It's Friday. We've added to our California reading list. Plus, raw oysters may have sickened 200 people in Southern California.
Looking for your next absorbing read? We're here to help. Today I'm updating our California Reading List, a project of this newsletter that's intended to guide anyone looking to learn more about the Golden State through adeptly written prose. Readers have sent in hundreds of wonderful recommendations, and I've been sorting through them for weeks. Additions this round include "Farewell to Manzanar," Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's 1973 memoir about her time in a World War II internment camp; Carey McWilliams's analysis of the state's first 100 years in "California: The Great Exception"; and Octavia Butler's unsettlingly prescient "Parable of the Sower." You can leaf through the full list here, with the latest additions shown in bold. Please keep emailing your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com, and include your full name and the community where you live. (If you have recommendations for the best local spots to read, send those, too.) Here are the other additions to the list, and why some readers recommend them: "The White Album" by Joan Didion (1979) "I found Joan Didion's 'The White Album' to be a compelling snapshot of L.A. in the 1960-70s, when my immigrant parents moved here. She wrote about celebrities both famous (Jim Morrison) and infamous (Charles Manson), and her musings about freeway traffic ring true today." — Christine Tse Kuecherer, Burbank "Day of the Locust" by Nathanael West (1939) "I taught this short novel for years to college students who liked and appreciated its grotesque satire on American culture generally, but it was only when I started teaching it to Californians who were either from or had been to L.A. that it really sang (though 'Hollywood' as a dream factory perhaps resonates less for the TikTok and Netflix generations). I love it so much, I refuse to watch the 1975 film adaptation." — Matthew Stratton, Davis "Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco" by Gary Kamiya (2013) "A great book for anybody who wants to know/see more of San Francisco than only Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Union Square, cable cars and all the other typical tourist spots. He writes about a park with a small canyon, hidden places with great views of the city, lesser known historical spots — including native history, different neighborhoods, literary hot spots (not just the Beats), local lore, happenings, stairs (yes, stairs!), earthquakes, etc. It is an 'intimate' guide by a long-term resident about his crazy, fascinating, one-of-a-kind, odd, absolutely charming city and its inhabitants." — Ulrich Hacker, Camino "Trees in Paradise" by Jared Farmer (2013) "It really helped me think about the history of the area and my place in it, and because this book is grounded in trees I see every day in the Bay Area, I get little reminders: I see, hear, smell and feel (and sometimes taste, if it's windy!) the three trees that form the basis of this book throughout my day. This is one of those books that I like so much that my friends have asked me to stop bringing it up in conversation!" — Dave Longawa, Palo Alto "On Gold Mountain" by Lisa See (1995) "Focusing on See's own Chinese ancestors, some of whom arrived during the gold rush and the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, this book traces the extent and impact of Chinese immigrants to California, and their resistance to the draconian state and federal laws passed to keep them out. The family established a store in Los Angeles's Chinatown selling rosewood furniture imported from China and renting it to movie studios for their sets. During the 20th century, studios cast white actors to play the Chinese gangsters and doomed ladies, but the furniture was authentic." — Kathleen Courts, Oakland "An American Genocide" by Benjamin Madley (2016) "More history we did not learn in school — this book will blow your mind and make your heart ache. Revealing the terrible history of U.S. settlement of California between 1846 and 1873, Benjamin Madley documents in spellbinding detail the personal and collective brutalities involved in the state-supported genocide of California's first peoples. Californians will recognize names and places, and never feel the same again about the gold rush and other Golden State settler tales taught in grammar school." — Kate Stornetta, Mendocino County
We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
The rest of the news
Southern California
Central California
Northern California
What we're readingIn a new book, Manjula Martin explores adjusting to an increasingly year-round fire season in Northern California.
Tell usToday we're asking about love: not whom you love, but what you love about your corner of California. Email us a love letter to your California city, neighborhood or region — or to the Golden State as a whole — and we may share it in an upcoming newsletter. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com.
And before you go, some good newsA 33-year-old librarian from Solano County has become well-known on social media for making cheerful videos about the power of local libraries.
The man, Mychal Threets, is the supervising librarian at the Fairfield Civic Center Library, and has recently become popular on TikTok and Instagram for sharing stories about his local branch and moments that he calls "library joy." Threets, who was home-schooled by his mother, grew up visiting the Fairfield branch where he now works. Those early experiences were formative, he says, and his videos, which have millions of views, are an attempt to share that same sense of magic and to remind viewers of how welcoming and joyful libraries can be. "They've always meant the world to me," Mr. Threets told my colleague Orlando Mayorquin during a recent interview with The Times. He added: "The library is here to help you. Never be afraid to ask for help." Thanks for reading. I'll be back on Monday. Enjoy your weekend! — Soumya P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword. Maia Coleman and Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
California Today: The best books about California
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment