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Nonfiction

too l.a., letters never sent but some were, eve babitz, book review

California Dreaming

mendo, chris harris

The Making of Cannabis Country

TTS audio available

city on the edge, jonathan weber

City by the Bay

TTS audio available

julian brave noisecat, intertribal friendship house in oakland, powwow dancing, we survived the night

Writer’s Room: Native Forms of Knowledge

TTS audio available

freedom essays by zinzi clemmons, book review

The Struggle Continues

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migrant heart by reyna grande, book review

Butterfly’s Wings

TTS audio available

roland betancourt, disneyland and the rise of automation, book review

Happiest Place on Earth

Inside the Reckless Ascent of ‘Rolling Stone’

TTS audio available

privacys defender by cindy cohn, book review

Recruiting You to the Barricades

the art of fiction, writing down the bones, bird by bird, this year you write your novel, a swim in a pond in the rain

A Writing Guide Primer

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writer, julia cameron, the artist's way

Ask a Californian’s Best Advice of 2024

TTS audio available

young man in a hurry by gavin newsom, book review

Gavin Newsom’s Bid for Likability

the glorians by terry tempest williams, book review

Dream of Life

they kill people by sheila ellis

Twisted Intersection

american reich by eric lichtblau

The State of Hate

this year, 365 songs annotated a book of days by john darnielle, book review

Memory Book

we survived the night by julian brave noisecat, book review

Coyote’s Descendants

TTS audio available

mcnamara at war, philip taubman and william taubman, biography

The Price of Loyalty

TTS audio available

rick bass, wrecking ball, book review

Football As Religion

black and white close up portrait of peter matthiessen in his later years, looking directly into the camera, deep lines across his face.

A Wild Life

TTS audio available

illustration of jean stein author of west of eden

The Black Hole at the Center

TTS audio available

water mirror echo, bruce lee and the making of asian america, jeff chang

Poetics of Fighting

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split portrait: susana m. morris in yellow next to the cover of positive obsession, featuring octavia butler in red lipstick and large eyeglasses.

Charting One’s Own Course

TTS audio available

greyhound by joanna pocock, book review

Travel Westward

rehab an american scandal by shoshana walter, book review

Searching for Sober Living

TTS audio available

trespassers at the golden gate, gary krist, book review

An Adulterous Couple

josh jackson, the enduring wild, book review

Forgotten Lands

their accomplices wore robes, how the supreme court chained black america to the bottom of a racial caste system, brando simeo starkey

Institutional Denial of Civil Rights

caro de robertis

Writer’s Room: Storytelling for Survival

TTS audio available

illustration of russell chatham

Falling (Again) for ‘Dark Waters’

TTS audio available

da capo

Beyond the Usual Suspects

rebecca solnit, no straight road takes you there

Sitting with Ambiguity

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no daylight in that face, adventures in film noir, barry gifford

The Aesthetic of Noir

ruth asawa and the artist mother at midcentury, jordan troeller

The Making of Matriarchal Modernism

sister, sinner, claire hoffman

Redemption Song

poets square, a memoir in thirty cats, courtney gustafson

Illuminating Care

notes to john by joan didion, book review

Play It As It Lays

searches, selfhood in the digital age, vauhini vara

Singular View

the pacific ccircuit, alexis madrigal

Two Prisms onto Oakland

neko cases, the harder i fight the more i love you

Lyrical Truth-Teller

book review of reading the waves by lidia yuknavitch, memoir, anita felicelli

Memories Can’t Wait

pico iyer, aflame, learning from silence, book review

The Art of Sitting Still

henry miller, the air conditioned nightmare

The Old Weird America

lili anolik, didion and babitz

Two Women

book cover for dorothy parker in hollywood by gail crowther with a black and white image of a woman, book review

Bright Lights, Big City

nick hornby, rosamond lehmann in vegas

Three Questions for Nick Hornby

the rent collectors, jesse katz

MacArthur Park

moon unit zappa, earth to moon, book review, memoir

Valley Girl

thom gunn, a coolr queer life, michael nott, biography, book review

Undone

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traveling, on the path of joni mitchell, ann powers, book review

The Circle Game

author robert louis stevenson in a portrait with the women who were instrumental in helping him advance his literary career despite recurring illnesses, from left wife fanny stevenson, stepdaughter and literary assistant isobel osbourne, and his mother, margaret isabella stevenson

Excerpt: ‘A Wilder Shore’

the friday afternoon club, griffin dunne

Family Affair

griffin dunne, friday afternoon club

Griffin Dunne Memoir Excerpt

literature of japanese american incarceration, frank abe, floyd cheung

Executive Disorder

chipped, writing from a skateborders lens, jose vadi, book review, nonficton

Free Ride

joel selvin, drums and demons, jim gordon

A Different Drummer

lauren markham, a map of future ruins, book review, politics, nonfiction, european world history

The Mythologies of Place

a man of two faces, viet thanh nguyen

Excerpt: ‘A Man of Two Faces’

viet thanh nguyen, writer, author, a man of two faces, los angeles

The Action of Ideas

the life and writings of ralph j gleason, don armstrong, nonfiction, book review

The Music Never Stopped

books, nonfiction, jonathan blitzer, everyone who is gone is here, central america, united states

The Secret History

marguerite higgins, maggie higgins, war correspondent, illustration

Blond Ambition

anthony veasna so, songs on endless repeat

Testament

a woman smiling with a squirrel on her shoulder

Back to Nature

american gun, true story of the ar15, cameron mcwhirter, zasha elinson, book review, nonfictiion

Bang Bang Shoot Shoot

thank you, falettimme be mice elf agin, sly stone, book review

Everyday People