubert. Basic Books.
Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America. By Arianna Huffington. Political commentator skewers CEOs, politicians, lobbyists, andWall Street bankers for gorging themselves on grossly inflated pay packages and heaping helpings of stock options. Crown Publishing.
River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West. By Rebecca Solnit. Cultural historian tells the story of a 19th century inventor and photographer who, the SF Chronicle says, “shot Yosemite with a box camera, Leland Stanford’s galloping horse with an early precursor to the movie camera and his own wife with a small revolver.” Penguin.
Starving to Death on $200 Million a Year: The Short, Absurd Life of the Industry Standard. By James Ledbetter. A former editor at the Standard, Ledbetter details how the Bay Area magazine succumbed to the same gold-rush fever as the Internet businesses it was supposed to be chronicling. PublicAffairs.
The Woman Who Wouldn’t Talk. By Susan McDougal with Pat Harris. In her memoir, McDougal describes the years she was targeted by Whitewater Special Prosecutor Ken Starr and the nearly two years she spent in prison. Carroll & Graf.
Poetry
Fire is Favorable to the Dreamer. By Susan Terris. New collection of poems by San Francisco author. Arctos Press, Sausalito.
Children’s
Baby Signs for Animals/Baby Signs for Bedtime. By Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn. A pair of new books by two Northern California psychology professors who offer advice on teaching babies hows to communicate with signs before they learn words. Harper Collins Children’s Books.
Rhinos Who Play Baseball. By Julie Mammano. If rhinos can surf, it only makes sense that they also can play baseball.(ages 4-8) Chronicle Books.
Fiction
Flash House. By Aimee Liu. Joanna Shaw’s journalist husband is killed in a Kashmir plane crash in 1949. Or is he? She travels to India with her husband’s best friend to seek the truth. Warner Books.
Intern. By Bonnie Hearn Hill. Frenso novelist tells a story of a married California politician who gets involved with a young intern and then the intern mysteriously vanishes. Hmm, sounds familiar. Mira Books.
The Last Detective. By Robert Crais. Ninth installment in the Elvis Cole series. Doubleday.
My Last Movie Star: A Novel of Hollywood. By Martha Sherrill. The story of a celebrity reporter who crashes her car while interviewing one of her famous subjects and is visited during her recouperation by movie queens of the past. Through the actresses, Sherrill examines our society’s infatuation with celebrity and its effect on the celebrated. Random House.
Wintering: A Novel of Sylvia Plath. By Kate Moses. Former Salon writer unfolds a novel about artistry, marriage, motherhood, and self-understanding that captures the last months of Sylvia Plath’s life. St. Martin’s Press.
Nonfiction
920 O’Farrell Street: A Jewish Girlhood in Old San Francisco. By Harriet Jane Levy. Introduction by Charlene Akers. The girlhood memoir of Harriet Lane Levy, friend and neighbor of Alice B. Toklas, provides an intimate and detailed glimpse into San Francisco’s Victorian past. Heyday Books/Santa Clara University.
A Dangerous Place: California’s Unsettling Fate. By Marc Reisner. From the author of Cadillac Desert — the saga of water and the American West — comes a vision of California’s seismic future. Pantheon.
Girl in the Mirror: Mothers and Daughters in the Years of Adolescence. By Nancy L. Snyderman, M.D. and Peg Streep. San Francisco doctor look at the interaction between mother and daughter during this decade-long process, and how both the mother and her understanding of her parental role need to evolve and change as her child enters a new and crucial phase of emotional and psychic growth. Hyperion.
The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949-1967, Volume Two: Political Turmoil. By Clark Kerr. Former UC President publishes the second installment of his memoir, offering an insider’s account of how the university rose to scientific and scholarly prominence amid the political intrigues of the day. University of California Press.
The Healing Power of Pets: Harnessing the Amazing Ability of Pets to Make and Keep People Happy and Healthy. By Dr. Marty Becker with Danelle Morton. Good Morning America’s veterinary correspondent blends science and personal stories to explore how pet owners triumphed over chronic pain, paralyzing phobias, sedentary lifestyles, and life-threatening conditions. Written with LA writer Morton. Hyperion.
Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow and the Feeling Brain. By Antonio Damasio. Completing the trilogy that began with Descartes’ Error and continued with The Feeling of What Happens, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio now focuses his research on emotions. He shows how joy and sorrow are cornerstones of our survival. Harcourt.
The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up. By David Rensin. An oral history of a crucial Tinseltown institution. Ballantine Books.
Pandering. By Heidi Fleiss. The Hollywood Madam tells her story, from her lucrative babysitting empire at age 13 to her global network of call girls and customers. Publishers’ Group West.
The San Fernando Valley: America’s Suburb. By Kevin Roderick. Book explores the history of the San Fernando Valley where forty percent of Los Angeles lives. Revised edition includes November 2002 vote on secession. Los Angeles Times Books.
Searching For El Dorado. By Marc Herman. Travels with Amazon gold miners. Author raised in Los Angeles, resides in Oakland. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday/Vintage
Poetry
From The Mouths of Angels. Poetry anthology with chapters by Linda King, Elaine Madsen, Ann Menebroker, Rebecca Morrison & Anne Waldman. 12 Gauge Press.
Children
Under the Chinaberry Tree: Books and Inspirations for Mindful Parenting. By Ann Ruethling and Patti Pitcher. Ruethling, the founder of the Chinaberry children’s book catalogue, and Pitcher, a longtime associate, offer a handbook on the joys of parenting. It includes reflections on daily life, tips, quotes and reviews of favorite children’s books. Broadway Books.
Fiction
Altered Carbon. By Richard K. Morgan. In the twenty–fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy and advances in technology have redefined life itself — a person’s consciousness can now be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or “sleeve”) making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen. Ex–U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs is dispatched one hundred eighty light–years from home, re–sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco) and thrown into a shady, far–reaching conspiracy. Del Rey Books.
Beneath a Silent Moon. By Tracy Grant. In this follow-up to Daughter of the Game, passion and intrigue once again clash against the backdrop of England and Europe of the early 1800’s. William Morrow.
Bloodvine. By Aris Janigian. Family saga about an Armenian clan that came to California after the Turkish massacres of 1915. Heyday Books.
Dante’s Inferno. By Sandow Birk. Long Beach artist illustrates and, along with Marcus Sanders, retranslates Dante’s journey to modern day Los Angeles. The book includes more than sixty original lithographs. Trillium Press.
Desert Winter: A Claire Gray Mystery. By Michael Craft. After 30-plus years of a largely peaceful existence in Manhattan, Broadway director Claire Gray moves to Palm Springs and is surprised to find herself enmeshed in her second murder investigation in a matter of months. St. Martin’s Minotaur
Desirable Daughters. By Bharati Mukherjee. The author, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, follows the diverging paths taken by three Calcutta-born sisters as they come of age in a changing world. Hyperion.
Drop City. By T.C.Boyle. Two communities collide when a down-at-the-heels California communes decides to relocate in 1970 to the unforgiving landscape of interior Alaska. Viking Press.
Heart Seizure. By Bill Fitzhugh. A wild cast of characters enter a desperate race to get a donated heart into the right patient in this comic novel. William Morrow.
Keeping Watch: A Novel. By Laurie R. King. The story of a Vietnam vet who rescues children and women victims from violent environments. His latest case takes a dangerous turn. Bantam Doubleday Dell.
The Last Byline. By Rip Rense. Novel features reporter Charles Bogle, circa 1980, at the Los Angeles Chronicle, popularly known as the Chronic Illness. Xlibris Corporation.
Last Call. By Diane Dean-Epps. This humor mystery features crime-fighting teachers, rock n roll bands and love-interest entanglements. McKenna Publishing Group.
The Marrano Legacy: A Contemporary Crypto-Jewish Priest reveals Secrets of his Double-Life. By Trudi Alexy. The correspondence between a secret Jewish priest protecting other crypto-Jews in his parish and the author, a formerly secret Jew. University of New Mexico Press.
The Sugar Skull. By Denise Hamilton. Sequel to the mystery, The Jasmine Trade. Scribner.
Surfing the CIA. By Nicholas Ware. Gus, a young surfer, is recruited by the Bush 1 administration on the eve of Gulf War 1. Within months he is sent to Indonesia where is spying work and his surfing after work get hopelessly intertwined. Ware is a former Marine who also served in the C.I.A. Pince-Nez Press.
Taming the Tuition Tiger: Getting the Money to Graduate — With 529 Plans, Scholarships, Financial Aid, and More. By Kathy Kristof. The author, a Los Angeles Times personal finance columnist, offers a guide to saving, investing, and managing taxes for college. W.W. Norton & Co.
Wonder When You’ll Miss Me. By Amanda Davis. The story of a 16-year-old girl haunted by the ghost of her formerly fat self. She commits a violent act of revenge and runs off with the circus. Morrow.
Nonfiction
Among the Mansions of Eden: Tales of Love, Lust, and Land in Beverly Hills. By David Weddle. A behind-the-gates exploration of Beverly Hills. William Morrow.
The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco. By Marilyn Chase. Wall Street Journal reporter delves into the events surrounding the bubonic plague that swept early 1900s San Francisco. Random House.
A Celebration of Herbs: Recipes from the Huntington Herb Garden. Edited by Shirley Kerins and the Huntington’s staff. Kerins is the former curator of the Huntington Library’s herb garden in Pasadena and helped create this cookbook featuring more than 200 recipes. There’s also a guide to growing and drying herbs. Huntington Library Press.
City Baby LA. By Lisa Rocchio and Linda Friedman Meadow. A guide for expectant and new parents in the City of Angels, including a list of preschools. Real Moms Ink.
Esteemable Acts: 10 Actions for Building Real Self-Esteem. By Francine Ward. Mill Valley CEO propels her own life challenges into a call for action. Bantam Doubleday Dell.
Gearheads: The Turbulent Rise of Robatic Sports. By Brad Stone. The interactions of business and art, of men and machines. Simon & Schuster.
How I Became a Human Being: A Disabled Man’s Quest for Independence. By Mark O–Brien. Six–year–old Mark O’Brien moved his arms and legs for the last time in September 1955. He came out of a thirty–day coma to find himself enclosed from the neck down in an iron lung, the machine in which he would live for much of the rest of his life. O’Brien, a poet, journalist and activist for others with disabilities, chronicled his struggles to lead an independent life. He died in 1999. University of Wisconsin Press.
How to be Creative if You Never Thought You Could. By Tera Leigh. Author and artist provides encouraging words and anecdotes to help readers discover their creative spirits and how creative ability can be realized through crafts. North Light Books (F & W Publications).
