Looking for a good book to read? Try these links...
-- Page Turners' list
-- LAPL Reads
Also, check the L. A Times "Books" section, and the N. Y. Times "Book" page, especially the Sunday page for its book reviews and best seller lists. And, try BookmarksMagazine.com with reviews of current and recent books sorted by genre. In addition, try BookPage.com with interviews and reviews of recent books, and free e-newsletters.
At the end of each Board and annual meeting, we share information on some of our readings and viewings. Here are the recommendations:
2020
Ariel Sabar - My Father's Paradise
Selden Edwards - The Little Book
Harriet (film)
2019
Elaine Weiss - The Woman's Hour
Lisa Grunwald - Time After Time
Delia Owens - Where the Crawdads Sing
Rebecca Stott - Ghostwalk
Margaret George - The Confessions of Young Nero
2018
Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik - Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Brandon Sanderson - Skyward (Young Adult)
Susan Orlean - The Library Book - Absolutely wonderful, for all library lovers.
The nearby Laemmle Town Center movie theater is showing Saturday live transmissions of Metropolitan Opera performances this season. Operas include Aida, Samson et Dalila, Carmen, La Traviata and Die Walkurie, among others.
Meg Wolitzer - The Female Persuasion
Rachel Kadish - The Weight of Ink
Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, Ella Morton - Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
Steven J. Ross - Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America
Bernard Cornwell - Fools and Mortals
Dan Brown - Inferno
Scott Eyman - Hank and Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart
Film: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Film: The Post
Jennifer Egan - Manhattan Beach
2017
Alan Bennet - Uncommon Reader
Sarah Perry - Essex Serpent
R. J. Palacio - Wonder
Ron Chernow - Hamilton
Selene Yeager - The Doctors Book of Food Remedies: The Newest Discoveries in the Power of Food to
Treat and Prevent Health Problems - From Aging and Diabetes to Ulcers
Films: Victoria and Abdul and Stronger
Janice Y. K Lee - Expatriots
Amor Towles - A Gentleman in Moscow
Lisa See - The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
Paulette Jiles - News of the World
Films: Zookeeper's Wife, Gifted, and The Finest.
Julie Orringer - Invisible Bridge
Films: Hidden Figures, Salesman, The Founder, and 20th Century Women
Films: La La Land and Lion
2016
Films: The Hollars, Light Between Oceans, and The Dancer
Anne Tyler - Vinegar Girl
Yanagihara, Hanya - A Little Life
Kenneth A. Breisch and Kevin Starr - The Los Angeles Central Library: Building an Architectural Icon,
1872-1933 (Architecture Series)
Hans J. Massaquoi - Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany
Janice P. Nimura - Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back
Books about Dorothea Lange, American documentary photographer and photojournalist.
(“Migrant Mother” is her famous photo)
Marthe Cohn and Taylor Wendy Holden - Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French
Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany
Peter Slevin - Michelle Obama: A Life
Kristin Hannah - The Nightingale
Joyce Antler - You Never Call! You Never Write!: A History of the Jewish Mother
2015
Anthony Doerr - All the Light We Cannot See
Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III, and Peter W. Kunhardt -
Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography
Frederick Hill Meserve and Carl Sandburg - The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln
Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt and Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr. - Twenty Days, A Narrative in
Text and Pictures of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the Twenty Days and
Nights that Followed--The Nation in Mourning, the Long Trip Home to Springfield.
Barbara Hambly - The Emancipator’s Wife (A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln).
Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns - The Roosevelts: A Intimate History (book and DVD)
Sophia Loren - Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life
Suki Kim - Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite
Mohamedou Ould Siahi and Larry Siems - Guantánamo Diary
McFarland, USA (movie)
Diana Gabaldon - Outlander, a novel (series of 8 books and novellas)
Outlander - TV mini-series (Starz season 1 online; season 2 - April 4 2015)
Héctor Tobar - Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine,
and the Miracle That Set Them Free.
Héctor Tobar - Translation Nation: Defining a New American Identity in the
Spanish-Speaking United States
2014
John Grisham - Sycamore Row
Steven Johnson - How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World
(book and TV series)
Stephen Hawking - The Illustrated A Brief History of Time (updated and expanded edition)
Tracy Chevalier - The Last Runaway: A Novel
Ivan Turgenev - Fathers and Sons
Richard North Patterson - Degree of Guilt
Film: The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, by Ken Burns (PBS documentary)
Mosab Hassan Yousef and Ron Brackin - Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror,
Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices; AND The Green Prince, the
documentary from this book.
