Recommend a book or three pertaining to California

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I'll be traveling next week, all over, and I'd like something good -- fictional or non, though if it's fictional preferably with more relation to California than just setting.

And no, I'm not reading any damned Kerouac.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 03:11 (twenty years ago)

Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 03:21 (twenty years ago)

I haven't read it yet, but for non-fiction you might look into Kevin Starr's California: A History. For a classic piece of fiction, why not give McTeague by Frank Norris a try... it's great.

― Jeff LeVine (Jeff LeVine), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 04:20 (twenty years ago)

Didion's essays: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Where I Was From, The White Album. And fiction too:

― zan, Wednesday, 5 April 2006 16:02 (twenty years ago)

"Crying of Lot 49" & "Vineland", if you haven't read those.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 16:04 (twenty years ago)

That should have read:

Didion's essays: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Where I Was From, The White Album. And fiction too: Run River or Play It As It Lays.

And Steinbeck, of course.

― zan, Wednesday, 5 April 2006 16:04 (twenty years ago)

Christopher Moore's Practical Demonkeeping and The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove for silly takes on new-age-ness in northern CA. Also, the Arcata police blotter (which is transcendent) for current real-life events, also northern.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 16:35 (twenty years ago)

Kim Stanley Robinson's Orange County Trilogy: three looks at one region during roughly the same near-future time frame. One postwar/post-disaster (The Wild Shore), one green ecotopia (Pacific Edge), one tech-heavy cyberslacker dystopia (The Gold Coast). It's been a long time since I've read them, but I loved them at the time. Three very different views add up to a rich portrait of SoCal.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 17:37 (twenty years ago)

Ross MacDonald!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 20:03 (twenty years ago)

Already Dead by Denis Johnson.

― wmlynch (wlynch), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 20:09 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah! I love Denis Johnson. "Fiskadoro" is a touchstone book for me.

"The Player" and "Among The Dead," by Michael Tolkin, both set in LA. Hysterically vicious. The latter concerns a plane crash, so maybe don't read on plane. Or do!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 20:14 (twenty years ago)

basically anything by Raymond Chandler or Michael Connelly

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 20:52 (twenty years ago)

for Los Angeles in the 40s and 90s/00s respectively

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 20:53 (twenty years ago)

The Library of America has an anthology entitled Writing Los Angeles; it gives a good sampling of a number of different authors (though I shoud warn you, it does have something by Kerouac).

― Mark Klobas, Thursday, 6 April 2006 01:25 (twenty years ago)

Patricia Campbell Hearst - Every Secret Thing

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Thursday, 6 April 2006 01:50 (twenty years ago)

Highway 99: a Literary Journey Through California's Great Central Valley. It has some good and some not so good stuff.

― wmlynch (wlynch), Thursday, 6 April 2006 20:18 (twenty years ago)

the didion she did before her husband croaked is amazing

― anthony easton (anthony), Thursday, 6 April 2006 23:24 (twenty years ago)

China Lake, by Anthony Hyde. (I used to live there)

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 04:00 (twenty years ago)

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