The Marrano Legacy: A Contemporary Crypto-Jewish Priest reveals Secrets of his Double-Life. By Trudi Alexy. The correspondence between a secret Jewish priest protecting other crypto-Jews in his parish and the author, a formerly secret Jew. University of New Mexico Press.
Meet Mr. Product. By Warren Dotz. A tribute to such pop-culture icons as the Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Peanut, and the Morton Salt Girl, this compendium charts the origins and development of the advertising character and gives brief glimpses into some of their secrets. Chronicle Books.
Mexifornia: A State of Becoming. By Victor Davis Hanson. The author challenges our immigration status quo. Encounter Books.
Natives, Newcomers, Exiles, Fugitives: Northern California Writers and Their Work. By Jonah Raskin. Book reviews, commentary, and interviews of thirty-two authors who reside in Northern California. Running Wolf Press, Healdsburg.
Safe & Sound: Healthy Travel with Children. By Marlene Coleman. Written from a pediatrician’s perspective, this guide by a Los Angeles doctor helps parents prepared for the expected and the unforeseen during vacations. Globe Pequot.
Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural, Cultural and Sexual History of a Misunderstood Animal. By Susan E. Davis and Margo DeMello. The authors, leading figures in the House Rabbit Society, explore the relationship between rabbits and people throughout time. Lantern Books.
Poetry/Short Stories
Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth. By Alice Walker. Poetry collection from the author of The Color Purple. Random House.
Beyond the Valley of the Contemporary Poets 2003. Annual anthology from submissions from California poets, including from Ralph Angel and B.H. Fairchild. Valley Contemporary Poets.
Daphne’s Lot. By Chris Abani. The title poem in this poetry collection is a novella in verse, celebrating the courage and determination of the poet’s mother while charting his family’s flight out of Biafra to England. Red Hen Press.
Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems from WritersCorps. Foreward by Nikki Giovanni. A collection of poems by teens who have taken part in Writing Corps programs in San Francisco, Washington, DC, and the Bronx. HarperCollins.
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. By Z.Z. Packer. Packer’s debut collection of short stories is full of challenges to its youthful, predominantly African-American cast of characters. Riverhead Books.
Children’s
Parade Day. By Bob Barner. From Rose Bowl to Christmas, Barner marches readers through the 12 months, invoking or inventing a parade for each. Holiday House.
Fiction
Christopher: A Tale of Seduction. by Allison Burnett. Unemployed, middle-aged, bipolar, gay, bitingly witty, erudite, unattractive, and lonely, B. K. Troop, the narrator of Christopher, isn’t exactly looking forward to a life of exciting prospects-until he meets his new neighbor. Broadway Books.
A Cold Heart. By Jonathan Kellerman. Psychologist-sleuth Alex Delaware returns in a new thriller and must discover the elusive ties among the murders of a painter, a blues musician, a ballet dancer, a punk rock singer, and a concert pianist. Ballantine Books.
Cold Pursuit. By T. Jefferson Parker. Homicide cop Tom McMichael is on the rotation when an 84-year-old city patriarch is found bludgeoned to death. That’s the setup for this urban murder tale in San Diego, the first time Parker has set a book outside his native Orange County. Hyperion.
Crescent. By Diana Abu-Jaber. Set in Los Angeles, this is the story of an Iraqi–American woman chef who falls in love with an Iraqi exile. W. W. Norton & Company.
Fleur de Leigh in Exile. By Diane Leslie. Fifteen-year-old Hollywood kid goes to boarding school, in a sequel to Fleur de Leigh’s Life of Crime (1999). Simon & Schuster.
Fraternity of Silence. By Katherine Shephard. A romantic mystery set in the world of politics, Fraternity of Silence is the first in the Silence Series. Seven Crown.
King Bongo. By Thomas Sanchez. The San Francisco author of the California generational saga, Rabbit Boss, has set his fifth novel, King Bongo, in 1950s Havana, amidst a world of political treachery, glamour, intrigue and corruption. Knopf.
Lita. By Jervey Tervalon. Sequel to the author’s Dead Above Ground. Atria.
Lost Light. By Michael Connelly. Fed up with the LAPD, Harry Bosch has resigned and is forced to find a new way of life. But the life of a retiree doesn’t suit him — and he takes on an investigation that puts him at odds with his old colleagues and the FBI. Little Brown and Company.
The Master of Monterey. By Lawrence Coates. Based on a bizarre episode in California history, this historical novel depicts what happens when an American naval vessel mistakenly conquers the capitol of Mexican California. There’s war, smuggling, fiestas, disguises, escapes, elopements, and farce, along with the exploration of classic American themes: the longing for utopia, the desire to escape from history and create a new identity, and the conflicts among multiple versions of history. University of Nevada Press.
Murder in the Bastille. By Cara Black. PI Aimee Leduc is in the dark not only figuratively but literally after a mysterious attack leaves her blinded at the start of her fourth in a series of Paris mysteries. Soho Press.
San Remo Drive: A Novel from Memory. By Leslie Epstein. Set in Los Angeles in the 1950s and then in 2000, this novel depicts the family of a famous film writer and director. The story meditates on the status of Jews and African-Americans in the U.S. after World War II, and evokes the landscape of Southern California in its last days before the migration to it of millions. Handel Books.
Screwball. By David Ferrell. Unbelievably, the Boston Red Sox’s luck may be about to change thanks to Ron Kane, the young phenom with an unhittable 110-mile-per-hour fastball and an ability to swing the bat. Trouble is, Kane is good at snuffing out more than just batters. William Morrow & Co.
Stiff. By Mary Roach. For two thousand years, cadavers have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way. W.W. Norton & Co.
That Water, Those Rocks. By Katharine Haake. The niece of a chief engineer on Shasta Dam’s construction found inspiration in California’s rivers and dams for her first novel. The author is a fourth generation California native who teaches at CSU, Northridge. University of Nevada Press.
When You Go Away. By Jessica Barksdale Inclan. What happens when a mother of three, abandoned by her husband, one day does the unthinkable–simply gets in her car and drives away? New American Library.
Nonfiction
Among Stone Giants: The Life of Katherine Routledge and Her Remarkable Expedition to Easter Island. By Jo Anne Van Tilburg. The author, an archaeologist, draws on nearly two decades of experience in the South Pacific, historical archives, and Routledge’s journals and field notes to tell the first female archaeologist to excavate these world–famous monoliths. Written with the cooperation of the Royal Geographical Society and the British Museum, the biography takes readers to the South Pacific island called Rapa Nui (meaning “land’s end”). There Routledge and her husband, co–leaders of the Mana Expedition of 1913, encountered a population recovering from near–extinction. Scribner’s.
Cash Cow Kids: The Guide to Financial Freedom at Any Age. By Lisa Jordan and Sheri Provost. A guide for parents to teach their kids about money in in a creative, entertaining way with real–life stories about child entrepreneurs. Abacus Publishing.
A Cup of Comfort for Mothers and Daughters. Edited by Colleen Sell A collection of non–fiction essays on the mother–daughter relationships. Book is part of the Cup of Comfort series and includes an essay by Los Angeles writer Mona Gable. AdamsMedia Corp.
The All American Cheese and Wine Book. By Laura Werlin. Berkeley author offers suggestions for cheese and wine pairings, fifty-five recipes and profiles of fifty American cheese makers and winemakers. Stewart, Tabori & Chang.
Annie and Margrit: Recipes and Stories From the Robert Mondavi Kitchen. By Annie Roberts, Margrit Mondavi and Victoria Wise. The team behind the Robert Mondavi Winery’s Vineyard Room restaurant serves up this behind-the-scenes book and cookbook featuring 130 recipes. Ten Speed Press.
Black Dahlia Avenger. By Steve Hodel. The author, a retired LAPD detective, names his own father as the killer in one of Los Angeles’ most infamous murder mysteries. Arcade Publishing.
Drama in the Desert: The Sights and Sounds of Burning Man. By Holly Kreuter. Introduction by Dave Eggers. Book-DVD set transports you to the Nevada desert for the annual Burning Man Festival. Raised Barn Press.
Fried Butter: A Food Memoir. By Abe Opincar. We are what we eat, and the author unfolds his life through the dishes, drinks, fruits and vegetables he savored in California, Kyoto, Jerusalem. Paris, Istanbul and Tijuana. He recalls leaving his wife the night he baked chicken, being roundly criticized by French hosts for not properly eating ripe peaches with a knife and fork. Soho Press.
Hollywood in Vintage Postcards. By Rod Kennedy. A celebration of Tinseltown’s past. Gibbs Smith Publishers.
Iconic L.A.: Stories of L.A.’s Most Memorable Buildings. By Gloria Koenig. Foreword by Frank Gehry. Architectural details and stories about 13 of the most distinctive structures in LA. Foreword by Frank Gehry. Los Angeles Times Books.
Mind Over Matter: Conversations with the Cosmos. By K.C. Cole. Los Angeles Times science writer and columnist offers a collection of her essays. Harcourt.
A Prayer for Burma. By Kenneth Wong. A Burmese expatriate in San Francisco reflects on his homeland. Santa Monica Press.
The Republic of East LA. By Luis J. Rodriguez. Collection of short stories about life in East Los Angeles. Rayo/Harper Collins.
Secrets of a Beverly Hills Cosmetic Surgeon: The Expert’s Guide to Safe, Successful Surgery. By Robert Kotler. A before and after guide. Ernest Mitchell Publishers.
Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books. By Paul Collins. Collins and his family moved from San Francisco to Welsh town of HayonWye, and writes about his life in the “town of books,” which boasts 1,500 inhabitants — and forty bookstores. Hay’s newest citizens take up residence in a sixteenth-century apartment over a bookstore, meeting the village’s large population of misfits and bibliomaniacs by working for the owner of the local castle and proprietor of the world’s largest and most chaotic used book warren. Bloomsbury.
W. C. Fields: A Biography. By James Curtis.The life and career of W. C. Fields, whose work spanned the twentieth century—in burlesque, vaudeville, silent pictures, talkies, radio, books, and recordings. Only death prevented him from working in television. Knopf.
The Wanderlust Survival Guide. Ken Vollmer. San Francisco author offers advice for world travelers and shares tales of misadventures. Brainwoofer Publishing.
The World’s Most Dangerous Places. By Robert Young Pelton. Fifth edition. Redondo Beach adventure writer updates his guide to twenty-five of the world’s most volatile countries. Quill.
Poetry/Short Stories
Moon Creek Road. By Elana Dykewomon. Short stories, some of them set in Northern California, about lesbian relationships and adventures by Lambda award-winning author. Spinsters Ink.