Elizabeth Warren - A Fighting Chance
Hillary Rodham Clinton - Hard Choices
Glenn Greenwald - No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State
Phyllis Chester - An American Bride in Kabul (memoir)
Emma Rowley - Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey: The Official Backstage Pass to
the Set, the Actors, and the Drama
André Brink - A Dry White Season
Kate Alcott - The Dressmaker
Tina Zahn, Wanda Dyson - Why I Jumped: A Dramatic Story of Finding Hope Beyond Depression
Frank Herbert - Dune
Dave Eggers - The Circle
Films: Philomena and Saving Mr. Banks.
2013
Film: Gravity (only in 3D)
Film: Enough Said
Kim Fay - The Map of Lost Memories
Marie Arana - Bolivar: American Liberator
Christina Baker Kline - Orphan Train, a Novel
Helene Wecker - The Golem and the Jinni
Tom Clancy - Threat Vector (Jack Ryan Novels)
Barbara Kingsolver - Flight Behavior
Isabelle Allende - Daughter of Fortune
Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl
Jeffrey Toobin - The Oath: The Obama White House and The Supreme Court
Dara Horn - All Other Nights
Robert Harris - Pompeii
Salman Rushdie - interviews with British Indian novelist & essayist (search the archives
of the LAPL ALOUD series)
Ruth Downie mysteries -- British author of historical novels set in ancient Rome
Lindsey Davis - English historical novelist of crime stories set in ancient Rome
2012
Argo (movie)
Stephen L. Carter - The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln
Ann Fadiman - The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong
Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
Salman Rushdie - Joseph Anton: A Memoir
George Beahm (ed.) - I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words
Walter Isaacson - Steve Jobs
Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) – We suggest you read or re-read some of his
books, as a fitting memorial to this award-winning author.
Suzanne Collins - Hunger Games (book and movie)
Marilyn Johnson - This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All
Henry Nicholls - The Way of the Panda: The Curious History of China's
Political Animal
Hugo, the movie in 3D.
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Brian Selznick - The Hugo Movie Companion: A Behind the Scenes Look at
How a Beloved Book Became a Major Motion Picture
Rebecca Skloot - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum - That Used To Be Us: How
America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back
Geraldine Brooks - Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague
2011
Laura Hillenbrand - Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Lyanda Lynn Haupt - Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness
Rohinton Mistry - A Fine Balance
David L. Ulin (Editor, Los Angeles Times Book Review) - The Lost Art
of Reading; Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time
Nicholas Carr - The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing To Our Brains
Wallace Stegner - Angle of Repose (Pulitzer Prize)
Maria Riva - Marlene Dietrich
Tea Obreht - Tiger's Wife: a Novel
Midnight in Paris (film)
J. M. G. Le Clezio - Wandering Star
Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain - Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti
Temple Grandin (film)
Lisa See - Shanghai Girls
Kee Malesky - All Facts Considered: The Essential Library of Inessential Knowledge
Roz Savage - Rowing the Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean
Barbara Kingsolver - The Lacuna
Noam Chomsky - Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy
Irene Nemirovsky - Suite Francaise
Michael Crosby - Encino (Images of America series)
Walter Mosley - The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey
2010
Nora's Will (film)
Daisy Hay - Young Romantics: The Shelleys, Byron, and Other Tangled Lives
John Buntin - L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City
Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment
Zoe Ferraris - City of Veils
Opera in Cinema Series: Live Performances shown at the movies: Laemmle
Theaters in the Southland.
Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (and the film)
Jeffrey Archer - Paths of Glory
PBS original documentary - Inventing L.A.:The Chandlers and Their Times
Bill Boyarsky, Mark Catalena, Brian Tessier, and Peter Jones - Inventing L.A.:
The Chandlers and Their Times (book)
Isabel Allende - Island Beneath the Sea
Rita Williams-Garcia - One Crazy Summer (ages 9-12, or adult)
Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played with Fire (and the film)
Stieg Larsson - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and the film)
David Sax - Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the
Heart of Jewish Delicatessen
Jamie Ford - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Alice Schroeder - The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
Dave Eggers - Zeitoun
Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall : A Novel (Man Booker Prize)
Daniel Levin - The Last Ember
David Weinberger - Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New
Digital Disorder
Andrew Lih - The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies
Created the World's Greatest Encyclopedia
2009
Kathryn Stockett - The Help (and the audiobook)
E. L. Doctorow - Homer & Langley: A Novel
Pearl S. Buck - Peony
Leo Tolstoy - Anna Karenina
T.C. Boyle - The Women: A Novel
Carlos Ruiz Zafón - The Shadow of the Wind
Leo Carrillo - The California I Love
Michael Connelly - The Scarecrow
Jeff Jarvis - What would Google Do?
