Books: Audiobooks in the Valley, the mighty Kevin Starr, the controversial Ottessa Moshfegh and more
Hi, I’m books editor Carolyn Kellogg with the latest in books.
THE BIG STORY
Our new books staffer Agatha French — whose byline you’ve seen in our pages — visits Deyan Audio in Northridge. The company began producing audiobooks so long ago that it was before the word “audiobooks” was even coined. If you like audiobooks, you’ve probably listened to one recorded by them. Read about their early days and how Debra Deyan has weathered her biggest challenge.
THE LUMINOUS KEVIN STARR
Kevin Starr, the author of the pivotal Americans and the California Dream series (eight books, from “Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915” to “Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance, 1950-1963”), died last week at age 76. William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, remembers Starr: “He was big, his voice was big, his persona was big, his books are big, his ideas are big, his influence is big. … Kevin’s outsize impact and his sheer significance to both our regional and our national culture, will continue long hence.” I also wrote about Starr, who was awarded the Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement at the L.A. Times book prizes in 2013. He told me then, “I write all the time; it’s my way of thinking.”
TEETERING BETWEEN BOLD AND BUKOWSKI
Elissa Schappell reviews Ottessa Moshfegh’s new short story collection, “Homesick for Another World”: “That sound you hear? Packs of barking dogs, screaming sirens echoing through the hallowed halls of the literary patriarchy? That’s Ottessa Moshfegh and her debut collection of stories, ‘Homesick for Another World,’ setting off the alarm. Unrepentantly ambitious female author! Unsympathetic female characters! Ghastly hygiene!”
BESTSELLERS
The week of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president, Angelenos — who voted 72% for Hillary Clinton versus 22.5% for Donald Trump — are apparently looking for ways to understand Trump supporters. J.D. Vance’s book “Hillbilly Elegy,” about growing up in poor communities in the Rust Belt, where his family and others are riven by unemployment, addiction and trauma, is in its 21st week on our nonfiction bestseller list, where it is currently at No. 1.
MORE REVIEWS
There has been a lot of buzz about the first English-language book by Argentinian literary star Samanta Schweblin, the novel “Fever Dream,” which is reviewed by Ellie Robins. And Paula Woods reviews the chilling debut novel “History of Wolves” by Emily Fridlund, who got her PhD in creative writing from USC.
Thanks for reading!
