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THE LATEST REVIEWS

only way out by tod goldberg, book review

Long Con in the New West

In Only Way Out, Tod Goldberg leaves the desert for the Oregon coast, unspooling a hilarious, violent noir that redefines the meaning of hustle.

books, 2025 december releases

9 New Books for December

Here are works by authors on and of the West, including Only Way Out, How to Cook a Coyote, and Television, that we’re excited to see published this month.

lightbreakers, aja gabel

The Physics of Grief: Aja Gabel’s ‘Lightbreakers’

The author’s second novel contends with art, science, and the folds of memory.

susan straight, sacrament

Nurses and Lowriders

Susan Straight’s Sacrament depicts the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Southern California.

private i, lynn hershman leeson

Mounting the Evidence

Lynn Hershman Leeson’s memoir, Private I, spotlights an overlooked network of women artists.

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WRITER’S ROOM

at last, marisa silver

Writer’s Room: Form and Function

angela flournoy seated on a park bench wearing a mustard shawl, holding a small notebook and pen, surrounded by trees and dappled light.

Writer’s Room: Friendship As a Prism

porthole , joanna howard

Writer’s Room: Joanna Howard

crown, evanthia bromiley

Writer’s Room: Evanthia Bromiley

caro de robertis

Writer’s Room: Storytelling for Survival

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ALTA JOURNAL’S CALFORNIA BESTSELLERS LIST

books, california bestsellers, one day, everyone will have always been against this by omar el akkad, how to know a person by david brooks, the best american essays 2025 by jia tolentino and kim dana kupperman

Alta Journal ’s California Bestsellers List (December 4, 2025)

CALIFORNIA BOOK CLUB

lisa see, on golden mountain

‘On Gold Mountain’

john freeman, california rewritten

‘California Rewritten’

ada limon, startlement

‘Startlement’

the backyard bird chronicle, amy tan, california book club

‘The Backyard Bird Chronicles’

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MORE REVIEWS

november new book releases

12 New Books for November

we survived the night by julian brave noisecat, book review

Coyote’s Descendants

joyride by susan orlean, book review

Golden Run

a wooded shore by thomas mcguane, book review

When Things Go Very Wrong

beings by ilana masad, book review

Out of the Archives

author ross macdonald, book jackets

Light in the Lew Archer Novels

shadow ticket, thomas pynchon

Conspiracy Theory

new book releases, october 2025

15 New Books for October

mcnamara at war, philip taubman and william taubman, biography

The Price of Loyalty

rick bass, wrecking ball, book review

Football As Religion

recently reviewed books

From Airplane Obsession to Accomplices

a different kind of tension by jonathan lethem, book review

Life Writing

water mirror echo, bruce lee and the making of asian america, jeff chang

Poetics of Fighting

split portrait: susana m. morris in yellow next to the cover of positive obsession, featuring octavia butler in red lipstick and large eyeglasses.

Charting One’s Own Course

greyhound by joanna pocock, book review

Travel Westward

new september 2025 book releases

14 New Books for September

cover of rabih alameddine’s novel "the true true story of raja the gullible," featuring a turquoise background with red thread loops. portrait of rabih alameddine wearing a black cap and glasses, standing against a gray wall.

Time After Time

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the martian chronicles by rad bradbury, book review

Rocket Man

rehab an american scandal by shoshana walter, book review

Searching for Sober Living

cover of peter orner’s novel the gossip columnist’s daughter, featuring a matchbook and typewriter on a green background. author peter orner photographed outdoors with ocean in background.

Unsolved Homicide

moderation by elaine castillo, book review

What Reality Is This?

trespassers at the golden gate, gary krist, book review

An Adulterous Couple

nolan knight, the gorgon of los feliz, book review

Grifter’s Paradise

josh jackson, the enduring wild, book review

Forgotten Lands

which walks by laura moriarty, book review

Oblique Strategies

cover of typewriter beach by meg waite clayton, showing a woman in a black dress framed by a grand arched window overlooking the california coast.

American Fantasy

a bomb placed close to the heart by nishant batsha, book review

Inventing History

michelle huneven, bug hollow

The Adult in the Room

their accomplices wore robes, how the supreme court chained black america to the bottom of a racial caste system, brando simeo starkey

Institutional Denial of Civil Rights

road reads

5 Literary Gems That Put You in the Driver’s Seat

recent alta book reviews

From Climate Poetry to AI Experiments

da capo

Beyond the Usual Suspects

the giveaway by owen hill, clay backburn novels

Down These Mean Streets

rebecca solnit, no straight road takes you there

Sitting with Ambiguity

no daylight in that face, adventures in film noir, barry gifford

The Aesthetic of Noir

15 new books for june 2025

15 New Books for June

awake in the floating city, susanna kwan, book review

Yesterday’s Weather

ruth asawa and the artist mother at midcentury, jordan troeller

The Making of Matriarchal Modernism

sister, sinner, claire hoffman

Redemption Song

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poets square, a memoir in thirty cats, courtney gustafson

Illuminating Care

books, new releases for may 2025

New Releases for May

sky daddy by kate folk, book review

Don’t Ask Why

notes to john by joan didion, book review

Play It As It Lays

searches, selfhood in the digital age, vauhini vara

Singular View

the pacific ccircuit, alexis madrigal

Two Prisms onto Oakland

books, april releases

13 New Books for April

our beautiful boys, sameer pandya

Young Man Down

stacy nathaniel jackson, the ephemera collection

The Memory Palace

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the buffalo hunter hunter, stephen graham jones

19th-Century Nightmare

neko cases, the harder i fight the more i love you

Lyrical Truth-Teller

review of the dream hotel by laila lalami, fiction, novelist

Encroaching on Dreams

new march 2025 books

10 New Books for March

smother, rachel richardson

Power of Friendship

saint the terrifying by joshua mohr, novel, book review

Punk-Rock Art in the ‘Death Rattle of Capitalism’

aben kandel, rabbi burns, book review

City of God

little mysteries by sara gran, book review

The Fine Line Between Before and After

book review of reading the waves by lidia yuknavitch, memoir, anita felicelli

Memories Can’t Wait

book review of vantage point a novel by sara sligar

Uncanny Island

pico iyer, aflame, learning from silence, book review

The Art of Sitting Still

cover of the novel dream city by douglas unger

What Happens in Vegas

new books, january 2025

11 New Books for January