Poets against the War. By Sam Hamill. This collection grew out of Hamill’s request to fellow poets and writers to submit a poem or statement of conscience to his web site. Contributors include Adrienne Rich, W.S. Merwin, Galway Kinnell, Robert Bly, Marilyn Hacker, Grace Schulman, Shirley Kaufman, Wanda Coleman, Yusef Komunyakaa, Hayden Carruth, Jane Hirshfield, Tess Gallagher, Sandra Cisneros, and former Poet Laureate Rita Dove. Thunder’s Mouth Press.
Redneck Haiku. By Mary K. Witte. Fresno writer waxes on RVs, Wal-Mart, beer, pop tarts, dogs, pickups, monster trucks, NASCAR, boats, trailer parks, barns, hunting, Las Vegas, and the lottery all in poems just three lines and seventeen syllables. Santa Monica Press.
Children’s
Disappearing Act. By Sid Fleischman. An unseen man is stalking twelve-year-old Kevin and his sister, Holly. They flee town in Holly’s beat-up old car, driving west until they reach the Pacific Ocean, changing their names and attempting to hide in plain sight as street performers in Venice. (Middle grade fiction.) Greenwillow Books, HarperCollins.
Elvis the Rooster Almost Goes to Heaven. By Denys Cazet. Elvis, the wise-cracking rooster from the Minnie and Moo series, takes the spotlight in this beginning reader. HarperCollins.
Fire! Fire! Hurry! Hurry! By Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha, illustrated by Karen Barbour. Friendly introduction to the world of firefighters illustrated with bright and busy pictures. Greenwillow Books, HarperCollins.
Inspector Hopper’s Mystery Year. By Doug Cushman. Mysteries can happen anywhere, anytime, as Inspector Hopper, the grasshopper private eye discovers in his second collection of adventures. (Beginning reader) HarperCollins.
The Kids’ Yoga Deck: 50 Poses and Games . By Annie Buckley. Los Angeles author and illustrator offers a deck to help children build strength, flexibility, balance and mental focus. Chronicle Books.
The Magic Paintbrush. By Laurence Yep. In a blend of fantasy with the history and lore of Chinese-American immigration, this book spins a story of intergenerational love. (Middle grade fiction) HarperCollins.
Minnie and Moo and the Potato from Planet X. By Denys Cazet. In their eighth adventure, Minnie and Moo meet a potato-shaped alien named Spud when his ship crash-lands on the farm. (Beginning reader.) HarperCollins.
Pio Peep! Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes. By Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, adapted by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Vivi Escriva. Twenty-nine of the best-known nursery rhymes in the Hispanic world are featured in this bilingual collection. Rayo, HarperCollins.
River of Words: Images and Poetry in Praise of Water. Edited by Pamela Michael. Introductions by Robert Hass and Thacher Hurd. Collection of environmental paintings and poems taken from the River of Words annual poetry and art contest for students K-12. The artwork and poetry is focused on water and the book presents them in their natural order; from poems and paintings on rain as the source of water, to those on rivers, creeks, lakes, wetlands and finally, oceans. Heyday Books.
Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception. By Wendelin Van Draanen. Seventh-grade sleuth Sammy Keyes investigates mysterious happenings at a local art gallery. Knopf Books for Young Readers/Random House Childrens.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear. By Alice Schertle, illustrated by Linda Hill Griffith. Picture book introduces a cast of teddy bears. HarperCollins.
The Tiger’s Apprentice. By Laurence Yep. Can a boy, a tiger, a dragon, and a monkey save the world? Find out in this action-packed fantasy from the two-time Newbery Honor author. (Middle grade fiction) HarperCollins Publishers.
Where Is My Mommy? By Julie Downing. A little bunny’s first question when she wakes up prompts a reassuring answer from the other animals in this picture book. HarperCollins.
Where’s God? By Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Sammy has a big favor to ask God, but he isn’t sure how to find Him in this picture book. HarperCollins.
Whistling. By Elizabeth Partridge. A boy and his father go camping and whistle up the sun together (ages 4-8). Greenwillow.
Fiction
The Book of Dead Birds. By Gayle Brandeis. Mother/daughter tale of identity and reconciliation set in San Diego and the Salton Sea during the bird die-offs of 1996. Harper Collins.
The Canal House. By Mark Lee. Set on three continents, The Canal House tells the story of the love affair between an American foreign correspondent and a British doctor. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
Dragon Bones. By Lisa See. Liu Hulan, an agent for China’s Ministry of Public Security, and her American husband, attorney David Stark, return to investigate murder and archaeological theft at China’s Three Gorges Dam. Random House.
Dancing Barefoot: Five Short but True Stories about Life in the So-Called Space Age. By Wil Wheaton. A collection from the actor who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek The Next Generation. Monolith Press.
The Face. By Dean R. Koontz. New thriller takes readers into a world populated by murderous actors and the walking dead, hit men and heroes, long-buried dreams and never-dying hope. Bantam Books.
Fool Me Once. By Bill Pieper. A tale of loyalty and disloyalty among friends during the Vietnam era. Pacific Slope Press.
The Gangster We Are All Looking for. By Lê Thi Diem Thúy.In 1978 six refugees — a girl, her father, and four “uncles” Ñ are pulled from the sea to begin a new life in San Diego. The life of a Vietnamese family in America observed through the eyes of a child. Knopf.
Good Morning Killer. By April Smith. New thriller brings back maverick FBI agent Ana Grey, and this time she’s working the Santa Monica kidnapping of a 15-year-old girl. Knopf.
The Last Warrior Queen . By Mary Mackey. Sacramento author explores a place where myth and reality meet. The year is 3643 B.C.E. The great matriarchal cities which have dominated the earth are about to disappear as hordes of nomads overrun the fertile valleys of Mesopotamia. Born into one of these tribes is Inanna, a woman who speaks the language of plants and whose touch can heal. Led by her powers to the City of the Dove, Inanna fulfills her destiny by becoming a great warrior queen. Backinprint.com.
Nature Lessons. By Lynette Brasfield. Novel is the story of a woman’s search for her missing, mentally ill mother, a reflection on love and loss and guilt. St. Martin’s Press.
The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done. By Sandra Newman. When Chrysalis Moffat and her brother Eddie inherit a mansion on the coast of California, Eddie hatches a plan to fleece credulous Californians of their cash and, as Chrysalis begins to discover her adoptive father’s secret past, her own identity begins to unravel. HarperCollins.
Southland. By Nina Revoyr. In her second novel, Revoyr tells a story of race, love, murder, and history against the backdrop of Los Angeles. While trying to fulfill a request from her grandfatherÕs will, a young Japanese-American woman discovers that four black teenagers were killed during the Watts Riots of 1965 and that the murders were never solved or reported. Akashic Books.
Underkill. By Leonard Chang. Mystery unfolds amidst a couple’s deteriorating relationship and an investigation into a relative’s suspicious death. Set in San Francisco and Los Angeles. St. Martin’s Minotaur.
Unpaid Dues. By Barbara Serenella. Latest crime novel featuring Miranda “Munch” Mancini. Scribner.
Will Work for Food or $: A Memoir from the Roadside. By Bruce Moody. Unable to find work after getting fired, Moody he made a simple sign and began a life on the side of the road. He shares the unexpected elation he feels at his contact with others, the joy he gets by being out of doors, and the surprising generosity he experiences. Red Wheel.
Poetry/Short Stories
Hope: True Stories of Answered Prayers. By Sophie Elise Lalazarian. Santa Monica offers a collection of essays and poems about fulfilling impossible dreams. Red Rock Press.
The Laws of Evening: Stories. By Mary Yukari Waters. This collection explores Japanese society caught between the long shadow of World War II and the onset of Westernization. The women and children who inhabit these stories have lost husbands and fathers in the war and now face a world dramatically altered by Western influence. Scribner.
Nonfiction
Already Home: A Topography of Spirit. By Barbara Gates. Berkeley author explores the connections between local history, the environment, her family, her body, and her spirit. Shambhala Publications.
Avoiding Prison and Other Noble Vacation Goals: Adventures in Love and Danger. By Wendy Dale. The author wants to visit her best friend (never mind that he lives in Beirut), she wants to see her parents for Christmas (never mind that they live in Honduras) and she wants to be with the perfect man (never mind that he lives in a prison). A journey through some of the world’s most dangerous places. Three Rivers Press.
The Beat Generation in San Francisco: A Literary Tour. By Bill Morgan. A blow-by-blow unearthing of the places where the Beat writers first came to full bloom: the flat where Ginsberg wroteHowl, the sites of the Six Gallery and Gary Snyder’s zen cottage in Berkeley, the ghostly railroad yards where Kerouac and Cassady toiled, Ferlinghetti’s favorite haunts. City Lights Publishing.
Birthing: Choices You Have to Create the Best Birth Experience For You and Your Child. By Irene Byrne. The author, the director of a San Francisco pre-school, compiles information from various childbirth experts so women can make informed choices about where to give birth, which birth professionals to choose, etc. Pince-Nez Press.
The Chinese in America: A Narrative History. By Iris Chang. The author, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, has written a narrative of one of the nation’s fastest growing ethnic groups. Chang explores the initial wave of Chinese men who migrated to America in the 1800s to build the railroads, the second wave of intellectuals fleeing Communist China in the 1950s and ’60s, and finally the third wave in the last decades of the 20th century of immigrants seeking better lives. Viking Books.
Everyday Greens. By Annie Somerville. More than 250 recipes from the executive chef of San Francisco’s Greens restaurant. Scribner.
Father for Life: A Journey for Joy, Challenge and Change. By Armin A. Brott. The author offers advice from experts, scientific studies and other dads about how to handle fatherhood at various stages. Abbeville Press.
Feng Shui Your Life. By Jayme Barrett. LA Times author and consultant to the stars offers a practical, Western approach to Feng Shui. Text and photographs are about creating more energy,beauty and positive symbolism in your home and life. Sterling Publishing.
Feynman’s Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life. By Leonard Mlodinow. A memoir about a struggling young physicist and his relationship with his mentor, the Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard Feynman. Warner Books.
Firehouse Food: Favorite Recipes from San Francisco’s Firefighters. By George Dolese and Steve Siegelman. Photos by George Moore. Book explores firehouse life and its residents and offers more than 100 recipes. Chronicle Books.
In Buddha’s Kitchen: Cooking, Being Cooked, and Other Adventures in a Meditation Center. By Kimberley Snow. The author leaves behind her life as a professor to take up residence at a Buddhist retreat in Northern California. Early on, she mentions to the administrator that she is a trained restaurant chef, and, much to her dismay, she becomes the center’s head cook. Shambhala Publications
Indigenous: Growing up Californian. By Cris Mazza. Memoir about growing up in rural Southern California and identifying as a “Californian” for life. Coming of age in the ’70s and ’80s, Mazza’s memories aren’t about surfing, cheerleading, or riding in convertibles. City Lights.
