My Favorite Books About LA

During the six years I lived in Los Angeles I read everything I could about the city. Buying one novel at Skylight Books in Los Feliz would lead me to checking out six more at the downtown library. The words of all these great writers were comforting, and their thread of history enriched my experiences in LA. But despite my zealous attempt to ingest everything that was written about the city, I didn’t even come close to cresting this mass of literature. Some day I might return to the task, but for now here are some of my favorites (as always, in no particular order).

Day of The Locust, by Nathanael West (1939) Nearly 70 years after its publication, this work is still devastatingly relevant. With beautiful prose and perfect comic timing it encapsulates the disgusting phoniness of LA and it’s seductive allure. Tod, Homer, & Faye are characters you will never forget. There’s a consensus that this is The Hollywood Novel, and I would agree.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780451523488&itm=1

Ask The Dust, by John Fante (1939) This book is an ode to an impassioned writer’s struggle to find success in a cold and indifferent city. But while Arturo Bandini is tormented by poverty, prejudice, and philistines, his love for LA never wanes. Although most of the novel is about failure, there is so much energy and love of life that I will never tire of reading it.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780060822552&itm=1


The Comedy Writer, by Peter Farrelly (1998) I arrived in LA the same year this was published, but I didn’t read it until three years later. Which is unfortunate, because it’s story- about a guy from Boston who leaves a good job to become a screenwriter just about mirrored my own life. This book is funny as hell, has great characters, and the story moves like a film.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780385490528&itm=2

The Grifters, by Jim Thompson (1963) Mr. Thompson might be known only as a great Pulp Writer, but this novel is as much literature as a Hemingway piece. The reason it is not regarded as such is probably because the characters are shady and have few redeeming qualities. But I would spend any amount of time with Roy Dillion and his con artist friends. I also love, that in the early 60’s, the author describes his disgust of smog and traffic.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780679732488&itm=2

The Last Tycoon, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1941) The Great Gatsby might chronicle the ugliness of The American Dream with more wit & style, but with this final book Fitzgerald gives an interesting concluding word on the subject. Unfortunately the legendary author never finished this work. He died of a heart attack at the age of 44, brought on by alcoholism.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780020199854&itm=1

The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler (1939) Yes, this is “hard boiled detective fiction”, but it’s also art. There’s a lot of whodunit plot laced into the story, but there’s also beautiful descriptions of the streets and scenes of LA and real characters that are developed with sincerity. You also have to love that The Big Lebowski was heavily influenced by this book.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780394758282&itm=1

A Model Community, by Michael Ostrowski (2003) This is a shameless plug, but not including it would be like running for president and voting for somebody else. Before I wrote my novel the only book on this list I had read was The Grifters, and that was years before when the film was released (’91, I think). But it was while I was working on rewrites that I began my study of Hollywood Fiction. It was both inspiring and discouraging there were so many wonderful stories set in Los Angeles.

http://www.amazon.com/Model-Community-Michael-Ostrowski/dp/1401087116/ref=sr_1_1/102-3807570-2014518?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186821952&sr=1-1

I Should Have Stayed at Home, by Horace McCoy (1938) Although the author’s prose doesn’t have the artistic impact of West or Fante, the dialogue is perfect, the story is entertaining, and it strips away all the facades of Hollywood. Despite that the characters are far from the glamour of the movies, they still yearn impossibly for a life they will never get.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781852424022&itm=3

Play It As It Lays, by Joan Didion (1970) Maria (May-eye-ah) is the quintessential LA Girl- young, beautiful, and disconnected from the rest of the world. But this sojourn from reality isn’t from her being famous or haughty, it’s because everything around her is so grotesque to relate to it would cheapen her as a human being. Maria’s only solace is driving the endless asphalt of the LA Freeway System.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780374529949&itm=1

Shopgirl, by Steve Martin (2000) I first came upon this book when I had just moved from the craziness of Hollywood to the solace of Silverlake. It seemed, like so many of my favorites, like it found me since most of the story takes place in the neighborhood where my new apartment was located. But the reason why I loved this novella wasn’t because I could identify the locations, it was because Steve Martin painted such a haunting and beautiful description of how it felt to be alone in Los Angeles.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780641812521&itm=1

Post Office, by Charles Bukowski (1971) This is a gritty and coarse story of a writer forced to work a job he hates to pay the bills. Although about as un-picturesque as you can get about LA, it sums up a lot of people’s experiences in the city. Being a postman has been supplanted by being a waiter or bartender, but the angst and despair and comic adventures of struggling for your dream can still resonate in the 21st Century.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780876850862&itm=1