Abigail Yasgur & Joseph Lipner & Barbara Mendes illus. - Max Said YES!
The Woodstock Story (picture book)
Malcolm Gladwell - Outliers; the Story of Success
Harry L. Freund - Love with Noodles; an Amorous Widower's Tale
Barack Obama - Dreams from My Father : A Story of Race and Inheritance
2008
William Faulkner - Light in August
Doris Lessing - The Grass is Singing
Jeffrey Toobin - The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
Dick Francis & Felix Francis - Silks
Ildefonso Falcones - Cathedral of the Sea
Bookmarks - magazine for avid readers, and their website
Phyllis Lee Levin - Abigail Adams: A Biography
Achy Obejas - Days of Awe (novel about Cuban-Americans and Cuba)
James Frey - Bright Shiny Morning
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Harry Harrison - 50 in 50: Fifty Stories for Fifty Years!
Joyce Cheney - Aprons: A Celebration
James M. McPherson - "To the Best of My Ability:" The American Presidents
Joyce Carol Oates - The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense
Joanne Fluke - The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swenson Mysteries)
Noah Gordon - The Last Jew
Allegra Goodman - Intuition
Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin - Three Cups of Tea: One Man's
Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
E. L. Doctorow - Ragtime
Mark Glamack - Littluns and the Book of Darkness (www.littluns.net) (for teens & above)
Shaunda Kennedy Wenger and Janet Kay Jensen - The Book Lover's Cookbook: Recipes Inspired
by Celebrated Works of Literature, and the Passages that Feature Them
Elizabeth Gilbert - Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything
Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Diane Ackerman - Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story
Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
Sophie Kinsella - Confessions of a Shopaholic
Lauren Bacall - By Myself and Then Some
Sherman Alexie - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Bill Boyarsky - Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh and the Art of Power Politics
Michael Chabon - Gentlemen of the Road; A Tale of Adventure
Robert Whitaker - The Mapmaker's Wife
Ryszard Kapuscinski - Shadow of the Sun
Vanora Bennett - Portrait of an Unknown Woman, a Novel
Tim Clissold and Horacio Pons - Mr. China
The Bible
Jon Stewart - "The Daily Show" (Comedy Central) (TV) -- often interviews authors
Thomas Mullen - Last Town on Earth (audiobook)
James Bradley - Flyboys; A True Story of Courage (audiobook)
J. K. Rowlings - Harry Potter series (audiobooks)
Candace Bushnell - Lipstick Jungle
Sara Gruen - Water for Elephants, A Novel
2007 and earlier
John Bayley - Elegy for Iris
Cokie Roberts - Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation
Phillippa Gregory - The Queen's Fool, A Novel
Jhumpa Lahiri - The Namesake: A Novel
Amy Tan - Bone Setter's Daughter
Katharine Graham - Personal History
Joan Didion - The Year of Magical Thinking
Albert Gore - An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of
Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
Art Buchwald - Too Soon To Say Goodbye
William Brodrick - 6th Lamentation, a Novel
Alexander McCall Smith - Dream Angus: the Celtic God of Dreams
Stephen Greenblatt - Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
Ray Bradbury - Dandelion Wine (classic reissued) and sequel, Farewell Summer
Will Thomas - To Kingdom Come, Some Danger Involved,
and The LimeHouse Text
Margaret Maron - Bootlegger's Daughter
Winston Churchill - History of the English Speaking People (4 volumes)
Michael Connelly - The Lincoln Lawyer
John Dunning - On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio
Kazuo Ishiguro - When We Were Orphans, and Never Let Me Go
Marjorie Fasman - The Diary of Henry Fitzwilliam Darcy
Carrie Debris - Pride and Prescience (Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mysteries)
Ruth Reichl - Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table, and
Comfort Me With Apples: More Adventures at the Table
Rachel Reichl - Garlic & Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise
Lisa See - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
James L. Swanson - Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer
Doris Kearns Goodwin - Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
James Bradley - Fly Boys: A True Story of Courage
Julie Otsuka - When the Emperor Was Divine
Jodi Picoult - My Sister's Keeper
Richard A. Clark - Scorpion's Gate
Anne Rivers Siddons - Fault Lines
