ANAHEIM, Calif. — As Michael Hiltzik considered writing a new chronicle of California, he examined the region’s past five centuries in search of a fresh perspective.

“I pitched it as a look at what California had taught the world and the rest of the nation and why it remains such a focus of attention and curiosity around the world,” he ...Read more

California is renowned for its cornucopia of blessings: vaunted universities, Malibu volleyball, Michelin-starred restaurants, Lake Tahoe. It’s also notorious for biblical plagues: droughts, runaway wildfires, tremors jarring the San Andreas fault.

A woman I knew during my MFA days, a Los Angeles native, once workshopped a pair of companion ...Read more

Even though Chris Bohjalian’s “The Jackal’s Mistress” is not shampoo, the plot does have the kind of rhythm conjured by the three words found on pretty much all bottles of the stuff: lather, rinse, repeat. Also like those words, his latest is pleasing in its directness but simultaneously lacks a certain depth.

That doesn’t mean the ...Read more

CHICAGO — If you’re a music fan of a certain age, “Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival,” a new oral history of the 34-year-old bacchanal, assembled from hundreds of interviews by music writers Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock, will swing from bittersweetly nostalgic to hedonistic to coldly ...Read more

Just published by Rizzoli New York, “Cinema Her Way: Visionary Female Directors in Their Own Words” is a beautiful 20-way conversation on the topic of filmmakers whose often brilliant careers did not and do not come easily. The reasons for that have everything to do with the words “her” and “female” in the book’s title.

The ...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, March 15, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2025 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2025, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "Onyx Storm (...Read more

If I told you “Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One” is about a clown, would that keep you from reading the book, not to mention this review?

If the answer is in the affirmative, you wouldn’t be alone. A lot of people hate clowns. I hate clowns. I mean, come on. Sad clowns? What’s the point?

Now, what if I told you a magician graces ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Sonya Walger hadn’t yet unpacked her family’s evacuation go-bag from December’s Franklin fire; it lay unused by the front door. Then, on Jan. 6, hurricane-force winds began punishing her Malibu neighborhood.

That night, the one before the Palisades wildfire, felt different, she says.

“I’d had a bad feeling,” ...Read more

Lawrence Wright likes Big Subjects. Whether in nonfiction or novels, he tackles the 300-pounder fearlessly.

That was true in his excellent “Going Clear,” an exhaustively reported takedown of L. Ron Hubbard and his Church of Scientology. (Read it — you will never be able to enjoy Tom Cruise in a movie again.) “The End of October” is ...Read more

A creepy song on a car radio led directly to Dennis E. Staples' second novel, “Passing Through a Prairie Country.” He was driving from MSP airport to his then-home in Bemidji, Minnesota.

“By the time I hit 20 or 40 miles out of Bemidji, it was dusk and I didn’t at the time have an advanced car so it was just whatever would come in on ...Read more

The crime-fighters-but-make-them-older trend continues with Deanna Raybourn’s “Kills Well With Others.”

The sequel to “Killers of a Certain Age” could repurpose that title because the quartet of sixtyish hitwomen from “Certain” is back in “Kills Well With Others.” And, as they say in movie trailers, this time it’s personal. ...Read more

Karen Russell’s “The Antidote,” her first novel since Pulitzer Prize finalist “Swamplandia,” does not make it easy on reviewers.

This is partly a factor of the Dust Bowl-era novel’s structure, which is divided into chapters narrated by about 10 characters (including a scarecrow and, in one chapter, a cat). Their voices are not as ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- If you’re looking for a copy of a Neil Gaiman novel, don’t bother checking at Avant Garden Books & Coffee in Anoka, Minnesota. The store has removed Gaiman from its shelves.

Gaiman is one of several authors who have been in the news recently for reasons other than their writing. Last month, lawsuits were filed against Gaiman ...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, March 8, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2025 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2025, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "Onyx Storm (...Read more

DETROIT — Detroit-born author Bridgett M. Davis' latest book "Love, Rita: An American Story of Sisterhood, Joy, Loss, and Legacy" is a memoir that goes beyond the dynamic relationship between two siblings and explores generational trauma and looks at the effect societal stressors have on the health of Black Americans.

In "Love, Rita," Davis ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The L.A. Times Festival of Books is back and it's celebrating its 30th anniversary.

The weekend will feature readings, signings, screenings and panels with authors and speakers from all walks of life. This year's lineup includes "Wicked" director Jon M. Chu, comedian Chelsea Handler, exoneree Amanda Knox, Pulitzer Prize-winning ...Read more

“He points the scanner at the back of her skull, and the scanner gives a beep, indicating that the neuroprosthetic on Retainee M-7493002 [username: Sara T. Hussein] hasn’t been tampered with overnight.”

Where are we? It’s no hotel, that’s for sure.

As Laila Lalami’s sixth book, “The Dream Hotel,” opens, her protagonist is ...Read more

If you’re reading this article on your phone or computer, you might agree that modern technology is certainly handy, but in Laila Lalami’s latest novel, “The Dream Hotel,” that ease and efficiency gives way to a nightmarish new reality.

“It’s so convenient, and it’s one way that we connect with other people who are also using ...Read more