Jackpot Trail: Indian Gaming in Southern California. By David Valley with Diana Lindsay. A history of the Southern California Indian tribes and bands, and a guide to gaming casinos. Sunbelt Publications.
James Dean Died Here. By Chris Epting. Huntington Beach author offers a road map across North America to American popular culture sites such as Patty Hearst’s bank and the garage where Apple Computer was born. The book includes historical information about 600 landmarks. Santa Monica Press.
Learning Disabilities From a Parent’s Perspective: What You Need to Know to Understand, Help, and Advocate for Your Child. By Kim Glenchur. The author discusses how parents of children with learning disabilities to effectively can effectively deal with teachers, psychologists, and others who will come into their lives and addresses the social aspects of having a child with a LD and the ways it affects a family. Pince-Nez Press.
Lessons for Dylan. By Joel Siegel. Good Morning America movie critic and LA native Siegel pens a memoir directed toward his son. Public Affairs.
Life Studies, Life Stories: Drawings. By Lawrence Ferlinghetti. A retrospective of Ferlinghetti’s graphic art, ranging from his early drawings made in Paris ateliers to more recent sessions sketching models in his San Francisco studio. City Lights.
My Anecdotal Life: A Memoir. By Carl Reiner. “Hey, Reiner, you ought to write those things down, ” his friends told him. At age eighty, he did. St. Martin’s Press.
My Life in Jokes: A Century of Humor. By Bob Hope; edited and with an introduction by his daughter, Linda Hope. The comedian’s collection in honor of his 100th birthday. Hyperion.
Los Angeles Then and Now. By Rosemary Lord. This series combines history and photography, featuring archival photographs contrasted with color images of the same scene today. Thunder Bay Press.
Never Kiss a Frog: A Girl’s Guide to Creatures from the Dating Swamp. By Marilyn Anderson. Los Angeles comedian and TV writer shares her dating misadventures. Red Rock Press.
Surviving Suburbia: The Best of the Guy Chronicles. By Chris Erskine. A collection of Erskine’s newspaper columns. Los Angeles Times Books.
Structures of Utility: Vernacular Structure of the Great Central Valley. By David Stark Wilson. Using a large format view camera, Wilson explores the back roads of the Great Central Valley and Sierra Valley capturing the beauty of the agricultural buildings that punctuate the landscape. Heyday Books.
Traveler’s Rights: Your Legal Guide to Fair Treatment and Full Value . By Alexander Anolik. Anolik’s San Francisco-based law firm specializes in travel law and litigation and he notes that each year 3,000 U.S. citizens are arrested abroad. He discusses airlines, car rental, hotels/motels, cruises, tour packages and rail and bus travels, and looks at federal laws that regulate both the industry and the traveler. Sphinx Publishing.
Two Thousand Minnows: An American Story. By Sandra Leigh. The memoir begins with the author’s seven-year-old voice and unfolds her life’s journey until a family secret is revealed. The Lyons Press.
The Why Not: Start Living Your Life Today. By Eric DelaBarre. Writer/Director suggests ways to stop dreaming about your life and start living it. Seven Publishing.
Poetry
Sparrow: Poems. By Carol Muske-Dukes. Sparrow is a journey through the landscape of grief after the death of the author’s actor husband. Random House.
Art/Photography
American Expressionism: Art and Social Change, 1920-1950. By Bram Dijkstra. Cultural historian Dijkstra explores the roots of painting in America today. Harry N. Abrams.
Humor & Comics
Ziggy Goes to Hollywood. By Tom Wilson. A new Ziggy collection. Andrew McMeel Publishing.
Children’s
The Boy Who Saved Baseball. By John H. Ritter. When the town’s baseball field is sold for development, the fate of the ballpark and the town lies squarely on the shoulders of one boy, one team, and one crucial game, winner take all (ages 9-12). Philomel Books.
The City of Ember. By Jeanne DuPrau. The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she’s sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever! (ages 10-13) Random House Children’s Books.
Dropping In With Andy Mac: The Life of a Pro Skateboarder. By Andy Macdonald and Theresa Foy DiGeronimo; introduction by Tony Hawk. San Diego skater shares his story (ages 12 and up). Simon Pulse.
Moo Cow Kaboom. By Thacher Hurd. Picture book unfolds the comic misadventure of one critter’s journey to Planet 246 and back. HarperCollins.
Peek-a-Book. By Lee Wardlaw. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. A lift-the-flap bedtime rhyme for babies and toddlers. Dial Books for Young Readers/Penguin Putnam.
Pier Pressure. By Francess Lantz. Luna, Rae, Kanani, Cricket, and Isobel work at a coed surf camp in this story, one of the debut titles in the Luna Bay, Roxy Girl surfing series. (ages 9-12). HarperEntertainment.
A Series of Unfortunate Events: Lemony Snicket, The Unauthorized Autobiography. By Lemony Snicket. This book sheds light on a life that has been shrouded in darkness and answers the question: What do we really know about Lemony Snicket? HarperCollins.
Fiction
9 of 1: A Window to the World. By Oliver Chin. In this graphic novel, nine high school students in Fremont, California struggle to gain insight into the events of September 11. They interview neighbors, distant relatives, friends of friends, ultimately learning about their own place in a fractured and fractious world. Frog, Ltd.
12 Bliss Street. By Martha Conway. San Francisco writer sets her first crime novel in the world of cyberscam. Nicola, the storyÕs main character, suddenly finds that her main problem is no longer how to survive her boredom but how to survive, period. St. Martin’s Minotaur.
Director’s Cut. By Roger L. Simon. In the eighth book in this series, LA Detective Moses Wine goes from LA to Prague to investigate terrorist threats to an independent movie and ends up directing the film himself. Atria Books.
The High Price Of A Good Man. By Debra Phillips. Be careful of what you wish for, you just might get it. St. Martins Press.
Evidence of Things Unseen. By Marianne Wiggins. Novel describes America at the brink of the Atomic Age. This is the story of an American couple and their adopted son, and how a very innocent knowledge and fascination of ‘things that glow’ leads to a loss of faith and their lives being ripped apart as the Hiroshima bomb is dropped. Simon & Schuster.
Isabel’s Daughter. By Judith Ryan Hendricks. After a childhood spent in an institution and a series of foster homes, Avery James has trained herself not to wonder about the mother who gave her up. But her safe, predictable life changes one night at a party in the home of a wealthy Santa Fe art dealer when she stumbles upon the portrait of a woman who is the mirror image of herself. William Morrow & Co.
The Kite Runner. By Khaled Hosseini. An tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, that spans Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present. Riverhead.
Lover’s Lane. By Jill Marie Landis. The author of more than a dozen love stories set in the past writes her first contemporary novel. Lover’s Lane unfolds in a sleepy beach town and features a heroine living a secret life that is suddenly threatened. Ballantine.
Maneater. By Gigi Levangie Grazer. A Hollywood insider novel. Simon & Schuster.
The Water Dancers. By Terry Gamble. Set on Lake Michigan following World War II, The Water Dancers limns the divide between the worlds of the wealthy elite “summer people” and the poor native population who serve them – and what happens when those worlds collide. William Morrow.
Short stories/Anthologies
Gravities of Center. By Barbara Jane Reyes. Serious and playful poems very much rooted in San Francisco Bay Area urban and suburban cultures, settings, and vernaculars, a geographically faraway Philippines is never absent from this writer’s consciousness. Themes include longing, desire, diaspora, postcoloniality, feminism, and coming of age. Arkipelago Books Publishing.
The Misread City: New Literary Los Angeles. Edited by Scott Timberg and Dana Gioia. A collection of author profiles, literary journalism, and speculative pieces about the Southland’s writing and publishing scene. Contributors are Brendan Bernhard, Laurel Ann Bogen, Wanda Coleman, Jenny Factor, David Fine, Kate Gale, Lynell George, Peter Gilstrap, Dana Gioia, Laurence Goldstein, Pico Iyer, Ken Kelley, David Kipen, Ron Koertge, Suzanne Lummis, Susan Moffat, John Powers, David St. John, Sara Scribner, Paul Skenazy, Timothy Steele, Ariel Swartley, Scott Timberg, David L. Ulin, Amy Uyematsu, Gina Valdés, Marcos M. Villatoro, Charles Harper Webb, Chryss Yost. Red Hen Press.
Nonfiction
Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook. By Mary Corpening Barber and Sara Corpening Whiteford. The authors, twins who own Thymes Two Catering in San Francisco, offer newlyweds a guide to equipment they’ll need to begin cooking in their new home, as well as tips on getting the pantry stocked and recipes for entertaining. Chronicle Books.
Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America. By Firoozeh Dumas. The memoir of an Iranian girl who moved to the Southern California suburbs at age seven. Villard.
Ghetto Celebrity: Searching for the Delbert in Me. By Donnell Alexander. The author traces his rollercoaster journey out of small-town obscurity and drug abuse, and his rise as a writer in the West Coast alternative press. Throughout his struggle to turn the tide of his life, Alexander is dogged by the ghost of his absent father. Crown.
Gilded Girls: Women Entertainers of the Old West. By JoAnn Chartier and Chris Enss. The authors shine the spotlight on 15 entertaining women who sang, danced, acted in plays, performed equestrienne in mining boomtowns. TwoDot imprint of Falcon Guides/Globe Pequot.
Ideas for Action: Relevant Theory for Radical Change. By Cynthia Kaufman. Bay Area activist talks about turning discontent into a plan of action. Her book explores Marxism, anarchism, antiimperialism, poststructualism, feminism, critical race theory and environmentalism. South End Press.
Isabel Allende: A Critical Companion (Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers). By Karen Castelucci Cox. Discussion of the best-selling author and her work. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Mexifornia: A State of Becoming. By Victor Davis Hanson. Author offers that immigration must be studied within the context of wider inequalities — and beckons serious discussion about the society in which we wish to live. Encounter Books.
My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile. By Isabel Allende. A memoir. HarperCollins.
Normal is just a Setting on the Dryer. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Adair Lara polled her readers for life lessons learned through experience and received thousands of heartfelt and irreverent responses. She shares the results. Chronicle Books.
Not On My Watch: Hollywood vs. the Future. By Peter Dekom and Peter Sealey. Twenty–first century technology, computer wizardry, digital effects, and easy Internet accessibility bring exciting new options to the Hollywood entertainment establishment — and these same dazzling techno miracles threaten Hollywood’s control over the media product that the public spends billions on every year. The authors look at how Hollywood can respond to these challenges. New Millennium Press.
