Literary L.A.
A guide to the literary geography of Los Angeles: A comprehensive bookstore map, writers’ meetups, place histories, an author survey, essays and more.
Features
Leland Stanford’s widow made many enemies. But who poisoned her? Stanford historian Richard White investigates in the new book ‘Who Killed Jane Stanford?’
Reading in the time of coronavirus
‘So lonely you could die’ isn’t just a song lyric. Neurogenomics is proving that the human nervous system is not well suited to isolation.
More on Books
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See, hear and interact with world-class authors and newsmakers
June 22: Ibram X. Kendi discusses “How to Raise an Antiracist. Get tickets.
May 26: “Letter to a Stranger” night with Pico Iyer, Maggie Shipstead, Michelle Tea and editor Colleen Kinder in conversation with travel writer Christopher Reynolds. Get tickets.
April 23: Amanda Gorman discussed “Call Us What We Carry” at the Festival of Books. Watch her reading.
March 29: Reyna Grande, “A Ballad of Love and Glory.” Watch.
Feb. 25: Jane Goodall, “The Book of Hope.” Watch.
Jan. 25, 2022: Stephanie Land, “Maid.” Watch.
Dec. 9: Ann Patchett, “These Precious Days.” Watch.
Nov. 30: Nikole Hannah-Jones (“The 1619 Project”) with Kevin Merida. Highlights.
Oct. 15: Ron and Clint Howard, "The Boys.” Watch.
Sept. 28: Jaime Lowe, “Breathing Fire.” Watch.
Aug. 24: Billie Jean King, “All In.” Watch.
July 29: Rodrigo Garcia, “A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes”. Watch.
June 29: Michele Harper, “The Beauty in Breaking.” Watch.
May 27: Charles Yu, “Interior Chinatown.” Watch.
April 21: Barack Obama (“A Promised Land”) with Ava DuVernay. Highlights.
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Ada Limón’s sixth collection of verse, “The Hurting Kind,” moves through pandemic isolation and other fears to a tentative, hopeful emergence.
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When COVID-19 put comics on pause, Winter Soldier co-creator Ed Brubaker embarked on a new project — the Reckless series of L.A. pulp graphic novels.
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The L.A. Times Book Clubs reads ‘Letter to a Stranger,’ a new collection that celebrates the serendipity of chance encounters.
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‘We Do What We Do in the Dark,’ Michelle Hart’s debut, follows a young woman figuring out her desires through a relationship with a female professor.
Bestsellers List Sunday, May 15
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‘Uncertain Ground’ collects Marine and novelist Phil Klay’s essays on how we redefine citizenship and other fuzzy concepts as a nation forever at war.
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‘Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story,’ the long-awaited book by U2 frontman Bono, is coming out this fall.
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Justin Tinsley’s ‘It Was All a Dream: Biggie and the World That Made Him’ contextualizes the short life and immortal art of a one-of-a-kind rapper.
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Times Book Prize winners Diane Seuss and Ada Ferrer were among the 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning authors. Joshua Cohen won in fiction for ‘The Netanyahus.’
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Chris Bohjalian’s latest novel, ‘The Lioness,’ features a 1960s Hollywood star’s honeymoon safari that turns into a thrilling psychological game.
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Ali Smith’s ‘Companion Piece’ comes on the heels of her seasonal quartet of newsy novels. Her work is the perfect mirror of our era’s abrupt absurdity.
Bestsellers List Sunday, May 8
Recent hardcover fiction and nonfiction lists.