Thursday, May 24, 2012

Los Angeles Novels for Every Mood

I started Jennifer Bosworth's STRUCK this week, a YA book about a teenage lightning addict living in post-Apocalyptic Los Angeles. The setting is pitch perfect and Bosworth clearly knows her L.A. stuff.  It got me thinking about my other favorite novels set in L.A. -- novels that absolutely couldn't be set anywhere else:

1. THE LONG GOODBYE by Raymond Chandler (classic hardboiled mystery)

2. DOGTOWN by Mercedes Lambert (gritty, unglamorous East L.A. of the 1980s)

3. MY HOLLYWOOD by Mona Simpson (overpriveleged families of Santa Monica, seen through the POVs of immigrant nannies)

4. WHITE OLEANDER by Janet Fitch (the brutality of the foster care system)

5. HOLLYWOOD by Charles Bukowski (hilarious and insane look into alcholic writer's movie-making experience)
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3 comments:

  1. Jennifer BosworthMay 24, 2012 at 1:33 PM

    One of the reasons I love Michael Connolly books is because they're often set in L.A., and I live here, so I feel like I'm in the know. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Julie MusilMay 25, 2012 at 2:33 PM

    I've read a couple of great crime novels set in LA, but darn if I can remember the titles:/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Leslie S. RoseMay 26, 2012 at 10:52 AM

    I still have locks on my windows from reading Helter Skelter and the Onion Field all those years ago. Even though they are both based on reality, it's creepy when settings are places you drive by all the time.

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