Pad Parties: The Guide to Ultra-Entertaining. By Matt Maranian; photographs by Jack Gould; illustrations by Robert Field. This irreverent manual includes recipes for drinks, exotic garnishes, and appetizers and ideas for enhancing the partyscape with music, ambient oddities, and creative homemade projects. Readers learn how to transform a thrift store painting into an arty liquor larder and feature entertainment such as classroom safety films and Liberace variety shows. Chronicle Books.
Rebel: A Personal History of the 1960s. By Tom Hayden. In his memoir, Hayden recalls his days as one of the early leaders of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Red Hen Press.
Romancing in the Personals. By Peggi Ridgway. Buena Park writers discusses how to screen out undesirables in the personal ad marketplace, stay safe and meet people who have specific traits you seek. Wordpix Solutions.
Somebody’s Someone: A Memoir. By Regina Louise. First in a two-part series about a young girl growing up in the California social welfare system. Warner Books.
Southern California Miscellany. By Elizabeth Cox. Tales of Southern California history from 1800-1920 with old California recipes and sightseeing tips for historical places. McKenna Publishing Group.
Why Marijuana Should Be Legal. By Ed Rosenthal and Steve Kubby with S. Newhart. The Oakland author, convicted in federal court for growing marijuana for a medical co-op, analyzes the effects of marijuana and marijuana laws on society. Thunder’s Mouth Press.
Poetry
In a Strange Land. By Jeremiah Gilbert. Collection of forty poems questions the need for and the role of organized religion in the modern world. Mellen Poetry Press.
Where River Meets Ocean. By devorah major. This collection begins with the poet’s inaugural address as Laureate of San Francisco, an essay that shows how poetry can please and empower. Her poems capture the challenge and joy of being an artist and survey the city’s political and social landscape. City Lights Foundation.
Children’s
Necessary Noise. Edited by Michael Cart. Anthology offers stories of today’s families – fractured, blended, at risk, non-traditional, and some that are even still nuclear. (Teen fiction) Joanna Cotler Books, HarperTempest, Collins Publishers.
Tea for Me, Tea for You. By Laura Rader. With rhymes and bright illustrations, the author invites readers to a counting tea party. HarperCollins.
What Really Happened in Roswell? By Kathleen Krull, illustrations by Christopher Santoro. Author combines research and tongue-in-cheek humor in this chapter book about the beginnings of the UFO phenomenon. HarperCollins.
Fiction
Beemer. By Glenn Gaslin. Beemer Minutia lives and works in his tricked–out Honda Civic. Like every young thinking person on the rise, this Orange County guy intends to make it very big very fast, turning his name into a cash magnet before he’s thirty. Soho Press.
Cyanide Wells. By Marcia Muller. Fourteen years after his wife mysteriously disappears, Matthew Lindstrom receives an anonymous phone call saying she is alive. On his way to find out the truth, Matt uncovers a twisted plan that leads to a final confrontation that may just prove fatal. Mysterious Press.
Dead File: A Maxi Poole Mystery. By Kelly Lange. LA TV newswoman turns out the second novel in the series featuring TV journalist-turned-super-sleuth Maxi Poole. Maxi finds herself in way over her head when she investigates the murder of a prominent businesswoman. Mysterious Press.
Dirty Laundry. By Paula Woods. This new Charlotte Justice novel is an LA story of murder, politics, families, and betrayal in an uneasy melting pot. One World.
Fear Itself. By Walter Mosely. When her nephew is accused of murder and goes missing, the wealthiest woman in L.A. hires a former Dallas sheriff to track him down and prove his innocence. After the ex-sheriff disappears as well, she tricks Fearless Jones and used bookstore owner Paris Minton into picking up the case. Little Brown & Co.
Maisie Dobbs. By Jacqueline Winspear. The heroine, Maisie Dobbs, hangs out her private eye shingle in 1929 and becomes enmeshed in a mystery surrounding a reclusive community of WWI veterans. Soho Press.
Secret Celebrity. By Carol Wolper. The author, an LA screenwriter, takes readers on an insider’s walk through Hollywood in novel about our national obsession with all things celebrity. Riverhead Trade Paperback
Presumption of Death. By Perri O’Shaughnessy. The is the ninth tale featuring Lake Tahoe’based lawyer Nina Reilly, who heads home to Monterey County to put her life in order only to become embroiled in a murder case involving the son of her former assistant. Delacorte Press.
Runaway Heart. By Stephen J. Cannell. What if the military’s foot soldiers were genetically engineered animals programmed to kill? This is exactly the weapon that a top–secret government agency is developing in the desert and attorney Herman Strockmire is drawn in. St. Martin’s Press.
Short stories/essays/poetry
Artburn: The Twenty-First Century Shots from a Guerilla Artist. By Robbie Conal. A collection of Conal’s satirical monthly column in LA Weekly. Akashic Books/RDV Books.
Nonfiction
Champions, Cheaters and Childhood Dreams: Memories of theAll-American Soap Box Derby. By Melanie Payne. Sacramento Bee reporter chronicles the rise and fall of an American icon, the All-American Soap Box Derby race. University of Akron Press.
Expelled From Eden. By William T. Volmann. A collection of essays and other writing from a journalist who has interviewed opium warlords in Myanmar, rescued a child prostitute, bivouacked with Afghan rebels, and reported on life under the Taliban. Thunder’s Mouth Press.
Fun While It Lasted: My Rise and Fall in the Land of Fame and Fortune. By Bruce McNall with Michael D’Antonio. McNall, a wealthy coin collector before he landed in prison for defrauding investors, details his life as a player. Hyperion Books.
Girl Walks Into a Bar: A Memoir. By Strawberry Saroyan. What is it like to come of age in New York, Los Angeles, and London in the twenty-first century? Saroyan shares her twentysomething tales. Random House
Kate Remembered. By A. Scott Berg. After secretly gathering material for two decades, Berg shares a “biography/as–told–to memoir” of Katharine Hepburn who died in June 2003. Putnam.
Lessons Learned From Cancer. By Marti Ann Schwartz. Pregnant and diagnosed with cancer…what would you do? The author discussed the ins and outs of cancer survival. 1st Books Library.
On The Waterfront. Edited by Joanna Rapf. A collection of essays on Schulberg’s On The Waterfront as part of Cambridge University Press’s continuing series on film. Includes an essay by author Lance Lee of Pacific Palisades.
Red Zone: The Behind–the–Scenes Story of the San Francisco Dog Mauling. By Aphrodite Jones. The title says it all. William Morrow.
Simplicity Lessons: A 12-Step Guide to Living Simply. By Linda Breen Pierce. A former Los Angeles lawyer, Linda Breen Pierce moved to Carmel to simplify her life. As a reaction to the consumer-driven lifestyle, Pierce offers an alternative that espouses the idea that ‘less is more’. Gallagher Press.
Where the Money Is: True Tales from the Bank Robbery Capital of the World. By William J. Rehder and Gordon Dillow. Rehder, who spent most of his FBI career in LA, and Dillow, a veteran Southern California journalist, chronicle the stories and blunders of modern-day bank robbers. W.W. Norton & Co.
Why Girls Are Weird. By Pamela Ribon. When Anna Koval decides to creatively kill time at her library job in by teaching herself HTML and posting partially fabricated stories about her life on the Internet, she hardly imagines anyone besides her friend Dale is going to read them. Downtown Press.
Wired: A Romance. By Gary Wolf. As a staffer at Wired, the magazine that started and fueled Internet economy hype, Wolf watched the rise and fall of an era from his desk. And he took notes. Random House.
Children’s
Go Track a Yak. By Tony Johnston. A baby stops eating, causing his parents to take advice from a witch that sends the father on a wild yak chase (ages 4-8). Simon & Schuster.
I Won’t Get Lost. By Martha Lambert. Horatio is a smart little dragon, and he will never get lost – or will he? Picture book explains to children why they need to know their contact inforation. HarperCollins.
Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens. By Diana Winston. A former Buddhist nun in Berkeley offers an introduction to Buddhism for teens covering meditation, basic Buddhism, and applications: sex, drugs and friends. Perigee Books.
Fiction
And Now You Can Go. By Vendela Vida. Ellis, the 21–year–old narrator of Vida’s novel, is forced at gunpoint to sit and talk with a man in a New York City park as he contemplates a murder/suicide. She tries to talk him out of it, quoting poetry in the process; and the man eventually leaves. The trauma is the jumping off point for Ellis’ story. Knopf.
Done for a Dime. By David Corbett. A legendary jazz musician is the first victim of a dirty war being waged for control of Rio Mirada, a low-rent Bay Area city populated by drug dealers, arsonists, squatters and now murderers. Detective Dennis Murchison and his partner realize that the killing is just the tip of the iceberg in this crime thriller. Ballantine.
The Kill Clause. By Gregg Hurwitz. A father’s vow to avenge his daughter’s death becomes a fight to save his own life. William Morrow/HarperCollins.
Parasites Like Us. By Adam Johnson. Times are changing in South Dakota: birds are disappearing, dogs are turning on mankind, and hogs are no more. But when one of his students discovers a prehistoric spear point, anthropologist Hank Hannah abandons his classroom in order to exhume a 12,000-year-old grave, thereby unearthing an ancient and deadly legacy. Johnson, a former Wallace Stegner Fellow, teaches at Stanford University. Viking Books.
Straight Whiskey: A Living History of Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll on the Sunset Strip. By Austin Williams and Erik Quisling. Four decades of music on the Sunset Strip. Bonus Books.
What’s Wrong with Dorfman? By John Blumenthal. A novel about a modern hypochondriac’s search for a cure and his travels throughout modern angst. St. Martin’s Press.
Short Stories
Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Finest Tales. By Ray Bradbury. A collection of short fiction that spans six decades of the author’s career. William Morrow & Co.
Nonfiction
24 Days: How Two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies that Destroyed Faith in Corporate America. by Rebecca Smith and John R. Emshwiller. A look at Enron’s demise by two of the journal’s California-based writers. HarperCollins
The Art of Burning Bridges: A Life of John O’Hara . By Geoffrey Wolff. A biography of the writer by the director of the graduate fiction program at the University of California, Irvine. Knopf
California Dish: What I Saw (and Cooked) at the American Culinary Revolution. By Jeremiah Tower. The chef and co-owner of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse tells his story. Free Press.
