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THE LATEST REVIEWS

privacys defender by cindy cohn, book review

Recruiting You to the Barricades

In Privacy’s Defender, Electronic Frontier Foundation executive director Cindy Cohn illuminates highs and lows of her career and life.

recent monday book reviews

Alta’s Recently Reviewed

From memoir and literary fiction to noir and writing craft, these standout titles were recently featured in our Monday Book Review newsletter.

upcoming spring 2026 book releases

Upcoming Releases: A Host of Spring Reads

From Pulitzer winners to bold debuts, these April, May, and June releases span poetry, noir, historical fiction, and California’s ever-evolving story.

TTS audio available6 min
young man in a hurry by gavin newsom, book review

Gavin Newsom’s Bid for Likability

In Young Man in a Hurry, Governor Gavin Newsom provides a California story that focuses on defining himself.

book cover of paradiso 17 by hannah lillith

Memory House

Hannah Lillith Assadi’s Paradiso 17 tells the life story of a Palestinian man forever in search of home.

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WRITER’S ROOM

writer josh wheeler

Writer’s Room: In the Shadow of Space Monkeys

TTS audio available5 min
annalee newitz standing in a plaid jumpsuit before a packed bookshelf, smiling and leaning against the shelves—capturing the playful, creative tone behind automatic noodle.

Writer’s Room: After the War

TTS audio available5 min
at last, marisa silver

Writer’s Room: Form and Function

TTS audio available7 min
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

TTS audio available5 min
porthole , joanna howard

Writer’s Room: Joanna Howard

TTS audio available9 min
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ALTA JOURNAL’S CALFORNIA BESTSELLERS LIST

lost lambs by madeline cash, you with the sad eyes by christina applegate, and good writing by neal allen and anne lamott.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (March 26, 2026)

TTS audio available5 min

CALIFORNIA BOOK CLUB

lisa see, on golden mountain

‘On Gold Mountain’

TTS audio available3 min
john freeman, california rewritten

‘California Rewritten’

TTS audio available3 min
ada limon, startlement

‘Startlement’

TTS audio available4 min
the backyard bird chronicle, amy tan, california book club

‘The Backyard Bird Chronicles’

TTS audio available4 min
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MORE REVIEWS

the glorians by terry tempest williams, book review

Dream of Life

crown city by naomi hirahara, book review

City of Kings

swirl and vortex, larry levis

Lives of the Poet

TTS audio available8 min
they kill people by sheila ellis

Twisted Intersection

james sallis, lew griffin novels, books, writer

“Endings Are Seldom Pretty”

TTS audio available7 min
how to commit a postcolonial murder by nina mcconigley, book review

Split Self, Split Sisters

author gabriel tallent poses beside the cover of his novel crux, the subject of a critical review examining risk, genius, and obsession.

Love Me Like a Rock

american reich by eric lichtblau

The State of Hate

scavengers by kathleen boland, book review

Let’s Have Some Fun

january 2026, new books

12 New January Books

television by lauren rothery, book review

Lights, Camera…Screen Time

issue 34, recent reviews

Recently Reviewed: From Activists to Insiders

this year, 365 songs annotated a book of days by john darnielle, book review

Memory Book

a long game, elizabeth mccracken

Permission for Writers

TTS audio available6 min
only way out by tod goldberg, book review

Long Con in the New West

books, 2025 december releases

9 New Books for December

lightbreakers, aja gabel

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

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susan straight, sacrament

Nurses and Lowriders

private i, lynn hershman leeson

Mounting the Evidence

TTS audio available7 min
november new book releases

12 New Books for November

we survived the night by julian brave noisecat, book review

Coyote’s Descendants

TTS audio available8 min
joyride by susan orlean, book review

Golden Run

TTS audio available6 min
a wooded shore by thomas mcguane, book review

When Things Go Very Wrong

TTS audio available15 min
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

TTS audio available7 min
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

TTS audio available7 min
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

TTS audio available7 min
the martian chronicles by rad bradbury, book review

Rocket Man

rehab an american scandal by shoshana walter, book review

Searching for Sober Living

TTS audio available6 min
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

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moderation by elaine castillo, book review

What Reality Is This?

TTS audio available6 min
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

TTS audio available9 min
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

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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

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