Alta Journal begins each week with a look at the best literature coming out of the Golden State, with a special eye for bold truth, genre play, and unexpected perspectives. Books editor David L. Ulin surveys the most anticipated and underrated upcoming titles to create the Monday Book Review, highlighting 52 books a year. Build your 2024 reading list with these 2023 recommendations from our contributors.
CHRIS DALEY REVIEWS HENRY HOKE’S OPEN THROAT
From the point of view of a hungry, traumatized mountain lion, Hoke captures Los Angeles at a crossroads.
JACKIE DESFORGES REVIEWS CLAIRE DEDERER’S MONSTERS: A FAN’S DILEMMA
DesForges finds catharsis in Dederer’s deep and personal investigation of the monstrous power figures in our culture.
RJ SMITH REVIEWS SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY’S AN AMERIKAN FAMILY: THE SHAKURS AND THE NATION THEY CREATED
Holley’s book about the family of Tupac Shakur is a living history teeming with narrative.
ALEX ESPINOZA INTERVIEWS HÉCTOR TOBAR ON OUR MIGRANT SOULS: A MEDITATION ON RACE AND THE MEANINGS AND MYTHS OF “LATINO”
Espinoza and Tobar discuss balancing data with personal stories, the myth of Los Angeles, vulnerability in writing, and the evolution of Latino migrant identities.
JESSICA BLOUGH REVIEWS RUTH MADIEVSKY’S ALL-NIGHT PHARMACY
Sisterhood and generational trauma permeate Madievsky’s dark debut novel.
DAVID L. ULIN REVIEWS BRANDON SHIMODA’S HYDRA MEDUSA
Shimoda weaves together heritage, politics, memory, family, and violence in his daybook.
LYNELL GEORGE REVIEWS SLY STONE’S THANK YOU (FALETTINME BE MICE ELF AGIN)
George calls Stone’s memoir a wild ride and a rose-colored journey on what feels like another planet.
ANITA FELICELLI REVIEWS MYRIAM GURBA’S CREEP: ACCUSATIONS AND CONFESSIONS
Felicelli commends essayist Gurba’s ability to “expose the funny and the cruel and the grotesque in a single breath.”
GARY SINGH REVIEWS VIET THANH NGUYEN’S A MAN OF TWO FACES: A MEMOIR, A HISTORY, A MEMORIAL
Nguyen’s memoir is bold in its calls for decolonization and racial justice.
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LORRAINE BERRY REVIEWS JUSTIN TORRES’S BLACKOUTS
Torres’s second novel investigates the dangerous violence in erasure through a man determined to fill in the gaps of his life story.