Dummy Days: America’s Favorite Ventriloquists from Radio and Early TV. By Kelly Asbury. Edgar Bergen, Shari Lewis, Senor Wences, Jimmy Nelson and Paul Winchell are profiled in this new coffee table book. Leonard Maltin pens the foreword. Angel City Press.
Letters to Seabiscuit. By Barbara Howard. A collection of letters written to the famed California racehorse and his owners in the 1930s and 1940s. Seven Locks Press, Santa Ana.
Nesting: Design Inspirations for Your Growing Family. By Wendy Bellissimo. Southern California designer offers her guide to creating a special baby’s room, along with tips for baby showers, children’s parties and outdoor areas for family playtime. Inner Working Books.
The Pen Commandments: A Guide for the Beginning Writer. By Steven Frank. The author is a high school English teacher in Los Angeles who attempts to unfreeze the pens of struggling writers all around him. His Pen Commandments include: Thou Shalt Honor Thy Reader, Thou Shalt Not Waste Words, and Thou Shalt Not Kill Thy Sentences. Pantheon Books.
Reflections. By Al Martinez. A collection of his newspaper columns during the past three decades. Los Angeles Times Books.
Fiction
After the Tempest. By John H. Menkes. Novel examines the effects and the after–effects of the Holocaust on both its victims and its perpetrators. Daniel & Daniel Publishers.
Bon Bon on the Go. By Noel Tolentino. Born on Valentine’s Day, Bon Bon is an ultra-mod Japanese-French girl who’s ultra-mad for Vespas, Pop Art, space age lounge, and 60s sounds. Chronicle Books.
Death by Hollywood. By Steven Bochco. Novel introduces agent Eddie Jelko, who unfolds the story of a fading screenwriter, a billionaire’s wife, and a murder. Random House
Jamesland. By Michelle Huneven. LA Weekly dining columnist turns out her second novel. Her cast of Los Feliz characters struggle to divine who or what is both missing and essential. Knopf.
L’Affaire. By Diane Johnson. The author, who splits her time between San Francisco and Paris, introduces Amy Hawkins, a young dot-com executive from California who has made her fortune at the top of NASDAQ. Amy sets off for Europe to find culture, her roots, and maybe a cause to devote her considerable fortune to. Penguin.
Minos: A Romilia Chacon Mystery. By Marcos M. Villatoro. Detective Chacon has to rely on her training and determination to save her in the showdown against a killer who is a self–styled Minos. Justin, Charles and Company.
The Pleasure of My Company: A Novella. By Steve Martin. A troubled man finds love, and life in the most unexpected place. Hyperion.
Shell Games: A John Marquez Crime Novel. By Kirk Russell. The discovery of thousands of empty abalone shells and two murdered divers sends Lieutenant John Marquez’s poaching investigation in a risky direction. Former DEA agent and now head of a special operations unit of the California Department of Fish and Game, Marquez learns he has been targeted as the next victim. Chronicle Books.
What Ever. By Heather Woodbury. Taking off from her one-woman show of the same title, Woodbury focuses on the lives of more than a dozen characters — among them the Oregon rave boy Skeeter; the progressive–thinking octogenarian Violet, remembering her life from her bohemian youth in prewar Paris to her jazz–clubbing in postwar Greenwich Village; and the street–smart prostitute Bushie, holding forth on the profanity of the world. Her book is a marriage of performance art and fiction. Faber & Faber.
Nonfiction
At Work: The Art of California Labor. Edited by Mark Dean Johnson. An examination of labor history in California since the turn of the twentieth century, this is a visual journey from the rise of statewide organized labor to the changing demographics of the wartime workforce; from the zenith of the California Labor School to the farm workers’ movement; from the disenfranchisement of workers in the service economy to the potent effects of globalization felt at the end of the twentieth century. Heyday Books.
Audrey Hepburn: An Elegant Spirit. By Sean Hepburn Ferrer. The late actress’ son tells her story, from her childhood in war–torn Holland to the height of her Hollywood fame to her autumn years far from the camera and the crush of the paparazzi. Simon & Schuster.
Football’s Blackest Hole: A Fan’s Perspective. By Craig Parker. In 2002, the Oakland Raiders almost won their fourth National Football League Super Bowl. Here is one diehard fan’s recollections of their season. North Atlantic Books, Frog Ltd.
Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power. By Lou Cannon. A comprehensive biography of Ronald Reagan’s California governorship based on never-before mined Cabinet minutes, interviews with former staff members, and other reporting from the former president’s biographer. Public Affairs.
Hollywood Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic. By Mark A. Vieira. A pictorial history of the American horror film from the silent era to the early 1970s, populated with vampires, monsters, mummies, zombies, werewolves, sinister scientists, aliens, and psychopaths. Harry N. Abrams.
Home Before Daylight: My Life on the Road with the Grateful Dead. By Steve Parish with Joe Layden. Parish, a roadie with the Grateful Dead, offers a first–person slice of the culture and the characters on the road, from Woodstock to Europe to Egypt. St. Martin’s Press.
How Far Can a Piano Fly? And Other Tales from Column One. A collection of the Los Angeles Times’ front page “Column One” stories. Los Angeles Times Books.
How To Be Funny: The One and Only Practical Guide for Every Occasion, Situation, and Disaster (No kidding). By Jon Macks. A writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards and Hollywood Squares, the author discusses the process of making people laugh, breaks down the building blocks and types of humor — which include self – deprecation, misdirection, deadpan delivery, sarcasm, and the reverse — and reveals the best approach to use in common situations. Simon & Schuster.
The Los Angeles Diaries, A Memoir. By James Brown. This story is a chronicle of loss and reaffirmation written in response to a life marked by alcohol and drug abuse; family strife; mental illness; economic hardship; and the suicides of his two siblings. William Morrow/HarperCollins.
Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image. By David Greenberg. To his conservative supporters in 1940s Southern California, Richard Nixon was a populist everyman; to liberal intellectuals of the 1950s, he was “Tricky Dick,” to 1960s radicals, a shadowy conspirator; to the Washington press corps, a pioneering spin doctor; to his loyal Middle Americans, a victim of liberal hatred; to recent historians, an unlikely liberal. Nixon’s Shadow rediscovers these competing images and how Nixon’s tinkering with his own image often backfired. W.W Norton & Co.
One Great Game: Two Teams, Two Dreams, in the First Ever National Championship High School Football Game. By Don Wallace. On Oct. 6, 2001, two California high school football teams, the De La Salle Spartans and the Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits (ranked first and second in various national sports polls) played in the first national championship game. Wallace, a magazine journalist and a Poly alumnus explores the chain of events that led to this face-off. Atria Books.
The Perfect Day. By Sam George. This collection celebrates more than 40 years of breaking waves with a collection of photographs and writing from Surfer magazine’s archives. The book captures surfing’s biggest moments, from toes on the nose in Tavarua to epic days at Waimea Bay. Chronicle Books.
Reagan: A Life in Letters. By Kiron K. Skinner; Introduction by George Schultz. The collection includes Reagan’s running correspondence with Richard Nixon, begun in 1959 and continuing until shortly before Nixon’s death. Letters to key supporters reveal that Reagan was thinking of the presidency from the mid–1960s; that missile defense was of interest to him as early as the 1970s; and that few details of his campaigns or policies escaped his notice. There are also dozens of letters to constituents from the ex–president who reached out to friend and foe alike. Free Press.
School of Dreams. By Edward Humes. What does a great high school look like? In the case of California’s top public school, it’s a ramshackle campus in an unfashionable part of L.A., where the budgets are tight, the student body resembles a mini-United Nations, and families move across town — and across the world – hoping to get in. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer chronicles a year-in- the-life of Whitney High. Harcourt.
So Late, So Soon. By D’Arcy Fallon. A fly-on-the-wall view of the Lighthouse Ranch, a Christian commune the author called home in the 70s. It’s the story of every person’s search for faith–in themselves, in others, and the crazy ways of the world. Hawthorne Books Literary Arts.
They Don’t Play Hockey in Heaven: A Dream, a Team and My Comeback Season. By Ken Baker. A brain tumor cut Ken Baker’s pro hockey dreams short while he was in college. After surgery and several years of rehab, Baker, who in high school was a top prospect for the U.S. Olympic team, put his successful journalism career on hold to attempt the seemingly impossible: a comeback. He joined the Bakersfield Condors, a minor–league team in the dusty oil town as a third-string goalie. At age thirty–one, Baker became the oldest rookie in all of pro hockey. Lyons Press.
True Notebooks: A Writer’s Year at Juvenile Hall. By Mark Salzman. Salzman takes readers inside LA’s Central Juvenile Hall where he teaches a writing class for violent juvenile offenders. Knopf.
The Two Percent Solution. By Matthew Miller. A nationally-syndicated columnist and Los Angeles radio host, Miller presents a program for fixing America’s most serious domestic problems for two cents on the national dollar. Public Affairs.
The Vineyard Kitchen: Seasonal Menus from the Napa Valley. By Maria Helm Sinskey. From her kitchen in Napa, where she runs a vineyard with her husband, the award-winning chef offers 40 menus, 10 per season, with more than 180 recipes to enjoy all year round. HarperCollins.
Where I Was From. By Joan Didion. The author says her new book “represents an exploration into my own confusions about the place and the way in which I grew up, confusions as much about America as about California, misapprehensions and misunderstandings so much a part of who I became that I can still to this day confront them only obliquely.” The book is a narrative of how her own family moved west and how the wagon–train stories of hardship and abandonment and endurance created a culture in which survival would seem the sole virtue. Knopf.
Poetry/Short Stories
Before the City. By Kirby Wright. This collection of poems and prose poems includes “Aloha, Lili’uokalani,” a poem passed hand to hand at Iolani Palace during the 100–year anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy. Lemon Shark Press.
Curled in the Bed of Love. By Catherine Brady. The author, who teaches in the writing program at the University of San Francisco, offers eleven stories about love on the rocks. The stories are set in the Bay Area. University of Georgia Press.
Dog is my Co-Pilot: Great Writers on the World’s Oldest Friendship. From the editors of Bark magazine. In essays and short fiction, this book explores that define modern life with dogs and includes pieces by Alice Walker, Pam Houston, Margaret Cho, Susan Straight, Rick Bass, Ann Patchett, Tom Junod and many others. Crown.
Locket. By Catherine Daly. A first book of (love) poetry by a Los Angeles writer. Tupelo Press.
How to Breathe Underwater. By Julie Orringer. A collection on nine stories. The characters — all of them submerged by loss, whether of parents or lovers or a viable relationship — struggle mightily for survival. Knopf.
One Kind of Faith. By Gary Soto. The poet digs deeply into his California home-town of Fresno and explores the wonder of the everyday in an ever-shifting world. In Soto’s poems, precocious Berkeley dogs practice feng shui, raisins march out of a factory under the nose of the night watchman, and shirts are ironed “with the steam of Mother’s hare.” In the darker second part of the collection. Soto offers twelve “film treatments for David Lynch.” Chronicle Books.
The Traveling Curmudgeon: Irreverent Notes, Quotes, and Anecdotes on Dismal Destinations, Excess Baggage, the Full Upright Position, and Other Reasons Not to Go There. Compiled and Edited by Jon Winokur. On the theory that an account of a pleasant journey is best not thrust upon friends and strangers, that a disaster makes for a more entertaining story, here is a gathering of quotes, commentary, and anecdotes about the travails of travel, the downright strangeness of foreign places, and rueful encounters on the road. Sasquatch Books.
A Place So Foreign and Eight More. By Cory Doctorow. Science fiction collection explores pop culture, trash, nerd pride, and the nexus of technology and social change. Four Walls Eight Windows.
Photography
Desert Realty. By Ed Freeman. A photo collection from the Southern California desert. Los Angeles Times Books.
Old Friends: Great Dogs on the Good Life. By Mark Asher. This collection of duotone portraits captures the golden years of humanity’s best friends. Chronicle Books.
Sacred Spaces. Photographs by Robert Berger. Text by Alfred Willis and Introduction by Kevin Starr. Setting out to record Los Angeles’ religious history, photography Robert Berger had no idea he would visit more than 300 houses of worship during the course of four years. Wandering through neighborhoods that seemed as foreign as distant lands, he found a variety of cultures and a constantly changing landscape. Balcony Books.
Symphony in Steel: Walt Disney Concert Hall Goes Up. By Gary Leonard. L.A. photographer Leonard shot every aspect of the construction of architect Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, and his book includes quotes from the people who will live with it. Angel City Press.
Children’s books
Day of the Iguana. By Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver. This is book No. 3 in Winkler’s Hank Zipzer series where the hero is a boy who struggles with learning difficulties. The series was inspired by the actor’s own childhood experiences with undiagnosed dyslexia. Grosset & Dunlap.
How I Became a Pirate. By Melinda Long. Illustrated by David Shannon. A kid’s adventure in the pirating life. Ages 4-8. Harcourt.
I’m a Manatee. By John Lithgow. As a little boy falls asleep, his pet guinea pig’s water bottle begins to leak, filling the room with water, and the boy imagines himself to be a manatee. So begins this ocean adventure. Ages 5-8. Simon & Schuster.
A Kenya Christmas. By Tony Johnston. Illustrated by Leonard Jenkins. Living in an African town with no snow, no sleigh and no reindeer, Juma finds it hard to imagine what Father Christmas looks like. Her Aunt Aida is full of magic, and she promises to do what she can to make Juma’s greatest wish come true. Holiday House.
Tell Me a Scary Story — But Not Too Scary! By Carl Reiner. Illustrated by James Bennett. Writer/director Reiner invites readers tells a young boy’s tale of the mysterious house next door. As the story becomes spookier and spookier, Reiner pauses to ask “Shall we turn the page—or is it too scary?” Book and accompanying CD. Little Brown & Co.
Fiction
Bangers. By Gary Phillips. LAPD detective sergeant Rafael “Saint” Santian runs the TRASH (Tactical Resources Against Street Hoodlums) squad, and he keeps the crime-infested streets of the Venice Heights section running smooth by his own code. But the line often blurs between gangsta and law enforcer, and even the cops can’t trust each other. Kensington/Dafina Imprint.
Blind Eye: A Benjamin Justice Novel. By John Morgan Wilson. Benjamin Justice was one of Los Angeles best known journalists, but everything came crashing down after he won the Pulitzer Prize. Found to have invented the subjects of his piece, Justice was forced to return the Pulitzer and became a pariah. As he begins to pull his life together, Justice finds himself in the midst of a complex case involving a decades old child murder, a powerful and controversial Cardinal, and elements of his own dark past. St. Martin’s Minotaur.
Daughter’s Keeper. By Ayelet Waldman. When Olivia answers the telephone and takes a message for her boyfriend, she becomes unwittingly involved in a drug transaction, and finds herself facing criminal prosecution. She is forced to turn to her mother for help —the one person least likely to provide it. Sourcebooks, Inc.
Dream House. By Rochelle Krich. True crime writer/tabloid journalist Molly Blume investigates the arson death of an old man following the disappearance of his daughter. Ballantine.
The Pleasure of My Company. By Steve Martin. In Martin’s novella, a troubled man named Daniel resides in his Santa Monica apartment, living much of his life as a bystander: He watches from his window as the world goes by, and his only relationships seem to be with people who barely know he exists. Until Clarissa and Teddy help him gain the courage to engage the world outside. Hyperion.
Storm. By George R. Stewart. A deadly storm called Maria sweeps through California and changes the lives of many in its path. Originally published in 1941, this new edition is part of the California Legacy series and includes a foreword by Ernest Callenbach. Heyday Books.
Poetry/Short Stories
The Strange Hours Travelers Keep. By August Kleinzahler. San Francisco poet’s shares a global collection and his locales include Germany, Texas, New England and “the snowy passes of the Carpathians,” where he follows a Mongol horde. Farrar Straus Giroux.
Nonfiction
And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank. By Steve Oney. Los Angeles writer delves into the 1913 murder of thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan, whose body was discovered in the basement of Atlanta’s National Pencil Factory. The saga includes the lynching of Leo Frank, a Cornell-educated Jew who was convicted of the murder. The case also has been the subject of novels, plays, movies and musicals. Random House.
An Accidental Cowboy. By Jameson Parker. In 1992, Parker, the former star of Simon & Simon, was shot and almost killed by a neighbor in Los Angeles. The incident drove him into the California mountains, where he stumbled into a world of unruly cattle, uncertain horses, the timeless routines of ranch life, and the solace of the land. St. Martin’s Press.
At the Opera: Tales of the Great Operas. By Ann Fiery. Illustrations by Peter Malone. From Mozart’s sunny Figaro to Puccini’s moon goddess Turandot, the author explores the plots and counte2rplots that drive the great operas. Chronicle Books.
Bear in Mind: The California Grizzly. By Susan Snyder. Once arguably the most powerful and terrifying animal in the California landscape, the grizzly now lives in the imagination, a disembodied symbol of the romantic West. The book includes the bear stories of Indians, explorers, vaqueros, forty-niners, and naturalists along with images from the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley, including newspaper illustrations from the Gold Rush, paintings from early scientific expeditions, photo albums, sheet music, settlers’ diaries, and fruit-crate labels. Heyday Books.
The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness. By Joel Ben Izzy. After fifteen years traveling the globe, gathering and telling stories, Joel Ben Izzy, awoke one morning in a hospital to find that he could no longer speak. His vocal cord had been damaged during surgery, and although he recovered his health, he had lost his voice. His life began to unravel. But when he’s reunited with his aging mentor, he begins to see the larger picture of his life. Algonquin Books.
Cowboy Princess: Life with My Parents Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. By Cheryl Rogers-Barnett with Frank Thompson. The eldest daughter of the famous Hollywood couple tells the family’s story. Taylor Trade Publishing.
Dirty: A Search for Answers Inside America’s Teenage Drug Epidemic. By Meredith Maran. An Oakland journalist and mother of two teens, Maran delves into the suffering, ecstasy, terrors and thrills of the hidden world of America’s teenage drug epidemic. HarperSanFrancisco.
The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq. By Lakshmi Chaudhry, Christopher Scheer, and Robert Scheer. The authors delve into the Bush Administration’s actions leading up to the war in Iraq. Seven Stories Press/Akashic Books.
Growing Up Irish Catholic, and Surviving My Mom’s Eleven Sisters. By Pat Carey. San Francisco writer shares stories ranging from wedding disasters and family dance recitals, to fatherly lessons on homosexuality and timeshare scams, to the torturing of his dad by the dozen women that make up his mom’s family. Carey grew up near Boston, working at the family’s roast beef stand, and attended a Catholichigh school where both of his parents teach. Aventine Press.
Her Husband: Hughes and Plath: Portrait of a Marriage. By Diane Middlebrook. The San Francisco author shows that the stormy marriage of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath inspired the best work of both poets. Viking.
The Last Honest Place in America: Paradise and Perdition in the New Las Vegas. By Marc Cooper. Southern California writer Cooper takes readers on a journey from the top of the Luxor Hotel’s glass pyramid, down “the Strip,” past the golden glow of the Mirage into the town’s ghetto. Along the way, he introduces us to a cast of characters including casino king Steve Wynn and Tim Thuller, leader of the Vagabound Motorcycle Club. Thunder’s Mouth Press/Nation Books.
The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire. By Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman. LA Times writers craft a history of California centering on the untold story of America’s biggest farmer, J.G. Boswell, who controls more than $1 billion worth of water rights and real estate in the heart of the state. Public Affairs.
Now Showing: Unforgettable Moments from the Movies. By Joe Garner. A collection of behind–the–scene details from movies such as Casablanca, The Graduate, The Exorcist and E.T. Andrews McMeel Publishing.
A Passion for Desserts. By Emily Luchetti. The pastry chef at Farallon restaurant in San Francisco, Luchetti organizes the 80 dessert recipes in her third cookbook by the four seasons. Her mantra: There’s always room for dessert. Chronicle Books.
Pretty Vacant: The Los Angeles Dingbat Observed. By Clive Piercy. A glimpse of the humble, boxy apartment buildings known as “dingbats.” Chronicle Books. .
Proust, Pickles, and Paychecks: Fourteen San Francisco Women Tell Their Stories. Edited by Rosemarie Patton. Collection of memoirs is by women bridging the gap between a generation who mostly forged careers, if at all, later in life, and their daughters who take having careers for granted. Patton taught writing at San Francisco State for many years. Fithian Press.
The Raccoon Next Door. By Gary Bogue. Illustrated by Chuck Todd. A guide to getting along with wild neighbors. Heyday Books.
Rasputin’s Revenge. By John Lescroart. Auguste Lupa, reputed son of the greatest detective of all time, is summoned to the court of the Czar. There, with a bit of assistance from none other than Holmes and Watson, he untangles a plot that holds the Winter Palace in a lethal grip. New American Library.
The Saints and Sinners of Okay County. By Dayna Dunbar. Los Angeles author tells the story of a woman who faces down pain to reclaim her own belief in herself and restore order to a life that’s gone desperately off track. Random House.
Working Dogs: True Stories of Dogs and Their Handlers. By Kristin Mehus-Roe. Long Beach author explores the many ways that dogs serve humankind, including working K-9 cops and Search and Rescue dogs. Bow Tie Press.
Young, Black, Rich and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion, and the Transformation of American Culture. By Todd Boyd. The USC prof dubbed “The Hip Hop Professor” by CNN delivers an appraisal of urban culture, basketball, and the way they redefined the American dream for black men. Doubleday.
Write Screenplays That Sell. By Hal Ackerman. Professional screenwriting technique is the first subject covered in Tallfellow Press’ new Great Teacher Series.
Short stories/poetry
The Funny Thing Is… By Ellen DeGeneres. A new humor collection by the stand’up comic and talk show host. Simon & Schuster.
Mark Twain’s San Francisco. Edited by Bernard Taper. A collection of California writing, including jumping frogs, high society, Emperor Norton and the stray dogs Bummer and Lazarus who followed on his heels. Taper has gathered a selection of newspaper articles, correspondence, poetry, and short stories. Heyday Books.
Ostinato Vamps. By Wanda Coleman. New collection by Los Angeles poet who explores familiar social ills and seeks to shatter stereotypes. University of Pittsburgh Press.
Yellow Flowers on a Rainy Day. By Tanya Hyonhye Ko. The author speaks about the journey of a young woman through courtship and marriage to motherhood. Oma Books of the Pacific.
Photography
Hidden Treasures of San Francisco Bay. Photographer Dennis Anderson takes readers on a visual journey that explores the diversity of life in and around the San Francisco Bay, from bird’s–eye views of wetlands and coastal mountains to underwater encounters with leopard sharks and orange sponges, and from sail boats and colorful buoys to exotic birds and rarely seen vistas. Heyday Books.
Two-Hearted Oak: The Photography of Roman Loranc. Essays and Poetry by Lillian Vallee; foreword by Graham Chisholm. A collection of photographs by Polish-American photographer Roman Loranc. These are portraits of places and moments deep in the heart of the Central Valley, stark visions of freshwater marshes, valley oak woodlands, rain-swollen streams, and other scenes Heyday Books.
Urban Forest: Images of Trees in the Human Landscape. By David Paul Bayles. The 50 duotone and 30 color photographs explore our relationship to the trees we live with and walk by every day. David’s images portray a relationship that is filled with harmony, tragedy and irony. Sierra Club Books.
Children’s books
The Elves and the Shoemaker. By Jim LaMarche. A classic tale of elfin magic retold from the Grimm Brothers and illustrated by MaMarche. Chronicle Books.
Every Day’s a Holiday: Amusing Rhymes for Happy Times. By Dean Koontz; illustrated by Phil Parks. Suspense writer ponders the origin of Valentine’s Day; introduces Jinx, a guy who really gets into Halloween; and explains that extra “a” on the end of Kwanzaa. There are also holidays you may not have heard of, including Praise–the–Chicken Day, Lost–Tooth Day, and Up–Is–Down Day. HarperCollins.
I Shook Up the World: The Incredible Life of Muhammad Ali. By Maryum Ali. The boxer’s oldest daughter recounts his life (ages 5-9). Beyond Words Publishing.
A Series of Unfortunate Events #10: The Slippery Slope. By Lemony Snicket. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire run into more than their fair share of slipperiness during their harrowing journey up — and down — a range of strange and distressing mountains. HarperCollins.
Simeon’s Gift. By Julie Andrews Edwards. In a faraway time and place, a humble musician named Simeon sets out on a quest. Thirsting for knowledge and eager to improve his craft, he risks losing all that is important to him. HarperCollins.
Swear to Howdy. By Wendelin Van Draanen. A tale about secrets and the boundaries of friendship. Knopf.
Fiction
Dealing In Murder. By Elaine Flinn. The antiques game is a killer, and a Carmel dealer finds death wherever she turns. Avon.
Joe’s Word. By Elizabeth Stromme. A writer–for–hire in LA’s inner city finds his emotionally distanced world jeopardized by a client’s special desires. City Lights Publishers.
My Life Uncovered. By Lynn Isenberg. Laura Taylor thought she had a done deal with a Hollywood producer. Turns out the only deal her agent closed was his own disappearing act. Red Dress Ink.
Odd Thomas. By Dean Koontz. Odd Thomas, who narrates, is 20 and works contentedly as a fry cook in a small fictional California town, despite a talent for writing. The reason for his lack of ambition? A much rarer talent: Odd sees and converses with ghosts, the lingering dead who have yet to pass on, a secret he has kept from nearly everyone but his girlfriend, an eccentric author friend and the local police chief, whom he occasionally helps solve terrible crimes. Bantam Books.
Old School. By Tobias Wolff. Determined to fit in at his New England prep school, the narrator in Wolff’s first novel has learned to mimic the bearing and manners of his adoptive tribe while concealing as much as possible about himself. Knopf.
Some Kind of Miracle. By Iris Rainer Dart. Two cousins write songs together as children. One is diagnosed with schizophrenia. The music helps her through the disease. William Morrow.
Still Holding: A Novel of Hollywood. By Bruce Wagner. In the third part of his Cellular Trilogy that began with I’m Losing You and I’ll Let You Go, Wagner immerses readers in post–September 11 Hollywood. Simon & Schuster.
Nonfiction
Backstory: Inside the Business of News. By Ken Auletta. In the name of “synergy,” media companies are tempted to tear down the divide between advertising and editorial. Auletta reviews key moments in this deterioration, looking at newspapers in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, and other big media personalities. Penguin Press.
Burn, Baby! Burn: The Autobiography of Magnificent Montague (Music in American Life). By Magnificent Montague and Bob Baker. The original AM radio voice of black Los Angeles, collaborating with writer Bob Baker of the Los Angeles Times, to tell his story. University of Illinois Press.
Christmas Family Gatherings. By Donata Maggipinto. Photography by France Ruffenach. Recipes, crafts and ideas for celebrating the holiday season. Chronicle Books.
Caesar’s Hours: My Life in Comedy, with Love and Laughter. By Sid Caesar with Eddy Friedfeld. Television star tells the backstage stories of Your Show of Shows, Caesar’s Hour, and other programs. Public Affairs.
Faery Healing: The Lore and the Legacy. By Margie McArthur. A look at the traditions of faery healing among the Celtic peoples of the British Isles. New Brighton Books.
The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us about Iraq. By Christopher Scheer, Robert Scheer, and Lakshmi Chaudhry. The authors contend that by exploiting 9/11 and five key lies about Iraq, the White House convinced Americans Baghdad posed both an imminent threat and a moral imperative. Seven Stories Press.
Dishing Hollywood: The Real Scoop on Tinseltown’s Most Notorious Scandals. By Laurie Jacobson. The author serves up 40 Hollywood scandals plus recipes a la mode. Cumberland House.
Holiday Cocktails. By Jessica Strand. Photography by Laurie Frankel. A guide to hot buttered rum, Kir Royale, Gingersnap Punch and other libations. Chronicle Books.
Inventing a Nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson. By Gore Vidal. A portrait of the formidable trio of founding fathers. Yale University Press.
Mr. and Mrs. Hollywood: How Lew and Edie Wasserman Created a Global Entertainment Empire. By Kathleen Sharp. A portrait of Hollywood, told through the lives of this most influential couple. The Wassermans ruled over twentieth-century Hollywood by building MCA, which ultimately devoured Universal Studios. Hounded by antitrust prosecutors, attacked by lesser rivals, and betrayed by their own proteges, the couple vanquished enemies while extending their influence beyond Sunset Strip, into governors’ mansions, Senate chambers, the White House, and international boardrooms. Carroll and Graf.
The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings. By Amy Tan. The author’s first nonfiction work is a collection of autobiographical essays. She writes about her childhood in California and Switzerland; her writing career; her relationships with her mother and her late editor, Faith Sale; and the role of fate in her life. Putnam.
Raising Financially Fit Kids. By Joline Godfrey. Santa Barbara author discusses how to use money as a vehicle for helping kids attain independence, voice, confidence, and judgment. Tricycle Press.
Poetry/Short stories
California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present. Edited by Dana Gioia, Chryss Yost and Jack Hicks. From the campfires of mining settlements to the coffee shops of San Francisco’s North Beach, poetry has long been central to the California experience. Witness early settlers Joaquin Miller, Ina Coolbrith, and Bret Harte; Robinson Jeffers, hurling words at the unlistening sea; the always edgy Charles Bukowski; the Six Gallery reading that launched the Beat era; the modern-day haikus of Michael McClure. There’s also the work of Gary Snyder, Thomas Gunn, Francisco X. Alarcon, Robert Hass, Abrose Bierce and many others. Heyday Books.
Mark Twain’s San Francisco. Edited by Bernard Taper, Illustrations by Edward Jump. Jumping frogs, high society, San Francisco characters Emperor Norton and the stray dogs Bummer and Lazarus who followed on his heels—nothing escaped Mark Twain’s scrutiny or his acerbic wit. Editor Bernard Taper has gathered a selection of newspaper articles, correspondence, poetry, and short stories. Heyday Books. .
Saved Women Wore White: Selected Works of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel. Edited by Lillian Vallee. Foreword by Gerald Haslam. McDaniel was born in Oklahoma in 1918 and moved to California in 1936 during the Dust Bowl migration. She began writing poetry as a girl, but did not publish until 1973. This collection spans more than twenty years of her work, from the biographical “Picking Grapes 1973” to the bittersweet ode to poverty in “Gravy Says A Lot.” Heyday Books.
Signal Hill. By Alan Rifkin. Five stories track boys and men as they navigate among ghosts and mirages of greater Los Angeles. City Lights Publishers.
Children’s books
The Book of Rock Stars: 20 Musical Icons That Shine Through History. By Kathleen Krull; illustrated by Stephen Alcorn. Elvis Presley. The Beatles. Bruce Springsteen. U2. They are among the twenty–one rock n’ roll stars celebrated with mini–biographies and colorful accompanying block prints (ages 9-12). Hyperion.
Just a Minute! By Yuyi Morales. A trickster’s tale and counting book. Ages 4-8. The author is an artist, Brazilian folk dancer, puppetmaker and storyteller who lives in Northern California. Chronicle Books.
Search for Anne Frank: Letters from Amsterdam to Iowa. By Susan Goldman Rubin. Malibu author has written many biographies for young people and her latest story is about Anne Frank and her American pen pals. Anne and her sister, Margot, corresponded briefly with two girls in Danville, Iowa, Juanita and Betty Wagner, and their letters capture Anne’s life before the Nazis arrived. The author contrasts the realities of life in rural America and urban Holland through the duration of World War II. Harry N. Abrams publishers.
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