Jessica Blough
Jessica Blough is a freelance writer. A former associate editor at Alta Journal, Blough is a graduate of Tufts University where she was editor in chief of the Tufts Daily.

14 New Books for September
Here are works by authors on and of the West—including Wrecking Ball, What a Time to Be Alive, and The Wilderness—that we’re excited to see published this month.

What Reality Is This?
Elaine Castillo’s futuristic love story Moderation builds its own world.

15 New Books for August
This month, we’ve got our eyes on Feasts on the Farm, Regaining Unconsciousness, Automatic Noodle, and 12 other titles by writers on the West.

New Releases for July
Here are 12 books by authors on and of the West, including The Silver State, Little Red Barns, and Salt Bones, that we’re excited to see publish this month.

15 New Books for June
This month, we’ve got our eyes on The Catch, Out There in the Dark, So Far Gone, and 12 other titles of the West.

Yesterday’s Weather
Susanna Kwan’s debut novel, Awake in the Floating City, submerges San Francisco as it remembers the past.

New Releases for May
Here are 14 books by authors on and of the West, including So Many Stars, The Words of Dr. L, and The Last Great Dream.

Crawls, Cocktails, and a Whole Lot of Books
Independent Bookstore Day is this weekend—mark your calendars for these events throughout the West.

13 New Books for April
This month, we’re excited about Small Ceremonies, Lonely Women Make Good Lovers, Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age, and 10 other books by writers on or of the West.

10 New Books for March
This month, we’ve got our eyes on The Pacific Circuit, Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip, The Dream Hotel, and seven other titles from authors of and on the West.

12 New Books for February
This month, we’ve got our eyes on Immemorial, Smother, and 10 other titles by writers on the West.

Uncanny Island
In Sara Sligar’s Vantage Point, nothing is what it seems.

11 New Books for January
This month, we’ve got our eyes on Call Her Freedom, Alternative Facts, and nine other titles by writers on the West.

Rooms for Writing: Female Leaders of the Northern California Lit Scene
In the San Francisco Bay Area, a handful of dedicated women are leading the revival of a post-COVID literary community.

The Sacramento River: A Mecca for Many Critters—and a Source for All
The 400-mile-long water source provides infinite resources for the state.

El Capitan Climbers: Go Sleep on a Rock
Jessica Blough explores the extreme sport of rock climbing on El Capitan.

Our Diversity: What Californians Look Like
California, your favorite melting pot.

10 New Books for December
This month, we’ve got our eyes on How We Know Our Time Travelers, The Last One, and eight other titles by writers on the West.

Introducing ‘Goodbye, Vitamin’
In her debut novel, the December California Book Club selection, literary novelist Rachel Khong explores the fabric of life as it’s experienced when roles are reversed and an adult child cares for a parent with dementia.

10 New Books for November
This month, we’ve got our eyes on Didion and Babitz, Cher, and eight other titles by writers on and of the West.

‘Violent Spring’: The Scene of the Crime
In this newsletter, we look at the rich terrain that 1990s Los Angeles affords fiction—and why the California Book Club has returned there for its November selection, Gary Phillips’s debut crime novel.

Losing My Religion
Jessica Elisheva Emerson pursues lust and liberation in Olive Days.

Capturing Tobias Wolff’s America
In this newsletter, we examine narratives that, like This Boy’s Life, are written by people who lived through the history that Wolff recounts.

10 New Books for August
This month, we’ve got our eyes on My Chicano Heart, A Wilder Shore, and eight other titles by writers on and of the West.

‘Women of My Generation Were Sold a Bill of Goods’
Sarah Manguso on the deception of marriage.

12 New Books for July
This month, we’ve got our eyes on The Rent Collectors, Coachella Elegy, and 10 other titles by writers on the West.

2024 Pride Month Reads
Here are 17 outstanding, fresh California books written by LGBTQ authors.

Four Letters, Opposite of East
Westwords, a crossword puzzle tournament, debuts in Berkeley.

Voices of ‘Solito’
Five podcasts to accompany your reading of Javier Zamora’s memoir.

14 New Books for June
This month, we’ve got our eyes on Life Span, The Sons of El Rey, What Fire Brings, and 11 other titles by writers on the West.

Q&A: Elaine Castillo on Dogs, the Dead, and the Disservice of Romanticism
May 20 was National Dog Rescue Day. The former California Book Club author’s new book brings readers close to her heart as a rescue-dog mom.

Wings of Desire
Anna Dorn’s Perfume and Pain revives a lost genre.